90 STE Turbo Grand Prix

[Garrett Powered]

I personally think the trans was designed well for the power the engine puts out. As stated in in another thread, GM rated the trans at 230 ft lbs. The problem is when you mod the car a little the trans just won't last.

 

230? that sucks.

 

Is that peak torque?

[Prospeeder]

now, when they say rated at so and so torque, does that mean how much torque is at the wheels or the crank?

[90_Black_TGP]

Im on my 3rd tranny since I got my TGP. First one was the previous owners fault. He had run the car for years with a clogged up radiatior and cooked all the vitals like the tranny and the turbo center spool, both of which I had to replace almost immediately. 2nd one was my fault, running road courses in OD and high speed runs (100+) on the turnpikes. This 3rd tranny and I seem to be getting along with the exception of slippage in hard cornering at Hallett. Only seems to slip in the hard left turns and the trans shop told me it was due to fluid sloshing. Rebuilt autos @ $2000 each have made me consider the 5-speed swap, I found a donor SE locally and all the petals and stuff is still there, so I may end up doing it this spring. As for the brakes... I hate the Powermaster III, I have replaced almost everything on my ABS with the exception of the master cylinder and still have had brake failure, boiled DOT4 and blown calipers and thats WITH brake ducts installed. I've got some pics of the ducts on my webpage if any one is interested. Ive been working on the body work prepping for paint and don't have any pics of the rear ducts yet. Heat seems to kill these brakes, from under the hood to the wheels.

[mfewtrail]

Have you tried to get one from Prior lately??? They sure as hell aren't $700 for them now. They are close to $2k.

 

Shawn

 

Shawn, when did you hear that they run $2K? I got a quote in back in August of $732.51 with a core charge of $125.00 plus shipping. They also said they were out of cores at that time. Hopefully I won't need a mc rebuild anytime soon since my brakes are working great. 8)

[dbtk2]

Have you tried to get one from Prior lately??? They sure as hell aren't $700 for them now. They are close to $2k.

 

Shawn

 

Shawn, when did you hear that they run $2K? I got a quote in back in August of $732.51 with a core charge of $125.00 plus shipping. They also said they were out of cores at that time. Hopefully I won't need a mc rebuild anytime soon since my brakes are working great. 8)

 

I specifically remember someone posting that their prices went up drastically. They posted that they had like doubled. I'll try to find the post, I know I saw the post on it. I've never priced one because the one in my STE is fine and as is the one in my dads TGP. But still, $732 is way more than the $42 I paid to replace my sisters master cylinder ~2 months ago. Thats why the ABS light drops the value of those things. Either way, thats not really a very nice car anyways, the paint is like dull or faded or something, the interior is a little rough, and 140k isn't really that low of miles.

 

Shawn

[5speedz34]

90_Black_TGP, How did you boil brake fluid?

 

Ohh and I checked out your site.

 

 

OMG!

[90_Black_TGP]

Quote from stoptech.com- "-----Carroll Smith's Notes on Brake Fluid.

Brake fluid is possibly the single most neglected component of the automobile. Most high performance drivers check their tire pressures and change their engine oil at frequent intervals. Virtually no one (including me) ever changes the brake fluid in their street car - or even bleeds the brakes. WRONG!

 

The function of brake fluid is to provide an incompressible medium to transmit the driver’s foot pressure on the brake pedal through the master cylinder(s) to the calipers in order to clamp the friction material against the discs. The foot pressure is multiplied by the mechanical pedal ratio and the hydraulic ratio of the master cylinders, booster (if used) and caliper piston(s).

 

This is a simple concept. When fresh, all brake fluids are virtually incompressible and the system works as well as its mechanical and hydraulic design allows. There are, however significant problems. Overheated brake fluid can (and will) boil in the caliper. Boiling produces gas bubbles within any boiling fluid. Gas is compressible so boiling brake fluid leads to a “soft†brake pedal with long travel. In extreme cases overheated brake fluid necessitates “pumping the brake pedal†in order to get a pedal at all.------"

 

That basically sums up boilded brake fluid. It happened to me a few times at Hallett and one time (last time) street racing where I had to shut it down quickly--All I have to say about that is thank god these cars handle like they do.

[5speedz34]

Where's the heat to boil the fluid?

[Garrett Powered]

that is one way to help. CAI for the overheating calipers. I mean, that has to help out some with keeping the caliper cool during thrashing, may not help around town or slow steep hills. Do you got new brake lines up front? one of mine was clogged and I had it replaced.

[slick]

Woah! I really like that idea about the cooling ducts for your brake calipers!

[dbtk2]

If you were to get slotted or drilled and slotted rotors for your car, the brakes wouldn't get as hot. They would be able to cool better and you would probably be much happier with your braking abilities at the track. What grade pads do you use?

 

Where's the heat to boil the fluid?

 

The pads and rotor get very hot when you use the brakes due to the friction. (obviously) So this heat transfers to the caliper, where the brake fluid is and starts boiling it. But it should take a bit of heat....fresh Dot 3 shouldn't boil until its well over 400*F, but if you think about all the heat generated under hard braking in these cars, that temperature shouldn't be too hard to achieve.

