The Mule rides again (sort of) - pics.

[Shaun41178(2)]

What weight oil are you using again?

[The Dark Side of Will]

15W50 now (thickest Mobil 1 I can find locally; also buy at Walmart to get a 5 quart for $25)

[The Dark Side of Will]

10-4 the pic explains everything.

Also of note is that you can see the tip of the dipstick. The full mark on the dipstick puts the oil level just above the face of the main bolt heads, maybe 3/8" below the surface of the oil manifold plate. I just noticed that with the oil style windage tray, the tray actually dips down into the oil where it mounts to the stud headed bolts. This means that it blocks some of the bay-to-bay breathing space. The new windage tray leaves that space open and helps bay-to-bay breathing to some extent. The space in question is low in the block and well away from where the action is, with other bay to bay breathing windows higher up in the block, so it may not have a big effect... but it's there.

[The Dark Side of Will]

http://www.mrcool.us/skin/frontend/defa ... alogue.pdf
Pg 46 provides useful interchange information.

I'm having trouble making sure that the coolers I'm looking up have 1/2" NPT connections instead of 3/8" NPT or 1/2" inverted flare

I Just found out about R&R enterprises which makes some products competitive with the SeaKamp coolers I'd been looking at as aftermarket replacements for standard Mercruiser parts.

A very useful website, as it lists interchange information: http://www.marinepartssource.com/

Seems to be reasonably smart also: http://www.marineonewholesale.com/

I think I have it straight now...
The Mercruiser PN 63832 is a bundle of tubes HEX with 2" overall diameter, 12" core length, 1.25" water connections and 3/8" NPT oil connections. The OE parts are stupid expensive. The SeaKamp replacement is SeaKamp PN 212134. Most retailers list it under the Mercruiser PN, which is where I was having trouble. There's ALSO a SeaKamp 212144 which is the same except for having 1/2" NPT oil connections (MUCH BETTER for the Northstar's high volume oil flow). Most retailers list BOTH SeaKamp PN's under the same Mercruiser PN... which is why some vendors listed 3/8" connections and some listed 1/2" connections.

So here's the 212144: http://www.marinepartssource.com/newdet ... r=SK212144

There is also a Mercruiser 863832T01 which is the same as the 63832 except for a 14" core length. I'm interested in this one because of its presumably greater capacity, but I can't find definitive data on the oil connections (which I've seen listed as 1/2" inverted flare, which has a smaller ID than 1/2" pipe).

There is ALSO a Mercruiser 85152T which is a combined oil and power steering cooler, with what looks like a 9" core for the engine oil and a 5" core with 3/8" hose barbs for the PS fluid. I'd use the PS side for transmission fluid.
I'd like to build a system which runs an 212144 in parallel with the engine oil section of a 85152T, assuming I can get versions of each of those with 1/2" NPT connections.

Ahh... found some CAD: http://wolfiesenterprises.com/Mercruise ... 832T01.htm


Also found street elbows with 1/2" male NPT on one side and 3/4" hose barb on the other side: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gar-7-69hhb-12x8
Not sure if that will hold engine oil pressure even if I get crimp sleeves installed, however.
I may have to MAKE my hose elbow fittings... wouldn't that be obnoxious?

I want to use 3/4" hose because the ports in the side of the Northstar block are 18mm.

[The Dark Side of Will]

When I install the cooler, I'll want to redo the plumbing from the cooler water outlet to the waterpump inlet...

I think I can come straight off the cooler with one of these: http://www.hps-siliconehoses.com/hps-32 ... re=default
Then have a short section of straight 1.25" tube, which I will bead when I feel like throwing $280 at the Graham tube beading tool.
Then I'll have one of these: http://www.hps-siliconehoses.com/hps-32 ... rettyPhoto
Which would mate to the waterpump inlet with a hose clamp.

I may go all out and get crimp sleeves installed to make the hose connections to the intermediate tube permanent.

