[GT4LIFE]

I made some purchase for the 20% off Black Friday with MegaZip today. No plan on installing them anytime soon. The only major part was a new rear right side steering knuckle. I have always had a vibration from that corner, and I believe that rod might have been out of alignment very slightly. I will have to buy another set of the poly bushings for the rear knuckle before installing.

[GT4LIFE]

I picked up some Koni yellow sport rear struts, a fender roller ( I need to roll the rear fender out and up about a ¼″. I also finished soldering up the Jimstim simulator. I feel a lot more confident in my circuit board soldering skills now to take on the actual Megasquirt II board. I would like to go to COP, but I think I will put everything together with the stock ignition components. I think I should know how that goes together before I start adding other parts. I’m stocking up in parts for a Summer install including the rear Wilwood brake system.

[GT4LIFE]

Finally the rear Koni yellow struts (87 2429Sport) arrived. It took a month to get from Andy’s Auto Sport. Good thing I didn’t want to install them any time soon. Just to clarify for others these do not have a turn knob and have to be adjusted off the car. You fully compress the strut and put the upper shaft non-thread part (not the outer shaft that needs to remain completely unblemished) in a vice and rotate clockwise to increase dampening force (the video show him holding it in his hand and compresses and then turns clockwise). The directions say + = 180 degrees, ++ = 360 degrees, and max. ++++ = 720 degrees. I’m assuming that you can rotate it 540 degrees to get ++++ but it does show. I’m not sure but the video I watched from Koni suggest that it is a linear progression of increase of rebound dampening force. They are not double adjustable for both rebound and compression forces.

My KYB Excel-G rear struts are not worn, but definitely were not firm enough. Hopefully the Koni yellows will be a better fit. I’ll start by adjusting them to the ½ way setting between min and max. Really it is the compression force that I want to increase and not the rebound. Even this I don’t know for sure because Koni does have double adjustable struts without the 2nd adjustment were turning it is adjusting both at once. I’ll find out if the Koni yellows are firmer on the compression then the KYB Excel-G. I think they will be. Coming out of a hard turn the increased rebound dampening will give me more control.

Talk about shipping the Whiteline front lower control arm poly bushing finally was shipped after three months. I order it Nov 30th. They will not email you if there stuff is backordered. They will reply to your email if you ask what is up.

[GT4LIFE]

Fedex lost my Whiteline bushings that I have been waiting 3 months for. They probably dropped it off else where because they scanned it as delivered. Whiteline I think is sending out a replacement. They said it wasn’t their responsibility to ensure delivery but that they would honor sending out a replacement. I just said looking forward to seeing the part. It is always the seller who is responsible to ensure delivery. It doesn’t matter if a delivery agent checks it as delivered. It is on the seller to reclaim compensation from the delivery agent and for the seller to make it right.

Really looking at the Turbonetics T3 50 turbo. I’m going to call them on my next day off to see if they have the water cooled 4 bolt version. I call Jegs first to find out which one they are actually selling or if they can get that one since they are $200 less. I also want to see a real compressor map from them.

I’m purchasing a set of the engine mounts from Australia. I’m ordering the 70 duro poly black mounts. I’m also switching out my lower front control arms with brand new Moog ones, but I’ll put in new front Whiteline poly bushings, and transfer over the Whiteline front rear bushings with the different offset. I did get the correct matching lower left front control arm. Moog RK620305 (right) & RK620306 (left).

I switched to Royal Purple 10w40 HP street performance synthetic oil. It did bring my warm idle oil pressure up. I turned down my idle a full turn in response. About a $1.66 more a quart. About $10 more a change. It sounded happier. The only thing I don’t like it is hard to see on the dip stick when new.

[GT4LIFE]

I keep forgetting to post this. The CenterForce Dual Surface clutch does vibrate like crazy over 6500 rpms. I didn’t notice it at all before it was turbo charged, but as I jump up a lot faster through the higher rpms it is pretty bad. I was warned about this from another member on Redlinegti.com, but dismissed it because I wasn’t experiencing it. I can deal with it for now, but I am going to switch it out for something else when I upgrade the transmission.

[GT4LIFE]

I tighten my alternator today, cleaned down the catch can and hoses, replaced the wideband o2 sensor. The new sensor was ½ the price on Amazon. It replaces the Bosh 17025 and is a generic. I have the Innovate Motorsports 3795 DB BLUE Wideband Air/Fuel Gauge Kit includes LC-2 & Bosch LSU 4.9 sensor. The sensor would not recalibrate after less than 10,000 miles.

