As facilities go, Brainerd is (or was when I was active) a pretty crappy place but my rider at the time thought it was the scariest of all the nationals we attended. It has a massive front straight (they land private planes on it!) and the first time we went, he couldn't get his times down.
A veteran racer told him the key was turn 1/2 at the end of the straight. The trick was not to brake, just peg it and lay the bike in. Screw it up and you're in the woods at 140mph.
He sat in the trailer for a long while, then came out, saddled up and did it.
Threw up in his helmet...but he did it.
As I recall, we got 4th that weekend.
And a new helmet from Arai.

Go to the next state over and hit Road America, that place is awesome.
Laguna Seca gets all the glory but RA is the track that really challenges the machine and the driver.
(Surprisingly, most riders I knew didn't think the Corkscrew was that big of a deal, it's the following turn (Rainey Corner?) that's the killer.)

In it's defense however, Brainerd is (was?) surrounded by the best bakeries I've ever seen outside of Europe.
No wonder everyone we saw was morbidly obese.

 

The rear wiper on my 6 has an intermittent setting - I suspect a lot of newer minivans, SUVs, and wagons would - although that's more a function of the controller/switch than the motor anyway, isn't it?

 

Yeah, it probably is.
Realize though that my options at the junkyard are limited to older cars, they don't have much past 2007 or so in the pick-n-pull area. There's a whole different area, closed to the public, where they strip newer stuff and sell online through a junkyard network.
I'll spend $25 on a blue sky fantasy and if it doesn't work, no harm, no foul but more than that , I'd really need to be sure before investing.

As I previously said, there's no necessity involved here...my wipers are fully functional as is, it's just an idea right now.
You've given me some info though, so thanks for that.

And, just FYI, the wipers would be tied into a much larger project I'm mulling.

 

Yeah, they recently repaved the whole place and freshened it up over all. You are correct that turn 1/2 is the fastest section and very dangerous if you ***** out coming in hot off the straight.

I'll take what I can get though. Our next closest track is USAIR.

 

we've run laguna i think like 5-6 times this year, i've lost count, and you're right, the corkscrew is one of the easier corners. it gets all the attention because its a blind corner, but once you figure out which tree to aim for, its easier than the turn after it, and the turn after that, and turn 5...

 

Made two exploratory/spec junkyard runs this week.
Gathered some bits and bobs to use in the airpump reroute and then started legoing them together in every config I could imagine.
And realized I was making a mistake.

More accurately, I had already erred when I mounted the reservoir on the airbox and this addition of hoses was just making it worse. Bare of the extra gizmos (reservoir, two airpump hoses), the airbox could be removed with 3 6mm nuts and about 30 seconds. I seemed determined to complicate a beautifully elegant (when you source parts from the junkyard, definitions become more fluid) install for no real reason.

So, back to siting the reservoir(s).
Serendipity brought me into a storage box I rarely visit, lots of the stock parts I've removed and found no use for and there was the original FC reservoir/fill neck. The tank was still useless, way too specific to easily remount elsewhere but hmmm...the neck?
More fiddling around and suddenly, this:


The black ell on the bottom was originally part of one of the many airboxes I've raided and it snapped right on the bottom of the FC neck. It's other end terminates on a 5/8" hose bung, coincidentally, exactly the size of the FC pump fitting I've been using.
It looks like a mechanical appendix.

Had to cut down the top of the neck about an inch or so (fouled the hood) to get the mounting flange aligned with the threaded bung in the firewall. Machined a delrin spacer to space the neck and clear the firewall lip.
Now this:


Obviously doesn't hold a whole lot of fluid, not sure if that will an irritant or not. It's easily reversible and at the least, is a different approach than I've been taking to the reservoir problem.

That still leaves the airpump intake.
If it ain't going to the airbox, it's back to the little filter, I guess.
Something bothers me about previous efforts but I'm not sure what so I'll just keep fiddling till it gels.

 

Second stop on my Glorify The Mundane World Tour™ was washer spray nozzles.
Not just any nozzles, mind you...we want the fancy 3-jet ones like certain Lexusssesss have.
We want elite spray patternage.

