strotter

The car was aligned to factory specs recently, after I installed all poly bushings. It hasn't had the bumpsteer mod done, though I'm thinking now it might be a good idea. It has a 1" front swaybar, and no rear. When I say "twitchy", I mean it's prone to steer in a "sudden" manner - sometimes I get more result from a given steering input than I'm expecting. For instance, there's an *excellent* freeway off-ramp near my house. It's an "s" that rises right, peaks, becomes a left and falls, then ends in a reducing-radius right 270 (in case you know Lodi, it's the northbound Turner exit). With 32 psi all around, on decelerating transition from the last left (radius about 400') in the "s" to the right 270 (radius starts about 200', ends about 100'.) I'll experience the expected weight-shift understeer, which will *suddenly* become oversteer when pushed hard. When power off for the final part of the 270, the rear begins to roll around, then tucks itself in, at which point it returns to understeer (again suddenly). It doesn't lose traction - if you're not on it hard - but it's ready to. I haven't pushed it to traction loss (speeds are too high, no verge, no exit). With tires at 28 psi all around, it begins understeer on decel and stays that way throughout. When pushed harder, it'll plow mercilessly. From what I remember (it's been a very long time since I drove a "stock" 240), that's pretty much the behavior of the stock car. I think the ideal pressures are between 28 and 32, but by keeping the pressures the same front and rear I think I'm giving up a smooth transition, which is more-or-less what I'm looking for. I'm ready to start checking out variations on the theme - 28 front, 32 rear, 32 front 28 rear, 30 all around, 30 front 28 rear, 28 front 30 rear, so on and so on. I was just hoping there'd be some shortcut, like "higher rear tire pressures speed the transition to oversteer, higher front pressures speed transition to understeer", or something like that ...

I have four 205-55-15 Eagles on my '72. It's got a 327/T5 in the JTR position. I've been fiddling with tire pressures, trying to determine the "right" numbers for everyday driving. It's amazing how much a couple of psi can change the behavior of the car. Are there any guidelines? I know nothing about suspension setup other than "32psi (max pressure) = twitchy". Original factory specification for the 174-14's was 28 psi front & rear. Suggestions?

This was a problem soon after the introduction of the new forum software, stopped doing it for a while, and now it's happening again. I go to the site (set to log in automatically). I go to "Messages since last login", browse the 1st page, maybe read one or two; click on the "next" button on the bottom, and it gives me "No messages match your criteria". Back to the Home page, it still says there's a couple of hundred messages since I was last here, but now if I click on that button, it gives me the "No messages match your criteria". It's logging me out as if a long period of time has gone by, yet in fact less than 10 have passed! Driving me nuts!

I've installed a late-model GM f.i. system from an '89 Firebird onto a 327. I have an aluminum manifold installed. There are *three* temperature sensors in this configuration: in the cylinder head driver's side for the computer, in the cylinder head passenger side for the fan relay, and in the intake manifold behind the thermostat for the gauge. From the beginning, I noticed that the computer consistently sees slightly lower though more consistent temps than the gauge. I initially thought it was one or more bad senders /gauges, bought new senders, calibrated them (pot of heating water and and a DVM), calibrated the gauge as well, and got the same results (I have a "thing" about accurate instrumentation). By all rights, I would think that the sender in the head would see the highest temps - but wait. That area is "earlier" in the cooling loop than the thermostat. Perhaps it sees cooler temps (and we're talking 10 - 15 degrees F here) because the coolant has more recently run through the radiator. Doesn't the coolant flow from the radiator to the pump, then through the block past the cylinders, and then into the heads from outboard to inboard, then to the manifold and thermostat? With the sender on the outboard of the heads, they are seeing temps *before* the coolant passes the combustion chambers, where they'll pick up a significant heat load before going to the thermostat. What I'm thinking now is that the gauge is seeing "transient" temperature spikes to a greater extent than the computer because of the widely varying temps in the combustion chamber itself, as opposed to the "general" or "overall" heat load of the block. Why would GM do this? I'm thinking that there might be a couple of reasons. For sure, the gauge is the lowest priority sensor, but offers a measure of control over the whole system - if the operator sees a high temp, he'll back off a bit, easing the load. This is good, from a designer's point of view, so you actually want the most "pessimistic" possible readout. The fan, however, shouldn't see those spikes, as it would cycle on and off unnecessarily leading to premature failure. The computer, too, should see more consistent temp readings, else if might get stuck in some kind of hysteresis. Also, it can be programmed so as to "know" about any potentially low reading, and compensate accordingly. Some of the calibrations in the eprom lead me to believe that's correct. So if my logic is correct, I would say, get the most consistent reading from the cylinder heads, though they may not reflect temperature spikes you might want to know about; or, get the most pessimistic readings from the manifold, and compensate for spikes by understanding the dynamics of the engine from experience. What was the original question?

