93formulalt1's Projects Thread

[93formulalt1]

You know some of us might not have noticed your different changes on Woodward because it was the first time we have ever seen your car in person... But I noticed the large tac and gauge on the dash/steering wheel has that always been there? But it was also cold and we were more concerned with staying warm then the cars at that point as well

The tach on the dash and the gauges in the A/C vents have been there for a couple of years. Got them as a birthday gift from Dad. Don't worry, my car will "grow into" them. lol The tach is a little too big, and I don't have any use for the shiftlight, but it's always a conversation starter when people start asking me "what's that? What is that guage for?" lol

[92conv]

Nick, the wheels look great!! And as for the hi-rise -vs- low rise spoiler debate, I think you summed it up best with your statement below. I personally wouldn't change it, but I would add a Ram Air hood.

Couldn't have said it better myself. The back end looks pretty sweet as it is, with the tinted tails. At one point, I really wanted to do the whole Hi-Rise spoiler, T/A bumpers and side skirts thing, but I thought about it a little more, and how overplayed is that? T/A owners have all that, and the people who mod their cars with the T/A parts have that, but only a Formula is a Formula. I've never seen anyone with a T/A swap out the bumpers for the Formula ones. Plus, it's more of a sleeper like this.

[93formulalt1]

Nick, the wheels look great!! And as for the hi-rise -vs- low rise spoiler debate, I think you summed it up best with your statement below. I personally wouldn't change it, but I would add a Ram Air hood.

I like the low-rise spoiler, I didn't before, but it's grown on me. Especially considering Ben ditched his for the Hi-Rise. I have a couple of other things I'd like to do to the car before I call it quits with the mods, I'm looking at different seat options (replace the Camaro leather fronts with something else), and I have been looking for something a little less common than the ram-air hood. I've been looking at a couple of nice steel cowl induction hoods, but I'm waiting for a good deal on one to come along before I decide to buy.

[92conv]

Cool keep us posted, I like what you've done to it so far...... and of course you know we're whores for pics!!!

[93formulalt1]

Cool keep us posted, I like what you've done to it so far...... and of course you know we're whores for pics!!!

I know you are. . . So here you go, I'll feed you, baby birds. . .

[nascarnate326]

I like those rims.

[SoulTerror]

Your Formula is looking great Nick!

[ITSSLOW]

That looks great! If you would of showed me those rims off the car I would of told you not to buy them but I've got my foot in my mouth right now.

[93formulalt1]

That looks great! If you would of showed me those rims off the car I would of told you not to buy them but I've got my foot in my mouth right now.

Why would you have told me not to buy them? And I did post a picture off the website earlier in this thread, IIRC. . .

[s.reef]

car looks great nick

[93formulalt1]

car looks great nick

Thanks. We'll be snapping a few more pics this weekend, probably get a little photoshoot going. Ben and I, and maybe Chris would be up for driving a little ways to get in on the fun.

I have plenty more, but these four pictures were the ones that came out the best. I'll take my remote shutter release next time. These were taken with my 6.1mp Pentax K110d, FWIW.

[93formulalt1]

Alright. I'm trying to get my datalogging setup working, I'd like to learn how to tune my own vehicle. . . I've already got a tuning laptop (Panasonic Toughbook CF-28), and an ALDL cable (USB OBDI). I bought a car mount port replicator for the Toughbook, so I could do some datalogging here and there. I fabbed up a mount that utilizes the front bolts on the passenger seat, it's working quite well. I'm running into a problem with the software I'm using though, it reads the vehicle's datastream extremely well, but for some reason, it will not create a file to save datalog information to. . . I think I just need to get a different program and try it out, keep messing around with it some more, but hopefully, I'll be able to get some data to look at and *hopefully* build up my knowledge of computer-controlled engines a bit. I've always been intimidated when it comes to working on engines, but even more so with the newer technologies that our cars have in them. When I was growing up, learning to work on my parent's cars, all kinds of adjustments could be made to the engine with a little know-how and a set of wrenches and screwdrivers. Now, everything is computer controlled, and I'm completely in the dark as to how to make simple changes. I don't want to be stuck in the stone-age working only on cars I'm comfortable with, so I'm going to give this a shot, and hopefully I can learn a few things along the way.

I'm still putting off the header install, I'm terrified that I'm going to break a bolt taking the manifolds off, so I've been trying to avoid it since I've been back. I'm also going to be doing most (if not all) of the work solo, and I'm just not that confident that I'll be able to pull it off without FUBAR'ing something up. Anybody willing to come out and help me work on this next week?

[meissen]

I wouldn't be able to help in person but I'm familiar with some of the data logging programs. Which program are you using? I personally like FreeScan for it's ease of use but if you can find an old TTS DataMaster build you can use unlimited recording sessions with Windows 7 as long as you don't run it in Administrator mode after the 1st recording session. I also had another program that I was using for awhile but I can't remember what it's called... it just gave a basic display of the stats and no recording capability... used it on the carPC.

I wonder how effective it'd be to tune on a 93 engine though? Would be cool if you could convert to 94 PCM or something.

[93formulalt1]

I wouldn't be able to help in person but I'm familiar with some of the data logging programs. Which program are you using? I personally like FreeScan for it's ease of use but if you can find an old TTS DataMaster build you can use unlimited recording sessions with Windows 7 as long as you don't run it in Administrator mode after the 1st recording session. I also had another program that I was using for awhile but I can't remember what it's called... it just gave a basic display of the stats and no recording capability... used it on the carPC.

Right now I'm using TunerCat, as per the ALDL cable manufacturer's suggestion. I do have FreeScan on the ToughBook, and I can pick up wi-fi with it from the driveway, so I could easily download more programs without having to leave the car. I'll give FreeScan a try, I didn't mess with it because TunerCat was showing the datastream, and I thought it would have the features I needed, but apparently it doesn't.

I'll post up some info on how FreeScan works for me when I get my car back, I'm stuck with an '08 Dodge Ram Big Horn 1500 until tomorrow. Detailing it for a friend, his lease is about to be up, and he needs some scuffs and scratches buffed out before inspection time. Nice truck, but I don't think I'd want to drive it everyday.

Just thought I'd mention, I was looking more for help with the header install than with the datalogging software. I'm afraid I'm going to break a bolt, and I don't have the guts to start on a project that is that intimidating, especially considering I lack the funds to have a broken manifold bolt drilled out and re-tapped. I would be stuck driving dad's old truck until I could afford to get the car fixed, and I'm not too interested in putting myself in that situation. . . I may consider paying to have it done somewhere after I sell these T/A wheels, but that's a lot of money I could be using for my job search. . .

[meissen]

TunerCats doesn't data log that's why, Nick. You want DataMaster or FreeScan. DataMaster is the better one to use than FreeScan so if you are willing to devote the time to finding a working, older DataMaster install then it's well worth it. I might even have one that I could upload but I'd have to search my laptop for the install file. TunerCat is strictly for programming the PCM and I'm curious if you can even program using TunerCats on a 1993?