Well we have all had some good hearted fun venting on one another, healthy to shake up the old corpuscles and peek at the little man behind the green curtain...( OZ).. On to bigger and more serious things.


I have a request of the forum:

#1. How many of you have the Needswings intakes. I have been s l o w l y working on the filler plates to enhance the engine comparment, to replace the deleted air boxes[ my name ]. The goal is to fill in the LOOK and add to the overall effect, changed so drastically by the NICE CAI add-on. Please send me or post a yes so that I will know how many would want one too. IF enough are looking for this, then I will beta test mine to afford easier construction for those who wanna copy.


Also I have been working on the thermostat replacement for my car and had some tough going. I had a working design but recent interest in some of my other projects point out the need to establish a greater level of construction, beyond function alone. I fully understand the audience's input and wanna respond to that level of interest.


#2. How many are interested in having a 180 ( or 160-174...)degree stat to help reduce the engine temp. for summer driving or in my case, high output operation of the motor. I thought that alot of do-it-yourselfers might want a low cost alternative to the factory $180 jobs.


To warn the crowd early on I have purchased a new factory stat on Ebay and set about figuring how to replace the insert with a standard stant style of stat to fit the factory housing. Now I have a 180 stat mounted and checked in a double boiler to see that its opening is as expected. I currently have been stumpted trying to get a clean kill on how the stat is retained. This crowd aint gonna do no red RTV. I have two paths, fabricating a clip out of readily available sheet metal ( works but to borrow an offensive phrase ; its getto looking ), and the acquisition of a spring in a COTS format. {commercial off the shelf; a Fort Fumble term (c/o the Pentagon) }.

If I am alone in this endevor, then Iam covered now, if there is sufficient value to the community at large, then I will get it finalized and release the finer points to the forum.

Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of such a wide spectrum group. ROYGBIV to all of ya, go figure that one; and make me proud.


P.S. I have included a photo of the stat to date for your entertainment. My spring is not just right yet but Iam on it.


You will also find a shot of my Crossfire resting and you will have the opportunity to see how it is treated { by me } when it is off - the - road.


Just to get you thinking I could not resist but show a project from last year. My wife keep beating my 1988, off road daytona Z 5 speed 4 cyclinder super sixty 60 turbo. I added (built a 4" deeper pan with gates and scraper / windage tray) ported exhaust, 3" pipe stainless, eibach springs -cut, hot shocks, factory aluminum head that I ported, redesigned throttle body - no idle path, MSD, 7500 cam, FWD F4 roller cam, undersized pulleys, and several coolers added. Seems turbos have this thing called turbo lag, SOOOO I tied a pneumatic resourvior to store the boost when you lift off the throttle. Far out eh??? It is discussed on the www but never really evaluated, so I stored the 18psi boost for the 'next turn' so when I hit the throttle the turbo had an assist to help it spool up. FUNCTION>>> FUNCTION>>> I needed high pressure tanks that are light weight, cheap for the testing and can handle ANY boost without issue, so I got old water softener tanks, free and rated at 250psi. Not enough to keep up with the 2002 mustang GT so I went out to get a better car like so:


Had to have the following features:
High power to weight
Newer / licensed
Automatic tranny
rear wheel drive with posi
supercharger
NOT GM
2 doors
great handling characteristics

and so I chose a Crossfire, ta da. There you have it all out!!!!!



Please vote for the fillers and or stat if it is of value to ya.

Thank you, Woody

 

Woody, you never cease to amaze me, you are a special forum member indeed....when i saw that PVC pipe sealed with purple primer i just about fell off my chair(and ive only had 2 beers)

On a serious note...i can only understand about 1/3 of what you say/type. I think in person it would make perfect sense but the slang doesnt quite read properly. Im not being rude im just trying to understand what the heck you are saying.

I am very interested in a lower degree t-stat(175-180)...but before you go reinventing the wheel it has already been discussed in another thread that the TVT tstat is merely a stock unit with 4 or 5 holes drilled into it...then BrianBrave brought up the idea of swapping the wax pellets. Might look into that before you do whatever you were considering doing.

 

I ll try to be more clear. My best result so far is by mounting a standard STANT thermostat in the Crossfire factory housing. It is a 100% fit and made up from standard parts. I only need to get a better retention device to hold the stat in the housing securely. Now I have to locate the RIGHT spring to call it done. The last photo was yet another prototype or as I call it : a mock up.

I have cut up a bunch of stats and understand [a bit more ] how the phase change of the wax pellet operates to open the "valve". There is terrific pressure generated to open a stat, most impressive for a simple LOOKING device.

They (STATS) are rather intricate inside and there is a good deal more stuff besides the wax pellet. That was my first experiment, but when I sectioned the stats, the wax is in a bladder -sack- with gaskets and such. I would be hard pressed to attempt such a revision and you need to get the SPECIAL WAX. I could not see cutting up a bunch of 180 stats to try to get enough wax for the factory stat body.

