Another RX7 in the mix

Evan---how is that pronounced? Short e or long?

Anyway this is what you want in the shocks: 15mm spherical bearings and these trumpet shaped stainless inserts that have a big chamfer so when you are installing between two parallel sides, if the bearings is cocked, the chamfer straightens the thing out and you simply slide a bolt thru...


There ARE extended tops which come on the shocks I supply that look kinda like these I made like 10 years ago:




Wait! Found the real Bilstein extended things:



The idea is that the upper spring seat is moved down away from the body an inch and a half so less interference kinda like this Ford 909 magnesium bodied things I have on my car:



The upper fixing point is so simple it seems odd that it seems like the discussion takes more time than making 4 D shaped plates with a 12,2mm hole drilled in and zotting them on either side of a square hole, then snipping some 16g shaped kinda like this but with straighter sides
And zapping that over to keep the dirt out...

I ain't much of a sheetmetal guy and even I can manage to do that..

The towers in stock OEM cars are no thicker than normal body sheetmetal so it seems going up 50% thicker to something like 090" or 13g would be more than enough and still easier than poo to form, while .125" seems like absurdly heavy overkill..

As I have been saying for about 40 years look at the direction stresses enter things, in a shock mount there's thisaway ^ and thataway V. aka
The strength of metal on edge when subjected to V and ^ is a function of its height. Any tower is going to be silly strong...add a buncha tube intersecting there in the form of back stays, and not forgetting the critical short tube UP from near base of main hoop UP to the backstay and diagonal junction---at the top of this sheetmetal tower and you have an immensely strong structure...

Ya oughtter visit and we can rummage around some of the circle track shocks I have here so we can see if there's sumpin you could borrow to use in mocking up and jigging...

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2012 09:03PM by john vanlandingham.

Pete,
I honestly don't know if it is that important. I was hoping to be able to have it be adjustable enough for anything from paved road courses to the roughest bumpy gravel roads. But then again, I still haven't driven a rally yet, so I don't really know what to expect...


John,
Short E. Like "Kevin" but without the "K."
I do still need to come down. How does this Thursday work for you? Can I call tomorrow so we can set something up?

---

"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know and have so much more to learn." - Claude Rouelle, Optimum G lecture June, 2011



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2012 06:01PM by MeCalledEvan.

Quote
MeCalledEvan
Pete,
I honestly don't know if it is that important. I was hoping to be able to have it be adjustable enough for anything from paved road courses to the roughest bumpy gravel roads. But then again, I still haven't driven a rally yet, so I don't really know what to expect...


John,
Short E. Like "Kevin" but without the "K."
I do still need to come down. How does this Thursday work for you? Can I call tomorrow so we can set something up?

What happened to the K?

Thursday is gloovy. I have to drop off Natasha at pre-school at 12.30 and pick her up at 2.30 then pick up Anna at 3.10 but those are 4 minutes away..

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I guess my parents weren't big fans of K's...

Sweet man that sounds good to me. I'll talk to you tomorrow then and iron this out.

---

"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know and have so much more to learn." - Claude Rouelle, Optimum G lecture June, 2011

Somebody is going to be happy in a couple of days:



They're on the way, sorry for all the delays...can't use the Oh I haz appendectomy excuse a second time.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Hey Jon,
Wrong thread, but once I get a little cash, those are going to be an item of interest for me as well.

I'm finally back from the dead! AKA manufacturing, testing, and competing the Formula SAE car.
So an update on my Mazda:
I got my RX7 driving, and have a 2500 CFM e-fan installed now so the car is much less inclined to overheat. I also have made some headway with the cage. I've bent the main roll hoop and got that fitted, but not yet welded (will post photos in a bit), and have discovered(?) that when I fix the rear suspension geometry, I really should get coilovers to do it right. I finally found a used Sparco Sprint seat that was in my price range. I also rediscovered (I had forgotten) how awful the steering is! Currently saving up for a 2nd gen front subframe/steering rack/spindles and hubs/brakes, which has now definitely jumped up onto my list of priorities.

Lately, I have been chasing around quite a few wiring gremlins and I have some questions that I'm hoping someone can answer.
I've removed the rats nest and Emissions Control Unit from my 7 and am trying to figure out what to do about most of the sensors which previously ran through that control unit before they hit the display in the gauge cluster.
For example, I would like to use the stock tachometer and not have a separate aftermarket unit, but am unsure about how to get it to work now that I've removed the ECU.
For oil temp/pressure and coolant temp, I'm guessing I should just get some aftermarket gauges because the stock cluster is very inaccurate. Does anyone have suggestions on which gauges are good and inexpensive?

