The Police Car Perfected

I have been busy enjoying an end-of-summer road trip to New England for the past week.  Now I am spending some time on Cape Cod renewing acquaintances with relatives and old friends.

As I drive around on highways and byways I am always on the lookout for a police vehicle as traffic law enforcement continues to be an excellent source of revenue without the procedural bother of hiking taxes.

Now a new automotive manufacturer has arrived on the American scene to produce police cars exclusively.  Carbon Motors has designed a prototype that is diesel powered and fully integrated with lights and computer equipment.

This is a police car that perhaps Mad Max would envy as it produces 300 hp from a turbo diesel and 400 lb/ft of torque.  Being diesel its fuel consumption is modest and it sport clam shell doors for ease of loading prisoners in the back seats.  The rear compartment is sealed off completely from the officer’s cabin in the front so that the prisoner can pee and barf to their hearts content without making a mess of the front.  Something that is a real problem with today’s police cars. 

The rear seat is a one-piece molded affair that has indentions for handcuffed hands.  It has plugs in the floor so it can easily be hosed out and returned to service quickly.

The front cabin is decked out in the latest electronics and instead of switches to locate and reach for many are voice activated.  Gun racks are built in to the area between the seats and the seats are formed so that the officers can sit comfortably with their sidearm belted on.

On the outside all the usual flashing and blinking lights are built in to the body work.  Normally these things are supplied by aftermarket companies and bolted on and wired in to the police cars.  With their being integrated into the body work the car’s aerodynamics are much improved, too. 

The push bar is integrated into the front bumper as well.  This also translates to better aerodynamics and eliminates the need to drill mounting holes and bolting up to the frame of the vehicle.

The life of this vehicle is projected to be 250,000 miles which should make it cost effective.

The manufacturer is claiming that it has thousands of pre-orders and will start fulfilling them in 2012 from its Indiana manufacturing facility.

This is quite a departure from the traditional source of police cruisers where a standard sedan is offered with heavy duty equipment such as a larger capacity alternator and bigger brakes that is then decked out in aftermarket lights, electronics, push bars, and other items.  While not specified by Carbon Motors, the price is expected to be similar to a fully accessorized police car.

So when can the Blues Brothers get their own pre-owned Carbon Motors E7?  Never.  Carbon Motors is going to sell to law enforcement exclusively and with the stipulation that these cars can never be sold to the public.  Sorry Jake.

A New Project Miata – part two

Today we put more time into perfecting the Miata.  The bump stops for the rear shocks showed up so that was the first order of business.

Removing the shock/spring assemblies means removing all the trim pieces from the trunk as well as unbolting the gold colored steel plate that covers the fuel lines in order to gain access to the top shock bolts.  Once those were loose and removed we put the car up in the air (on the lift) and removed the wheels. 

The anti-roll bar was disconnected, so was the lower shock mounting bolt, and then the upper control arm bolt so it could all be pulled down and the assembly could be removed.

With the Swift springs it was possible to undo the top nut and take the top parts off the shock so the new bump stops could be slid on to the shock rod.  The new bump stops also had to be cut down by one hump as per the Swift instructions.

Both shock/spring assemblies were re-united with bump stops and returned to their place in the rear suspension.  The bolts were tightened and the nuts for the anti-sway bar links were also fastened down.

While the wheels were off we put them on the Hunter balance machine again.  There was a minimal vibration from the rear that I wanted to track down.  Sure enough they were not only out of balance, they were out of round.  Fortunately, the Hunter technology tells how to re-mount the tire in order to make the assembly as round as possible.  Then they were dynamically balanced. 

Then the front wheels were also removed because the stock flexible brake lines were going to be replaced with braided stainless steel lines.  This results in a firmer feel at the brake pedal as the new lines don’t expand and flex with pressure to the degree that the stock ones did.

Since a lot of brake fluid was going to leak out during the lines swap it also was a good time to flush the brake fluid and we chose Ate Super Blue fluid.

We use a vacuum method of bleeding that allows us to keep the old fluid from contaminating the new fluid as well as eliminate air bubbles that would create a spongy feel.

