Sprocket's Competition

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j2k4

LS, here we come...

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Man, I wish.

Being currently involved with the cold air intake, the LT's weirdness (oval throttle body flange and gigantic MAF) stands in stark contrast to the LSx arrangement.

Sigfrid has always advocated the LT because of it's reputed ability to handle boost (either super or turbo- charged) better than the later series...which he now realizes is bunk.
A swap to a later LS (or even LQ) series engine would not only gain us net HP and lower weight (approx. 125 lbs.) but with the lower, simpler intake, make that area of fabrication much simpler.
We could even use the stock, uncut hood.

Oh well.

Give it time.

Time has been good for you guys, y'know?

Well, another 13 hour day on Monday and good progress was made.

We first removed the dash ( a simple 10 minute procedure with two people) to make a few wiring changes and final install of the gauge wiring.
I've now modded in the gauge cluster from a 2004 Japanese spec Miata and we have everything functioning save the speedo (need to switch the signal source at the ECU) and the tach (works, but reads twice as high as it should- this was expected and all we need to do is "condition" the input signal with a resistor).

With the dash reinstalled, we moved on to a few fiddly things we've been putting aside, primarily installing a hood strut to replace the hood prop.
I've pulled several struts from the junkyard and the most useful came from a 2nd gen Nissan Maxima.
I like it so much I put one on my car...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Strut1.jpg

Not earth-shaking but a nice touch anyway.

At this point, the car is almost as far as we can get her with what we have.
The only remaining mechanical-type job is to drop the fuel tank and find out where the constant gas smell is coming from.

I have a Corvette intake snorkel coming from eBay (I hope!) and, should it prove suitable, the intake can be finalized.

With those two jobs finished, all the major work will finally be behind us and we can start upgrading the interior pieces at our leisure (and Sigfrid's Visa card's health).

She's a daily driver now.

The project came to a temporary halt as we accumulated parts for the next stage, which should begin this weekend.
We have a better air separator tank to replace the plastic Volvo unit and the cooling system should finally be configured properly.
Also finally got the Digital Dakota signal conditioner for the speedo- this translates the output signal from the transmission into a wave form the Mazda gauge can understand, so the speedo should be functional.

I came up with a Corvette intake snorkel that may-emphasis on "may"- finally allow for a nice looking intake.
I need to do some research, and possibly prototyping, to see if it can be used.
It looks cool as hell and I'd really like to try it, but there are technical obstacles to overcome (mainly, placement of the MAF).
Today I'm going to attempt to get some questions answered by a Corvette specialty shop, we'll see how it turns out (they haven't been very cooperative in the past because we don't have a "proper" Corvette and they are total snobs).

I installed the hood strut last week and it works as well on the FD as it did on the FC- better, in fact because the FD aluminum hood is a featherweight compared to my much larger panel.
Pull the hood release and the hood rises all by itself...quite disconcerting if you're not expecting it.

I can't wait for Saturday to get back to work.

Air separator tank installed.
We need better fittings than the generic hardware store ones that we have and I'm waiting to take pics till I can find them.
At least we can see if the cooling system/recovery works right now.

Installed the Digital Dakota unit and finally(!!) got it working properly.
The weirdest thing was the lack of proper setup info- not from Digital Dakota, that's very straightforward- but from the forums.
Were we using a stock FD speedo all the info needed is readily available, but we're not, so we turned to the Miata swap forum and found a gaping hole in the knowledge base.
Even the big "tuner magazine" article they produced glosses over the issue by claiming they ran out of time and didn't get to the speedo.

I don't believe it, I think they failed to get it working and didn't want to admit it.

The DD is simply a solid state device that conditions the speed signal (either straight from the transmission or semi-preconditioned from the ECU) so whatever speedo you are using can read it properly.
It's actually quite a nice piece but the various options are vast and our first problem was just getting into the ballpark so the speedo would do something.
This took several hours and just as we were about to give up, we found the settings we needed.
(There are five different output port options, and four dipswitches...so you can see how many possibilities there are to explore)

With the speedo finally moving, the next step is to fine tune the signal so it's reading correctly.
This can be done in a couple of ways, we chose the "measured mile" approach (in our case actually a measured 3.3 miles) and finally got it to within a few dozen yards of being correct.
The ultra fine tuning will require following a car with a known correct speedometer and syncing the readings down to a fraction of a MPH.
At this point (we ran out of time) I'd guess that at an actual 60 MPH we're reading about 61-62 MPH.
Not too bad but we'll get it closer, it will just take some time.

