papak

I have a 40a alternator on my Birkin. Several years ago, I ran into a similar problem where due to a heat wave in SoCal, coincident with my driving to an event on surface streets in LA. My car uses an electric coolant pump as well as both low and high pressure fuel pumps. As usual, I managed to hit nearly every red light as it started to get dark. With the lights on, they would go dim at idle with all of the other electrical load. Voltage was dropping to 12 or so (without accurate testing, we only presume that a new VDO gauge is accurate). In order to keep the coolant temp reasonable, I had to resort to manually idling at 1500 rpm as well as killing the lights when stopped at a light. All in all a bit nerve wracking. Afterward, the alternator tested perfect on the bench. I eventually changed all of the lighting to LED, revised the programmed settings for the coolant computer and raised the idle to 1000 rpm. I also avoid long trips across town in hot weather at night. Haven’t had a problem since. Correctly engineer the electrical loads to the extent possible. Have an auto electrical shop bench test both the alternator and volt meter. You may want to change the size of the pulley and adjust the idle for an event like that. Good luck.

I don't recall ever seeing one with the full bodywork before. Nice!

John, Thanks so much for all then effort. All good from this end except for having to update(change) my password. Probably due anyway.

One year we all towed from central Connecticut to St. Jovite for the first PCA Club Race up there. Lynn was ahead of us by an hour or so in the cop car. We passed through a construction zone and the cop regulating traffic said that a fellow officer had passed through an hour previously and they just stopped construction to let him through! When we met up in Canada that night, he said he was averaging 80 all the way. Maybe he’s on to something.

I had a friend back in Connecticut who purchased a used Pennsylvania State Police cruiser (Chevy Impala) as a tow car for his Porsche. Yes, it had 200k on it but the oil had been changed every 3000 miles. Big brakes, fresh Goodyear RSAs, HD cooling system, AC that would ice the inside of the windshield, the whole police package. The hard plastic rear seat was easy to remove to fit in the various tool box and spares and the trunk was cavernous. He left the antennas on top and never got stopped on a road trip as far as I know. $2500!

2012 Nissan Frontier. Basic, simple (to the extent that is available) and tows a 7 well. Every family needs a pickup and mine is ours. It’s headed up to San Francisco today to move my grandson back home for his final semester at SFSC. Had a new windshield installed recently due to pitting (75k on it now). Even the neighbors borrow it occasionally. I plan on holding on to it until a reasonably priced electric pickup becomes available. Who knows, maybe I’ll convert this one.

Finally had enough time to dig out a couple of pics (sorry but my editing skills are a work in progress). In the first one, a cutaway view of the tail shaft, it is obvious that the shifter enclosure is a dry area. In the second picture, the sheetmetal alignment bracket for the selector shaft "locking ring" (more accurately the reverse selector ring) is to be seen attached to the bottom of the top cover. A circular bump with a 1/16" vent hole is located immediately above this bracket. This location prevents gear oil from being slung out under operation. This invariably coats the top of the cover with a fine mist of gear lube over time (apparently an essential component of Ford's anticorrosion program). If you should choose to install a proper vent line, mounting the necessary bung in this bump-out serves to allow only pressure, not mist to enter the vent line.

Nice doors!

With a flashlight and patience, you can locate the fill hole with the cover off. You might try one of the inexpensive iPhone boroscopes. As Croc said, Ford designed these gearboxes to be lubed for life. While you may experience an eventual input or output shaft seep, it will most likely not prove significant.

I use a bit of silicon brake grease. Chris advised to stay with the plastic shifter saddle. It is cheap to replace if it shows wear and last a long time anyway. I have heard of a couple of fellows using a hole saw to cut an access opening into the side of the transmission tunnel to gain access to the side plug. They are mounted in an elongated "boss". Earlier cases have the filler lower, later cases have it higher. The lower hole allows .98 liter, the higher 1.25 liter.you can get more in the lower hole by jacking up the drivers side of the car.

Don't fill through the shifter opening! You will just end up with a puddle on the floor. There is no passage into the tail shaft or main case from there. If you can, remove the top cover and weld a threaded bung into the right front corner (CAUTION! Do not move the shift lever while the top cover is off. You risk screwing up the synchronizers.). This serves as a fill port and once filled, you can calibrate a dipstick as well. Over the model years, the fill volume varied from .98 to 1.9 liters. According to Chris at BGH Geartech, 1.2-1.25 liter works best. At 1 liter, the gearbox tends to run a bit warm, especially in competition and with more than 1.25 liter, hot, expanding lube will work it's way past the shaft seals a bit. When I last had my gearbox out, I also welded a bung in the location of the vent hole (you need the underlying baffleing to ensure that you are just relieving pressure) and added an AN-3 vent line that runs forward about 12" and upward another 6". Bone dry gearbox exterior now.

