Tech Spam thread - because 1/4" BSP gets 5 hand spans to the jiggawatt

[fletch]

4 hours ago, cletus said:

Hey @fletch  

Why is smoke coming out of my hoist motor/ sometimes there's no smoke but a burning smell 

still works fine 

Brushes chooched? 

hoist guy said to check capacitors in the box on the side for burn marks ect but nothing looks bad in there

 

 

Hard to say. Not a brushed motor. Usually the caps go and let some burnt pooze out the ends. 

Is the smell in the terminal box? You should be able to turn the power off and get ya nose right in there for a sniff.

New caps are not badly priced. Should be numbers on the side of them. Me or @chris r should be able to get you trade price or better

[cletus]

Hoist bloke came and had a look, reckons one of the caps looks a bit funky shaped so he's ordered a new one 

 

[SOHC]

11 hours ago, cletus said:

Hoist bloke came and had a look, reckons one of the caps looks a bit funky shaped so he's ordered a new one 

 

Someone I know bought a 2 post off trademe and then when he rang the place to get it serviced they sed they had told that shop that sold it to scrap it, he got a refund 

[kws]

Has anyone had weird results from Flexigauge (knock off Plastigauge)? I'm trying to build the Altos engine. The crank is untouched other than cleaned, as are the main bearing journals. New STD Taiho bearings (not genuine but OEM). Using flexigauge I'm getting around 0.064-0.076mm on all main journals. Spec is 0.020-0.040 with the limit at 0.064mm.

The weird thing is the bearings measure the same thickness as the ones that came out of the engine, and all the crank journals measure well within spec (43.99mm - spec is 43.982-44.00mm). I'm going to try using my T gauges to measure the journal bore tomorrow, but I don't see how it could be out enough that the flexigauge is showing the clearance as that far out of spec.

Compared to a guy building his engine on Youtube, my crank measures better than his (he gets 43.986-43.989mm on a digital micrometer), but he was getting 0.035 on his plastigauge. 

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if the clearances are actually that cooked.

[440bbm]

ah well ya see the problem there is that the measuring equipment you're using there, will always be insize!

 

remove the crank and bearings, put the caps on and torque down and measure the bore to ensure these are correct, and round,  and not needing a line bore first. check the bearings are the correct thickness for the block is supposed to require also. 

bearings in my experience u gotta pay special attention to everything as a slight difference thats supposed to be OEM can through everything out. 

 

or buy proper plastigage to verify the stuff you using is decent.  also, are you putting it right across the journal to check its not barrelled etc?

[kws]

58 minutes ago, 440bbm said:

ah well ya see the problem there is that the measuring equipment you're using there, will always be insize!

 

remove the crank and bearings, put the caps on and torque down and measure the bore to ensure these are correct, and round,  and not needing a line bore first. check the bearings are the correct thickness for the block is supposed to require also. 

bearings in my experience u gotta pay special attention to everything as a slight difference thats supposed to be OEM can through everything out. 

 

or buy proper plastigage to verify the stuff you using is decent.  also, are you putting it right across the journal to check its not barrelled etc?

It seems "plastigauge" branded stuff isn't obviously available in NZ in my quick search. There are a couple of different brands, but all the same thing as I'm using.

The engine was a good runner when I tore it down, and the bearings that were removed had minor wear but nothing of concern. I'm only rebuilding it because I bored it oversize.

There doesn't appear to be a spec for "bearing thickness" but these are meant to be good quality OEM bearings, in the standard size. Flexigauge is across the journal, seems to be even with no real taper.

[ajg193]

The stuff is probably accurate. I'm betting something isn't round and that's why your readings are off.

 

Sometimes just cleaning the crank is enough to make your oil pressure drop below allowances after a rebuild

[NickJ]

You can also measure the plastigage prior to fitting and then run the maths of cross sectional area converted to width when flattened to give yourself confidence.

[kws]

I'll be dropping the bottom end off to the engine builder on Wednesday to go over. Hopefully I'm doing something wrong, but they'll measure it all and find out what's happening.

It bugs the shit out of me because I can't see any logical reason why it's doing this, considering before I pulled it down it was a good running engine and everything other than the flexigauge is measuring fine.

[Bearded Baldy]

Always remember that oem quality, just means supplied by the lowest bidder with the best sales pitch.

