styler

Nice, quite a bit of work eh!

Thanks Raven, will ammend. Yeah I think it must be only the HID blue/purple lights then that blind oncoming traffic, not std headlights with blue/purple globes. Philbey 55/60W is the legal rated power of replacement globes, I know it would be so easy just to upgrade the power to 100/80W globes but its just not allowed becuase its too bright or maybe its the extra power draw on the car or the heat generated in the housing. Its _Audm_yo 55/60W bulbs have that power rating as stated and the gas just changes them to be whiter so they are all legal: +30 +50 +80 +100.

Thought I'd write a quick *cough* article on headlight upgrades for most older cars, seeing since the stock lights are pretty poor and are definately worthy of an upgrade by now. There are some things to understand and take note of. Will add pics at some point as I find them... Most older cars will have what is known as a sealed beam headlight which is basically a huge one piece bulb with a dual filament inside for high and low beam and its a throw away item. Most of them are cheap as such and have poor performance and deteriorate over time. All you do is replace the whole unit when it gets old or stops working. There are limited performance versions of sealed beam lights but they aren't very good and get expensive to replace. Some bright spark many years ago decided this was very wasteful and so designed a replaceable bulb in a housing known as semi sealed where just the bulb could be replaced and the housing was reused. The housing was more expensive as it had properly designed reflector optics to give a much better beam. The upside was that you only had to buy it once and just change the bulb when needed. These semi sealed headlights are the way to go, with a far superior beam pattern and cheap replaceable bulbs. There are a few brands that have proven themselves with quality designed optics such as Hella and Cibie but also lesser known brands are out there which some people have had luck with. The different types of housings and bulbs are known as a code ie H1, H2, H3, H4 Older car headlights use H4 housings and H4 bulbs which go together. They often come in a kit and are avalaible in different sizes and shapes, you just need the ones to suit your needs. The bulb will be replaceable and there is a huge range of bulbs out there for you to take your pick. Take note of the 2 types of housings - DOT and ECE. These housings have different beam patterns and are only suitable and legal for the country intended, DOT being USA and ECE being most other countries as far as I know. ECE light beam pattern is superior to DOT. Also note there are 2 housing options with regards to the parker bulb also known as the city lamp bulb which can be included in the headlight or not included to suit your needs. The bulbs come in different power levels ie wattage but be aware 55/60W versions are the road legal ones and anything higher is for off road use only like 100/80W and 130/90W. Also higher wattage bulbs have a reduced life. Theres also +plus bulbs which contain xenon gas up to a total of about 25% of the whole gas content of the bulb. Any more than 25% xenon gas has no extra performance gains. So +30, +50, +80 and +100 are a percent of that 25% level. Remember power is still restricted to 55/60W for road cars so it's a way of adding performance to this type of headlight by using light whiter which makes the road easier to see. The whiteness level of the bulbs measured in kelvin (k) which is the colour temperature and you will see 3000k to 30000k which is the colour of the bulb. Std bulbs are around 3500k, White is around 5000k, Blue is around 8000k and Purple is around 12000k. Levels around white provide more visability the driver while high levels of blue and purple are less visable to the driver. The current legal limit of replacement bulbs is 4200k which I think is for older style housings not HID (will check this out shortly). Use Google Images and look up "HID colour chart" for an idea of the different colours. Filament bulbs have a slightly yellow light due to the filament colour when heated. To produce a whiter light the xenon is added up to 25%. To produce an even whiter light, a thin blue coating is painted on the outside of the bulb, this reduces the output though as it blocks the light but ends up as a whiter light when emitted. Sometimes only the tip of the bulb is painted blue.To produce a more blue light, a very thick layer of blue coating is added which reduces light output way below a standard bulb and is for off road use only. You can add any colour as a thick coating for style but it will reduce the bulbs output and it wouldn't be legal in full colour either. I think you can have yellow fog lights (will have to check). Bulb output is measured in lumens and often you can find a spec sheet with the lumens, kelvin and life of the bulb so you can compare. So far the current leaders of the replacement bulb are Osram and Philips with many different versions to pick from. HID lights are much more powerful and have a higher level kelvin and can do so because they have a special housing that has a different beam pattern. The beam pattern for HID lights is a lot more focused and on the road, out of oncoming traffic so they don't get blinded. This is why HID conversion bulbs in older headlights don't work, people try to convert an old housing into a HID headlight by using a kit which has a HID conversion bulb but they don't realise by using the old housing they are using the old beam pattern and they end up with a super powerful crazy purple light all over the road, straight up into oncoming traffic and not on the road where it would be of some use to them. They then go and upgrade the power and colour because theres not enough light on the road for them and completely blind oncoming traffic. There are companies that will install a new HID housing into an old housing, this is getting more popular but it is very expensive at the moment. Now onto the power supply, headlights need the full 12v power supply of the car. Voltage drop causes a massive loss of performance and using old an wiring harness and the old light switch in your car doesn't help. Use a new wiring harness and a relay to power the headlights with the old switch to turn the relay on and off. Headlights are no good to anyone if they aren't pointing straight so make sure you adjust them correctly or get some one to do it for you. Theres usually 3 adjustment screws to adjust and some procedure to follow in the vehicle manual. So you can upgrade your lights easily and with good results just remember that HID conversions and Blue light Bulbs don't really work. That's it for now, feel free to suggest any changes... Cheers. Styler

Strength, stretch and adjustment on cable clutch is probably why manufaturers changed to hydro.

