The Mule rides again (sort of) - pics.

[Shaun41178(2)]

I hope the clutch hyd hold while at the track. Dont go all out first run, I say feel the car out and the track on the first run or two, and inspect car after each run.

I will guess 12.5 with a mph of 110

[The Dark Side of Will]

[benchracing]
Best so far was 12.86 @ 106 with 1.92 sixty and 255 RWHP. I'm 45 HP up on that and have better clutch and struts... I hope I can knock more than 0.3 off my time.
[/benchracing]

Yeah, I will be careful. OTOH, I've already had the car to its 115 mph limiter several times, so it's hardly like this will be the first time I've wrung it out.

The cold damp weather the last couple of days has been comical. First gear always breaks loose and second gear breaks loose most of the time.
Weather's currently predicting 60's at the strip Friday and Saturday... If that holds, it sounds like a perfect recipe

[The Dark Side of Will]

My enemy is probably driver mod... I don't have a whole lot of seat time with the SPEC S3 or Rodney's short shift linkage.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I will be careful. OTOH, I've already had the car to its 115 mph limiter several times, so it's hardly like this will be the first time I've wrung it out.

The cold damp weather the last couple of days has been comical. First gear always breaks loose and second gear breaks loose most of the time.
Weather's currently predicting 60's at the strip Friday and Saturday... If that holds, it sounds like a perfect recipe

You still have a speed limiter? Can it not be removed? I'll be the first to tell anyone the majority of all Fiero's should have 80mph speed limiters, and I personally won't take mine north of 115, but I don't have a limiter. You know, just in case I want to kill myself.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The limiter is a reminder of the fact that my tune was built from an LD8 (275 HP engine) tune. The cars that shipped with LD8 were equipped with lower rated tires, thus the 115 mph limiter. I won't hit that speed in the quarter this time around, and by the time the strip reopens for the spring, I should have the Shelby computer fully tuned and ready to rock a 7K+ rev limiter vice the current 6.4K.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Retorqued the head studs last night. I was impressed to find that only one one each bank moved at all. The ones that moved were not the same location either.

The BMW's studs *ALL* turned a little bit when I retorqued them. The studs on the rear two cylinders, which run hotter than the others due to coolant circulation, turned more than the other studs.

The Northtstar has had many more heat cycles since assembly than the BMW had, but none of the studs turned. Wild. I guess that's because the Northstar was designed using FEA to better understand and control the way the engine changes shape as it thermally cycles. The BMW M30 is also an iron block engine and the differential expansion in the longitudinal direction may be a factor.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Minor administrative setback related to the F$%#ing DMV. Wasn't able to get a timeslip this weekend. The strip I was going to use ( http://75-80dragway.com/ ) is closed for the season now.

However, Dinwiddie (VMP), MIR and Capitol Raceway have events into November and December.

I have drill in Atlanta next weekend, but I should be able to hit one or more of those strips the weekend of the 27th.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The Northstar valve covers are sealed with o-ring type rubber seals. These are deliberately made of a formulation of rubber that swells when it comes in contact with oil.
This makes the seal swell in its groove and seal more tightly.
It also makes the valve cover seals one-time use, and adds the expense of new seals *EVERY* time I pull the valve covers off the engine. Awesome.

So now I'm pretty sure I'll need three sets of valve cover seals over the winter... One to fix the current leaking problem, one for when I swap the 244 exhaust cams for 266's and a third for when I swap all four 266 cams for 288's. Sigh. Rock Auto shows them for $45ish per set.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Looking at MIR on Sunday with ALLTRBO in his 5th Gen Cameroo. He doesn't want to go to any of the other likely candidates, although I may make a solo run to one of them Friday or Saturday to reduce the chance that something going wrong means I don't get any runs this weekend.

MIR: http://www.mirdrag.com/v2/schedule/cale ... -10-28.htm

Dinwiddie has T&T Saturday during daylight hours: http://vmpdrag.com/drag/2012Schedule.aspx

Capitol appears not to have T&T at all this weekend: http://capitolraceway.net/2012-event-schedule-2/

Sumerduck is only a 1/8 mile strip, but I can use it to practice and get a good feel for launch and the 1-2, maybe even 2-3 shifts. It has T&T Thursday night: http://www.sumerduckdragway.com/
Night time hours may make 1st gear traction a problem... we'll see.

