Hey great thread! Not sure why nobody is chiming in-
I love seeing track car diaries, so thanks for posting.
Make sure to put a link to track video when you get it!
damen
Hey great thread! Not sure why nobody is chiming in-
I love seeing track car diaries, so thanks for posting.
Make sure to put a link to track video when you get it!
damen
In reply to CrookedRacer :
I have two transaxles laying around and would like to make them useful with the addition of limited slip. I will be watching with great interest!!
Thanks Damen! I write this thread here and share it around, so a lot of times I get direct feedback from folks that aren't on GRM. When I get some decent non-shaky video, I'll definitely be posting my more interesting moments on track.
A rock-solid camera mount is near the top of my prep list for March 22-24, NASA @ VIR!
And thanks again to jh36 for the productive build party!
Yesterday I attached the cooler and filled the transaxle with gear oil, but it immediately began to leak from the cooler console... turns out the four 10mm hex bolts holding it on weren't tightened during the rebuild.
I tightened the bolts and it doesn’t seem to leak now, but I haven’t driven it yet. I couldn’t see the edge of a gasket, or any space between the case and console that might suggest there’s a gasket there, either.
The oil was coming out from between the console and the transaxle housing (RED arrows). In fact it was so loose I could actually push it closed and stop the drip. Tightening the four bolts, of course, had the same effect of stopping the flow. Fortunately both oil cooler port connections were dry as a bone (the GREEN arrow points to the console's port connection).
They both look good and dry. I had verified the presence and condition of the o rings at both ports, and they looked clean and round. Not squished or pinched.
The cooler support apparatus had a couple issues. One I fixed, and the other I will have to think about some more.
1) The bolt that fastens the fork clip at the console port does double duty. It holds the fork clip, and it passes through a clamping strap. I had to fabricate a spacer (RED arrow) to go between the strap ends so that it could be tightened down on the fork clip without pinching the strap ends and crushing the cooler vanes. So that’s sorted.
2) The other issue is that the transaxle’s ear is broken off where the cooler support arm connects to it. The support arm straddles one of the torque tube connections, but there should be a vertical bolt that goes through a lobe on the bellhousing to keep it from swinging down. But the lobe is gone (RED arrow).
So the arm is currently being prevented from swinging down only by friction at the main bolt connection. I’m not terribly comfortable with that, but the rebuilder doesn't think it'll budge now that the bolt is torqued down. Indeed, it appears to be pretty tightly clamped on there. We’ll see if it starts to sag after I get a chance to drive it around a bit.
Anyway, I'm going to drain all this gear oil out, pull the cooler console off, and verify that there's a good gasket in between there. No sense driving while worried.
Great build thread! The car has come a long way and looks like you've about got it sorted.
I just picked up a 924S and you've got me wanting to scratch the track itch!
Thanks! These cars are indeed built for the track.
I don't think I showed you pictures of the huge hole I cut in the spare tire tub to make changing the transaxle a super easy job.
It's not legal in Spec944, but it should be.
You can see how easy it is to move the transaxle straight back and then down. Without doing this, it gets caught up on everything. It's a pain in the patoot.
Today I filled it in with some light gauge tin.
Just two more weeks until the first race of 2019!
I still have to change the motor oil, the tires, and at some point I have to drain the anti-freeze out and put water in. I'm concerned about that because there's still a pretty good chance we'll have freezing weather. I may put that off until I get to the track.
I also have to test out all five forward gears. I'm not sure I can do that in my neighborhood...
Looking good CrookedRacer! Can’t wait to see how the lsd changes the game for you. Love the quick change tranny setup. I certainly don’t dread the next swap having done the same operation. Looks clean and great!!
jh36 said:Love the quick change tranny setup.
I should hope so... it was YOUR idea!
The good news: this weekend I got a lot done. The bad news: there was more than a lot to get done.
Let's focus on the good news first... I installed my new radiator despite an unexpected twist. For some reason, there are designs out there that are a bit too large and lack an indent for the retainer bushings at the top and bottom. I've dealt with that for the most part. I have a new retainer design that will keep the radiator from sliding back towards the engine. For now, it's clamped in there and with the hoses attached, there's nowhere for it to go.
But there's a connection for the smaller 3/8" return line from the expansion tank to the radiator. That connection is a barb fitting. I took the barb fitting out of the old radiator, and it wouldn't thread into the new radiator.
This is the sort of thing you can't possibly discover until you've gotten serious and drained coolant. Grr. So I decided to back out and run my original radiator. I was putting the barb fitting back into the original one when *SNAP*... It broke off as I was tightening it. Double Grr.
So I set out to find something that would work for EITHER radiator, and at Home Depot I discovered the threads on the new radiator were Standard, not Metric. WTF?
It was a good thing, though, because I was able to find a brass pipe-threaded barb fitting. It was perfect. So I pushed forward with the new radiator plan A.
