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tfrasca's 142 Turbo Project

I do have the single piece Aerostar driveshaft in my car, with the smaller Aerostar dampener for the record.

It's a bummer about all the work you're doing to come up snake eyes on the NVH, after all my research, I still haven't found a "smoking gun" in regards to that stuff.

I still don't know if some of the original issues went away or not. The new drive shaft vibration is a completely different problem than before. I don't have very high hopes for those old issues, although the T5 rattle at idle was substantially quieter.

You've probably already mentioned this, but what is your pinion angle? Also how are your torque rod bushings?

My pinion is now pointing up in the front 1.8*. My u-joint operating angles from front to back are:

1.9*
1.3*
1.4*

Those angles are decent, and besides, they are the same as before I put the yoke and center bearing in. And before, I only had transmission based vibes (rpm dependent), where now I clearly have drive shaft vibes (speed dependent, in neutral).

Edit: Torque rod bushings are old, but still solid. I was going to put replace them when I made the rods adjustable, but they looked and acted fine.
 
Hey, stupid question here. Have you checked the runout on the driveshaft? I remember going thru hell after having one repaired in town. Even though it balanced out I couldn't get the shop to understand that runout also plays into vibration. The one they retubed had an end that wasn't centered up, had about .060" runout! They refused to admit it was an issue so I took the hit, bought a used one from the yard from a 760 which has the balancer as well. Dropped that in, vibration was completely gone. The shop wouldn't reimburse me so I ended up just grabbing the new bearing and scrapping the damn thing.

Toss it in the air, dial indicator on the tube right by each yoke and the middle of each run of tube. Should be within .015" max I believe.
 
Hey, stupid question here. Have you checked the runout on the driveshaft? I remember going thru hell after having one repaired in town. Even though it balanced out I couldn't get the shop to understand that runout also plays into vibration. The one they retubed had an end that wasn't centered up, had about .060" runout! They refused to admit it was an issue so I took the hit, bought a used one from the yard from a 760 which has the balancer as well. Dropped that in, vibration was completely gone. The shop wouldn't reimburse me so I ended up just grabbing the new bearing and scrapping the damn thing.

Toss it in the air, dial indicator on the tube right by each yoke and the middle of each run of tube. Should be within .015" max I believe.

I'll check it. Maybe it's always had some runout, but the center bearing and/or yoke is exacerbating the problem. I got under there this morning and flipped the center bearing around, which brought the middle u-joint down a few millimeters. Still had vibes, and I got on it a little bit and the yoke was scraping the tunnel. I am pretty ready to just pull the entire drive shaft and return it to how it was.

At least now I can wholeheartedly say that I hate T5s.
 
Well, I got rid of the new drive shaft vibration. I guess the Spicer center support is too stiff for the old worn out slip joint between the two shaft halves. I put the old center support back in, and shoved a little more grease into the splines, and the vibe is completely gone. Part of me wonders what would have happened if I'd have just re-greased the splines and left the Spicer center support, but here we are.

I can also report that NONE of the old T5 issues have been resolved. If anything, certain rpm dependent vibes seem a touch worse with the damped slip yoke. I'm going to try to scoot the trans over about 10mm to better center the yoke in the tunnel, but I doubt it'll help. I think I'll end up using the old un damped slip yoke so I can raise the trans mount up another 10mm.

Anyway, the moral is this: don't measure your bell housing runout, and listen to everyone who says T5s suck for a street car.

Here's a list of what still needs to be done before the 13th (mostly just to keep me accountable):

  • Install Kaplhenke adjustable rear spring perches
  • Bleed brakes
  • Make another downpipe bracket (previous 2 cracked)
  • New battery
  • 15x7 steelies with 225/50r15 Toyo R888Rs
  • Hope the EZ Electric Power steering column gets here, or else I won't be turning those sticky front tires...
  • 3" shifter extension for maximum ergonomics
 
Well now, guess I probably don't need to check into the BH alignment then if it made no difference. Good to know the Pennzoil made no difference as well. Well, good to know that I don't get to be the one to spend money and find no difference. I do need to look into specs on the Amsoil, see how it does with temperature vs others out there, if it's worth messing with.

thanks for being the guinea pig and actually digging into this stuff man!
 
