Topics

All the manufacturers seem to be retro styling their cars! I think GM should do the FIERO!! Maybe they can get it right this time?
Fairlady and 510, Subaru needs a 2 door Rex!

Let me bounce this of the guys. Probably targetted more at Bryan since he has the most track time in an MR2.  Stock springs, cut to drop the car just slightly, then move the perches down. I'm thinking cutting the springs just enough to lower the car by 1 inch. Be just enough to up the spring rate slightly. Cut the springperchers off in the lathe and weld them back 1 1/2 " lower than stock, 1" in the rear. Cut the bumpstops to 1" to allow more travel. 2nd scenario, just cut the spring perches and weld them at a height we can agree on. We have a few sets of springs we can play with so we don't have to get nervous about screwing things up. Or maybe the springs fron a later model MR2 will fit? Got any spares Bryan?

Need to get together to see who's still in. I have a couple of ideas for replacements if anybody drops out. I haven't approched anyone yet, but if someone wants out we need to know. We do have one space open, so I say let's fill it. One of the peeps I have in mind is a crosser thatr works at Clawson Honda. I need to know if it's cool to approach  him before I do though. Also, since I hav en't received much in the way of feedback on the proposed mods, I went ahead with them, as seen in the pics in the status thread, got to cover anything like this as a team. I can tend to get a bit overboard with things if noone pulls the reigns. So let's schedule a meeting, maybe up here so folks can see the damage. I do feel a lot guilty that I won't be offering dinner as Kevin did at his home, but I am holding on by a thread here. But come see the progress on the car, you may have an idea to go in the same direction as I am already heading, or send me into a different vector. I'm broke, but I do have time to do the prepwork. When funds start rolling in, the finish will begin. If nothing else, you'll have fun on the drive! Only person I would expect to decline is Bevin, he has a long drive home from here. Let's do it!

Little William Irwin Bixman! Wish he'd stay awake long enough to get a pic with his eyes open.

Bryan, have you ever bent the strut rods in the rear? I've seen this before, but never thought much of it. The rear strut rod bending up in the middle. Especially the right side. I thought it was just from run-ins with big potholes. I've given it a bit more thought. I believe it's from hard, abusive launches! Check your strut rods, might need to reiforce them. Good idea for you too Mikey.

This one is basically for Bryan. I haven't looked at tires in about 4 years. Last set I bought for my MR2 was Yokohama AVS ES100. Grip was good, water shed was good. I didn't like the feel, sidewall seed too soft, felt sloppy to me. Wore the tires out in about a week of driving up and down this hill. Wear pattern suggested massive positive camber when I was running with 1.5 degrees of negative camber.  Outside showed belt threads, inside was basically untouched. Haven't had much good to say about Yokohama. Won't say much about what is on the Speed3 as we buy tires based on HER driving style, longevity, comfort, and price. But we have BFG g-Force Super Sport a/s 225/40 ZR18 on it. Not a bad tire, wet or dry.

Moly, HP additives, Lucas, teflon, X90, Any of these things you have used? Raising or lowering gear oil vis for a race? Engine oil viscosity, how far would you go? Do you think we could get by with a 5w-20 synthetic for the duration? 0w20? 0w15? Or do we play it safe since we really don't know much about the engine? I know teflon is a joke. The additive X90(I think that was what it was called[snake oil maybe]) seemed promising. What have you heard of or used?

Any ideas on what to add to water to increases the heat carrying, transfer ability that won't be slickery on a road surface? Adding salt will increase the boiling point of the water and consequently the heat carry ability, but greatly reduces block life. Not sure how it would affect the heat transfer though. Alcohol is more volitile and has a boiling point around 170-180 degrees. probably not a good idea. Ideas?? Keep in mind, this would be for the LeMons car, so extended use is not a big consideration.

Alcohols, toluene,xylene, benzene, acetone, mothballs. What have you heard of or tried to increase the usefulness of your fuel? I can remember when you could get your hands on Benzene as an additive, what a frikken difference that made! What cleaners have you used? liked? disliked? What does it take to run 11 to 1 compression on 91 crapoline?

I bought these headligh assemblies 2 or 3 years ago, seemed like a decent idea. The 2 died before I installed them. Mike put them in his car today. let's see what he says about them.

I saw a megasquirt PnP kit. Basically plug and play for any 10/18/14 pin set-up. 22RE, 4AGE, etc..  Has a box of it's own, but I'm sure it would fit nicely in a stock ECU box. Comes as a kit, so probably fit it into any box you'd feel comfortable with. Won't have to cut corners as you would with the microsquirt.

It has been suggested that an increaes in valve size on the 4AGE wil decrease the power output of the engine. Any thoughts on this? Any advantages to increasing the valve size? Disadvantages? Would a loss of power be balanced by an increase in torque?

Have an experimental engine going on here. 7AGE any suggestions? going to use stock internals, so no massive increases. Started project before I became unemployed so now I just want to get my mind back into it. Work is supposed to start soon, so money should be available. First thing I have in the build is the rods. I plan to use the stock rods to see if they are typical Toyota fare, tougher than they look. The rods have been honed to float the 20mm pins, NO bushings installed. This is only to find out how this mod can even be suggested from an engine builder. I outlined the oiling mods I intend to do in the "Engine Theory" thread. Bored .020" over. Planned compression is in the 10-1 range. Looking take advantage of the stroke and target torque. Best head for this app. should be the small port version. To try and make up for the added displacement the cams aill be stock Blue top(early) to @ 256 degree duration. I want the highest lift possible with the stock buckets and shims. If at all possible, I would like to increase the size of the valves, 2mm intake, 1mm exhaust. AFM injection type should be adequate for this set-up.
Any thoughts on this would be welcome for consideration and, or discussion.

