John, is your paint Innocent Blue Mica?

I see where you are coming from, but I am skeptical that drilling a single small hole through the center of the bushing will make any difference. Especially when some of the bushings are designed as two piece.

The zerk fitting also serves as a set screw to lock the busing in place relative to the suspension arm. I see this as an advantage to assist the bushing in doing its job correctly. An OEM rubber bushing is designed to flex, where as a poly bushing is designed to piviot on the center shaft (see below). I have seen evidence that my bushings are binding up on the shaft and the entire bushing stays stationary while the suspension arm piviots around the bushing. My idea is that adding the zerk fittings will correct this.

Rubber bushing
http://www.elephantracing.com/images...shanime128.gif

Polyurethane Bushing
http://www.elephantracing.com/images...shanime128.gif



Nope. Electon Blue Metallic from a Corvette. Painted it myself in a makeshift garage paintbooth (some tarps and a box fan) about 8 years ago. Turned out pretty good, but I will never do that again. All the prep work involved sucks.


Some pics from back in the day when cameras first started appearing on cell phones :lol:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1325687874

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1325687886

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1325687898

Yeah your paint came out really well! Makes me think about trying it, but you're right, the prep work sucks. I painted just my engine bay and I hated doing all the prep for just that.

Most of the guys installing zerks also cut grooves/channels in the body of the bushing (some have this from the factory), otherwise the bushing may pivot and block off the lubrication passage

http://www.timskelton.com/lightning/...e_bushings.htm

I've seen pictures of poly bushings without zerks that still looked new (of course the grease was dirty) after 30k - it's driving in hard rain that you want to avoid if possible. For track use, the zerks are probably a good idea.

I like this thread :)

You have made a beautiful car :iagree:

:cheers2: Thanks. The car has come together nicely... I just need to improve my driving skills now :driving:



I came across some more shots a fellow photog buddy of mine took at one of the events this past summer.

This new bumper was LONG overdue...

This is me getting black flagged because the corner worker thought my hood was popped... it was just large panel gap :(

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...R_PCA013sm.jpg


That same day I also lost my driver side headlight cover at the end of the front straight from air getting under the cover... once again from a poor fitting bumper :icon_no2:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...R_PCA014sm.jpg


And a random shot of my interior from the same photographer.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...R_PCA004sm.jpg

I've lost my headlight cover a couple times too, I hate that lol. And they're hard as shit to find used.

Is that grey on the interior panels similar to the Spirit R pieces? Is it somewhat rubbery like in the Spirit R? I've been wanting to do that for a while now. It looks REALLY good.

It is just the 94 finish plastics painted gunmetal grey. I did this back in my "ricer" days back when other people were painting their plastics the color of their cars and whatnot. Im just glad I picked a color I still like, because there is no going back. At the time I was unaware the Spirit R had a grey dash.

Oh ok cool haha. I'm surprised the paint has held up so well all this time then. Now I can see the texture of the 94/95 dash. Thanks!

Always loved Electron Blue, yours looks better than mine though :D
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1325831751

I painted my silver car about 5 years ago. I'm with you... Never again! The prep work is so freaking time intensive. I've painted a few things since(like my bumper and headlight covers... also like you :D) and have been happy with how it's turned out. Towards the end when I'm wetsanding, buffing, and polishing... I'm ready to check out.

We've got a thread going on the 7club about a bunch of us trying to get together at RA or VIR this next track season. Let me know if you guys are interested or think it's feasible.

Damn John, I didn't know you did that paint job yourself, well done sir :icon_tup:

I don't understand the big deal, I personally love paint and body work, one of my favorite things to do. It pisses me off when I fuck something up and have to do it again... IE I painted my hood 7 times :banghead:

Update.

Home from Puerto Rico and work on the FD has resumed!

I got all my body panels back from paint and I have been working on prepping the bumper for install. I have installed SS screen to keep rocks and tire chunks from damaging any of my heat exchangers. I also finished my intercooler duct / splitter. It is hidden nicely behind the screen.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6...a8529072_b.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6215/7...8548b3c7_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/6...d97ea6fd_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7094/6...f48e1739_b.jpg


I have been sending batches of parts off to the powder coaters... I got tired of all the polished parts and I'm having everything coated in different forms of black. Here is the first batch: Radiator plate, dress up plate, and strut bar in wrinkle black. I have another batch that I should be picking up this week.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7248/7...e2e02995_b.jpg


Also joined the 21st century by adding some hood struts

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6115/7...9d4c344d_b.jpg

Fawking LUV it!!

I wonder if any of your temperatures (IAT or oil) will go up slightly as a result of the mesh. It doesn't seem like much but it really does impede flow. There's a reason we don't have mesh screens in front of jet engines :) That being said I'm sure the peace-of-mind of knowing you won't put a rock through an oil cooler is probably worth a couple degrees.

You are absolutely correct. The mesh I used has an open area of 62.7% so it is definitely impeding airflow. However, as with anything it’s all about the trade-off's. My radiator is starting to get pretty beat up in the bottom corners so in my opinion the mesh is necessary. Also the oil coolers are very vulnerable to severe damage from being struck by large objects.

With this ducting setup my temperatures have always been very good, so I am willing to sacrafice some for saftey.