Previously, in Sportscar Magazine:
Today...
Prophetic. I was right in the thick of it.... on Sunday.
Previously, in Sportscar Magazine:
Today...
Prophetic. I was right in the thick of it.... on Sunday.
Nice work this weekend Pete. How'd the car hold up?
I drove it home. No major mechanical issues, which I think is a Nationals first for me. The tune went weird on my drive down, the cruise portion was getting leaner and leaner to the point that I had to stop on the side of 104 and do some road tuning.
On the way home, it was rich in those spots. I am thinking that it is a heat soak related deadtime skew, that Megasquirt really is never going to account for. Moving the injectors to the throttle body would help a lot, but I bought high impedance ID injectors specifically to avoid these kind of issues.
Great job, Pete!
Found a DEM for the Volvo on eBay. $90 shipped for a DEM from a 2006 V70R. Same year and trim level, maybe it will work. Worst case, it will plug the hole while Xemodex does their thing with my old one.
It works! For the first time in a lot I have all wheel drive again. According to the Dash Control, it goes up past 600psi at full throttle 
The unit also came with pigtails, I will depin them and repin my chassis harness to those connector housings, which are 100% less melted.
Two Blizzaks on order to replace two at wear bars. Other two have 5-6/32.
Lots happening on the RX-7 front, with supersecret project D ongoing.
Supersecret project D.
This... is the opposite of what I ordered on eBay. Auction was for KC78 left side throttle arm, this is KC79 right side. It turns out that for my purposes it is not important, but still this was annoying.
Part two, purchase all of this:
Two female thread 10-32 rod ends, two male thread 5/16" rod ends, two throttle arms that are ostensibly for a Stromberg 97, one with a swivel set screw attachment and one not, and a whole lot of hardware: screws, bolts, nuts, and some 5/16" rod.
Drill the Stromberg connecting rods out from 9/32 to 5/16, attach this, cut that, slide that over there, do some measuring and change everything around, and the mass is starting to take shape:
The project, if it is non obvious yet, is to use a Lake Cities (genuine; not an Atkins clone) with my 48 DHLA, translate the throttle opening from clockwise on the Nikki to counterclockwise on the Dell'Orto, and accomodate the metering oil pump connecting rod.
As such, the 5/16" rod will be placed roughly in the same place as the original Nikki's primary throttle shaft. I say "roughly" because the Nikki was mounted at about a 3 degree angle relative to the engine and my dummy shaft will not be. The important part is the MOP linkage end. The throttle shaft at that end is 30mm from the manifold flange, and 70mm above the centerline of the upper manifold bolt hole. The MOP rod connection is approximately in line with the lower manifold bolt hole.
Like the best episode of Firefly, I am out of gas, so I can't do any welding right now, but in a way this is good because I ended up needing to completely rearrange bits of it anyway. Like making my finger sander the day's MVP for clearing the vacuum boss.
Sort of roughly in place, this is sort of how it goes together. Sort of.
It looks like my bracket is a bit bulky, who makes a baseplate out of 1" square tube? But I assure that it is for a good reason...
Apparently I am registered for the NEOhio RallyCross this weekend. I should probably put the car back together.
I did a compression test after Nationals and it was less than good. Not sure if I had hurt something from having my timing so far advanced (it WAS detonating, somehow) or it was assembly error.
r000000st
Car didn't break, Pete didn't die of hypothermia, and I had an epiphany about how to finish the throttle linkage for the Dell'Orto.
and then something about winning MR by a run and a half but still somehow getting a 2 seconds slower time than a Stock class Yaris in my heat
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
To beat me in my family sedan, that Yaris must have been quick. Good seeing you.
Aaand it started snowing today. Perfect timing!
Have lots of video, actually still backlogged from Nationals as I try to figure out how to edit video in win10. (I miss movie maker from XP...)
Unedited.
"okay that one had cones" was basically our tag line for the day. And the second heat versions of both courses were both faster and more violent.
I checked out this thread, then glanced at my iPhone and that very moment saw a notification for this video. The timing couldn't be more perfect, because I was picking up my phone to go watch this video with sound.
dps214 said:"okay that one had cones" was basically our tag line for the day. And the second heat versions of both courses were both faster and more violent.
.....yeah. You guys were hauling butt. England was hanging out around my corner station (strategically nearest the portapotty) and we were commenting on all of the people gingerly touring the course, and then you (or your co driver? i forgot who was running where) hauled ass around the course. Violent juxtaposition. And then there was that Model 3 breaking the laws of physics.
Batcave action: Turning a $20 clearance rack K&N IDF air cleaner assembly into a $100 DCOE/DHLA air cleaner assembly.
As you can see, the problem is that the IDF carb has its bowl vent right in the middle, where there is no carburetor on a sidedraft.
First step, make a gasket that covers the hole.
The IDF mounting holes are at a slightly different angle, it was easier to just drill new holes than try to file out the old ones. One of them will work just dandy for the bowl vent. Test fit was good, on to the next thing.
Lots of measuring, drilling, tentative measuring, using an angle finder to match the angle that the Mazda carb cable comes in at, and using up the absolute last of my welding gas, and it is taking shape.
5/16NF nuts are welded to the 3/4" box tube and the rod ends are threaded in. The Mazda carb sits at an angle relative to the engine, the rod is mounted at as close as possible to that angle. This allows the MOP linkage to be at the correct height and the throttle cable cam clears the box. It's taken from a junk Nikki that I'd bought last year, as is the MOP arm. Nikkis use 8mm throttle shafts, so everything is a nice slip-fit. A tab on the cam is bent over and pushes on the second Stromberg arm.