Been there - done that. Drilling holes [beyond the pee hole to vent air] means that it can not 'close'fully'. This retards the warm-up rate of the car and does not decrease the temperature that the stat opens. Drill a biggy hole and the water flows more but to control the high temperature you need to regulate the flow through the radiator. My 1970 challenger R/T had a big washer to restrict the water flow, otherwise it was wide open. Worked on the track. BTW these stats are harder to replace than on my 440 dodge so you dont wanna do it every season.

The factory stat is a real different design and assembled using a big honking spring to hold the stat into the body. This large spring is the part that was dissassembled on another forum members post about bad service. I ll attach a photo of the factory assembly for comparison.

Looking at my picture above-post you will see my 180 degree stat inserted into the Crossfire stat housing. The large diameter spring is what Iam trying to perfect to hold the stat together before I release the design.

I have some issue with writing as my thoughs sort of race ahead of the keys and the Lysdexia does not help em.


Photo #1 = factory stat insert - removed from housing
#2 = prototype of early strap holder......stat hot & open
#3 = inside of unassembled factory stat housing

 

Woody very interesting, keep up the R&D. We need more people experimenting like this. I do this with my RX7 but as of yet have not done any experimenting with my XF. Thanks

Jim

 

intrigued by your goings on. will definately keep eyes peeled for further posts.

P.S. ROYGBIV is an acronym for the color spectrum, or rather, colors in the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).

 

I like what your trying to do, will be happy to see if/how it works. I understand what your saying about the warmup rate. Thats a good point pertainting to the ones with drilled holes.

 

I have a needswings intake and am very happy. You get used to it under the hood and forget about the big cover look. Performance results is what is looks like. Way to think out of the box, that's when great ideas form from just ideas.

 

Wood, email me and I will send you some concept drawings of a couple of pieces we could make to hold that Stant t-stat using the factory notches. I need some dimensions from you. I will draw them up when I get home.

MikeR

 

Let me see if I got this right.

You are storing excess compressed air from the intake manifold while under boost, storing it, and then making it available again before the turbo spools up to reduce turbo lag?

BRILLIANT!

 

Please remember that the boose is short lived and that it has benefit ONLY IN AUTOCROSSING. No where else do you have full boost,get fully off the throttle and immediatly FULL throttle again and again and again in rapid succession. It was an assist but the wow factor to the track lizards was priceless.

Ill open up a bit more data here since you seemed interested. The engine idled on bypass air thru 3 pcv check valves( fuel injected engines are air contolled, more air =higher speed as the computer tries to keep the fuel/air mix reasonable). Air was drawn in at idle in and they were shut under boost. I added a brass swing gate check valve between the turbo outlet and the throttle body inlet. When the throttle was closed NO air went into the engine through the throtle body (it was reworked to shut fully but not bind). This allowed the boost to be trapped in the tank that was connected between the closed throttle and the check valve. The blow off valve and turbo of course were before the check valve so the turbo loved it. Less to blow off. The black thing in the trunk is a check valve 1 1/2" [sump pump part] with very little loading/tension on the valve so the motor could suck thru it when the pressure in the tank was used up and the turbo had not achieved full spool up [boost]. I called it a GULP valve cause it sounded like that and it added more air to the engine prior to boost onset.

Anyway it worked a bit but the crossfire was the result of trying to plow a 4 cyclinder ( supposed to be at least 330 hp super 60 series motor) thru turns with a standard getrag gear box and some turbo lag. I got whooped almost every run for a year and decided to draw a better sword to do battle with. If I can locate the photos Ill show the intake and mods for your amusement.

Again in defense of the photos for the purity / sanity police; this was a test bed that I played with and it was track only. Yes the bungey cord holds the dip stick in as at 7500 rpm I had enough blowby and windage to poof the dip stick up and drip oil - a no no. Could not afford the time to shift, so I used 1st gear and revs to make the straight sections of the course exciting. Was a $600 car purchase that kept me passivated for a year or so; Engineers!

Enjoy every day, they are special.........that is why today is called "the present".

Woody

 

Woody,
Here is a concept drawing for your thermostat to hold the spring and stat in place. I put grooves for the spring to set in to keep it centered. Forum Email wouldn't let me attach the pic.

MikeR

 

Woody, you're my hero! I love the DIY mentality. And the "build a better mousetrap" thinking. You go man!!

 

I agree !

 

If the filler plates will stabilize the front part AND fill in the holes, I'd buy a set!

 

http://www.mbworld.org/forums/showth...160+thermostat

I have purchased a 160 degree thermostat from PTE in the above thread. It looks absolutely stock, and perfect, but I haven't yet installed it to give a review. Will try to do that in the next couple weeks.

My understanding is that he replaces the vernatherm in the stock unit so that it appears to be the stock unit, but opens at a lower temp.

http://www.mbworld.org/forums/showth...160+thermostat

http://www.mbworld.org/forums/showth...160+thermostat