mws

Reading all the mentions of Herculiner and stuff in JJ's painting thread made me realize some of you may be able to help answer a question that's been rattling around in my head: You've probably heard me mention Frankenvan. It's our monster tow van project - an '87 Chevy Van body with all my crazy ideas released on it. It will be used for the next 20 years or so to haul our dirt bikes and travel trailer around. It already has a 450 lb-ft small block chevy, built TH700R4, 1 ton drivetrain, and convenience features galore - power freakin' everything. It's going to have a very high end stereo because, well, I like music. Not loud (although that will be quite easy to achieve with the power on tap!), but very clean and accurate. One of the keys to good sounds is low road noise. So it is being soundproofed to the hilt. 30 some pounds of damping material on has been added to the sheet metal, and lots of insulation, wood, foam, and dense fabric is being added to the walls and roof. Basically, dampen the metal 'til it's dead, then use energy absorbing materials wherever feasible to absorb what gets in. The floor of a van pretty much amounts to an immense steel drumhead - perfect for amplifying road noise!. And there is about 60 square feet of it, so enough acoustic damping mat is $$$. So far, I am planning to lay down 1/2" of plywood, 1/2" of high density carpet padding, and dense carpet. But I was wondering if coating the floor with brush on liner under the plywood would be worth the $150 it would cost? Anybody do the interior of a vehicle? Did it make a noticeable difference by damping the metal resonance? As much as Dynamat type damping mat? TIA!

You are aware that all that lift using stock track width will significantly increase your risk of roll over in abrupt manuevers, right? A set up like 88's (wider wheels, less backspacing) is more stable. Not saying you shouldn't do it - Many do and deal just fine, but you have to be aware of the limitations if you don't want to become just another tic mark on the safety nazzi's "things to outlaw" list...

What? Avoid MUD? What kind of advice is that? Are you one of those guys who proctice abstinence as your approach to avoiding STD's??? Surely there has to be a better way.... I haven't had this problem (yet), but I'm listening for the future. Mookie - What is a "Piss Can"? This solution sounds quite easy...

Find it yet? If still struggling, clean it again and spray aerosol foot powder on it. The dusting of pure white talc will make the leak REALLY stand out. Old mechanics trick...

Order the Redline from Summit Racing. Sounds like your local "experts" are slinging bull to get you to buy what they have.

One other option: Coat them yourself! I had to customize the headers for my van, so I had Thorley send the headers to me in raw steel. Did the welding I needed to do, and then sandblasted and coated them with Techline's Black Satin shot from a touch up style paint gun. Did it in my front yard, hanging off a tree. Did I mention my neighbor's just LOVE me? http://www.techlinecoatings.com/ Ordered it through Summit Racing.

Well, that settles it, ehh? Seriously, it is a judgement call. Time vs money, you need to make your call. If you absolutely don't want to do it again, resurface. If you don't mind a possibility of repeat, break glaze and go for it. But if you do resurface it, PLEASE have it done by a reputable shop.

If it were mine: If it had no detectable grooving or warping at all and the clutch was not chattering or doing anything nasty before I tore it down, I would hit the wear surface with my 3M brake disk sanding kit, clean it well, and put it back in. This sander is a 2" diameter abrasive disk and mandrel that is clamped in a drill. It just breaks the glaze on the disk so the new clutch disk can bed in nicely. If I didn't have the 3M disk, I would grab a random orbital sander with about 120 or 180. Again, just enough to brake the glaze and leave light consistent sanding marks across the entire wear surface. LIGHT pressure only. Yeah there's a small chance the flywheel was warped and the new clutch will chatter and groan and I'll have to tear it all back down and have it turned, but it is a small chance and I have more spare time than spare money. So I'd rather chance wasting time than spend money...

It snowed again right after he backed out... Sorry, I was too lazy (tired!) to attach an all white picture. And I gleefully accept your compliment!

Typically, most modern Nissans use brackets that bolt to the side of the head unit and then to the sheet metal at the front of the deck. To remove: The plastic surround panel usually just pulls forward and pops off. And then there are usually 2 screws on each side of the deck staring straight at you. Remove them and the deck slides out. But I have never worked on or seen the interior of this model, so NO GUARANTEES it is typical. If the panel doesn't want to pop off, look for semi-concealed screws in vent, ashtray cavities, etc. BTW, it is extremely rare for factory decks to have pre-amp outputs. You'll likely have to use a line level converter or change head units. For another tip, call Crutchfield and ask them how to add an amp. Their database will likely contain info on whether the head has outputs or not. And if you order the stuff from them, they will give you adapters and idiot proof instructions for free. Great company to work with. You can find cheaper elsewhere, but rarely will you find better value.