Our tach is reading @ 2x what it should, DD also makes conditioners for that and we'll probably need to get one.

That leaves only the oil pressure gauge non-functional.
It's hard to get good info since we're using a Japanese market gauge cluster mated with domestic market sending units (we have three Mazda sending units) and it's possible that the gauge itself is more of a dummy style than a full sweep real gauge.
(Mazda was fond of these "fake" gauges...my 2nd gen water temp gauge is one such and sits in the middle of the sweep from 160°F to 240°F...basically, by the time the needle starts to rise above "NORMAL", you're already toast. The gauge is more of a dummy/warning device than a real temp indicator).
We'll figure out something.

Ran out of time/daylight so no movement on the intake.

She's running well though, so daily driving is certainly possible (and, with a functioning speedo and fuel gauge, we'll finally be able to see what kind of gas mileage we're getting).

Next work session is in two weeks.

Got the wheels done - the pics don't do them justice; the color is much hotter in person:

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...8/P1010011.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010010-1.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010008-1.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...8/P1010012.jpg

Also, those are the Nitto NT555s, and so far I like 'em alot.

What do you and Sigfrid think of them?

Wheels are beautiful, Kev...nice choice.
Car needs to drop a few inches, but...

As for the tires...I guess they're OK (on our car)...it's hard to tell.
I think we have too much rubber up front (255's), which is contributing to the slight kick-back on rough pavement and mildly heavy steering but without actually changing them (not gonna happen), that's just a guess.
I'm a granny driver anyway, so Sigfrid would be the one to ask.

What's with the swingset?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Wheels are beautiful, Kev...nice choice.
Car needs to drop a few inches, but...

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Thanks.

I'm thinking I might end up buying coil-overs just to get the drop I want; S-Techs would give me 1.5" in front, 1.3" in back - not enough, I fear.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

As for the tires...I guess they're OK (on our car)...it's hard to tell.
I think we have too much rubber up front (255's), which is contributing to the slight kick-back on rough pavement and mildly heavy steering but without actually changing them (not gonna happen), that's just a guess.
I'm a granny driver anyway, so Sigfrid would be the one to ask.

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The steering bump is probably as you say - the V8 does you the favor of keeping the front pretty-well planted, I would guess.

Smaller tires may help - what size rim, again?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

What's with the swingset?

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Grandsons - 3 so far, another due next week sometime.

The fronts are 18 x 9, rears, 18 x 10.

I'm hoping we just just need to tweak the alignment a bit.

Minor update.

Sigfrid and I worked on the car again Saturday.
We finally got around to dropping the fuel tank- surprisingly, much easier than I'd feared- and discovered that the vapor accumulation tank on the top was cracked in half (it's plastic).
This explains the constant gas smell we've always had, the tank was always venting to atmosphere.
Lacking a replacement tank, we simply bypassed the piece with a tee-fitting which goes to the stock evap charcoal cannister and the fuel smell problem is now eliminated.

We played around with the IAC solenoid and MAF (we have three IACs and two MAFs) and got her to idle and run pretty nicely- still needs a retune but not bad for now.

Dialed the speedo in a bit more, probably within a few percent of being spot on.

This pic shows the state of the engine bay as of this weekend...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...er/Red23-1.jpg

Note the new strut tower covers, sourced from a Subaru.
Also, the hood strut (on the left firewall, next to the wiper motor).
This is the mate of the Maxima strut I put on my car and it works very well on his ultralight alloy hood.

Finally, towards the end of the day we decided to go get a VDO oil pressure sending unit, reputed to work with our new gauge cluster.
On the way home we took a detour to the highway, just to check out high speed running and Sigfrid hit a wheel eating pothole at @ 85MPH.
The tire still holds air but the wheel is probably bent.

I say "probably" because once we got home the car refused to start again...no idea what is going on.

