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Topics - V8Demon

32
Show Photos / 2015 LIMC Spring Invitational
One of the local car clubs I belong to hosted their second annual spring invitational meet.  A little over 200 cars were in attendance.  It was a good day!

Enjoy some pics!













































































33
Suspension/Steering / Tires......AGAIN
My hunt continues for a street tire (non-drag radial) that has a decent speed rating and good wet traction.  While the Maxxis Marauders I have on the car right now are great in dry, they leave me wanting a little bit more confidence in heavy rain conditions.  I run 235/60-15's up front and 255/60-15s in the rear.  They're an H speed rated tire, have a treadwear of 360 and load ratings of 98 (1653 lbs each) for the 235's and 102 (1874 lbs) for the 255's.  Price was good too. 

The Pirellis I had run before were excellent in dry and more importantly excellent in the rain as well.  Unfortunately they do not make them in the 255 anymore; in fact they haven't for quite some time hence my switch to the Maxxis to begin with.

My current tires have plenty of tread life left and are in relatively good shape, but I want to start looking now as they're about 6-7 years old and I do not think they will survive more than another year or so before they start to dry rot.  I can see very early beginnings creeping in.  I'll likely go with the Maxxis tires again (maybe they've updated the tread compound -- I'd like to find out), but I DID find a possible alternative......

Hoosier Pro Streets.



 They are a radial, h speed rated, black side wall (a big plus), and best of all unlike most Hoosier "D.O.T" race tires, these are legitimately DOT approved....

Here's the sizes I'm considering....

Front:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hoo-19050/overview/

Rear:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hoo-19100/overview/  Listed as a 28, but actual diameter is 27 which would match my current rear tire size....

I have ONE issue with them.  The tire load rating, in my opinion, is rather low.  965 lbs each front and 1325 lbs each rear.  That's a rather significant drop from the Maxxis tires.  Odd considering BOTH types are advertised as "light truck".  I also seem to have some issue finding UTQG info, specifically traction and temp ratings....

What I'm looking for here is some info on just what would be the drawbacks of the lower tire rating on a vehicle that really does not haul a lot of extra weight (me and gas with the occasional front passenger).  How does cornering load at speed affect tire load?  How much does sidewall stiffness come into play with regards to this?  shame.....if the load ratings were equal or even a good deal closer to the Maxxis tires, I'd buy them without hesitation.
35
Misc Tech / 1990 Lincoln Mark VII LSC -- Erratic AND intermittent charging system problem - FIXED
Jeez I hate intermittent issues; especially electrical ones......

Okay, I picked this car up a while back and all was well.  Right before the neverending winter, I changed all the coolant hoses.  It was IMMEDIATELY after that the amp light on the dash came on.... Out comes the voltmeter.  The system is charging, just under 13 volts at idle.... I crack the throttle and it shoots up to 15.5.  Well, that's not good.... Swap out the regulator as it's external.  Same thing.  I had left it at that point and then the snow hit.  I had was starting it every 2 weeks while it sat unmoved.  The battery ran low enough twice to where it needed a charge.  I thought nothing of it. 

I finally drove the car last week for the first time without any issue other than the amp light and the apparent overcharge.... Go to start it the next day, dead again.  I swap out the relatively new battery for ANOTHER newish one I have that I had bench tested and is known good.  I start hunting for electrical draws.  Nothing.  With the ignition on and all accessories off the car draws around .030 amps.  Perfectly acceptable.  I start her up, check voltage.....12.5 or so and goes to about 13 at 2000 RPM.  Odd.  Amp light STILL on..... I go in the car for a second and come back out only to find the voltage has jumped back up to 15+ when I rev it..... REALLY ODD!

I figure when I get around to it I'll pull the alternator and have the local parts store bench test it.  In the meantime, I drive the car about 100 miles in the past week.  Battery remains charged, car starts without issue, yet the amp light is STILL on.  Fast forward to today.  14 mile drive, shut the car off for 10 minutes, and it will not restart.  10.3 Volts on the battery.  I get a jump from a passer by and the low charging is back.  12.1 @ idle. 12.8 with the throttle cable pushed as far as it will go.  I got the battery back up to 12.4 volts resting....