The throttle rod is deliberately set up so the levers are not parallel. I am hoping that this takes away some of the big-carb tip in abruptness. Even on the 6 port 13B, it was a bit sudden, and annoyingly delicate to cruise. The black car does have four 42mm throttles that snap open at the same time, but its engine is a bit soggy off idle due to how close it idles to atmospheric pressure (usually about 65-75kpa) so that is actually beneficial. Two 48mm throttles on a stock port engine is a different ball game.
Heh. I am posting from teh 'cave.
Not much happening in the Batcave. Between seasons and all, and the best nation in the world is Procrastination.
...Just kidding. Been very busy hatching an audacious plan. Gonna be a Shallow Pockets Rallycross/Clapped Out Garage joint.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Gonna be a Shallow Pockets Rallycross/Clapped Out Garage joint.
Oh, no. Evan is going to be involved.
Have the week off work. Thought to contact Patrick and ask him where he gets his welding gases now that I could actually go shopping at times welding shops were open. $220 later, I had a 80 cubic foot tank full of 80/20.
Today, I got some paperwork done in the morning, and wound up at the Batcave. Did some cleaning, dug out the firey tube of warmth and connected it to the Hank Hill's mistress, and set about trying to figure out what Past Me was thinking. Then I noticed that the carb was binding at about 75% throttle, it would not return. After a LOT of screwing around and head scratching, I put a blob of grease in the Stromberg bellcrank that went to the threaded rod, and all was good. D'oh.
I knew I had some idea for securing the MOP arm to the 5/16" rod, that involved installing a set screw, and somehow drilling the thing perfectly on-center and welding a nut on it for the set screw to thread into, and I never got round tuit because it all looked like a really good way to screw up because drilling the outside of a tube is amazingly difficult. I finished the throttle cable bracket and welded it together while I pondered some more.
I decided, screw you Past Me, I do this myself.
I don't really NEED to have two of those, I can have endplay fixed at the other end. Really it SHOULD only be done at one end. So, I cut the Gordian's Knot and welded the arm to one of these... things whose name I have completely forgotten.
Now that I think I have all of the linkage issues sorted, except for the TPS, it is time to start thinking about adding a vacuum nipple or two.
Volvo in its natural habitat.
Driving 4000+ miles a month is doing wonders for my fuel economy average. The range drops to zero at 17 gallons.
I guess I forgot to link the project Evan and I are hatching: we're reshelling a rusted out WRX
Warm weather is approaching, time to start getting the RX-7 ready for summer duty.
What is wrong with this picture?
Something's missing...
I broke the switch assembly at the Detroit two-day last year. Smacked the wiper stalk with my hand and snapped the plastic. The chunk fits in there snugly enough to be usable as long as you don't try to use the washer, at which point it pops out again. RapidFix did not help here because the pressure bows it in the middle and breaks it out again.
My original thought was to make a sheetmetal brace. That looked less than appealing, I do not like doing sheetmetal work. (Ahem)
So I procrastinated buying a new switch for $217 (still available!) because that is half the turbo we need for the Mini. Last week the Matco flier had a plastic welding/staple kit. It showed up today.
Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am doing. I know now a better way to have done this, but I only know this because of doing it wrong the first time.
First, I melted the bits together.
Then, I added some filler material. Not knowing what the switch was made of, and not knowing what the different filler rods WERE, I used the first one that seemed to stick to a test area.
Then, I added some "staples". These are not like paper staples, they are more like corrugated wood holder-together things (cannot think of name) with two prongs that plug into the heater tool. You melt them in and cut off the ends.
(I should have done that step first. And possibly not added filler yet)
At this point, it was pretty sturdy, although pulling the stalk back for the as-yet-nonfunctional washers would flex it alarmingly.
Next, I smoothed those over, and tried putting stainless mesh on. I had no useful way of trimming it, so I folded it and layered it over.
That was way too thick, so I unfolded it and sort of melted/globbed weld over top, then trimmed it with a sharp edged Dremel stone.
Then, I pasted even more filler over it, making it uglier and weaker.
After it cooled off, it still flexed alarmingly. I was thinking of how to make a metal tab that reinforced over it, attaching to the switch screws on the back of the housing. I realized that all I needed, really, was a zip tie, with something to space it out to keep tension on it.
A bottle cap worked nicely.
And it clears the steering column cover!
Now to figure out what is up with the fuel system.
I still get a kick out of having Bilstein HDs on an RX-7. Mmm, upside down struts.
This fluid was only a thousand miles old. It ran out like shiny water.
There is something loose and rattling around inside.
In went the trans I rebuilt in late 2020, a few dozen pages back. It drives very nice. It is a little stiff in the 3-4 gate but it is loosening up nicely. And it is nice to not have a trans that sounds like a coffee grinder.
Put about 120mi on it and the fuel issue never acted up. I was going to put a rattlebox type pump in but it turns out you cannot just buy them at parts stores anymore, have to special order.
It runs hot with the A/C on but a lot cooler, hovering around thermostat temp, when not. Hm.
Time to start enjoying an RX-7!
Yassssss
In reply to Patrick :
I had to send that pic to the car's PO, he said he was very happy to see it on the road.
So I had to do this... https://www.rx7club.com/race-car-tech-103/scca-national-rallycross-championship-2008-a-797025/#post12519949
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
bring it by this week after work to meet Godzilla
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