 

Woah! I really like that idea about the cooling ducts for your brake calipers!

 

Its very common in racing applications.

 

Shawn

[Garrett Powered]

I just saw the section on brakes. stainless braided brake lines cool. I have done most of the stuff there. ceramic pads, cross drilled rotors. no proportioning valve yet. what is that you got? driver controlled? my new prior reman PM III came with a leaky accumulator I think. nice lookin car. wish I got tint that was a little darker. the tail lights look sick, almost want to try that. does the webbing still come through?

[93CutlassSupreme]

 

Woah! I really like that idea about the cooling ducts for your brake calipers!

 

Its very common in racing applications.

 

Shawn

 

 

C6 Corvettes have brake cooling ducts.

[dbtk2]

C6 Corvettes have brake cooling ducts.

 

Yes, I know this. I was just stating that its really common for racing applications, not that it wasn't on production cars because it is. It just seemed like he had never seen something like that before and I was just saying that it wasn't something new.

 

Shawn

[slick]

So what are the temperature differences between the ducted and non ducted braking systems?

 

I think this may be a mod I'm going to do over christmas break (not cutting though, just ducts from under the bumper.

[TGPilot]

 

Woah! I really like that idea about the cooling ducts for your brake calipers!

 

Its very common in racing applications.

 

Shawn

 

 

C6 Corvettes have brake cooling ducts.

 

Yeah but the Corvettes and any other racing application they are forward facing to get the pressure of the air on the front of the car or high pressure area to force the air through the duct. Having it side facing on an aerodynamic bumper I do not see how the air would be forced down the duct to get air to the caliper any more than the normal under car air currents. Having a forward facing scoop on the duct inlet would get the air moving... 8)

[digitaloutsider]

 

Woah! I really like that idea about the cooling ducts for your brake calipers!

 

Its very common in racing applications.

 

Shawn

 

 

C6 Corvettes have brake cooling ducts.

 

Yeah but the Corvettes and any other racing application they are forward facing to get the pressure of the air on the front of the car or high pressure area to force the air through the duct. Having it side facing on an aerodynamic bumper I do not see how the air would be forced down the duct to get air to the caliper any more than the normal under car air currents. Having a forward facing scoop on the duct inlet would get the air moving... 8)

[Garrett Powered]

having forward facing duct on the tranny cooler would be good too. who knows if they even work all sideways. GM and Mclaren must have thought it would work?

[90_Black_TGP]

Yeah but the Corvettes and any other racing application they are forward facing to get the pressure of the air on the front of the car or high pressure area to force the air through the duct. Having it side facing on an aerodynamic bumper I do not see how the air would be forced down the duct to get air to the caliper any more than the normal under car air currents. Having a forward facing scoop on the duct inlet would get the air moving... 8)

 

If they were just slapped on the side and flat I would agree with you, but the ones I chose are not, they are angled back and they actually scoop the air quite well.

[90_Black_TGP]

...the tail lights look sick, almost want to try that. does the webbing still come through?

[TGPilot]

If they were just slapped on the side and flat I would agree with you, but the ones I chose are not, they are angled back and they actually scoop the air quite well.

 

I was looking at my TGP last night and I guess that would be a "higher" pressure area to move some air. There are what they call smoke sticks we use for ventilation inspections at the hospital...I would be willing to send you one or two if you wanted to put a large fan in front of the car to see if it is flowing the way you want it. Sort of an aerodynamic check if you will. 8)

[Garrett Powered]

...the tail lights look sick, almost want to try that. does the webbing still come through?

 

I want to try that for sure. I got super bright red LED taillight bulbs from autozone and they would look so cool on that car.

 

That is just the Night Shades tail light tint? or is there a better product with a clear coat or something.

[GutlessSupreme]

...the tail lights look sick, almost want to try that. does the webbing still come through?

 

I want to try that for sure. I got super bright red LED taillight bulbs from autozone and they would look so cool on that car.

 

That is just the Night Shades tail light tint? or is there a better product with a clear coat or something.

 

No offense, but I think that looks awful. Especially with that wing - it's way too wide.

[90_Black_TGP]

 

That is just the Night Shades tail light tint? or is there a better product with a clear coat or something.

 

Mine are primed twice, sealed, 2 coats of base and cleared, the circles do not have anything on them. I didn't want the light coming thru any where but the circles. Using NiteShades (which is getting hard to find) will only darken the lens and still let the light thru all over. I DONT recommend tinting the taillights, I've done it before and you're asking for either getting rearended or a ticket.

 

No offense, but I think that looks awful. Especially with that wing - it's way too wide

 

Well then it is a damn good thing I did it to my car and not yours...

 

1st- the wing- I liked this wing better than the "surplus" Grand Am looking spoilers that GM put on the Grand Prix's these years.

2nd- Wide wasn't anything I was worried about expecially considering it is only 1.7" more narrow and 2" shorter than GM's Officially Designated "Wide Track" 3rd GENS. I actually like low and wide, if I didn't I would be driving a cracker box like a Scion xB or maybe (considering the classics) a Pinto.

[Garrett Powered]

no offense? that is a pretty offensive thing to say. especially when that is the nicest TGP I have seen in a while. with that dark ass tint.