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

[Box]

Just go all poly mounts, because racecar.

[Bitter]

Celica is bad enough, I don't need two cars like that.

[Box]

Fair enough.

So apparently driving pissed off and summer tires in 60º that haven't warmed up yet means spinning tires at 30-40 mph, who knew. Tried driving again and nope... Knee was fluttering and the more it pissed me off the more it fluttered. So yeah I got pissed off and punched it in first after finally getting the clutch out and proceeded to spin through first gear and went straight to fifth. Wasn't my intention to spin through first, figured being in the 60's it'd be warm enough to grab but nope, as I just wanted to get straight into fifth. It's just frustrating, have done everything I can and it's still not enough...

[Bitter]

Mounts are definitely not right, I need to go through the procedure to re-set their positions and if that fails I need an OEM rear mount to install and return the Amazon one. Alignment, and grab a quart of synthetic Mercon V for top up once the trans cooler fully opens, I didn't get it to full temp driving around in the cold on local streets. 1-2 up shift feels a bit slow/soft but got better with more driving, I've never felt what one of these transmissions is supposed to shift like so who knows. The 1-2 up-shift kick in the ass (shift shock) is gone and the rest of the shifts don't bang so hard either.

[Box]

Seems like only o.e. mounts or aftermarket poly mounts work right, hopefully the o.e. mount is still available if needed. I'm trying to remember how my father's 626 of the same year range shifted out, but it was a V6 and that was AGES ago. I couldn't foresee a non-sports sedan shifting too hard or quick, I think so long as it doesn't slip you'll be ok.

I got in the Miata before going to get dinner and even with my leg numb it wasn't a problem to use it, and that was with the seat being too far back for me since it's adjusted for my brother that's about 4" taller and mostly from the legs. Hell I could actually take and push my leg with my hand to push in the clutch, I seriously think the clutch is barely heavier than the accelerator in that car. It's even easier when adjusted for myself, I have to move it up a good bit because I'm short... It's almost like the Miata was made for people 5'8" in mind. Even now I still don't want to sell the Firebird, but I guess there's really not much choice in the matter. Perhaps if I found the small fortune to LS swap it and maybe then I could drive it again since the LS style hydraulic throw-out bearing and push clutch lightens the pedal effort a good bit compared to the LT-1 style conventional slave and pull clutch.

[Bitter]

WE ALL TOLD YOU TO GET A LS CAR BUT NOOOOO I DON'T LIKE THE EXHAUST NOTE, NOW YOU'RE GOING TO LS SWAP IT. BAKA! :lol:

[Box]

Psssh, I don't have the money for that. Hence having to find the fortune first. Besides it was more than the engine, I don't like how the '98-02 cars look anywhere as much and finding a hardtop is even harder since only the Formula had it as an option from '98-00. If someone made a hydraulic throw-out bearing conversion that'd be nice, but seems like no one cares to.

[Bitter]

Drove the Mazda home and enough to open the trans cooler, the fluid goes in hot and comes out cold lol, I could only feel the lower line and I was like god damn almost 45 minutes of driving on the highway and it's still cold! Then I felt the top line and top and far end of the cooler and felt hot areas. I plumbed it so hot fluid goes in the top and cold comes out the bottom. I can't imagine a situation where this cooler would fail to cool the trans unless I'm climbing a 20% grade with a fully loaded car in 100 degree ambient temps and I'm pretty sure I'd give up before the car did if I were doing that. Shifts nice, drives nice, feels weird after driving the Celica for so long though. I feel like I'm sitting up SO high and it's SO slow. 0-60 in like 10-12 seconds or something, granted the Celica is no rocket but it's under 10 seconds 0-60. The Mazda would complete a 1/4 mile in about 1/2 a minute give or take a few seconds.

[Box]

Meh, even the Firebird isn't what I'd call fast. 0-60 in mid 5's is V6 Camry territory these days. It's good that the cooler seems to be working as it should and the trans is shifting right.

[Bitter]

Some short on-ramps are a struggle, it's even worse if I'm behind someone who's taking the ramp really slow as I don't have time to get speed up to merge comfortably, it's the worst if it's a short up hill ramp behind someone slow!