Here's what snow looks like:

I agree! I think the reduction in drag would more than offset the slight loss in ground clearance.

Hmmm... I'm glad to see we're willing to help even with the language difficulties. My philosophy: If they care enough to try to ask, I will care enough to try to understand. As I read it, the problem is water or mud getting into the alternator and causing two indicator lights to come on? Anybody know what lights those would be, and what causes those to come on? I would assume one is the battery light, and probably lights up because the alternator is shorting internally and ceases output so voltage goes down which triggers low charging light (the battery indicator on the dash). What would the other be? And to get the lights to go out requires "cleaning the sector". Any guesses on what he's trying to say? Clean a connector, or wash out the entire alternator, or disconnect something else to reset something? Safely shielding the alternator from water would be difficult as it needs a lot of air to keep it cool. Energy conversion results in a lot of heat generation so it cannot be enclosed much.

You clueless dorks.... You didn't read it closely enough! It has a 4 cylinder engine with an automatic! Don't you know how rare those are? Sheesh....

Did the generic hose work ok? I flash back to my 65 Ford small block. It had a bypass hose from block to water pump. I tried to use universal straight hose, but it kept kinking. Had to use a preformed hose to get it to flow right. I'm thinking I'll add that to the T-Belt change as a PM item. The 19 year old hose in my baby can't be feeling too chipper. belt, water pump, upper and lower hoses, bypass hose, what else?

I believe so. If you have a crank sensor, it tells the computer when to fire the coil. If sensor is not providing an output, the computer doesn't get a signal to fire, so it doesn't.

All outa 1/4" plate.... all I have is 1/8" which is not a whole lot of protection. Sorry!

Some designs require the fastener to be torqued to yield, some do not. If the manual doesn't say to replace, you can reuse. Glad to see some folks make good use of manuals! They're not just for breakfast...

naked hot chick riding shotgun....

Way cool! Would you be willing to pick up some others and ship 'em southward?

Whatever floats YOUR boat is what you should do! For me, I prefer to maintain a stealthy look. Bright or unique paint jobs catch everybody's attention - including the revenue generato..... er, traffic law enforcers.

For what bike? An XR4? What year? I could borrow the old one back from my nephew to use as a template. Let me check if I have any more aluminum plate laying around. I'm afraid I don't have any 1/4" left after fabbing up fins for all of my nephew's kids bikes. I used 1/4" because, well, because I could! It still weighs less than a pound, but can take some serious on edge wallops. And has. The only weakness is that unless you weld it to the swingarm, you have to rely on the stock mounting bosses. And a really hard impact from the side will likely bend and/or shear those off. We decided to use just the bolts until they shear, and then take it in and get it welded on. So far, none have. The one on my KTM came from EE (Enduro Engineering) and is ultra sweet. Check it out: http://www.enduroeng.com/item.asp?ItemID=1...n&Placeholder=0 If you can find one like this, they are well worth it. They can take a considerable side impact as it also mounts to the axle.

If you look closely at the photo, you'll see I use a plastic version of the 2x4 on my forks (the KTM). Upside down forks are even more of a pain to change seals on so I do what I can to avoid having to!

The sagging pedal syndrome? Yup, know that well. That's why I had to rebuild both MC's in my Pathy last year. It indicates a leak somewhere. If it isn't leaking fluid out of a fitting or hose or cylinder under the car, it indicates a leak around the seal inside the MC. The fluid is passing around the seal from the high pressure side to the backside of the piston. And then it usually ends up seeping out between the M/C and vacuum booster and eating all the paint off the firewall and innner fender and frame rail (uh huh, it did...) or seeps along the pushrod and runs along the passenger side of the firewall and saturating the carpet and padding (as my clutch MC did last year). Lucky for me, in both cases it was just worn out seals and the MC bores were not pitted at all. Which causes the same problems but costs a lot more to repair...

Ummm.... I have. sssh Probably at least a few times before I knew better. And a couple times after.... But I accept responsibility for doing so. I thought hard about what the risks were, and if there was any chance they had been reused more than once. I chose to reuse them once - but I would not do it twice. Each time they yield, they neck down a little more. And so far, I've gotten away with it! But that doesn't make me any more confident I always will. Again, it is all about the risk. Some bolts from a particularly good batch of base steel could probably be reused 20 or 30 times before they failed. But one with an internal flaw? Nyet.