View Single Post
Old 07-13-2020, 09:03 PM   #120
IROCZman15
10 Second Club / Meet Coordinator
 
IROCZman15's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Roxbury, NJ
Posts: 2,100
iTrader: (8)
good and bad update:



the good:

-got about 1,500 miles on the engine now and decided to do an oil change since I last did the oil change at 500 miles on the new engine. Got the oil from Brian who was getting rid of the VR1 20-50 that I needed, so I picked it up from him a few months ago. my 1,000 mile Oil looked great when it came out and there was barely even anything to wipe off from the magnetic drain plug. I cut open the oil filter and the filter element looked good as well. nice.














- greased the front and rear suspension. checked bolts on exhaust, converter, driveshaft, rear, suspension, brakes, etc.
- getting car prepped for the big UMI auto-X in ten days. I always try to check bolts and brackets. all bolts and hardware were good. (except one, see below)



The company who sold me the power steering pump in April was kind enough to send me a FREE replacement pump. They agreed, that the pump should have lasted longer than a few months and only 4 autocross runs. I thanked them for this and am very appreciative. I also ordered a power steering cooler (trans fluid cooler). I debated what type of cooler to put in the system, either tube and fin, stacked plate, or in-line heat-sink. I also had to figure out where I wanted to mount it for functionality, aesthetics, and so forth. I am unwilling to mount ANYTHING in front of the radiator, so a cooler that relied primarily on actual airflow to cool it was not going to happen. I read a bunch about the heat-sink style and lots of people have good luck with the in-line aluminum style ones. they are used for cooling transmission fluid and on their own can dissipate heat by design if you are sitting still or there is minimal high speed air-flow (like in auto-cross!). So I bought a DeRale one and mounted it in place of part of the return line (low-pressure line) on the factory cooling loop. securely mounted it under the radiator and behind the plastic air- dam. again, I did not want anything impeding the airflow to the radiator since my current engine cooling system is working excellent. I flared the ends of the metal tube to keep the hose clamps secure. had a small leak at the port at the back of the pump, and I tightened it so it appears to be stopped, but I will check on it again next time i drive the car.















bought a shift light to help with more consistent shifts instead of relying on watching the tach needle sweep. the new tach is dead-on accurate, but it is slower in response tot he digital readings of the sniper handheld. so I think a small compact shift light will help me improve me shift consistency. Did not hook it up yet though...









the Bad:

bought a fuel pressure gauge to ensure that I have adequate fuel pressure at the sniper tbi. Went with the Aeromotive 0-100 psi liquid filled gauge. Also got an earls -8 fitting to hold it. Since aesthetics matter to me I wanted the gauge to be "clocked" correctly and face straight up. unfortunately despite using teflon PASTE the gauge was only able to face straight up when it was not fully tightened (leaked drips). when tightened up enough where it would not leak anymore, it was facing the 5:00 position so basically up-side-down. and this was real tight. if I cranked it anymore I am certain I would crack the aluminum of the fitting. I used teflon paste. Can i use the YELLOW teflon tape instead since it is "ok with fuel" when the white tape is not? fyi, the pressure gauge did read 61 psi which is basically right where the sniper's regulator is supposed to be set (58.5-60psi). while this fuel pressure gauge isn't integral for the car to run, it was nice to finally know that my fuel psi is correct. some people recommend not leaving a fuel pressure gauge attached to the engine due to potential leaks, so I guess I could leave it off and only put it on for future troubleshooting?. Kinda want to have it installed permanently, but it cant be facing upside down and obviously cant leak fuel!








while doing my bolt check, I noticed that one of the 3 outer bolts that hold the front pulley to the engine balancer was GONE!. another one was loose. the center one was tight, but I had a WOW moment. I retightened the loose bolt and tried to replace the missing bolt with one I had in my bin. it was too long, so intead of just setting some washers under it, I cut it down and cleaned up the threads. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it is a 3/8" fine thread bolt?? despite my best efforts I could not get my shortened 3/8" bolt to grab onto the threads. Maybe I will try to buy a proper bolt or a new shorter one. I have a tap and die set, but not for fine threaded bolts. suggestions? Also, these were installed with red-locktite back in february...so ?


...and lastly....
Initally, was having an easy afternoon working slow and unhurried for most of the afternoon. the leaky ps fitting and leak in the fuel fitting , along with the barrage of curious and energetic neighbors, me skipping lunch, and working with the garage door open which caused the sun light to mess with my view, caused me to make a bone-head mistake. Man, if I only had taken a small pause to check that everything was absolutely clear from under the car like I usually do, I would have noticed that the wood blocking I usually put under the tires, was not fully clear. so, when I let the car down with the jack, the passenger side rocker panel was right there.. and it wasn't happy to meet the wood blocks. crack! Damn, just 2 weeks prior to the UMI event, and right before the car show season also begins, I go and do this. Ugh. I know its not repairable, so I am going to look for a replacement GFX locally. I'll probably bodywork it and paint it here at my house; anyone know where to pick one up before I go making a "parts wanted" post in the classifieds?



__________________
1987 IROC-Z - modified


Last edited by IROCZman15; 07-13-2020 at 09:08 PM.
IROCZman15 is offline   Reply With Quote