The new struts and control arms feel nice too, it rides and takes road imperfections much more nicely and I don't have creaking over big dips and the shifting under hard stabbing of the brakes is gone too. I just want to get the mount situation sorted out but that can wait for a few weeks.

New phone came, finally played with it some last night, takes very nice photos and overall is very fast, still learning how to really use it though is a steep learning curve for me, thankfully there's the internet and I can just google whatever my problem is most of the time. The fingerprint unlock is pretty cool, I learned it to both of my index fingers. Just touch the back fingerprint sensor and it unlocks the screen in about 0.05 seconds or some ****, basically instant. Only annoyance has been updating it, it needed to do that twice but that's not a big deal. I have to find all the equivalent Android apps for it though, so that'll take some time as I think of them and what ones I need. Also I need to go get service on it! I'll drive out today and do that along with another big long lap in the Mazda and recheck the fluid again and do as good of a visual inspection under hood and under the car as I can in the garage...after I clear out the other half of the garage so I can park it in, I left it out for the night. I was just far too tired to move everything and pickup and clean and **** it, some rain won't hurt it. Free car wash!

This post has been edited by Bitter: Nov 18, 2017 - 10:00 AM

[SwissFerdi]

I don't like PRNDL123 autos, I don't know how you daily it. Even the better 6AT in the newer Miata is frustrating sometimes. Lately the right Up paddle has been switching between down and upshifting at its whim, which is rather alarming for multiple reasons. Apparently the clockspring wears and causes shorting, good stuff.

[Bitter]

The Mazda I just put in D and drive I use the OD on/off button for light engine braking on the highway or crawling traffic sometimes I put it into 2 to keep from shifting back and forth at every throttle touch.
The Celica has up/down buttons on the steering wheel and it's almost always in that mode, once in a blue moon when I'm tired or sick I put it into D and it shifts so super nice and smooth but I find myself tapping the buttons almost in unison with the trans shifting during normal gentle acceleration, then I forget it's in D and get confused that it's not down shifting as I'm slowing down. I always drop from 4-3-2 when slowing so I'm in the right gear to accelerate again and that gets confusing. Honestly it does really nicely in D when I've driven it like that, the down shifts happen quickly and without tons of throttle, the upshifts seem appropriate as well, it's nice and it feels nice. It shifts a little firmer/faster in M, or so it feels like and I'm just accustomed to that. When I do drive a stick I tend to shift it like my Celica shifts which is probably a little harder and faster than I should and tend to chirp tires on accident.

[Box]

When I drive an auto I kick a hole through the left side of the floorboard where there's supposed to be a pedal and I can't figure out why moving the shifter to the top isn't first, and instead the engine just revs and the car doesn't go anywhere. It really does throw me off at first though and I actually do normally kick the floorboard by instinct, then after I realize I'm in an auto I become a sad panda and the will to drive is gone. There've been vehicles I rather take into a tree head on than drive, all automatics. I think the 5S-FE auto Solara my grandfather had was the absolute worst driving experience I've ever had to endure, so ****ing slow and lazy. Four cylinder with an automatic is certain damnation to any driving enjoyment, eight cylinder with an automatic is bad enough but at least it has something called torque to turn that witchcraft called a torque converter.

As much as I love V8's I'll take a four cylinder with a manual over a V8 with an automatic every time, that's how much I hate automatics.

[Bitter]

When I drive an auto I kick a hole through the left side of the floorboard where there's supposed to be a pedal and I can't figure out why moving the shifter to the top isn't first, and instead the engine just revs and the car doesn't go anywhere. It really does throw me off at first though and I actually do normally kick the floorboard by instinct, then after I realize I'm in an auto I become a sad panda and the will to drive is gone. There've been vehicles I rather take into a tree head on than drive, all automatics. I think the 5S-FE auto Solara my grandfather had was the absolute worst driving experience I've ever had to endure, so ****ing slow and lazy. Four cylinder with an automatic is certain damnation to any driving enjoyment, eight cylinder with an automatic is bad enough but at least it has something called torque to turn that witchcraft called a torque converter.

As much as I love V8's I'll take a four cylinder with a manual over a V8 with an automatic every time, that's how much I hate automatics.

