I had to drive about 150 miles today. I let go of the steering wheel a few times and the car tracked just fine, maybe just a slight drift to the right. It does seem to me that when holding the wheel I do have to keep a bit of pressure on the left side of the wheel though. It's certainly not enough to cause me concern, I also know I'm a bit of a perfectionist with my toy cars. All told I'm about $8K into the car and I'm still happy at that amount. It's now got 101,500 on it. I could've bought a lower mileage car for more money, but chances are I'd still have to replace the wear parts I've replaced on mine. It's 23 years old and some shit wears out, no matter if the car is driven or not. Honestly, now I wouldn't hesitate to drive the car cross country. The damn thing is tight. My only concern is still the cooling system in stop and go traffic. It was low 60's today and stopped at lights the damn thing was still heating up more then I like. I could hear the fans running, so I'm going to have the radiator replaced just because it appears to be the weak link. It's funny, I was never much into F bodies, even though I had a '68 Camaro, but I've fallen in love with this thing. She's just the right mix of reliable and raw adrenaline rush rowing through the gears.
Believe me, Toytoy, if you find a way to get that extra .5 or more of caster on the right side (I've gone as high as about 2 degrees more on the right side with no problems) , that will go away. Oh, I also wanted to second your choice on the Flowmaster 80 series for one of these cars. Back when I was in highschool, and I bled Ford blue, I loved the way that LT1 F-bodies sounded with an 80 series on them. I've got a used one sitting around my shop that I'll sell for a low price, but you'd probably spend more on shipping to get it up there; either way, PM me if you're interested. It's got the 2.5" inlet, for the record, and it has one of the internal restrictions taken out. If you don't buy it from me, I'll show you how you can remove the restrictor on the driver's side easily. Most of the gasses come out of the driver's side on those mufflers.
Oh joy, another issue has popped up with my Z. I was kind of expecting this one though....a fuel leak. Somewhere. After it's been run awhile and then sits, just behind the driver's side front tire there's a bit of raw fuel puddling up. I'm suspecting an 'O' ring somewhere (Or something else rubber that dried up while the car was sitting.) Any ideas (And yes, I realize it maybe taking a very indirect route before dripping on the ground) what rubber parts on the left side I should be looking at replacing? Also an interesting twist with the running hot issue...I figured out that if it starts getting hotter than I like I can just turn the defroster on, which turns on the A/C compressor (To keep it lubed during the winter I guess?), and the high speed fan comes on and starts cooling it down pretty quickly. So, both fans are working, However it appears the high speed fan is not being triggered by the temperature level like it's supposed to. I've done some research on that issue and it sounds like a complete cluster fuck to chase down. Have any of y'all ever dealt with this issue?
The AC compressor comes on to dehumidify the air when in defrost mode... I know it sounds weird, but it works. Most cars these days cycle the a/c compressor in most modes, even if you aren't using the air conditioner. Let me look up the wiring for your car tomorrow, and I might be able to give you an answer tomorrow about why you aren't getting high speed on your fans. Also, your fuel leak might be one of the nylon fuel lines that got rubbed into after the years; I couldn't tell you for sure unless I saw it.
Nylon? Interesting....I had no idea they used nylon. I'm used to the old school metal with occasionally some short rubber line. How prevalent was the nylon usage? Like from the tank to the fuel pump? (In fact, does the LT1 still use a front mounted mechanical fuel pump?) Did they do away with the metal lines completely and replace them with nylon?
I can't attest to the full length of the line, but I do know for certain that from the frame to the engine is nylon. Chevy V8s haven't used an engine mounted pump since I think 1986. You've got an in-tank pump, and God help you if it goes bad, because 3rd and 4th gen F-body tanks are a bitch and a half to get out. Toytoy, I looked over the wiring diagram for your car, and I don't see anything that would cause a problem; all I can tell you is that some parameter for triggering the high speed relay is not being met. Since it is possible for the high speed relay to come on, at least we know that the driver in the PCM for that circuit is good. I'll check back if I find something more.
Hey Toytoy, did you ever get that fuel leak fixed? In other news, some of you may remember that I've been talking about doing an LS swap on Jungle Julia's '89 Firebird for awhile. Well, I started a thread about it on thirdgen.org, and because I'm too lazy to post all the pictures and text here (plus, I don't want to hijack the thread and turn it into "Bandit's next engine swap thread"), here's the link: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-lsx/758706-4-8-swap-factory.html
I took it in and was told it was the metal line running along the frame and that the part is no longer made, so the line will be need to be taken off and sent to a repair shop. It kind of smells like bullshit to me. It also cost me $115. The funny thing is....it hasn't leaked since then. They said it would probably take two days (Between pulling it, sending it out, and reinstalling it.) Labor was going to be another $115 + whatever the repair cost. If they're telling the truth, I can't imagine they're going to do much more then solder a pin hole, so how much can that cost? They also quoted me $225 to swap out my steering wheel/air bag/horn buttons assembly. I know it's to much, but since I have nowhere to do it and the chances of me fucking up the air bag R&R, while low, is a possibility with horrible repercussions, I'll probably have them do it.
