Winter and all that...
Discussion
So now winter is fast approaching who will be taking their car off the road shortly? I know of at least two, and for me a 5 month break starting this weekend.
I have a few ‘winter mods’ in mind to keep me in the garage a little longer (and the wife thought that the SVA was the end of it but two years on…), see below:
1) Move coolant temperature sender from water pump to new tapping on intake manifold.
2) Drill vent holes in speedo and tacho to stop misting
3) Add backlighting to switches on dashboard
4) Move some switches from the dash to the steering wheel
5) Put an adjustable rev limit switch (3 rev limit positions) on the dash connected to the MSD 6AL.
6) Put wedge plate under carb and possibly a carb spacer to improve fuelling under heavy braking and inlet track length
7) Make ducting/air box to fit around air filter to lower air intake temperature
8) Make and fit a front splitter
9) Replace some of the standard grills with a bigger mesh type
Whats on your list?
I have a few ‘winter mods’ in mind to keep me in the garage a little longer (and the wife thought that the SVA was the end of it but two years on…), see below:
1) Move coolant temperature sender from water pump to new tapping on intake manifold.
2) Drill vent holes in speedo and tacho to stop misting
3) Add backlighting to switches on dashboard
4) Move some switches from the dash to the steering wheel
5) Put an adjustable rev limit switch (3 rev limit positions) on the dash connected to the MSD 6AL.
6) Put wedge plate under carb and possibly a carb spacer to improve fuelling under heavy braking and inlet track length
7) Make ducting/air box to fit around air filter to lower air intake temperature
8) Make and fit a front splitter
9) Replace some of the standard grills with a bigger mesh type
Whats on your list?
Graham
Quote “Would be nice to finish it!!!!!”, you or me?
I have run with the sensor in the top of the water pump for two years without any problems. I put it there as the thermostat housing obscures the normal place which has a blanking plug in it. I had suspected and have since been advised that although I get a reliable reading it will be a few degrees lower than if the temperature where sensed at the top, ie near the thermostat.
Having looked at a few Ultimas I have seen the sensor in a couple of locations, sometimes even in the cylinder head. But another good place (as I have seen on the silver Factory demonstrator) is to tap out a hole in a boss near to the heater takeoff on top of the inlet manifold. Of course this may be specific to my manifold and there are a lot out there to choose from, mine being and Idelbrock RPM Performer. I have even seen this done on American HotRod, the series!
Quote “Would be nice to finish it!!!!!”, you or me?
I have run with the sensor in the top of the water pump for two years without any problems. I put it there as the thermostat housing obscures the normal place which has a blanking plug in it. I had suspected and have since been advised that although I get a reliable reading it will be a few degrees lower than if the temperature where sensed at the top, ie near the thermostat.
Having looked at a few Ultimas I have seen the sensor in a couple of locations, sometimes even in the cylinder head. But another good place (as I have seen on the silver Factory demonstrator) is to tap out a hole in a boss near to the heater takeoff on top of the inlet manifold. Of course this may be specific to my manifold and there are a lot out there to choose from, mine being and Idelbrock RPM Performer. I have even seen this done on American HotRod, the series!
pb3 said:
Quote “Would be nice to finish it!!!!!”, you or me?
Me.
I'm beginning to get use to 'climbing up into the cockpit' !! When this thing finally comes off the tressles I'm then gonna have to get use to falling into it!!
I think I'll worry about sender location nearer the engine installation time.
One or two useful things have come from the American Hotrod series, one good one being when their oil pick up pipe was to close (touching) the bottom of the oil pan resulting in no oil pressure. When the Canton oil pan was fitted to my engine the pick up pipe was very close to the bottom of the pan, but having seen the program Andy made some minor 'adjustments' so it wouldn't be a problem.
Graham
>> Edited by Graham-P on Friday 28th October 13:20
The stock location for water temp on chevys seems to be in the cylinder head and that's where I've put mine (also it was like that on the build CD FWIW). This seems to be a good place to get the temp of the water at its most pesimistic. My ECU temp sender is going into the appropriately sized hole in the intake manifold (Holley MPFI). Should be interesting to see how it compares.
My main job for the winter is to try and find this damn annoying oil leak I have!
Always have a few drops of oil hanging off the adapter plate. Tried a crankcase breather, but to no avail.
Looks like its a gearbox out job to me. It can only be leaking from the seal of either crankshaft or cam.
Gary
Always have a few drops of oil hanging off the adapter plate. Tried a crankcase breather, but to no avail.
Looks like its a gearbox out job to me. It can only be leaking from the seal of either crankshaft or cam.
Gary
my list gets longer every time i go to the car :
1: remove and repack driver seat (sponge has gone )
2: finish leather work around doors.
