Ryan's IROC Thread

[FUBAR]

Seeing as for the 8 years I've had this car the stereo has never worked because the amp that was in it when I got it was blown, yes it's a huge improvement.  I've just never sorted it out before because of the V8 soundtrack. The system in there now is fine for me, I'm not looking at blasting out music to the whole world as I drive along because I still want to hear the car for one reason.

I'm very happy with it, the phone is just a silly prop really.

[art b]

i have an old motorola phone similar to that..

in the loft , bought it on ebay too

sort of looks cool

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: FUBAR

It has a LED on it

Ah, in that case, yes, the extra control is needed, good call.

[FUBAR]

I'm thinking about having a tint put on the rear window of the IROC..  see attached Poll

http://www.mkb.cc/forum/index.php?action=poll&pollaction=vote&pollID=37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.mkb.cc/forum/index.php?action=poll&pollaction=vote&pollID=37

[Roadkill]

Quoting: FUBAR

I'm thinking about having a tint put on the rear window of the IROC.. see attached Poll

I'd only do the back if I were doing the sides, too . . . . then I'd go for 50-35%

[Cunning Plan]

It's such a long tailgate that I think it makes sense from a privacy and tempature control point...

[FUBAR]

Took the IROC for some exercise round the 'block' today, its been on it's battery maintainer for 6 weeks and hasn't turned a wheel so thought it was time to rotate the tyres a bit and give the engine a heat cycle, circulate the oil etc

Car is fine, but now I'm coughing like a mad-man because I've been outside... stupid cold

[ianjpage]

cool, bet was nice to get the car out for a blast!

Quoting: FUBAR

I'm coughing like a mad-man because I've been outside... stupid cold

hope you feel better soon m8

[F Body]

Quoting: FUBAR

Took the IROC for some exercise round the 'block' today, its been on it's battery maintainer for 6 weeks and hasn't turned a wheel so thought it was time to rotate the tyres a bit and give the engine a heat cycle, circulate the oil etc

Looks like it's getting dry enough to do the same with the Zee 28

[F Body]

Sorry

[FUBAR]

Ok, so I had another look at the handbrake issue today and I'm pretty sure I know why its not working.
The replacement callipers are not the same as the old ones.
They look almost identical on the outside, same part numbers, patent numbers, size shape etc etc, however on the inside there is a difference, I pulled the pistons out of the old and new callipers and they are identical however the shape of the cavity inside is different, with the new calliper having a deeper 1st section on the inside that the old one.

This results in the different behaviour when the handbrake is applied, in the video below you can see the piston on the old calliper (tested 1st) does not go as far back into the body as on the new one.  You'll also notice that on the old calliper the Piston 'rachets' out with every application of the lever and I have to push it back in, on the new calliper it actually does sweet F.A.

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Handbrake%20Diagnosis_zps9ium9jp8.mp4

I have checked and there are not any bits missing, the piston bore is machined differently from the casting.
These replacement callipers were bought from Rockauto and are the A1-Cardone remanufactured callipers specific for my car. Why would they be fundamentally different? I don't understand.
Now I have a decision here, Rockauto sell the "same" callipers branded as ACDELCO and Raybestos etc, so do I risk buying more Remanufactured stock callipers in the hope that I get ones that are actually correct, which will cost me probably about £400, but might not work and I'm still left with a Carp handbrake.  Or do I pull about £2500 out of savings and go for a full 4-corner Baer setup which is a MUCH bigger job, but would give me a handbrake that works properly and better brakes all round?

[FUBAR]

Just checked John Wolfe and US Automotive, neither of them stock them or would be willing to order them before I pay for them so they could be checked before buying (which is fair enough).

I'm totally stumped on why these callipers would be different, does anyone have any ideas?
It looks like Rockauto calliper roulette is going to be the only option other than the crazy expensive one unless I can find out what's missing or if they really are not the correct callipers.

[ianjpage]

is there a year specific change for your model, as i'm guessing the calipers cover a wide range of years ???

[FUBAR]

They do cover a number of years but they are the same throughout.

Rockauto had some Wholesaler closeout callipers with all the gubbins attached with no core-charges (less than 1/2 the cost!) so I've ordered those as a punt, hopefully they'll be ok. I also ordered the brake-release switch for the Cruise control as well, hopefully that'll get that working again.