We are both rather discouraged.
The closer we get to completion, the more finicky she seems to get.

Oh well, weekend after next we'll try again.

Man.

I don't even have to think about flipping back to the beginning of this thread to appreciate the utter transformation.

Does Sigfrid ever check this thread out?

On another note, I might have to buy another one of these 3S vehicles.

I want a black one, too; a '96-or-7 VR4.

In the past two days I've seen three 3000GTs, very weird.
I much prefer their body styling to be honest.
Is that what you're talking about?

Worked on her again this morning.
After following a troubleshooting tree it finally became apparent that the car wouldn't start because of a faulty Optispark distributor.

This is a pain for two reasons:
-The Optispark costs $350. Ours is an "upgraded" Accel replacement, purchased over a year ago but with under 500 miles of actual use.
Summit Racing only has a 90 day warranty on it, so we're going to eat the replacement cost.

-The Optispark sits behind the waterpump (which straddles it), so the entire cooling system must be drained and the pump removed just to R&R the distributor.
(This is why even GM recommends replacing the Optispark if the waterpump leaks...an expensive proposition).

Anyway, I pulled the pump and distributor.
The high-tension half of the distributor was completely melted together, the rotor was in pieces. Six of the eight spark plug terminals were covered in plastic goo.
How this thing ran at all is a mystery but there's no question it's the root of our recent troubles.

New part on order...will install next weekend.

The shit just never ends.

You should use a little of that money and get that yard worked on. That grass is an embarrassment. :)

On topic: she's purdy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

In the past two days I've seen three 3000GTs, very weird.
I much prefer their body styling to be honest.
Is that what you're talking about?

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I've put my finger on the styling difference that makes the VR4 more attractive - it's that, on the Stealth, the faux brake-scoop's bottom line is curved, whereas on the VR4, it's curved on the top line, allowing the bottom line to parallel the rocker and further the illusion that the VR4 is lower and sleeker.

I think the problem can be mitigated on the Stealth by adding a bit of rake when adding the lowering springs.

My opinion, anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Worked on her again this morning.
After following a troubleshooting tree it finally became apparent that the car wouldn't start because of a faulty Optispark distributor.

This is a pain for two reasons:
-The Optispark costs $350. Ours is an "upgraded" Accel replacement, purchased over a year ago but with under 500 miles of actual use.
Summit Racing only has a 90 day warranty on it, so we're going to eat the replacement cost.

-The Optispark sits behind the waterpump (which straddles it), so the entire cooling system must be drained and the pump removed just to R&R the distributor.
(This is why even GM recommends replacing the Optispark if the waterpump leaks...an expensive proposition).

Anyway, I pulled the pump and distributor.
The high-tension half of the distributor was completely melted together, the rotor was in pieces. Six of the eight spark plug terminals were covered in plastic goo.
How this thing ran at all is a mystery but there's no question it's the root of our recent troubles.

New part on order...will install next weekend.

The shit just never ends.

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Sometimes aftermarket shit is, well, shit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HeavyMetalParkingLot

You should use a little of that money and get that yard worked on. That grass is an embarrassment. :)

On topic: she's purdy

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Are you referring to my car at all.

Please refer any complaints about the grass to my wife's dog.

Btw-

The grass in the foreground belongs to my absentee neighbor, who rents to a person whose standards are not high.

My lot is only fifty feet wide, you see.

As to the car, it is, as Clocker can attest, what we call a twenty-footer, meaning one must be closer than that to see all the flaws.

Nonetheless, thank you for the compliment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j2k4

Sometimes aftermarket shit is, well, shit.

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Indeed.

There are two sad parts to this story...
The Accel part replaced a perfectly good functional GM Optispark...kind of a "preventive measure" as it were.
Then, Sigfrid threw out the GM part.

When he purchased the aftermarket part we discussed alternatives because the distributor is far and away the weakest part of the LT series package.
It's possible- albeit expensive- to do away with the Optispark and convert to the more reliable (and more tuneable) LS style ignition.
This was rejected on cost but we've now spent more on maintaining the original ignition (we've also replaced the ignition control module and the coil) than the conversion would have cost.

