wstar's Journal

miguez · 07-08-2009, 08:40 PM

Good luck wstar, sounds like a lot of work!

wstar · 07-09-2009, 12:43 AM

Ugh, it is. They clearly never meant for these brake lines to replaced without first draining and removing the refrigerant lines for the A/C that run above them behind the engine. Keep in mind this is like 6 feet of hard brake line in a very weird twisted shape. I managed to get it in there anyways, but it took a lot of very careful finagling and very slight bending of the tube to get it into place. The other easier stuff that I did take off to get access was the windshield wipers, the strut tower brace, all of the upper plastic crap (battery/brake/lower windshield area), and the right upper intake tube.

Anyways, it appears I've fixed my leak, and so therefore the cause most likely was that I over-torqued that one flare connection. At the very least, I can't induce the new connections to leak cramming my foot down on the pedal as hard as I can repeatedly with the car off. Obviously I need to recheck w/ the ABS and power assist up and running later. I bled this one wheel a bunch to try to remove the bulk of the added air from replacing the hard line. Tomorrow I'll reassemble all the little stuff I had to remove today to put the line in, and do a proper 4-wheel bleed in the right order (I have enough speed bleeders for the whole car now), and then hopefully all this brake stuff will be behind me

wstar · 07-10-2009, 11:01 AM

Brakes: Yes, the leak appears to be gone. I've done about a hundred miles of driving or so now on the new brake setup, starting to trust them again now. With all of the brake line work that happened (especially replacing that right front hard line), one bleed/flush wasn't enough though. It's going to be one of those things where you bleed as good as you can, drive it and use the brakes a bunch to knock the air bubbles around, bleed again a day or two later, etc. Right now I can tell there's still air in the system but it's getting better, the pedal feel is basically back close to stock now. Will order more Motul and bleed again next week.

Oil cooler: The oil cooling from the Stillen cooler kit + the AAM spacer is really pretty phenomenal. Oil temps now change very slowly. Cruising on the highway in 7th gear (regardless of wheel speed, because the revs from more speed are offset by the increased airflow) brings the oil to about 190-195 and stays there, even if you started out higher from aggressive small street stuff.

I still haven't managed to break 220 yet at all, and I've done some reasonably aggressive sprinting and cornering stuff now. I bet I could get it to perhaps 235 if I tried pretty hard, but I don't generally sustain aggressive driving on the street long enough to go any higher I don't think. Maybe at a track in the future we'll see how it does under really sustained hard driving.

My only complaint now is the warm-up time. My routine now for my first drive of the day is basically to start the car, get back out and have a cigarette, maybe clean up some things around the garage, etc. It takes about 12 minutes sitting there if I wait until the oil temp gauge bumps up to 150. I usually don't wait quite that long. But either way I wait until 160 to start getting on it a little, and 180 before any WOT and/or high rpm driving. On a short trip it may not even get there. I'll be swapping out the sandwich plate for a thermostatic one at my next oil change to help remedy this.

semtex · 07-10-2009, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Brakes: Yes, the leak appears to be gone. I've done about a hundred miles of driving or so now on the new brake setup, starting to trust them again now. With all of the brake line work that happened (especially replacing that right front hard line), one bleed/flush wasn't enough though. It's going to be one of those things where you bleed as good as you can, drive it and use the brakes a bunch to knock the air bubbles around, bleed again a day or two later, etc. Right now I can tell there's still air in the system but it's getting better, the pedal feel is basically back close to stock now. Will order more Motul and bleed again next week.

Oil cooler: The oil cooling from the Stillen cooler kit + the AAM spacer is really pretty phenomenal. Oil temps now change very slowly. Cruising on the highway in 7th gear (regardless of wheel speed, because the revs from more speed are offset by the increased airflow) brings the oil to about 190-195 and stays there, even if you started out higher from aggressive small street stuff.

I still haven't managed to break 220 yet at all, and I've done some reasonably aggressive sprinting and cornering stuff now. I bet I could get it to perhaps 235 if I tried pretty hard, but I don't generally sustain aggressive driving on the street long enough to go any higher I don't think. Maybe at a track in the future we'll see how it does under really sustained hard driving.

My only complaint now is the warm-up time. My routine now for my first drive of the day is basically to start the car, get back out and have a cigarette, maybe clean up some things around the garage, etc. It takes about 12 minutes sitting there if I wait until the oil temp gauge bumps up to 150. I usually don't wait quite that long. But either way I wait until 160 to start getting on it a little, and 180 before any WOT and/or high rpm driving. On a short trip it may not even get there. I'll be swapping out the sandwich plate for a thermostatic one at my next oil change to help remedy this.