I think qld now is +15mm for diameter, the old rule was the plus sizing but was changed for ultra low profile tyres.

I think for qld the rule is widest optional factory rubber x 1.3 and the increase in Track is +25mm overall, tyres must not stick out of guards or flares if installed.

Residual pressure valve stops the spring pulling the shoes back in on drum brakes 10psi Residual pressure valve for disc calipers (only if above master height) stops bleed back under gravity 2psi Disc calipers below master height - no residual pressure valve needed. Often it can be removed if internal mechanism or added as an external in line unit if needed but this is a specialist brake modification as if done incorrectly the brake setup will not work properly.

rx7 fc 7/8" rx7 fd 15/16"

Its not easy for a few reasons, theres single and twin masters, twins in disc/drum, disc/disc and drum/drum, bore sizes, mounting flanges, residual pressure valves, proportioning valves or internal mechanism, pedal ratios, combination valves, metering etc Its a bit of work to get it right but look up some of this stuff to work it out.

Buy a throttle linkage kit, good ones allow the correct travel for the pedal/carb by using a ratio lever and also have strong independant return spring, don't use the butterfly return spring on its own.

I would get soft mounts and ditch the phenolic spacers, its much better with the soft mounts for sealing and vibration, redline and mislab make them.

Yeah its all relevant but a good starting point is duration and a static compression figure, then also what fuel you want to run and lastly ignition timing can be backed off if it pings from what I have heard.

Let me explain carefully here... "Sports seats and universal rails to fit most make and models" - The big print. "You will need to design, cut, weld, drill and adapt to suit" - The missing fine print. Theres no easy way to "just do it" and it has be approved by an engineer as well who isn't interested in telling you how to do it, they just pass it off once done to an acceptable standard which makes it even harder. Theres places that do seating and will do it for you at a workshop for a few hundred dollars and pass it off as well. Also seats must be adr approved and may apply to rails as well which is why people try to use factory rails but they don't always work as planned. Theres seat base patterns that you need to get familar with and compare to your factory seat, thats the golden ticket if there ever was one for an easy conversion.

Yeah cool, have seen a few retrofitted so far and just trying to work out harness legalities in qld which are seriously a mixed bag of rules...

Did ke20 and ke25 come out with these from factory and what year if so?

Look like the old budget chromed steelies that got around years ago but most people got aluminuim alloy wheels as an aftermarket choice. Have seen a few sets of these back in the day if they are the ones I'm thinking of but unfortunately on most of them the chrome peeled and people chucked them out.

ke25 is not easy for lsd options, almost all options are cut down diffs with resplined axles.

You can remove 1/3 of suspension travel front and rear according to the books. Aftermarket front springs are 30mm/40mm lower so they remain captive under full droop, any lower and the spring would fall out its perch when the wheel fully drops down. This can be solved with short stroke dampers but it's not always an easy job. Stiffer springs are better for reduced travel so you don't bottom out but they add to ride height as the cars weight does't compress them so much in droop. Leaf springs can have a block added but it adds to axle tramp or they can have the eyes inversed or reset lower - or both.

When people talk about compression ratios it's just figures ie static to make sure it ends up at an useable ie dynamic ratio. When bigger cams are used they reduce compression as they are open longer and you need to compensate. Eg Rough example: 8:1 static with std cams = 8:1 dynamic 10:1 static with mild cams = 8:1 dynamic 12:1 static with big cams = 8:1 dynamic Static numbers are easier to work with and are usually recommended with the cam spec sheet.

Yeah it's interesting the whole lost hp seat pressure vs equal drivetrain equalibrium debate.... Including valve seal vs volume lost etc...

Dude I would like to say that Drift is the least return for dollar spent except for drag racing (In my opinion) Feel free to discuss....

Ah indeed philbey I do agree such is the "can" give you added rate :)

Let's just say it's a bitch to get anything std ke25... And that AE86 options???? will do.... just do the research

1) Tappets - adjust to suit and/or chain guide/tensioner if one 2) Brakes - Worn rotors I'm guessing

Just check with: 1) Installed height 2) seat pressure lbs/inch on valve 3) nose pressure lbs/inch on camshaft 4) Coil bind height 5) Shims / Locaters / Retainers / Collets / Lash Caps etc