[kws]

18 minutes ago, Bearded Baldy said:

Always remember that oem quality, just means supplied by the lowest bidder with the best sales pitch.

The stock bearings are Taiho, as are the OEM ones I got. I get what you're saying, but at over $250 for a set of genuine bearings, I want to make sure they'll be any different, and fix my issue, before I buy them.

[ajg193]

28 minutes ago, kws said:

The stock bearings are Taiho, as are the OEM ones I got. I get what you're saying, but at over $250 for a set of genuine bearings, I want to make sure they'll be any different, and fix my issue, before I buy them.

With Toyota "std" size bearings still have a set of tolerance bands that suit each block and rod individually. The number is stamped on each bearing cap and you're supposed to only use matching number bearings. Is it the same for Suzuki (or whatever brand you are fixing)?

Essentially it makes aftermarket bearings worthless and you'd usually buy each journal set individually instead of a whole engine worth

 

In the real world it probably makes little to no functional difference compared to just ramming bearings in though

[kws]

10 hours ago, ajg193 said:

With Toyota "std" size bearings still have a set of tolerance bands that suit each block and rod individually. The number is stamped on each bearing cap and you're supposed to only use matching number bearings. Is it the same for Suzuki (or whatever brand you are fixing)?

Essentially it makes aftermarket bearings worthless and you'd usually buy each journal set individually instead of a whole engine worth

 

In the real world it probably makes little to no functional difference compared to just ramming bearings in though

No, on the F6A there are STD bearings and that's it. In Suzuki's eyes if anything is out of spec, scrap the lot. On later Suzuki engines you match up the number on the block, to the number on the crank and then pick the right colour bearing for that location.

[h4nd]

This looks like a more useful car handling robot (valet), but, WTF is the stop sign printed reversed? Is it AI slop generated?

 

[kws]

On 09/12/2025 at 20:35, Bearded Baldy said:

Always remember that oem quality, just means supplied by the lowest bidder with the best sales pitch.

Sadly it appears this might be the case. Everything is measuring up good, and the new aftermarket OEM bearings I was sold specifically for this engine that others have used with no issues, are a hairs width undersize and causing the issue. 

New genuine bearings will be sourced. 

Lesson learned, dammit. 

[Bearded Baldy]

Yeah don't get me wrong, i am all for going cheap when you can, but i have been caught too many times both for work and personal stuff.

Anything that is easy access bolt on the side is most definately fair game for the cheaper stuff.

[Hurmeez]

On 10/12/2025 at 20:40, h4nd said:

This looks like a more useful car handling robot (valet), but, WTF is the stop sign printed reversed? Is it AI slop generated?

 

Perhaps there's a mirror on the ceiling to let you see the actual "pit box" as it were? Otherwise you can't see it from the driver's seat enough to actually stop on the mark

[mjrstar]

Anyone a wizard on headlining repair. Typical newer school falcon sag, I have removed the old material and foam from the paper mache base board in preparation of installing new material. Scrubbing brush and vacuum was the weapon of choice)

Is there any tips or tricks as this is not really in my wheelhouse?

Also glue selection I was going to hoon bog standard ADOS f2, but found a 3m 76 high tack product for ~ 4x the price (is this the go to or is there something else?)

 

Ps I did a search for headlining and found a sharn from @V8Peteabout getting lipstick on the new headlining in his Austin during a tinder date. 

[shizzl]

I used the Ados high tack spray adhesive, just need to be patient with the wait time between spraying and laying out. I always rushed it and had mixed results.

 

this time I left it to the recommended time and it was mint. Go figure

[JustHarry]

On 31/12/2025 at 16:08, mjrstar said:

Anyone a wizard on headlining repair. Typical newer school falcon sag, I have removed the old material and foam from the paper mache base board in preparation of installing new material. Scrubbing brush and vacuum was the weapon of choice)

Is there any tips or tricks as this is not really in my wheelhouse?

Also glue selection I was going to hoon bog standard ADOS f2, but found a 3m 76 high tack product for ~ 4x the price (is this the go to or is there something else?)

 

Ps I did a search for headlining and found a sharn from @V8Peteabout getting lipstick on the new headlining in his Austin during a tinder date. 

You'll probably find its quite cheap to get any local automotive upholsterer to glue the fabric back on.

Ados is fine but not ideal.

Bostik do a really good fabric glue that is sprayed through effectively a paint spray gun that is much better for stuff like that