[alltrbo]

Werd.
Please bring my camera and tripod on Sunday.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I hit Sumerduck last night to get some practice launches in.
I got three runs in and was getting progressively faster. The quickest was 8.1 @ 85ish with a 1.9 short. Unlike it did with the CenterFarce clutch, the car felt like it had way more in it, and I went after some of that. I was confident I could run a 1.8, maybe even a 1.7 and probably crack 7's. The next pass I brought the launch RPM up to about 3000 and fed the clutch as I'd been practicing. The car hooked and went hard, well on the way to that 1.7, then suddenly I was in the limiter. I tried second and nothing happened. The other gears were the same. The track workers pulled me back to the pits.

At first I thought I'd sheared the input shaft, but with my foot off the clutch and the engine running, it wouldn't go into gear. The speedometer also gave me a speed indication when the car was in gear and sitting still, so I know the diff is turning. The left inner CV joint slips in and out of the transmission freely (retaining ring *should* hold it in place), but I couldn't tell if the CV joint cup is broken or not. Either I sheared the stub axle portion of the inner CV joint cup or shattered the left side gear. The car's still at the strip... I'll be going back for it tomorrow.

This transmission has the 3.50/2.19 input shaft and 1.02 fourth with 3.61 gears. It has a Gr8Grip in an early/small differential. I have on the shelf a 3.94 gearset and late/large diff with EP "LSD", as well as an HTOB bellhousing and a NIB HTOB. I guess that trans combo will come together sooner than I thought.

I'm satisfied with the SPEC Stage 3's performance, but not so much with its streetability. It chatters VERY easily. Is this any different with sprung vs. unsprung hubs? Does anyone have any experience with both? Since I will have the opportunity to update, I might take advantage of it.

[crzyone]

My spec stage 3 also chatered badly. I thought it was a poorly machined flywheel, but after hearing others having the same problem I'm thinking it's common. Mine was sprung, no experience with unsprung.

[fieroguru]

My Spec Stage 3 was also sprung and chattered like crazy. The Spec Stage 3+ (full ring friction material vs. 6 puck) was also sprung, but had much improved street manners with smoother engagement. You couldn't give me another Spec Stage 3 clutch.

[Series8217]

Odd. I had a Spec Stage 3 that was nice and smooth. When I switched to a Clutchnet 6-puck of almost identical construction (6 puck, material looked the same), I ended up with a lot of chatter. Maybe it depends on how it's broken in?

[Emc209i]

My Spec 3 had gorgeous engagement. Spec's pretty hit or miss it seems.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Emc and Series, did you religiously observe the recommended break-in method?

I will admit that I hammered on it immediately. Having the choice between getting my clutch broken in correctly or my engine broken in correctly, I'll choose the engine...

Did those of you who have problems with chatter observe the break-in?

[fieroguru]

Did those of you who have problems with chatter observe the break-in?

I conducted the break-in per the instructions and it still chattered like crazy. If I drove it aggressively, I could get somewhat smooth engagement as you shot forward, but you can't do that in stop/go traffic or parking lots. When I needed it to be smooth for small movements of the car, it shook the whole car.

It only started to improve at the 5K mark, but by 7K I was past willing to live with it any more. The Stage 3+ was near chatter free from the very first release of the clutch.

[Sinister Fiero]

My Spec Stage 3 was also sprung and chattered like crazy. The Spec Stage 3+ (full ring friction material vs. 6 puck) was also sprung, but had much improved street manners with smoother engagement. You couldn't give me another Spec Stage 3 clutch.

Agree 100%. I installed my first Spec Stage 3+ a few builds ago and I can't say enough good about it. Before using this clutch, I've always installed lesser Spec clutches (mostly Stage 2+'s) and I found these were VERY sensitive to break-in. The Stage 3+ seemed to work well right out of the box, even though I still followed SPEC's break-in procedures to the letter and encouraged my customers to do so.

