Superchargers, Side Exhausts, and Stick-Axles

The 1993 Lada Niva – Свободный транспорт (Loose Mounts)

2013-02-03T15:49:00.002-07:00

On December 29^th we decided to head back out into the wilderness and bash around, rather than installing the new parts from Lada World, and this time we took Andrew and Robb out who followed in the SVT Raptor. Driving along, the Lada performed very well, able to climb the rolling hills and maintain the 100 kph speed limit with ease. Once we hit the trail head it became pretty clear that the pathways were much too narrow to run the wide Raptor without serious paint damage, so we parked it and everyone loaded up in the Lada.

We toured around the fresh snow and made it further than before, but the deep snow and extra load made for hard going, and we retreated and took a break back at the normal bivy site. We had gotten the engine pretty warm, but everything held, the overflow coolant bubbling like a witch’s brew in the degas bottle.

After enjoying a nice fire and a hot beverage, we mounted back up and prepared to roll out for home. Soon after we got under way, we noticed the Lada wasn’t acting quite right, it refused to idle and the air-to-fuel ratio was excessively lean, even at idle. Driving, it lacked the power to cruise properly and stalled out when approaching stop signs and bump restarting with the clutch was necessary to keep it alive. Shawn began to wonder if the mixture screw had come out of adjustment, and once we pulled home and checked it, he was more than right. Our mixture screw had not only come out of adjustment, it had fallen out of the carburetor and was lost forever.

To fix this, we visited the junkyards later in the week searching for an old Volkswagen with a similar carb to harvest parts from. We had very little luck locating any carbureted vehicles so we had to settled for two options, one from a Ford Motorcraft 4-barrel, (needle style) and another from a Toyota 20R 2-barrel (blunt style). Back at the shop both of these screws fit in carb, and were even in the right thread, but it wouldn’t be quite that simple. The Ford screw allowed the engine to idle correctly but when adjusted to 14.7 AFR we only had one or two threads engaging the carb body, it would surely vibrate loose and be lost, just like the original, we moved on to trying the Toyota one.

This one bottomed out with making any impact to the overall idle mixture, so Shawn figured we could profile a “needle” into this blunt ended bolt and maybe have something workable. I remembered a method I had used in place of a lathe for crudely turning down sockets to fit in tight areas and set up a similar rig. The angle grinder was flipped onto its back and clamped in the vise, the bolt was chucked up in an electric drill, and from there each of us ran a power tool. With each spinning in the same direction it was a simple matter of picking the angle of the cut, 15 seconds later we had a nice fine cut needle.

Tested on an idling engine it worked perfectly, small adjustments allowed progressive changes to the idle mixture and soon it was pegged at 14.7 and behaved very well, all of the previous hesitation and bogging had vanished, the retention spring ensured this one was unlikely to fall out.

After a positive road test we sized up the next project, installing the Lada World supplied Layshaft and donut flex coupler.

The night of January 11^th, 2013 we began work on what would serve to be the most involved Lada project to date, starting with the inspection and assessment of the differential. As you may recall we had serious issues with the center differential thrashing about under load and we had been able to confirm that the layshaft was indeed striking parts of the body, once we removed the center diff mounts and interior, the problem became very obvious.

The floor had been heavily over the years and had cracked where the passenger side center diff mount was located, and judging by the severity of the damage, we were in for some reconstructive work.

The original floorpan is very thin 18 gauge metal, with a studded backing plate of similar thickness that was spot welded to the floor for hanging the differential. On top of all this rode the front seat mount, a lot of load on a small area which clearly wasn’t up to the task. We built a rough list of materials, sheet metal, 1/8” thick plate, rust convertor paint and spray in rubber bed liner for sealing the floor.

Later the next day we had all of the materials in hand and set to work, Shawn expertly repairing the torn floor, then a large patch was made with a number of holes for plug welding to the transmission tunnel. Once anchored, the reinforcing patch was heated with a torch and hammered to match the contour of the transmission tunnel, and then plug welded and allowed to cool. This gave us a very strong patch with a very crude from of heat treating. The new center differential mount was made from a much larger piece of 1/8” plate with was placed on the fresh patch, stitch welded securely. Two holes were drilled from the underside to locate the new mounting studs, which were made by simply dropping two correctly sized bolts in from the top and welding the heads to capture them.

Finally the seat mount was placed back on top and it too was welded into its original spot. The driver’s side seat mount received a similar treatment as it too was damaged, but not to the point of the passenger side. A coat of rust preventative paint sealed the metal from any corrosion while the spray in rubber bedliner was used to glue the underlay into place.

The photos tell the tale:

Original mounting plate shown, not for reuse.

With the center differential mount problem solved, it was a very quick matter to install the new CV layshaft and the upgraded guibo isolator. Inspection of the old parts found the universal jointed layshaft in good condition, but the rubber donut isolator was certainly shot, it had many deep cracks that ran 1/3 of the way or more through the material.

Better than new!

With everything back together it was time for a road test, and after a slight center differential alignment adjusted the Lada was again better than ever before. The driveline shake was gone and power delivery to the wheels was much smoother overall.

Soon it would be time for another off-road test!

Grand Touring Concepts 1993 Lada Niva Cossack

2013-01-30T23:08:00.001-07:00

Performance Data:

73 HP @ 5400 RPM

93 TQ @ 4500 RPM

0-60 MPH: 25 seconds

Maximum Speed: 82 MPH (132 km/h)

Specifications & Modifications:

Engine

1.6L SOHC 8V Lada Gasoline

Iron Block

Weber DGV 2 BBL Carburetor

Aluminum Intake Manifold

Two-Piece Cast Iron Exhaust Manifold

2 ¼” Exhaust with Catalyst Delete

Magnaflow Muffler

Driveline

Lada 5-speed Manual Transmission

1^st 3.667

2^nd 2.100

3^rd1.361

4^th 1.000

5^th 0.819

Reverse 3.526

Locking Center Differential with 2.135:1 Low Range

4.10:1 Final Drive with open differentials

Crawl Ratio: 32.1:1

Suspension

Independent front suspension

Double Wishbone front suspension with coil springs

Front CV Axles

Solid Beam rear suspension

5-Link with Coil Springs & Panhard Bar

Lada Cast Iron Brakes with 3 Piston Calipers Front

Finned aluminum drums Rear

Grand Touring Concepts Floorpan Reinforcement

Lada World CV Layshaft

Lada World Heavy Duty Guibo

Lada World Independent Front Differential Mount

Appearance

Custom Winch Bumper

White Paint

Spotty Rust

Follow the links below to our builds and adventures with this vehicle, check back for periodic updates:

The 1993 Lada Niva - тэ охоты (The Hunt)

The 1993 Lada Niva - восстановление (Recovery)

The 1993 Lada Niva – оценка (Assessment)

The 1993 Lada Niva – сюрпризы и частей (Surprises and Parts)

The 1993 Lada Niva – ремонт (Repairs)

The 1993 Lada Niva – вездеходный тест (Off Road Test)

The 1993 Lada Niva – дополнительный ремонт (Additional Repairs) Part 1

The 1993 Lada Niva – дополнительный ремонт (Additional Repairs) Part 2

The 1993 Lada Niva – Свободный транспорт (Loose Mounts)

The Lada Niva Toolkit (in English!)

The 1993 Lada Niva – дополнительный ремонт (Additional Repairs) Part 2

2013-01-22T22:04:00.003-07:00

Since we had the parts we moved onto the braking system, we had bled everything during the first round of work, but brake pedal effort remained high. No obvious leaks could be located so Shawn suspected the issue was in the master cylinder and vacuum booster assembly. Once we pulled the originals apart it, we were able to tell that the master was leaking at one fitting, and into the vacuum booster. The booster had a faulty diaphragm which provided no braking assist, and was feeding the engine a steady trickle of brake fluid. It didn’t help that the vacuum line going to the booster had a serious crack at the manifold fitting. So in reality we had no real power brake system to speak of

This was quickly remedied with the brand new parts from Ital Motors and some fresh brake fluid, followed by bleeding the air from the system and things were good to go. Now the Lada had a solid pedal that didn’t go soft when you needed to stop. The rear brakes were adjusted to specifications in the manual, and the job was complete.

Since we had some more time, things got a little more ambitious to inspect the source of a strong vacuum leak we had located near the carburetor. Although the Lada had been tested with a vacuum gauge and pulled a fairly steady 18 in-Hg at idle, the carb tended to surge and act a little funny from time to time. When tested with the shop Innovate LM-1 wideband meter, we observed wide open throttle ratios in the 12.5-12.8:1 range, mostly. The vacuum leak was located using the propane torch method and when all of the lines had been replaced, it left only the carb as suspect.

Off came the air cleaner and the carb followed, and what we seen next tells the story all on its own.

By the looks of it, the carb swap (whenever it had been done) was completed using the original gaskets which now had all the sealing capabilities of wadded newspaper. We removed all old gasket material, cleaned the intake manifold externally and reassembled everything with gasket paper and silicone.

This counted as the 12^th vacuum leak repaired, it was no small wonder that the carb was acting up all the time. After all this were rewarded with easier starting, smoother idle, and perfect wide open throttle air to fuel ratio of 13.3:1 and cruise at 14.7-15.1.

With all this done we were very pleased with the Lada’s performance, now we were ready to return to the trails for another shakedown.

The 1993 Lada Niva – дополнительный ремонт (Additional Repairs) Part 1

2013-01-14T18:30:00.001-07:00

A few days after the first 4x4 excursion we decided to make a list of things that needed attention, it went something like this

Do something about the fuel smell
Adjust engine camshaft timing set
Figure out why the heater doesn’t provide heat
Work with the carburetor for better driveability
Look for vacuum leaks
Improve braking
Fix center differential mounts

Things first got underway with the fuel smell, lots of owners complain about broken vent systems allowing vapor into the cab, so this isn’t an isolated issue. So the initial step was to locate the fuel tank, a quick peak under the chassis revealed nothing there, and the manual cutaway drawing suggested it was in the passenger compartment, somewhere under the rear seats. Shawn was incredulous, but once we removed the interior pieces, there it was, bunkered under the rear bench, and it really smelled. The carpet in the rear passenger footwell was soaked with fuel, the tar sound proofing had been reduced to a black pudding, like a gooey Napalm substance. This clearly explained why Steph’s boots had reeked of fuel after the last outing, she had been splashing her feet about in a puddle of gasoline for much of the day.

We located the source of the leak, the rubber filler neck hose had cracked in three separate places, and was leaking fuel into the footwell every time we fueled up, or made a left hand turn. This was easily fixed with a section 2” diameter hose and I set to work with nitrile gloves, scooping out handfuls of tar slime. The ratty Cossack carpet was thrown in the garbage and the factory rubber floor liner was cleaned for reuse. Even parked with the windows open, the fuel smell remained for over a week.

Item 2 was a bit of an odd one, especially in the way it made itself known, the camshaft timing system in the Lada 1.6L engine is rather interesting in that it requires periodic adjustment by the user, about once every 10,000 kilometers or so. Since our Lada had been driven to near destruction by the previous owner it was obvious that the timing should be adjusted. This is easy to do, simply back off the tensioner nut, located on the passenger side of the engine, turn the engine over two complete revolutions by hand, using either the hand crank from the toolkit or a 38mm socket, and tighten the tensioner back up.