Hindsight, 20/20, etc.

Well, just advise him properly and hope for the best.

OK, we now have a new distributor to install on Saturday.
It's a reman unit with a MSD cap & rotor.
We'll see how that goes...

In other news, Sigfrid found a complete rear suspension from a 2000 RZ (Japanese model) and that's on the way as well.
Several months ago we rebushed the entire suspension but did not replace the pillowballs (three on either side).
This was primarily a money issue, the pillowballs are not available from the aftermarket and cost $60 apiece from Mazda.

When we recently dropped the fuel tank, we discovered that the driver side hub had significant freeplay in all directions because of sloppy pillowballs and realized that the situation needed immediate attention.
I thought we were just going to bite the bullet and order the parts from Mazda...Sigfrid had other ideas and this is what he decided on.
I'm not sure how this approach will play out and until the parts show up (next week sometime) it'll remain a mystery.

My concern is the bushings, I don't think we can remove the new Delrin parts from the old suspension and install them on the RZ pieces, so we just have to hope the RZ bushes are in good shape.
Time will tell.
Naturally, installing the new suspension will necessitate yet another alignment but that's probably a good thing- after I swapped out the shocks/springs we should have gotten realigned anyway.

Assuming the new OptiSpark gets her running again, I'm going to lobby for bringing her back to my place and redoing the intake.
I have the parts/materials to fab it up and would like to give it a try.
It's a somewhat experimental idea which I think will work fine but no way to tell without actually making it.
Visually, it'd be stunning and for that reason alone I think it's worth trying.
Again, we'll see.

Ah - 'bated breath.













Again...

Ah - 'bated breath, yet again.









No, wait - that's panting.

Up and running again.
From this...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red130.jpg

To this...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red132.jpg

In about an hour and a half.
We also installed the Digital Dakota tach signal conditioner (we're sending an 8 cylinder signal to the Miata 4 cylinder tach), so now all the gauges are functional and calibrated.
This is our Japanese market late model Miata gauge cluster installed...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red131.jpg

The only glitch left to decipher with the gauges is to figure out why it zeroes out the digital tripmeters every time she's shut off. Total mileage is retained but the resettable function doesn't work properly. We'll figure it out eventually.

Next up is the all new rear subframe install, probably weekend after next.

Productive day on Saturday...we replaced the entire rear subframe/suspension*.
Our original subframe was cracked in two places (apparently a common malady on hopped up 3rd gens) and the pillowball bushes were shot.
This low mileage (reputedly under 20k) unit lacks the Delrin bushes we recently installed but the pillowballs were all in excellent shape and it seemed like a good tradeoff.
The project took about 7 hours of reasonably easy work, we had no trouble with frozen/stripped hardware and although bulky, the assembly isn't terribly heavy, so it wasn't too physically taxing.

Car now needs another alignment but the test drive revealed that all the clunks and jerkiness are gone, the new parts seem to work very well.

Sigfrid put over two hundred miles on her this last week with no mechanical issues, so we look to be close to daily driver reliability.
Oddly, the tripmeter memory problem seems to have fixed itself and the gauge is working properly.
No idea what happened, but for a change it's good to have something fix itself, so I'm going to ignore it for now.

Our next worksession is scheduled for two weeks away (next weekend being a three day holiday), we'll see what needs doing then.





*This job done, we've now disassembled the entire car with the exception of the doors.
With the advantage of hindsight, I cringe to think of the time and energy we could have saved had we just stripped the car to the bone when we started...it would have been so much easier.

Hello again.

Yesterday was perfect "work on the car" weather- 80 degrees, light breeze, sunny...couldn't have asked for a better day.
We had a full schedule of interlocking projects and started at 7:30am.

The initial job was installing a new fluid balanced front crank pulley.
Supposed to help with higher RPM smoothness, these pieces normally sell in the $250-300 range but I found one for $100 at an "open box" sale at the local race shop.
Although our car is considerably easier to work in than the stock Camaro/Corvette engine bay, it would still be easier to do this with the radiator removed...and that got me thinking.

