random stuff

[camry3sfe]

hey everyone, I'm just thinkin after I went to a BRR event on the 19th --instead of the one in wv this past time-- I saw something there that was pretty cool. At their events they have a radio broadcaster for the announcer's mic. So you can listen to what's going on from in your car on the radio. Thought it might have been something nice to have especially like if we had that at the MOV solo back in october, since no one really wanted to stand out in the cold all that much.

anyhow I got my older brother to run in the BRR autox too. He liked it, and I'm trying to convince him he should get his '88 t-bird turbo coupe tuned up and try running in that, but I think he's gonna get a new car before he gets it fixed up tho.

another thing, when I was going through some weaves at the autox, it seems my power steering sometimes goes out, like if my tail spins about a bit, or if I'm just doing a lot of steering input to the car, is this normal in an old car? on my last run of the day I think the power steering going out in a slalom cost me at least 2 seconds.... cause i couldn't force the wheel to turn quick enough.

anyhow, on a side note, last night I got pulled over by a cop in VA late at night as i was driving down to visit my grandparents, and he was whining about my exhaust or something... kinda pissed me off since I had to drive all the way from tyler county wv to north carolina... 10 hour trip. But anyhow, is my exhaust really all *thaT* loud? I've heard much louder exhausts on other cars out on the street. I think the cop pulled me over cause he had nothing better to do at 1AM in the morning in a small town that only has a donut shop for food.

[ShortysTRM]

That's the staple food for Police, right?

Anyways, I have never noticed your car being very loud at all, so I think you're right. He was just mad because he had to work on Thanksgiving.

As for the FM Transmitter, we've discussed this before. One of our former pro-active members had suggested it before the event in during which he got mad at some members of the club and never came back. For whatever reason, the powers that be decided that it was a silly idea, and it was therefore scrapped. It's unfortunate, because at any given time, maybe 20% of the people at an event can hear the announcer clearly. Since the display wasn't working at the last event, and the finish was quite a ways from the PA system, I never knew what times I ran. I asked the timing folks a couple times, but I know that's annoying when they're trying to work, so I tried to refrain. It would help with worker calls, keeping grid full, keeping grid from overfilling, stopping cars on course in emergency situations, and probably in many other areas. I think that said former member found one on E-bay for ~$69 that would broadcast over a small area, but I don't know if it was enough coverage for what we need it for.

[Jason V]

as for the power steering thing.. yes it can happen esp on older cars... to minimize the frequency of this annoying occurance make sure your power steering system is in good working order and filled with FRESH qualiy PS fluid. old fluid will make the issue much worse.....

[bhazard]

anyhow I got my older brother to run in the BRR autox too. He liked it, and I'm trying to convince him he should get his '88 t-bird turbo coupe tuned up and try running in that, but I think he's gonna get a new car before he gets it fixed up tho.


oh?

details on the car plz?

[camry3sfe]

the car is in pretty good condition for the most part i think. it's been my bro's daily transportation since 1999. he got it from one of my uncles. the car has always been taken pretty good car of. although it's had some strange problems... he recently had to get the clutch replaced since it was slipping but there are other problems...

i dont know if its something wrong with the turbo in it or something else, but the car wont boost more than 5 psi, and only very briefly. if you mash the gas down hard to accelerate quickly, the car sometimes shudders, or vibrates or something, i'm not sure really what's up with it....

other than that its really sound mechanically... everything's stock still. the interior panels are starting to get cracked a little from being baked in the sun. i really have always liked his car, but he doesn't really love cars as much as I do, and so hasn't taken the time to take care of it as much as I do mine.

[bhazard]

Well the stock fuel pump is known to have been barely adequate when new, so by now it could be on its way out, which could be causing the problem

http://www.turbotbird.com/ is a very nice place for information on the cars. The guys on the forum are quite helpful.

[camry3sfe]

as for the power steering thing.. yes it can happen esp on older cars... to minimize the frequency of this annoying occurance make sure your power steering system is in good working order and filled with FRESH qualiy PS fluid. old fluid will make the issue much worse.....

I also talk a bit on a toyota forum as well, and one of the guys there mentioned that its the type of steering rack that a camry has... as of course the camry is not a performance machine...

I am unfamiliar with exactly what they mean by 'steering rack' though at this point. is this some part of the steering system that I could perhaps upgrade by taking a part from a performance oriented model car and modifying it to fit the camry?


thanks for the link about the t-bird. What you say about the fuel pump makes sense. I dunno if I can convince him to look into it anytime soon though. :lol:

[gtfour77]

Andrew, my celica used to "lock" up on me like that when I didn't have the reservoir filled to the MAX mark.....make sure you have enough fluid as it sloshes around during autocrossing...then it catches an air bubble and you have no power steering for a few seconds until the pump gets "full dose" of PS fluid again... It's the design of the reservoir...it's just not deep enough... I might actually redesign mine next year to prevent that...
Hope this helps...