We had done this during our first round of repairs, along with changing the oil and sparkplugs, while the engine ran alright; but it clattered like an old diesel, even after the adjustment. Shawn had been out driving one day when he discovered the Lada had puked some oil and sprayed the engine compartment with 10W40 rather well, back at the shop, we looked it over and found one of the upper bolts in the timing cover was missing. This exact bolt had caught our attention before, it rattled around loosely and wouldn’t tighten up, we figured the threads were stripped out or the bolt was undersized and had frankly forgotten about it. Now that the bolt was missing the engine was leaking oil from the open hole and we set to fixing it. Even with a bolt of matching thread and size we could get the bolt to tighten, so out came the inspection mirror and flashlight, what did this bolt do and why did it dance when the engine was running? We found the missing timing cover bolt in the skid plates and immediately began to wonder why it had three nicely machined grooves partway through the threads. Shawn, suddenly muttered uh-oh and had an idea, we decided to pull the valve cover and get a topside look.

Groovy!

Now it was clear we had some serious problems.

After pulling out the diagrams of the timing set we quickly noticed that the timing chain damper was missing, and the double roller timing chain was free to contact the side of the cylinder head, where it had been merrily chainsawing through the cylinder head casting. The steel M6 bolt was been the only thing slowing progress, otherwise we would have had a completely ruined cylinder head.

Grooves not factory installed.

Without the damper in place the chain tensioner adjustment had been meaningless, the slack in the chain was beyond what could be adjusted out. So the next question was where did our damper go? A small scrap of it remained attached to a lower bolt, and it became clear that it was time to pull the front timing cover and go fishing with a magnet.

A successful magnetic fishing trip, new damper shown on right

10 minutes later I was holding a handful of scrap steel, dripping oil from the engine oil pan, and since we couldn’t easily fashion a new one, it became time to make some phone calls

My first call went out to Ital Motors (10827 101 St, Edmonton, AB T5H 2S6 Phone:(780) 424-0553) in Edmonton, they dealt heavily in foreign cars and were the Lada dealership back when they were still available for sale in Canada. Imagine my surprise when not only did they have the part we needed in stock, but it was cheap, less than $20. We dropped our tools and hopped in the Lightning trying to get our foot in the door before their 5pm Saturday closing time.

Timing chain system

We would spend much more than $20 before we left Ital Motors that day.

When we arrived at Ital Motors asking about Lada parts, they were very happy to hear of someone fixing up an old Niva, and what started as a simple damper plate got pretty out of control. After each item we asked about appeared a few moments later, we had amassed enough items to fill a medium sized box; The timing chain damper, a timing chain tensioner shoe, a new timing chain, front crankshaft seal, a timing cover gasket, all in stock and ready for sale. Then Shawn got to thinking about the poor braking performance and asked about a brake master cylinder and vacuum booster, they came out of the stock room still in the packing paper, all of it brand new.

After some Lada related chatting, we paid our bill and made our way back to the shop, we had some serious work to do.

Once we had disassembled the timing set it was pretty clear that the extra items we grabbed from Ital weren’t extra at all, they were absolutely necessary. When we removed the tensioner shoe, it had worn through the rubber pad and begun to chew through the metal backing, just like it had topside. There was enough slop in the timing set that the camshaft could advance itself nearly 30 degree independent of the crankshaft, who knows where the ignition timing was at any given time. Both Shawn and I were very surprised that there wasn’t piston to valve contact and subsequent damage, much less that we had been driving it around like this.

Tensioner shoe, original left, new right.

We cleaned up and painted as many parts of the engine as we could while doing the job, the front cover, valve cover, radiator, pulleys, and air cleaner all got a refresh with some rattle can stuff. We got the timing set done with little effort, a very simple system overall, and when we fired it back up the engine noise was heavily reduced, not entirely gone, but much better.

PART 2 to Follow.

Creepy Canada: The Abandoned Robot Gas Station

2013-01-04T11:36:00.001-07:00

It comes up quickly, the fuel price sign cutting through the darkness of nighttime travel on Alberta’s Highway 16. Pulling off from the flow of 110 km/h traffic gives way to a deserted gravel lot of Gas Plus, just east of Ardrossan, it is open for business, but there are no human employees here.

Three gasoline and one diesel pump stand under the buzzing gas arc lights, which cast eerie pools as they hang from the unfinished steel girder super structure. Behind them is the former convenience store, dark and unoccupied, flanked by a much older building, rotting and sinking into the ground.

Were it not for the steady hum of traffic along the highway, it wouldn’t be hard to believe you were the last person on earth, a post-apocalyptic survivor even. The scarred and vandalized pumps, Fallout-esque robots as they are, stand ready to deliver fuel with the swipe of the credit or debit card, no cash, no change.

From the darkened storefront a single bubble camera stands as silent sentinel, giving no indication of if anyone is monitoring its feed. Peering through the scummy windows, only a single computer terminal illuminates the vacant interior, the pump controller presumably, always on duty.

Wheeling back onto the highway, throttle down, boost gauge reading high, accelerating away from that lonely place.

The 1993 Lada Niva – вездеходный тест (Off Road Test)

2013-01-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

The very next day Shawn and I packed up some light camping supplies in the Lada and convinced my wife Steph to “go 4x4-ing” something she had previously enjoyed in Shawn’s old 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck, I think she was still skeptical of the Niva but agreed.

We had selected a modest test area, since there was no second vehicle to assist in recovery if something went wrong, a short 30 minute drive delivered us to the area. Shawn and I had hiked the area on foot during the fall and knew that there wouldn’t be anything damaging hidden under the 12 inches of snow that had accumulated since. We arrived on the access road without much issue, aside from having to run with the windows open at -15 degree Celsius due to the fuel smell, and being limited to 90-100 km/h top speed. At one spot we missed our road and Shawn elected to make a 3 point turn, but the road was a bit slippery and the shoulder dropped away as the front wheels touched it. We were actually stuck, I dismounted and pushed while Shawn rocked the Lada rearward, 20 seconds later we were free and rolling along again.

Soon we reached our chosen trail and Shawn selected low range and began to climb the snow bank into the woods. The snow underfoot was hard packed and took considerable effort to move through, keeping the wheels spinning and the engine RPM high was key, but the Lada performed very well. Before long we had arrived at our campsite and gave the Niva a quick inspection

Nothing appeared to be out of place, the new differential mount was holding and aside from an un-located engine oil drip we were looking good.

Assured the vehicle was good, we left the doors open to help air out the obnoxious fuel smell, and set to having a bit of food. We had a roaring campfire going in no time and were roasting hotdogs on hand cut sticks. Hanging from a forked branch was my 1L “Billy Can” that provided us with boiling water for hot chocolate, served in tin mugs. As the sun began to settle and the temperature dropped, we mounted back up in the Lada and made our way out.

We were a little surprised to find out after tearing around in the snow that Shawn had forgotten to engage the center differential lock, being used to truck 4x4 systems it is understandable. Still we were quite surprised with the capabilities of the Lada, even in stock form. Aside from the very brief ditch incident we never needed to exit the vehicle and it got us where we wanted to go. In the end Steph enjoyed herself too and seemed interested to go again.

After a review of the way the Niva worked, Shawn and I began to draft a list of what to tackle next, and that takes us to our next article…

The 1993 Lada Niva – ремонт (Repairs)

2012-12-27T18:49:00.001-07:00

The Independent Front Differential Support kit arrived from Lada World Denmark in 14 days, 4 days to land in Canada and the other 10 for it to cross the country and be delivered. During our wait we didn’t do much with the Lada aside from make plans of action and pick up oil and a filter. Shawn had visited Italmotors in Edmonton, where he found a filter and was invited to return with the Lada once it ran. Italmotors had been an actual Lada dealer during the time when they were still being imported to Canada, and the owners still had a soft spot for them. They also mentioned they had plenty of factory and maintenance parts left in inventory if we needed any, this would prove quite useful in the future. (Foreshadowing here)

Since the differential kit had landed in my mailbox on the 12^th of December we decided to use the very next weekend to repair the Lada and we had hopes of making a small off-road excursion when the job was complete.

Shawn removing the tires

That Friday we parked the Niva in the heated splendor of the Grand Touring Concepts garage and once it had thawed a little we Shawn and I set to work. We had the vehicle on stands and the wheels off in no time, Shawn used this opportunity to inspect the front brakes. We were pleased to find lots of life left in the pads and were surprised to discover 3 piston calipers, something never seen on a North American vehicle.

Shawn inspects the brakes.

We removed the axles and noted all of the CV joint boots were damaged, some worse than others, but all would need to be replaced to ensure a long life from these difficult to find (in Canada) items. Luckily, we had expected this and knew that the local Canadian Tire (parts store) stocked various universal replacement CV boot kits for a reasonable price. As it would happen, one of the lower shock mounting bolts was seized into place and no matter how carefully we worked at it, gave us no choice but to snap it off. This wasn’t a big issue, but GTC’s stock of metric bolts and fasteners is somewhat limited so we made a note to grab a replacement during our parts run for CV boots the next day.

Since we still had some time to burn in the evening we were quick to drain the front axle housing and install the rear portion of the independent differential mount. It consisted of a steel plate, which replaced the factory aluminum plate & drain plug, with two bushings that clamp over the front swaybar (located near the firewall) providing a solid but isolated mount.

We also noticed that the Independent differential kit as supplied was slightly different from the Diesel Lada parts described in the manual pictures. In the manual, they appear to house the axle seal and be made of aluminum. Ours were made of cast steel, and since they had no provision for the axle seal, bolted over the factory housing ends, which are fixed to the CV axles. This wasn’t a deal breaker, but would make installation a little bit of a juggle and would require us to procure longer axle mounting studs.

The next day, after a quick parts trip we returned with the items to finish this job

100cm (36”) M8 “all thread” rod to make into 6x M8X40mm studs for the axle housing, these would replace the factory M8x35mm studs and allow us to install the new front differential “arms”.

1x M10x55mm Nut & Bolt to replace the lower shock bolt.

And;

4X Universal CV Boots

Shortly after we’d begun working, we’d realized that the metal CV boot bands suck and that we were out of the requisite sized zip ties to stand in, however we did have a Jesse “Hotwheels” Guerette on hand to send on a quest for some ties. Meanwhile Shawn and I resumed work on the Lada.

Jesse "Hotwheels" Guerette with an unrelated chili dog.

Jesse had been gone for quite some time, and the run to the nearby Bumper to Bumper parts store was a mere 30 kilometers round trip, what was keeping him? After 1 hour and 15 minutes had elapsed and we’d run out of things to fix, I called Jesse to find out what had become of him. He quickly answered and reported he was on his way back, but had stopped to help out “two fine ladies” in a large SUV who were stuck in the ditch. I left him to his driving while Shawn jokingly wagered that Jesse had attempted to tow out their stricken vehicle with his Hyundai Accent, knowing Jesse, I declined it.

Jesse's 2009 Hyundai Accent during the 2012 K-Spec shakedown

And a good thing I did too…

Once Jesse got back, Shawn began to finish up the CV axles for re-installation using the ties Jesse delivered, while I began to press for the story. Jesse excitedly told his tale, he’d been driving along when he spotted an Acura MDX lodged in the snowy ditch, inside were two girls, and feeling the call of gentlemanly duty he pulled over to help. Using his ever present tow straps, he hooked his 2009 Hyundai Accent onto the big SUV, despite his determination he was unable to dislodge the Acura MDX. Soon, a fellow in a Chevrolet pickup came along and pulled in to help. Since the pickup owner didn’t have any tow rope, Jesse had to stay until the vehicle was extracted. At one point, he said, the pickup had taken a running start and when the rope came up tight, it tore the Acura’s screw-in recovery lug out of the bumper, destroying the threads and rendering it useless. He said they hooked on to “something else” (undisclosed) and completed extraction. Only then was he able to continue onwards for the zip ties we required.

