Little Max

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About Little Max

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    Sherwood Park, AB
  1. It might sound strange but all I did was cut piece of high quality 1 inch thick foam into a square about 17 inches X 17 inches, upholstered it with black vinyl, and it slides up behind the grill. It is a friction fit and can be removed very easily for washing. Now, I have also installed some screening to protect the rad from rocks and bugs so this slab of upholstered foam doesn't sit really tight against the rad so there is very likely some leakage around the top and sides. A bonus (for some) - since it is behind the grill is that it preserves the stock appearance. Now I know what you're thinking, doesn't this block all of the air off and could it overheat? Well I took a round trip of 160 kilometers at 100 to 110 KPH with an ambient air temperature that ranged from +2 C to +15 C, and the engine maintained 80 C with the winterfront in place. Undoubtedly, there is some air leakage around the ends of this winterfront and that is more than enough for Little Max to maintain his cool. I wouldn't keep it in place above 15 C, especially if I could be using the A/C, since the condenser core is combined with the radiator and needs to shed heat. But above 15 C there really isn't any need to cover the rad because warmup times aren't excessively long. I don't have any empirical evidence as to it's effectiveness, just anecdotal, and I suppose I should do some tests. However, my observations have been that on my regular commute with the winterfront in place and at various temperatures Little Max hits the 80 C mark much sooner at any given temperature. Something else that I have noticed, which I'm sure everyone has experienced, is that without the winterfront the smart cools off very quickly if you park the car and pop into a store for 10 or 15 minutes. With this winterfront in place Little MAx stays warm much longer and consequently comes back up to full operating temperature much sooner. It's elegantly simple, cheap to do, and maintains the stock appearance. A custom fitted winterfront could be made I'm sure, but for how much, and how much more effective would it be? Give it a try. Cheers!
  2. The RaggTopp I believe, is paraffin based, whereas the smart product is silicone based. The RaggTopp comes in a kit with a cleaning product and the protectant product. First they recommend that you vacuum any loose soil from the fabric and then wash the top with the cleaning product. Rinse the top thoroughly and allow the top to dry naturally, preferably in a garage. Once the top is completely dry you apply the protectant product (an aerosol) and allow it to dry. The carrier takes about 24 hours to completely dry and for the protectant to set up. Overspray won't harm the paint but they do recommend that it be wiped off nevertheless. I reapplied the product this spring, but quite honestly, water was still beading up beautifully. I'm thinking that once every 2 years may be enough. However, if you live in an area where there is a lot of fallout from industry it might be necessary to clean and reapply more often. I bought the product from a Ford dealership in Edmonton. I believe that the kit cost was about $50. Ford of course began producing convertibles again with the retro Thunderbird so I suspect that is the reason behind their dealerships stocking of the product. I did try the smart product, but found that its water beading qualities deteriorated quite quickly. If Haartz recommends the RaggTopp product then it must be good, and I don't think that smart can make a case out of it's use, should any warranty of the fabric top become an issue. Check out the website http://www.wolfsteins.com/main.htm or Google the product to find other dealers both online and in your location. Cheers!
  3. I've said this before on other threads and I will say it again. Thermostats often have a small valve in them that prevents cavitation, so there is some flow all of the time, even with the thermostat fully shut. Also, thermostats don't snap open at their designed temperature - they gradually open and are fully open at their design temperature.In my experience (I've also driven highway transport truck) winter fronts are absolutely necessary for any diesel engine operating in many parts of Canada. I have fashioned a winter front for Little Max and I am also looking at making a belly tarp as well. Every little bit counts at minus 30 C.
  4. Yes, I would avoid "touchless" car washes for one very good reason - the chemicals must out of necessity be quite powerful in order to clean without friction. They are not corrosive, but they can etch surfaces and I have no doubt that they will leech some of the essential oils and plastisizers out of rubber, paint, and plastic parts. As far as the rag top goes I use Zero for delicate clothes and Little Max gets a treatment of RaggTopp each year. This is the product recommended by Haartz (the fabric manufacturer) and it works beautifully. Water truely beads up and runs off even a year later. The product also has a UV protectant. Hands down the best product that I have seen.
