Progress Thread The Northwoods Notch

Cheapskate207 · Apr 11, 2022

Dyno Tune

The long awaited day! Today I drove 90 miles to Performance Dyno to get my car re-tuned. This was the first long drive I have done this year. Previously I had only driven it 10 miles to get an alignment. The car ran great all the way there. The steering wheel vibration is GONE and the car drives much better. I still have the slight driveline vibe so I'll need to look into that. There is also an annoying rattle coming from somewhere in the dash or A-pillar that will need to be addressed ASAP.

On the dyno the car ran excellent. No issues at all and everything worked as it should. The tuner switched from SCT (which he had been using since 2000ish) to Moates Quarterhorse. He traded my SCT chip for the QH free of charge, which was pretty cool. The car made slightly more boost than expected, 6.6 psi. I was HOPING for 6 so this was very exciting. It made more TQ than anticipated and about what I was thinking for HP. VERY HAPPY. The car runs much better too. I guess all the changes I had made over the past 3 years had affected the drivability in slight increments so I hadn't really noticed. Anyway, here's the dyno graph.

Potomus Pete · Apr 11, 2022

Wow. That must feel good. Like a race car.

Cheapskate207 · Apr 12, 2022

It does feel great. I’ve been working towards this goal since I bought the car. Not to mention all the work I’ve put into it to get here. I haven’t really gotten a chance to really hot rod it. It does feel fast; but it was fast before.

Essn95 · Apr 12, 2022

What mods did you put in to rid steering wheel vibration? New tierods cured my play in steering but I still feel like it can be even sharper and tighter without shaking as much as it does. Considered doing the solid steering shaft I have sitting in the closet.

Cheapskate207 · Apr 12, 2022

This go around poly rack bushings, new camber plates (mine had dry rotting bushings), a GOOD alignment, and maybe struts?

I’m currently using a flaming river manual rack, flaming river solid steering shaft, non-airbag tilt wheel, MM bump steer kit, and MM camber plates. We could be comparing apples to oranges.

Cheapskate207 · Apr 13, 2022

View: https://youtu.be/oIVwbJHIvDQ

Here’s a vid of my car idling. I took it for a quick rip today. Loving it

Cheapskate207 · Apr 20, 2022

Catch Can

I installed a cheap Amazon catch can on the clean side of the pcv. Basically, I want to check if I have excessive blow by and catch whatever I do have. I think that the oil burning is going to cut down significantly now that I have a baffle grommet In the valve cover. I had been running it without one since I got the car because I didn’t know better. Anyway, the catch cab is a mishimoto imitation with baffles and a bronze filter. I just took the GF out for her first ride since the blower install; beat the crap out of it and the catch can is dry. If it stays that way I’ll prob move it over to the dirty side. It’s was only $20 so

Cheapskate207 · Apr 26, 2022

I’ve always had a vibration with this car. Well, several. The steering wheel vibration has been almost entirely fixed with the mods completed this past winter. Since I installed new motor mounts (solid, and I know this doesn’t help my cause) and trans mount I’ve had what feels like a driveline vibration. It is oscillating, which tells me I have numerous vibrations. Anyway, I got a rubber trans mount and it was MUCH taller than the factory one I took out. The car is lowered pretty significantly and my background in lifted jeeps tells me I likely have a driveline angle issue. Today I measured my driveline angles and low and behold, they were out of spec. I used an angle finder app on my phone and the spicer app to determine this. I don’t know how accurate the angle finder app is, but I was able to crank my adjustable control arms up two turns and get it back within spec. I took it for a ride and the vibration is def better but still a little noticeable. I mainly notice it at high rpm going fast, like on a WOT pull. So I made an appointment to get my tires road force balanced tomorrow and we will see what happens. I think I have a number of contributing issues but all are improving. The car is already MUCH better. Last year cruising over 70 mph on the highway was miserable.

Cheapskate207 · May 4, 2022

So after the road force balancing of the front tires I have no steering wheel vibration. I do still have a driveline vibe but it seems to happen at 90mph + so I can live with that for now. Thinking my driveshaft may be about of balance? Ujoints are tight and it is an aluminum driveshaft so idk.

Some of you may have seen my post regarding questions whether or not a CDI box is a good idea to add a rev limiter. I didn’t particularly have an issue but I have revved my car past 5,500, which is where the power starts to fall off. I was considering a rev limiter, but since I don’t think any harm will be done to my engine by revving it up to 6k, I decided to add a shift light. This is a raptor first gen. It’s very bright and what’s cool about mounting it here is: a, It’s hidden. B, I can close the vent to hide most of the light. C, it’s easily accessible for adjustment. Currently it’s set for 5,300 rpm.

