Posts by gearhead

  • Aftermarket tire rollup (poll)

    I'm running a Mickey Thompson Sport S/R 26x12x18 on a Enkei PF01 18x9.5 5x114.3 +45mm offset wheel on the rear. Why? Between the tire, wheel, aluminum top-hat slotted rotor and aluminum rear sprocket I remove 18-20 lbs of unsprung weight compared to the stock setup.



    On the fronts I'm running Bridgestone RE71-R 205/45R17's on Enkei RPF1 17x7 5x114.3 +45mm offset wheels. Between the tires, wheels and aluminum top hat slotted rotors I'm removing 25 lbs of unsprung weight up front (12.5 lbs per side).



    With Alpha's JRI shocks, this thing floats over bumps. Great grip, even when cold. Removing 43-45 lbs of unsprung weight made a noticable difference in acceleration and nimbleness in handling. Still experimenting with tire pressures. I'm currently running a few PSI under the stock recommended pressures both front and rear.


    I suspect the MT Sport S/R rear tire will last a long time. Maybe not as much grip as an R2 formulation tire, but better to much-better than stock grip depending on tire pressure.

  • Alpha Supercharger Kit Ready for sale!

    Well, if Henry says that this can be installed with the hood left on, then Imma gonna install it that way even if it's a damned pain... I've had bad luck with stuff like hoods and Harley gas tanks... You take them off and try and put them somewhere "safe" and invariably something falls on them or scratches them or someone trips over them, etc., etc... Once detached from the vehicle these become magnets for misfortune. At least for me anyway... Now, if UPS/FedEx don't destroy the boxes in transit I'll be happy... In my neck of the woods, the more valuable the contents, the more damaged the box... Dog beds arrive in pristine boxes while high-end high-dollar audio gear gets dropped on the corners of the box mangling the contents beyond repair... Go figure...

  • The Skinny on Alpha/JRi shocks

    Not to be taken as a complaint (I love these JRI adjustable coilovers) but it would seem better to use a plastic punch and hammer than the "tool" which was supplied with the coilovers... That "tool" was like a square peg in a round hole... It didn't fit the round holes in the Spring Preload Adjusters nor the Lock Rings. Also, there were no plastic thrust washers or thrust bearings installed between the springs and Spring Preload Adjusters -- which makes adjustment of height more difficult with the shocks installed in the vehicle. Installing thrust bearings is easy on the rear shock, but it was more difficult on the front shocks as the springs needed to be compressed... I guess nothing is simple... Anyway, see the pics below...


    What kinda "tool" is this?


    Can you say square peg in a round hole?


    Doesn't work on the lockrings either...


    Lets use the right tool...


    A round peg for a round hole...


    Fits perfectly! No chance of marring anything...


    I dug out my soft-jaw electrical pliers from the toolchest...


    Fits the Lock Rings perfectly, again no chance of marring things up...


    Uh oh... The front springs were compressed... Break out the strut compressor... It was a close fit -- the PE soft inserts wouldn't fit. I used blue masking tape on the spring jaws and plastic cut from a water bottle to protect the shock body...


    Yay... Thrust bearings installed... Easy to re-compress the springs for reassembly.


    With thrust bearings installed, it was cake to adjust height. No sweating, skinned knuckles or swearing while fighting against the spring -- just an easy flip of the wrist to twist the Spring Preload Adjusters. Also, using the correct shock wrench made for a way easier time... Yeah, yeah -- I know, these wrenches are probably a bit too expensive to give away with the coilovers. But, you could at least offer them with the coilovers. I'd bet lots of people would order them. Having plastic thrust washers or the option for thrust bearings would be nice too -- would save people the trouble of compressing the front springs to install these...


    Again, I love these JRI shocks...

  • Thinking About Installing a Hood Vent - Have Questions

    My 2 cents... I found that opening up the hood vents prevented the glove box from turning into an oven once the Slingshot was parked... The "muffler" and engine remain hot for awhile after stopping -- and when the Slingshot is stationary, the hot air gets trapped under the hood and then makes it's way into the dash and glove box. I once made the mistake of putting my camera in the glove box when stopping at a restaurant. When I returned, I found that the glove box had heated the camera so damned hot you couldn't even hold onto it (yes, the heat killed the camera). After opening up the hood vents, the glove box contents barely get warm after stopping.

  • Annoying engine noise -- query for Ecotec gurus...

    McCaws, RabTech -- thanks for the pointers! These were right on the money. I had also checked the EcoTech forums for similar symptoms and found:


    http://www.ecotecforum.com/for…tops-when-oil-cap-removed


    I had recently installed a small air/oil separator into the breather line to prevent oil accumulation in the intake manifold. It's tiny in-line "filter" eventually got saturated with oil and created a restriction. It only takes a few drops of oil to saturate this type of filter...




    I opted to remove the tiny in-line filter and use some SS steelwool in the air/oil separator chamber instead to eliminate any flow restrictions as oil accumulated.



    Yay! No warranty trip to the dealer!

  • Annoying engine noise -- query for Ecotec gurus...

    Just started getting an annoying noise from the engine... It's in the video below:



    The annoying noise stops promptly when the oil fill cap is lifted. It starts again once the oil fill cap is put back on and vacuum is built in the engine block... It's very hard to localize the sound -- but it's loudest at the rear of the engine.


    Is this going to be an expensive warranty repair? Nothing is leaking... Yet...