Our car came with a '96 Camaro rad and it's been a sore point with me the whole time.
It's too wide to fit nicely between the frame rails (we have 28" to work with, the rad is exactly 28" wide) and is only a single core matrix...basically a crummy OEM POS.
Plus, it has a filler port with pressure cap that is completely redundant in our application.
It's also been beat to hell, the fins are completely garbaged up.

Unfortunately, a custom radiator built to our specs would run @ $350 and that's just been one of those expenses that never seemed to have priority since the car was running fine (coolant-wise, at least).

This delay has slowed progress on the intake because until the radiator is finalized we don't know exactly what kind of space we're dealing with.

Long story short, I found the perfect setup in the junkyard.
Sourced from a '92 Volvo 850, the rad/fan were so close to my ideal it was scary.
Like kismet, or something.

I got the whole shebang- radiator, fan, relays and wiring harness-for $55...impossible to pass up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...r/Red131-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...r/Red130-1.jpg

It's 27" wide, 17" tall and has a triple core matrix...this particular example was in excellent shape.
In these pics the stock Volvo mounting tabs and other extraneous bracketry have already been (quite nicely, if I do say so myself) trimmed.

So, since we already had to pull the rad to install the crank pulley, we'd just put the new Volvo unit back in at the same time.
Amazingly, we did.

Here's the crank pulley installed...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red135.jpg

The Volvo radiator/fan in final position...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red136.jpg

Although the rad is securely mounted, we were working with what we had laying around and the brackets are crude...now that it's positioned we can design better pieces and replace them at our leisure.
"I'm right on top of that, Rose".

Positioning the radiator took a few hours.
The best ( and easiest) location for the rad was the worst position for our desired intake and vice-versa, so compromises were made in both directions until a happy medium was found.

This is how we ended the day, the intake is merely the beginning of the finished product...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red143.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Red139.jpg

The car has been aligned (again!) and drives beautifully, the suspension is good but could be better.
It's on the list.

Next up, finalizing the rad mounts and building the intake.

OK, engine bay nearly finished.
Radiator is final installed, used a combination of Honda door glass stops (sturdy little L-brackets) and Kia brackets (one can't be picky...).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../Radmount1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/RadIn2.jpg

I made a new heatshield/beauty panel, retweaked the intake snorkels and added a new K&N filter that better fit the space we had.

Then I made up a custom set of plug wires.
This is the first time she's had a decent set of wires on her...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Wires1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/Wires2.jpg

Tomorrow the AST gets slightly relocated using a nicer bracket (Subaru fuel filter bracket) and the engine bay will be substantially finished...I hope.

I think you oughta go back to the engine plates and start over.
























Nah - it's serious pretty these days.

Gold medal.

Hows trix?

Trix are OK but Sugar Frosted Flakes are Grrrreat!
Why my opinion on breakfast cereals is of interest I'm not sure but I'm happy to weigh in...

AST is relocated and the bay is finished.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/Bay4.jpg

Tomorrow I hope to finish up the dash wiring- primarily connecting the heater controls (which won't require dash removal, praise Allah!).
That should pretty much tie up all the loose ends before the weather starts to crap out...not sure what we'll do next but I'm guessing there will be somewhat of a lull as Sigfrid replenishes the money tree.

Assuming nothing breaks or falls off...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Tomorrow I hope to finish up the dash wiring...

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Yeah, like that happened.
(Hint: it didn't)

There were a few small details I wanted to address and I found myself at the junkyard again, looking for oddball bits and bobs.
Despite having done so many times before, I also searched for the elusive "perfect intake setup" and amazingly, actually scored.

A bit of background...
The intake consists of the throttle body, the MAF (mass airflow sensor) and the filter.
These three parts must be connected in such a way that the filter ends up in a spot that exposes it to fresh incoming air.

This seemingly simple job is complicated by two major factors...the size/shape of the component parts and the necessity of fitting them within the confines of the bay with the hood closed.

An additional complication is my desire to use pre-existing OEM parts so as to create the impression that the car is "stock", not custom.
Typically, an intake like ours would be fabbed up from generic aluminum tube shapes and couplers...I wanted to minimize the number of pieces and subdue the appearance, all the while getting from A to B within the confines of the allotted space.