Kid-Vid, I know that car! It's on Mills! I was driving by there, on the way to Wally-world, and happened to glance over - and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a bold white Pantera beneath camping gear! The guy was cleaning out his garage, and there was this gorgeous thing in there among the normal household dreck. We talked for a minute, then he closed the garage door. He doesn't want to get rid of it. Sigh.

Man, I wanted one of those *bad* when I was just a nug - especially loved the Bowie-knife handle to operate the headlights- super extra cool. Sexy lines, the interior was like a jet fighter cockpit, and they had a gorgeous red in '72 if I recall... I'm thinking there might be three problems purchasing any Opel - parts, parts, and parts. How about you spend the afternoon calling around and looking online for, say: intake gaskets, piston rings, and, um, how about, weatherstripping. Your success or failure would affect the purchase cost. The current owner may have connections for you - if he has kept it in good shape, he must know where to find at least some stuff. This being a hybrid-oriented site and all, I'm also thinking you could toss that anemic - which one is it, the 1.4 or the 1.6 liter? - and drop in a rotary.

I installed a cold-air system on my '72 using a hat (that's a good term!) from a Volvo mass-flow sensor. Cut it up a bit, found some other pieces, ran a polished 3" aluminum tube that was (I think) originally for a Honda of some kind. I did some calculations, 3" is about the minimum limit for 350 hp. Cut a hole through the firewall on the driver's side, ran the aluminum piece through. The piece I used had a 45 degree turn on the end, luckily, so I could use one of the longer K&N conical filters pointing more-or-less toward the centerline. It *does* block the radiator a bit, but I don't think it had any significant effect. I noticed that the car wasn't as sensitive to really hot weather as before - I was using an open element before. That was good, but it's also more sensitive to cool weather, though that may have more to do with the state of tune than the temperature of the air. Before it starts to rain, I'm going to make some kind of simple deflector to fit forward of the filter. I'll likely make it from sheet steel (easier to cut with a jigsaw than aluminum), and mount it to the bodywork rather than the filter.

No, they don't. If you're going to swap, keep in mind that the doors use different "frame" cutouts - there's big holes where you need to put the mounting points. I put 260 panels and armrests in my 240, took some "arranging".

I assume you've checked for things that might make the motor run warm - no vacuum leaks, timing not too advanced, cam not too radical, correct thermostat, idle not too high, no more than 45% anti-freeze, so on? My cooling system (in a '72) is right on the edge, but functional. My radiator is the one suggested by JTR, roughly the same size as yours, I have all the seals in the engine compartment, and I use the Taurus fan. That thing would cool off a volcano; I can't believe there isn't something else wrong somewhere.

I was showing a pickup truck to a guy who wanted to buy it. It continually backfired, and I was trying to show him the problem before he took it. I was starting the thing from the cockpit with a starter-clip-on switch. The thing backfired real bad, I turned to the guy to say something, and he reached out and just patted me on the head. Never said a word, just looked kind of concerned. I thought, "Gee, that's sort of weird, a total stranger consoling me about the bad engine by patting me on the head..." Only later did I find out (from my girlfriend and her brother, who was laughing so hard he almost peed himself) that the backfire had set my hair on fire. I never even knew. The next day I got a blister. So not only was I injured, but was proved to be a retard, and not very observant, too. Sigh.

I'm running an Edelbrock Victor single-plane on a 327. About 9.5:1, worked-over vortecs, Holley TBI-type injection, roller everything. I must say, everything the guys above (especially grumpy) had to say about single-planes is true. In practice, the thing is fairly flat below about 4500 or so. At that point, though, it lights like a Solid Rocket Booster, and you're in for a real ride. I have to be very, very careful about redline, it doesn't get "flat" as it approaches the top, there's no sense of "that's enough", it just keeps on wanting to go - I imagine all the way to self-destruction. It's rather like the big Kawasaki two-strokes I rode back in the day (nicknamed "flexy flyers"), nothing much down below, open the throttle at low RPM and nothing happens: but when you hit about 5000 it was like somebody flicked the power switch. At very low RPM, thought, it's great for my Z. The torque is greater than the stock motor, but not radically so, so it's very "streetable". In the rain last week (and wasn't *that* weird?), I had no trouble controlling it, which I have in other light, high-powered cars.