By the time Jesse had finished up his story, Shawn had the CV axles taken care of, with new boots and packed with grease. We also removed the last remaining piece of the original differential mount and found it too was cracked, this one last piece that stood between the entire differential falling out on the ground. Something to consider when we were informed by the seller that the previous owner had driven it out of the wood where it had originally failed. Next up we started turning out axle housing studs from the “all thread” rod and running them in with blue Loctite compound. Shawn mocked up the front parts of the differential mount and tack welded the front mount brackets into place. It became clear that in order to install the bolts which held the mounts to the brackets we would need to clearance the oil pan on our 1.6L gasoline engine. We didn’t need a lot of room so we were able to massage the passenger side of the pan (of our left-hand drive Niva) with a ball-peen hammer. Using a few slim washers as spacers we were able to make the whole works fit and after the brackets were finish welded, and some Napa 80W90 gear oil added, we were complete with the install.

We also used this opportunity to change the oil for a 10W40 conventional, using a Made in Canada “Lada Line” filter over the Fram we removed. Fram oil filters are not held in high regard in our shop and we are looking into alternate part numbers for when the supply of Lada ones dry up. Just before remounting the wheel we decided to bleed the brake and check for leaks in the system as we noted the brake fluid reservoir was completely dry when we recovered the Lada. We bled the whole system and didn’t find any obvious leaks, but the brakes did still leave something to be desired.

For the short term we wrote it off to being a Lada, and based on people’s descriptions of poor braking performance we simply lowered our expectations. Just the same as we had with the noisy engine, and other “Lada” issues.

It was after 11pm and -15 degrees Celsius when we went for our first road test, filling the 42 Liter fuel tank at the local Husky gas station we immediately noticed a strong fuel smell in the cab. This was something that we wondered if it was just another “Lada” thing as many owners complain of fumes, or if we should inspect, we decided to do that another day if it lingered. The Niva ran surprisingly well, the Weber carburetor worked alright, and owner reports of 120 km/h being the top speed and slow acceleration were accurate.

The engine seemed most happy at 80 km/h and had a noticeable power spike around 3500 rpm, but once it hit 4200 rpm it felt very sluggish. The overall vehicle noise in the cab was substantial, nearly rivaling the MLVW trucks with their V8 Detroit Diesels I had driven in the Army. The heater managed to keep the windows clear but had little more to spare for the occupants, we had checked the heater control valve and it was brand new, so perhaps the radiator needs to be blocked up for winter use.

When leaving from a stop we noticed there was a lot of driveline noise under the transmission tunnel and each of the three sticks (Shifter, High-Low Range, & Differential Lock) each danced their own independent jigs. That was something that would need attention before too long we figured.

Testing on a snowy covered dirt road, the Lada would a little animal in Low range with the center differential locked; it pulled cleanly and found traction no matter the road surface. It was even capable of 80 km/h in low range!

Also the brakes, they sucked, they got us stopped, but felt unassisted, something else that would get looked into. After we returned home another swing past the Husky station for fuel gave us our first report for fuelly: 66.46 kilometers, 13.427 liters, 11.7 US MPG (20.2 L/100km)

Follow the Lada on fulley here: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/darren5l/niva

While the Lada still had some bugs to work out, we decided it was fit for a short off-road trial the day .

The 1993 Lada Niva – сюрпризы и частей (Surprises and Parts)

2012-12-24T00:25:00.000-07:00

First up was to tackle the broken engine mount. We scoured the self-service parts yards for Nivas and came up empty, but Shawn did find one of the Lada Signet (Riva) wagons and went to work. He came away with an engine mount, distributer, carburetor, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, various fasteners, and a fistful of the factory grey silicone vacuum hose. Lots of great items to help us get our own Lada running.

The engine mount turned out to be a mismatch, but Shawn was able to build an adapter to as use a substitute until we found a factory one. Looking over the engine we found the vacuum advance was broken and not only failing to advance the ignition timing, but was causing a huge vacuum leak. Within minutes the donor Riva advance mechanism was changed over and our distributer was repaired. This would prove to be a common trend with the Niva, lots of small problems that were easily repaired.

Shawn fixes the distributer with Lada Riva parts

Since the vehicle had been stored indoors away from the cold, our efforts to start the engine were rewarded with fuel from the tank; we can only guess that the lines were frozen with condensation, blocking flow.

Once we had run out of time doing tinkering projects, we were planning on having Shawn drive the Niva a ½ kilometer home just to check everything out, but as soon as he tried to roll out of the shop we knew something was dreadfully wrong. Each time the vehicle moved forwards or back, there was an awful thumping from the driveline. With the hood open and a few bumps of the clutch, we were able to diagnose the issue, the front pinion was wrapping up into the front sway bar while the pinion yoke skipped across it, giving us our thumping sound.

We wedged a piece of wood between the engine oil pan and the front pinion to allow us to move it short distances, parked it and set down to research what could be going on.

Online resources such as Baxter’s Niva Site (http://www.ladaniva.co.uk/baxter/NivaMainPage.htm) allowed us to chase down .pdf copies of the Driver’s Handbook, Maintenance Manual, Cutaway Illustrations and a Parts Catalogue. These resources made it very clear what the issue was, and was our first experience in the overly simple nature, but quirky nature of Russian engineering.

The Front Differential bolts to the engine!

Since our Niva had been partially disassembled when we bought it, we had no idea what it should have looked like underhood, so it was an honest mistake to miss that our front differential mount was absent.

This photo from the cutaway book should help illustrate the issue, the items indicated by the red arrows, the brackets were missing and the mounting bosses were broken from the housing. This made re-installation of a factory piece very difficult, impossible without doing some aluminum welding.

We were at an impasse with how to proceed next, many owners who reported this issue simply installed another housing. However all of our searches for a replacement came up empty, aside from trying to procure another entire vehicle to strip parts from. This wasn’t something we wanted to do.

More research on the internet led us to Lada World (www.ladaworld.com) where we were able to track down a solution.

Independent front differential support, part number 21215-10 and its item description caught my attention:

“It was originally created for the LADA Niva Diesel (fitted with the engine from PSA). The front reducer housing (Front Differential) is not able to be attached to the Diesel engine because of a different design in the engine housing, and Diesel engines are also known to vibrate with higher amplitude compared to Gasoline. The kit solved both problems.

The kit will give your front reducer housing 4 fix-points, hence a more rigid attachment to the body of the car. The old front reducer housing only has 2 fix-points (on the engine).

The kit is made with elastic sleeves (rubber) in all 4 fix-points. The old design does not use any elastic sleeves, and is just bolted straight to the engine.”

Photo from www.ladaworld.com

This kit eliminated the old way of doing things and moved attachment to the body, actually cradling the front differential in a somewhat normal fashion. I should note that Lada World is located in Denmark, and while I have had success shipping stuff from nearly every continent on the planet, the prospect of shipping from Europe was a bit daunting. Just as a backup, I tried a Lada parts dealer in Australia for a quote but was rebuffed with a simple declaration of “We only stock original parts” despite the fact these items are built by Autovaz and carry a Lada part number. That decided, we placed our online order at Lada World and played the waiting game.

The 1993 Lada Niva – оценка (Assessment)

2012-12-23T14:34:00.002-07:00

The moment we had some time, the Lada was moved into the heated shop at Grand Touring Concepts for an inspection to see what we had gotten. Getting the non-running Lada into the shop was an affair all of its own. We had spark and air alright, two-thirds of the ingredients for combustion, but still we could not get fuel to come up from the tank. Since we didn’t have to go far, it was decided to use an old trick and place a small jerry can of fuel under the hood with siphon hose to feed the carburetor.

Since there was ample room underhood where the spare tire normally resides, the gas can dropped in quite naturally and we were set. The little engine clattered to life and not only ran, but drove under its own power into the shop.

From there we were able to begin defining what we had.

If you aren’t familiar with the Niva, I suggest the following link for a quick primer; I will build up a “driver’s perspective” article at a later date:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Niva

Starting with the body, out front there was a very obvious winch bumper with a rope style fairlead, the factory white paint had been re-sprayed with a near match, which was peeling in some places. There was some surface rust, but no rust-out that required repair. We didn’t buy this vehicle to be a show car trophy winner, so a bit of rust and rough paint was acceptable.

The roof was heavily dented from someone presumably standing on it, and the wipers were simply wrecked. Back to the good side, the BWA 15”X 6” wheels were wrapped in a set of 205/80/15 Aurora Mud Tires which were in very good shape.

The interior was another story, when new a 1993 Lada would rate a 3 out of 5 by North American standards, ours arrived as a definite 1 out of 5, perhaps a 3/5 by Lada standards. The interior was there and still mostly in place, the Cossack seat covers over the “school bus vinyl” heavily worn, a stereo system had been installed at some point (why?) and removed, leaving us with a somewhat compromised electrical system.

Moving to the driveline, we found the oil soaked 1.6L engine literally sitting on the front differential, because one of the previous owners had actually removed the broken engine mount, and it was not located with the vehicle. In the rear we found a bent control arm, but that didn’t appear to be a major repair item. A Weber conversion had been done which was a huge plus, the exhaust had been partially redone with a Magnaflow muffler, a good starting point.

It might be difficult to imagine, but the cooling system was intact and leak free, a bonus there.

We began to build our growing list of things to fix:

Broken engine mount

Fuel supply from tank

Tune and Tune-up the Engine

Dent removal

Headlight replacement

and so on...

The 1993 Lada Niva - восстановление (Recovery)

2012-12-20T17:46:00.002-07:00

The first order of business in recovering the Lada was to arrange a tow-dolly from U-Haul. This proved to be a bit of a challenge, because using their online booking system had no listing for a Lada, of any sort. Being an American based business this comes as no real surprise, so I tried the telephone booking, keeping a backup plan in mind.

That too was an interesting exchange:

I placed my reservation with U-haul's US based booking center and was kindly asked, "Now sir, what exactly is a Lada Miva?" After some explanation, we settled on booking it in as a 1993 Suzuki Sidekick... LOL. I think he was mildly suspicious once I said built by Russians before the wall fell...

After that we were all set for our pickup, bright and early on Saturday morning.

November 10^th arrived, clear, sunny and cold, but the roads were an absolute mess, densely packed ice had rendered the streets a skating rink, indeed a fine time to pull a trailer! Most importantly, it would make a fine adventure!

The pickup at the 50^th Street, Edmonton U-Haul spot went without issue, and we were soon underway in the 2003 SVT Lightning to recover our prized “1993 Suzuki Sidekick” ahem, Lada Niva Cossack. We made our way to Leduc without issue, making out much better than the plethora of ditched vehicles passed on the trip.

The Lada was nestled between an 8 foot high fence and a garage that faced out to the single lane alleyway. Shawn and I figured the best bet would be to try and gently drive the Niva out of that spot and onto the tow dolly, assuming we could make it run of course. We set to work quickly, slaving the dead Lada battery to the Lightning’s potent charging system while cranking up the 1.6L Fiat designed engine. After a few attempts with no real success we decided to stop messing around and made a quick trip to the nearby Canadian Tire for some parts and a fresh battery.

Better prepared, we returned with a battery, new fuel filters, a can of ether, and 10 Liters of gasoline. The engine really wanted to run with the new parts and a squirt or two of ether, but we weren’t getting fuel flow up to the carburetor. Since we were on a deadline to return the dolly, I simply backed the dolly in front of the Lada, Shawn popped it into Low Range and used the absence of a neutral safety switch to “drive” on to the dolly using the starter and new battery.

