When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
When I encountered a brigade of firemen in a residential backstreet in Tokyo with a man-pulled fire truck I didn't get to see the drill exercise. I found this video which is very much like what I saw, but fills in a lot of blanks of how the fire fighting work in narrow streets and alleyways. They open a manhole which turns out to be an underground cistern designated as fire fighting water source. Note that the pump is driven by a 2-stroke engine.
These guys look to be quite rusty and unorganized. The video below shows how the trained professionals do it. They sure have an overwhelming force when it comes to men to fire pump equipment ratio.
My dream of an ultimate home garage may not be that imminent. As there are a lot of moving parts to a well planned and designed garage, I want to start giving it some thoughts. On the top of the check off items are a high capacity 2-pole lift that can raise a car to comfortable working height. The other is adequate depth to afford comfortable working in front of the lift bay. So far I find Tom's Turbo Garage to be the best in terms of budget, design, and no BS approach to an efficient garage. The guy has planned his for years before executed on it.
In all likelihood I might start with a MaxJax to be installed into the existing garage with standard 4" slab first. The nice thing about Max Jack is it can be dismounted and leaves no protruding threaded studs on the floor.
I was curious to examine closely the difference in the design between the much touted Valeo SM clutch kit and the Exedy SM clutch kit that I installed. The two designs are quite different. When I was shopping for the kit, I looked at many kits including South Bend at the advise of a Miniac. Ultimately I settled on the Exedy which price is nearly on par with the Valeo, instead of South Bend that costs 2x.
I decided to compare closely my Exedy against the South Bend Stage I Heavy Duty. What I found is shocking, not at the differences, but at my inability to discern any difference except the color of the pressure plate housing. I compare every minute features, hole locations, number of rivets and locations, the two different sizes of springs, bent tabs and locations, and yes, even down to the logo on the friction disc.
South Bend Stage I Heavy Duty
Exedy friction disc
Exedy flywheel
a slight different lighting of the flywheel and the release bearing
Exedy pressure plate housing side
Now I feel pretty good about my ~$325 clutch kit, except with a case of red envy.
I know this is a bit of a resurrection replying to something on page 9 of this thread, but I'm curious what your thoughts are on the exedy clutch at this point. I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a clutch soon, and was between the south bend and sticking with the OEM dual mass flywheel until I stumbled upon this post about the exedy.
I considered a number of options at the time. It was mainly between the popular Valio and this Exedy SM kit. I chose Exedy for its larger diameters of the friction surfaces over Valio, thinking the odd is it will provide more torque with everything else being equal. Secondly its more conventional surface dimensions likely gives me more option to change to other friction discs.
The clutch does slip during track driving abuses on difficult track like ORP especially upshifting uphill. I wish someone will share their experience with Valio in similar track abuses. Alas the glowing reviews often is "I never had any issue with it". I have no idea how well the OEM DM clutch withstand the worst of track driving. The one that I swapped out is still in excellent condition but I won't be putting it back in to find out. I will be installing a set of OS Gilken racing clutch this season.
A bit of a side note... When I changed the clutch on my R56, when I put in the Quaife, I had clutch slip on the particularly hard 3 to 4th shift up hill location at one track I go to. This happen most of that day and even had it looked at by the shop mechanics that support this particular event, who could find nothing wrong but bled it anyway. This went away after a while and I attribute the slippage and it going away to not having bedded in the clutch (like you would brake pads). This was a stock clutch with a new, stock, pressure plate and flywheel. Other than that one day of having clutch slippage, the stock clutch has never slipped. This is with the stock, 182 hp N18, engine. Not sure how close in Hp/Torque it is to what anyone else has, but it is a data point to consider.
My valeo slipped on track, after 20 minutes it would start to slip bad skip forward to 44 seconds in on this vid and you can hear and see it on the data log. I replaced it with a chinese clutch that has pucks made out of brake pads
Glad to hear more feedback on the clutches. I've never had any slipping on track with my DMF OEM clutch, though my car definitely spends way more time on roads with speed limits than on those without, and it will probably continue that way for a while. I'm torn between the exedy SMF conversion and the south bend stage 2 daily kit. I'd also like to add a limited slip diff, but I'm not made of money. I'm kind of thinking that i may go with the exedy clutch and an OEM LSD. I can get both of those parts for about the cost of the south bend clutch kit and while I know the OEM LSD isn't as good as a quaife of gilken, it's cheaper and I suspect more durable.
