Mikelly Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 (edited) Took me an hour to find the "wiper" arms to bolt on, and another 30 minutes to find the nuts to secure them to the shafts. Amazing... I'll get to some of the short list tomorrow... Fluids should be done, along with the hood pins by Wednesday. Mike Edited July 3, 2011 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Some updated pics of the windshield and some interior panel cleanup... Yes the shifter clears the fireextenguisher perfectly... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Looking good Mike! Can't wait to see it on the track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 (edited) Finished the trans and motor fluid changes tonight... Thinking I may have to "remove" some oil... showing about 1/2 to a quart fuller than I'm comfy with... I drained all the lines to the oil filter remove base, the filter, the pan and the accusump... Guessing that the oil cooler and lines hold about a quart. So I put in 7.5 quarts, but I'm seeing a little more on the dipstick after start up and run in/check. Figures with a 7 quart pan, a 2 quart accusump, and lines/ remote filter/cooler, that it would hold somewhere around 10 quarts... shows what I know... Oh well... I did add some Royal Purple SyncroMax fluid to the trans and it already feels like it's shifting smoother... Mike Edited July 5, 2011 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Mike - I was wondering if you calibrated the dipstick/tube/pan on the stand to see where it got to the point that it was too near lowest reach of the crank/rods (not really sure what that measurement would be - maybe 1" away??). I've never done an accusump setup, but it seems you'd need to - take that out of the equation (get the accusump full), - run the engine once the crankcase is filled with the amount you THINK it needs, making sure the thermostat for the oil cooler opens, to get all the air out of that circuit, - shut down the engine, and wait a few minutes for drainback to occur, - check the level on the dipstick. - Remove or add oil until it's at the happy mark you calibrated on the dipstick while you had the pan off. Luckily, the V8 Z allows you to pull the pan with the engine installed in most cases, so you could pull it, calibrate a mark on the dipstick the correct amount below the lowest reach of the rotating assembly, and replace the pan. So if you haven't calibrated it, you could do it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Pete, we did all that, and indeed started the motor and let the accusump fill before checking it... I only was able to get 7.5 quarts back into the system and it still seems slightly high by maybe half a quart, but we'll see... fortunately, where the dipstick bolts into the pan, it allows you to get a really good gauge of the depth for the dipstick. A traditional dipstick is to long, so you have to cut it down... We'll see.. I'll re-check everything again... And for some reason, my setup will not allow be to drop the oil pan on my car... remember when you, Tom, Doug and I had to swap that pan previously due to the starter fitment issue? You know, the knockout in the bellhousing? The resulting hours and hours it took to remove the pan? Nothing has gone smoothly with this particular build... Mike Mike - I was wondering if you calibrated the dipstick/tube/pan on the stand to see where it got to the point that it was too near lowest reach of the crank/rods (not really sure what that measurement would be - maybe 1" away??). I've never done an accusump setup, but it seems you'd need to - take that out of the equation (get the accusump full), - run the engine once the crankcase is filled with the amount you THINK it needs, making sure the thermostat for the oil cooler opens, to get all the air out of that circuit, - shut down the engine, and wait a few minutes for drainback to occur, - check the level on the dipstick. - Remove or add oil until it's at the happy mark you calibrated on the dipstick while you had the pan off. Luckily, the V8 Z allows you to pull the pan with the engine installed in most cases, so you could pull it, calibrate a mark on the dipstick the correct amount below the lowest reach of the rotating assembly, and replace the pan. So if you haven't calibrated it, you could do it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Mike, I do remember the pan removal now. I must have been blocking that experience . That pan is larger than the regular SBC pan, so it makes it not so easy to drop. I know I can drop the 6 qt 60's vette pan on my 406 with little trouble. It's so good to see a project come together - I know you must be really stoked!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 7, 2011 Author Share Posted July 7, 2011 Hood latch pins are "good enough" for now... Really Screwed up the rear hatch, but I'm planning to order one from Betamotorsports so such is life... Need to bleed the brakes, fabricate the brake cooling ducts for the fronts, instal the vortex generators, and adjust the rear filler roll over glap in the filler neck... adjust the harnesses... I'm sure I'm missing something else... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) Finally got the heimjoint spacers in for the upper camber plates... was missing two from when I bought these from another member. Ground Control had them instock and they arrived yesterday. All that's left to be done for now is bleeding the brakes and mounting the battery box... I'll adjust the harnesses, raise the idle, which fell when I put the ramairbox inplace, and wash/dry the car. Everything else is done... Man, this is calling it close... We'll have it loaded up today and ready to head to the track tomorrow afternoon... Suspension currently is: Koni 8610 strut inserts set to 1.5 turns from full soft. Range is 2.5 turns from full soft to full hard. Ground Control Coil overs with 300 rear springs and 250 front springs 1 1/8th front sway bar No rear sway bar Camber up front is set at 3 degrees negative with about 1/16th toe out Camber in the back is set to about 2.5 degrees negative with tow at 1/16th toe slight in Tires are Kumho Victoracers in 18X265X35 We also have My Zcar controlarms/TC rods up front with Ground Control camber plates uptop. In the rear I'm using AZ ZCar control arms and camber plates. Any suggestions for suspension tweaks would be great... All ears as of now...Brakes are Hawk HP+ pads on