Teh Official "Dude Where's My Forum?" Thread, Brought to you by the minds of Box, and her fiancée, Lorelei Options

[Box]

I know it can be done since someone at one point was selling a plug and play kit that used Infiniti FX bi-xenon projectors, I'd imagine these H1 minis are smaller. Just went and measured and there's a little bit over 6" front to back, would be tight but it could be done.

[Bitter]

I'd wait for the D2S 4.0's to come out, then you can use OEM quality bulbs, not chinese junk.

[Box]

I'd wait for the D2S 4.0's to come out, then you can use OEM quality bulbs, not chinese junk.

That was another aspect to it, I wanted to use an OEM D series and not some retrofit bulb so I guess it works out anyway.

So found something I might get: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Camaro-Firebird-HA...Gro&vxp=mtr Sure a whole short throw assembly would be better but it's $225 shipped for the one I want and this is $30 shipped, if it works satisfactorily enough then that's almost $200 saved and if not at least it'll hold me over since there're other things higher up in priority. The stock feel is actually pretty good, it's just the throw is too big for the shifter gate if that makes sense. The only thing I'm not sure on is the angled cut on the base to make it lean towards the driver side, though I guess I could always shim the bottom bolt to get the angle how I want it.

[Bitter]

Eh, seems like you should get the right stuff the first time or something better. That angle looks goofy.

[Box]

I found this one that's a straight cut: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-6-5-Short-Sh...Mnw&vxp=mtr

Which with not changing the pivot point it's not really a short shifter, but if it'd match the throw better to the gate I'd be good to go. Seems like the biggest reason to get an aftermarket shifter are for the centering springs but if you pay attention and learn the gate it's not an issue, I wish I could find information on the pivot points of all the shifters though.

[Bitter]

I saw the same one listed for a GTO/Holden Monaro too.


I'm getting lazy about ordering the fogs, cant' decide between the 4 kinds, probably get the slim ones and see how long they last, I'm sure light output can't be worse than what I had already.

Oh and I'm finishing up a top end cleaning/piston soak on the Mazda with some of the new CRC intake cleaner in a spray can, the 626 gets carbon build up in the cylinders and needs a cleaning every 50-60K miles and it's been about 60-70K miles since the last one so I'm trying this out instead of the traditional Seafoam. It's supposed to clean intake valves for GDI cars really well so I'll see how does on PFI intake/combustion chambers/piston tops. I did some into the intake per directions but then did some right into the cylinders as a piston soak, it seemed to really soften up the carbon in there, there were loose bits when I sampled some of the fluid after sitting 12 hours. I'm hopeful that after a couple days of driving I'll pull the plugs and see some clean metal on the piston tops. Cylinder 3 looks like it's got a thicker coating which makes sense since it's closest to the EGR on the intake manifold.

Bought the slims, offered $20 and it was accepted, should have lowballed more!

This post has been edited by Bitter: Aug 28, 2016 - 11:35 AM

[Box]

The GTO/Monaro one is 5" and even though it's also a T56 it's a linkage shifter whereas in the F-body it's a toploader, I think in the F-body listing they said that 6.5" was as short as you could get without hitting the console. I tested out a GTO once and it felt like I was mixing a bowl of oatmeal, though in the Firebird it's nice and direct but just happens to have a long throw.

I've seen the CRC GDI intake cleaner before, I forget but it's supposed to be super concentrated in comparison to a regular intake cleaner. Which I kind of had the same theory, if it's good enough for GDI it should be good enough for any kind of port injection system. I thought about doing something similar on the Firebird but it'd have to be done right before changing plugs.

Wooo new foglights. Speaking of lighting I just finished helping my brother do a relay system for his mini H1's, I imagine he'll get flashed constantly between having two HID low's and LED switchbacks for the turn signals that are also in the headlight housing. I need to do a harness for mine still but need to stand and stare at my car to figure out how to route everything through the core support and up into the headlight doors. I figure the easiest thing will be to plug two relays into the passenger headlight harness for low and high then run short wires off the relays to the ground wire of the harness, then from there it's going to inline fuses and to the battery and then out to the lights. Then find somewhere to run 12 AWG ground wires off the lights. Really it's just the driver side that'll be a pain I guess. I need to sit down and order some 12 AWG wire, copper connectors, inline fuses, and the relays.

[Bitter]

I didn't drive too terribly long nor did I get tons of smoke like with seafoam, I'll pull plugs and look inside later once it's all cooled off. I drove it down a side road to get on the highway and then came back to town, about 5-6 miles round trip, but lots of heavy acceleration. Felt a little rough at the first light, probably sucked up cleaner pooled in the intake, got smoke as I took off under full throttle, but that was it really. I'll see if it idles nicer tomorrow or whenever I drive it next, but it felt smoother at idle than normal I thought. I drove right into a downpour too, so that was fun, but I got to pull through 1st, 2nd, and into 3rd almost without stop at least once so that should have burned out anything that the cleaner disturbed. I did dose the last of the can past the MAF per direction and let it soak about 3 hours before driving it after clearing the fluid from the cylinders, not sure I had enough in there to get out of the piston dish, but I did bump the starter several times while it soaked so maybe it got some splashed onto the cylinders and down to the rings? I should have checked compression before and after but meh, just happy if it smooths the idle some. Felt as anemic as ever though, wimpy engine for a car of it's size.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/20...g-from-the-sky/ worst plane ride ever.