They are charging too much for all of that. There ain't no way in hell it costs $225 to swap a steering wheel. Look up a video of it, rent the tool from Auto Zone, and pat yourself on the back. As far as the fuel line, I would have to see the damage, but that does sound high. I've repaired many a fuel line on the vehicle, but maybe there's something different about yours.
Meh. It is what it is. I'm about to be $9K deep into the car, but I wouldn't hesitate to jump in it and drive to NYC tomorrow. I'd probably be $6K into it if I did the work myself, but I'm not in the position to do that, so here I am. If I bite the bullet and have it resprayed, I'll be $14K in. I still don't think that's unreasonable. What else am I going to buy for $14K that's not only a kick in the ass to drive, at the bottom of it's depreciation curve, and pretty much restored? I knew going into this it was a losing proposition, I've played with cars almost 40 years now, but this is my first rolling restoration. I guess it all boils down to I dig my car, even if it's not my dream car, and the damn thing is solid as hell. I'd much rather the car was a '61 Impala bubble top, but we play the hand we're dealt. I was dealt a '96 Z28 with a 6 speed. Some folks don't even get dealt that hand, so I'm happy.
Son. Of. A. Bitch. I dropped my car off Wednesday morning to have the fuel leak taken care of. I was told it would be there overnight because the part was no longer made and had to be sent out to a shop for repair. I went online and saw Summit sold the pressure line and return, made by AC Delco available. So I was kind of WTFing. Thursday my car wasn't ready. Friday my car still wasn't ready. I finally got it back today and couldn't get a straight answer out of them as to what the fuck the problem was....or even if it was nylon or metal line. The bill was $450 plus the initial bill of $115 to diagnose the problem. On the plus side the leak seems to be fixed, but I'm calling bullshit on them having my car for 3 days to deal with a small fuel leak and charging me damn near $600.
And a little upgrade for my car....a Pro 5.0 shifter with a Lou's short stick. I did a bit of looking around and pretty much everyone seems to prefer this shifter over the Hurst or B&M, and most certainly over the stock set up. The stock shifter is fine in it's own way I suppose, but I've already had a few annoying issues with it. This set up seems to be more of a "Snick, snick" type of shift rather then the longer throw of stock and the short stick cuts down the throw a bit more. It was about $250 for all the pieces.
Toytoy, I can't say with total certainty that they're ripping you off (they did fix the leak, after all), but it certainly sounds suspicious. I think this is a case of the shop seeing that you have some money and you're willing to pay whatever they charge, so they're padding the bill. The labor estimate to change your steering wheel is .7 hours, and that's if you take a cigarette break halfway through. There ain't no way in hell it's going to cost $225. You might want to ask around about a different shop to start going to. Also, you might want to take it to another shop just to double check the work that they did on the fuel line. I'm curious as to how a repair on a fuel line comes out to that much; I can't think of any reasonable answer, and I've repaired SHIT-TONS of fuel, brake, and hydraulic lines over the years, ON THE VEHICLE, without having to send it out to a third party. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be making some steel-to-nylon sections on Jungle Julia's car to accommodate the Corvette fuel filter/ regulator assembly for her engine swap. I'll post pictures on here when I do it, although that probably won't be for a while. Lately, I've been concentrating on the wiring for her car. I've stripped down the wiring harness on both her car and the donor vehicle, and I've separated all of the connectors and circuits. I've labeled all of the wires for their corresponding PCM pin locations. Spoiler: Car porn I've also got a fuse box out of a 4th generation Firebird to power all of this stuff, with wires also labeled. Spoiler: Car porn
Woah! There may be a Ford in my future... 725 hp Ford F-150 on sale for under $40,000 The thought of turning any dumbass with $40K loose on the public roadways with 725 horse is kind of frightening. Especially in a pick up....that's a recipe for disaster.
John Haynes, famous for the ubiquitous Haynes Manuals, died today. https://haynes.com/en-gb/john-harol...Ye7mb6Gi7IaOvahNPnnCtAKYe6CpW3ZIj_wHwjo2tNWCA I know that whenever I've bought a new vehicle, the first thing I bought for it was a Haynes.
I've got a 2006 F150 with the 5.4l and 150k on it. I need to replace the spark plugs, coils and throttle body already due to codes. Anything else I should look at while I'm replacing these parts? Hoses and belts look fine.
truefully don't do the plugs unless you really have to. they have special kits out for those plugs because they break off in the head so much.