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Pop N Wood

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Posts posted by Pop N Wood

  1. Funny you mention that. My father worked for the Union Pacific. I use to carry a UP issued monkey wrench in my Camaro until, no kidding, someone stole it. About 10 years ago I bought a new one from Matco.

     

    Take a look at the link I posted above. It is an internet order place that sells Cresent Tool brand monkey wrenchs for $22 to $63 depending on size. Even the smallest one opens to 2 3/4 inches. Should work for gland nuts. As well as sink drains, drain clean out plugs, etc. etc.

  2. Go to a rental place and rent a cresent wrench big enough for the job.

     

    Another option is find a Matco salesman and order with I call a Ford wrench. It is an F shaped adjustable wrench like a pipe wrench but with solid, square jaws for nuts and bolts. Probably one of the more useful tools I own. Opens to something like 3 or 4 inches.

     

    dmdwrn1r.jpg

     

    Here is a link. Only $22 for the smaller one

     

    http://www.mytoolstore.com/diamond/dmdpage.html

    Pipe wrenches may get the job done by why risk damaging the gland nut?

  3. you don't see anyone growing their own tobacco, do you? :) when it's legal, people get lazy and would rather pay for a prepare product rather than put effort into it.

     

    I live in Maryland so yes, I do see people growing their own tobacco. Trouble is it is a god awful lot of work and there aren't many states that you can grow tobacco in. On the other hand I have read studies that claim states like Illinois have the best growing conditions in the world. I have known enough pot head who were too lazy to throw out the empty domino's boxes from their living rooms, yet some how were industrious enough to always have a "crop" in the ground or under a set of metal halides.

     

    You can't very well legalize pot but keep it illegal to grow for personal consumption. That would be absolutely impossible to enforce. So if you try to tax it too heavily, people will simply plant a few seeds next to their tomatoes and the tax revenues won't earn enough money to pay for the enforcement by the "revenuers".

     

    Been there, seen that.

     

    As for this supreme court ruling, it does seem funny how the conservative court members were all against it yet the liberals voted for it. That is until you realize that the "liberal" members are all court activist types who believe government knows more than private citizens. They believe it is the government's responsiblity to protect individuals from themselves.

     

    Just realize that there is nothing in this ruling to prevent local governments from passing laws preventing such actions.

  4. ...and govt. could get a TON of money by taxing marijuana.

     

    But no one ever thinks of that!

     

    Every pot head I have ever known crows incessantly about that. Trouble is the stuff is so easy to grow that the tax revenue would be minimal at best. And of course, as every pot head knows, there would be no added cost or deleterious effects of legalizing it!

  5. I don't see how any of those devices could reliably predict horsepower. The basic math is simple enough, but there are too many things that could vary to produce an inaccurate result. The slightest wheel spin and all bets are off. Everyone knows driver technique and how well your car hooks up has as much to do with your ¼ mile time as engine HP. The HP estimates can’t be any more accurate or consistent than the measured ¼ times.

     

    The time, distance, speed and acceleration measurements could be very accurate depending on how well made the units are. Hard to believe they only use inertial accelerometers with no GPS aiding. Inertial devices, even the ones military aircraft use, are much much more accurate when combined with a GPS signal. GPS by itself is pretty good. In fact, I have seen commercial differential GPS equipment yield better velocity and position measurements than a full blown, GPS aided IMU used in the B1 bomber.

     

    Data latencies with an inertial unit like that mean they have to use some type of time averaging. That would mean they can only guestimate an average HP over a range of RPMS and not an exact value like a dyno can. I can see where shifting would cause a data hiccup that would throw off the averaging.

     

    I was looking at OBDII code scanners the other day and saw several PC and PDA based devices that predict HP using only engine computer outputs. Seems like a more versatile way to get probably similar accuracy. IMO the ultimate device would be a PDA being fed with an external GPS signal and engine computer data. That way you could correct for wheel spin by comparing engine RPM to speed, then do the same math as the Gtech units to guess at HP.

  6. It is probably the tire profile that is killing you. Taller tire sidewalls soak up the road bumps better. If you are running 17's then my guess is you are also running a 45 series tire to keep the overall tire height down. A 60 or even 50 series tire will not be as harsh on the street. Springs and struts play a big role in all this. But I can really feel the difference between my 60 series street tires and 50 series autocross tires.

     

    Bigger wheels do typically weight more. That is not what you want for a smooth ride.

  7. Guess no one wants to be the bearer of bad news. If your battery box is that far gone and piles of rust are falling from your floorboards, then my guess is your car is in for a full underbelly replacement. The only way to get rid of rust is to start cutting untill you have gone a full inch into solid metal. Take a screw driver and start jabbing at metal. If it goes through, then that piece needs to be cut out and replaced.

     

    Look back through some old posts on the subject. Get an idea of what you are up against from some guys who have gone through it. You really need to get a handle on the rust before you sink too much time and money in the project.

  8. Before you would "take the roof off" you should weld temporary cross braces everywherre to keep things in place. The "proper" say to do it is to straighten the entire car then mount it to a rigid table before cutting off structural components. I have even seen plans for homemade "tables" that can be adapted to different vehicles by simply welding different braces or mounts as needed.

     

    But not many guys do it that way.

     

    From what I have read, the subframe connectors stiffen things up quite a bit. I don't want a visible roll cage either and have been considering solutions like Jon mentioned. But I don't don't know if the braces you are considering will accomplish much.

  9. I think basic subframe connectors might be more better (ala Pete Paraska). They are a proven design that is suppose to go a long way toward minimizing chassis flex.