Dude, I have hair growing out of my *ears* lately that look like that... I think they jumped ship from my scalp. I really really really really hate getting old. Really. P.S.: a friend of mine told me she knew she was getting old when she found her first white pubic hair. Can you imagine *plucking* that stuff? Jeez.

There are a couple of schools of thought on valve adjustment - "static" and "dynamic". The static school says that valves are best adjusted with the engine off, incrementing the crank by 360 degrees between adjustments. Most manuals will describe this method in detail. I, on the other hand, believe that the "dynamic" or running adjustment is best - but then again, I'm the kind of guy that *feels more manly* when I'm covered in hot oil. My procedure is as follows: prepare ahead of time by getting a factory-type pressed steel valve cover. Using a jig-saw, cut a square slot in the top of it approximately 1 inch wide the entire top length of the cover to within about an inch of the ends. If you have a center-bolt valve cover, be sure to not cut the flanges for the bolts. This slot will give you access to the adjustment nuts, while restricting the oil being slung around during the adjustment. Be sure it has a decent gasket on it - used is OK, but torn up is not. I glued a gasket on mine - make sure it's O2 sensor safe, if your motor is so equipped. Next, prepare the motor. Move wires and hoses to positions out of the way of the valve covers. Restrain them with tape or wire ties or anything else that's convenient. The idea here is that you won't have to be fighting with them once the motor's all hot and toasty. Have a couple of rags ready, as well as all your tools. Also, note that you *will* be doing this out-of-doors. Don't even try it in your garage. Start the motor, and warm it completely. It'll warm faster if you drive it around for a bit - 10 minutes at least. The idea is that the motor is fully warmed up - not just hot under the hood, but fully warm. As soon as you get back and shut it down, you're on the clock. Pop a valve cover off, and install the mutant one. Start the motor, but for goodness sakes, don't rev it - revving will sling oil right out of that cool slot you cut earlier. Time to adjust. I use a 5/8" socket on a six-inch extension, to keep my fingers back from the moving parts and hot oil. Go to the first valve nut, and gradually back it off: four or five seconds for half a turn is about right. The motor will idle OK during this phase. At some point, a half a turn or so back, among all the noise and the heat and the wind from the fan, you'll hear the valve clicking. Watch it carefully to make sure *that's* the sound you're hearing - other noises can easily be mistaken for the click you're looking for. (If the valve is already making noise, you'll hear it get more pronounced as soon as you start loosening. Don't go too far, it's possible for the rocker arm to come off the valve stem. You'll also feel the click through youir socket). Once you hear it clicking, toggle your socket and start tightening. *Now* you're looking for the point at which it *stops* clicking. Go very slowly, you want to be accurate with this point. So you've turned it in and it has stopped clicking. Think of this as an index point. Note the angle of your ratchet handle - that's "0" degrees. You can rotate it back to a more convenient angle, if you like. Now, very slowly tighten the nut clockwise half a turn (180 degrees). You may notice the motor stumbling here - as the lifter preloads, the valve isn't closing properly, causing the rough idle. The effect will go away in a few seconds, so you can keep on tightening until you reach the 1/2 turn. Or, you can pause for a couple of moments, until the motor smoothes out, then continue. The important thing is that you won't be rotating the nut any farther than 1/2 turn -if you go too far, you could (theoretically) pop the piston with the valve. I've never heard of anyone actually *doing* it, but I enjoy worrying about unlikely things. Once you've got the nut turned in, you're done with that one. Move on to the next. The nice thing about a running adjustment is that it takes less time to do a bank than it has to read these instructions. Once you're all done, you may notice a fine layer of oil on everything. That's what the rags are for. As a side note, I try to do my valves when it's fairly cool outside. I don't like the heat, which can be extreme above a fully warmed up engine, but that's not really the reason. When I'm uncomfortable like that, I tend to hurry, and hurrying through any job like this is a BAD THING. A good way to screw up something, or get hurt. Take your time, do it right.

I have to second Aaron's note. King horror books by and large don't translate well to film. His *non-horror* stuff does though - "Stand By Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption" were really awesome. Actually, one of the horror stories did translate well - "The Dead Zone" with Christopher Walken. But that was all about Walken, the guy looks, well, *abnormal* at the best of times - there's a lousy series on cable with the same premise, don't watch that one. Best horror movie of all time? "Hill House". Didn't ever see a ghost, weren't even sure there were any (is it all in her head?), scary as he||. Some others: Most beautiful horror move of all time? "The Cell" Sweatiest horror/SciFi movie of all time? "Alien" Weirdest monster-creepin-up-on-the-guy-who's-gonna-get-it: "The Ring" (Lesson to take away from that movie: TV is bad for you. Very very bad.)