it all the way around on Mustang Cobra calipers with Wilwood two piece rotors. I'm using a Tilton Bias adjuster and Motul RBF600 brake fluid. Speed Bleeders are in the calipers. I have 3 inch brake cooling ducts for the front calipers fed from the MSA Type3 airdam. Getting a little nervous... this thing is going to be a handful. Mike Edited July 10, 2011 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Just remember, you steer it with your right foot. Good luck and Congrats on getting this far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 (edited) Had lots of trouble with the car yesterday getting it ready... It's in the trailer now with the battery on charge. Wouldn't start after I washed it, and over the last 4-5 days I had noticed the battery cranking a little slower... So I'm not sure what's up. I'll have to check it out at the track. Hopefully it's nothing serious, but it was low cranking enough that it didn't want to run driving it up the driveway from the shop to the house... Hopefully it was just a weak battery and the ignition components were just not happy with less voltage. Did manage to paint some pavement "keeping it running" while getting it up the driveway...:>) We're loaded up. I did manage to go ahead and install my brake cooling ducts on the car while I was bleeding the brakes yesterday afternoon. And along with the battery tie downs, I was able to address a few other issues related to the car. we'll see if I get to finally make a few laps around a road course...I'm 50/50 right now. Mike Edited July 10, 2011 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 So that was fun... In the interest of full disclosure... Yea, remember when I said I adjusted the valves... I didn't set the timing againg... So I forgot...Then the battery drained due to the timing drag. Then of course we adjusted the floats because someone mentioned it in the pits today... then the car belched, backfired and caught the gas on the intake on fire... Hey don't laugh, I got to try out that nifty fire extenguisher we have... Yea, so now in the morning I'll get to fix all of the above before I go out... Atleast I know what's ahead of me!! This one is going kicking and screaming onto the track... Thank god we also have the Spec Miata with us... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 So day one is done and thanfully, the car didn't burst into flames during the time in the pits or on track running today. It did manage to cut the rear tires with some tire rub. Tom and I both are pretty surprised at this due to the fact that we have some 300 pound springs and probably 3.5 inches of clearance between the seams Jamie welded and the top of the tire... So much so that during my second session of the day, I had to come in because the cabin was fillin with smoke. The track marshal found FINE POWDERED RUBBER from the treadblock on the drivers side outer treadblock. Couple of observations... The suspension felt great in the 6 laps I drove it. No noticable under or oversteer and bump compliance was decent. The car hasn't been scaled yet, and all I did was a string alignment on it. No shakes, no bad behavior, other than the rears rubbing. It didn't stop well, at all. I'll have to address this with possibly pads or maybe a different setup all together later. Not sure the answer, but stopping was an issue... This car is STUPID loud... Earplugs are mandatory. It also needs a proper dyno tune to baseline the motor. I'm leaving a ton of power on the table. I was short shifting at at 4K rpms, but still. I'd expect a 400WHP car to be much quicker... Def. needs tuning by a pro, of which I am not. The heat today was horrid. We drank a case of water between three of us. And we still bailed early. It was just that hot, and tomorrow doesn't look any better. So we'll probably cut tomorrow short. The Miata did well and Jeff did well driving it. I got to take Tom out for a few sessions to give him some passenger seat time on Summit Point Main. So those wondering, it's back in the car trailer and will be headed home for some work on those inner fenders. And We'll be working on resolving this asap. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Few pics from today: Really liked the seating position today... Along with the steering wheel and pedals... Was very easy to heel/toe the setup. Also very easy to shift the car and the overall ergonomis were very good. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 That's a great shakedown in my books... sounds like you did a great job bringing things this far. Minor stuff now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Mike, sorry to hear you didn't get more time in the seat and that you couldn't fix it at the track. Since you said you'd be bailing early, I've decided to not sweat with you tomorrow. . Sounds like it will be a continuing fun project for you. That thing should be a bullet - get it on a dyno where someone knows their distributor curve, carby stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 If nothing broke, fell off, or leaked, it's a pretty successful shakedown. jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 My first shake down was about 10 minutes on the track and then back in the trailer to address issues. Sounds about right. Congrates!! Ask BJ about his shake down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks for the kind words gang... I'll have some video up later on from both inside the car going around the course, and outside the car from the side of the track... Just gotta get time to get it edited and posted on youtube. I'm really going to have to do some research on this whole "rear fender" issue... Stiffer springs are part of the solution, but I also need to raise the level of the fender so I don't have this issue again...I also don't have much in the line of ride height adjustment in the rear, as the coils are cranked up as high as I can get them... So this really needs to be fixed... What coil spring rates are you guys running in the rear? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 (edited) What size tires, wheel offsets, wheel width, camber plates? Did you roll the fender lips? There is more to this than just springs/height. Don't choose springs/height to fix a clearance issue. That's asking for trouble directly. Edited July 13, 2011 by cygnusx1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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