RPMS

Dyno Day AND a Z car show? Man, you're killing me....

Damn! Everything fun happens when I'm out of town. Jackson, MS has never seemed so far away before now...

with small hands

Howdy, guys! Damn, looking at the header, it's been over a month since I've been on here. It's taken that long to get my life back in order after moving to Jackson from Dallas. Hopefully I'll only be here for a year, or so. I couldn't bring my Z, but it's safe back at the house. It's probably a good thing it's not here - the crappy Jackson streets would have eaten it for lunch. Anyone on this list live in or near Jackson? It'd be nice to get together for a beer at Fenians pub sometime.

Hey, guys. I've come out of the barber shop to find my urethane spoiler folded up under the car by a parking curb, but undamaged. I'm going to install the MSA aero II kit on my car, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to rip it off the front end the first time I pull that trick. But wait! What about installing parking alarm sensors in the front lip to detect approaching cement blocks? They sell them on eBay for forty or fifty bucks. The translation is one of the funnier ones I've ever seen - * Reversing alarm function: Sound is divided into four wave bands to alarm, display the barrier blue light and color two level pipe, intellect number display the distance of barrier correctly. * Record function: adopt numeral compressing technology and you can use the telephone or leave the voice record in 60 seconds * Set four PCB supersonic inductor, detect all directions. It is really no dead angel or blind area. No dead angel? Sounds like a good thing... What do y'all think? Sound like a good idea to protect expensive fiberglass bumpers???

I've got a follow-up question here, guys. Could there be a problem with your using the DA sander instead of a buffing wheel? I'm thinking that the tiny little circles wouldn't be as effective as the sweeping motion of a larger buffing pad? I don't know for sure that it would make any difference, but I'm curious as to the opinions of people who have experience in this field. Scott

I'm interested in a shirt too. Sizes? I know you want to get them out of your closet!

VERY nice! I remember the feeling when I finished the paintwork on mine. When I saw how nice the paint was laying over the bodywork, I was so happy I almost cried. Kudos to you!

You'd be surprised. DVD's are MPEG-4 encoded, so playing MPEG-3 sound files are cake to them. It's like opening a Word v4.0 file in Word v5.0. I've been considering a DVD head unit for just this reason, but I haven't seen one yet that I like the looks of.

Considering your location, I think you're not "Finnishing" the interior, you're "Swedishing" it. Haha, small joke. Your talents aren't wasted! It looks like you do good work. You've given me ideas for several modifications to my center console. Good job!

I heard of one guy who killed a burgler coming out of his outbuilding (it was a long and involved story that I don't remember most of, but the ex-burgler smartly deserved it). The policeman who responded took one look at where the body was laying, and told the homeowner he was going down to the corner store to get a cup of coffee, and to move the body completely into the building before he got back. Sometimes I LOVE living in Texas.

It's a small block. It's an LS-motor. It's two, two, two motors in one! "smallblock" is a generic term, in my mind at least. It denotes the smaller of the v8 motor that a company produces. Ford, MoPar, and GM all made small block and big block pushrod engines. GM makes both the 350cid LS1 and a 454, thus the LS1 is still the smaller of the blocks. When the LS1 no longer uses pushrods, goes to a V10, or goes to being a boxer configuration, , THEN perhaps I'll feel differently. Scott

Looks like a nice compressor, but if you plan on doing any paint / bodywork I'd pass on it for one with a larger tank. Like others have advised, there are less expensive compressors out there with bigger tanks and better flow rates. They might be a bit louder, but making a plywood cabinet lined with carpet will dampen all but the loudest compressor noise. And do you really NEED continuous duty? Even under fairly heavy use, my 50 gallon tank unit charges up three or four times an hour. 25% maybe?

Geez, I LOVE those cars. They're right up there with the BiTurbo and the M5 as my favorite 80's cars. I wonder if there's any old Aston Martin Lagondas running around? I saw one a few years back selling for $20k, but I'd be scared spitless to own one unless I was filthy rich. It'd cost a fortune to keep it up and running, with all those first generation electronics.

His first post was poorly phrased, as was his followup edit. the LS1, LT1, and gen1 SBC are all "Small Block Chevy" engines. Regardless of what his true intent may have been, his question is written in a way to ask, "Why are you using such an antiquated engine?" If that wasn't his intention, he should have asked, "why are you not using an LS1 or LT1?"

