Sprocket Resurfaces...

[clocker]

1. Barbs are Swiftech, supplied with the blocks.
They are plastic and I generally don't care for them, but they were handy and fit the budget.

2. I know what you mean but I don't anticipate removing them often (yeah, right!) and they fit the color scheme.

3.The block is basically just clamped down.
I made some threaded aluminum standoffs that are just shy of the waterblocks installed height. These are screwed in from the bottom of the motherboard.

From the top, I used large plastic washers that overlap the (too short) stock mounting bracket.
Like so...


I suck at Paint.

[j2k4]

I suck at Paint.

Me, too, though I've found a sure fire solution - I don't even try it.

It works every time.

[clocker]

Yippee!
Another "hardware" issue solved....this time my car's emissions.

In Colorado a car gets tested every two years and this can be a trying time when you own a car that was barely capable of meeting the standards in effect the year it was built, much less the new, tougher limits.
In their infinite wisdom, legislators believed that making it difficult- almost impossible- for an older car to pass (vehicle must be older than 25 years to be exempted from new car standards) would lead to more people buying new cars and ditching their old, dirty hoopties.

Ha!

What happened- which anyone with a pulse could have foreseen- is that people just got more sophisticated about spoofing the test.

In my case this involved putting a restrictor pill in the fuel pressure relief valve which makes her run lean.
The bypass air control valve was disabled so the cat was fed full air all the time.
Finally, the gas was drained and diluted 50/50 with denatured alcohol.

It took three attempts (the mods were done in stages to monitor the effect) but this morning I finally squeeked through...in fact, the scores were so low that the software redflagged the results and I had to "discuss" my results with the technician.

It was rather amusing...he knew something wasn't right, he knew I knew and he tried to trick me into admitting I'd done anything other than set to factory specs.
I couldn't play dumb- I'd just spent ten minutes pointing out and describing the stock, factory emissions systems- which are all in place, if not exactly functional- but I was not about to admit to any tweaking.
Despite the fact that my car literally reeked of alcohol...but not much he could do about that, I guess, he really had no options.

It required a "manager's override" to submit my results and pass the car.
We were both grinning as he typed in his ID and password...he knew he'd been taken and I knew he knew.

Whew.
Only cost $50 for the tests (each test is $25 with one free retry) and $15 for the denatured alcohol (why is that shit so expensive anyway?) and I'm good for another two years.
It's only going to get harder as apparently my cats are beginning to fail.
Mazda wants $3200- just in parts!- to replace the two precats and the main cat...and it's doubtful my car is even worth that much.

Oh well, I'll cross that bridge in two years.
Meanwhile I'll be spewing hydrocarbons all over the Front Range.

I'll suffer the guilt pangs while enjoying the ride.

Now I can get back to the important stuff.

[tesco]

So which mod was it that affected the results so much? The alcohol?

[clocker]

Bypassing the air control valve got the CO below the limit.
Leaning out the fuel delivery got the HC down to 1.52 PPM...unfortunately, the limit is 1.50.
The alcohol dropped the HC down to .475 PPM.

The other problem my car has is the transmission...it's a manual.
The car is put on a dyno and the tech has to follow a preprogrammed profile- accelerating (thus, shifting) to keep an arrow on a moving line on a screen.

If the operator is a crappy shifter- as all mine were- he is overshooting the line and abruptly letting off the gas (which causes a nice spike in unburned fuel) or, like my second tech, he doesn't shift at all, just revs the piss out of it.
What I needed was someone who could shift smoothly, get into fourth gear as soon as possible and NOT downshift for every slight lowering of wheel speed.

The last guy wasn't too terrible but was too short...my seat is bolted straight in- no sliders (this gains me about 1 1/2" of headroom)- and he could barely hit the pedals.

All three testers were visibly shocked by the short throw shifter also...the second guy couldn't master it so he decided just not to shift.
The third guy asked about it and complimented it's precise (albeit very short...the top of the knob moves less than 2" going from first into second...)
action.

So basically, in Colorado, every two years you have to go to a testing station (they're run by a company called Envirotest) and let clowns put your car on a dyno and hope for the best- clowns who, under normal circumstances, you would refuse to allow to valet park your vehicle.
It's a great system and we're all glad it's in place.

Yup.

[lynx]

Well, the current financial crisis seems to have been caused by uncontrolled borrowing, and according to most government thinking the solution is more of the same.

Obviously then, given that climate change is being blamed on excessive CO2 emissions, the obvious solution is ... more of the same.

Bring on the gas guzzlers!

[clocker]

My CO² was never the issue...it was CO that got me.

[Detale]

Despite the fact that my car literally reeked of alcohol...

So basically you got your car drunk then

When I lived in California a friend of mine did the denatured alcohol thing and got me by as well. I had a piece of shit 80 something volvo turbo at the time. I just moved out there and was broke I spent a whopping $400 on that car. A week later i noticed that the exhaust driven Turbo flange that was supposed to have 3 bolts had only one screw ( thats right I said screw) and a tiny pair of vise grips holding it on. How I missed it I'll still never know

[clocker]

I used to have an '85 740 Turbo.

Had great seats, it did.
Used to eat the turbo about every 30k miles and had a fondness for waterpumps as well.

Finally lunched a rear wheel bearing and I gave up.

[Detale]

Yeah I went through a couple water pumps as well.The "Grand Finale" was the passenger side rear caliper ATE the rotor snapping right through the pads and taking the entire thing off while I was braking on the highway. Not fun at all. That car is prob still sitting on the side of the 405 where I left it.