The OEM lsd is a huge improvement, not sure if I will ever go more aggressive for track use, i have a nice balance of turn vs Accel grip when I run slicks if I add more torque on outside wheel it'll induce more understeer
Here is my ride. A Porsche Panoramic (I coined it as it is like taking a panoramic photo on the iPhone of a bus in order to make it fit in a manageable photo frame ). I hate to tell you I actually felt in love with the 18-way adjustable sofas, heated steering wheels, and just about all the options available in the model. I put it in Sport Plus mode and still, it makes my GT4 feel like the ride of a truck.
who can argue with a black metallic finish?
the 18-way adjustable sofas that remembers my settings; and yes the heated steering wheel and the butt warmers are must for the frosty Oregon mornings
my COVID-19 proof cocoon to mitigate the chance of contracting the Corollavirus
and I don't have to risk pulling a neck muscle backing up
I was just being naughty. The Panoramic is the only Porsche that I would prefer not be caught dead in. It is a loaner, The GT4 was in for a kiss of death driving on track recall, that a gear or two in the gearbox would self-destruct because even Porsche engineering and quality are over-hyped like the rest of German brands.
Oh...
Wow, I thought you might be suffering from tight space withdrawal symptoms, which is where the acquisition of new space (like cleaning out my basement) needs to be filled.. Like my basement... Time to clean it out again...
It is a comfy ugly duck, though. Yes?
And good to get the GT4 fixed preemptively. That would be f-ugly if it happened on the track. I wonder how many broken GT4s it took for them to own up to the issue... If it was BMW, Ford or GM, it would still be being debated/buried.
Not to say that I am happy to hear that the Pasha (that's Porsche with a Maine accent) has a worrisome transmission. There is a lot of talk over on Miata.net about the ND1's 6MT. It tends to grande 3rd and 4th gears. Mazda has made 5 versions of it at this point. The ND2 (2018+, mine is 2019) has the V5 tranny and only one is suspected to have esploded. Good part about all this, even if the transmission dies when on track for a track day or autocross, all have been replaced under warranty, free of change if your tires (when the car comes in for service) has tread wear 200 or higher. One guy claims to have had 3 replaced under warranty, a V1, V2 and now a V5, this guy has as ND1 (2017 and older). Though no ND2's with a V5 have died as far as anyone is saying. I am not concerned. MINI still hasn't recognized the Midlands/Rover 5MT's 99.9% failure rate.
Oh...
Wow, I thought you might be suffering from tight space withdrawal symptoms, which is where the acquisition of new space (like cleaning out my basement) needs to be filled.. Like my basement... Time to clean it out again...
It is a comfy ugly duck, though. Yes?
And good to get the GT4 fixed preemptively. That would be f-ugly if it happened on the track. I wonder how many broken GT4s it took for them to own up to the issue... If it was BMW, Ford or GM, it would still be being debated/buried.
I have to admit the 4 door Posh is ugly but quite comfy. I can totally understand those who prefer creature comfort and all the bells and whistles would want one. It is more comfortable to be entertained in the 18 way adjustable sofa than in most people's laZboy at home. In fact there is an option for massaging if you so choose.
It took Porsche a long time to finally admit the screwed up and initiate a recall on the gearbox. Oh, and the GT4 has warranty has an exclusion clause that you are not supposed to use slicks.
I suffer from excessive emptiness anxiety syndrome like you, especially when it comes to empty parking spaces. Even before I move in I managed to acquired another fun car so the cars to spots ratio is already greater than 1. You have the pleasure to identify the car in the screen.
I was very torn picking between the Suzuki Cappuccino and the AZ-1. In the end AZ-1 won out as it is more collectable. Only 4300 or so ever built. I love the styling and proportion of the Cappuccino. It is what Miata should have been styled.
You are good. It is a MazdaSpeed so should have LSD. I was going to give a hint that sumo wrestler won't fit.
OMG!
You are bad... How is someone from the NE here supposed to know about a car like... Not sure it would make the climb over the Rockies... And not much in the way of Asian car culture here...
I love the styling cues they included. Yes, I recognized the side vents as coming from the Testarosa. The front is a little odd. The rear quarter picture shows nice lines. And having gull wing doors? Wow, that is going to draw attention...
They sure have an overwhelming force when it comes to men to fire pump equipment ratio.
The Panoramic is the only Porsche that I would prefer not be caught dead in. It is a loaner, The GT4 was in for a kiss of death driving on track recall, that a gear or two in the gearbox would self-destruct because even Porsche engineering and quality are over-hyped like the rest of German brands. 