All the Lexi in the yard either had twin jet units or none at all. In fact, it was eerie how many cars had been stripped of the sprayers, probably 60-70% of 'em.
I did find a set however, on a Hyundai of all things.
Also scored some neat widgets related to the tube- L and T fittings from various cars.

Had to file the holes in the hood to accept the new sprayers, that took about 15 minutes per side but overall, a pretty simple job to install and plumb.
Works like poop.

Seems way under pressurized now, the spray barely reaches midway on the glass.
Not sure if there's restriction in the lines (very doubtful) or if these sprayers just need more ooomph from the pump.
Or something else entirely.

Fitting as it may seem I'm not inclined to work on this in the rain, so progress and pics shall resume tomorrow.

 

so you are saying it just "spritzes" the face of the glass? A light shot mid pane?

 

Yes, there is a decided lack of fluidic enthusiasm.
I want to spritz the car behind me, show em what a baller I be.

Currently it tinkles on the hood and lower glass.
Pathetic, really.

 

my post was far dirtier then you read it, or, you are much more mature and did not give into my shenanigans. 10/10 I had a hearty chuckle.

 

I figured there was a pearl necklace payoff hidden round the bend, so I pulled over to let you pass.

 

Well, this is something...

I've long planned on several weeks of housesitting for Sigfrid this summer- two weeks in June and three in July. In previous years I've used this time as an orgy of Z work but there's no budget this summer for the car and that's one reason I've ramped up work on Sprocket...keeps me engaged.

Over the winter, S. and I have bandied about various plans for the Z but his situation is so fluid it's hard to make decisions.
Difficult to build to an unknown set of emission standards- CA or CO?

Independent of external factors though is the basic fact that ditching the FI and going carb would solve a lot of problems with the least expense.
The blingiest option would be triple sidedraft DCOE Webers. Somewhat fiddly to set up and keep running in sync, while also being just as expensive as going Megasquirt and keeping injection.

Early model round top SUs are charming as hell but I can't/don't particularly want to deal with the quirks anymore.

The best "modern" option comes from Arizona Z and is a custom manifold that takes a Holley downdraft 4-barrel carb.
Sigfrid just bought this setup, found (lightly) used at a Nissan swap meet in CA.

I don't know what this signals about the future of the project (can't see this ever being CA legal) but in the short term at least, it means we should have a running/driving car by end of June.
The engine harness will need redoing, as will the fuel pump and FPR. I hope the throttle cable already in place can be adapted.
The brakes have been sitting for nearly two years, so they'll need attention, too.

But the Z lives!
Kinda/sorta.

Now back to my more pressing washer nozzle issue.

 

The fact that you used the word tinkle made me giggle.

 

Two days of fiddlefapping and I end up here:


This reservoir offered the best/most secure mount and doesn't interfere with anything else plus, it has the largest capacity. I had to look at all the other options before appreciating this one's suitability, I suppose.
Also, minor (but hopefully, final) changes to the airpump intake.

Bonus pics of the new Z intake:




We work on her Friday.

 

It's oddly fitting that as my magpie attention has focused on the wiper/washer system, we've been inundated with rain. Days and days of wet...very unusual.
With the reservoir mounted/functional, the final consideration was the spray nozzles and it hasn't gone well. As usual, there is more to this than I'd thought, some nozzles work better than others and I wasn't making much progress.

I was also running into an issue with the feed hose kinking when the hood was closed.

Then I was struck with a "two birds, one stone" solution.
I'd previously harvested a set of nozzles from a mid-80's Accord- initially interesting because of their size (the holes in my hood were bored out when I acquired it and the nozzle needs a fairly large footprint to cover them) and the mount, which is just a threaded bung and plastic nut.
I like easy.

Their single nozzles spray in a fan pattern and when hood mounted, work OK at lower speeds but not so great on the highway.
Smoking and pondering, pondering and smoking.

