I gotta say, I'm a huge fan

While I was in Utah visiting my family a couple weeks ago I came across something that made me a little sad. This old Falcon, the original 62 that I wanted to restore, had been crushed by a tree. This was the car that inspired my love of patina. 

a moment of silence for a rusty old economy car

One issue I've been battling, as you may know from my previous posts, like Beach Boys of old I've been pickin' up some vibrations. Unfortunately mine have not been as good as Brian Wilson's. On thing I had not done yet was to adjust the pinon angle. If the angles on both ends of the driveshaft as shown below are not equal and opposite, you can end up with some nasty vibrations

Source: hotrod hotline

After measuring, I found the front angle (transmission) to be about 5 degrees down and the rear angle (axle pinion) to be about 2.5 degrees up. That meant I needed to adjust the pinion about 2.5 degrees up. Thankfully that is an easy job with my 4-link rear suspension. All 4 links are adjustable, so it was a matter of removing 2 bolts with the rear end supported, and adjusting the link length until the pinion angle was correct.

After the adjustment, I can definitely say the amount of vibration at high speeds has reduced. I still have some sort of engine related natural frequency around 4000 RPM, but the vibration situation has improved significantly. While visting in Utah I drove my dad's 1996 Ranger with the 2.3L engine. It also had a peak in engine vibration around 4000 RPM  so I guess that's just the nature of the beast.

I finally got started on my electric cooling fan project. It must have been two years ago that I bought a large Ford Taurus (3.8L) cooing fan from the wrecking yard. This fan is the stuff that legends are made of. They say it moves 25,000 CFM and can blow away small children and ferrets, and that the Assyrians worshiped it as the wind god, bringing sacrifices of incense to it's altar.  

When I went to install it, it was way too big for my radiator core. You need at least a 17"x17 area to install this fan. So back to the junkyard I went.

At the wrecking yard, I went nuts tearing into everything, just to see what was there. The Ford Taurus really is a treasure trove of good stuff for hot-rodders. The fan I decided to use comes from a 3.0L Taurus and is only about 14" in diameter. I also found that the taurus has a pretty long length of what looks to be 4ga wire in the harness that passes above the cooling fans. It is 6-7 feet long, so it could be pretty useful if you can get it for cheap. There is also a 175 amp fuse in the power distribution box that could be useful.

While I was tearing things apart, I got  curious about the relay amperage capacity of the Taurus relays. I don't know the actual rating, but noticed that there were two types and one was heavier than the other. I popped the tops off both relays and the one that was marked with "Made in Spain" (on the right in the upper picture) had a heavier construction and the copper current paths seemed much more substantial. Again, I'm not sure if it was a 30A or 40A relay or more, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the "Made in Spain" relay would carry at least 50% more current.

left: lower current relay       right: higher current relay marked with "Made in Spain"

top: lower current relay       bottom: higher current relay marked with "Made in Spain"

The Megasquirt 2 ECU has a few spare outputs which allow you to control a relay or other medium current device. This means that if you had this ECU on your Civc you could set it to shout the words

over a loudspeaker and switch on your green underglow lighting every time throttle position is greater than 80% and RPM is greater than 3800 RPM. Yeah. That would be rad. I'll just be using this function to turn on a cooling fan when coolant temperature is 200 degrees, and turn it back off when it's below 190. Kinda boring, I know. 

With the control side worked out, I turned to the physical mounting of the fan. I found an aluminum fan shroud through Speedway Motors for a 1964 Mustang. this turned out to be far from a perfect fit, but anymore I just count on having to extensively modify any and every part I install. Mounting the fan to the shroud was actually not too hard. While at the wrecking yard, I made sure to grab all the mounting hardware for the fan. Without it, this would have been a really crappy job.

upper mount, back side

lower mount, back side

lower mount, front side

back side view

Mounting the shroud to the radiator turned out to be a little trickier than mounting the fan to the shroud. I had to give a deep tissue massage to some tabs on the sides of the radiator core with a hammer. I think I successfully bent them out of the way without destroying them, and If not, I'll know soon. I then had to trim some "wings" off the shroud, and then weld stand-offs to the trimmed wings which would hold the assembly in place. I realize all these words probably make zero sense, so I've included pictures for your viewing pleasure.

trimming the wings off the fan shroud

stand-offs

stand-off welded detail

Bolted in place

fan wiring harness

A few weeks ago, I found an ad on craigslist for a Fairlane in very good condition and sent it to my old roommate Vaughn (my wife doesn't appreciate a good craigslist find like Vaughn does, she's afraid I'll drag home another mistress). I've sent countless ads to him but apparently this one sent him into a tailspin and two weeks later, he came home with yet another truck. I think he's up to five now. So without further ado, meet Vaughn's 1963 International Harvester Pickup. 

It's a rolling chassis, so now Vaughn is trying to decide which low dollar V8 turbo he should install. Right now it's a tight race between the Chevy 5.3, Ford 4.6 SOHC and SBF 5.0. What do you think, dear reader? What is the best low dollar route to 450-500 horsepower? Needless to say, Grace is excited to have a cousin.

