No longer mom's grocery getter(1991 244)

fisky52688 said:

Im following this project because its cool

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Thanks!

I do have the phenolic spacers for the intake already, I haven't noticed any change really. I know that if you start the car, get onto the highway not long after and continue on your way, the intake doesn't warm up much. If you are doing around town driving the intake manifold still gets hot though just from the ambient temperatures underhood.

I actually have an 87 degree thermostat in the car, but have the 82 to swap in this weekend just for fun. I thought I already posted about it, but I don't see it here... I installed a different temperature switch in the radiator and it keeps the engine temps right at that spot on the temp gauge where it almost always is when cool(the original switch was a 92/87 degree one, the new switch is a 87/82 switch and it works perfectly in conjunction with my 87 degree thermostat). I haven't heard any detonation since, but it hasn't been as hot outside and I also changed the valve clearances. With the 82 deg. thermostat in there I'll have even more room for error, and the cooling fan won't have to come on 1-2 times after the car has been shut down(not that it's an issue). After I get the colder t-stat back in, I might try out the advanced ignition chips again, I have a few to select from. I supposedly have a different ECU chip to try out as well, but I haven't seen it yet.

Regarding engine mounts, I got a couple of really heavy duty ones that are rubber(one side has metal plates going through it, I'll have to take some pictures) and about as stiff as the RSI stage 1 mounts, but won't likely won't ever come apart or wear out. Can't wait to get one of those in to reduce all the slop that's in there now! Maybe this weekend or next Friday afternoon.

On another, wild note, Peter's camshaft in his SPM racecar might be a non turbo version of the ENEM C2 camshaft instead of the turbo version... We're going to pull it out on Friday to verify one way or another. If it is the non-turbo version, he said I can try it out! 292 degree 104 LSA 13.9mm lift compared to my current 280deg. 106 LSA 12.5mm cam... Should wake the car up a lot(it's as big as you can go with the stock buckets), even with the header that will be choking it hardcore. I just don't have the funds to get the header modified right now, and being able to participate in the Chumpcar race later this year is a bigger priority. All depends on what I can sell in the meantime I guess.

I'll be at the track on the 10th regardless, hoping for under 15.5 with whatever setup I run.

Did you upgrade your valvesprings when you did your head? Thats a LOT of lift! I'll be there on the 10th so you have a turbo car to beat

Yeah, it has RSI's 7500RPM street spring kit in it.

No luck on Pete's camshaft, it is the proper Turbo spec one after all... Shucks! Haha.

82 t-stat is in courtesy of Cassandra. Haven't noticed a change with regards to detonation, but it wasn't really doing it much after the fan switch temp was turned down either.

Next week I'll swap out an engine mount, then not sure what else to do before racing other than lightening it a bit, removing the front swaybar and not sure what else.

klr142 said:

No luck on Pete's camshaft, it is the proper Turbo spec one after all... Shucks! Haha.

82 t-stat is in courtesy of Cassandra. Haven't noticed a change with regards to detonation, but it wasn't really doing it much after the fan switch temp was turned down either.

Next week I'll swap out an engine mount, then not sure what else to do before racing other than lightening it a bit, removing the front swaybar and not sure what else.

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**** I need to do motor mounts. Wanna help me so we can race?

harribert said:

**** I need to do motor mounts. Wanna help me so we can race?

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Man, that would be one mega intense race.

Well, Harald's not going to make it out... Oh well, I'll just beat him even more when we go out next.

Header has been shortened! Car feels and sounds smoother. Likely just my imagination.

Doing an oil change, swapping the passenger side motor mount(did the driver's side with something almost rock hard last week), putting smaller and lighter wheels on, maybe taking out a couple more things and then HEADING TO THE TRACK!!!

I reset the ECU a couple nights ago thinking I was going to put some miles on the car, but I ended up deciding to leave it at RSI overnight so they could do the header. It's in the 11s at WOT and I still have about a 1/4 tank, so I'm going to do a bit of driving to help it learn to lean out a bit more before heading there.

14s? Nah, probably a 15.2/3. We'll see what we can do!

updates? I like this thread

What header are you running? I have a hard time justifying 700 bucks for a stahl.

Heh, nothing to update... Still need to get a fine tuned ECU chip and am on the hunt for an H cam again. EZK could use some fine tuning as well, but I think I'd have to get my hands on something to program it myself.

Still don't have Ben's geometry correction spacers in... I think I'm going to put them in with the standard steering, just because my power steering pump seems to whine enough as it is and keep the extra load off the engine. Last month was a rush to get a Chumpcar ready, so I didn't touch this car. I have another car in the garage that I need to fix and sell, so that has higher priority now too.