And then...
Why not move the nozzles off the hood completely, mount them on the garnish plate at the base of the glass? This moves them about 8" closer to the intended target (the glass) and more favorably aimed so high speed doesn't disrupt the spray as much. And, since they would be stationary, no need to worry about dealing with hose slack for the hinge action.
Took about an hour to assemble- mounting the sprayers took minutes, routing the hose in the wiper cavity was trickier (have to avoid the wiper linkage) but I had enough weird hose fittings to make it work.

And success!
Almost.

When I located the nozzles on the garnish plate, I kept the same general spacing as they'd had on the hood, basically, just moved 'em forward. Not a problem on the drivers side but on the passenger side it sprays directly into the wiper arm and the water is blocked until the wiper starts climbing the windshield.
Not a total dealbreaker but I think some nozzle relocating will optimize coverage.
That's today's project.

In the rain.

 

No garage?

 

Of course there's a garage and like any decent American I've crammed it so full of crap that cars no longer fit.
Thus it is and shall ever be.

Let's pivot temporarily from the fascinating world of spray nozzles to the benignly neglected Z car.
Sigfrid flew in Thurs. night with the new intake, apparently TSA was not thrilled with the x-rays and made him check it. That Holley 4-barrel was much less dangerous in the cargo hold than chillin with the peeps in the cabin, I suppose.

I had gone over Thursday for a few hours and prepped the intake for removal, everything was loose and ready to come off, so when we met up Friday morning, work commenced.

We differed- naturally- on what exactly we should be doing but it's S.'s show, so he called the shots and it ended up working to both our satisfaction.
Everything we did comes right back out when I move over for the extended housesit in two weeks but she did get cobbled together enough to start.
And RUN!

Not run great mind you, but better than ever before and clear confirmation that the EFI/ECU had been our problem...for whatever reason.

It's going to significantly change the carefully curated "look" of the bay, the whole intake is so much smaller and compact and there is almost no electrical left... it's growing on me.

It was also good (from a purely selfish aspect) that Sigfrid got to experience some of the difficulties firsthand, problems I'd previously dealt with alone. The manifold hardware for instance...I've long wanted the upgraded hardware kit but S. kept "forgetting" to order it. After installing the manifolds yesterday, he now sees the necessity.

When I go over next month, I'll be stripping the engine back down to address an oil leak from the front cover (the bane of my existence!), stripping out and redoing the engine harness and all the other little detail work to adapt the carb (like the throttle cable).
The unmentioned elephant in the room is the exhaust system itself.
The one we have is crap.
I know it, Sigfrid knows it.
We have to get a better one, the only question is when.

Along with it's many other faults, the current system has no cat, which we absolutely must have to get legal. I see no point modifying the current system when the preferred unit is already set up for the cat and will fit/seal much better than the one we have.
It's not a trivial amount of money though (@$750), so it may be a while.

It was good to work together again and the Z is still a stunning car, so whatever the future brings, this day at least went well.

 

If imitation is sincerest form of flattery...
I've been meaning to post pics for a couple of week's. The new 6 wheel is great: the fatter rim and slightly smaller diameter seem to add a little heft and steering feel (which were already good), and the roughly 1" greater depth moves it that much closer to me, greatly improving the wheel/seat/pedals relationship for me.
The only downsides: the spokes are slightly thicker, and don't drop as sharply to the sides, so it hides the cruise stalk and switch/status lights. And, because I'm so used to this wheel in my 6, I totally want to use the wheel mounted switches.

 

Sounds like a challenge.

 

That wheel looks great in there.

 

I find money to be more heartfelt, imitation a distant second.
Getting the switch wiring through to the steering column is technically pretty simple, I've done it before. How you'd integrate it beyond there, I've no idea.
There are significant aesthetic problems to overcome as well, our proprietary and heavily integrated bezel/switchgear make changes in that area very difficult and more complex than you might first imagine.

Yes, it does.

 

Well, this was going to be the post where I ruminated on how the new intake is performing...and that's where I'll begin, I guess.
Denver has had unceasing rain for what seems like weeks now, so Sprocket has had ample opportunity to suck up water if she could. Happily, there is no indication that water is making it's way to the filter and she's run perfectly in quite heavy downpours...water does not seem to be an issue.