Replacement:
LSU 4.9 Lambda WideBand O2 Oxygen Sensor | for AEM 30-4110 30-0300 30-0310 - X Series AFR Inline Controller - UEGO A/F Ratio Wideband 02 Gauge | Replace# 17025, 0258017025
Brand: Gledewen $32.99 instead of up to $100.

I calibrated the sensor and so far so good. The readings looked dead on. I also moved my sensor harness in the engine bay to the tower mount to make sure it wasn’t shorting out behind the passenger side strut tower.

All this was good including the lightly squealing alternator belt went away. However the best thing that happened was I tried turning the boost controller up a little bit. I was having such a boost lag down low, but it wasn’t really making sense because what it was doing was just weird. I had the boost controller all the way off because I could not get it to hold at 9 psi which is what the spring should be. What I wasn’t realizing is that with the boost controller all the way off it must have been causing havoc on the function of the wastegate actually staying closed (it makes sense that all the pressure being built in the system was probably slamming the wastegate open and it took the high cfms of high rpms to spin the turbo) and opening smoothly. Before I had minimal boost 1st through 3rd and 4th & 5th felt about normal. A few clicks of the boost controller stabilized the wastegate and now I have boost way earlier in every gear. Holy cow I was happy. It wasn’t boost lag it was the crappy wastegate that is thirty years old. The boost creep now that I’m thinking about it from a different angle is caused by the wastegate itself being in the way of the divorced wastegate tube; it has to go around it to make it into the divorced wastegate tube. Last time I had it apart I shaved the dividing wall down a little and it lowered the boost creep. Now that I turned the boost controller up (on) it didn’t just spike the boost and was holding about 10 psi. I will have to play around with where I want it set. I’m sure if I lay into the higher rpms which what I had to do get boost in 1st through 3rd before it will creep, but I don’t have to lay into to get boost in those gears anymore. It was like a hot knife slicing through butter. Very satisfying after all the work for it to work like it should.

[GT4LIFE]

I’m thinking about switch to more of an actual performance tire. Right now I have BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp 2 (340 UTQG AA A , 20 pounds, 9/32 ) 195 50 15 82 V. They ride pretty well and have last a while now. I’m thinking about two tire choices: Dunlop Direzza ZIII (200 UTQG A A, 18 pounds, 8/32 ) 195 50 15 82 V or Toyo Proxes R1R (200 UTQG AA A, 19 pounds, 8/32) 195 50 15 82 V. What do you guys think?

[GT4LIFE]

I got my 75 duro poly engine mounts today. I wasn’t expecting a poly crush tube. I have a set of stock GT engine mounts that I will press or torch out the rubber bushings. I will then have them media blasted and powder coated gloss black with a bunch of other parts. I compared them to a set of Whiteline bushings I finally got and they feel a little bit harder and stiffer. They are more of a purple blue than a blue. I post up a picture when I get a chance.

[GT4LIFE]

Now I’m looking at Yohohama Advan A052 either a 195/50/15 or a 205/50/15. The 195 s are more expensive. The 205 should fit but are .3″ larger in diameter, and .4″ wider. The funny thing is they’re 2 lbs lighter (all compared to my 195/50/15 BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp2). The Dunlop Direzza ZIII would probably still be a better choice. They’re cheaper; readily available for the 195/50/15, probably little more tread life at 8/32 vs. 7/32, 18lbs, and only .1″ larger in diameter. The Dunlops are $124.92 a piece, and the 205 Yohohamas are $154.44 a piece. The Dunlops are a narrow tire and are .6″ less wide than my BF Goodrich tires right now. That probably would solve my rubbing in the back on hard cornering without rolling my fenders. The 205 I would certainly have to roll the fenders in the back, and possibly in the front.

[GT4LIFE]

I got some new hardware from Thunder Cloud Precision:

He did a beautiful job on these waterpump pulleys. Not to mention they weigh nothing.









Timing belt cover won’t fit, but it didn’t fit with any of my crank pulleys including the stock. I have a brand new timing belt cover that I’m hoping to get an underdrive pulley that fits it.


Roughly half the weight as my standard 5.25″ aluminum crank pulley. It is a 4″ underdrive pulley. I have to check the voltage today, but everything ran great with no battery indicator light. The 4″ underdrive pulley is just under a 3″ reduction in working circumference, but our GT AC belts work perfect for the alternator belt now.