I *should* be able to plumb the oil cooler with these: http://www.hps-siliconehoses.com/hps-19 ... rettyPhoto

[The Dark Side of Will]

I heard back from R&D Enterprises, which is a competitor to SeaKamp.

Their RD209/204-52MM cooler cross-references to the Mercruiser 85152T dual engine oil/trans cooler, but has 1/2" NPT connections.

I'm trying to get info on R&D's replacement for the Merc 863832T01 and 862837T, both of which have 14" cores, but 1/2" inverted flare connections, angled toward each other. I need 1/2" NPT connections for their size and I need perpendicular connections for packaging.

Edit: R&D got back to me, and don't have a 14" core with the perpendicular 1/2" NPT connections... so there's nothing keeping me from ordering the 12" cooler. I'm deciding whether I should order now or wait for my next paycheck.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I ordered the cooler Friday. (Edit: arrived 8/6)

I figured out some of Seakamp's part number schema over the weekend. 212144 means: 2" shell diameter; 12" core length; something; 4/8 fitting diameter; something. There is also a 312144, which is 3" overall diameter and has greater internal flow area for the oil (and greater thermal capacity), but it's 2.5 times as expensive (and much rarer) than the 212144 I have on the way.

It should get here this week and I should be able to get some photos and measurements to figure out how the plumbing needs to work over the weekend.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I know the transaxle you speak of well, I performed the drivetrain swap and installed that transaxle twice. It would be unfair to suggest the owner was at fault for why the transaxle failed as it did. The job was sourced out to a shop called The Transmission Man located at 300 Exeter Rd London Ontario ( I still have a scan of the shipping label when I sent it back for re-engineering).
They were send both the original 282 and also Quad 4 282 gearsets. They performed all the work as per specified as far as gear sets / ratio's were required. They fully assembled the transaxle and shipped it back. The first time it was somewhat of a failure, it would not shift into 1st gear, it would jump out of second. We transferred the car to my shop where I removed the complete transaxle and send it back to Ontario. Being the owner had just spent over 3 large on having it built I did not crack the case to see what was wrong. For that kinda moolah it should just work right the first time.

We were told that the press fit 1-2 gear set needed to be recreated as it's dimensions were off to allow sufficient movement of the synchronizer sleeve to properly engage the gear's. So the original press fit gear set had to be removed and a second group installed. What kind of stresses that put the machined, now undersized original input shaft under I do not know, That may or may not have contributed to the failure.
When it came back the second time it worked and worked well. I cannot recall exactly the shift points because that was 8 years ago now, but it seem to keep the engine continually in the power band. Was the gearing perfect for a 3800? I do not know but I do know it was pretty fucking good, the best gear ratio's I ever pulled through, and I drove that car hard for a solid month trying to break it ( customers request ).

That transaxle did see a couple dyno pulls, It did a couple 1/4 mile runs, it was autocrossed 3 or 4 times. It spend a day hot lapping at Mosport Park and then on the second day it failed and you know the rest of the story.

When he contacted me and told me about it he was somewhat annoyed that it had failed for that specific reason, he could not understand why the builder failed to properly relief where they undersized and stepped the input shaft. How much of the engineering did he put into it, I don't know But I can tell you he worked at the head of some of the bigger corporations and also had friends at SLP Engineering that gave their input on it. I would think that if it he and his friends specified every detail, then the builder failed to heed direction. In the end the builder should have known this anyway regardless.

Poor bugger, shortly after he got that Porsche he called me one day and said the motor blew up in that and all of a sudden 20k Fiero builds didn't seem so out of wack.

EDIT:

Perhaps you are correct that a certain place actually did the gearset fabrication and machining, Now that I've thought about it more, that transmission shop was subleted to do the assembly R&R

Here's that gear set all fresh and minty, this is the first set that didn't shift properly.



Here's how you received them

So, getting back to this. I pulled these parts out and examined them over the weekend.

It should just be standard dis/re-assembly to swap my 3.94 output shaft into the output cluster Rick sent me.