What you want to do is build up the big block, and sell the 400 to me so I can use it in MY car! Scott

I could, but since the pump was a whopping $18.00, I'd probably just buy another one instead just to keep from going through the trouble. Since the new pump already has a boss on it (but in the wrong location) I'd have to grind that one off before I could weld the new one on. Major PITA. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Some quick words of wisdom here. For your beater, buy something RELIABLE and easy to fix. You'd have a tough time beating the reliability of an e30 (3-series) or an e28 (5-series) BMW in stock (or nearly so) form. For the sort of money this guy's asking, you could buy a VERY nice 325is or a 535is. Both are fast, comfortable, and handle well enough that you'd need to go to racing school to drive them past 7/10's. And do you REALLY trust a car that's had sparkly tire shine applied to it? That leaves a really bad taste in my mouth... On second thought, I'll condense it even further. Just buy a 325is and drive the stink out of it. Don't even think about anything else. Get busy.

I replaced the water pump last night on my 350, and was dismayed to find (after I'd painted it) that the alternator bracket boss on this pump is approximately 3/4 inch closer to the radiator than the old pump. What's going on here? I thought all smallblock pumps were the same. My engine is a 1986 fuel injected block, if that makes a difference. I asked for a water pump from a 1974 Nova, thinking they were all the same. The alternator bracket and original water pump were from a 1984 Camaro 305. Can someone help educate me?

Is the 280 unit R134a compatible?

You know, with the incredible availability of inexpensive accessories for it, proven durability, and ease of use it's tough to beat the ipod. They've got great in-car accessories for it, where you just slip it into a cradle and it automatically integrates with some car stereos. Charges it at the same time, too. I've got a couple of MP3 players already (Creative Labs Nomad, Woodi flash player, the one built into my phone) and I don't think I'd care to use any of them into the car. I prefer a built-in solution that uses MP3's burned onto a standard CD, like my Kenwood CD/MP3 deck. It's tough to beat 150 songs burned onto a standard 50 cent CD-ROM, and there are no messy cables running through your cabin, no FM interference issues, no battery problems, no "Oh crap - it slid down beside the seat again...". Just my opinion - I could be wrong.

Believe it or not, the permanent marker dyes the dental floss (or I could just get fancy and call it Nylon Thread). I don't have any problem with it wearing off, and it's much more durable than cotton thread. I've used it for many years to restitch saddles without ever having a problem.

One of the guys in the Cowtown Z club was telling me that he was experimenting with a late model Sentra blower motor with very impressive results. Maybe you can ask him yourself this Thursday? I think it was John (spotfitz) that I was talking to at the time.

Sure, you can do this! It's easy and inexpensive, but it takes a while. First, measure the circumferance of the rim and of the steering wheel. You'll cut the leather/suede 3/8" wider than the circumferance of the rim, and fold a strip over 1/4" on each side for reinforcement. Using a yardstick, punch holes in the leather 1/8" from the folded edge, 1/4" apart. Each hole will drive through two layers of leather if you're doing it right. If this seems like too much work to be worth it, you can always buy a Wheelskin for between fifteen and twenty bucks. Once the holes are all punched (there will be about 175 on each side) wrap the suede around the steering wheel and stitch the short ends together to form a hoop. For stitching, either buy black nylon stitching from Tandy, or just use a double thickness of waxed dental floss (color it black with a permanent marker). The hoop should be a little bit smaller than the steering wheel, so when you put the leather hoop around the wheel, it's tight. Once you have the hoop in place, stitch it around the rim in the same manner you'd lace up a new pair of shoes. You should be stretching the suede just a bit to get it to close the gap. If you pull too hard, you'll rip through the leather. If you don't have enough tension, it'll look like crap. You may have to re-lace it several times until you get it right. If you've cut a piece of the rim too small, you can wet the leather down with a bit of water to make it stretch somewhat. It'll shrink tight when it dries. Going around the spokes is a bit of a challenge. My advice is to not try to duplicate how the factory does it. They've got years of experience and the benefit of having die-cut leather pieces that fit perfectly. Since you have only a simple leather strip to work with, you aren't going to get it perfectly. You can get it darned close though - close enough that casual observers won't be able to tell anything's different. I've restitched several wheels, and they've all end up looking pretty good. In some of them, I've put additional padding to make the rim a bit thicker. I've used 1/16" microfoam (similar to the stuff they put under Pergo wood floors) and it seems to hold up well. Good luck, I hope this answers your question. Scott