The major problem here is component size.
The throttle body's flange is oval shaped (not round, as is more common) and the MAF needs a 3 1/2" round tube connection.

Oval shapes are extremely rare in molded pieces but we've discovered that a 4" diameter tube can be forced to stretch and ultimately fit.
So we now need a piece with one end 4" diameter and the other end 3 1/2" diameter, between 7" and 9" long and flexible enough to bend.
That covers the connection between the throttle body and the MAF.

From the MAF to the front panel, we need a piece that's 3 1/2" diameter at both ends and makes a tight 35-45° bend in the space of about 8".

Such specific pieces are very thin on the ground, especially in a junkyard where, keep in mind, a significant percentage of potential donors are cosmetically unacceptable (fire damage, parts destroyed in a front end impact, neglect, etc.)...after all, the stuff not only has to fit, but look good also.

Anyway, I actually scored some pieces that were very close to our needs...so the entire intake project- only completed 2 days prior- was scrapped and I redid it again.

Visually, it's very similar and it's only the unfortunately compulsive (me) who will notice.
From a construction standpoint, this is an almost ideal solution.
The entire intake, from the throttle body to the filter, is removable as one piece...everything is anchored to the upper radiator panel which is fastened with four bolts.
The whole thing comes off in 5 minutes.

This is it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...new3marked.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...Intakenew5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...Intakenew4.jpg

In the top pic, the black arrows point to the new intake rubber pieces.
The yellow arrows show new hose routing to the PCV valve and the AST.

The coil has also been relocated from the front of the driver side cylinder head to the new rad panel.
This isolates the coil from engine heat and also declutters the front of the engine.

I also finish trimmed the exposed edges of the panel ( now 1/4" thick, up from 3/16")...I like the long rear edge but need to refine the two short side trim strips a bit.
May or may not reuse the "Mazda V-8" badging from the penultimate effort.

So there.

Well, I'm back!
Surely you didn't think this project was done?

Let's see, what has happened in the past two months...

Finally got around to hooking up the heater controls.
It was more convoluted than I'd thought, the dash was removed twice...I really should have done this at the same time as the main harness, would have been much easier and more integrated but c'est la vie.
With all the actuators functioning and the blower fan working in all speeds...we had no heat.
Fabulous.

Out comes the dash- again.
This time I had to drain the coolant and remove the heater core and the central heater box...in other words, down to the firewall once more.
Then I had to figure out how all the controls actually worked.

The FD does not have a water valve in the heater loop, the core is always getting full water flow.
Temperature control comes from mixing air that bypasses the core with air diverted through it...this is done with several interconnected "mix doors" that channel air.
Our unit is missing (entirely!) one door and a secondary flap is cracked and non-functional.
Someone has been in here before and pretty much fucked it up.
We're going to need a whole new assembly to regain full functionality but I had to do something right away, so I used foam to mimic the door configuration for full HOT.
All air from the blower is forced through the heater core and the car warms up nicely.

Of course, when spring comes he'll roast like a turkey but we'll deal with that later.

I also had to completely disassemble the heater control unit only to find that all the illumination bulbs had been removed...no idea why that might be thought necessary, possibly needed to light up the heater doors they removed earlier.
Anyway, we now have heat, all the different "modes" work and the controls light up as they should.

During my time fixing the heat I had the opportunity to take a few long drives (back and forth to Boulder three days straight) and was appalled by the car's general behavior.
Very skittish, required "driving" the car at all times.

We know the suspension sucks but I felt there was more going on than that.
Finally decided that it was worth swapping wheels/tires, just to see what happened.
We've been running staggered all this time (18 x 9 w/ 255/35 tires in front and 18 x 10 w/ 285/35 in the rear) and we traded wheels from the RX-8 which has 18 x 9 w/ 225/45 all around.

I was expecting a change...what we got was a transformation.
I finally see why the FD is considered a high point in Japanese car dynamics, the thing handles like a go cart.
She's now dead stable on the highway- no more trammeling- and corners like a cat.
Unbelievable difference.

"More is better" is NOT the case with our car.
Search is now on for a set of 17" wheels to try...17" tires are way cheaper than 18" and they're even closer to the stock wheel size (16").
My Mustang wheels would probably work, but the big 18" rears from the FD won't fit my FC, so we can't change them out without disabling my car.