After the new lines were on and new fluid was flushed through (including the hydraulic clutch) we changed out the fuel filter for a new one. 

The owner and I had experienced at times when the engine would cut out and lose power, especially when the fuel tank was getting low.  Since this car was ten years old and had been sitting idle a lot we figured that the gasoline was not only old, but had been subject to condensation as temperatures varied by season.  This would be caught by the fuel filter, but it would also clog and impede fuel flow to the point pressure would cut out.

Changing out the fuel filter is a bit tricky.  We are dealing with gasoline, after all.  We had to release pressure in the system by first taking the gas cap off and then pulling the electrical connection to the pump relay.  Then cranked and ran the engine until it would not run.  That released any residual pressure, but there was still plenty of fuel in the lines.

We made sure that we had something to safely catch the dripping gasoline as we disconnected the lines to the filter.  Then we moved the white nylon plastic clips to the new filter so the lines could be snapped on.  Then we secured the filter’s clamp and covered it with the black plastic protector.

The wheels were bolted back on and the lug nuts were tightened to the proper torque before we took the car out for a test drive.  Before we got more than a few feet we discovered that one of the new rear brake lines was touching the wheel so we put it back on the rack and were able to reorient the fitting with no trouble.

The test drive was fine with no other problems discovered, so it was on to the alignment rack.

We knew that the setting would change when we installed the Swift springs on the new Koni shocks since the ride height was lowered.  We also were looking for an opportunity to add in additional caster to the front.

The rears started out with over two degrees of negative camber.  That was much more than the car needed and would keep it from having the kind of rotation you would expect out of a shorter wheelbase car.  We also wanted the total toe to be as close to 0.30 degrees as we could so we chose to set rear camber at negative 1.8 degrees.  Moving to the front we found we could get almost six degrees of positive caster.  That was really great to see.  With a little less caster I could have gotten more negative camber, but in this application the caster was more of a priority so I left the front at negative 1.2 degrees and kept the “almost” six degrees of caster.  Toe would be set at 0.30 degrees total like the rear.

Why so much emphasis on the caster number?  Caster does a lot of different things for your handling and when it is set up to complement a suspension it can be a wonderful friend.  If it is not, it can be unfriendly.

Caster will allow your steering to center itself easily after you are done with a turn.  It will also add camber to the outside tire as you execute a turn.  When you brake it can lessen nose dive and therefore weight transfer substantially.  If you cannot achieve adequate caster you will start to lose all that helpful stuff.

With the alignment complete another test drive was in order.

It was a blast.  Now the car really felt like the happy little convertible it should be.  Corners could be pushed and the rear end controlled much more with the throttle.  The steering felt even more connected with the tires.  This car had really come together.

On Monday a set of FM anti-sway (anti-roll) bars were delivered and installed.  These bars were just a bit stouter than the stock bars an offered adjustability as well.  We were now anxious to and see how much flatter it would handle. 

Now the car really woke up and handled like a pocket rocket.  It made the most of the Bridgestone Potenza RE11 tires and the suspension really followed the contours of the road.  This is one fun Miata!

A New Project Miata – part one

If you look back on some of the past entries you will find a few on work that was done on a 1996 Mazda Miata.  That car came to us with some modifications that, while performance oriented, left it with a ride that was harsh and unfulfilling.  After performing some maintenance we worked with the owner to choose a better suspension package as well as some much needed frame stiffening.  We also added a roll bar for additional safety.  The owner was very satisfied with the results.

This year the owner decided to transfer ownership of that Miata to one of his sons.  The logistics of delivery meant that he drove it about half way to Texas.  On the way he found the car so enjoyable that he let us know that he was going to find another Miata to replace it and wanted us to think about how it could be modified to duplicate the fun of the 1996 one.

In a week or two he located a 1999 Tenth Anniversary Edition that had barely seven thousand miles on it.  So we set to work evaluating the new purchase and getting a list of parts and pieces that would make it the kind of Miata he yearned for.

The car came with original tires that were aged to say the least.  While the car had been stored with great care the tires really were shot.  We set about to shod it with rubber that would give us the best possible starting point, a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE11 tires.  Since this would definitely be a “fair weather” vehicle there was no worry that these tires were “extreme performance summer” rated tires.