The little Niva was strapped down and ready in minutes, and with the Center Differential in Neutral we were able to tow without having the front wheels spin. A quick tug test and inspection at the nearby CO-OP gas bar and we were underway back north.

While travelling up Highway 2 a fellow in a Toyota 4x4 made a special point of lingering next to us as we rolled along, and then pulled ahead to wave and give us a hearty “thumbs-up”. It seems we weren’t the only Lada enthusiasts on the road that day.

Despite the awful roads and delays due to wrecks, we safely delivered the Lada to Grand Touring Concepts and returned the dolly to U-Haul without incident. Next up it was time to assess what we had, and what needed to be repaired.

The Lada Niva Toolkit (in English!)

2012-12-20T00:10:00.001-07:00

Since our Lada Niva came minus the factory toolkit, and Lada can suffer from “intermittent running issues” we have been keen to either track down a replacement or build one from selections at Princess Auto (Harbor Freight to USA, Clarke to UK etc). After searching for a tool listing around the various internet resources I found lots of pictures of the toolkit but none of them had an actual list. However, after searching for one specific part number (12mm Allen wrench) I came across a manual that had the parts list… in Hungarian. Harnessing the power of Google Translate and a bit of logic I have been able to draft the following reference list.

12 – Ignition Adjustment Key

39 – Pressure Gauge, (Tires and Fuel)

41 – Fuel Hose

13 – Work Light 12V

43 – Bulb 21W (Work Light)

36 – Starter Handle

17 – Wrench, Open Ended 8mm & 10mm

22 – Wrench, Open Ended 13mm & 17mm

24 – Allen Key 12mm

25 – Wheel Wrench 19mm

28 – Socket, 8mm & 10mm

26 – Socket, 13/16 (Sparkplug)

27 – Punch, 8mm diameter X 150mm long (Socket Handle)

31 – Tire Lever/Iron

29 – Combined Screwdriver (Flat & Phillips)

32 – Tool Bag

30 – Pliers, Slip-Joint

23 – Wrench, Open Ended 22mm & 24mm

16 – Wrench, Open Ended 17mm & 19mm

19 – Wrench, Offset Box Ended 17mm & 19mm

18 – Wrench, Offset Box Ended 12mm & 13mm

37 – Jack, with Handle

42 – Hand Tire Pump

38 – Strap, Rubber (For Securing Jack)

10 – Strap, Rubber (For Securing Tool Kit)

11 – Strap, Rubber (For Securing Spare Tire)

The 1993 Lada Niva - тэ охоты (The Hunt)

2012-12-19T13:19:00.005-07:00

How did we come to find ourselves (the staff at GTC that is) tangled up with a cold war relic, a Soviet “People’s Car” if you will?

It all stemmed from my interest obtaining a cheap, knockaround 4x4 to conduct “overlanding” excursions, and my fascination in Russian things. This, coupled with Shawn’s ingrained off-road nature and a watchful eye on the local Kijiji listings from Robb all brought us to the day we found a Lada.

In early November, Robb found a Kijiji listing for a $500 Niva and provided the urging to “go for it”. I had already asked Shawn his opinion (on Ladas) as he would be providing his years of off-road expertise and would be the muscle behind keeping something like this ticking. This Lada seemed pretty good, low price, which is always important for an experiment like this, decent mileage, 60,000 km’s, and by the photographs, good shape-great shape by Lada standard.

So it was just a matter of landing this one. On Thursday November 8^th, I called the number listed and got a rather irate woman who was tired of people calling about a car she wasn’t selling, the listed number was incorrect. Giving it a bit of thought, I decided to check Kijiji for any other listings by the same seller, and I found a set of tires with a different number then tried that with success, I had gotten through!

The advert listed the Lada as having a broken engine mount and I asked the seller if it was drivable, (with caution) and he was adamant that a trailer would be required for transport. I said I would call back in a few minutes after I looked into trailering options. I called Shawn, explained the issue and he figured we could either chain the engine into place for a short run, or simply pull it with my SVT Lightning pickup with a U-haul. Invigorated, I again called the seller and asked if we could take a look that evening, and possibly purchase. Directions were given to a spot in Leduc AB, and we set off with cash in hand.

Due to bad weather it took a little longer than anticipated to make the trip to Leduc and we arrived under full darkness around 9pm. We gave the Lada a good look over, signed a bill of sale, and money changed hands. With the keys and the bill in hand we departed back north, planning to return on the weekend a few days later for recovery.

Back in the Driver's Seat. (My own!)

2012-11-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

When I last posted, it was over a year ago, I had just bid farewell to the Pontiac GTP (#2) and welcomed the replacement 2011 Ford Mustang GT as the wife's daily driver, and the "off-season" for dry pavement performance was just drawing to a close.

Since then I have transitioned from the role as a forum administrator over at www.mustangcanada.com (October 2011) to do some work with the Calgary based Fast Fords project (until August 2012) and when I gave my newly formed article archive a review, I was surprised to discover that I had nearly 200 separate works. Prior to Summer 2012 all of these individual pieces were only posted to somewhat unstable web forums, I had kept no formal backup or hard copy, so I made a serious change there. As I develop the time and space to do so, everything possible will be posted on a stable and permanent home on the internet, so stay tuned for that.

In the mean time I have been timelining everything on Facebook under the Grand Touring Concepts page located here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Touring-Concepts/207098895986212 Perhaps drop in and take a look around, I am pretty impressed when I look back at all the stuff we've collectively accomplished in that tiny 440 square foot shop, and am working hard to share those memories with anyone interested.

The SS&S youtube channel has been a bit dormant, aside from some basic edit drag videos from the 2012 racing season at Castrol Raceway.

Ongoing projects to keep an eye out for are:

Jesse's 1994 Mustang GT build:
Equipped with only some junkyard GT40P cylinder heads and a Chinese intake manifold we were able to scoot this "Yellow Bastard" from low 14's into the 13.5 range. At the close of the season Jesse's tired, high mileage 5.0L Windsor engine developed some running issues that could be as minor as a head gasket issue or much more serious. More updates as that unfolds.

Shawn's 1993 Lada Niva project:
The first incursion into the foreign market cars, we've procured a $500 Lada Niva in need of some work. We will be making it trail ready and seeing what this old Russian SUV can do in Shawn's capable hands.

There is always something ongoing or in the works and I'll do my best to keep the updates coming!

Looks Good on Paper & NO LONGER Living with a Pontiac!

2011-09-26T22:28:00.001-06:00

At a final odometer reading of 196,000kms (121,739 Miles) we are finally done with this 2003 Pontiac GTP. I wish I could give it a teary-eyed send off with platitudes like; “We’ll miss it so much” but in reality we’ll never forget this car, not because it was an unforgettable vehicle, but because it was so terrible.

Since the last update made on December 7th, things have not been smooth sailing for the GTP. The replacement fuel injector did cure the driveability issue and returned the fuel economy to normal but other problems cropped up over the spring and summer. More electrical problems.

The heater fan burning out it’s bearings is kind of a wear and tear item, but given the mileage I don’t believe it is reasonable to expect to need to replace that part so soon, at least compared to other vehicles we’ve owned. I know from “the Black Car” our previous 2002 GTP, that the cowl appears to drain water back into the fan which causes rust and early failure, I seem to recall a replacement part cost of $130 or so and a few hours under the dash for installation.

Another interesting puzzle to solve had to do with the ignition key and the park interlock. At times the ignition would refuse to release the key, usually when you were in a hurry to be somewhere. I scoured the internet for some insight about this condition and found that this is a very common problem for the W-body and other GM vehicles. The popular suggested fix is to disassemble the center console of the car then to inspect and repair two tiny connectors which break off the Park position sensor. When this harness is damaged the car apparently believes that it is not yet in Park and will not release the key. Armed with this knowledge I spent and evening working not to damage the brittle interior plastics and remedy the issue. However once I inspected the harness it appeared as new and undamaged. Some basic work with a volt-meter found no faults so I cleaned all of the connections with some spray cleaner and did reassembly.

The problem was now gone, however the Brake pedal shift interlock was now somehow broken. The car would allow movement of the shifter from Park without depressing the brake pedal. This is a minor safety issue which must have been caused by tinkering with the harness in the console, I left it alone and a few days later the problem cured itself, the shift interlock was restored.

Ever since Fall of 2010 we had been trying to keep this car running for minimal amounts of money pending a plan to trade in Summer or Fall of 2011. Normally I do not hesitate to buy part and properly fix things as required, but since the Canadian Book Value of even a pristine 2003 Pontiac GTP had fallen to basement levels, (At 196K mileage $3,000 Tops) any further money invested would soon result in negative equity when it came time to trade or sell. Mechanically and structurally the car was solid, however it was an electrical basketcase. This negative equity was something we were especially afraid of should something like a transmission fail, a legitimate concern based off of other owner’s experiences, $2500 and the down time would simply be unacceptable.

After finishing up our summer travelling we really set down to find a replacement for this car, lots of options had been discussed and finally we settled on looking for a gently used example of a 2011 Mustang GT.

There were a number of reasons on selecting the Ford Mustang.

It really seems counter-intuitive that a Pony car is a good idea for a daily commuter, but the Mustang is a solid value purchase. I personally have two and despite one being from 1995, it’s only required a new distributer and maintenance items to keep running smoothly. I’ve changed a great deal of parts on that car in the pursuit of higher performance and suffered subsequent breakages, but discounting “self-inflicted” failures, it’s been great. Parts are commonly available for nearly any Mustang built since Job 1 1964, either OEM or performance upgrades, low cost also makes things quite attractive. There is something to be said for the ease of driveline repair and maintenance of a conventional Front Engine, Rear Drive setup too.

All that said we began searching at the start of the summer very tentatively and last weekend we found a very suitable car. After driving for over an hour to a small dealership in Olds, Alberta, we were rewarded with a fair deal on our trade (given the market value, 5.5% of its 2003 original MSRP) and were finally into a replacement car.

A 2011 Mustang GT, 5.0L automatic with a cloth convertible top, well appointed and in great condition. Equipped with the new 5.0L engine and 6 speed automatic transmission, it also exceeded the best ever fuel economy of the GTP on the first highway outing. All this comes with more options, higher curb weight, a V8, and an additional 172 horsepower, simply a matter of technology marching onwards. Considering all of this, the Mustang should make a fine replacement of long-term daily driver for the wife, and be fairly cost-effective at the same time.