Here’s a recent pic of the car before a large cars and coffee last weekend. I used turtle wax hybrid solutions wet wax for the first time. Came out pretty good. It’s much easier than the old school synthetic wax I’ve been using.

Cheapskate207 · Aug 6, 2022

Haven’t really been hanging around here much. I’ve been driving the car but not as much as usual- riding my motorcycle a lot more, due to high gas prices. Just did a 3000 mile trip from maine to tennesse and back with my father. We hit the dragon, the moonshiner, the snake, the rattler, and the blue ridge parkway. Epic time.

The car is running great. I haven’t done anything but drive it all season. I think want to put stickier tires on it, maybe drag radials? Not much traction anymore. I also need to move my catch can. I put it on the “clean” side to see if I had any blow by. Since installing it I’ve caught no oil. I’m going to swap it in between the pcv valve and the upper intake. I’ll post the most recent pic of my car. It’s from a while ago.. the gf and I took it dinner - downtown portland.

And finally, in other news…

Monkeybutt2000 · Aug 6, 2022

What kinda' bike is that.

Cheapskate207 · Aug 6, 2022

Monkeybutt2000 said:
What kinda' bike is that.

That would be a 2009 Buell Ulysses XB12XT

Monkeybutt2000 · Aug 6, 2022

Cheapskate207 said:
That would be a 2009 Buell Ulysses XB12XT

I thought so by the frame but wasn't sure

Cheapskate207 · Aug 6, 2022

Monkeybutt2000 said:
I thought so by the frame but wasn't sure

Yup.. Buells are kinda my thing. The Ulysses is my guilty pleasure compared to my Lightning. Ugly and practical vs sporty and cool haha.

Cheapskate207 · Aug 17, 2022

Not exactly car related but I figured I would update this… since the car will be living in it eventually.

The building was started and completed Monday (modular) and the floor was poured today. Next is the man door install, loam around it, then electrical. It’s 24x32. I think 11’ tall walls but haven’t gotten to measure yet because floor is drying.

Rdub6 · Aug 17, 2022

Cheapskate207 said:
Not exactly car related but I figured I would update this… since the car will be living in it eventually.

The building was started and completed Monday (modular) and the floor was poured today. Next is the man door install, loam around it, then electrical. It’s 24x32. I think 11’ tall walls but haven’t gotten to measure yet because floor is drying.

Hell yeah man. I always tell my wife our next house will be much smaller, with a bigger garage, and more property (so neighbors are further away). That’s exactly what I’d like! Good luck and enjoy!!

Monkeybutt2000 · Aug 17, 2022

Cheapskate207 said:
Not exactly car related but I figured I would update this… since the car will be living in it eventually.

The building was started and completed Monday (modular) and the floor was poured today. Next is the man door install, loam around it, then electrical. It’s 24x32. I think 11’ tall walls but haven’t gotten to measure yet because floor is drying.

Gonna spray foam it?

Cheapskate207 · Aug 17, 2022

@Rdub6 Thanks man!

@Monkeybutt2000 My plan is to eventually insulate it but I don't know when or how. I would love to go spray foam but I'll need to crunch numbers when the the time comes, I know it's pretty expensive but obviously has it's benefits.

limp · Aug 17, 2022

Cheapskate207 said:
@Rdub6 Thanks man!

@Monkeybutt2000 My plan is to eventually insulate it but I don't know when or how. I would love to go spray foam but I'll need to crunch numbers when the the time comes, I know it's pretty expensive but obviously has it's benefits.

A couple of friends, beer, some staple guns and some bats of insulation.... That looks like a fairly easy job with minimal cutting...... Let Bob Villa have the expensive spray stuff.......

Cheapskate207 · Oct 17, 2022

Picked up a quicklift today. It’s brand new; an older gentleman bought it and decided it was too heavy so I got a great deal. I think it’s a lot safer and slightly easier than using a jack and jack stands. They’re placed on the sub frame connectors in the pic. I plan to use this in conjunction with a 4 post.

Progress Thread The Northwoods Notch

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I'm still waiting for the fully nude shots

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The left one hangs a little lower

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Mustang Master

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Mustang Master

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So while I wait to figure out my rear end issues

Mustang Master

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wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

The left one hangs a little lower

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