[FUBAR]

I think my Tax has run out on the IROC...  :wink:



I don't think older cars look right without a Tax disc in the windows after the law was changed this year, so I spent some time in Photoshop making this one which I filled out myself in my best "Post-Office Administrator" handwriting...  from what I could find the £100 for 12 months tax is correct for 1989 as well  :up:  (even though the stamp shows it was issued in May... Sssshhh! nobody will notice! :secure:)

Edit: OCD was annoying me so I 'fixed' the stamp as well...

[FUBAR]

Dean & Ian will know that at the weekend I was uncertain whether or not to fit the new callipers I'd bought from Rockauto as I wasn't convinced they would work properly.  I decided that anything was better than Zero Handbrake functionality, I was not going to lose anything from trying apart from a bit of brake fluid and the skin off a couple of knuckles so after freeing the ceased handbrake lever on 1 new calliper and putting the correct mounting bracket on the other one, I fitted them this evening...

The result, the handbrake now works!! :rock: its not going to win any awards, lets face it its still using the same shitty design, but it works.  Which is not bad, and the regular rear brakes are still working the same from what I can tell.

Edit: Yes you read that right, Both of these remanufactured callipers had issues from the box, on 1 the handbrake lever would not move, it was ceased to its mounting pin but after a bit of oil and a number of meaty whacks with a nylon hammer it freed up and works perfectly.  This also had the retaining clip missing to keep the handbrake lever on the pin, but I salvaged this from my 1 scrap calliper.
The other calliper had the wrong bracket on it meaning that the piston hit the mounting bracket rather than pushing the pad onto the disc, luckily because I had so many old ones in the Garage the scrap calliper donated correct bracket to fit it!!.

[ianjpage]

Cool glad to hear you managed to get it sorted :up:

[Roadkill]

It's a bit $hit, though, isn't it - wrong bracket out of the box !?

Still.  Sorted, so :up:

[Andy]

When I was working on my rear axle, I investigated the possibility of fitting rear discs to mine.

It soon became apparent how many options and confusing parts there were and instead I decided to stick with the drums.

Yours must be a complete mine field considering you have a 9 bolt axle as well!

[Roadkill]

When I was working on my rear axle, I investigated the possibility of fitting rear discs to mine.

It soon became apparent how many options and confusing parts there were and instead I decided to stick with the drums.

Ditto.

[FUBAR]

When I was working on my rear axle, I investigated the possibility of fitting rear discs to mine.
It soon became apparent how many options and confusing parts there were and instead I decided to stick with the drums.
Yours must be a complete mine field considering you have a 9 bolt axle as well!

Thats the thing, as far as I can tell there is only 1 type of stock rear brake calliper for the 3rd Gen, [Geek Mode] the so Called "1LE" performance package made no changes to the rear disc option, they are the same and are included on the Car with Option Code J65 (i only know this by heart because of recent research!) which is for all 3rd gens with rear discs, this also seems to be linked to the Borg-Warner 9-Bolt Posi as well as I don't think you could get this with drums.  when "1LE" was triggered by the buyer's option choices which included the uprated front discs and 9-Bolt rear with 3.43 ratio, all this code actually meant was they also opted for the AC and Stereo Delete options.
[/geek mode]
I've veered off topic a bit here, but this is why I've been so confused about the old callipers appearing to be different, as there's only 1 type... maybe they were just faulty? I don't know. the wrong bracket being attached is presumably because someone put the wrong one on when they sent to core back to be Re-man'd last time.  Not Rockauto's fault, but it should have been checked by the company.

[FUBAR]

4x New tyres ordered today, Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31 245/50/R16 £310 fitted from Blackcircles :up:

So the 11.5 year old Dayton Daytona ZR tyres that were on the car new when it was imported will be going next Saturday.  the only shame is that the old ones are Z speed rated and the Kumho's are 'only' a W97 not going to be a problem on the IROC really though is it :rofls:

Now should I find somewhere sneaky to do some burnouts this week... :secure:

[FUBAR]

4x New tyres ordered today, Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31 245/50/R16 £310 fitted from Blackcircles So the 11.5 year old Dayton Daytona ZR tyres that were on the car new when it was imported will be going next Saturday. 

Scratch that...

Now should I find somewhere sneaky to do some burnouts this week...

And that... (not done any anyway) Blackcircles have no stock and no alternatives available so have to issue me a full refund... :down: not good.

[Titsy]

I have found recently that 245/50R16's appear to give gone extinct in the UK... This is the size I have and it appears it would be only marginally more expensive to change the rims to give a better choice of tyre! :down:

[Roadkill]

Have you guys tried speaking to a U.S tyre specialist like Northants Tyres ?

They import tyres so it makes sense that they may be able to help you out ?