As a final parting shot at the Pontiac, at the very least Ford installed heated seats for both front occupants and not just the driver like the GTP offered…

It’s been quite an adventure with this GTP, both of us are relieved to see it gone, and if you see a Silver GTP cross your local auction block, consider this a fair and friendly warning of what to expect. At least the fuel gauge is always full…

Closing Stats on the outgoing GTP

2003 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP

Date of Purchase: August 2007
Date of Trade: September 2011

Mileage on Purchase: ~90,000km
Mileage at Sale: 196,000km
Value Depreciation since purchase: 8.5 cents per KM

Performance: 240 HP & 280 TQ
0-60 MPH: 6.6 seconds
¼ Mile: 15.9 seconds at Castrol Raceway

MFG Recalls: 1 – Engine Compartment Fire

Average US MPG: 22.3
Best Reported US MPG: 27.5
Average Fuel Cost: 13 cents/km (Premium Fuel Required)

Vehicle Breakages, Deficiencies, and Maintenance during ownership:

Powertrain:
Cracked Thermostat Housing
Replace Intake Manifold Gaskets
Oil Pan Gasket leak
Transmission Pan Gasket leak
1 Faulty Fuel Injector
Spark Plug Wires
Spark Plugs
11 Sythetic Oil Changes

Chassis & Suspension:
Replace Brake Pads
Replace Tires
1 Wheel bearing/ABS Sensor
Inner wheel housing liner collapsed

Interior & Electrical:
Onstar System Inoperative due to outdated analog hardware
Fuel Level Sender Defective
6 Headlight bulbs
5 Foglamp Bulbs
Defective Park Interlock switch
Defective Stereo/Clock display
Replace Windshield washer pump
Defective Heater Fan
Defective HVAC Fan Controller
Broken Interior Trim & Heated Seat switch
4 Burned out gauge cluster lamps
Cracked & Brittle weatherstripping

Read the Entire Living with a Pontiac Series:

Looks Good on Paper:

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/10/looks-good-on-paper-living-with-pontiac.html

UPDATE 1 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/11/update-looks-good-on-paper-living-with.html

UPDATE 2 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-2-looks-good-on-paper-living.html

Back in the Grind - Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/back-in-grind-looks-good-on-paper.html

Factory Stock Mustang ¼ mile Test Times

2011-04-15T15:51:00.014-06:00

As compiled from online sources & magazine tests. (Updated 16 Jan 2013)

Fastest to Slowest

11 Second Range

2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 - 11.25 @ 127.9 MPH (SVTP Forum)
2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 - 11.951 (MM&FF Oct '09)

12 Second Range

2011 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 - 12.0 (MM&FF Oct '10)

2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 – 12.257 (MM&FF Aug '06)

2011 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - 12.3
2011 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 - 12.35

2003 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 12.4
2008 Ford Mustang Roush 427R (Auto) - 12.44 (MM&FF May '08)

2006 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 -12.63 (MM&FF Nov '10)
2011 Ford Mustang GT - 12.67 (Dragtimes)
2003 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 - 12.67 (MM&FF Apr '03)
2005 Saleen SC281 - 12.676 (Dragtimes)

2011 Ford Mustang GT (Auto) - 12.73 (Dragtimes)

2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R - 12.88 (Dragtimes)

2001 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 - 12.9
2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Convertible - 12.9

13 Second Range

2010 Ford Mustang Roush 427R - 13.1
2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1 (5 Speed) - 13.15 (MM&FF Oct '03)

2001 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 13.34 (MM&FF Sep '01)

2005 Mustang GT – Manual – 13.5
2010 Mustang GT - 13.5

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 - 13.6
2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT - 13.6

1995 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R - 13.67

2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt - 13.7
2011 Ford Mustang 3.7L V6 – 13.7

1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351 - 13.8
2005 Ford Mustang GT Convertible - 13.8
1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 - 13.87
2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1 (Auto) - 13.88

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 - 13.9
1999 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 13.9
2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT-H - 13.9

14 Second Range

1994 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 14.0
1996 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 14.0
1998 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 14.0

2001 Ford Mustang Bullitt GT - 14.1
1999 Ford Mustang GT - 14.1

1987 Ford Mustang GT - 14.4

1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 14.5

1989 Ford Mustang GT - 14.8
1992 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 - 14.8

1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - 14.9
1985 Ford Mustang GT - 14.9
1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 - 14.9
1994 Ford Mustang GT - 14.9

15 Second Range

1988 Ford Mustang GT - 15.0
1998 Ford Mustang GT - 15.04 (Dragtimes)

2005 Ford Mustang V6 - 15.3

1967 Ford Mustang (390ci V8 w/4spd) - 15.6
1991 Ford Mustang GT - 15.6

1964 Ford Mustang (289ci V8 w/4spd) - 15.7

1984 Ford Mustang SVO - 15.8

16 Second Range

1993 Ford Mustang GT (auto) - 16.1

1973 Ford Mustang 351ci - 16.3

1999 Ford Mustang Convertible V6 - 16.5

17 Second Range

1981 Ford Mustang M81 McLaren (2.3L Turbo) - 17.3
1995 Ford Mustang V6 - 17.3

1975 Ford Mustang II (302ci V8 Auto) - 17.5

1977 Ford Mustang II 302ci - 17.7

1966 Ford Mustang (289ci Auto) - 17.9

18 Second Range

1980 Ford Mustang Cobra (255ci) - 18.4

1980 Ford Mustang (255ci) - 18.5

1974 Ford Mustang II 4sp - 18.8

19 Second Range

1974 Ford Mustang II 2.3L Auto - 19.4

Know of a faster time? Link it in the comments section and I'll post it in.

Darren’s New Years Pocket Bike Drags 2010 Race Results

2011-01-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

Something that may become a bit of a tradition around my home is perhaps the most moronic of party games; Pocket Bike Drag Racing. It’s a really simple sport, you need a pocket bike, a drag strip, some improvised safety equipment, and a handful of foolish drivers.

This year at the inaugural event we fought various breakdowns, crashes, and cold weather to make 4 somewhat clean passes.

The setup was pretty good, I had rules drafted, an outdoor heater to combat the -16*C temperatures, and a darkened, ice-covered 150 meter drag strip. The rules of the event were posted on this whiteboard for any authorities that may happen to drop in as proof of what a legit series we were running.

For the record the rules were as follows:

Fastest ET (Elapsed Time) Wins
A crash is a DNF
Run Whatca Brung!
No BS, NOS, (Full Throttles are OK!) or Slicks!

Race Conduct:

Drive to Start Line, (This counts as your familiarization portion) Raise Hand when staged.
Starter will drop hands “Pinks” Style
GO! – (stupid)
Race ends at line.

Winner gets a Trofey!

Since not everyone has a junker Chinese pocket Bike lying around we elected to use mine. This pristine, low-mileage example has seen some hard use at the hands of various riders and generally will keep on ticking.

This brought the race down to two basic items, who could manage to hold the throttle open the longest, and who was the least fat, or so we thought. The first part was made fairly tricky due to the icy conditions found in my back alley *ahem* track, and the unforeseen added an unusual challenge.

During the test & tune sessions the pocket bike performed very well, but after extended periods of idling the little 49cc 2-stroke began to grow impatient.

Racers waiting for their turn.

First off we gave Hotwheels the buzzing deathtrap and he blistered across the line with an amazing run; however the timing device failed due to the cold and he had to run again. This time the reed type carburetor was having fits and he limped it through the traps with a 35.0 second pass and average speed of 15.44 km/h.

Next up was A_Gorman, our resident Pocket Bike Noob, who continually tossed the chain, stalled out, or ate snow trying to bust a sweet drift on his starting run. After 6 failed attempts, was relegated to the back of the running order before he smashed the bike completely.

At this time the girls became bored with the repair sessions and retired from the event for refreshments indoors, leaving us to hoon about in the cold.

Following the haphazard hijinks of Gorman, Landyacht made his attempts, dealing with a stall-out just off the line, he managed a quick re-stage but was hampered by frosted over eyewear. Boldly completing the run as a near-blind man Landyacht racked up a 31.5 second pass at 17.14 km/h.

I hopped on and clicked off a Stig-esque exhibition run, having the most ride-time it would be unfitting for me to win my own event, so before setting off I agreed that my time wouldn’t count in the competition.

My pass was easy, once I found the sweet-spot in the throttle to keep the ripping 1 cylinder from flooding out. A better cold weather tune-up would certainly have helped all racers, but my front tire hit the traps with a 24.0 second pass and 22.5 km/h average.

Finally it came time to give Captain smash-the-bike his retry, for the hell of it I told him about the throttle secret and wanted to see what he could do. A_Gorman made a nearly flawless pass of 25.5 seconds which netted a 21.17 km/h speed average. This final run netted Gorman the victory and seen him awarded the sweet trophy.

Hotwheels has sworn to take the next event, as his untimed pass would have made Gorman look like he was sitting still. Stay tuned as the next special event will likely occur Canada Day, by which time I will have found some more junk to fashion into a trophy.

Final standings of the 150m New Years Drag Race 2010:

Darren5.0L - 24.0 seconds at 22.50 km/h
A_Gorman – 25.5 seconds at 21.17 km/h
Landyacht – 31.5 seconds at 17.14 km/h (Blind)
Hotwheels – 35.0 seconds at 15.44 km/h (Hard Luck Award)

Winter Driving a High Performance Vehicle

2010-12-19T22:02:00.001-07:00

Darren5.0L's 2003 SVT Lightning in winter trim.

“How to you drive THAT in the winter?” Is a question I, and many of my friends are frequently asked. In the case of me, it’s a modified 2003 SVT Lightning pickup truck with over 400 horsepower at the flywheel, in the case of my friends one of them is a 500+ BHP Mercury Marauder, two of them run brand new 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0L, another employs his 1995 Ford Mustang GT, and finally one with a Dodge SRT-8 Magnum.

None of us have made huge investments in new body panels over the last number of years nor have we made a habit of crashing about in our performance vehicles. In fact none of this should be a big thing to boast about.


L to R: 2006 Mustang GT, 2003 Supercharged Mercury Marauder, 2003 SVT Lightning

The reason that this isn’t a big deal, is because high performance cars are just like any other car when it comes down to basic pieces, except they have “all that horsepower”. A common misconception is that a performance vehicle comes equipped with an ON/OFF switch in place of a throttle, either you are at idle, or shredding snow & ice with hundreds of horsepower. This is not the case, any performance vehicle can have the engines output to the tires modulated by using the throttle, and in many cars the light throttle condition produces surprisingly small amounts of easily manageable power.

Proper equipment is an often overlooked component to winter driving in any vehicle, but is especially important should you choose to run a performance car. Performance cars come equipped with performance tires, almost always suited specifically for warm weather wet & dry traction, by contrast this makes them completely unsuited for winter operations.

A_Gorman's 2011 Mustang GT 5.0L

You may find your vehicle comes with a tire warning sticker or section of the manual that recommends against winter operation of the factory equipped tires. The solution is simply to purchase and install a dedicated winter tire. A second set of wheels can easily be found and used exclusively as the winter set to avoid hassles.

In a rear wheel drive application some vehicles will tend to feel a little “light” in the back end. This can be easily remedied with the installation of ballast such as sandbags until your preferred handling characteristics are achieved.

Performance cars, once suitably equipped, are surprisingly easy to drive and handle in winter conditions. They will be as capable as nearly any other non-4X4 on the roads and in many cases will feature many advanced driver aids to ease your trip. Traction control, Anti-lock brakes, and Stability management are quite refined presently and can make for a very tame journey through winter conditions.

Most people who have tried winter driving with a performance vehicle and given up have often never bothered to properly equip their car, subsequently the failed experiment is usually blamed upon the capabilities of it.

In closing, it can be done, and it isn’t that big of a deal.

2010 Mustang GT 2200km Test Drive

2010-12-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

07-28-2009

Test Drive is a little bit of a stretch I suppose, more like rental that I treated as a test drive. During my recent trip home to the Atlantic Provinces, I resolved that renting an interesting car might make the experience a little more interesting. A bit of time on the interweb offered the 2010 Mustang Coupe (V6) from Budget rentals in the Halifax Airport.

Upon arrival and check-in with Budget I was pleasantly surprised when the clerk gave me the keys to a Red 2010 Mustang GT, as a V6 was unavailable at that time, game on, my trip just got more interesting. At the fore-front of my mind was the fact that this new car has a love or hate relationship with many online Mustang enthusiasts, and this would be a golden opportunity to compare, without the pressure of trying to be popular in the car magazines.