Many years ago, I gave a finsihed car back to the customer AFTER showing him how to drive it during break-in (ie: slip the clutch as little as possible, keep the rev's low on take-off's, and don't apply too much power). After reiterating this to him 2 or 3 more times before he left, he backed out of my driveway, proceeded to the stop sign that's right in front of my house, stopped, then revved the engine to probably 3000 or 4000 rpm and let off the clutch slowly while maintaining engine RPM to get the car to move (like he had probably always done with the stock 2.8 and clutch)... He called me 2 weeks later mad as hell because his SPEC clutch was chattering.

Now, I can drive a car and feel when the clutch is slipping. A little bit of slip isn't what kills these clutches, a lot of slip is and so is the overheating that accompanies the excessive slip. The customer who slipped the crap out of his clutch as he left my shop/house sent that chattering clutch and the flywheel back to me for inspection and I found the flywheel showed many signs of overheating and so did the clutch. At his request, I sent the clutch and flywheel in to SPEC for a warranty claim that was ultimately denied because they said he didn't follow the proper break-in procedure and overheated his clutch.

My best advice to anyone using a SPEC clutch is to use the lower gears more (stay in them longer) and keep the rev's low on take-offs. There's no reason why you should be in 5th gear at 35mph with a brand new clutch. Also, don't apply too much power - and if you must, carefully feel if the clutch is slipping or not. If it is slipping, reduce power. And, of course, NO power shifts. Don't be afraid to downshift. Don't try accelerating in 4th or 5th gears. Use those gears only to maintain speed on flat roads and at highway speeds.

I hate to have to even say this but... As many people that are in the Fiero community that say "a true sports car has to have a stick", I have never seen so many such people who don't know how to properly drive one. There is absolutely no reason why you would have to rev your engine up to 3000 or 4000 rpm or more to take off from a dead stop in a "normal" driving situation. But I see (and hear) so many Fiero owners doing it. A duke and stock 2.8 make plenty of low-rpm torque and shouldn't need to be revved like that, and the bulk of the engine swaps that are done using bigger V6's and V8's certainly don't need to be revved much at all to move the car from a dead stop.

[The Dark Side of Will]

My Spec Stage 3 was also sprung and chattered like crazy. The Spec Stage 3+ (full ring friction material vs. 6 puck) was also sprung, but had much improved street manners with smoother engagement. You couldn't give me another Spec Stage 3 clutch.

My best advice to anyone using a SPEC clutch is to use the lower gears more (stay in them longer) and keep the rev's low on take-offs. There's no reason why you should be in 5th gear at 35mph with a brand new clutch. Also, don't apply too much power - and if you must, carefully feel if the clutch is slipping or not. If it is slipping, reduce power. And, of course, NO power shifts. Don't be afraid to downshift. Don't try accelerating in 4th or 5th gears. Use those gears only to maintain speed on flat roads and at highway speeds.

I don't see why one shouldn't be in high gears at low speed, as long as the clutch isn't slipping. Like the CenterFarce before it, the SPEC has never slipped if I applied torque it's when fully engaged. Unlike the CenterFarce, the SPEC can handle hard launches and can take more abuse. A couple of times when I was breaking in my engine, I did grab a gear aggressively and felt the clutch hit softly and smelled it a little bit.

Now it grabs very hard. I have verified that I broke my inner CV joint cup and not the side gear, so there's nothing wrong with the car's holeshot or the clutch's capacity.

[AkursedX]

I hate to have to even say this but... As many people that are in the Fiero community that say "a true sports car has to have a stick", I have never seen so many such people who don't know how to properly drive one. There is absolutely no reason why you would have to rev your engine up to 3000 or 4000 rpm or more to take off from a dead stop in a "normal" driving situation. But I see (and hear) so many Fiero owners doing it. A duke and stock 2.8 make plenty of low-rpm torque and shouldn't need to be revved like that, and the bulk of the engine swaps that are done using bigger V6's and V8's certainly don't need to be revved much at all to move the car from a dead stop.

People actually do that??? Geez, even in my torqueless rotary-engined car, I don't have to rev over 2500RPMS at the very most to get my car moving from a stop. The was majority of the time I'm under 2000RPMS.