cygnusx1

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=122877&highlight=unique+whips

We had the same thing happen a few years ago. We lost power very quickly after the strom began. I went outside into the darkness to hear the sound of cracking trees and branches at the rate of about 3 per minute. It sounded like a warzone. We had no power for 5 solid days. No water either. I caught water melting off the roof in a drum and used it to flush the toilets. I used the wood stove to heat and cook. The barbecue came in handy. I have since purchased a 6500 Watt Generac to power the well pump, the boiler, the fridge and some lights if it happens again. I will go filll up the cars with fuel and use a syphon pump to transfer fuel to the generator as needed. The trees will look crappy for about 5-10 years after a storm like this. It's a good opportunity to re-landscape and let the lower growth flourish.

I looked through both the Toyota and the Model A restoration in awe, and then I wondered how marketing can put something as silly as "Unique Whips" on TV and call them talented! MAT would make most of our restoration/performance tuning shows look like "The Three Stooges".

"The secret misfire switch. Sounds like the original Model A engine." LOL

Yeah good idea. Cheese control sticks. Nice helicopters! I can fly them in the sim and land them in one peice 5 out of 10 times, but I would not consider myself capable of flying one yet. The foam seaplane is an Easy Glider Electric and the fiberglass one is a scale model of a Schleicher ASW-28 made by a company in China called FlyFly. The motor I am using is a Scorpion 30mm series (looks like a hacker though). It's only 3.2oz and capable of 400 watts. That's over 1/2 a horsepower for all you fuel guys!

After working on the Z for so many years, I find the RC Hobby much cheaper! Here are my planes so far. Two are flight worthy and one is under construction. This one carries a digital camera for aerial movies and photos. I also added floats to make it a seaplane as needed. It needs a stronger motor and will be upgraded soon. Here is my new project. 100" wingspan glider that will climb 1000 feet per minute with the motor I am adding to it. MODS: Nose cut off ready for motor mounting: Some videos:

I am a little surprised that this isn't more common. There is a pocket in the crossmember right underneath the lower steering u-joint. That pocket can collect all kinds of debris that can pop up and block the joint at any given moment. I could see a pebble doing almost the same thing. Buzz came up with a good idea. He suggested wrapping some of that foam/rubber pipe insulation around the lower u-joint. That would take up any space where debris might want to collect and would keep space junk out of the u-joint.

Funny, I went to the shed and tuned my cold start values today. It was about 22 degrees here though. All those values on the right side of your chart are blank. Mine are all filled in values that I am using to tune with. ( I guess it depends on if you are using tables or two-point corrections though) If the engine fires up and then dies, you need more ASE or a longer count of ASE (after start enrichment). You should also add some priming pulswidth to purge the injectors prior to cranking. Anyhow, nice vid and exactly what I was doing today, except colder, snowier, and icier, with no flip-flops! My mixtures and timing are right about where yours are too. I am a little less on the advance...about 27. The AE is about the same also.

My most recent file. Street tuned down to 18 degrees F cold starting. Less aggressive than my previous maps but this one should not blow my head gasket. Look above for my engine and MS-II specs here: http://forums.hybridz.org/showpost.php?p=774149&postcount=14 I cant edit my previous posts so I had to put the latest msq file here. CygnusX1 MS-II Dec 1 2007.rar

Cool, I might be able to use that as a downpipe with an external wastegate. Another common misconception is that a roll cage cannot double as an exhaust system. It makes for a nice heating system.

Must have dropped a bolt while working on the motor and forgot to go retrieve it assuming it fell to the floor. Well, I finally found it....the hard way. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=127960

I replaced the ignition lock and key with a Mobil 1 oil cap. Not that the lock caused the problem but I tore it apart trying to find a proplem. Mobil 1 oil cap ignition system will be posted in another thread.

Wow, good call on pulling the motor apart and saving it from total destruction!

UPDATE: I found it. It was totally a freak accident. There was a loose bolt that must have been sitting somewhere on top of the crossmember. Probably a bolt that was dropped and not found. Anyhow, it made its way to the right side of the lower steering shaft U-joint at the steering rack and stood straight up. At the right moment, it shifted over and blocked the u-joint from turning. When I ran off the road and stopped, I steered the other way and the bolt let go of its hold. It was still standing there right under the u-joint! Caused by some stray bolt, exposed to the right g-forces, at the right time. I am thinking of wrapping the steering u-joints with a boot of sorts (or duct tape) because even a rock in there may cause the same thing. Unreal.

At this point there are only a few scenarios that I can think of: 1) Steering lock engaged. (I dissassembled the lock and it seems fine with no way to release if the key is in the ignition, especially in the ON position). 2) Steering column flexed and the notch for the lock flexed over and engaged the tip of the lock or the edge of the lock housing. (unlikely but somewhat feasible) 3) Mechanical bind of the u-joint in the steering coupler area due to compression from braking forces? (possible? who knows, but I would expect that to be a "flexier" feel than I had in the steering wheel) 4) Pebble, or hard particle in the rack teeth (how?) 5) Rack and pinion got into a bad mesh due to excess rack or pinion play. (no play detected by hand forces) 6) Angle of tie rod /^^^^^ to rack and external force pushed the rack into a bound-up linkage state. (lack of rack lube or rack bushing failure?) 7) Rock/stick flew up into the strut/steering arm and got pinched between the control arm and steering linkage. (I see no evidence of this - I can go back to the spot where I came to a stop and look for a fist sized rock that looks out of place)

Not sure if i can sleep tonight unless I order this. http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=23-4498&Category_Code= Are they available anywhere else or is this it?