---

"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know and have so much more to learn." - Claude Rouelle, Optimum G lecture June, 2011

Look at the Racing Beat sandwich plate under the oil filter to add oil pressure and temperature stuff (or make your own; they're self-explanitory with a bit of thought, a bit of drilling and tapping, and a hunk of aluminum) and gauge-wise, I'd reccomend stuff with electric senders. I've grown to *hate* the capillary tube crap; the tubes get kinked, you can't control how long they are, and so on. I'd reconsider about the stock tach... I'd be surprised if it were very accurate. If you're hitched to it though, it just triggers off of a trailing coil somewhere (no wiring diagram in front of me) so you could fiddle the wiring without keeping any electrical boxes.

Personally I'm using (on a roadrace car) electric sender Autometer stuff for temperatures, tach, and wideband, with a VDO oil pressure gauge as they're the only cheapish one that goes to a high enough pressure. Shift lights are good and relatively cheap too. They also sell normally open switches that go closed above a certain temperature or below a certain pressure; I had a couple of those threaded into the block of the last race motor I built. Screwed into a couple places where I was blocking off oil passages anyway, one electrical side going to ground, with the other side going to a big damn light in the cockpit. Oil pressure goes too low, oil temperature goes too high? Big red light of doom. Got real tired of losing engines because the driver didn't have a spare moment to check the gauges, resulting in some comparatively minor teething problem turning into a much more expensive problem.

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mekilljoydammit

Quote

Look at the Racing Beat sandwich plate under the oil filter to add oil pressure and temperature stuff (or make your own; they're self-explanitory with a bit of thought, a bit of drilling and tapping, and a hunk of aluminum) and gauge-wise, I'd reccomend stuff with electric senders. I've grown to *hate* the capillary tube crap; the tubes get kinked, you can't control how long they are, and so on. I'd reconsider about the stock tach... I'd be surprised if it were very accurate. If you're hitched to it though, it just triggers off of a trailing coil somewhere (no wiring diagram in front of me) so you could fiddle the wiring without keeping any electrical boxes.

I like VDO cause the senders are marked with the range right on 'em.
Not nothing but a sticker on the box..

But what's the concern about not so accurate tach?
FLOOR IT and SHIFT..

You should be looking outside at THE NEXT TURN ROARING TOWARD YOU.

Looking at a tach?

Never heard of such things.......(mumble grumble)

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Well, in the end, that's why there got to be a big damn light for that too. I've actually had thoughts of just simplifying the gauges down to two big damn lights: "shift" and "oh shit". Putting the tach up on the dash helps it get seen a bit more, but maybe that's not the right attitude. We bought the tach a while back though, so it keeps going in new cars...

Quote
mekilljoydammit
Well, in the end, that's why there got to be a big damn light for that too. I've actually had thoughts of just simplifying the gauges down to two big damn lights: "shift" and "oh shit".

Honestly, I kinda like that idea. Don't know if I'll use it though, but the novelty of it seems pretty neat.

John you make a valid point, but I'd also like the info to be there for me to ignore it. Make it an option and not forced. Just for reference if needed.

---

"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know and have so much more to learn." - Claude Rouelle, Optimum G lecture June, 2011

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MeCalledEvan

Quote
mekilljoydammit
Well, in the end, that's why there got to be a big damn light for that too. I've actually had thoughts of just simplifying the gauges down to two big damn lights: "shift" and "oh shit".

Honestly, I kinda like that idea. Don't know if I'll use it though, but the novelty of it seems pretty neat.
.

I really like that too! Two lights and a speedo. I use the laptop/thumbdrive to monitor everything else anyway.

Yeah, especially with data acquisition... sort of "who needs these steeeenking gauges?!" thing. Maybe it's a little different with roadracing where you can at least glance at them down straights but... even then it seems slightly optimistic.

Quote
john vanlandingham

But what's the concern about not so accurate tach?
FLOOR IT and SHIFT..

You should be looking outside at THE NEXT TURN ROARING TOWARD YOU.

Looking at a tach?

Never heard of such things.......(mumble grumble)

EXACTLY!

My 510 has two gauges in it. Coolant temp and oil pressure. That's it! And mine has pistons and valves and shit that could fly out if I got it wrong!

-Dave

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mekilljoydammit
Yeah, especially with data acquisition... sort of "who needs these steeeenking gauges?!" thing.

Data acq? HA! You make me laugh.
My engine is just got a couple Doritos spinning inside peanuts with a carb slapped on top.

Dave, your setup plus speedo and shift light sound pretty ideal to me.

---

"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know and have so much more to learn." - Claude Rouelle, Optimum G lecture June, 2011

I got tired over the years of wondering what the gauges were saying when the engine went away; it makes it take longer to come up with effective solutions. "Did oil pressure go away or did temperatures go up too high? Or were EGTs going weird...?" "I dunno?" "Well fawk, time to start building another one; I'll just guess and throw a bunch of shit at it, maybe one of the things will make it not do that next time."