Where are you getting the thermostatic sandwich plate from? I haven't installed my oil cooler yet, but I'm also concerned about warm-up time. I figure I may as well install it with the thermo plate from the get-go. Got a link or anything?

wstar · 07-10-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by semtex

Where are you getting the thermostatic sandwich plate from? I haven't installed my oil cooler yet, but I'm also concerned about warm-up time. I figure I may as well install it with the thermo plate from the get-go. Got a link or anything?

Well Stillen may be offering one with their supposedly upcoming upgraded oil cooler stuff, in which case I may order whatever they're using from them. If you search for "sandwich" here: BAT - MOCAL Oil Control Systems there's a link to a PDF with Mocal's thermo plates too, but I'd need to figure out the AN connector thing for that (either move over the 45's from the exist Stillen one assuming the same threads on the other side, or get some new 45's). I'm kinda waiting to see what Stillen does mostly.

semtex · 07-10-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Well Stillen may be offering one with their supposedly upcoming upgraded oil cooler stuff, in which case I may order whatever they're using from them. If you search for "sandwich" here: BAT - MOCAL Oil Control Systems there's a link to a PDF with Mocal's thermo plates too, but I'd need to figure out the AN connector thing for that (either move over the 45's from the exist Stillen one assuming the same threads on the other side, or get some new 45's). I'm kinda waiting to see what Stillen does mostly.

Yeah, I'm waiting for Stillen too. Luckily I don't drive very far, so it's still a month or two before my next oil change (which is when I'll put the cooler on). I was giving Josh a hard time, telling him that it took less time for them to develop a CBE than it's taking them to finalize their upgraded oil cooler. lol

07-09-2009, 12:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3596	Ugh, it is. They clearly never meant for these brake lines to replaced without first draining and removing the refrigerant lines for the A/C that run above them behind the engine. Keep in mind this is like 6 feet of hard brake line in a very weird twisted shape. I managed to get it in there anyways, but it took a lot of very careful finagling and very slight bending of the tube to get it into place. The other easier stuff that I did take off to get access was the windshield wipers, the strut tower brace, all of the upper plastic crap (battery/brake/lower windshield area), and the right upper intake tube. Anyways, it appears I've fixed my leak, and so therefore the cause most likely was that I over-torqued that one flare connection. At the very least, I can't induce the new connections to leak cramming my foot down on the pedal as hard as I can repeatedly with the car off. Obviously I need to recheck w/ the ABS and power assist up and running later. I bled this one wheel a bunch to try to remove the bulk of the added air from replacing the hard line. Tomorrow I'll reassemble all the little stuff I had to remove today to put the line in, and do a proper 4-wheel bleed in the right order (I have enough speed bleeders for the whole car now), and then hopefully all this brake stuff will be behind me __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-10-2009, 11:01 AM	#3 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3596	Brakes: Yes, the leak appears to be gone. I've done about a hundred miles of driving or so now on the new brake setup, starting to trust them again now. With all of the brake line work that happened (especially replacing that right front hard line), one bleed/flush wasn't enough though. It's going to be one of those things where you bleed as good as you can, drive it and use the brakes a bunch to knock the air bubbles around, bleed again a day or two later, etc. Right now I can tell there's still air in the system but it's getting better, the pedal feel is basically back close to stock now. Will order more Motul and bleed again next week. Oil cooler: The oil cooling from the Stillen cooler kit + the AAM spacer is really pretty phenomenal. Oil temps now change very slowly. Cruising on the highway in 7th gear (regardless of wheel speed, because the revs from more speed are offset by the increased airflow) brings the oil to about 190-195 and stays there, even if you started out higher from aggressive small street stuff. I still haven't managed to break 220 yet at all, and I've done some reasonably aggressive sprinting and cornering stuff now. I bet I could get it to perhaps 235 if I tried pretty hard, but I don't generally sustain aggressive driving on the street long enough to go any higher I don't think. Maybe at a track in the future we'll see how it does under really sustained hard driving. My only complaint now is the warm-up time. My routine now for my first drive of the day is basically to start the car, get back out and have a cigarette, maybe clean up some things around the garage, etc. It takes about 12 minutes sitting there if I wait until the oil temp gauge bumps up to 150. I usually don't wait quite that long. But either way I wait until 160 to start getting on it a little, and 180 before any WOT and/or high rpm driving. On a short trip it may not even get there. I'll be swapping out the sandwich plate for a thermostatic one at my next oil change to help remedy this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

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07-08-2009, 08:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
miguez Enthusiast Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 359 Drives: '04 Cavalier Rep Power: 183	Good luck wstar, sounds like a lot of work!