For the short list, the vehicle was as tested a 2010 Mustang GT with the only option being a 5-speed Automatic Transmission. List price for this car was $38,429.00 CDN

Link to Virtual window sticker below: (Adobe Document)
http://services.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/inventory/WindowSticker.pdf?vin=1ZVBP8CH1A5118337

Fun fact, if you take the above link and paste your own VIN in place you can see your virtual window sticker if your car is fairly new, pre-05 need not apply…

For anyone who doesn’t wish to hear me prattle onwards and see lots of photos, my overall assessment of the car is Positive. It is a great car and I give it high recommend, however I do not personally prefer this car over the previous 05-09 models, and I’ll relay that as the article progresses.

As first interaction most people have is with the exterior, I shall cover it first.
This is a really tough call, personally I enjoy the look of the 2005-09 cars much more but you just can’t ignore the work Ford has put into the new model. Things like the smaller grille area and headlights have grown on me, as have the little “fairings” that protrude from the lower front valence. The extra styling found in the fenders is quite pleasing to the eye and no one could ignore the massive “power bulge” the molded in to the hood, fantastic! It all comes together very well in person, that is until you reach the back of the vehicle, we all knew this would be a sore point didn’t we?

I believe it was Motor Trend who drew attention to the trunk lid not fitting well, and in person I see what they mean, but not without some explanation. If you were to walk a semi-circle around the back of this car, taking only 10 steps, things would look just fine for 8 of those 10. However some where near the middle you find an angle that makes it all look very wrong, and it’s mostly an optical illusion but the tail lights appear flat against the concave trunk lid, making it seem off.

It does in actuality fit well and keeps your luggage dry but you won’t be impressed if you push in on the bottom trunk edge, very flexible…

Another couple of nagging bits is the huge Texas belt-buckle sized emblem, its cheap plastic and makes awful crunching sounds if you push on it, I think the two piece design allows dust between the layers causing this. The other is the rear mounted “shorty” antenna it’s in a great place, but looks exceptionally poorly crafted.

Finally is the rear spoiler, it seems alright until you pop the trunk then the thin, unsupported tips become apparent. I think these guys might be susceptible to damage if used as a handle to close the trunk, like I caught a few family and friends doing.

I may very much like my Retro Mustang, but this new car gets a solid 9/10 in the exterior styling department, this car truly does look like the next evolution of the Mustang GT, that is, aside from the rear end…

I quick thought is the Wife described the rear as looking like an economy car, and from the right angle I think she may be on to something…

Logic would say move to the interior next, but let’s cover the dynamic parts first, it’s certainly more fun.

Here I’ll come right out and say good work, when you consider that this power plant is a carry-over, it is brilliant. It makes all of the right sounds all of the time, the 2010’s mufflers sound very good. Anyone who isn’t a Borla Stinger fan would be appeased with a simple High-flow catted mid-pipe swap, the tone is perfect just could use a little more volume, but it is damn close.

The tube that channels intake noise to the interior, while first assessed as a useless bobble, worked awesome, somehow they managed to transmit the growl of the exhaust to the front of the car. It’s silent at cruise but really encourages more throttle once you begin to open the taps, I’m quite impressed.

The 6,500 rpm shift point is noted as well and the Automatic transmission is quick. It may not have that neck snapping authority but it is perhaps the fastest shifting production Ford I’ve been in.

Power bulge!

The Automatic did add one neat element, disable the TCS, stomp both pedals and those Pirelli’s turn to glorious smoke, got to love paying for the extra rental insurances…

Fuel economy? On the highway it could easily see 30 MPG, but after 2200km of all types of driving we averaged 22.2MPG. (10L/100km)

The car handled the rough and narrow roads of rural Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with confidence and poise, but I did notice one thing. Compared to my old 84 Mustang with its terrible 2.3L engine, the 2010 was clearly much faster and handled better through the roads of my teenage years. But it was markedly bigger, massive actually, especially when sharing a shoulder-less two lane with an oncoming logging truck. On the flip side though, with the exhaust rumbling at part throttle load it did have presence, and people did take notice.

The car was excellently balanced and it took a fair bit of careless throttle over rough roads to get the rear to step out of line, being a rental I was merciless. I was only able to willfully bottom out the suspension once, a non-transitioned section where 2” depth (x15ft long) of pavement had been removed; 50km/h did overcome (BANG!) the shock absorbers. Under normal conditions a reasonable person would have dropped their speed to a crawl, and never experienced this condition.

Wrapping things up with an exploration the interior draws this extended road test to a close. I actually took down a list of items about the interior that caught my interest or ire so I’d remember them all.

Overall the new interior takes some getting used to over the older layout, but it does make the Mustang seem more polished, like the interior of a European Import. And I think that is what Ford was going for, not that I like it, but it will likely be quite popular and that is what makes money these days.

The next few items will appear very nit-picky to most people but coming from a 2009 and hopping into a 2010 you’d probably have the same changes jump out at you. And honestly we are comparing Mustangs to Mustangs here, it’s the subtle differences that make a car unique.

The seats are familiar Leather from the GT500 and Bullitt of previous years and feature a nice contrasting “baseball” stitching, they were good before and still hold true.

Finally since 2004 we see the return of an interior power trunk release, it’s kind of just bundled in with the TCS/Hazards next to the shifter, but it’s great to see it again. I’d have it moved inside the dash or armrest but that’s just me.

The shifter (auto) is a decent design and is fairly ergonomic; the O/D off button is a little too far down and doesn’t have that easy tap of the thumb use. I am however told the 05-09 shifters were worse so I’ll call it an improvement.

The radio system is much more integrated, and the Sirius functions like it belongs there, the original Shaker systems seemed a little “made to work” But the Sirius was much more finicky with signal, could be a geographical thing, or perhaps it is something else.

The gauge faces are bold and bright, offering a modern appearance, sadly the needles are too thick and will totally obscure the tach/speedo markings often giving an imprecise +/- 5 km/h visual glance.

Gone are the two separate stalks on the steering column and instead is a single multi-function switch on the left side, like the old pre-05 cars. My only annoyance was just having gotten used to the 2009’s two stick arrangement; I swatted the ignition key ineffectively looking for the wipers once.

Speaking of wipers, they are the spring-less design from the Gt500 and they got a lot of use during my trip, mainly due to the 8 (of 10) days of rain. Further due to the power bulge cowl had a habit of covering the outside of the windshield in humid fog, I hope that is just another geographical thing.

While I did remark at the loss of the two center round HVAC vents, the new design offers a covered high mount 12V plug and a neat little shelf on the dash pad that might as well have “Radar Detector Here” stenciled on it. That I thought was a keen idea.

Moving down the center stack, I was immediately put off by all of the new buttons, there is just too many of them, which made quick reference and adjustment annoying. I’m sure this is what the modern Mustang owner wants, but is it really necessary to require operation of the blend door by cycling 1 button multiple times through all positions until the LED’s on the diagram match with what you wanted? HVAC should be nothing more that 3 large rotary knobs and 3 buttons Rear Defrost, Re-Circulate, and A/C. I noted we had heated seats in this model, they seemed to have two positions OFF and Ouch, not that you use them much hidden behind the shifter and all.

This model features Microsoft Sync, anyone not familiar with the system is encouraged to look of google for a quick primer, but it was fairly easy to make my Blackberry work as a hands free via the vehicle sound system. It appears to have a number of great options that I didn’t really explore with a rental. Aside from being a little choosy with its voice commands, it worked quite well.

The console is probably one of my final and larger gripes, it looks very nice and has a cover for the two cup holders I despise from the 05-09’s, but it looks like something that will break one day. Fox owners know what I’m on about here…ashtray cover style…

The armrest is gone, you now have a flat console I don’t like it, period. The latch for the console storage is now lockable, which is fantastic but the spring opening button simply doesn’t work properly, an un-needed driving distraction. My test car started out with only 6000km’s and it already had scratches to the chrome applique, this doesn’t speak well for a lifetime ownership car. The storage bin does have 12V point, AUX jack, and a USB port but overall capacity seems quite reduced.

Also noted was the trip computer’s display was in blue rather than Ford’s nearly trademark green LED, many popular features remain but the loss of the fuel consumed heading was lamented. The trip computer and its menus, are manipulated with three buttons now located under the headlight switch, the “mood lighting” control is now buried in the digital menus making on the fly adjustments cumbersome. Another quick note about the mood lighting feature, is the lighted sill covers that greet you when the door is opened, nice touch but my example showed signs of moisture in the lettering, surely not a good sign.

Since you suffered this thing out so far I’ll sum up, overall this is a great Mustang, it has lots of great features and wide appeal. While this would not be my first choice in a Mustang to purchase, it does carry the brand well, I prefer a simpler more muscle oriented interior but creature comforts do sell cars. Reviewing my observations a keen observer will note most of my concerns are a number of small non-important issues that really don’t matter. That should be the main thing to take from this review, there are no serious problems with the car, and although the rear end may be ugly, it is a car worthy of the Mustang name.

It was a blast to run this thing through the twists, turns and straights of all 2200km I covered in NS and NB, I honestly can’t think of a better rental car to do it with…

Back in the Grind : Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

2010-12-07T17:13:00.001-07:00

It’s been a week or so of steady driving since the last update, and I am pleased observe a successful repair of the Pontiac’s buggered fuel injector. We’ve seen a general return to normal with the GTP’s daily fuel consumption, and despite experiencing -20*C driving temperatures we are seeing about 23 US MPG under mixed driving conditions.

Gone are the stumble and rough idle conditions, so I think I’ve got this issue solved. I removed the #3 spark plug for inspection, and it has returned to burning normally, which is relief from the blackened soot that was scraped away each time before. This is good to note as I was quite worried that there was a spark related issue in conjunction with the fuel injector. The PCM is clear of codes and with the spark plug clean I’m ready to turn my attentions back to other projects.

Until the next interesting foible presents itself, take a look at the entire series if you haven’t already done so:

Read the Entire Living with a Pontiac Series:

Looks Good on Paper:

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/10/looks-good-on-paper-living-with-pontiac.html

UPDATE 1 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/11/update-looks-good-on-paper-living-with.html

UPDATE 2 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-2-looks-good-on-paper-living.html

Back in the Grind - Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/back-in-grind-looks-good-on-paper.html

UPDATE 2: Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

2010-12-02T17:30:00.002-07:00

They say no good deed goes unpunished, and the same applies for when installing new parts on this car.

On the demand of the OBD 2 system, the GTP recently received a brand new IAT sensor, the install was completely painless, taking mere minutes to finish the swap. With the check engine light cleared, I was hopeful we’d seen the end of our recent spate of fuel economy and drive-ability problems.

However, the very next night the car became totally un-drivable. While the Wife was finishing up her work commute, the engine began to stumble, and over last few kilometers home, it took to frantically flashing the CEL.

Since having a check engine light occur so often, we’d used up all of our “freebie” code readings at the dealer, and the service department was getting as sick of seeing the silver Pontiac roll in as we were of owning it. Knowing the dealer was 2 weeks behind schedule and that the vehicle wasn’t really driveable with a flashing CEL, I was left with some decisions to make.

The least expensive course of action was to purchase a code reader, pull the codes myself and make repairs as required. I have been loathe to purchase a OBD 2 code reader until now, because any of the other Ford vehicles I have in the household can easily be serviced with the Diablosport Predators I use for performance tuning. The 1995 GTS is an OBD 1 system and can be read with a simple paperclip jumper, so the GTP would be the only use I have for this somewhat costly tool. Reluctantly, I ran out that evening and obtained a scan tool.