As for my car...
I've actually spent some time on her lately.
Found a cherry set of Honda Prelude seats in the junkyard- originally planned them for Sigfrid's car but they're too wide- and mounted them.
They're like Barcaloungers compared to the Corbeaus, absolutely fabulous car seats.
I also swapped out the FD steering wheel for a MOMO unit but that only lasted about a week as the MOMO obscured the gauges too much.
Now using a steering wheel from a 929, slightly less clunky than the FD but perfect fit and vision.
No pics yet.
(Soon)

My alternator crapped out, probably due to the aftermarket alternator relocate bracket breaking.
Sourced a nice replacement from the same 929 that gave up it's wheel.
Moved it back to the stock location.
All better now.

Until the cooling started to go crazy.
I'm getting such weird/contradictory data that I can't begin to troubleshoot.
First, I discovered that the fan was not working.
I finally decided that the current draw of the new(ish) Lincoln fan was too much for the Volvo relay assembly, so I redid the relays/wiring using higher capacity parts.
Still nothing...the Audi fan trigger switch apparently died as well.
I've never liked that particular aspect of my install and am searching for a better alternative, so the low speed is temporarily wired to come on with the ignition.

Yeah, it's halfassed, but I needed it to work NOW!

Of course, with the fan always on the car doesn't want to warm up properly, so this "fix" is really not all that suitable.

Naturally, I know exactly how to fix this...the thing is, I don't wanna.
Pisses me off that the damn car waited until it was 30° to demand repair.
Had all fucking summer and ran like a top- now that I'll suffer from cold, she fritzes out.

Bitch.

Oddly I was thinking about this thread the other day. Myfan clutch went on my Durango and my mechanic didn't have the right one the part will take 2 weeks to get here so for now he installed one he had from a much larger truck and now my car sounds like a jet taking off when I start it up. As I was out there looking at what he'd done I thought to myself How the fuck does clocker hang out in the Colorado cold fucking with cars?? He's out of his mind. Indeed you are sir as I'm sure your insanity isn't limited to this thread alone.

Yeah, well...I'm not happy.
Then again, I'm not in New York either, so there's that.



Actually, I love NYC...had a lot of fun there once upon a time.

Happy thanksgiving man. You can be happy about that!

Thank you.
Same to you and yours...and everyone and theirs, too.


Awww...group hug.

So, it's been a while.
Not much new with Sigfrid's car, she's running pretty well and he's gathering parts (we have new fenders and a set of coilovers, waiting on a stock front bumper).
As long as she continues to run reliably we'll probably wait till the weather warms up before doing any more serious work.

My car came up for it's biannual emissions test this month and that is usually a trying and exasperating experience.
At 197k miles I was not hopeful.
Previously, I had gone to rather extreme measures to squeak by but was so pessimistic this time that I just went to the testing station cold...did no prep whatsoever (well, I did reinstall the cats which I remove to preserve during non-test times).
She passed first try.
Unbelievable.
I have no idea how it happened but I'm now good for two more years and couldn't be happier.
This little hero just refuses to die.

Make/model/year of the hero?

1991 Mazda RX-7.

Oh I thought Sigfried's was the rx7 ? Am I confused yet again?:huh:

His car is a '93.
I've owned mine since '07.

So you have, so you have.

It bides well, does it?






How's Sig and his little monster?







How's yer folks?







And how's D?

I'm fine, he's fine and they're fine.
It's you who's been MIA.

I thought POW

So, this Saturday we installed another set of shocks (the fourth, I think?) and may have finally gotten it right.
These are Koni Yellows (adjustable) with Ground Control sleeves and Eibach springs...coilovers, basically.

I admit I was dubious but the results are fantastic.
The car was way lowered (we had to raise ride height about an inch all around) but the dampening and ride are beautiful.
She swallows bumps while still being stiff enough to corner well and steers nicely to boot.
We reinstalled the RX-8 wheels as well (they are not staggered and have skinnier tires), which greatly helps trammeling.
Needs a new alignment but we'll wait till we finalize wheel/tire selection.

Finally, got something right it seems.