what did you do to your ride today?

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Rettax3
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Rettax3 »

Did some welding on the 'new' '95 Z-26's exhaust this weekend. Had some small holes I hadn't gotten to when I fabbed it up earlier, it sounds sooo much smoother (and even quieter!) now. Probably nothing I will notice from inside the car (I almost took the car out today, but the battery was weak and needs a fresh charge thrown on -I just didn't have time to mess with it), but even just standing beside it it sounds a lot quieter.

I spent far too much time today grafting in the 280Z 'NACA' turbo scoop into the '96 Base BRM hood I got for it earlier too -that is all swapped onto the car now. I'll likely pull the scoop back off tomorrow and put some butyl-tape around it to seal it to the hood, then reinstall. Looks good, not identical placement as compared to the scoop on my '90 'Retta's hood, but very close, slightly farther back and outboard. I still have to box-in the intercooler to isolate it from the engine-bay's heat, and I think I can fab a small plate to direct air from the front of the hood-scoop over to the turbo itself -I was going to use the scoop to feed air to the intake (the short cone filter sits underneath the intercooler, where the battery originally sat -the battery was relocated to the passenger-side of the engine-bay on this car), but I think it gets plenty from the large hole underneath it that accesses the high-pressure air from the fender-well area. I don't have any BRM color-match paint currently, so I'll likely just spray the silver hood-scoop black for now, and use one of those peelable spray-paints to continue the stripe up the hood so it doesn't stand out too badly. I'll try to shoot a couple of pics after I get it painted, hopefully this week.

The punch-list I left on the car after the 5-speed swap, 3.4 DOHC LQ1 conversion, and turbocharging is actually getting smaller! The car is a blast to drive, but the clutch still leaves me babying it a bit, and I haven't really gotten on it since breaking the transmission-mount. :( So, I still have to test that too...


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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ifixalot
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Location: Deerfield Illinois

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by ifixalot »

The 88 always seem to have a slightly soft brake pedal. I replaced the master cylinder and bench bleed it but
it still seems like I could never lock up the brakes. So I bench bleed again after getting a better bleed kit.
After, I took the car out and stood on the brake pedal at a stop sign. It felt better, then the pedal went down.
I knew I had blown a brake line. I nursed it home on the parking brake. I fixed the section that blew out but
I've ordered parts to replace the lines on both sides all the way back. I may as well replace the 3/8 and 5/16
fuel lines too. While taking the driver's side tire off, I noticed I could not turn the wheel. I had to pry the
driver's side brake drum off with much effort. I think I found what is going on.
I have rust between the shoe backing and the shoe material. This causes sponginess. One shoe material has cracked.
The sponginess caused the self adjuster to tighten up too far. So I ordered new shoes and hardware since it is so rusty in there.
After I get all this done, I hope to finally have brakes that can lock up the tires. While under there, I noticed my exhaust
is pretty rusty too. I'll be doing that in the near future also.
Some days I want to get rid of the old cars and get newer so I can do other things besides working on old cars.
I have the $$$ but a lifetime habit of being frugal keeps me from pulling the trigger.


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Rettax3
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Rettax3 »

Drove the Turbo LQ1 Z-26 around, got on it a bit here and there. The car pulls so smoothly and effortlessly at anything under 1/2 throttle, even 1/3, the thing just goes, and looking down it is like 'wow, when did that speed happen?' But, it has some hesitation, or feels uncertain of what to do with itself sometimes past that (especially over 5-inches Hg manifold vacuum), and the times when it DOES figure it out the acceleration is almost violent. The car almost has a temper... 6,000 RPM feels like nothing to this engine, and the turbo spooling-up sounds like metal tearing, or a jet engine singing towards max N1 for take-off, particularly now with the NACA-duct in the hood and the window down. Definitely a fun car to drive. But...
:fool:
Then, the last couple of miles on the way home, it started acting weird, light trailing throttle below 2,000 RPM caused occasional shuddering followed by slow idle fluctuations between ~650-2,000+ RPM. Pulled the car into the driveway, and found that the 5/16 (8mm) vacuum-port on the intake had lost its' cap -the damn cap dried-out and split like a flower-petal! I am so sick of these cheap, crappy rubber caps, everything will get replaced with silicone. The hard part there is keeping them on a positive-pressure port, as they are slicker than rubber, although I never lost one off of my Turbo Z-24...


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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Rettax3
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Rettax3 »

Hit the junk-yard today, not much exciting there. Good sale-day though, so I grabbed a spare E36 headlight (left side was toast, so I only have a spare right). Since the BeeMer lights didn't fully pan-out, I walked through the Chevy truck section, and grabbed the headlights off of an '88 1500 -the four-light option. These are either the same sealed-beam bulbs or so similar to the Beretta Euro lights that I couldn't tell the difference from ten feet (H4701, H4703, low and high beams). I think they will go in the Turbo Z-26, but I will retain the Z04 grill on that car. The egg-crate, especially modded like Jon's with every other horizontal slat removed, looks so aggressive, but I want to retain a little more of the Z aerodynamic look, and I have egg-crates on a few of the other Berettas still anyway. The lady at the counter is starting to recognize me now :roll: and only charged me for the trim-rings around the sealed-beams, instead of for the whole housing and mount. $1.97 each... :cool:


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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woody90gtz
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by woody90gtz »

Maybe the junkyard lady is lookin for some lovin...haha

IIRC Geoff used new truck sealed beams from LMC, but the housings wouldn't work for a Beretta.