With my $150 code reader in hand I was surprised to learn the #3 Injector circuit was stuck open and reported a “Generic Misfire”. Basically the injector had been stuck at 100% duty cycle under all throttle conditions, essentially flooding the cylinder with fuel. Chances were, this was the source of our poor fuel economy, misfire, and general engine related issues.

Next morning the GTP remained sullenly in the garage awaiting parts and I drove the Wife to and from work. Once parts dealers opened I began to price and source a single replacement injector.

There were two main options, new $255 each from NAPA or a refurbished unit from the same at $50. Checking the dealer for price comparison showed a $130 list for the refurbished injector. The easy choice was made to run with a refurb NAPA piece and return the old injector for our $10 core charge.

If I had the time, I'd have ordered a full set of 6 from ZZ Performance for less than one from the dealership. But seeing as I had to drive the wife to work once already, I elected to hurry up and get it fixed.

I had briefly considered and quickly discarded the idea of using a junkyard part for two reasons; firstly, a used injector may suffer from less than ideal fuel flow issues, and secondly, finding a GTP in the wreckers locally isn’t a very common thing.

So that evening the replacement was installed without issue. I am pleased to note the #3 injector is quite easy to access, if it were on the firewall side of the engine, I’m sure I’d be singing a much different tune. I reset the codes, started the car, and gladly observed smooth running with no return CEL. After a short road test, the on-board trip computer was reporting 31-32 MPG on the highway, quite good considering ambient temperatures and ethanol blended fuel.

I returned the car to daily driver duty and subsequently observed a large increase in fuel economy, regaining nearly 5 MPG in mixed City & Highway driving. So far there have been no new or returning engine related issues. As a footnote, this car has 170,000km’s or about 105,000 miles; I should sit down and write a laundry list of problems and breakages for easy reference.

After doing a recent oil change, next topic might be a discussion about Oil life monitors and my observations on that system.

Read the Entire Living with a Pontiac Series:

Looks Good on Paper:

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/10/looks-good-on-paper-living-with-pontiac.html

UPDATE 1 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/11/update-looks-good-on-paper-living-with.html

UPDATE 2 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-2-looks-good-on-paper-living.html

Back in the Grind - Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/back-in-grind-looks-good-on-paper.html

A case for Winter Tires

2010-11-28T13:28:00.001-07:00

If you’re in the Northern hemisphere, it’s currently winter, generally cold, unpleasant, and sub-freezing temperatures. The world however, won’t come to grinding halt just for the sake of comfort, with that, most people get to experience winter travel.

Ice and snow can make something as mundane as a casual walk, into a tricky and dangerous endeavor, especially when you aren’t wearing the proper footwear. By extension, driving your car can be the same.

During each winter commute on our roadways, I often see the majority of my fellow motorists hopelessly spinning and sliding their way through the various turns and intersections I encounter. In all but the very worst of conditions I don’t seem to have that problem, why is that? This rhetorical question as to why my vehicle doesn’t magically defy the laws of friction is very simple, I’ll sum it up as; “The proper equipment for the proper job.”

In short, my secret is winter tires.

It should some as no surprise, but to many, the simple concept of winter tires is viewed with the stigma of “an additional expense” or “unnecessary”. I know many drivers consider a vehicle as a driving appliance, a simple method of conveyance, and many people want that to cost as little as possible.

However cutting corners when it comes to safety is not something I even like to consider.

This attitude is being adopted across Canada as more and more Provinces are making it mandatory to have winter tires for operation of a motor vehicle during snowy months. I for one, applaud this approach. Before you shout me down, follow my reasoning here:

Why are All-season tires unsuited for severe winter conditions, like those encountered in Canada?

There are a variety of reasons, but the easy ones to explain involve tread design and rubber composition.

Think of the difference between a smooth soled fashion shoe and a rugged hiking boot, which one would you trust to walk down that snowy hill? Fact is, the relatively tight and smooth tread of the All-season tire fills with snow very rapidly, which means you are now trying to stop and turn with the equivalent of a ski, offering little in the area of traction. A snow designed tread is more open and will self-clean while driving, giving the jagged edges of the siped tire a clean bite into snow and ice.

The tire compound is very important too, an All-season tire is designed to give, among other things, good fuel economy and long life. The easy way to do this is by using a “hard” compound of rubber, which will be resistant to wear during the heat of summer months. However during the colder months, the tire will become very hard and will not flex or conform to the road surface as well, in result your tire will slide along like a hockey puck. The snow tire will have a softer compound which would wear out quickly during summer, but during the cold months of winter it remains compliant and offers remarkably improved grip.

That is just a fraction of the theory involved, but moving beyond that lets actually look at the difference in stopping performance.

Stopping Distances Tested at 50km/h (31 MPH)

Test Conditions:
- -20°C with 3 to 5 cm of compacted snow and ice on asphalt surface
- Vehicles equipped with automatic transmission and anti-lock brakes
- Tests in 4-wheel drive vehicle conducted in all-wheel drive mode

*Fournier L., Comparative Evaluation of Performance of All-Season tires and Winter tires, Ministry of Transportation, Quebec, 2002.

As you can see the two of the most popular car types, mini-vans and compacts have the worst stopping distances, about 51 meters compared to larger heavier vehicles at 43 meters. Switching to the common standard unit of measure, a compact car equipped with Winter tires will stop 38 feet shorter than All Season tires, that is over 2.5 car lengths sooner. In a panic stop that is the difference between, before the obstructed intersection, or becoming part of the pile-up.

You’ll also note that 50km/h is not very fast at all, in many cases city roads can be zoned for speeds up to and including 70-80 km/h. Highways often reach posted limits of 110 km/h, as a safe practice you should reduce your driving speed for conditions, however this is not always the habit of some drivers. As such, the importance of winter tires for stopping and car control increases with driving speed.

-But I have ABS/TCS/etc.

While these modern driving aids are a great help, they are a support system for the driver and should not be relied on a substitute for good driving habits and proper equipment. ABS will actually post a longer stopping distance over a properly used non-ABS car, but ABS allows you to steer without locking the wheels. In low-traction conditions the ABS system will only apply as much brake force as it takes not to lock the wheel, with a set of All-Season hockey pucks, imagine how little braking action that takes.

Traction Control typically only assists during acceleration and it applies much like ABS. Most systems still allow some spin, so anything that enhances basic traction will help the TCS work correctly.

About wheel-spin, ever wonder why approaches to intersections are so slippery? It’s mainly a two-fold effect, one part is heat from stationary vehicles melting accumulated ice and snow every so slightly. The second part is the fresh ice/water mix is polished to a glass-like sheen by the All-Season equipped vehicles struggling for grip. This one-two combination is much like the effect of a Zamboni machine at a hockey rink, and the result is the exact same. A good winter tire will help you not contribute to the problem and allow you to better cope with conditions at that next intersection.

Another common thought is that winter tires are very expensive, and much like anything vehicle related, they can be, but not if you shop around. Some of the most inexpensive tires I’ve purchased have been winter tires, when the winter season approaches watch for sales and deep discounts. During a follow-up article I’ll discuss various tire options and buying tip to minimize costs.

When it all comes down to it, your car’s tires only touch the pavement with an area about the size of the palm of your hand, and when it comes down to stopping or turning, how would you like to do it? Like you’re in control, or like you’re riding a crazy carpet?

The choice is obvious for me.

UPDATE: Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

2010-11-23T16:05:00.001-07:00

Life with the silver car continues, it’s been nearly two years since the first article, and I thought it was time for a follow-up. Things don’t seem to get better with age when it comes to most cars and this one is no exception.

Minor irritations also continue, first in the way of a failed HVAC control, seems the fan speed controller will only function in settings 3, 4, 5, and OFF. This isn’t a big deal in the winter, since the GTP’s heater struggles to keep the windows frost free on any setting lower than “5”, but in the summer it makes adjustment of the A/C quite bothersome and noisy. Replacement of the resistor is around $50 and an afternoon under the dashboard fiddling with Torx screws. However, if the problem lies in the actual heater controls finding a replacement dual-zone climate control panel could be very expensive.

Also during the summer, we had the passenger side window motor refuse to work. None of the switches wanted to respond until the door was given a good slam, likely the motor has a dead spot or the window track had somehow jammed. As of late it hasn’t happened again.

Something I forgot to mention in the first article was this vehicle’s propensity to digest headlight and driving lamp bulbs. I am reminded of this since I replaced yet another just a week ago. On average since owning this car, we’ve replaced a full set of 4 bulbs every 8 months or so. They don’t all go at once, so you have to keep an eye on them.

Most recently the GTP’s usually reasonable fuel economy has dropped into the pits. Typically, mixed City/Highway driving would return a modest 23-25 US MPG, currently we’re seeing 19-21 US MPG. When doing purely highway travel observing 29-32 MPG was not uncommon, but after a post tune-up 1000 km trip a few weekends ago, the best I could muster was 25 MPG, the engaging the cruise control would drop that number to 23.5.

Around the same time, we noticed the significant drop in fuel economy, the wife also noted a rough idle characteristic at times. It was completely random, but when sitting at a stop light or similar situation, the engine speed would drop to 500-600rpm and shudder or miss. Since the car was running on the factory plugs and wires that were nearing their recommended change interval, I sourced and installed replacements. I had suspected that the symptoms were indicative of a spark related issue. Pulling the plugs seemed to support this as well, 5 out of 6 were burned open to a .070” gap and the number 2 cylinder was fouled with a dry, black soot.

After the tune-up, the fuel economy failed to change at all.

Yesterday the car finally decided to give a peek into the situation when a “Check Engine” light illuminated. I knew this may either indicate our problem or may simply be playing Chicken Little about the gas cap seal, like it traditionally does any time the temperatures get a little chill.

The GTP was taken by the dealership to have the codes pulled and they reported the IAT sensor was out of range. The Intake Air Temperature Sensor being on the fritz could certainly account for terrible economy and drive-ability issues. When the car was brought home, it had set the Check Engine Light again; I yanked the little sensor out from the inlet tract for a look. Visually it appeared fine, and since I didn’t have the specs to bench test the unit, I gave it a few shots of contact cleaner and re-installed it. After a bit of test driving, the problem didn’t go away so I resolved to purchase a new sensor.

Cost on the new sensor was about $30 and I’ll install it later today, hopefully this fixes the issue. I’ll also have a look at the #2 spark plug again to check for fouling, if so I figure one of the coils could be underperforming and needing replacement.

For the record the car has just over 100,000 miles at this time, and I’m continually disappointed with these electrical related failures. On a high note, we plan to retire this car and replace it with a Ford Mustang of some sort in summer of 2011. So far it’s been a pretty silly ride, stay tuned for more updates as they occur.

Read the Entire Living with a Pontiac Series:

Looks Good on Paper:

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/10/looks-good-on-paper-living-with-pontiac.html

UPDATE 1 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/11/update-looks-good-on-paper-living-with.html

UPDATE 2 –

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-2-looks-good-on-paper-living.html

Back in the Grind - Looks Good on Paper & Living with a Pontiac

http://darren5l.blogspot.com/2010/12/back-in-grind-looks-good-on-paper.html

Tracking your Fuel consumption

2010-11-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I was looking around for a program that might keep better track of my gas mileage than the random pile of pay-at-the-pump receipts I'd been using. It didn't take long to come across a free online service that did everything I was after and more. Fuelly is a very simple system to use, simply create a login, build a "garage" of vehicles you wish to keep track of., and then log your fill-ups.