[Box]

Which at least I've come to the point where other people having an automatic is fine, I don't hold it against anyone like I used to but it's just not for me. It's why this whole situation with my leg and knee is so frustrating, and why I'm so stubborn.

[Bitter]

Haha yea, sometimes I wish one or both of my cars were stick but then other times I'm really glad at least one is an automatic. I would enjoy the Celica being a 6spd to stay in lift and making modding/tuning easier BUT on the other hand then I have super short gears (compared to the 4spd auto) which seems like it would be kind of annoying on winding tight roads constantly either being out of the power band but knowing I'm just a shift away or constantly shifting between gears to stay in power band vs the auto just staying in mostly one gear and dealing with it. All I need to do is make power at 5,000 RPM in lift and I'm OK with the automatic staying in lift between gears even if it's still slower than the 6spd due to drivetrain losses. The intake manifold is my first step in that direction, I'm going to order that hardware kit and install it this winter come hell or high water! Tuning for it will be another adventure likely for another year though, but that's OK. I can still see about 10-15hp untuned which is a notable increase even if it's not earth shattering and mind blowing like the 20-25hp bump you get with it tuned. I've got the suspension and tires, now I need the power.

I'm re-researching into the lift controllers and I'm confident I can build one, it's going to be a matter of how the ECU works with lift. I can't remember if it flips to the map for lift when it sees the oil pressure switch activate or if it switches purely on RPM. Getting the lift solenoid to turn on at the desired RPM isn't too hard, it can be done solid state with a transistor and a resistor to simulate the solenoid for PCM feedback purposes, it's the tuning part or ECU mapping I need to clarify. Slowly but surely I will make power at 5K and have an auto that stays in lift damnit! 3000 RPM of glorious sound.

[Box]

I think that's the one weakness with the GT-S and perhaps in particular the 6-speed is with the gear spacing being short and lift coming in so high it can be cantankerous at times, but lowering the lift point would help considerably I'd imagine as well as raising the redline a little if at all possible. That's the one thing about V8's that's so magnanimous, if it's a good one(usually GM made) you're always in power. I can be in fifth gear churning 1,200 rpm at 35 mph and mat it to the floor and I'll gain speed in a timely manner. Would downshifting into second or third be a lot faster, yes, but I don't have to.

Hopefully you can get it all figured out, will make a nice Winter project for you. Do the aftermarket ECU options not work with the automatic I guess? I think A'pexi made a plug and play ECU, but it's probable it'd only be for the 6-speed.

[Bitter]

Bingo.

I can gain speed in 4th above about 3000 RPM and it's not awful but it's not exactly fast. Of course I'm also going about 70mph at that point.

[Box]

I think if lift kicked in around 5,000 and redline was at least 8,500 it'd be a lot better and easier to keep in the power-band. Provided there aren't any major drawbacks to having lift kick in sooner anyway.

[SwissFerdi]

The Mazda I just put in D and drive I use the OD on/off button for light engine braking on the highway or crawling traffic sometimes I put it into 2 to keep from shifting back and forth at every throttle touch.
The Celica has up/down buttons on the steering wheel and it's almost always in that mode, once in a blue moon when I'm tired or sick I put it into D and it shifts so super nice and smooth but I find myself tapping the buttons almost in unison with the trans shifting during normal gentle acceleration, then I forget it's in D and get confused that it's not down shifting as I'm slowing down. I always drop from 4-3-2 when slowing so I'm in the right gear to accelerate again and that gets confusing. Honestly it does really nicely in D when I've driven it like that, the down shifts happen quickly and without tons of throttle, the upshifts seem appropriate as well, it's nice and it feels nice. It shifts a little firmer/faster in M, or so it feels like and I'm just accustomed to that. When I do drive a stick I tend to shift it like my Celica shifts which is probably a little harder and faster than I should and tend to chirp tires on accident.

DDing a 20yo auto now would drive me up the wall. The Celica would have been long gone had I not swapped it. Shame that the Celica has a slushy thing too, as I drove my buddy's 6 speed Trixie XRS and that thing f***s! I disagree and think more gears would keep you in the powerband, it just takes more shifting (the horror!).

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 19, 2017 - 8:02 AM