This was complete mechanical lock up of the steering. There was NO way to bring the car back to the right. I didn't have the time to try steering left and then back right again to see if it would break free. I wanted to go RIGHT and desparately. I got the steering lock/ignition assembly off of the column. For the life of me I can find no way that lock pin could have popped out with the key still in the ignition in the ON position. I can't make it fail with any force or vibration. This is really scary. I am not going to be putting the lock back on the column so I dismantled as much of it as I could. It's probably one of the most failsafe systems you could think of. I am sure "failsafe" was on the engineers top priority list when they designed it. Besides, right after I ran off the road, I caught my breath, put it into reverse, steering left, and steered right, back onto the road! How could it lock and then unlock with no action from the key? Debris between the rack and pinion is possibly the culprit. The rack boots are intact and fairly new so I can't see them allowing a pebble or something onto the rack. You never know. All the bolts for the ball joints, steering arms, swaybars, TC rods, are tight and right where they should be. Even the rack bushings and bolts are good. I still need to investigate the steering coupler bolts but visually they look OK. I hate to say this but it looks like I am going to have to pull the rack and possibly the column. I didn't need another project right now but at least I am alive to fix it. The key will be replaced by a rotating knob for OFF-ACC-ON and a push button for START. OMG!!! The picture in my signature is exactly where the steering locked up! How weird is that??????

My plan of action is to go after all the bolts in the front end to make sure nothing got loose and bound up. So far it seems all fine up front. The next thing I am going to do is what I always wanted to do anyhow. I am replacing the ingition with push button start. The column lock will be tossed or disabled but I will DEFINITELY perform a CSI on the whole system focusing on the mechanisn that holds the locking pin back. I was accelerating hard in 2nd and 3rd over somewhat rippled pavement and the rear wheels were breaking loose. Then I let off and no steering! A few minutes earlier I was "breaking the speed limit" on a tree lined twisty parkway. I am seriously moved by this experience. The bush I went through put a few scuffs on the clearcoat that will rub right out. I CANNOT stop thinking about how lucky I am.

Yeah it was more than scary. At first I thought a left front caliper locked up but the steering wheel would not budge. It did feel springy. It was locked somewhere near center lock and the car wanted to go slightly left. I am now thinking that the key somehow let the steering lock engage. I jacked up the car and everything seems fine underneath. I am going to remove the steering lock and hope it never, ever, ever, happens again! I put the steering lock on manually and felt the steering wheels resistance and it pretty much felt exactly like what happened. I jiggled the crap out of the key in the ON position to see if I could make the steering lock engage in the garage but it would not. My next drive is going to be VERY nerve racking.

I had just did a second and third gear blast of acceleration and when I let off the throttle the steering completely locked up on me! The car pulled me over the double yellow line, across the oncoming lane, through a bush and onto the opposite dirt shoulder heading for a stone wall. OMFG it freaked me out. I just about ripped the steering wheel off trying to steer it back to the right (impossible) while I was threshhold braking to slow it down. I managed to MAXIMUM brake and stop after plowing through the bush about 2 feet from the stone wall. I caught my breath and put it into reverse and it steered fine. I backed it onto the road and carefully got it home with no more trouble. What the heck could have happened? I tried steering it after I parked it and it steers fine. I never touched the key the whole time so I doubt the steering lock popped in. I refuse to get back into it obviously. This is the first time anything like this has happened and I have not done any work to the front end in at least 1.5 years. :shock::shock::shock:

Been there, done that! Whenever you change the oil, get in there and yank on the crank pulley. They do get loose sometimes, and it's usually too late when you find out.

Stock what? There is very little stock left on that car. Even if it looks stock (ratty). Never heard of a stock 76 Turbo Z before with wheels from the future? Kudos, to the L28ET. It's fast on the cheap. I did 265rwhp/300rwt with ALL STOCK injection and a junkyard motor. Just bump up the boost, the fuel pressure, and add an intercooler. Not expensive at all, reliable, and runs like it came from the factory. He sacrificed street driveability for more top end.

Not sure they really work. Did Mythbusters ever test those things?

I know there were mice living in both my shed and my detached garage. The Z gets stored in the shed long term. I brought the Z down to the detached garage for a clean up and de-mousing. I don't know how many were in the Z or where they came from. They will all die. Eventually I will have all locations clean and mouse proofed as much as possible. I am sick of them. Score updated. I took the Z for a ride tonight and no mice jumped out at me. I actually taped the traps into place because the mice were dragging them around and I had to search for them!

Here is the score for the main garage mouse war. Trap on the garage floor: 10 mice + 1 tail (he chewed his tail off to get away!) Trap in the Z passenger floor: ( I left the hatch and windows open for them to enter at their own risk ) 3 mice.