We installed the tires and had them “Road Force” balanced using the latest equipment from Hunter.  This ensured that the tires were not only balanced, but were a round assembly that would roll true.

After a test drive it was clear that the car needed some help beyond the tires in order to achieve a proper level of handling performance.  We dug into Flyin’ Miata’s catalog and chose items that would stiffen up the chassis as well as give us a bit more power.

They have what they call a Cannon rear subframe brace that provides stability for the rear suspension as well as a “butterfly brace” that provide fantastic rigidity to the under chassis.  We had installed this brace on the ’96 and found it to be a huge benefit.

The owner wanted to replace the factory Bilstein shocks with Koni adjustable shocks.  I must admit that I was more in favor to keeping the Bilsteins since I have always been impressed with their performance on other cars, but we discovered later that his decision was a fortuitous one. 

We wanted to get the ride height to look better than it did.  The rear appeared to be a little too high for the car when you viewed the fender gap.  So I went online and checked what was available from the folks at Swift Springs.  My experience with their product has been very favorable.  They have a spring technology that is currently the best around with a small diameter wire, they are lighter and use less coils, all of which contribute to less unsprung weight, without the coil sag we have seen in other springs.  They had a set that would work perfectly with this Miata.  The Swift fronts are rated at 202 pounds/inch and the rears at 157 pounds/inch.  They would drop the front 1.0 inches and the rear 1.2 inches.  Our experience with the Swift Sport springs was that they did not compromise the ride in any way or fashion which was particularly important for this owner.

Flyin’ Miata has a sway bar (a.k.a. roll bar) set that removes a certain amount of body roll without compromising the ride.  This was another excellent choice that would really improve the fun factor of this car.

The owner wanted a little more power out of exhaust system modifications without irritating his neighbors.  He picked out Racing Beat four-into-one headers and Racing Beat muffler.  He also chose a Randall cowl induction kit from Flyin’ Miata.

He also had some maintenance items he wanted attended to such as a fresh set of spark plugs, wires, and coil pack.  While the coil pack might seem like overkill, it had been a problem area mentioned in several forum entries so it could pre-empt some ignition troubles.  The brake and clutch fluid needed to be flushed and that meant it was a prudent time to replace the flexible brake hoses with braided stainless steel versions.  The brake pads and rotors were, of course, in fine shape.

Since seven thousand miles were on the odometer it was also a good time to change the oil and filter.  We use Mobil 1 5W-30 for this car.

In the interests of safety a Hard Dog padded roll bar was added to the list of parts.  In my opinion, this should be mandatory in any convertible.

With all this stuff on order the project was just started.  Now we had to plan out our process for making all those upgrades and changes.  I went over and over in my head just what each area would take in terms of tools and effort and what the best order might be to do all these changes in.  The weekend was approaching and parts were piling up.

Saturday morning I drove out to pick up the car, still thinking over just what would be done when.  A local shop, Performance Chassis, would provide lift time so I could get the most possible accomplished over the weekend. 

The Miata and I arrived and I brought it up on the lift so I could get a good look at things.  The shocks and springs were a good starting place and the rear was where I would begin.  That gave the exhaust system time to cool before I started on that.

First thing to be removed was the wheels in order to have complete access to the suspension parts.

To start on the rears the anti-roll bar needed to be disconnected as well as the upper control arm and lower shock bolt.  The trunk was cleared out of all the grey trim pieces and the gold colored plate covering the fuel lines was unbolted and removed as well.  That provided access to the two nuts that held the top of each shock assembly in place.  Once they were removed the car went back up in the air and the lower control arm was pried down so the shock assemblies could be removed. 

When the assemblies were taken apart on the wall-mounted spring compressor there was a shocking surprise (no pun intended).  The bump stops on the rear shocks had become just oily pink powder.  Apparently the shaft seals on the rear shocks had dried out and pumped shock oil onto the bump stops which dissolved them.  A quick call was put into the local Mazda dealership’s parts department and new bump stops were ordered.  They would be in early in the week so it meant that the new shocks and springs would go in, but would have to be pulled out again to have those essential pieces installed.