With that, I'll wrap it up and leave you with some pictures I snapped on my Sunday afternoon walk.

The drawer of Jeremy

Today is all about finishing what you start. It's something I'm pretty big on. I'm not always quick, which is why a bachelor's degree took about nine years, and a race car that should have taken a summer took four years... But it's almost always worth it to finish. 

The first thing I finished was suspension adjustment. It's not fine tuned, that will come with time, but last week I told you about adjusting the rear coil overs. It made a huge difference in ride quality and this week I adjusted the front coil overs. I was also able to do this adjustment at work, where we have a vehicle scale which meant I was able to do a rough corner balance. I won't get too deep into what a corner balance is but if you are interested in learning more, Grassroots Motorsports has an excellent article on it. In the end I was able to achieve an almost perfect cross-weight without the driver.

Nonsense scribblings in an attempt to find the appropriate settings

Perfect Crossweight: FR+RL = FL + RR

This is also the post where Grace gets her final stitches and the surgery which started over two years ago is completed. Ever since I got her running, I've been cruising around in a Flintstonian motorcar. The floorpan was not entirely steel, and the last hole was covered by the saddest excuse for a floormat I've ever seen. It must have been taken from the clearance rack at The Family Dollar. It was in my Jeep when I bought it. I actually got a discount on the Jeep because these floormats were so bad they reduced the value of a $2000 Jeep. But enough about the floormats, let's talk about a metal cone! 

While I all too often show you my escapades in using the wrong tool or making my own, there really is something to be said for using the right tool. I made this half-cone out of a sheet of metal I got for $5 with a little assistance from a sheet metal brake. 

The whole process was pretty straightforward, as you'll see below. A bit of trimming here, some patching there, a visit to the drawer of Jeremy, and four hours later, I had a complete transmission tunnel. I also had a first time experience: I started myself on fire with a grinder. I've started myself on fire with a welder several times, but using a grinder to do the job was a first.

Finishing the suspension adjustment and tying up the floorpan modifications both made a huge difference in how Grace feels. She's starting to feel like an actual car, not just some janky middle school science fair project. The suspension is now compliant, and I'm not afraid for my life when I see a seam in the concrete, or a Taco Bell wrapper. Closing up the floorpan blocks out a significant amount of noise (don't worry she's still painfully loud inside the cabin at speed) and will allow me to slowly start inching towards having a real interior.

Until next time, stay safe and don't play in the street.

Creamy Peanut Butter and 2-ply Cardboard

If you woke up this morning thinking 'Maybe today Smash Mouth will make their big comeback and I'll get to see them in concert' today is not your day.

But if you woke up thinking 'Gee I hope that guy who writes about using a DeWalt grinder wrote something today' I have some good news and I have some bad news. I wrote something, but it's not about using a DeWalt grinder. 

As you may remember, Grace lives in Oma's garage. Oma is my wife's grandma. She's a little old five foot German lady who tells us stories about being a kid during the Second World War. She always apologizes for boring me, but I love it. I lived in Germany for two years, so I've been able to hear a lot of stories from people who grew up on both sides of the conflict. 

Grace's current home, Oma's garage

I've gotten off topic but to bring it back around, Oma's garage  has carpet and a few things stored in it, so no grinding or welding happens in there. This week was just a few hours of odds and ends.

The turbo oil feed line sits in an area which is hotter than I had expected. The aluminum hose end had a plastic retainer, which as you can see, has not fared well. The tubing in the 90 degree bend also twisted a bit when I tightened the end. I decided it would be best to replace this fitting with a steel fitting for a bit more durability.

In the last installment I showed my speedometer and boost gauge mounted. This week I wired them up so that the lights would work, and added a temperature gauge. I'm still rolling with the extra fancy 2-ply cardboard instrument panel.

The final item I addressed this week was the coilover adjustment. Ever since this car has been on the road, it has had an incredibly harsh ride, and poor handling. While building the exhaust I realized this was because my car had about as much suspension up-travel the Ford Raptor shown below.

In reality, the suspension could compress about 3/4" before hitting the bumpstops, as you can kinda-sorta see in the picture below. The black urethane bumpstop is inside the coil spring. I figured if I adjusted the spring collar, and increased the pre-load on the spring, that would increase ride height enough to ensure a smooth ride. 

The coilover wrenches I picked up on eBay for a few bucks did the trick. It was an intense workout to rotate each spring collar 8 times and raise the car about an inch, but it was definitely worth it. I only had time to adjust the rear as you can see below, but already the ride is much smoother and more confident. When I get a little time I'll adjust the front as well and it will be riding as smooth as the finest imported peanut butters.

rear coilovers adjusted, fronts as installed

Today's update was short, but hopefully worth your time. Keep dreaming of a new Smashmouth album, and debating the important things, like how creamy peanut butter is better than chunky.