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

[Bitter]

Yea, a LT5 powered Firebird would be some cool **** though...super cool. I imagine it could be ran on a stand-alone ECM fairly easily and I bet good portions of the LT1 wire harness plug right in.

[Box]

Since I've somehow acquired a large sum of money for the LT5 swap would also need to figure out an IRS conversion. Some people have done the IRS off a C4 before but the geometry is wonky in anything other than the C4 and it's a pain to install and set up, some talk about using a C5 or C6 rear but I haven't found one completed. You'd think at that rate maybe the rear off either the 5th & 6th gen Camaro or the CTS & ATS might work better since it's not a transaxle like the C5 and C6.

[Bitter]

Correct. You're building a Firebird to take on C6 and C7 Corvettes on a road course. Didn't you know that?

[Box]

I didn't know until just now. It's interesting to think about but at least as far as getting IRS with a V8 and manual for $10K or less it's a lot more feasible to just buy a C4/C5 Vette or '99-04 Mustang Cobra, followed by LS swapping a Z32 300ZX or manual swapping a SC400. Though with the SC400 the engine poses a limitation, but I'm happy with 300 or so hp anyway which the later SC400 had. That's ok apparently there's an IRS from Heidts for the third gen, and since the third and fourth share the same rear unibody structure it'd bolt right in as well so it's weird it's not also marketed for the fourth gen: http://www.heidts.com/part/irc-301-1982-19...aro-f-body-irs/ Which I guess it could be since hub to hub the fourth gen axle is about 4" wider, so maybe they're developing an exact fit for the fourth gen but even then my god at the price.

Seriously though as far as road courses and autocross go the Firebird can be competitive with the solid axle with the right suspension, it's just on streets or for some reason a track where the road surface isn't uniform that the solid axle becomes a bigger disadvantage. Which it's not like I'm street racing or anything either, but I like to take drives through twisty roads and more often than not those roads aren't perfectly leveled or surfaced. To be stock crappy DeCarbon shocks aside the Firebird actually does fairly well, it's just I can't push it like I could a car with IRS as I have to keep axle shimmy in mind and in control. Which I was proud of it as I was able to keep up with the Genesis that's on coil-overs, of course that was only doing 5-10 over the posted speed limit but still. It's why even though being the most expensive single suspension component the Watt's link is my first and top priority, which at least the panhard bar setup is better than nothing I guess. I'm looking at you factory quad shock Mustangs.

Also checking around on eBay for ****s and giggles it turns out I could've also bought an early-mid 350Z. On paper a Z car would be ideal, it'd just need a V8 to be perfect.

[Bitter]

Early and mid 350Z's had suspension and engine issues, eating tires or eating oil...

[Bitter]

Turned her rear soft window about 70% clear again, was about 50%. It's much much better, enough to see through now. It does not look like the same car except that it's red on the outside, even the Hella headlights make it look way better.



Srsly Box, get the Hella lamps. I didn't get a chance to do side by side because I'm a lazy ass bag but they're so much better than the autopal. The light is focused in a spot and not just shotgunned all over below the "cut off".

[Box]

I guess that explains why they're so much cheaper. I knew about the oil consumption on the early VQ35DE and the clutch being kind of bleh but wasn't aware of the suspension issues, though one would suppose that's not too hard to remedy via aftermarket or later o.e. parts.

As much as I like the Firebird I can't help but think about a C5 or a LS swapped Z32. Stupid solid rear axle ruining everything, it just doesn't match the rest of the car. I guess this is what happens when you're a super particular and a super nitpicky **** about cars, I get told I'd find things to bitch about in a Ferrari or Bugatti and they'd be right.

[Box]

Turned her rear soft window about 70% clear again, was about 50%. It's much much better, enough to see through now. It does not look like the same car except that it's red on the outside, even the Hella headlights make it look way better.



Srsly Box, get the Hella lamps. I didn't get a chance to do side by side because I'm a lazy ass bag but they're so much better than the autopal. The light is focused in a spot and not just shotgunned all over below the "cut off".

Wooo seeing again. That's why I like the glass windows on convertible tops, actually I like for it not to be a convertible at all.

Can at least get pictures of the finished result.

[Bitter]

It was dark out, when I see it during the day next I'll get one. Looks like a different car all cleaned up! We drove around to see how the lights are, went past her family farms that are just south of me. The high beams are nearly epic with the standard bulbs, the low beams aren't bad either, way better than the Autopal junk. I wish they still had the 65W low beam H4's around, that would have been the ideal balance between light and longevity.



Now I can bounce onto wiring up a single relay harness for my fogs again. I'm going to retain the relay in the cabin because it's tapped to an ignition power and the switch on ground for the relay coil and I don't want to take the dash apart to get at that wiring nor do I want to fish that wiring outside. I'll just setup this relay to control the fog relay somehow, it can flip it's power or ground or something, might have it control relay ground and power it with the fog beams through it's own fuse? I'll figure that out tomorrow and make a plan and start working on it. I don't know if I have any single fuse mount tabs though....

[Bitter]

Here's a little story about that time I hit a deer in the Celica.

About a year ago I hit a deer in the Celica. No joke!

Soundman98 and I were headed back from a not so local car meet about 2 hours away, taking some back roads and having a little fun. We crest a hill and rush down a steep valley and there's this red ****ing squirrel that darts one way then the other then back right in front of my car. Thump rustle rustle bump - it hits my front lip and tumbles under the underbody plastics, spits out the back bumper, and is promptly ran over by Ryan in his BRZ.