I have one word concerning custom gauges: high-resolution-color-printer-on-acetate-download-the-templates-at-http://www.newtier.com/graber/z-car/gauges.html .

Saw last night on the news the recall was going to cost the state about $60,000,000.00. I'm just wondering, how come people didn't just vote against the guy during the election - it was only, what, eight months ago?

It's hot outside, and I don't want to go out, and there's nothing (of course) on TV, so I looked into this. A lot of stories about what NASA does and doesn't do get passed around, and a lot of them have nothing much to do with reality. A quick search on Google turned up this at the American Physical Society site, (the largest Physics professional organization in the world), in the What's New section (http://www.aps.org/WN/WN03/wn070303.html): But at the bottom, there's a "see correction" note, which takes you to The "Bob Park" thing is an inside joke. The only references at NASA to "HRM" are in regards to "Human Resources Management" So far as I can tell, it seems that the story was originally filed at the Times of India, though I couldn't check for the original owing to the search engine at the TOI crashing repeatedly. Some time later, it was picked up by the Hindustani Times. I found articles referring to that one dated as early as January 2001 (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_160317.html). At that point it began to show up on lots of "alternative" sites, mostly those for "Breatharians", which are folks that believe you don't have to eat to live. At some point Mr. Manek came over to the U.S. and gave a number of lectures. That's when the story began to have the "NASA" thing attached to it - the first reference to NASA was in June, 2002. If you do a quick Google for "Hira Manek", you'll get almost 1200 hits. What's *really* interesting is that the earlier articles have references to the original TOI story, but later ones don't - they simply reprint the same story, over and over again, no byline, nothing. Just the same couple of hundred word article, over and over. Only the one, at APS, actually called NASA to confirm, as far as I can tell, and even *they* printed the thing before confirming. An excellent case of "Open Mind, Insert Foot". Also, SpaceDaily isn't a NASA site - it has a .com extension, all U.S. government sites, including NASA, use .gov - it's actually an Australian commercial site. Check it using http://www.DNSstuff.com: Registrant: Space Media Network (SPACEDAILY-COM-DOM) Simon Ernest Mansfield PO Box A447 Sydney South, NSW 1235 Australia 61-2-4234-3841 simon@spacer.com Domain Name: SPACEDAILY.COM

Dan, wouldn't the cast-aluminum brackets like on mine fit an LT-1? You've seen them (there's a picture in my gallery, http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/album_pic.php?pic_id=57 ). From a quick glance, I'd say the intake will pass pretty cleanly above the serpentine belt. Are there any other considerations?

I just recently swapped a Taurus 2-speed fan in to replace a GM unit I had previously installed. This Taurus thing blows more air before breakfast than the GM one did all day, and is great at low speed or at idle - but it has introduced a new problem. The Taurus shroud is "closed" around the fan, entirely blocking the radiator except right behind the blades. Great for low speeds, but I'm seeing an *increase* in temps at highway speeds. Because I've made no other changes to the cooling system, I'm blaming this on the shroud. So, which would be a better course of action, in your opinions: 1) find a lower-temperature thermal switch, to kick this thing on at, say, 200 degrees (now it's at 225, I think, the original Chevy thermal switch); *OR* 2) just cut out openings in the radiator shroud allowing air to pass more freely at highway speeds, but possibly affecting low speed cooling.

Some years ago I read an sidebar article about the original advantage of RHD: the thinking was that you wanted to have your strongest arm/hand (generally the right) controlling the steering, your weak arm shifting. This was convenient from an engineering perspective with the shifter on top of the transmission. It also put the left foot in control of the clutch (next to the tranny), leaving the strong right foot to operate the brakes. Actually it kind of makes sense...

