Wilwood Brakes and Penske Shocks

Technical and Repair Discussions
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Needs a Life!!!
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 12:35 pm
I'll put in my 2 cents. First, good luck on your winter efforts to return your Gen2 to the track. Reading what you have and what has been returned via this string, this is what I would do:

1. Keep the Koni's. Nothing wrong with them as the Penske's are a large investment at this juncture. You are allowed to run them. You can always budget for them later.
2. Replace or have the fuel cell rebuilt. I have read on here that there are vendors that do that. But if you plan on racing for the forseeable future, replace it.
3. In-tank fuel pump is nice but not mandatory to race the car. At least, I would send your outside fuel pump to Kinsler in MI. They will check it out and rebuild it if it needs it. But, if you are replacing your fuel cell and plan on eventually coming over the dark side with the rest of us, I'd buy and install the in-tank pump. It is much better for flow and pressure.
4. Mandatory to go to the Hawk brake pads and new rotors. It's an investment but a good one anyway. You will like them. New style calipers - not mandatory and not necessary. Find a Renault owner and they will still want your old good rotors and pads. Rebuild your calipers. Hopefully you have the newer style SS pistons with slotted ends.
5. Rebuild all your master cylinders. If you have Girling, they are rebuildable. Wilwoods of your era, no.
They make now a rebuildable Wilwood brake master cylinder if you have Wilwoods.
6. Injectors that have sat for that that long - send to Marren for checkout and possible rebuild.
7. Obviously checkout all suspension parts such as rod ends, tie rods, and ball joints. You do not need to buy the new tubular upper A-arms. Many of us still have the old style and they will be fine. Just check them out for excessive wear.
8. Wheel bearings - replace or at least tear them down and regrease for assurance you are ok.
9. With the loads on our rear suspension and you can budget for them, I would at least replace the rear hubs with the new style hubs as long as you are checking out your bearings. Not cheap, but a bearing failure is not cheap either if you are at a critical part of a track. If you can afford it, do the fronts too, but at least the rears first.
10. While you are in that neighborhood and your car does not have them, replace all wheel studs with the newer longer ones. Most of us would preach this to anyone in our class! NAPA has them.
11. Check and replace all cracked fuel and oil lines. Also, our large fuel fill hose is prone to cracking and general deterioration and worth replacing.

I am sure I have not covered every little detail but I trust the above will help. Good luck again!
Mark Fick
I'm pretty confident my last words will be 'well shit that didn't work'
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:13 pm
markfick wrote:10. While you are in that neighborhood and your car does not have them, replace all wheel studs with the newer longer ones. Most of us would preach this to anyone in our class! NAPA has them.


A perfect match to the longer studs are the "Gorilla" lug nuts. Its another "not cheap" but good move. They are deep and open end so a quick visual check is easy-peasy.

Cheers - Jim
When I used to fly, I was called an AVIATOR.
Now, I race cars. So, am I called a PAVIATOR?
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 7:27 pm
Good point on the lug nuts Jim! Thanks for the adder.
Mark Fick
I'm pretty confident my last words will be 'well shit that didn't work'

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:35 am
To add to Mark's list,

Buy MAF sensor cleaner. Then spray. Replace the air filter.
I would also add Dielectric to senor connections.
I would recommending to flush your radiator as well all lines plus the motor.
I think it was mentioned, however, clean all grounds.

Finally, How as the motor stored? Did you turn the motor over periodically ? I would talk with a motor guy for directions. Such as, remove spark plugs before cycling the motor oil. Then observe oil pressure

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:17 am
What are gorilla lug nuts?
How about some part numbers for studs and the gorilla nuts?
Thanks
Bob K

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461
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:20 pm
Thanks to all of you who took the time to reply! Where do I begin?
1. Koni Shocks: I had/have never given a thought to the Penske shocks-they're too expensive for me. The way I read the most current (October, 2019) GCR Enterprises eliminated mention of the Konis in the May, 2019 edition--reminds me of Orwell's "1984", but I digress. I don't see anything that specifically outlaws them.

2. Vented Rotors: If I were 20 years younger (yes, you will ALL come to say that one of these days) I would put forth the position that the non-vented rotors are still legal due to the way the rule is written. However, since new GCR editions come out every month I think that they would just tweak the rule to make it clear that the non-vented are now outlawed. So there's that...

3. Fuel cell: I absolutely agree and will pull it out and either have someone inspect it or just replace it. It looks like there may be a couple of different versions-with different plates, but I could be wrong.

4. Brake pads, master cylinders, calipers, and steering knuckles: I had already been using the Hawk pads and actually found two sets in boxes in my trailer over the weekend.

I have three Girling brand master cylinders on the car now. They are the ones that came with the car when i bought it in 1986. I found two brand new Wilwood 3/4 inch master cylinders in boxes too. I guess I had already planned to replace them. I'm not sure what's frozen but the clutch and rear brake master cylinders don't move. I imagine that the problems are actually in the cast iron parts--I put a slave cylinder ($15) on my Amazon Christmas wish list-maybe my daughter will see it... lol

Calipers: I found at least two new ones plus several others in boxes that I haven't opened. Although IIRC their life was pretty short I was using phenolic pistons when I last raced and have at least six new ones in plastic bags in the trailer. They are still available commercially BTW.

Steering Knuckles: I have two "new" ones that I'm sure I got from Mike Niederriter in 2003 or 2004. They have wheel bearings in them although I didn't notice whether they were roller or ball bearing. This is the first I'm hearing about a new style knuckle for the car. Do the new ones exist to solve a GEN3 problem or do they exist to solve a supply problem?

Excellent points on the motor things and especially cleaning all the grounds.

Motor: I turned the motor over every five years whether it needed it or not...just kidding I didn't turn the motor over at all. I plan to pull the plugs, one of which requires moving or removing the alternator IIRC, adding oil and then cranking with the plugs out until i get oil pressure and see what happens. I have the ability to do a leakdown on it so I'll do that too.

Lug nuts question: Are they recommended to solve a particular problem with maybe a particular wheel type? I have Shelby wheels for both dry and rain (all mounted with Yoks I'm afraid--I'd like to sell those bad boys). Part of my pre-session checklist involves torquing the lug nuts on all wheels.

Side note: My tail has not been cut out to completely expose the rear wheels. I must admit that I feel some trepidation toward cutting out the semi-circles. I'd have been a surgeon if my hands weren't so shaky.

And finally, I saw in the GCR that bronze caliper bushings are legal. I was still running the rubber ones in 2004. I have the means to machine my own but haven't checked to see whether my local CSR whose name escapes me, and whose shop is conveniently at MSR Houston race track, a 25 minute drive from my house carries them.

So I have a fair amount of fun work ahead of me. I used to really enjoy working on the car and am looking forward to doing it again. We'll see how much my knees enjoy it...
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