3: take engine out and modify fuel system for injection .
4: change gearbox oil .
5: remove front dampers and send to protec to be rebuilt with bigger shafts and new damping valves .
6: inspect front and rear suspension bushes and check for play .
7: re-pack drive shaft cv,s and fit new boots .
see i said the list was long !!!simon
1: remove and repack driver seat (sponge has gone )
2: finish leather work around doors.
3: take engine out and modify fuel system for injection .
4: change gearbox oil .
5: remove front dampers and send to protec to be rebuilt with bigger shafts and new damping valves .
6: inspect front and rear suspension bushes and check for play .
7: re-pack drive shaft cv,s and fit new boots .
see i said the list was long !!!simon
My list...
- rear latch adjustment
- rear latch indictator switches
- carpet interior floor
- lift up angle on lights
- rear clip adjustment (very slight)
- interior dome light
- radar detector
- gps unit (maybe)
- fire extinguisher
- rear grill (need to align exhausts first)
- considering coating the exhaust system
- valve lash adjustment
- move oil temp sender to right outside pump
- get AC charged (actually, hoping to do that in the next few days)
- new battery (I think mine has a dodgy cell)
- some fiddling work on the interior
- move swirl tank higher on the bulkhead
- front grill near radiator is loose
- change coolant and check radiation temp sender - its never gone "on" - I use a manual override switch
And probably a dozen other little things.
- rear latch adjustment
- rear latch indictator switches
- carpet interior floor
- lift up angle on lights
- rear clip adjustment (very slight)
- interior dome light
- radar detector
- gps unit (maybe)
- fire extinguisher
- rear grill (need to align exhausts first)
- considering coating the exhaust system
- valve lash adjustment
- move oil temp sender to right outside pump
- get AC charged (actually, hoping to do that in the next few days)
- new battery (I think mine has a dodgy cell)
- some fiddling work on the interior
- move swirl tank higher on the bulkhead
- front grill near radiator is loose
- change coolant and check radiation temp sender - its never gone "on" - I use a manual override switch
And probably a dozen other little things.
Thought this was the start of the winter break but have had to put the Ultima into emergency commuting service due to BMW with terminal gearbox failure. So far so good, but standing water, wet leaves on road etc not particularly pleasant. Have today just fitted a set of lightly scrubbed P-Zeros acquired at bargain price (from classifieds on PH) as F1s were just about shot front and rear. Should be a bit better in wet I hope.
Meanwhile the Megasquirt DIY EFI project is progressing nicely once again - getting the manifold, rails etc sorted out - hope to install this winter.
Meanwhile the Megasquirt DIY EFI project is progressing nicely once again - getting the manifold, rails etc sorted out - hope to install this winter.
One thnig that would be really nice on the rear clip would be a cantilever rear attachment that would lift the lower rear back and away from the car as you lift the rear clip up. That way, you could probably get the rear clip to go close to vertical and not have it touch the tyres. Would make working on the engine much easier.
A 4-bar cantilever system for the rear clip mount would be pretty neat. Making it strong enough to take the downforce from the wing might be quite a challenge. Not impossible though.
I fear you might be hard pushed to get a linear motor to operate the clip. Boot openers are usually rotary devices that operate at the hinges in my experience. The problem with hydraulics and pneumatics is that they require a supply of high pressure oil or air which are tough to come by on Ultimas...
I fear you might be hard pushed to get a linear motor to operate the clip. Boot openers are usually rotary devices that operate at the hinges in my experience. The problem with hydraulics and pneumatics is that they require a supply of high pressure oil or air which are tough to come by on Ultimas...
layada said:Electric Life. Check my web for other bookmarks, too.
Thinking of winter work...
Does anyone know of a make of lightweight electrical/hydraulic rams that could enable a push button lift of the rear clip?
My builder just finished adding Cruise Control to my GTR. I know it doesn't seem like a Supercar item but after a 12 hour driving day I couldn't walk for a week. I wanted something small and inconspicuous and found just the ticket. He also removed my 5 speed G50-03 and is installing a 6 speed G50-20 with a Guard LSD. This should be good for lowering the revs during highway cruising and get me to 200+ mph. The swap was a little more than unbolt one and bolt the other one up. The inside of the G50-20 bellhousing needed to machined in order to fit correctly. Not a huge deal but he did disassemble the gearbox to set it up on the mill. Thanks to Ted and Richard for the advice. I pitched in today by giving the engine bay a proper cleaning as it is wide open right now. We are also changing the gas struts to longer, stainless steel units that will alow the rear bodywork to open to farther.
Brad Z
>> Edited by usagtrman on Saturday 28th January 21:39
Brad Z
>> Edited by usagtrman on Saturday 28th January 21:39
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