I have a 3.77 input shaft that no one will ever miss when I carve it up.
The 2.50/1.85 input cluster bore was boogered a smidge by the multiple R&R's, so that will have to be stoned or honed or something before reinstallation.
I dug up old emails from Rick. He had spec'd a .0015 press under the first gear, with a wall thickness of .220 and a .003 press under 2nd gear with a wall thickness of .390.
The broken shaft had the original 1st and 2nd gears turned down to 1.043, which is the same basic size as the input bearing race. I'd like to hone the ID of the cluster out about a thou bigger than that so it doesn't "drag" across the race on installation.

The diameter of the third gear needle bearing race is 1.457, so the diametral step from 1.043 to 1.457 was significant. There's a fillet in between the original 2nd gear and the 3rd gear race with a min OD of 1.433.

I can have the cluster bored out to 1.400 ID under 2nd gear, tapering to the existing ID under 1st gear. This will result in 1st and 2nd gears having the same wall thickness. Turning the current 2nd gear on the input shaft down to 1.402 or 1.403 OD would result in a negligible diametral step on the input shaft and should preserve its current strength.
I need to look back through the spreadsheet that Rick sent me with his math in it, and rework it for the thinner wall thickness, but it should all be doable. My dad may be able to talk to a particularly good machinist about it this week.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I just found out that C6 Corvettes have a combined oil level switch & oil temp sensor. Sweeeet.... I'll have to see if it screws in place of my Caddy oil level switch.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Had a duh moment yesterday... the drum-in-hat parking brakes can be adapted to the old school steel knuckles I have more easily than they can be adapted to the aluminum knuckles.

The ID of the drum in the hat appears to be 190 mm... just less than 7 1/2"... and just larger than Wilwood's smallest 7" bolt circle for 2 piece rotors
The STS rotors are decent diameter, but due to the diameter of the hat have a very shallow "radial depth" and can only use tiny pads in a small caliper.

However, Wilwood has a WIDE selection of products, and I was able to find this: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... o=170-8169

It has a shoe ID (not called out on drawing) of 7.48", so it's just what the doctor ordered... except for the wheel bolt circle, but that can be remedied; I don't mind carving a non-wear part and may even order a custom hat with 5x4.75 and 5x115. The rotor mounting circle is Wilwood's most common at 12x8.75.





Application notes say Corvette C5/C6.

There's even a 14" carbon rotor available:



The stock 4th Gen F-body front rotor, which I was planning to use at all 4 corners as my next upgrade is too small. The friction surface ID on it is 7 1/2"... right at the ID of the drum. The C5 Corvette fronts that I was planning to use as the upgrade beyond that have 8 1/2" friction surface ID, which is still too small for the 8.75" rotor to hat bolt circle. IOW, I'd have to go straight to C6 Corvette front rotor dimensions at all 4 corners and 18" wheels to use the drum-in-hat with a close to square brake setup.

Sooo... probably not going to do that... for now.
However, E30's have small diameter reasonably effective drum-in-hat parking brakes. Obviously won't be as easy to adapt as GM to GM, but is the next avenue to explore.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Had a conversation with an engineer at New Hampshire Ball Bearing today
http://www.nhbb.com

While I would really like to find an auto industry spherical bearing small enough to use in the Fiero's bushings locations, it doesn't look like that's going to work out.

NHBB part numbers ADW10VN or ADW10VNL would be what I'd want to use. The L stands for a difference in liner systems which has no impact on load performance.
This is the "wide" version. I went with it for improved service life and lower contact pressure during impact loading scenarios compared with the narrow version.

Those are sealed spherical bearings.
The unsealed versions end up with 8-10 inch lbs of preload torque, while the sealed versions can have 20 inlbs or more of preload

There's a version with subtle chamfers on the corners of the housing, and it's typically used with snap rings
However, sometimes the V-grooved version--intended for a staked installation--is preferred in order to have better contact with snap rings.

