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Messages - Tbird232ci

47
Engine Tech / Re: Exhaust manifold - 2.3
Just crank it in nice and tight. That's how I've been running mine.

I grabbed an EGR blockoff plate from tbirdcougarparts.com and ditched the EGR, along with all of the vacuum lines and the solenoid and everything.
48
User Rides / Re: Chuck's '83 TBird
It's a shame that the driveshaft is the ugliest thing under the car now. Time for an aluminum one.
50
Lounge / Re: Trying to force check engine light
I don't have a direct answer to your question.

Being as it's an OBD2 car, can't you monitor the data with a scanner? I was using an ELM327 and the Torque app before to monitor various sensors on a few cars.
51
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Well, now you've gone and done it. I've started my hunt for a Cobra rack.

I have read the Turn One articles. My biggest qualm is that they are trying to sell a product, so if course they;re going to say "don't do a cheap alternative that might work". No vendor of innocent of that, even the beloved Maximum Motorsports. I did a ton of reading over at Corner-Carvers, and the general consensus is that cutting the spring is just a small part of improving the steering feel, and that it doesn't do much on its own.

While reading through some other threads, I came across Jack Hidley suggesting a 94-95 V6 SN95 pump. I'd like to go that route, but I need to get rid of the Teeves to give myself clearance for standard style reservoir. I'm not sure if I want to tackle that part of the project just yet. I am proficient at many things in the automotive world, and brake lines are not one of those things.

To be honest, I am somewhat hoping that I don't find a rack too soon.
52
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Quote from: Aerocoupe – on
Tbird232ci,

By no means am I telling you what to do but I did want to mention a couple things with regards to the steering effort on our cars.  In my experience cutting the spring on the pump only increases the effort of getting the steering wheel off center.  This is due to there being zero boost when the rack is centered.  Once it breaks off center that is when the boost is applied.  The boost is regulated by the torsion bar within the rack and pinion so unless you can rebuild a rack and change this part there is very little that can be done to change the boost on a Fox rack.  One thing that seemed to help was the larger diameter SN95 V6 power steering pulley which when installed on a Fox pump would under drive it thus would help with the over boosted feeling but not to the point of what I would call decent.

I think you actually have that backwards. The valve in the pump is what determines pump pressure, and the torsion bars are what determine at what point the rack goes into assist with the rotation of the pinion.

Shortening the spring reduces the pressure that is required for the pump to start bypassing the impeller. I was digging through years worth of threads to find that most guys cut the spring down to about 5/8's of an inch, which made a favorable impact on assist reduction. It still can only do so much due to the rest of the system.

Under driving the power steering pump seems to make the biggest difference at low RPM. The pulley and bypass valve are set up so it's easy and comfortable for grandma to be able to idle in a parking lot and park the car. The larger pulley will raise the RPM threshold in which the pump goes into bypass. The added benefit to the larger pulley is that in the higher RPMs, it can reduce fluid temps and cavitation.

Funny story. I found two part numbers for pulleys to under drive the pump. One being a mild under drive, and one being more significant. I purchased the mild under drive for like 13 bucks. It was the same diameter as what was currently on the car.

The main reason I'm going to shorten the spring is because it's free at this point.

Quote from: Aerocoupe – on
To really solve the over boosted issue a 99-04 SN95 rack needs to be installed which has improved bearings and stiffer torsion bars.  Notice I said "bars".  Different models of Mustang had different racks in them and are differentiated by the SPR code on the rack which can be found as follows:

Picture removed for cleanliness

This chart shows the racks by stiffness (1-6 in order of stiffness):

Picture removed for cleanliness

Obviously the Cobra R rack is unobtainium and everyone and their dog went after the '03 & '04 Cobra racks so they are impossible to find now so I would look for a '99, '01, or '02 Cobra rack and then on to the '02-'04 GT or Mach 1.

MM's hybrid steering shaft makes the adaptation to our cars very trouble free but they are not cheap but none of this is.  From there you get into having to decide whether or not to run the Fox inner and outer tie rods or to use the SN95 parts.  All of this is here:

https://www.maximummotorsports.com/Steering-Rack-SN95-to-Fox-swap.aspx

I have done this on both my '93 Coupe and my '83 T-Bird and it was like night and day difference.

The SN95 rack swap is certainly on my radar. It's going to end up being a project for another year. With my car being as high mileage as it is, I intend on replace the rack and pump at the same time. Part of why I'm currently opting to cut the spring. If I don't like it, oh well, in the garbage it goes.

The real shame now is that everyone purchased the Cardone 03-04 Cobra rack, and send in their base model racks. At this point, you have no idea which torsion rods and valving you'll actually get. At this point, it's a matter of hunting down a good, used rack or finding an NOS rack that doesn't cost your first born. Once you obtain a wallet draining rack, you then have to purchase the steering shaft. Certainly becomes a hefty investment. It's an investment I'll get to, but more in the distant future.

53
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Quote from: Mikey97D – on
Your picture here of the rear center brake line.  I have a friend on the west coast that makes brake lines that I will be taking the original off to send to him.  Wondering if I should have him make several and sell the others off?  Not sure if there is a real want for them?


Quote from: mcb82gt – on
Is no one making that line?  Figured it would readily available.

A stock replacement is readily available. I grabbed one off of Amazon for pretty cheap. It's Dorman H38611.

A stainless braided replacement has long since been extinct. They were specific to the 87-88 TC if I remember correctly, so the demand is pretty low. If your buddy makes a stainless braided one, I'd be in for two. I like having one to install, and one as a spare.