[Box]

I always feel like I'm in Spy Hunter after doing Seafoam. Hopefully it cleaned it out well, I get the suspicion it'll do a notably better job than Seafoam too. If you let it soak for 12 hours while bumping it over a few times I'd think some would've found its way to the rings. Judging from the codes in your signature it's the 2.0 I4 w/ A4, may god have mercy on your soul. Automatics are bad enough behind a V8, I had the extreme displeasure of driving a Solara with the 5S-FE and automatic a few times and I wanted to end it all. Like even flooring it nothing really ever happened, mind numbing would be putting it nicely. I'd imagine a 626 with the 2.5 V6 and 5-speed wouldn't be too bad though.

Also I agree, that's probably the worst plane ride one could live through.

[Bitter]

5000-6000 rpm is just there for show, I think it actually goes slower. It's pretty slow though, like 18 sec 1/4 mile times. Just want it to run smooth and keep running, I'd like to see 200K out of it.

[Box]

The Mazda cars are pretty good though, I'd imagine it should hit 200K especially with you owning it since unlike the en masse you take care of your cars. Just think though at least it's not a Geo Metro, now that is painfully slow.

So after looking extensively with a flashlight there's pretty much nowhere to run wiring through the core support, the only place is behind the battery and that's where the harness runs by and where the wiring for the headlights comes out, but the harness being between the battery and core support any wiring poked through would end up crushed. I might be able to fish some wire between the gap of the overflow bottle and up under the core support and then I can run wires between the washer bottle and core support across the front to the driver side, so I was wrong in thinking getting wires to the driver side would be the hard part.

[Bitter]

Peeked into cylinder 3 and I can see the outline where the carbon used to be, it's gone now!


Got the rest of the wiring done for the hood light except the ground, don't have a eyelet for the right wire gauge here at home, I'll get one at work or something.

[Box]

Huzzah! Good to know it works so well as advertised, then again I've always liked CRC's products since they seem to be the best you can get along with CAIG Laboratories.

[Bitter]

Yea, nice clean piston top, I can see the machining marks on it which I could not see before. I'll update if it drives any better tomorrow.

[Bitter]

Underhood light is done, photos don't do it justice.



And from when it was at the body shop for some work
https://youtu.be/fII0b1fvtXY

[Box]

Nice, that'll be really helpful for when it's needed. Also lol at train horn.

So I've been looking at wiring today for the lighting harness, which would be easy if I only wanted one colour but I want four; red for relays to battery, black for grounds, another colour for low beams, and then another colour for high beams. If that wasn't hard enough I also want to use 12 AWG pure copper because if I'm going to take the time and spend the money I might as well overkill it. After spending more time than I'd care to I think I've found the cheapest solutions: http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-3-AWG-Kalas-Tri...uK6D88UXB4O3MCA which will go onto the lights then to the relays and ground, and then for between the relays and battery: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTOMOTIVE-WIRE-GX...xgAAOSwT6pVzzHD

Of course this is all provided I have nothing of use in the two 12 gallon trash bags full of various wire I haven't felt like digging through.

[Box]

Well after digging through what I can that's not buried by car parts I have close to 100 feet of 16/3 AWG I could use for the bulk of the harness, then some 14 AWG I could run from the relays to the battery. Then I only have the expense of the relays and fuse holders in the harness. Really would like to see what all else I have, maybe more 14 AWG though even going by critical circuit with no more than 3% voltage drop 16 AWG is what's said to be needed given the length and amperage. Only for between the relay and battery is 14 AWG needed. I don't look forward to doing this at all. Hopefully the end result is worth it, which when I was looking at the factory wire it should since it looked to be like 22 AWG...

[Bitter]

Just rename this the 'box n bitter bull**** hour of power'

[Box]

More or less.

Just ordered two 30/40A 5 pin relays and two 10 AWG ATC fuse holders off Amazon, should be here in time for the weekend. I think I have enough wire connectors but if not I actually think they're cheaper at Wally World for the 3M brand.

[Box]

I pulled the shift boot which took all of five seconds and confirmed my suspicions, I was thinking the stock shifter in F-bodies was tilted towards the driver anyway so that first one I posted I don't see how it'd not push things too far to the driver side. Anyhow went and ordered the straight cut stick, so all kinds of fun stuff to do soon. That and I can see by what they meant by improving feel in the listing, apparently there's a rubber bushing between the shifter stub of the transmission and stock shifter stick though I've never noticed any kind of play. Then again I don't shift like a gorilla, even when shifting quickly, which is apparently how most people do.