For you guys with operational a/c's: how big are your condensers? I'm assembling an a/c from bits and pieces, and I have everything *except* the condenser. It looks to me like the biggest that'd fit is about 21" width, 13" height. Does that sound about right? There's a unit that size on a Geo Metro wagon at Pick 'n Pull, but I want to make sure it'd be enough to do the job (though the cockpit of the Z is quite a bit smaller than the cockpit of the Metro). TIA

It's possible to modify *any* of the variables in Tunercat, including: ECM Switch Parameters: Err 24, Vehicle Speed Error , X=Enabled Err 32, EGR Error Enable, X=Enabled Err 42, EST Diagnostic, X=Enabled Err 43, ESC Error Enable, X=Enabled ECM Constants: Main Spark Bias Initial Spark Advance Extended Spark RPM Slope Max RPM for Extended RPM Spark Min. Speed To Enable Highway Mode Spark Time Delay To Enable Highway Mode Spark Bypass Power Enrichment Delay Power Enrichment Mode Delay BPW Constant EGR On, (% TPS) EGR Off, (% TPS) EGR Off, (Speed) EGR On, (Speed) Low MAP EGR Off, (MAP) Low MAP EGR On, (MAP) Minimum MAP for BLM Maximum MAP for BLM Maximum RPM for BLM Speed to Enable Open Loop Idle % TPS To Enable Open Loop Idle Maximum AFR At Open Loop Idle Lean Idle AFR At Open Loop Maximum AFR In Open Loop (Non-idle) Warm Closed Loop Delay Timer Cold Closed Loop Timer Min. Coolant Temp. For Closed Loop Fuel Open Loop Idle AFR Enable RPM Threshold Open Loop Idle AFR Disable RPM Threshold Open Loop Idle AFR Enable Delay Open Loop Idle AFR Time Delay TCC Lock, Low Gears, High Speed TCC Lock, Low Gears, Low Speed TCC Lock, High Gears, High Speed TCC Lock, High Gears, Low Speed IAC Park Position IAC Park or Neutral Offset Idle RPM Adder - A/C On Maximum BLM Value Minimum BLM Value Minimum Integrator Value Maximum Integrator Value Stoichiometric AFR PROM ID Tables: ECM Switch Table ECM Constant Table Main Spark Table Cool Compensation Spark Advance Power Enrichment Spark (Deg) Highway Mode Spark Advance Vs. Vacuum Max Knock Retard Vs. RPM (in PE) Max Knock Retard Vs. MAP Main Fuel Table #1, % Volumetric Efficiency Main Fuel Table #2, % Volumetric. Efficiency Adder % TPS Threshold Vs. RPM for PE Mode Power Enrichment Air Fuel Ratio Vs. RPM Accel. Enrichment Vs. Differential TPS Accel. Enrichment Vs. Differential MAP Open Loop Air Fuel Ratio Vs. Coolant Temp. Air Fuel Ratio at Startup Vs. Cool. Temp. (Choke) Open Loop Air Fuel Ratio Vs. MAP Choke Air Fuel Ratio Multiplier Vs. Coolant Temp. Crank Air Fuel Ratio Vs. Coolant Temp. BLM Cell RPM Boundaries BLM Cell MAP Boundaries IAC Steps Vs. Coolant Temp. Target Idle RPM Vs. Coolant Temp. EGR Spark Advance Vs. % EGR % EGR Vs. Load Vs. RPM EGR Correction Vs. Load Vs. EGR Duty Cycle BPW Constant Vs. Air Flow Vs. EGR D.C. TCC Load Upper Limit vs MPH, (Low Gears) TCC Load Lower Limit Vs. MPH, (Low Gears) TCC Load Upper Limit vs MPH, (High Gear) TCC Load Lower Limit vs MPH, (High Gear)

Shouldn't this be in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum?

Sounds like the Romulator (I just *love* that name, don't you?) is a system of this type. To use it you remove your existing EPROM and plug in the adapter, plug the box into the adapter, plug the PC into the box, load the Tunercat software with the appropriate mask and .bin files. Some of the guys at ThirdGen have reported that the changes take "a second or two" while driving down the road (or actually pulled over, I hope). One individual (ski_dwn_it) has a '7148 ECM (the $31 mask, very similar to my 7747 ECM w/ the $42 mask), posted (and note that he's using 2 laptops, which isn't necessary if you have 2 serial ports, and may not even be necessary if you have only one): Once you've made changes to your satisfaction, you burn the finalized chip. Of course, you still need a burner and EPROMS and whatnot, but the Tunercat software saves a burn-ready .bin file. I've been struggling with a tip-in problem, and have managed to go too rich / too lean back and forth several times. Half of the problem is the long lead-time between changes - half an hour at the very least, usually the next day. I'm kind of sneaking up on it, but with one of these things I think I can zero in on it in a matter of a couple of hours. Plus, maybe get the idle stabilized....

What's a "PCM simulator"?