Bump stops are critical because they keep the shocks from bottoming out and breaking the internal valving or bending the shock rod.  The owner was cautioned to be especially careful with railroad crossings and pot holes until the bump stops were installed on the rear shocks.  With the new springs a single hump would be cut from each bump stop as required by Swift, but to go without any would be a bad thing long term.

Each shock and spring assembly was put together using the factory rubber spring mounts, but the metal washers between the rubber insulators were drilled out for the larger Koni shock rods.

The rear shocks and spring went in beautifully. 

Before tackling the front shocks the exhaust had cooled down enough for some preparation work to go on.  First the O2 sensor had to be loosened and removed from the old exhaust.  It was important to keep the twist in the wire so that when it was crew in to the new header it would finish up with the wire being straight so I wedged it in a convenient place that would hold the twist.  Then I removed the nuts from each of the exhaust flanges including the rear muffler.

I find that to remove exhaust prongs from the black rubber hangers it is best to pry the rubber holes with a narrow screw driver and spray in some silicon lubricant.  This allows the rubber to slide off easily releasing the exhaust component.  The rear muffler came off easily and the new Racing Beat version took its place just as easily.  A new gasket was provided and everything bolted up just like it was a factory piece, only it looked and would sound far nicer.

Now was a good time to add the Cannon rear subframe brace.  It meant removing four nuts, two of which were the lock-down nuts for the rear alignment eccentrics.  To make certain that I didn’t move things too far out of whack I marked the eccentric washers and the scale on the subframe before I removed the nuts. 

The brace slipped over the exhaust pipe easily and a cross piece was bolted on to complete the brace assembly.  Then the unit was slipped over the four bolts and the nuts were torqued back in place.  That would really stiffen things up in the rear.

I lowered the car again so I could undo the nuts holding the top of the shock mounts and the strut tower brace that came with the car. 

With those out of the way I unbolted and removed the air filter housing from the fender so I would have access to the exhaust manifold.  Since this Miata had so few miles accumulated it was easy to unbolt the heat shields and loosen the EGR connection.  Then it was just about as easy to loosen and remove all the nuts holding the exhaust manifold in place.  There is certainly plenty of room to work on that engine.

The EGR fitting was completely loosened and gently pried out of the way while the manifold was pulled off the head.  The lower pipe just prior to the catalytic converter was also removed by undoing two bolts that held the transmission to the engine.  These two bolts also held a bracket connected to the exhaust.  The bracket would be discarded but the bolts would be re-installed to hold the transmission to the block.

It was very easy to slip the new Racing Beat header into place.  There was plenty of room and it fit like a glove.  The EGR fitting also slipped on and was easy to tighten.  This was important because it is usually a place where it would be easy to cross-thread the fitting. 

The original exhaust gasket was re-used.  This it typical as it is a robust piece anyway.  Then the nuts were fit on each of the head studs lightly before the car went up in the air again so the exhaust flange could be bolted together at the cat. 

It was a little tricky to get the new gasket in place and lined up properly before tightening down the flange nuts.  I found that a flashlight, screw driver and patience was needed to ensure a proper seal.  With that accomplished I reinstalled the O2 sensor making certain that the wires were straight when it was tight.

Then back down went the car so the header nuts could be tightened to the specified torque.

We connected up the air filter box so we could test start the engine and make sure there were no exhaust leaks.  None were found and everything sounded as good as it looked.

It was time to get back to the front shocks.  The lower control arms would have to be unbolted at the alignment bolts so, like the rear, the eccentrics were marked to the subframe and then they were unbolted.  These are two bolts used to adjust the front camber and the caster.

This time it was a matter of pulling down on the upper control arm so the shock assembly could be removed.

The spring compressor allowed the disassembly of the unit and this time the bump stops were intact.  The gold metal washers had to be drilled out large enough to fit the Koni’s larger shock rods, but everything went together well and it was barely challenging to get it put back into place.

The lower control arms were bolted up and the eccentric marks allowed us to get the settings very close to their original places.