I've been working on the Cruze. Replaced the rusty exhaust and removed all the aero underneath and liberally sprayed it all with Fluid Film. The stuff it's nasty, but the people who have used it swear by it...and my body guy says it works. I guess we'll see. It's sad how much rust it's already creeping in on that 2013.


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
aurolio
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by aurolio »

Installed a new water pump and changed the valve cover gasket.


Mkweaver1958
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Mkweaver1958 »

Left work yesterday to a DEAD car.
Jumped it and got home, pulled and replaced the battery ALL good now!


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Rettax3
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Rettax3 »

After replacing the dead-and-cracked vacuum port plug on the 3.4 DOHC Z-26 (and I was wrong -this thing is a 3/8" monster) with a silicone one, I noticed that the TPS had also come loose -it didn't look like it fit quite right either, so I replaced it with a spare sensor. I got everything settled in on it, but the car wanted to idle at 3k RPM... So, tomorrow I should have the time to plug in the scanner and make sure the TPS is reading right. I wanted to drive the car today too -a little bummed I couldn't- to try out my all-new 'Euro' type headlights! I will try to get some pics of those too, I just haven't had time lately, and the car needs a bath too. I used new sealed-beams (uncommon size lights, not a lot of great LED or conversion options for a good price, so I'll start just with fresh bulbs for now), and was able to use the late eighties truck headlight brackets, with a few small cuts to them for rear clearance. The Beretta header-panel (big plastic part that the headlights and grill mount to) needed major mods, but everything is in and feels pretty secure. Two small metal brackets needed to be fabricated too, and it would be nice to make some trim plates to fill in around the headlight assemblies, so that will happen eventually too.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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Rettax3
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Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:34 pm

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Rettax3 »

Got the idle issue straightened-out over the weekend, learned a thing or two I should have already known. The 'spare' TPS I had was from a TBI unit, from a slightly earlier V-8 car, BUT it turns out that while the housing, plug, and angle for said plug is a perfect match to the LQ1, it rotates in the opposite direction... So that didn't work. The previous TPS I had on there is CLOSE -but the pigtail plugs in straight, rather than at a very slight angle away from the throttle-body. It does fit okay, but a thin O-Ring attached to the back makes it perfect. I tried to snap a couple of shots of the Euro-like lights, but they came out pretty bad. The lights actually look pretty decent on the car tough, and once I install some buckets around the assemblies, they should look about right.
EDIT: There, that is better!  Much better pic than the other one...
EDIT: There, that is better! Much better pic than the other one...
Last edited by Rettax3 on Thu Nov 07, 2019 6:13 am, edited 1 time in total.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
aurolio
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by aurolio »

Had a productive day. I'm done replacing the coolant, oil and brake pads, and installing my new falken tires. Then I took my car for a short drive.


EPfiffner
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by EPfiffner »

woody90gtz wrote:Maybe the junkyard lady is lookin for some lovin...haha

IIRC Geoff used new truck sealed beams from LMC, but the housings wouldn't work for a Beretta.

I've been working on the Cruze. Replaced the rusty exhaust and removed all the aero underneath and liberally sprayed it all with Fluid Film. The stuff it's nasty, but the people who have used it swear by it...and my body guy says it works. I guess we'll see. It's sad how much rust it's already creeping in on that 2013.
I've been doing the Fluid Film as well, just shot a whole gallon on the wife's trailblazer. It is nasty, but not as nasty as the used oil I used to do.

There's another product called NH Oil that I have used. It isn't as thick so it sprays easier, but once in it seems to help up like the Fluid film. It smells better too. Unfortunately it costs more.

Yeah it sucks seeing cars rust so fast when we maintain them well. That cruze should go a long time if the Fluid film works.


EPfiffner
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by EPfiffner »

Rettax3 wrote:Got the idle issue straightened-out over the weekend, learned a thing or two I should have already known. The 'spare' TPS I had was from a TBI unit, from a slightly earlier V-8 car, BUT it turns out that while the housing, plug, and angle for said plug is a perfect match to the LQ1, it rotates in the opposite direction... So that didn't work. The previous TPS I had on there is CLOSE -but the pigtail plugs in straight, rather than at a very slight angle away from the throttle-body. It does fit okay, but a thin O-Ring attached to the back makes it perfect. I tried to snap a couple of shots of the Euro-like lights, but they came out pretty bad. The lights actually look pretty decent on the car tough, and once I install some buckets around the assemblies, they should look about right.
FtQtrRgt1a.jpg
The lights look good, they kind of match the separate turn/fogs in the bumper on the Z's.


EPfiffner
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by EPfiffner »

Drove it to work! We got our first snowfall earlier in the week, 1/2" but they put down enough salt for 2 feet. So the car was sitting.

The roads are dry now though, so I take advantage of it. The Beretta is so much more fun to me than newer DD's.


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Money pit Beretta
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by Money pit Beretta »

Last week the fender was pried out. Bumping would have made me take off the hood and that was not going to happen. Not planning to keep the fender anyway. Damaged wheel was replaced. Need to do a few more things this weekend and then its off to the shop for the control arm replacement. Just don't feel up to doing it myself.
Oh yeah, sat on the mirror and bounced a few times and the damn thing is right where is needs to be. Straight and level. Who would have guessed.


keep'em flying!
sspaulding
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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Post by sspaulding »

did a wet sand and polish to my headlights yesterday. they were getting pretty yellow, so went up to 1500 on a wet sand and then used a plastic polish with a cotton bit attached to an air die grinder and came out pretty damn nice.

Image
Image


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