Did a track day in it in September, kicked some butt. Swapped some PBR Ultimates back in the front for that. My rotors are starting to get thin though... The Ultimates eat them as fast as they dust up the wheels. But they sure work well!!!




Never got out to the drag strip again, too busy and nothing done to make it any faster.


I'm running a KG Trimning(also sold at Timos Motors and other places) Type1 that I had modified by RSI. The secondaries are shortened to match an H cam's preferred setup.

If I were to get a header again and not go fully custom, I'd get one from Timos motors, the Type 2, not this tiny Type 1 that I have. Should even be cheaper than the Stahl after shipping, I think?

The track mantra is: Run your best pads on the cheapest rotors you can find. Replace rotors every day.

Heh, yeah, they're not that expensive(even the Brembos) compared with some of the newer cars today... I got 33k or so out of the first set of Ultimates, put new rotors on then and have put another 10k+ since then. They're probably somewhere around recommended minimum thickness now.

klr142 said:

Heh, yeah, they're not that expensive(even the Brembos) compared with some of the newer cars today... I got 33k or so out of the first set of Ultimates, put new rotors on then and have put another 10k+ since then. They're probably somewhere around recommended minimum thickness now.

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If you do track days more frequently, and start running some aggressive pads at the track and only at the track, you will want to invest in a stock of rotors. The pads last a long time, but they eat through rotors like giant sharks eat douche bags.

It's nice and easy to change all of them out though, so it's not really a big hassle.

I'm struggling with Ben's roll correction spacers - actually, just one side, I haven't touched the other yet after a couple hours of messing around. I've also noticed that there are a couple spots of surface rust forming on these plated pieces after sitting in my car's trunk for a couple months...

The spacer/balljoint holder is larger than the stock one on the outside edge so it can be an interference fit with the outside lip of the spindle. The stock setup leaves a couple mm of clearance there... So, since I couldn't get more than one bolt hole to line up at a time(even after grinding away the paint on the strut ), I ground away the outside of the spacer to give more clearance to that lip. Now that they're closer to the stock dimensions things are a little better, but I still can't get all four bolts screwed in without them grinding on the side of their bolt holes in the spacer.

Next step, get out the drill and try to enlarge the three holes that are smaller than the fourth. The drill bits aren't up to the task and struggle struggle struggle. The bolts sitting up against the spacer will just help keep them from rattling loose. I'm just going to run it as is for now because I don't want to be here all night.

I think I'm just going to bolt them up and roll with it for now. After running them for a while and getting a better drill bit I'll pull them and get them plated again or something.

Do the holes not line up or is your brake shield in the way? I had that issue with the ball joints getting in the way of it.

Also, that does not make me happy if they're starting to rust.

Another install tip(after you get the 4 bolts to go in to start with!) would be to slip[ the tie rod end through the spacer before you mount the spacer to the bottom of the strut for the last time. Otherwise, you'll have to raise the suspension(stock length struts, anyway)to get it started in the hole.
For those that were wondering if you'd need an alignment or why, afterwards, it's because the steering arm is closer to the inside of the car thus making for more toe out. The hole appears to be in alignment with the original(both are angled) so people can install a bolt through both if wanted. I think there was discussion about that, anyway.

scottyd said:

Do the holes not line up or is your brake shield in the way? I had that issue with the ball joints getting in the way of it.

Also, that does not make me happy if they're starting to rust.

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Brake shields have been gone for years. The holes don't line up. I'm not sure what you mean about the balljoint getting in the way?

And NO JOKE!

klr142 said:

The spacer/balljoint holder is larger than the stock one on the outside edge so it can be an interference fit with the outside lip of the spindle. The stock setup leaves a couple mm of clearance there... So, since I couldn't get more than one bolt hole to line up at a time(even after grinding away the paint on the strut ), I ground away the outside of the spacer to give more clearance to that lip. Now that they're closer to the stock dimensions things are a little better, but I still can't get all four bolts screwed in without them grinding on the side of their bolt holes in the spacer.

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I had to do the same to get them to fit. Threading all 4 bolts in as far as possible before letting the spacer seat into the spindle helped some. If I take them apart again, I may enlarge the problem bolt holes slightly.

wennstroma said:

I had to do the same to get them to fit. Threading all 4 bolts in as far as possible before letting the spacer seat into the spindle helped some. If I take them apart again, I may enlarge the problem bolt holes slightly.

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Thanks, I hadn't heard of anyone else having any clearance issues either except Adrian after talking to him. He got away with just taking the paint/undercoating off there though, no modifying the spacer. And yeah, that's how I installed them for now, definitely helps a bit instead of trying to start them with the spacer all the way up in place.

My toe was WAY off, as expected. We also had to loosen the bolt on the control arm pivot at the cross member to get the control arms to drop down far enough. And we dented in the dust shield to clear the ball joint boot, and tie rod too perhaps.