     

    A long time ago someone posted about a hoop they welded to the back hatch area and claimed it eliminated the paint cracking. It was a long time ago and I can't remember if the hoop went up along the inside of the sheet metal from the strut towers and over the roof line, or if they went along the outlines of the rear hatch. I do remember the guy was from Austrailia. It sounded simple enough and was totally hidden by the stock interior panels.

     

    Your idea sounds simple enough too, but you would most likely need to reinforce the trans tunnel first. The trans tunnel is rather flexible. I don't think it would properly anchor the new braces. I am also having a hard time visualizing how good or bad that type of brace might look. I think I would go for a basic 4 point roll bar and subframe braces first.

  10. Google Dodge Charger and a popular hotrodding article pops up. They claim the SRT8 model does 0-60 in around 5 seconds and 13 in the quarter mile. Those times are not far off what the orignial hemi chargers did back in the 60's.

     

    They also listed a curb weight that is 100 pounds heavier than the boats they made in 68-69. Said there were less than 500 hemi powered chargers made in the first go around. The rest got 318's and such. Guess that explains why the 68 hemi's sell for over $100,000.

     

    With 420 ft-lbs of torque and an auto they would make pretty good tow vehicles. 4 wheel Bembo disks too.

  11. Saw a show on TV that says they will be offering a 425 HP V8 for the Charger. The one they were running had all kinds of 70's vintage graphics.

     

    Don't know. If truely 425 HP that would be one badazz car. Weld the doors shut, paint a rebel flag on it, a horn that plays dixie and just hope for a girl named Daisy in short shorts....

  12. Do a search on this forum. This was discussed in great detail within the last month. You will find detailed pictures and discussion of the spline count of the 240 stub axle , the 280 stub axle, Ross's new billet stubs and the z32 TT stubs. You will also find a great deal of interest in a higher spline count stub axle, so if you actually build one you might sell a few.

  13. That Looks awsome.

     

    But the 180 fan pulls more CFM that's one of the main reasons why I got it it was the highest pulling fan I could find' date=' what's $200 difference when you're talkin thousands+ for the swap. I also personally like everything I add to be new, and then I'd only save $80 right? Chicken feed! ;)

     

    The Taurus fan is probably a great fan though they had V8's right?[/quote']

     

    So you are saying you would rather spend 10 times more to get added cooling power you will never need?

  14. I was going to mention the no floor pocket issue of the early Z's. Retractables from later Z's really don't backfit into the early vehicles.

     

    I was also a little concerned about removing the tilt mechanism from my retractors. However they seem to have multiple mechanisms that make the retractor lock. If I tug on the belts too fast they will lock. Hopefully I wil never know if this is enough or not. But if you can find some in a JY that mount horizontally, then you should be good. Anything was better than the stock units with the lap belt constantly getting lost under the seat.

     

    BTW, I also have a Simpson harness that I used for autocross. I mounted the sholder part to the strut tower bolt, as did most the people I knew at the autocross. This is not a popular mounting point on this site. Most people seem to think mounting to the strut tower is unsafe. Can't argue that mounting it to a roll cage is the preferred solution, but absent a cage the strut tower seems to be the best option. I didn't really install the harness for safety so much as something to keep me in the seat during hard cornering.

  15. 240's had the solid, non retractable belts. I swapped in a retractable set up from a Mazda 808 (many moons ago). I mounted the retractor mechanism on the sholder belt mounting point above and behind the rear quarter window. The nice thing about the Mazda set up is it had semi solid extenders that held the latch mechanism above the side of the seats. Worked out perfectly since the stock buckle would always fall down between the seat and the tranmission tunnel

     

    My suggestion is to hit a junk yard and start looking around for something that will work. The Mazda unit actually mounted the retractor spool in a verticle position. To mount it horizontally I had to remove a gravity lock mechanism in the unit to allow the belts to spool. So if you can find one that already mounts the retractor spool horizontally you will be better off. I know some of the old Volvo station wagons mounted them this way.

  16. I bought a setup with a custom hat and caliper bracket from JSK Innovations. Unfortunately the guy who made them screwed up on his measurements and has since gone out of business from what I can tell..

     

    Someone recently posted that he still actively sells on ebay. sure hasn't been on this board much.

  17. Scottie GNZ did the infamous corvette rear swap into a Z. Do a search and you will get all the detailed expert advice you need. If the thought of spending $2k scared you then stop now. Can't imagine the corvette rear will be any cheaper.

     

    You may want to ask yourself why you feel the need to go either ford 9" or corvette rear. An R200 should be more than sufficient for even a modified LS1.

  18. The "cheap Fram filter" is another urban legend IMO. I have read the "study" above and think most people misinterpret it. There is something to be said for evaluating a product because it "looks well made". But that is not really what I am worried about. What I worry about is how well it filters the oil, and that "study" doesn't begin to address that issue. They even say as much.

     

    What it did point out is the check valve on the low end Fram is probably not up to the task. This is particularly important with my Toyota 4 cylinder truck which has been reported to have valve train problems that are exasperated by the oil passages draining when the engine is off. For that reason I switched to the mid grade Fram filters (Tough Guard) which, incidentially, the "study" above seemed to think well of.

     

    People need to look past the advertising misinformation and learn that brand names don't necessarily equal better performance. Some times all it means is more expensive. Also the "more is better" is not always true either. Changing synthethic oil every 5000 miles on a street car probably does nothing more than waste money and further pollute our landfills.

     

    My 2 cents.

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