Quote from: Mikey97D – on
I have not found any.  Jack at MM helped me with the 4 corners using the SN95 braided.

Glad I was able to help Jack help you out.
54
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Quote from: Mikey97D – on
Okay, I think I have derailed your thread enough.

I don't mind the derailment at all. I would rather there be off topic discussion rather than no discussion at all.

Quote from: Mikey97D – on
Upgrade water pump or OEM replacement?  I have not experienced over heating, actually mine runs too cold, so wondering why the upgrade or is this with conjunction to deleting the oil cooler?

The pump I'm looking at is made by Race Engineering. The impeller has a back plate to reduce cavitation. Also has better bearings for sustained RPM use. One of my outlandish hopes is to one day partite in a road rally. There are quite a few that run through being as I don't live far off of I-95. To run with some of the more modern performance cars, I would need to be able to sustain triple digit speeds, and in a 2.3 car, that's a lot of RPM. I'll probably never be able to hang with legit sports cars, but it sounds fun. It may never happen, but those high hopes help keep me motivated.

Quote from: Mikey97D – on
Why cut the power steering pump bypass valve spring?

Basically, it will reduce output pressure which reduces the steering assist. I really don't like how little steering effort is required to get the car change direction. I'm hoping to get it to feel more like my Mustang, or ideally, more like my previous FRS.
55
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Quote from: Mikey97D – on
Looks like they have a nice sale going on that model right now.

We have a Stratasys Mojo sitting on my work desk.  I have not made the personal investment to have at home although I have been playing with the idea to teach my children on the in's & out's currently.  I think it may be invaluable in the future for the if they go into manufacturing.

a broken part from the Mojo: 

My particular printer is the cheapest model of the CR10 they sell. The higher end models, like the CR10S and V2 do offer a lot more for the money, but I really don't have many complaints. They're easily upgraded and still very capable. The 3d printer community is very helpful too.

I just looked up the Mojo. Holy hell that thing is pricey. Certainly out of the league of what I'm working on!

That print looked like it was under extruded, or extruded a little too cold. Does the mojo use proprietary software?

Quote from: Haystack – on
Pla warps pretty bad in a car interior in the summer.

The thicker you make the part the stronger, obviously. We've been making parts out of Pla dor model airplanes for a few years and they warp bad. Particullarly the wing mounts we've designed to be held on with rubber bands. Without the rubber bands they hold up okay if its not in sunlight.

Abs is slightly lighter bit not quite as rigid for the same part. Adhesion between layers is hard to get right though.

I've had good luck with the one part I've printed for a car. It's just a little dead pedal for the girlfriends car. Her car is black, and sits out in the sun, in a parking lot all day. It's held up pretty well for about a year so far. I know I can't trust it, but it's done well for her car so far.

ABS is a pain to work with. You need a printer that's enclosed and the enclosure has to be temperature controlled. The ABS shrinks when it cools, and if some layers cool faster than others, it warps and pulls apart. I have some things in the works to enclose my printer, but that's going to wait for a little while.

ABS isn't as rigid, but it does have a bit more tensile strength. I want to eventually use it for some under hood parts.

Quote from: thunderjet302 – on
It looks pretty good for a prototype.

I haven't messed with 3D printers regularly in about 4 years but I remember all sorts of problems with heat warping PLA even when we painted stuff. ABS or something like it will be more stable when exposed to heat, but I'm curious how even that will hold up in a closed car, in the sun, in mid July. I'm not too familiar with how much better hobby level machines have gotten in the past 4 years but I'd hope that layer adhesion has improved.

Most of the time, layer adhesion has more to do with your temps and your Z-axis offset. Takes a decent bit of trial and error. When I get a failed print, I initially want to be all pissed off at the machine, or the filament. Half of the time, I didn't level the print bed, or I messed the settings up or overlooked something. I've had prints fail about 3 hours in because I forgot to uncheck a box in the slicer.
56
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Quote from: Mikey97D – on
That looks really good.  One part of caution with 3d printed parts is there are not a lot of UV rated materials.  I have a FDM printer at work that I made a guide for the throttle cable on my bike with.  I simply painted it to keep the sun from evaporating the material.  3 years so far it has held up.

I can only fit a 5x5x5 in my FDM printer.  If it fits and you want me to print one and ship it to you to try out let me know.  I don't have any interest in one for myself....yet.

Paint will help with the UV issues, but I'm concerned about the heat warping the PLA. It has a fairly low glass transition temp. I printed some spool clips so the filament won't uncoil itself when I'm not using it. As precaution, I toss my filament in a dehydrator before storing it to help remove any moisture it may have pulled from the air. The filament clips ended up relaxing from the heat and came close to falling off.

I started to work with PETG, but I had a time crunch with a few things I needed to get printed, so I didn't make much headway figuring it out. I had bed adhesion and layer adhesion issues. Once I take the time to get it figured out, I shouldn't have to worry about radiant temperature. The glass transition temperature is a good bit higher than PLA and it's almost as strong as ABS.

I'm using a Crealty CR10, with a 300x300x400 print bed. I'm hoping that once I get some issues with the printer ironed out, that I can print three of these things at once. Each one takes about 8.5 hours.
57
Exhaust / Re: Re-hung my 3"
I just came in here to say that I giggled when I saw the thread title.
59
User Rides / Re: My 85 TBird
I still wish it were Vermilion red...for my own reasons.

That paint laid down so  nicely.

Did you get an NOS washer tank? That has to be the nicest washer tank I've ever seen.
60
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
I know of an Askhole that can help you out with those SFC's.