We crest the other side of the valley and down a little lip onto the road out into the flat plains, it's dusk, the sun is starting to set, I see three fawns run out from the far left, I immediately stand on my brakes, the 205/50R16 Dunlop Direzza Z2 tires find traction on the old chip coat road as my Stoptech 309 brake pads clamp on my Centric Cryo-treated brake rotors, shedding my momentum into heat and dust. 1 passes in front of me, a 2nd one passes in front of me closer, a 3rd one now, the last one. It's about 4 feet tall at the shoulder, 5 feet at the ear, spindly legs under it's slender young frame wrapped in light brown and white speckles, it's young, probably weighs in at just under 100lbs when the dew settles out of the fall air. It's there right in front of me, I'm nearly stopped, it's still moving, I think it looks at me and I feel like we make eye contact but I'm sure I'm just anthropomorphizing that moment. It's at my right head light now, my car is in as full a brake dive as the BC coil overs will allow, I smell a hint of tire smoke as my body is instinctively jamming itself back into the leather seat to avoid slamming itself into the locked up seat belt, my arms braced on my 15 year old leather wrapped steering wheel, gripped tightly, squeezing the sweat from my pores into the leather leaving dark imprints I'll soon see. I glare at the deer as my headlight beam focuses on it's carcass and then the impact happens. At approximately too low of a speed for my gauge to register my car gently nudges the right rear leg about an inch out from under the deer, it stumbles slightly and leans against my headlight, then regains it's gait and continues on into the dusk forest. I stop. I look. I see no more deer. I remember that there's a car behind me. I slowly relax my grip on the steering wheel, place the shifter into park, pull the parking brake too even. I see the dark stripes left by my sweaty hands on the steering wheel in the bright glow of my dome light as I open the door and get out to survey the damage.


5 small hairs and an outline of the deer's ass in dust.


I take a quick sit on the grass shoulder of the road and let out a long held deep breath and feel the rush of adrenaline leave me now, chilled, I get back into the car after a moment and we continue on.

[Box]

Deer, it's all fun and games until they run out in front of you. With as many deer that're around here I'm surprised there really aren't any accidents due to them, there've been nights where small herds will be in the yard or cutting across like they weren't phased by the presence of humans whatsoever.

[Bitter]

I bought another spot pod to boost and do plan on using them as driving lights or trying to just to see how it works.

[Box]

Washed and vacuumed out the Firebird earlier, so that was fun. Then again it's only the driver floor mat that ever gets dirty and if it weren't for walking through the yard and parking on gravel wouldn't even have that, I'm OCD when it comes to car interior cleanliness. Then again I'm OCD about most everything, so never mind that. Also just ordered four 44mm rigid loop 12 x 3528 LED "bulbs" in white, so at least that'll get the mirror lights and the dome/cargo light. Then that leaves the glove box which I think is a 194 then the center console that's also a 194, oh and then the ashtray light I'll never need and is some weird small bulb in a plastic cylinder that snaps into place on the tray.

This post has been edited by Box: Nov 6, 2016 - 8:06 PM

[Bitter]

If you want insane bright like 200 actual lumen single sided T10 I know some good ones.




I went to change the air filter in the Mazda because the rubber seal around it was bad. Found some old droppings and urine in the bottom of the air box. Pulled it, found chicken wing bones and more urine/feces under it. Put the car out, soaked it with cleaner, soaked the AC condenser and radiator with cleaner, let it all sit, scrubbed the top of the trans and soaked it a few more times, rinsed it all till clean and no more purple/red response from the urine with the cleaner, washed the air box out the same, added better water drain holes, ran it without filter/box till the fans came on to dry some stuff up, pulled it in, gotta put it back together now. I L O V E my underhood light. I could not have seen that or done the cleaning at night without it.

[Box]

Did someone just say blindingly bright glove box and center console?

Ewwwww. My solution would be to kill it with fire.

[Bitter]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NCGFNB...=UTF8&psc=1

Thems, they BRIGHT. Like too bright for interior use for most stuff. Your glove box would be illuminated too brightly. They light up about 8 feet on either side of the GF's 16 Escape in the puddle lights and the one in her trunk lights up the cabin some too. She doesn't need to open the trunk, she can see through the tinted factory glass to see what's back there at night. It's crazy.

[Box]

They might be ok for the center console since the bulb is off to the side and is plugged right into the switch and the light comes through an opening, would just be a matter of alignment so the light is facing the opening. I guess they'd make for good tag lights, possibly sidemarkers if they faced directly out.

[Bitter]

Don't want light that's not color matched behind colored lenses for LED's since their spectral distribution is so peaky and so much would be filtered out. That being said those things are BRIGHT yellow behind an amber lens. Too bright. I tried on the Celica side marker for kicks, looks awful bad. They're not locked to polarity so they'll light either way which is nice. In my Celica high beam bowls they bounce whiskers of light to either side pretty darn far in the dark, I got some shots of it once, where did they go...

Potato shot, think I got some on the real camera.



This post has been edited by Bitter: Nov 6, 2016 - 10:28 PM

[Box]

They're not offered in red or amber then? That's what I get for not checking first.

[Bitter]

Not as far as I'm aware. Get the 3014 T10 bulbs for colors.

https://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Extremely-...ywords=3014+T10
https://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Extremely-...ords=3014+amber