I wrapped the radiator ends in plastic shelf liner (the kind that comes with the wire Metro shelving). It's great because it's already old, still pliable, and not brittle.
This is to protect it from the steel sides, should they come into casual contact. I noticed Van Svenson had installed plastic on one of his in a similar way. Now all I need to do is come up with something to retain the thing.
I also changed the oil, topped off the transaxle fluid, bled the brakes, and pounded down the fender edge that had done a little scoring to my Hoosiers...
I cleaned the K&N Filter. Gotta do that at least once a year, I guess. Before:
I filled the radiator, purged it, and I noticed that the wiring harness in the area was torn up a bit. I think it got sucked into the alternator's fan at some point. I really don't know when. So I had to work out about ten more points of attachment so that this repair wouldn't get caught on anything. You can actually see three of them screwed to the frame rail to the right of my K&N filter "After" shot.
I started the car up and got it warm, and verified that the fans kicked on. Actually, only one fan kicked on. I thought they both came on at the same time, always. So there's something wrong with the wiring. I had bench tested the fans, so I know they both would work.
Maybe the wiring snafu pulled or broke a wire? I couldn't find any issues, but I do know that I can live with one fan in March.
The other behavior I found interesting was the frequency with which the fan cycled. As soon as the fan kicked on, the thermostat would cool off so quickly it shut the fan off again, within like five seconds. I've never seen that happen so fast before, but I think it's because the new radiator is so clean and perfect and efficient. It tells me I won't be having any issues with staying cool!
While the car was up on the blocks, I ran the transaxle through all five gears. I didn't do it for long because the CV joints probably don't like running at full droop. I just wanted to confirm that the transaxle made the same noises in all gears, and I don't think my neighbors would appreciate it if I found fifth on their street.
I inspected the entire exhaust, which looks and sounds pretty good. And I cleaned up the engine so I could try and isolate the minor oil leak I've had since my rebuild.
I can say for sure that the leak is not from the front main seal. It's either coming from the oil pan gasket, or it's coming from the passenger side balance shaft seal, or from the balance shaft housing. I still couldn't tell, but it's fairly slow now.
I torqued the wheels and overfilled the tires with air so they stay round(ish) while on the trailer this week, and so that I can just let some air out at the track.
So the car is back on the trailer and is pretty much ready for next weekend at VIR!
MARCH MADNESS @ VIR with NASA Mid Atlantic
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
And as weekends at the track go, they don't get much better than this one. Spectacular weather, great friends, a car that runs, and a track that Paul Newman said something or another about. What could be better? It was the best of times.
As driving performance goes, I certainly had the worst of times. Literally. I was the slowest car in class. Not only that, but NASA Mid Atlantic converted Sunday qualifying into a mini-race called "Beast of the East", where the entire Lightning group grids in a single wave and you just basically race against whoever's close to you.
Guess who came in DFL? This guy, after not finding a gear, and coasting without power for two turns. I was trying to find a suitable gear while the final three or four cars passed me by.
I was having fun up to that point dogging a Miata and waiting for an opening. But one bad shift and poof! All that work down the drain.
On Sunday afternoon I had even more fun chasing a buddy in an ST6 944 until my clutch pedal suddenly wouldn't depress. It felt like another brake pedal right next to the brake pedal. I coasted to a stop on the grass as far from the track as I could get. I quickly got towed in while the race was in progress (a hot pull).
I think the culprit was a broken or bent slave cylinder actuator. At least I hope that's the problem. It's one of the few original parts on the car. The fluid that came out when I bled it was gross, so maybe there was a lot of corrosion going on in there, and it was just its time.
I'm thankful it happened at the end of Sunday's race and not on Saturday morning's warmup session.
The car and I are 300 pounds overweight in a power-to-weight ratio class. That might be part of my problem. So stay tuned for a diet.
More details from the weekend:
I bought some oil-only "Pig Pads" on Amazon... they absorb oil but reject water. I wanted this type of material to make a "diaper" for my oil leak... (I saw something like this in a video by Van Svenson).
The diaper worked out pretty well, but by mid-day on Sunday, it was time to change the diaper...
So I guess that worked out for the most part. At least I wasn't dropping oil on track. I fretted about whether it would tear up in the wind, but it stayed on solidly. That's a win.
For posterity, I'm going to post what my car weighed at the end of the Beast of the East race (Sunday race #1) at VIR...
Now, in order for my car to find its full 18:1 weight-to-hp ratio at 133 average hp, it would have to weigh 2394 pounds. But ST6 rules say I can't run my 225-width tires if I weigh less than 2400 pounds.
So that's my minimum competition weight: 2400 pounds.
Here's my current weight:
with this much fuel in the tank:
So that's where it stands for now. For future reference.
Incidentally, with my new transaxle, my speedometer works again! Yay! That means I can tell if I'm doing 35 mph when the "purple 35 mph" flag comes out.