Obviously I have an issue.  One thing I haven't checked yet is the alternators current output (amps) as I'm fairly certain you can't do that safely with your run of the mill hardware store multimeter( :hick: ) My gut tells me it is in fact the alternator and I'll know 100% for sure tomorrow.  I'm not sure if I'm going stock replacement on this car or not.  If I upgrade it'll be to the same setup I have on the Cougar. 

Any thoughts concerning this or perhaps other things to look at are welcome.
36
Body/Appearance/Interior / Possible Marchal 750/759 Substitute
Much like the 4 eye style Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and '79-86 Mustang, The Lincoln Mark VII was fitted with Marchal 750/759 fog lamps from the factory.  The ones on my Mark VII are serviceable, but in poor shape.  The glass is good and one of the housings is.....okay (I can restore it with some time), but the other has actually rotted through in a few places.  I found a set of NIB 750's WITH the correct covers AND the actual wiring harness in a Ford Motorsport box on Ebay.  Unfortunately it sold before I had a chance to bid (I will not bid/buy from my phone).  Used ones go for silly money as well......

Enter me looking around.  Cibie Airport 35's are  near identical (well known), but also pricey.

So I do a GIS with the term "rectangle halogen fog lamp" and find this image....



Hmm......Interesting.  I use the visit page option on my browser:
http://guide.alibaba.com/shop/grote-63531-fog-lamp-halogen-rectangular_11867671.html

Looks like it's a Grote 63531.  More Googling:



I'm not too keen on buying from Alibaba.  I've never used them before and am leery.  It gets better though.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gte-63531
A couple of buck more, but hey $45 bux for a pair of new fog lamps that are nearly identical in size.  I'd only have to splice on the pigtail to make the wiring work.

I'm gonna take the plunge.  Stay tuned  :)
38
User Rides / Moar photos!!!!
Figured everyone's out there posting their other rides so I might as well post up something that's actually a CougarBird.

Took these about 3 hours ago.  I have a few more to edit, but I'm sleepy....  Enjoy!




39
Events & Shows / Long Island Muscle Cars Spring Invitational
I made it to their Inaugural show last year and it was a nice show.  Should be even bigger this year.



The address for the show is 25 Smith St., Farmingdale NY 11735.

The lot is BIG so no worries there.  If any of you are close by or even if you're not and are feeling like a road trip, come on up!  The snow SHOULD be gone by then, lol!
42
Engine Tech / Coolant hose kit options.
The coolant hoses on my Cougar are 9 years old.  They are the old blue Ford Racing hoses from kit # 6052-B.  They are still in phenomenal condition and have really not seen a lot of miles in those 9 years, but nothing lasts forever and the 6052-B kits are no longer in production.  They have become next to unobtanium and the one place I found that still has a kit wants $400 for it.  You read that right, $400 for 6 pieces of molded rubber/silicone.

What have you guys been using?  I see a few options out there, but to be honest none seem to live up to the old 6052-B kit if the reviews I'm reading are to be believed.  Then again, some people just like to bitch and moan on the interwebs about products when the problem is installer/operator error.

-- Mishimoto
-- SVE
-- Goodyear Hi-Miler
-- Motorcraft
-- Samco
-- HPS
-- Jeg's

Thoughts/Reviews/Experiences with any and all of the above brands would be appreciated.  The hoses I currently have are said to last 20 years and at 9 years I have no reason to doubt that.  It was the Mark VII that got me to thinking about this.  Had to buy heater core hoses for it after flushing it (one starting weeping slightly and no amount of clamp tightening will make it stop) and the upper rad hose looks tired....
43
Show Photos / New Photo Spot.
One of the local supermarkets by me closed about a year ago and every time I pass it I keep telling myself the loading dock would make a great backdrop. Today I decided to finally take advantage of it.







44
Lounge / Happy Vets Day!!!
My thanks to all who served and continue to do so.

I used to work on these when I was in......











Post up pics of what you guys worked on!