That's... cheap.
Given that I am now acutely aware that I need new rear shocks, I am curious as to the overall length of the Group 4 shocks. And if they have a circlip groove for a spring perch.
That's... cheap.
Given that I am now acutely aware that I need new rear shocks, I am curious as to the overall length of the Group 4 shocks. And if they have a circlip groove for a spring perch.
Knurled. said:That's... cheap.
Given that I am now acutely aware that I need new rear shocks, I am curious as to the overall length of the Group 4 shocks. And if they have a circlip groove for a spring perch.
you mean the ones I got? I did not notice a groove for a spring perch, but Bilstein also sells a coilover version of these that have a spring seat.
Ovearll length extended is approx 24"
I'd also be interested in seeing the difference in compressed and uncompressed length of these compared to the Bilstein HD's. I think there's only so much more droop to be gained in an e30 before springs start falling out, but I'd still be curious to see it.
artur1808 said:I'd also be interested in seeing the difference in compressed and uncompressed length of these compared to the Bilstein HD's. I think there's only so much more droop to be gained in an e30 before springs start falling out, but I'd still be curious to see it.
look a few posts up. There's a picture of the uncompressed length of it right next to an HD. It's about 1cm shorter, so actually losing a little bit of droop.
That is 4" longer than I can use, dangit. Not without turrets.
Knurled. said:That is 4" longer than I can use, dangit. Not without turrets.
There is a shorter version of these available at Demontweeks for non-turreted Escorts. I assume they are a couple inches shorter but don't know their actual length.
In reply to irish44j :
Non turreted Escorts have the shocks mounted at something like 30 degrees, so I'd assume their damping would be stiffer.
Knurled. said:In reply to irish44j :
Non turreted Escorts have the shocks mounted at something like 30 degrees, so I'd assume their damping would be stiffer.
no clue, but they have the valving rates right there on the site, so it's not like you can't check.
Goofing around a bit. A few weeks ago when i was over at Viet's picking up the subframe, his two drift e30s were sitting there and I noticed the hood was "gapped" at the rear end, to allow airflow better through the engine bay when running at constant high rpms. With the e30 having a reverse-pivot hood, not a bad idea. Also watching Nonack cut all kinds of slats and vents in his hood got me thinking about heat. I haven't had any overheating issues per se (obviously Chris's turbo makes things a lot hotter), but still, can't hurt to cool things better under there.
So, unbolted the rear hood rollers and cut out some blocks (wood) as spacers. Then reinstalled with longer bolts. Hood pins still line up fine, hood still solidly latched. But now i have about an inch gap at the rear end of the hood over the weatherstripping, which should allow heat to escape, especially at idle between stages, without opening the hood. Looks a bit funny, but whatever. Function over form.
Sweeeeet. Just need a Gurney flap to really pull some air out!
People don't give circle track and drift guys enough credit for simple/goofy but ultimately successful mods like this. Who knows better on how to cool an engine than guys with 700hp running redline at 40mph?
In reply to olso3904 :
Somewhere there is a picture online of rallyist rolling the back of his hood up at registration in the early 80s.
Might actually have been at one of the world championship events at Olympus, because for some reason I am thinking it was a Peugeot, and he was doing it on recommendation of the works Peugeot team's engineers...
Any concerns about water intrusion through the back of the hood? Obviously there's already water getting into the engine bay during rain, water crossings, etc. but I know there are a lot of particularly important electronics right at the back of the engine bay.
I am in no way discrediting the idea, I remember seeing jeep guys do this as well, just curious if there's any risk of accelerated corrosion or water getting somewhere that you wouldn't want water to get?
artur1808 said:Any concerns about water intrusion through the back of the hood? Obviously there's already water getting into the engine bay during rain, water crossings, etc. but I know there are a lot of particularly important electronics right at the back of the engine bay.
I am in no way discrediting the idea, I remember seeing jeep guys do this as well, just curious if there's any risk of accelerated corrosion or water getting somewhere that you wouldn't want water to get?
Yes, there is some concern there. Not really of water coming in when the car is just sitting, but of the wipers splashing water into the engine bay on down-stroke. That said, the spacer blocks can be removed in about 1 minute with a standard 10mm socket, and if it's raining, heat is probably less of an issue overall.....so at cooler events or rainy events, I would just take the blocks out so the hood can seal up again.
That said, there's really not much there that I'm too worried about. In wet events water and mud get everywhere in the engine bay anyhow. The few things tht probably don't like large amounts of direct water are already pretty well-protected (like the fuse box).
In reply to irish44j :
If the hood exit is right at the base of the windshield, it wouldn't be a bad idea to tape some yarn to the edge of the hood and go for a drive to see which way the air is flowing. For sure the air will flow out the sides, but you may need to dam the rear edge. Maybe. Testing good.
I've been doing the hood pop thing on RX-7s but my hood's edge is well forward of the base of the windshield. You can pop the hood on the Interstate and it will float up an inch or three, so I know the air is going the right way.
Knurled. said:In reply to irish44j :
If the hood exit is right at the base of the windshield, it wouldn't be a bad idea to tape some yarn to the edge of the hood and go for a drive to see which way the air is flowing. For sure the air will flow out the sides, but you may need to dam the rear edge. Maybe. Testing good.