I just didn't expect to be the REASON that flag came out on Sunday...
I fixed the clutch issue!
The clutch fork pivot pin fell out. There’s a screw which is normally seated against a flat on the pin. The screw backed out, which allowed the pin to fall, which allowed one side of the clutch fork to flop around.
In the second photo you can see the fork end. I could move it around easily.
So I rummaged in my trusty Nuts & Bolts Tub Of Hope for a bolt I could use to guide the pin back home.
It is my go-to source for all bits Porsche.
Some fiddling with the pin and fork, some loctite, and I’m back in business! 20 minutes, zero dollar fix!
Nice fix John....and great weekend! Fast, cheap and not mysterious....perfection!!
For the record, CrookedRacer makes the best track marinated flank steak/pita delight treats in the universe! And blows a mean mouth harp.
I'm picturing the scene from The Martian where he is stripping down the ship to get it light enough to make the rendevous as you get ready to pull 288 lbs out of the car. Do you really need windows, doors and a roof?
Adam
adam525i said:I'm picturing the scene from The Martian where he is stripping down the ship to get it light enough to make the rendevous as you get ready to pull 288 lbs out of the car. Do you really need windows, doors and a roof?
Adam
Funny you should ask. I’ll be removing the window tracks, more steel from the doors, and the sunroof, and possibly a good deal of metal that frames the sunroof opening. Unlike The Martian, i’ll need more than a tarp for a windshield.
I like fixes like that! Glad you're back in bidness.
Jim
I benefited from that Tub of Hope this weekend as well when the socket head cap screw holding my rotor on the shaft came out. That caused a pleasant visit to the grass infield with a nice view of hogpen. Thanks again for the replacement screw!
Friday I took a mental health day (yes, I’m grateful to be able to do that occasionally) and worked on the doors. I trimmed the sheet metal back, shaved the heavy mirrors, and removed the crash bar from the passenger side.
I left the drivers side crash bar on because safety or whatever.
i covered the mirror mounting holes with some black gorilla tape.
This produced a bucket of metal and mirrors weighing 18 pounds...
By the way, this is the scale I was given for Xmas because of That Time I used our bathroom scale for motorsports advancement. Thanks, K!
This weekend I turned my attention to the front of the car. And in this first photo you can see at least six things that can be removed. And easy pound was the tiedown on the driver side. There’s the bracket you can see that used to hold a horn or something, and a little clip next to it. But what is that huge pipe doing there?
As far as I can tell it provides air to the vicinity of the stock intake behind the the fender. I guess that had to go because the stock intake got torn out too.
Then up top I tore out the headlight pivot bars which were used to support the headlight covers on the rear edge. The front edge was supported by gorilla tape. So now that really means I HAVE to do these covers the way I always wanted to...
An aside here... if you’re a racer and you do any tinkering at all, you owe it to yourself to get yourself an assortment of stainless metric machine screws. Get some nylon lock nuts too. And some washers. Why not? Now you have The Power to do Anything.
With some M4x25mm screws, and some spacers I made from the bosses (little round things) that I cut from this decking material, I had what I needed to support my covers.
I wanted to drill holes in the cover and the car, but I needed to get it right, and just one magnet wouldn’t hold it still. So I bought three more...
That’s better. Marking stuff accurately with perpendicularity was the key here.
The final product turned out better than I imagined...
It’s on there... rock-solid. I placed the screws relatively high because this side will probably get a duct cut out of the lower half to feed the intake box.
On to the passenger side!
I've been wanting to put these mirrors on for a long time. It's a real glass mirror so it's a little bit heavy but I think it's a quality installation.
Some of the goals were to be clear of the window while it's installed, to see around my window net, and to be clear of my steering wheel. I think I found the precise position that fulfills all of those.
You can't quite see it here, but it's right up against the glass... well, close enough that if shut the door hard, it won't hit the glass and break something.
I think I'll buy another for the other side.
CrookedRacer said:More details from the weekend:
I bought some oil-only "Pig Pads" on Amazon... they absorb oil but reject water. I wanted this type of material to make a "diaper" for my oil leak... (I saw something like this in a video by Van Svenson).
The diaper worked out pretty well, but by mid-day on Sunday, it was time to change the diaper...
So I guess that worked out for the most part. At least I wasn't dropping oil on track. I fretted about whether it would tear up in the wind, but it stayed on solidly. That's a win.
OK so this really intrigues me... I assume that you didn't go through tech with the Piggy in place but zipped it up afterwards?
The oil leak on the E21 is small enough that I'm not worried about losing too much oil during a race, rather, spreading it around for others to enjoy. This could literally allow me to make Mid-O in June as I don't think I'll have time to actually fix the leak by then.
In reply to AxeHealey :
Exactly my situation.
I went through tech with the pad attached. It is folded over so that it doesn't cover much. But at least when I pulled out of tech, there weren't any fresh drips where the car had been!
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