Spent today finishing up some projects that I've been meaning to do.
First the sloppy shifter. So, the Z-3 shift lever is two pieces. There is a lower part (that has the pivot ball) and that goes inside an upper part, and there is rubber filling the area between the two pieces (to reduce vibration). Over time the rubber on mine has worn out, causing a lot of slop in the shifter (even though everything else in the linkage is using hard-durometer bushings), which was just annoying.
A new Z3 shifter runs about $120+ so forget that, let's investigate things:
After heating it with a torch, I managed to separate the two pieces.
Then shaved most of it off, except for the very tip (which I kept there for positining)
Then, got my hands on some 80A liquid urethane (same stuff I used for the Porsche transmission mounts, incidentally.
Then mixed it up and poured it in, and set the shifter in a vertical position for a day until it dried
So, it's back in the car now and feels really good. More direct than it was even when new. So, that was a successful repair for a fraction the cost of buying a new one.
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Second project has been to make a better "trunk system" for rally. Already decided to stop carrying the aluminum racing jack and just carry a scissor jack (with or without impact knurl, TBD). I've always been a fan of the way Brian Battocchi has the spare/jack setup in his Subaru, so took that idea and more or less copied it, with a few changes.
To make it work, I had to lift the spare up a bit, since if it sat flush in the spare well like stock, the straps wouldn't have enough leverage. So, cut up an old ski tuning rack to get some square bar and welded them in:
Annoyingly, I ran out of Argon right as I started and can't get more on the weekend, so had to bust out the flux core...And .035, which is thicker than I would have liked using for this, but whatever...
Test-fit of the larger Federal FedeRallyl tires to make sure they fit fine, they do.
A $15 SFI-certed window net:
On the back end, ran some 3/8" steel rod through the loops and held the rod with a pair of eyebolts right across the back of the trunk, with pins/washers to hold it in. SO this is the "base" of the system.
At the other side, we'll use cable. So got some coated cable and swaged some eyes. This end will hook to an eyebolt up toward the mid-front of the trunk on the passenger side.
On the other end of the cable is a ratchet. So, cut out the original strap and drilled out the original pin that held it, and replaced with a bolt and nut. Now, since there isn't enough clearance to run the eye loop "into" the ratchet body, I had to make up a little metal "extension" to give it enough space.
So, with all that set up, here's the arrangement:
Empty bay (the net won't be like this in actual use when open)
Test-fit with one of my mini wheels (imagine a tire is on it). It will sit upside-down so I can put the spill kit inside:
Then the "soft-surface plate" for the jack (i.e. when jacking on sand or something, need a big base), cut to fit on top (now using one of my snow tires, I was testing to make sure everything fit). Jack just gets stuck on top in whatever position we throw it there in. You can see the net in the "open" position here, with the steel rod attached and only the front left hook open. Since the cable bends, it swings out of the way against the rear of the trunk, entirely.
And then just pull the net over, hook the ratchet-end of the cable, tighten, and everything is held in place securely, and can be taken out by simply popping the ratchet strap handle and unhooking one corner.
So, hopefully we don't get a lot of flats, but if we do this should save a good 30 seconds on tire changes on stage, if necessary, compared to the old setup (if not more). Time is time.....