My fueling inconsistencies pretty much went away when I fabricated a cold air intake (ahead of the radiator through a foam filter). Intake air temp becomes much less of an issue.

You have such good access that I would consider using M4 or M5 Allen heads. You could then remove them with a cordless drill in 2-3 minutes.

Expecting my new Hero8 today. A couple of questions have come up that I am getting conflicting opinions on. What is the largest SD card it will handle 128 or 256? Will it accept an external power input? Thanks

Hitting Santa up for a car cam. GoPro or alternatives?

I went the CF vinyl route. Easy to do and it has lasted a couple of years now. I cut a new panel from .060 6061 and made sure I got all of the holes and edges exactly as perfect as I could. I cut the vinyl with the backing in place about ¼” over all around. I used flush head rivets to mount the aluminum and sanded the entire surface to make sure it was as flat as possible. Clean the surface with acetone install the vinyl by rolling it in place from one side to the other taking care to squeegee the air pockets out as you go. Any remaining bubbles or wrinkles can be eased to the gauge holes pretty easily. Just finish trimming the holes and edges with an exactoknife. I considered cutting the panel from a CF honeycomb panel but the tooling is a pain in the ass to work with and the weight savings is what, an ounce? When I get home tomorrow, I’ll post a photo.

In the Duratec, the crank sits entirely above the full static oil level with a wet sump. Windage is not an issue with these engines I am told. I have wondered, however, if applying a low surface tension coating to the non-pressurized walls might help a bit for track use.

Contact Tom Carlin (tbox56 on this forum). I'm sure he can help you out.

Sorry, didn't mean to sound snarky. I have a neighbor who is a retired senior engineer for Garret (turbochargers). We have discussed the issue of oil weight at length and he strongly recommended 0w40 synthetic for the Duratec. I show about 85-90psi cold/20psi hot at idle. Above 3000rpm it's 85-90psi cold/60psi hot. With the bDavies-Craig coolant controller, the engine warms up quickly and remains quite temperature stable after that. Another advantage is the coolant pump continues to run through a cool-down program once the engine is shut down. I raced Formula Vees for a number of years through the era when synthetic lubes were new to the market. We all came to rely on synthetic oils, particularly for their durability at higher temps. Are you running a Raceline wet sump? They are sufficiently baffled to allow you to run with a 5 liter fill in the Duratec with out a problem. If you are seeing a pressure drop-off in competition, I would plumb in an Accusump. I used t run a 944 at Lime Rock and the Accusump was a great help in turn 1 there.

I'm surprised that you need one on a Duratec. It's a beautifully engineered motor. I am running a 2.3l Duratec with stock compression. I have been running in some mid-90s temps over the last couple of months in SoCal and have never seen 200F on the oil temp (measured in the Raceline oil filter adapter with a VDO sender and gauge). I am also running a Davies-Craig electric water pump and that has kept the coolant temp under 220F on the hottest days in traffic. Normal coolant temp might run as high as 200F.

The fellow I spoke with at Deltran couldn't really speak to this. I'm running a 40a alternator through a 10a fuse. The max charge rate for the battery is 40a. The problem isn't evident from the basic numbers. I finally have time today to check the wiring and do some diagnosis. Inquiring minds want to know!

I spoke with a gentleman at Deltran this morning. He said that the BMS is designed to accept ups to a 10a charge with any excess bypassing the cells. He hasn't heard of any interaction with an alternator light. I may get to pull the scuttle later today to start to check the rest of the wiring across the kill switch etc. This may be delayed as i am having a great time setting up my new Quick-Jack lift (quarantine gift to myself).

It’s fine, hasn’t changed. I plan on giving Deltran a call this week as well.

OK, here's a weird one. After installing the new battery, I did a couple of starts in the garage and everything worked as expected. With the engine running, it measured 13.2v across the posts, no change on acceleration. I fired it up this morning at 0620 for a run through the Santa Monica mountains and I started getting an intermittent alternator light once I was out on the road. I pulled over and checked all of the connections. I couldn't find anything amiss and as the voltmeter was indicating 13.9v, I pressed on. The light would go out at idle but continued to flash intermittently under acceleration. Screw it! I went on to have a wonderful morning drive. I am wondering if the flashing light is the result of an interaction with the BMS on the new battery. Has anyone else seen this happen? Interestingly, the vm indicated 14.2v with the old battery but indicates 13.9v with the new battery. Anyway, the scuttle comes off tomorrow in order to recheck all of the appropriate wiring in detail.

The weight difference is striking. The new battery weighs about as much as the packaging of the old one.