  5. Sorry for the delay we've had a minor meltdown, and so I haven't had the extra time to be on the forum for a while. The part numbers for the TRW brake discs is DF 4135 and they come boxed as a pair. These discs are Lucas - Girling and are manufactured in the U.K. So far they have been beautiful - no pulsation - and I am always careful to warm the discs/pads up after a wash so that they don't corrode. However, as I noted before these ones don't instantly corrode when water hits them the way the OEM ones did - I don't know - lower iron content?
  6. Rats! I'll tie a string around my finger for tomorrow.
  7. Those are smooth machined. I've heard varying accounts of the quality of slotted, grooved and cross drilled discs. If the work is done right then they offer definite performance advantages, but it seems some crack because of the stresses from heating and cooling. That I don't need, so I opted for the plain jane smooth discs.
  8. Just an update on the brake pulsation problem. I checked around for new discs and it would appear that there is no "wholesale" price on the MB discs. However in the Edmonton market there is a shop called Autobahn operated by Mark Car and he found a pair of TRW discs for $50 less (pair). I brought them home and in 1/2 hour they were on and the brakes work beautifully again. Another plus is that so far they don't seem to rust instantly after a wash like the OEM discs did (yes I washed the anti-corrosion wax off before installing them). I'll post the part numbers tomorrow so that others afflicted with the shudders can find relief for a much better price.
  9. I get to put together our organization's entry (oh joy) and I can tell you that even though Northlands would have you be there at the crack of dawn, you can likely be there at 9:30 without any problem. Depending upon where the ECBEA is placed in the parade line up your participation could run from 1 to 3 hours with an actual parade time of 30 to 40 minutes.
  10. I checked in with Weber Motors about warranty on this and Don said no chance - there are just too many variables with respect to how I drive the car (read abuse). He said they had just replaced rotors and pads on a 2006 that had been stored for the winter. The pads had corroded to the rotors so badly that they feared that they might have to cut the caliper in order to remove the asembly. The owners had washed the car and put it away wet. Add the moisture from the winter snows and bobs-your-uncle - corroded brakes.Don gave me a price of $177.00 for both rotors + labour. I can easily do the rotors myself, so I'm going to check around for aftermarket discs to see what is available. It really pisses me off that almost all car makers are making discs a throw away item these days. Come on guys, put some more meat on these discs so that we can machine them if they go out of parallel or warp. I believe the wear tolerance on the fortwo is 1mm. If that is true, then your discs are beyond tolerance for machining two weeks after you buy the car . . . nuts!
  11. I kind of wondered about that. Last winter here in Edmonton it was cold enough that after washing the car I don't think that the brakes ever got warm enough to boil off the water, and the pads either froze to the discs or corroded to the discs (sintered metalic pads you know). When I went to drive away the next morning it took a little more pressure on the go pedal to get Little Max to move. There was quite a clunk when the brakes broke loose. Now all I have to do is spread the corrosion around a bit more evenly ha ha!
  12. I have roughly 11,000 km on right now. I just don't know what I did to have them go out of parallel or warp. It's all the more surprising on solid discs, although maybe that's the problem - poor cooling.I hope that the cost of new discs is fairly reasonable, since it would appear that it's a sure thing that they will need replacement when one does the brakes. It looks as though I may end up footing the bill for a couple of new ones in order to rectify the problem.
  13. I'm just wondering if there has been a history of problems with respect to brake pulsation. I have a bad case of brake pulsation on my 2006. I don't ride the brakes or stand on the brakes when stopping. Whenever I do a tire/wheel change I hand torque the nuts in two stages 40 ftlbs then to 81 ftlbs.I wonder how much luck I would have in getting Weber to replace the discs on warranty. They can't be machined since the discard thickness is only 1 mm below the new thickness.Has anyone else had any experiences in this area?
  14. The remarkable thing is that my oil level has not changed since Weber did the change. If oil is blowing through the crankcase ventilation system or leaking from the turbo seals the level should have dropped significantly. What amazes me is: A. smart continues to put a dipstick in an engine that does not display an accurate oil level - full should mean full, not overfull. It shouldn't be left up to the owner to determine the true full level by trial and error. B. that technicians seem to be oblivious to this problem, and that even without a service bulletin they should only fill to the true full level because if they don't, they're going to be replacing a turbo and flushing the air charge cooler and connecting pipes.