In order to get the top shock nuts back on the car would be lowered once again, but since the strut bar was out of the way it was a good time to change out the ignition parts.  New wires were inserted in the new coil pack and then the old plug wires were removed from the spark plug wells.  The old spark plugs were wrenched out and proved to be in good shape, but with gaps that had been closed up quite a bit.  New plugs went in and the old coil pack was replaced with the new unit and wires.  Then the strut tower brace was put into place and the shock mount nuts were tightened down to specs.

Up to that point it had been a ten hour day and we took a break so that we would not be making any foolish mistakes.  There would be plenty of time available on Sunday.

The next day it was time to get the Hard Dog roll bar in place.  Since the butterfly brace would be installed as well, it was a good time to unbolt and remove the seats as well as clear away the items required for removal prior to the Hard Dog install.

There are excellent instructions available on their web site so I won’t go in to all the details here.  The biggest challenge is to take your time trimming the plastic trim pieces to fit around the bar.  It is a great safety item and the fit and quality cannot be beat.  It is made in North Carolina so the shipping time was a day.

After the bar was the challenge of the butterfly brace.  This is made up of five pieces of specially fabricated stainless steel.  Their installation requires the carpet be pulled up because there are many holes to be drilled and bolts to be fastened through the floor.

It is mandatory to have some help with this one.  So I enlisted the aid of Rodney, perfectionist extraordinaire, to handle the duties on the ladder while I drilled and bolted from below.

First to be installed are the frame rail reinforcement pieces.  This brought some frame damage to our attention.  The reinforcement pieces would not fit over the rail because the rails had suffered damage from the misuse of floor jacks.  The factory rails had to be hammered back into shape before the new pieces could fit over them.  Measurements were taken to make certain that things were still square and then the rails were set in place and the first holes were drilled.  After the first set of bolts were nutted up the second brace pieces were bolted to the new rails.  They were kept loose so that the center section could be bolted in between.

This requires a lot of tedious and careful work so I was fortunate to have Rodney’s help, but the results are always incredible.  This bracing provides much needed rigidity, especially with the damage that the factory rails had suffered.

While there was still energy left I changed the oil and filter and then got the car off the rack.  I was anxious to see and feel the improvements as well as get it back to the owner so he could experience the transformation.

The car will be back for the installation of the rear bump stops as well as the FM anti-sway bar kit, braided stainless steel brake lines, cowl induction, and fresh brake fluid.  We also want to try for an alignment where we can put in more caster. 

So enjoy this phase of the transformation and look forward to next weekend’s completion.

Here are some photos to hold you.

Ken Block – Gymkhana Training

Ken has made a well deserved name for himself in American rally competition.  He entered a gymkhana event in southern California and decided to convert a car he had to run in more events.  By the time the car was prepped the gymkhanas were cancelled.  So what to do?  He made this Gymkhana Practice video that Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear thinks is one of the coolest motorsports videos he has seen.  Now you can see it too.

Corvette Z06 – You’re Busted.

The rumors had been accumulating.  Someone thought they saw a black Corvette on the beltline that had blue flashing lights and a car stopped.  Maybe it was true.

We have seen the local and state police use many types of vehicles in and around this part of North Carolina.  Usually it took the form of an unmarked Dodge Charger with heavily tinted windows and an officer with a LIDAR gun.   The state troopers have had special Mustangs and Z28 Camaros but this one goes above and beyond.

It is true, the Sheriffs Department got a hold of a seized 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and is using it for nabbing speeders and drug dealers.

Word is that they will be taking the deputies that will use the car to Virginia International Speedway to train them how to drive the Z06 at speed.  Many are waiting for the inevitable – when a deputy says, “hey y’all look at this!”

Raleigh’s Informal Car Show

Every first weekend of the month a local bunch of Italian car owners have a breakfast at a shopping center in Raleigh, NC.  They bring their Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Alpha Romero’s, etc. and allow people to gawk at cars that you wouldn’t usually find anywhere near a shopping center.

Over time other car owners have also used the occasion to show up with their cars, be they German, Japanese, or American muscle cars. 

This Saturday started off dreary and hinting at rain, but the cars came out anyway.  I stopped by and took some photos of the various cars and hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did.