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Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:24 am
by Mopar 151w2
You need high levels of the ZDDP oil addative if you have highly loaded flat tappets (anything over stock for valve springs or lift rates), or any similar highly loaded, metal-to-metal sliding friction..
That's it. Nuthin' to do with vlave seats (old school ones need a little tetraethyl lead), or gas mileage, or Obama's Kenyan oil wells.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:11 pm
by hammer
I've had to replace the clutch master cylinder since it was leaking. So I just pulled it out of the car and while I wait for Fedex to get here with my new one, I thought I'd get on here and pick your brains. The cylinder was leaking out of the plunger end that sticks into the passenger cabin and has leaked who knows how much brake fluid down into my footwell underneath the carpet and likely saturating the sound deadening material. I understand that brake fluid is pretty corrosive stuff so I'm guessing I should pull up the carpet and see what kind of damage was done? And is there any easy way to get brake fluid out of the carpeting and whatever materials lie underneath? Or should I just scrap it? I should mention that my car remains a summer daily driver, so I'd like to keep the carpeting in place as much as possible. I don't want to completely strip this car out.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:55 pm
by sdwarf36
It won't hurt the the metal at all-but the carpet + padding is probably toast. You can try to take it out + giving it a good soaking + shampoo-or you can try a junkyard. Something like carpet never sells (motors-glass-bodywork is where the money is) so I'm sure it would be cheap.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 3:31 pm
by drummingpariah
Brake fluid is a pretty aggressive solvent, and will tear up paint pretty quickly. I'd pull the carpet up enough to make sure the metal under them isn't bare, which will flash rust and you'll be dealing with a much more serious problem in no time.

After that, you can flush out the brake fluid (as long as it's DOT3 or DOT4) with a lot of water (think garden hose, not water bottle). It's miscible with water, meaning it will bond with the water and wash away.

As long as there isn't any brake fluid making contact with paint, you should be ok. Any stains in the carpet can be soaked then shop-vac'd, but I'm not sure stains in that area (under the pedals?) are something I'd be worried about.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 4:20 pm
by hammer
Yeah, I don't care about stains in the carpet, I think it's more the sound deadening material underneath that is saturated and that should probably just be thrown away. Well, I've gotten the master cylinder all in and bled and she's shifting like a champ! I'll tackle the carpet issue when I feel like digging into it. But I definitely want to at least peal it up to see what, if any, damage has been done.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 9:50 pm
by hammer
So I've been thinking about racing seats again and am considering going with a more basic, lightweight seat than the Sparcos I was looking at before. In particular, the same Kirkey one Luke has in his mod. (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/kir-39300) Our rules state that "Fiberglass and other lightweight seats must be framed and mounted at multiple points. FIA seats do not require additional bracketing beyond their normal mounting points." My question is what constitutes "mounted at multiple points"? I can reasonably foresee having the seat bolted to the floor and to the firewall behind it giving two attachment points. Would I also need a brace for the top headrest like Luke has? Or would that only be required if I added a full cage at some point in the future? The rules state in 4.E.5 "Head rest, maximum of 3” behind driver’s head as seated." I'm just wondering if the headrest rule for "lightweight" non-FIA seats also applies to cars without a cage.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 7:45 am
by walterclark
With these seats, in addition to mounting the seat bottom, you want at minimum a brace in the upper back region, below the shoulder harness openings. If there is a place to attach it to the car, an additional brace for the headrest with these seats is a good idea to which some of our hillclimbers like Kevin can attest, as the headrest area has been known to fold in an impact.

The 3" rule applies to all cars, but only enforced where an aftermarket seat is used since we assume an OEM seat has been properly designed and installed by the manufacturer to whiplash protection. I havent seen an issue with race seats in this regard, but there must have been a problem at some time in the past.

Re: Project Fiero

Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 12:24 pm
by hammer
Thanks Walter. That's what I needed to know.