mender

I use Rain-X on the outside and Anti-fog on the inside of the windshield here in the PNW. No HVAC, two rainy weekends and had more trouble with getting water in the MAF than keeping the windshield clear. Air flow is the key.

Top 14 places: BMWs, Miatas, and a SAAB. Oh my.

I usually have the luxury of time so do the twenty cycle thing then come back the next day. Good to know a finesse trick to speed up that process on a partial bleed.

Procedure I've used to bleed ps systems on hot rods after a build (not a hydroboost, never had any issues with one) is to jack up the front end and cycle the steering stop to stop about twenty times, keeping the level up like Infiniti says. Let it sit for a bit to de-aerate the fluid and repeat until there's no air left. You should get an audible response (whine) from the pump each time you hit the stop and the internal pressure spikes. Don't turn hard against the stop, just enough to know that it's there and working a bit against the stop. Mercon V synthetic seems to be the recommended fluid, not ps fluid. Hope that helps. P.S. Just found this: After installing a steering gear or pump in a vehicle with a hydraboost braking system, you may discover odd problems after bleeding the system in the normal way. The problems would be lack of power assist in your brakes, lack of power steering or some combination of the two. The reason is air in the system. Air in the system can cause all kinds of strange problems with the hydraboost system. A manual will tell you to use a vacuum bleed system which is very complicated and requires tools that many shops do not have. Another alternative that we find works well is as follows: Jack the vehicles up so the tires are just clear of the ground. Make sure the steering wheel is centered and start the engine. SLOWLY turn the steering wheel to the right half an inch from center and then left half an inch from center. Continue to do this SLOWLY increasing the amount you turn the wheel half an inch at a time until you are going lock to lock. This process should take at least a half hour. During this process, it is important that the fluid level in the pump remain above the pump casting so you do not introduce more air in the system. If you get small bubbles appearing in the fluid, you have to shut the vehicle off and walk away until the bubbles are all gone. If small bubbles re-appear, you need to shut the engine off again and take another break. There is no way to speed this process. Once you have gone through this process the steering and brakes should work.

I spend too much time on mine as well. My dad taught me by example that a hammer fit is the right fit. While we're critiquing, I would also have moved the base of the back stays forward a bit and had the stays cross right over top of the rear shock mounts. That way you could tab them into the stays and get rid of that extra bar. Would also have the driver's door bars up a bit more and added a sill bar with braces like pintodave mentioned. Stuff to know for next time.

Add a dash bar and you should be good. I would also add a couple of vertical bars between your driver's side door bars for intrusion protection.

We pick ours up just south of the border on the way to the track - except when the shipping company loses them. Did Portland on one set of Z3s and some spares because we were one set short. And yes, generally when they ask us at the border if we have anything to declare we tell them we just spent a bunch of money in the US and have nothing to show for it.

Sounds like the plug got hydrauliced out of the hole a couple times already. I would suspect a cracked cylinder wall. Do a leakdown with the rocker arms off and the piston down the hole, take the rad cap off and watch for bubbles.

Sounds like an access hole in the ceiling over the well would save a lot of time...

4 seconds a lap worth of tire is worth a fair bit of fuel economy from short-shifting. But we shouldn't sharing these hard-earned fuel economy tips with the haves, let them learn the tricks for themselves like we did.

Unfortunately not so well. It's a G-body chassis (Monte?) and seems stricken with fuel delivery issues every time I see it. Good potential though!

Fiddled with the gas and brake pedals and a few other things, I can roll my foot to blip so good enough for now.

I miss these: But I don't miss whacking my head on the AC duct when pushing the car in up top. We had Carl Edwards' old practice/test trailer, had lots of slots for shocks, springs and bars.

You guys need to get out to the best coast so you can catch up. Look carefully for STPOS:

As I mentioned earlier, the R-S4 195/50/15 is actually slightly wider than the Dunlop Z3 and Bridgestone RE-71R 205/50/15 tires at 7.2", 7.1" and 7.0" respectively, so don't be fooled by the advertised tire size. Look at the specs and you'll see that. Generally, it's better to run the widest wheel you can rather than the narrowest, controls the tire much better. A good rule of thumb is to use the same width wheel as the tire tread width. Here's a comment from another thread that bears that out: "I'd have to dig for the Spec Miata test data I read when we decided on wheels years ago, but IIRC 225s were 1s quicker per ~90s lap on 8" rims compared to 7", and another 1s on 9" compared to 8".