This is a mod I thought up myself. Might have been done before, but I haven't heard of it done elsewhere, YET. This mod removees the oil galley from the oil pump to the filter, and the internal pressure relief valve while relocating the e filter. First things first, after the block is cleaned , and before any of the machining is performed. Drill and tap the oil galley to the filter, and install plugs,  both at the pump inlet and oil filter mounting boss, pressure side of course. Doing this before machining the bearing saddles and cylinders for the same reasons youuse a torque plate and torque the mains before machining, block distortion. Now, drill and tap the oil pump outlet and screw in a plug. Block the oil pressure relief ports. I prefer using a rod to hold the relief piston in the closed position. remove the plug from the pump's suppply galley(the plug outside the engine), you can use this to plug the pump outlet. Install a a flare fitting here, AN-8 flare x 1/2" pipe thread work nicely. Now, on the oil filter boss, there are available fitting that will fit the blocks oil inlet from the filter. You could use the stock piece and bolt a filter relocation adapter instead. run the lines like relocating the filter and installing a cooler. Install a 'T' fitting inline on the 'hot' side of the filter, before the oil cooler.  This will be routed to the oil pan with an inline relief valve. The relief valve is available from a few manufacturers. the inline valves are completely adjustable and have a more consistant pressure holding capability than the stock set-up. Installing the relif on the 'hot' side of the filter decreases fluctuations in the pressure by removing it from temperature fluctuations that are present in the 'cold' side of the cooler. If desirable, a cooler can be installd after the relief valve to introduce a cool oil to the pan. End result is  better oil flow, more consistant pressure and easier installtion possibilities when installing a turbo. I plan to use this system on my 7AGE, as it is basically an experiment anyway. If it works well enough, I'll suggest it to anyone who runs a 4AGE.

Reading an article on a mod popular with the high output 4AGE builders. They were installing restriction orifaces in the oil supply port in the block. Supposed to decrease oil windage in the crankcase and improve oil supply to the main and rod bearings. sounds like a good idea for competition engines, but I would like to do this mod for a high performance street engine. I know the oil supply to the head is quite a bit more than is necessary. In some cases, when the rings get a bit worn and blowby increases,  the oil tends to remain in the head and leads to starvation problems.  If the engines spinning at 9,000+ RPM can survive, maybe this can be a mod usable on performance street engines. Personnally,  I like the idea of feeding the main and rod bearings with a healthier dose of slippery stuff. The failures i have seen in these engines are under the head gasket. Only problems I see on the cam is from dirt in the system. But that just makes grooves in the journals and bores. I've yet to see a cam failure from low oil supply. I am however discounting the engines that the owners never perform maintenance, or check the oil and run dry.

Any favorite raods you've driven and would suggest to others. Like Hecker pass(been about 20 years since I've even seen this road).  Used to be a fun road. I was told to try 41 off 46 after Cholame. I like the short drive up the hill to my house. Burrough valley road can be a LOT of fun if noone else is there. Watts Valley, Maxon Sample to tollhouse. These are my daily commute.  Millerton road between 168 and Auberry is an absolute blast. Take a drive all the way around Pine Flat resevoir. Let's see where we've been and where we want to go.

I have about 40 -50 of these available. The window sticker that is my avatar is my brothers design. I told him I'd see if anybody would want any. The title is "Have a Nice Death". Yes he is a bit on the goth side in some of his artwork. I'm also trying to get him to do Mr. Burns for the Poupe'.

New hybrid on the boards. 7A block + 1ZZGE crank + 2ZZGE rods + custom pistons 1mm o.s. =1.9 liters of A series beast. The ZZ parts allow an RPM of @8,000. Add in boost and go nuts. Think of the possibilities. Something to look in to. Maybe I'll get the rods for my 7AGE build. the 7A crank is forged, just the rods are weak.

Watching the TV reality show "So You Tink You Can Dance"....................
We need to start a show," So You Think You Can Drive"!!!!

With the stock pulley on the Eaton M62 off a Mercedes, the flow differences are @ 1.1% improvement over the SC12. Even though the displacement of the M62 is 1000cc as opposed to the 1200cc of the SC12. the pulley is smaller the than the SC12's and it spins faster. All I rwsally have to go off is a rough measurment, the SC12 has a circumference of @14", and the M62 has @11.5". The M62 should be very close to the SC12 with a more efficient flow and lower exit temp than the standard roots type supercharger. Not sure if I have the USDM or JDM version though.  OK, the measurements I have are loose at best. i measured the pulleys on the outside of the grooves with a seamstress's tape. The stock crank pulley is @ 18". The pulley on the SC12 is @ 14". The pulley on the M62 is running 11.5". The difference in the RPM of the Supercharger driven at an engine RPM of 7000RPM is the SC12 at 8,960RPM anbd the M62 at10,960. At this rate the M62 flows a little over 1% more air than the SC12.  The SC 12 has a displacement of 1200cc per revelution, the M62 is actually 1016cc. The SC12 is limited to an RPM of 12,500 RPM the M62 is limited to 15,500 RPM. The M62 is more efficient! It has a lower high side temp than a standard roots type supercharger, and has a lower drag on the parasitic drag on the engine. For S&G, the M90 has a displacement of 1472cc. So I still want to try the M62 on a 4AGE.