In fact, other than a bit of audible hiss in the cabin, there's no indication that the intake has been changed at all and that counts as a success in my book.

Sadly, my on again/off again radiator leak has returned and this time I think it's terminal.
I stripped out the rad and took it to three repair shops, two of which refused to touch it at all, the third would attempt but not guarantee a result.
The common view is that Chinese rads are crap and not worth fixing.

The one guy who would talk to me (the descriptively named "Spike" of Spikes Radiator) admitted an unwavering bias in favor of brass/copper units, primarily I think because he is able to work on them. He said that most of the failures he sees are where the tubes are brazed to the core endplate and there's little you can do besides flood the area with epoxy and hope it plugs the holes. For this "repair" he gets $125.

I can get a new one on ebay for $139, so...yeah.

Of course, with the ebay part I have about a 50/50 chance it will be defective right out of the box or fail in short order.
But it's $139 and my carefully assembled system would remain intact.

Option #2 is an all metal OEM replacement for @$225 (Spike's recommendation).
I have no real objections other than the current fan and overflow would have to be replaced/reconfigured.

Option #3 is a better quality aftermarket rad- Fluidyne, Koyo, etc.
These go in the $300-400 range.

Naturally, my first resort was the junkyard.
I knew there were no FCs available but I hoped I could maybe find something that I could make work.
Ummm....no, not really.
FCs use a very proprietary type rad, there's really nothing quite like it and even though I found a couple of possibilities, they would have required more modification to fit than I'm willing to undertake.

So I'm kinda dead in the water till I make up my mind and acquire some funding.
I've been planning for some (relatively) big expenditures (new battery, tires and windshield), a new rad was not in the (already fanciful) budget.

Poop.

 

First off, **** all this rain...

I just had a thought about your intake setup... Remember a month or so ago when we had that weird and super late slushy snow? The Rat started leaking into the passenger floor. First leak, not the first rain or even snow, just the first appreciable volume of slushy stuff. It was caused by a combination of organic matter that had fallen into the cowl over the years (prior to my ownership obviously) and the super slushy stuff building up and subsequently melting. It seems to have something to do with the slush sort of sliming its way in there and melting more than anything; falling, freezing/thawing/melting/running/refreezing and so on. I don't know how high your intake hole is off the bottom of the cowl vent floor, but it might be something to mull over between now and the next snow. A lot of intakes will have some sort of drain in them, and yours might do well to have one if it doesn't already for that sort of thing.

A radiator is pretty mission critical... Moreso for twirling doritos I hear. Mayhap try ordering one of the cheap aftermarket units through a local distributor. That way, if it's defective you have convenient recourse. Alternatively, I seem to recall at least one of the FCs down in Pueblo had the rad still in place (no clue on condition). There's also a local Facebook group where parts seem to move with reasonable frequency. That's where I got my CPU, interior trim, diagnostic unit, and seats recently in exchange for beer (two six packs, though the second was unilaterally volunteered after I got WAY more than I came for). I also saw a few cars being parted locally on CL a week or so ago.

 

Two years ago I had to replace the factory type aluminum and plastic radiator in my S5. I went with an all metal copper/brass unit from CSF #W0133-1603414. I also ordered a new Stant radiator cap and 180 degree thermostat and seal, along with new Goodyear upper and lower radiator and all the heater hoses. Before I pulled the radiator I did the Prestone chemical flush and removed / cleaned the overflow bottle. With all the new parts in place I filled the system with 50/50 mix of Zerez G-05 coolant and distilled water. Working perfectly since.

Best price today for the radiator is PartsGeek;

1989-1991 Mazda RX7 Radiator - Cooling System - CSF 89-91 RX7 Radiator - 8604-01044249 - PartsGeek

I think when I ordered mine, they may have E-mailed me an X% off electronic coupon.

 

Spike would sell me that exact rad (CSF) for $225, it's his go-to recommendation.