Already thinking about doing that anyhow, in order to keep wiper splash from coming into the engine bay. The air flow out the sides should be sufficient anyhow, seeing as this car doesn't have any history of heat-related issues really.
I always thought the base of the windshield was a high pressure area and this kind of hood venting (at speed anyway) wasn’t doing much for that reason. I could have that wrong.
It makes sense that it led help at idle.
The yarn test will be telling.
Edit: Reading comprehension is low today. A dam at the rear of the hood would change things
spandak said:I always thought the base of the windshield was a high pressure area and this kind of hood venting (at speed anyway) wasn’t doing much for that reason. I could have that wrong.
It makes sense that it led help at idle.
The yarn test will be telling.
Edit: Reading comprehension is low today. A dam at the rear of the hood would change things
Yeah, I'm not too concerned with it at speed anyhow. The car doesn't have any cooling issues when running hard. It would be more to allow hot air to escape when idling between rallycross runs or sitting waiting to start stages.
I expect the drift guys get more benefit when moving since they're movign sideways and the air pressure over the hood likely differs.
In reply to irish44j :
Would definitely help for inbetween rallyx runs. Our car gets hottest in-between runs unless we pop the hood.
Yawn, not much going on. Changed the transmission fluid to Redline D4 in hopes of quieting down the input shaft bearings, which are annoyingly noisy. Everything I read indicates this is pretty much how all older Getrags get, and guys with G240s say that they've driven with them like this for a decade and 100k miles or more with no issues. Of course, on a non-insulated car with solid mounts, what is probably just a minor noise to those guys is like a can of gravel all the time in this car lol. Oh well...
The D4 seems to have quieted it down some, compared to the "whatever ATF i had in there (maybe Mobil1)," as the D4 seems to be a bit thicker. IDK. Some G240s were rated for regular MT fluid, but the two I have are both marked "ATF only." I'm kind of curious as to what the rationale behind that is - was it for fuel economy? Or are there internal differences across diffferent variants of the same transmission. Hm.
Also swapped out my Hawk HPS for some HP-Plus pads up front (keepign the HPS in the rear). STPR has a lot of hills and hard braking out of fast areas, so thought I might want something with a bit more bite and heat handling, especially with the car being more powerful and heavier now.
I did enjoy bedding them in on the dark Parkway tonight, watching sparks fly from the wheels.
Also while at OG Racing today spotted a One Lap Acura TL across the way. Kind of neat.
Today i ran up to Baltimore to meet up with an old-time rallycrosser from a few years back, Brendan Flicker, who still hasn't gotten his MR2 back going again. He was down there for a wedding from Pittsburgh, and was nice enough to transport some used Federal rally tires down for me, previously used by Jon Kramer at SOFR. Kramer forgot he still had them mounted, so I currently have rally tires on his Speedline Corse wheels until I remount them on my own. Too bad they're a Subaru bolt pattern lol.
Saw this sweet Lotus Esprit S3 on the way. Never seen an S3 before...
But that gives me two full sets of matching 15" tires now...one new, one probably about 75%, which I'll test out at the next rallycross assuming I get them mounted in time. Just want to see how this tread pattern does and the car feels with the larger/heavier wheel/tire setup.
While I was up there I stopped in at the pick-a-part yard looking for another scissor jack. Amazingly, of the 100+ cars I looked in the jack was gone from every single one. So someone must have an awfully big stash of jacks sitting in their garage, haha...but that's pretty annoying nonetheless. The only one I found was the weird modern VW jack, which wouldn't be very good for rally I don't think. To make myself feel better, I did grab up a pair of OEM Fiamm horns off of a 90s Mercedes. These are similar to the stock e30 horns (mine long ago died and were replaced with some weaker Hella horns), but the Benz ones are LOUDER, which is nice.
So, I installed them along with a new/dedicated wiring circuit and relay. and tried to position them better not to get mud and stuff inside them.
Then just messed around with random other little stuff. Relocated the window-breaker tool from Jim's door to the transmission tunnel, since the letter of the rules say both driver and codriver have to be able to reach it (though it's never been an issue). Did a few other little things, etc. Nothing worth talking about.
Thank goodness you fixed the horns. They were a crowd pleaser at WMWR.
The OEM jack in any car is the larval form of the fire hydrant. As soon as they sense the scrap yard they fly out to the foundry to metamorphous.
paranoid_android said:Thank goodness you fixed the horns. They were a crowd pleaser at WMWR.
lol....Jim loves the horn. That's why he has his own button :)
In reply to irish44j :
That's sleepyhead's TL.
irish44j said:Also while at OG Racing today spotted a One Lap Acura TL across the way. Kind of neat.
It's over at R&R, waiting on a pair of "new shoes", after sleepydad ran over a nail and killed a tire... which is fine, 'cause sleepyparents are nice enough to look after it for the next couple years; which means it's a "low priority job" for R&R. They're a little bit different of a shop, having started back in 1974, and specializing in Jaguars... but doing "most things" that their customers bring their way. There's an e-type that the shop owner used to track back in the early '80's, before he rolled it at turn 1 of Summit Main, sitting in the lobby "not quite finished".
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