Enlight

I just realized I had never shared the the dyno results in this thread:

How do you like Pennzoil Ultra Platinum? I have an IAG block and they recommend Motul 8100 X-cess 5w-40, but PUP has great reviews at less than half the price.

I originally wanted to use the oil cooler's coolant supply nipple (see above) at the block heater plug location, but they are different sizes. The former is 24mm IIRC and the latter is 36mm, so I had to look for a different location for the hydronic heater's return. After looking at the water pump, the cabin heater return line (5/8") is also pretty ideal, even though the hydronic heater's return is 3/4". This still creates the longest circuit with the supply and return being on either side of the thermostat. It's actually kind of elegant in that no inline thermostats need to be installed. I also get to keep my OE block heater for redundancy. I will be using a Y- instead of T-fitting to help smoothen flow.

Merry Christmas all! Had a quiet day today after last night's big family and friends dinner so I started work on installing the pre-heater. But the day before, the graphic designer for the shop that botched my vinyl job went above and beyond and helped correct their work. We spent 7 hours peeling off the old vinyl and applying the new stuff. The prints are now properly sized and the window perforations have the proper 60% coverage. I chose to mount the heater on the driver-side front frame rail, probably the last part of the car that needs more weight. The heater itself is a hair under 5 lbs. I welded one side of the included bracket to the frame rail. Not quite "stacking dimes," the welds are pretty ugly. On the other side, I tapped an M6x1.0mm hole. I then bolted up the right side with a standoff and ground down the welds. I used an induction heater to heat up the bracket and gave it a few love taps with a hammer. This was to take some stress out of it. I gave it a good shake - it was able to move the rest of the car. Here she is mounted up. Next steps will be to tap the fuel pump housing and run the fuel supply line. Lastly, I threw on my new Sunbrella fabric car cover for the first time. My last one from California Car Cover started tearing this year, I think I got about 5 years out of it. This one is warrantied for 6.

Merry Christmas all!

Spotted on Facebook

I would check this aero thread:

I remember hearing about these fuel pump wiring upgrades but was never sure this was necessary at my power level. I'm running an AEM 340lph and now I wonder whether this will help to smoothen my idle.

Thanks for sharing, I've never heard of this happening. What kind of width are you running on your tires? I don't think I'm at risk with 225 summers.

That was a really great episode. The witness paint tip is something I'm going to include into my routine. Jon was obviously having a great time interviewing you, the episode went on for another half hour after he started trying to wrap up. I'm looking forward to the next one. We have a star in our midst!

Cool interview of @Sgt.Gator by Flatirons Tuning:

GLWS, looks like a nicely built wagon.

I've also got a 3" AVO mid-pipe with silencer I'd like to unload. The silencer has a few dents from when I crested a steep ramp. It has a Toyota mass damper on it from when I was experimenting with eliminating drone.

These Deatschwork 650cc's are what I was running for the VF52 before my tuner asked me to upgrade to 1,000cc, so I think it should be enough but I'm not an expert. I will PM you with pictures when I visit my mom's place. Do you have a place that can clean injectors nearby? South Bay Fuel Injectors is not far from me.

@KZJonny Thanks for the shout out! Also, I have my old 650cc side feed setup that you can have for free if you'd like. I know you're looking for top feed but depending on your goals this might suffice. Also, @JJBerk and I will be attending @AZP Installs's 48 Hours of Tri-state this year, we will be headed to Subaru's Indiana plant from Philadelphia. It would be cool if other forum members joined.

Here's an interesting page I found on viscosity vs temperature. Using data from their 5w-40 table (and 0c as a baseline), oil that is 70c (158f) is already 96% of the viscosity (thinness) of the oil at 100c. I think that's pretty comforting as far as over-cooling concerns go. Not telling you to remove the plate, of course. Just nerding.

That's surprising to me, what do you think accounted for such high oil temps? I'm assuming that you went without the OEM oil-coolant heat exchanger? Did you find that your oil temps were below 185f without the winter block-off? Sorry to bombard you with the questions, just interested in what you're doing. I have a much smaller HKS oil cooler that I'll be installing in the spring. This one begins opening at 70c/158f and is full open at 80c/176f.

A BP/BL meet in Japan

+1 to @Infosecdad I had the same symptoms in my 2002 Suburban a few weeks ago. The starter made a slight click but did not even attempt to turn. Other times I tried to replicate the problem she roared to life. Replaced the starter and problem never returned. The starter has brushes that will wear down over time. The brushes can land on dead spots.

Anyone in touch with @Max Capacity or @HAMMER DOWN? Would be great if they joined this year.

I joined T&W Auto for their annual cruise on Sunday. Set out nice and early at 6am and had the block heater turn on automatically 1-1/2 hours before hand. When I started her up I couldn't hear any piston slap (overnight low was 32f). The upper coolant hose felt about room temperature. I had the Long Island Expressway all to myself for a few minutes and, for a moment, felt happy with how far the car had come. No check engine light, cruise control was holding steady, nothing requiring immediate attention. It was a friendly, civilized group and one of the shop owners took us on some local twisties ending in Montauk. I handed out some muFreight material to people who asked. Totaled about 200 miles in one day - just 300 more miles to go on break-in oil.

Don't encourage him, Ty!

I saw your other post about buying the car from Ohio, now it makes sense. Since it's in Florida the rust will slow down a lot, but to be safe I would hose the chassis down with something like Salt Away to remove any residual salt that might continue to eat at your underbody. Next, I would apply some lanolin based undercoating. When washing the car, remove the fender liners in the front and back (and all other plastic shields underneath the car for that matter). The common rust spots on the body panel is the rear wheel arch and the dog leg below the arch and next to the door. If you do all this once the rust will likely halt. I would not worry about the rust in your pictures too much, none of it seems structural. More pictures might help. I would replace that grounding strap that's supposed to go from the frame rail to your engine block. That can cause some weird electrical gremlins. I think I have extras I can mail you (gratis)...

@KZJonny Flatirons Tuning also has a video about the radiator caps that goes quite in depth. I hope it's just a leak around the housing you've got

After some further diagnosing I was able to fix the turn signal. While checking for continuity, I found I I had somehow severed the wire inside the sheathing. Completely invisible to the naked eye. I also disabled the upwards sequential turn signal since it just didn't sit right with me. Installed the relay to disable fast-blinking and also re-tightened my front AVO endlinks with the suspension loaded this time. Hopefully it will eliminate the clunk. If not, I will probably replace them with Kartboy endlinks as the AVO nuts are rounded. My Black Friday purchase this year was a car cover from CoverCraft. I splurged for the Sunbrella fabric so hopefully this will be the last one for Bessie. After reading this MotoIQ post I also replaced the two-way cap on my radiator with the proper one-way cap. I wonder whether this will help my gauge stay closer to the middle, as it sometimes hangs lower than I like.