The Website is here: Fuelly | Share and Compare Your MPG

Logging a fill up can be done either with a trip meter reset at every fill, or by simply recording the odometer, however the system only works properly when you completely fill your tank. So obviously little $20 tank additions aren't going to work for you unless you keep a really detailed log.

Since I have 3 vehicles which are not known to be real fuel misers I decided it might be fun to keep an eye on what I can get out of them. That, and I like being a counterpoint to all the eco-friendly nonsense those sort of sites seem to attract. I quite enjoy disrupting the tickerbar:

So-and-So just got 56.7 MPG from their Prius

SomeOtherPerson just got 43.6 MPG from their Boring Honda

Darren5.0L just got 11.2 MPG from his SVT Lightning!

LOL

Somewhat surprisingly, owners of brands that are usually thought to be quite fuel efficient often report crappy (<20 MPG) mileage especially if it isn't a junker econobox model.

So maybe give fuelly a whirl and see what your vehicle can actually get for mileage under real driving conditions.

Where have the Imports gone?

2010-11-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

In the last decade, I believe we have witnessed the rise and decline of the Sport Compact Car.

The concept of doing more with less has been around for ages, but the rise of the 4 cylinder and other non-V8’s really came into the North American mainstream somewhere around the late 1990s. I suppose movies like the Fast & the Furious (1999) probably were a significant contributor to the pop-culture trend of vehicle modification, true Import purists (and anti-posers) usually shudder at the mention of the F&F series but it did draw in new blood to the hobby of vehicle modification.

I’ll make it known here and now that I am a domestic performance vehicle enthusiast, specifically Late-Model-Domestic-Muscle, but I’m open minded to cars in general, so don’t let that make you think I’m completely biased.

Years ago, when I bought my first car, a clunker 1988 Ford Escort EXP, the world of big exhaust tips and neon underglow was just starting to take off. At that time I thought you basically bought a vehicle and basically how it worked out of the box was what you got. This concept of performance modification (with a few exceptions) was completely alien to me.

In 2003, when I was able to insert myself into the performance hobby, I was quick to note the variety of “performance” vehicles cruising the streets, and as the new owner of a 1995 Mustang GTS it wasn’t lost that domestic performance seemed to be a minority.

I have no idea what the actual ratio was, but it seemed for every domestic performance car you might run across 7 Import “Tuner” cars, that is sport compacts with some degree of modification.

About those modifications,

After all of the hype behind the import tuner cars, I gave them a fair bit of respect, that is, until I actually got to run a few and began to question my perceptions. This is of course from the perspective of a 15 second stock Mustang running 16 & 17 second imports. I came to understand that the typical formula of a sport compact car was generally lightweight, front-wheel drive, four cylinder engines, and typically made less than 200 horsepower peak, and even less torque. Commonly, most of these tuner cars had only rudimentary and sometimes dubious engine modifications, backed by eye-catching and sometimes counter-productive appearance modification.

Exempting the power adder guys or the very rare max-effort engine builds these cars were quickly considered “easy pickings” for those from my car demographic.

While these Tuner cars were not the fastest thing on the streets or strip, they did create and fill a huge market segment for young and young at heart buyers. Each Japanese manufacturer had at least one model or option catering to that group. The aftermarket was flooded with speed and appearance parts for nearly everything.

Things looked good for the trend of import racer and import showcar, but over the last few driving seasons I have seen a huge decline in Sport Compacts and the like.

So what happened, and where did they all go?

Reflectively, I think a number of things changed against the tuner crowd.

Firstly, as these cars became more numerous and popular, public awareness also increased, with it came additional police and legislative attention. When under the microscope of the law and enforcement, it can really take the fun out of any hobby.

Secondly, many of the Japanese manufacturers seem to have abandoned this market, gone from the dealership lots are new models of the Celica, Talon/Eclipse, 240SX, Mazda Speed 3 and so on. The remaining Civic Si, 350Z, RX-8, Evo etc are not very cost effective cars to a young buyer.

Third, the rise of the Right-hand-drive. The recent glut of Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) cars to hit North America has really changed the face of Import performance and may have really affected the desirability of the North American counterparts.

Possibly a fourth consideration is the resurgence of the modern muscle car. I have seen a number of car enthusiasts that have switched from Import to Domestic muscle, to summarize them, it’s a matter of low cost and big performance. When you compare Domestic to Import new cars, I believe it’s a very valid consideration.

As much as I’ve heard the term “Ricer” thrown around and the mockery that follows, I think it’s rather unfortunate to see this backslide of the Sport Compact Car continue, because the loss of every “Tuner” car is potentially the loss of another car enthusiast.

So despite the general hatred of the buzzy resonated exhaust tip and the obvious work-in-progress primer of a new “body kit” I still think it’s a shame to see it go.

Modern Performance Vehicles's K-Spec Drag Racing Program

2010-10-30T18:59:00.001-06:00

08-26-2009

It’s green, it ain’t mean, it isn’t much to look at, and it certainly isn’t worth writing home about, but we’re doing it anyway. How’s that for an introduction to Modern Performance Vehicle’s idea for a silly project?

Behold Hotwheel’s kind donation to the MPV Kijiji Spec (That’s K-Spec!) drag program:


Shown with optional headlight delete

I suppose donation is the wrong term, something like “willing to go along with” or “be party to” works better. Anyway, Ford Motor Company’s wildly popular Tempo just got… …noticed again. Keeping in line with Hotwheel’s mantra of no matter how unsuitable, take everything down the strip, and Grand Touring Concept’s of anything can be hot-rodded, we bring you the K-SPEC drag program.

Taking a select (AKA running) example of the Ford Tempo, we obtained the fastest, most modern version, the top of the range, 1994 Tempo GL. We ensured it was equipped with nothing less than the potent (for a Tempo) 3.0L Vulcan V6, the consistent FLC-ATX 3-speed automatic transmission, 2 doors for lower curb weight, and just broken-in 280,000km mileage for peak potential. This car was sure to be a contender in this one-horse race.

The holy grail of Tempo performance, 3.0L V6!

Actually the entire thing above is total BS, Jesse had it lying around and we thought we’d try to drag it, and then (try to) make it faster. Footnote: (Without actually spending *any* money)

Before making something faster you have to establish a baseline, and on 8:05 PM, Car Number 4023 made it’s first of 5 passes at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway Park.

Coiled and ready to... um what is it Tempos do? ... Maintain a steady beat?

Hotwheels narrowed his eyes against to low setting sun, and prepared for what likely wouldn’t be one hell of a pass. The lights dropped and stomping the mild whirring noise pedal, he cut a .240 reaction time, the sixty foot was gone in a scant 2.833 seconds. With no hint of burning oil or coolant he eventually crossed the traps with a 18.188 @ 76.07 MPH. K-Spec drag racing, a much better past time to waiting in a doctor’s office, rather we had our baseline.

With his trademark enthusiasm, Jesse figured he could do better with colder air, so we waited a little and he made 4 more passes. The second last run was a surprising improvement to 17.618 @ 77.77 MPH, low 12’s were going to be easy! We’d already dropped over half a second and picked up 1.7 miles per hour with only telling Jesse to drive faster. Once we started modding the times should simply drop like the resale value of a Pontiac product, oh I did just go there…

Let’s talk horsepower here, you know real stuff. Fresh from the factory our updated Vulcan engine, with it’s reduced friction pistons, a strengthened block, roller camshaft and other changes, thumped out 141 Horsepower and 160 ft-lbs of Torque. This seasoned example was surely putting out more than the “detuned” factory trim so we had to see what we were working with.

To figure our horsepower out for certain, naturally the next step was to, you guessed it, the internet. (Who said dyno? Those things cost money!)

So, using the online ¼ mile drag calculator java program we can get some cheap-as-free results.

The drag calculator over at Dragtimes assured Flywheel horsepower rating or our money back, but we had to supply the numbers.

Quarter Mile times were 18.188 and 17.618.

Trap Speed supplied from the timeslips were 76.07 and 77.77MPH.

Let’s see, the infalliable wikipedia says that a Ford Tempo has a curb weight 2723 lb (1235 kg) and our Driver might weigh 175 lbs for a total of 2898 lbs

We also washed it to lower parasitic loss due to heat retention

With the numbers ready, the computer internet dyno began to spool up and everyone in the internet dyno cell was deafened as the display spat out our results:

Run #1 = 97.38 HP @ Flywheel
Run #2 = 105.57 HP @ Flywheel

Clearly the internet dyno must load heavier than a MD-600, but we can at least see the difference mod for mod, provided we always use the same internet dyno. Summarizing above, you can plainly see that telling Jesse to drive faster resulted in a whopping increase of 8.19 horsepower over stock, that friends, is massive.

Satisfied that we had a built on a Wednesday ringer, we planned for the next session.

Part 2:

09-03-2009

Back at the Grand Touring Concepts R&D facility (actually Darren’s garage which may have an adjustable wrench and a hammer) MPV 's goons set to work on extracting more horsepower from the wild Tempo.

Using some spare parts Hotwheel's has amassed, we set to work with a grinder mounted flapwheel to build a better inlet assembly. A high performance (junkyard) MAF was carefully milled (locked in a bench vise and attacked with a grinder) to accept a proven (again used) K&N conical Airfilter, we had specially chosen (of the 3 we had in a box) for this car. We retained the bottom part of the airbox assembly to act as a heat shield against the awesome under hood temps.

Grand Touring Concepts is kind of new to the FWD game but we understand this arrangement is called a "short-ram" intake, I guess it sounds better than exposed hot Air conical filter to folks not in the know. If my Dentist office reading of popular sport compact magazines indicated anything, we should behold outstanding gains from this modification.

So there it is; the GTC Exposed Short-Ram Conical Intake System (ESRCI) PN#X30V6 not on sale near you. Look for our booth at SEMA 2011.

As with all performance parts that "claim" to "add" horsepower, we needed to prove this part before K-spec marketing can ever begin. With that we're back to the strip...

On 7 August, Hotwheels was set to deliver a faster time with the newfound power provided by the experimental Grand Touring Concepts ESCRI. The K-spec Tempo made a grueling 7 passes, battling hot air temperatures to finalize gains made with the ESCRI. At 10:21pm a 17.640 @ 78.13 MPH was posted, followed by a 17.634 @ 78.17 MPH twenty minutes later. Late in the evening at 10:51 pm we had our best run; 17.607 @ 78.05 MPH, the ESRCI was a success, production can start immediately!

ESRCI Testing runs, available in HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjSpvMZgF40

Working on our promotional material we needed to visit the online dyno with our new results so our HP gains could be advertised with the product.

Using the same weight number as the last test, (we are very certain that Jesse did not starve himself for the sake of going faster) we awaited the results…

The best run worked out to 106.4 HP at the flywheel with the other 3 posted runs supporting the findings.

ESCRI 106.4 HP minus Stock 97.38 HP equals 9.02 BHP, which is nearly a solid 10 horsepower gain. This modification system is clearly worth more than the $300 USD plus shipping that our PR department plans on charging.

Here are our performance tables so far:

Stock (Booo!)
97.38 BHP - 18.188 @ 76.07 MPH

Waiting for cooler air (Super Tuning)
105.57 BHP - 17.618 @ 77.77 MPH

Super Tuning + GTC ESCRI (Super Awesome, tell your friends)
106.40 HP - 17.607 @ 78.05 MPH

Disclaimer:
(Actual testing of ESRCI with Super tuning versus Stock with Super tuning may result in a net gain of only 0.83 Horsepower…)

With these awesome successes, we know we have to keep pushing forward in order to keep ahead of the currently non-existent (and likely never existent) competition.

Setting the bar a notch higher, we'll see you next time.