If the answer to every automotive question is “Miata”, then it’s no surprise that Fluidampr set their sights on increasing the performance, reliability, and longevity of the sporty Japanese roadster. This damper, for the 2003-2005 Miata, features a 10% underdrive on the water pump belt which helps with cavitation for cars driven often at higher RPMs. It also includes updated 12.9 grade socket head screws. The SFI-rated unit works just fine with the OEM timing trigger, so no electronics changes are required, and Fluidampr provides a spec for a Gates (or similar) belt to work with the underdrive side.
Interestingly, in 1H 2019 Fluidampr will be releasing a damper for the 3000GT and Dodge Stealth with serpentine belt DOHC engines. Apparently, a large enough group approached Fluidampr to produce a replacement, as any new-old-stock OEM units are now so old that their rubber is disintegrating and others are hard to find.
For those interested in diesel performance, Fluidampr has a redesigned 6.7 Cummins damper on offer. Featuring a slightly increased weight over the OEM unit, it provides more effective dampening. Fluidampr also has what they call the “Full Power Package”. This is the damper and a new clamping kit that comes with a torque plate. In high-horsepower and other extreme-duty scenarios, the ridiculous torque that these motors produce has a tendency to overpower any attachment systems resulting in damper walk. The torque plate allows the engine to easily be turned with a breaker bar when the need arises, and it comes with a friction washer between damper and crank to increase friction and prevent walk. Lastly, it includes higher strength bolts with tighter tolerances to the damper holes. This helps the bolts to act more like dowel pins with respect to locating the damper, and the whole assembly has been field tested to 2000-3000hp.
For more information, see https://fluidampr.com/
In 12- and 16-volt offerings, the XS Power LithiumFIT+ battery line has the same extreme ruggedness and safety design of their LithiumFORM+ line, but with OEM battery housings. These batteries are direct replacements for existing vehicles and will be available in 1H 2019 in most standard form factors.
The XS Power LithiumFIT+ batteries are much lighter than more powerful than regular lead acid or even AGM batteries. As an example, the XS Power S1600 16V racing battery is 33 pounds, while the corresponding Lithium unit is a mere 9lbs. The “every day” D1600 battery weighs in at a whopping 50 lbs.
Don’t forget that XS power already has a full line of Li series chargers that are ready to top off any of XS lithium units, including the new LithiumFIT+, LithiumFORM+ and the LithiumSUPERCHARGED+ batteries.
For more information, see http://www.4xspower.com/
Their plug-in ECUs are really quite neat, essentially shoving the motorsport-grade Link hardware inside an OEM ECU housing with an OEM connector, and offering a direct replacement for what’s already there. With an amazing feature set including things like antilag, traction control, throttle blip (on drive-by-wire equipped vehicles), tons of IO, and more, these really are high-quality ECMs. Plug-in units for the AP1 S2000 and the JZX100 are coming in the first quarter of 2019.
For new and existing Link customers, the newly validated and released 5.6.6 ECU firmware includes safety fixes in the drive by wire subsystem, other small bugfixes, and adds easy support for the new AiM MX Strada dashes.
For more information, see http://www.linkecu.com/
3 comments
Actually if You have access to Peugeot Sport 208 R2 cars, rods and pistons for the Mini R56 were kind of available before Supertech.
The best thing you can do to minimize wear on your solitary thrust bearing is to disable your clutch switch. This also reduced wear and tear on your starter, as the engine is no longer coupled loaded by the clutch on start up.
Also, consider the fact that your solitary thrust bearing is totally dry on engine start.
Of course, don’t disable your clutch switch unless you are a meticulous driver. I rock my shifter a few times before starting, to make certain it is not in gear.
The 1FZ-FE was standard on US-spec Land Cruisers from 1993 – 1997. Titan Motorsports did some crazy drag racing development on that platform in the early 2000s as well.