Drift Tengoku — October 2013
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About this issue
188 available scans from Drift Tengoku — October 2013, in right-to-left reading order. Japanese OCR and English translation drafts are available throughout. Drafts have not received exhaustive image proofreading; unreadable source remains recorded in the archival data.
Page 117 — English draft translation
Bead sealer is a liquid rubber used when the contact surface between the tire bead and rim is rough. It is also used in the truck industry to help raise the bead. The idea is to fill damage in the tire with it. Though the method may seem improper, it is fairly common in the editorial department. Newcomers can nick the bead while mounting a tire, and this often solves the problem. “Won’t it make the wheel dirty?” someone asks again…
Captions and page details
An example of damage that's difficult to repair
This is a damaged bead selected from the editorial team's discarded tires. In this condition it won't hold air. This is damage caused by human error during tire mounting.
N.Y.F.D.C.
Bead sealer
Now appearing!
“Bead sealer is a black liquid. It looks a little like a can of rubber coating. There is a brush attached to the cap, and you apply it to the contact area between the bead and rim. It is not a tire repair compound; it is meant to improve the seal a little.”
Apply bead sealer to the contact surface between the tire bead and the rim. Let it dry, inflate the tire, and hope it does not leak. The next day, the phone report was: “I drove all day and it was fine!!” Success!?
A slow puncture can also be caused by a deteriorated valve or valve core. Those are worth checking too.
Even so, Director Tsukamoto is worried. There is no point fretting about it now; this is all we can do, and we are not coating the visible area anyway, so it should be fine. We had him do this part himself too.
TECH
BEAD SEALER
Play develops from the coilover! “Since it is already up on the lift, why not inspect and maintain the undercarriage too?” I suggested. He replied, “What should I look at for maintenance?”
Incomplete fragment: “生か” (meaning unclear without surrounding text).
Store in a cool place
TECH INTERNATIONAL
The lower seat! Anyone with a sharp eye can probably tell from this photo: the bracket lock seat is not tightened at all! That leaves play between the bracket and the damper threads…
So I showed him one way to check for play in the hub bearing. Drift cars need regular maintenance, and this is a part that eventually has to be replaced. “Hold the wheel like this…”
“No, not that much…” (sentence fragment).
[Fragment] …but that was a more basic problem. Tightening it eliminated the play, and all was well. Maintenance really matters!
The nut was not secured, so the bracket and damper were rattling badly. On stiff strut-suspension cars, this often loosens. The steering wheel turns and…
After checking the hub bearing for play…
Hub play is a common problem at the front of drift cars. Hold the wheel at the top and bottom in this position, then alternately pull the top and bottom toward you to feel for movement. It was rattling, so I thought something was wrong…
On cars with a simple strut setup, this nut can loosen from repeatedly turning the steering wheel even when it was properly tightened. The coilover itself rotates, so check and retighten it periodically.
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