Well now, guess I probably don't need to check into the BH alignment then if it made no difference. Good to know the Pennzoil made no difference as well. Well, good to know that I don't get to be the one to spend money and find no difference. I do need to look into specs on the Amsoil, see how it does with temperature vs others out there, if it's worth messing with.

thanks for being the guinea pig and actually digging into this stuff man!

I was pretty sure this would be the case, but for some reason I had to do it. I think that if anything, the Pennzoil may have quieted down the idle rattle, but just barely. I may just keep working up the viscosity chart that I posted a few pages back until shifting suffers. Thicker fluid has to help.
 
Nothing big to report, other than having completed another big rally with the DWA! crew. These events are super fun, and I can highly recommend them for anyone who enjoys spirited driving with a bunch of other weird car people. This time Ryan came out with his black 242 turbo, so old bricks were decently represented. In three days, it was about a 1,000 mile trip with a solid 700 of that on some really fun driving roads.

This was on day 1, after driving in a group with Jason Cammisa's bad ass Scirocco, a couple transaxle Porsches, and a few E30s.

HStWBOl.jpg



I did a few things in preparation. Mainly, I wanted to get more airflow to my radiator, since I knew it could be warm up in Northern California in September.

I have had no luck finding a late 140 nose panel with the vents, so I just hacked mine up. It already had a few dents, and a touch of Bondo from the 90's, so I wasn't too worried about it.

5hPym4d.jpg


Once the holes were drilled, I had to make a scoop to direct the air upward toward the radiator. I bent, cut, and welded this contraption together.

xR8gFNp.jpg


Then painted it with undercoating.

s0dv1a0.jpg


It definitely gets more fresh air to the radiator, and it comes in under the intercooler, so it's as cool as it can be. I don't know how much it helps, but it has to do something.

I also wanted to cover the top of the radiator, since about 2-3 inches of it was sticking up into the engine bay, sucking in hot air. I bent some sheet metal up and made this for it.

1fgfAeX.jpg


I want to smooth out the edges where it's welded to the stock panel. I may try to mess around with Bondo for that at some point. I ran out of time the day I was leaving for the rally, so I shot it with some terrible black spray paint and called it good.

I also got some new wheels and tires. 15x7 Corsa Velocita steelies, with 225/50r15 Toyo Proxes R888r. The plan is to do some autocrossing with the car eventually, but I also wanted to try some sticky tires out for the rally. They are insane. I probably used up 1/3 of the tread in this one drive, but the grip was worth it. Since the rally, I've put my Ford wheels back on and will save the Toyos for an autocross or maybe another fun drive. And yes, that's a Polaris Slingshot behind my car. It was rented as a joke for one of the organizers, but people ended up kind of loving it.

qEKHnAG.png


There's always a short dirt section on these rallies, and once again, my car is filthy.

5Uhb8La.jpg
 
Most excellent! I'm really thinking about giving 50 series a try on my Amazon after seeing your car and Josh's 911. Just means I'll have to lower it about an inch to make it look not so goofy. I've been running 60 series for years but performance tires generally aren't available in 15's in that profile.
 
Most excellent! I'm really thinking about giving 50 series a try on my Amazon after seeing your car and Josh's 911. Just means I'll have to lower it about an inch to make it look not so goofy. I've been running 60 series for years but performance tires generally aren't available in 15's in that profile.

60s are nice on comfy, but I like the shorter sidewalls when throwing the car around. I don't know about 205/50 on 15s, though. That's around a 23" tire. Both my 225/50r15 and my 205/50r16 are around 24".
 
60s are nice on comfy, but I like the shorter sidewalls when throwing the car around. I don't know about 205/50 on 15s, though. That's around a 23" tire. Both my 225/50r15 and my 205/50r16 are around 24".

I agree, I was actually going to consider stuffing 225's all the way around, or possibly 215's. Again, I'll probably start running into limited availability on sizing. I really wanted to give the Hoosier Speedster DOT slicks a try but they are a little spendy.
 
I absolutely LOVE this shot:

qEKHnAG.png




There's something about an old car with faded paint and serious sticky tyres under it. Nice. Reminds me of my ute wearing R888s. Overheard in a car meet once "What does that piece of sh|t need semi slicks for?" then they looked under the bonnet :-D
 
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