Archive for 'Car Chatter'
Speedometer Gear Calculator up at GTSparkplugs.com
Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by sandy.
Here is the link to the simple Speedometer Calculator. It is a simple program that will help get you the right speedometer gear. You will need to know a few things such as Tire Diameter, Rear End Ratio, Speedometer Info, Transmission Gear Tooth Count. But after that it is simple!
Continue Reading
Sunbeam Tiger Front Suspension
Posted on 11. Jan, 2009 by sandy.
Well I finally got into the garage and took a couple of picture of the Tiger front end. The main website Here has the start of that chapter. I also talk a bit about the brake madness and show some differences in the Wilwood Dynalite and Superlite brake pads.
This is the link here as well –
http://www.gtsparkplugs.com/TigerFrontSuspension.html
Continue Reading
Brake Madness
Posted on 29. Dec, 2008 by sandy.
Well still no picture on the custom Sunbeam Tiger front suspension. But in chatting with a fellow Tiger racer (well I’m not one yet) he was mentioning his brake set up using 12.19″ Rotors on 15″ wheels and thought, damn I have 11.75″ I should of course upgrade. The one thing I don’t like are the Dynalites on the front side of the car. “The Ripper” has Superlite 6 Piston on the fronts and they work really well. The dynalites have much less pad surface then the Superlite series, so task of fitting them in was also on the books. After all that found even a better caliper that would almost bolt on (Dynapro 6 Piston) but seems it does not fit 1.25″ Rotors. Crap, would have been easy no changes just new larger calipers and pads. Well back to the drawing board. In researching more of the Superlite calipers you can get them in narrow outside body and that helps, also found a kit for a Superformance Cobra with, guess what, Superlite’s and 12.19″ rotors. Seems they run a Mustang II spindle as well, so might get really lucky if it all fits and just use a stock Wilwood bracket! The Superlite calipers will work on 11.75″ rotors as well, but in for a dime in for a dollar as they say (They in this case is the little voice in my head that says get the best brakes possible). Another interesting thing is the Superlite’s have a smaller overall height off the top of the rotor vs. the Dynalites, just at tick, but it will all help. The only area of concern is rim interference on the front face of the caliper to rim. Will just have to see how that goes as the thicker pads move things out a bit.
The Calipers, GT Directional rotors, bracket should be here early Janurary. Brake compounds that were ordered were the nice J Pads, but they may have discontinued that compound, so may have to try another maybe B, C, or H.
What to do with the Dynalite’s? Rear brakes of course. Will have to shim them back for the 9″ Brackets for the 1.25″ rotors, I have but should not be an issue, or I’ll just have to use thinner rotors or make some new brackets…
Continue Reading
Automotive Wire Size Calculator Now Up!
Posted on 18. Dec, 2008 by sandy.
Just finished off an easy one. A simple calculator to find the acceptable size (AWG) of wire for use in automotive circuits. The simple calculator will ask for Amps, Volts, and a length of the run. It will give a selection of what acceptable gauge of wire is OK to use.
Automotive Wire Size Calculator
Continue Reading
Excursion Tires…
Posted on 09. Dec, 2008 by sandy.
Well, seems it was time for a set of new tires on the Excursion. Having a Tire Mounting and Balancing device (Ranger R-26EX and Matching Balancer) I figured I should just do the truck too. Well all good in thought. I picked up a set of Kumho Ventures for the Excursion from the Tire Rack. Nice looking tire, good reviews, great price and I really have been happy with the Kumho’s on the race car as well as other cars that I have used them on. So Saturday the long journey of doing truck tires begins. Tire one, no problem, off and on in a short time. Tire two, off, and not quite on… I could not get the bead to seat, so I finally took the new tire off and picked another to see if it would, and sure enough it popped right on. Balancing was a bit a a task as I think the larger truck tires are ‘wobbly’ as I’ll put it at best, but got it balanced and on. So now the rear of the Excursion has new tires, front will have to wait for another day, like Sunday 
I begin again and run into the same problem almost immediately, I can F’n seat the bead. The sidewalls are too floppy to pop up air and no matter what I do just would fill. Tried the last tire, same S#@$%. Every time I have had a problem with doing tires it seems that it was some magic trick to make it work. Back to the internet for some research, that is, of course, after remounting the old tires and bolting them back on.
What did I find? All sorts of things. Here they are -
You can ‘Explode’ them on with Starting Fluid. Looked cool, and looked like it could land me in the hospital or burn the place down.
You can get this device that essentially blows the tire up with a blast of air but it cost $250-$300 for a cheep tank and a 2″ ball valve. I think it is the Cheetah brand, definite rip off, but hey they came up with a good idea and should get paid, but still should be about 100 bucks.
Yet another option was these odd large looking O-Rings. These slip over the rim and force the seal and supposedly pop out when the bead seats.
The last one is almost obvious and I can’t believe that I didn’t think of it, and here it is… Just put a ratchiting tie down around the tire and crank it. It will push the tire evenly in and make the side walls pop out. Simple!
My plan of attack it to wait for my Tire O-Rings and then get a tie-down and get back to business. One thing that I did really find useful was the new Ingersol Rand Ti Impact gun. It is Bad A$$ed. Saved a lot of back breaking lug removal.
More as the tire fiasco unfolds