The OD of the bearing is spec'd as: 1.1870-1.1875
So the ID of the bore should be: 1.1873-1.1878
This results in .0002 press to .0008 clearance fit
Some customers go to a .0005 press, although that drives preload torque up (not a big concern for this application)

Catalog available here:
http://nhbb.com/files/catalog_pages/NHB ... g-2014.pdf
My particular part is on page marked 11.
Pgs 52-88/89 cover fairly serious engineering data

Hendrick Motorsports is a customer with whom the engineer had dealt before.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Moused through all 596 pages of the A-B volume of the Lemforder catalog (Alfa, Audi, BMW and 1 page of Buick China)

Picked out the following "through bolt ball joints":


Lemforder 29779-01
Replaced by 36426-01
47.3mm OD, 54.9mm long (14mm ID)
BMW PN 33 32 6 775 552


Lemforder 13208-01
45.2mm OD, 56.7mm long (12mm ID)
BMW:
33 32 1 138 722
33 32 1 140 345
33 32 6 775 551


Lemforder 13309-01
Is it a ball joint?
BMW:
33 32 1 132 937
33 32 1 135 808


Lemforder 13307-01
(Previously examined)

Lemforder 31173-01
57.8mm OD (incl shoulder?) 67.3mm Long (16mm ID)
BMW: 33 32 6 770 985


Lemforder 34599-01
OD 52.25 (incl shoulder?), 60.50 long (16mm ID)
BMW: 33 32 6 780 438


Lemforder 15927-01
41.1mm OD, 59.3mm Long, 14mm ID
BMW: 33 32 1 135 131


Lemforder 15647-01
43.2mm OD, 50mm Long, 14mm ID
BMW: 33 32 1 137 819


Lemforder 27170-01
45.2mm OD, 56.7mm Long, 12mm ID
BMW:
33 31 3 400 023
33 31 3 418 342

Also found what is essentially and automotive grade rod-end:

Lemforder 14429:

http://www.findpart.org/part/aud-443505153b/

[The Dark Side of Will]

On further research, it looks like the 14429 is probably a rubber bushing, despite the fact that the profile of the rubber is extremely suggestive of the boots of a ball joint.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Wilwood PN 170-9599: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... o=170-9599
Has 6.61" Shoe ID and is for a Mitsu Evo (still 12 x 8.75" rotor bolt circle, though)

Wilwood PN 170-9455: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... o=170-9455
Has 6.77" Shoe ID and is for a 350Z (still 12 x 8.75" rotor bolt circle)

Wilwood PN 170-13017 http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-13017
has 7.07 shoe ID, 5x100mm (could be used for drum in hat BBK for stock Fiero...) hub bolt circle and no application notes (also 12x8.75 rotor bolt circle)

Wilwood PN 170-12850 http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-12850
Is for Scion/WRX and has 5x100mm hub bolt circle with the 7.48" GM drum in hat diameter

Wilwood PN 170-10621: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-10621
Has 6.54" Shoe ID and is for a C3 Corvette(!) (still 12 x 8.75" rotor bolt circle)

Wilwood PN 170-12854: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-12854
6.69 shoe ID, WRX, 12x8.75

Wilwood PN 170-11938: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-11938
6.98 shoe ID, 84-87 Corvette, 12x8.75

Wilwood PN 170-10108: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-10108
6.69 shoe ID, 5x100 hub, Subaru, 8x7.78 rotor bolt circle (now we're talking!)

Wilwood PN 170-10961: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-10961
6.31" shoe ID, 5x4.72 (?) hub, "Backdraft Cobra Rear", 8x7.78 rotor bolt circle

[The Dark Side of Will]

Wilwood PN 170-10961: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-10961
6.31" shoe ID, 5x4.72 (?) hub, "Backdraft Cobra Rear", 8x7.78 rotor bolt circle

I googled Backdraft Cobra parking brake and found an topic on a Cobra replica forum in which a user linked to the Pelican article on adjusting the BMW E30 parking brake

I then realized that 4.72" is 120mm, which is BMW's 5 lug pattern.

I'll have CarQuest show me an E30 rear brake rotor tomorrow and I'll verify that the hat ID is 6.31".

www.realoem.com has BMW list prices that make me think the assembly could be built for $75/corner less shoes and cables. I'll have to buy a backing plate for $30 to get BMW's dimensions in order to make backing plates to work with hubs of my choice.

[ericjon262]

Wilwood PN 170-10961: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-10961
6.31" shoe ID, 5x4.72 (?) hub, "Backdraft Cobra Rear", 8x7.78 rotor bolt circle

I googled Backdraft Cobra parking brake and found an topic on a Cobra replica forum in which a user linked to the Pelican article on adjusting the BMW E30 parking brake

I then realized that 4.72" is 120mm, which is BMW's 5 lug pattern.

I'll have CarQuest show me an E30 rear brake rotor tomorrow and I'll verify that the hat ID is 6.31".

http://www.realoem.com has BMW list prices that make me think the assembly could be built for $75/corner less shoes and cables. I'll have to buy a backing plate for $30 to get BMW's dimensions in order to make backing plates to work with hubs of my choice.

cool, I'll be watching this!

[The Dark Side of Will]

Wilwood PN 170-10961: http://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatProd.asp ... =170-10961
6.31" shoe ID, 5x4.72 (?) hub, "Backdraft Cobra Rear", 8x7.78 rotor bolt circle

I googled Backdraft Cobra parking brake and found an topic on a Cobra replica forum in which a user linked to the Pelican article on adjusting the BMW E30 parking brake

I then realized that 4.72" is 120mm, which is BMW's 5 lug pattern.

I'll have CarQuest show me an E30 rear brake rotor tomorrow and I'll verify that the hat ID is 6.31".

http://www.realoem.com has BMW list prices that make me think the assembly could be built for $75/corner less shoes and cables. I'll have to buy a backing plate for $30 to get BMW's dimensions in order to make backing plates to work with hubs of my choice.

cool, I'll be watching this!

Thanks!
I confirmed yesterday that the BMW E30 parking brake hat ID is 6.31" (well... as closely as I could with a caliper that maxed at 6.200")
I realized I need to get the depth of the friction surface and the overall depth of the hat as well... should be able to do that today.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The inside depth of the '88 E30 rotor is 2.065".
The depth of the parking brake friction surface from the inner edge is 1.195".

[The Dark Side of Will]

I pursued Hirschmann's -2RS rod end & monoball seals because they looked like the best sealing product on the market.
http://rodend-bearings.hirschmannusa.co ... l-bearings

The seal I need would be the 14_2RS, which has clearance for a 12mm through-bolt and goes into a 14mm monoball. It has an OD of 29.5mm. Those numbers sound great.

In Hirschmann's standard line of bearings, the 14mm monoball (PN: SSC14, SSCP14) has an OD of 34mm. D-oh!

In Hischmann's HD line of bearings, the 14mm monoball (PN: SC14) has an OD of 29mm... While this looks ok for my shell... it's too small to use with the seal! D-oh again!

Scratch that option.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Will an alternative for a sphericial bearing you may want to look into can be found in the rear suspension of a ~05 Hyundai Elantra. Its located in the rear knuckle and is referred to as a Pillow Block Bushing according to Hyundai. I had one apart the other day and didn't even think of measuring it.

Do you have a Hyundai part number or a parts diagram showing that pillow block?

Try this link, it's part # 5 Listed as a balljoint here

http://stores.revolutionparts.com/hyund ... y=10564605

I don't guess you have an old one around, just to measure the shell OD?
PN is 55130 4D000.

EDIT: http://www.autopartoo.com/oem/hyundai/551304D000.html
Cross reference among different aftermarket manufacturers.

Edit again:
No reason I can't get the $11 rubber bushing to measure in lieu of the $50 ball joint.

Also, bringing this to the front of my mind again.

Edit: Ahh, found an official Hyundai diagram:
http://www.jimellishyundaiparts.com/sho ... ly=1105257



Edit again: Call out 38002, which is very different than the 55130 part number; it fits 33 variants and 7 models from 2006 to 2013.
http://www.jimellishyundaiparts.com/pro ... 4D000.html