Tales from the Batcave (RX-7, rallycross, misc. stuff content)

Idling the engine today while I cleaned up some stuff and shoved more things into the Volvo for offsite storage, it appears to not be pressurizing the cooling system!

Also, the ancient Sears/Penske timing light shocked me if I touched it, so I put that back in its box instead of throwing it away like I should.  Or maybe some vintage tool perv will buy it on eBay for $400, who knows.

This episode brought to you by the Rolling Stones.  I've a red headliner and I want it painted black.

No before picture because I deleted it by accident, but it's standing against the wall in the OMG MESS picture upthread.  Am using some vinyl dye spray that I got at Summit a long time ago (2016, probably, when I got the headliner)  It does seem to be a dye and not a paint, in that it didn't really form a "layer" on top.

I just had to go out and check tonight.

Cooling system was depressurized and the radiator wasn't low.

This thing might work long enough to actually drive until the salt starts flying.

Worked 10 hours straight today with no lunch.  Somebody showed me something this morning that got me hyper pissed off and I just rode that wave, burning off the pissed-off energy instead of directing it in less productive ways.

Then, at 6pm, I was checking events on MotorsportReg and noticed that Saturday's DRSCCA rallycross now had only 48 entries instead of 50, although I was still listed as "waitlist".

Then I got a gmail notification.  e-mail from Mary Shiloff:  I'm off the waitlist, and now officially on the entry list.  And the black RX-7 was still in shelf mode, with no bumper, and the exhaust hanger had broken at the previous rallycross.  And I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday after work.

Grab burritos, wraps, and a coffee at the Speedway, then get to work clearing things out, laying out my roll of magnetic material since some dumbass entered as car 588 since it's been so long not running DRSCCA that anything I have numbers for has been reserved by someone else.  (Now I wonder if car 51 is perma-reserved in honor of Bob Poling)

I, er, cleaned off/out the black car by re-shelving the red car.  But then I remounted the bumper, which is not as easy as four connectors and two bolts because of the trailer hitch.  And, after watching some recent videos of the Thistle Hill site, I'm definitely going to be wanting the rally tires, so I can't just let the hitch float unbolted, and rallycross on my street tires like I would at I-96 or their Ohio site.  Plus, having the trailer means I have a place to stash things instead of just leaving them on the ground.  Even though it is going to cost an extra ten bucks or so in tolls *grumble*

Next was the exhaust.  For some reason the exhaust hanger in front of the axle is broken because the exhaust smashed up into it and mangled the chassis side hanger mount.  Completely out of mid-length exhaust donuts, and unwilling to let the whole weight of the exhaust rest at the engine and at the bumper mount, I borrowed (stole) four links from one of my towbar's safety chains and made a hanger out of chain.  Break THAT, bitch.  Yes, life is going to suck driving the car now.  Well guess what, it sucks already.   So, the amount that it's going to suck more is a drop in the bucket of suckage.

Speaking of bucket of suckage.  The whole reason I wanted to hit up this DRSCCA rallycross is because of NEOhio's inaugural event happening a weekend from now.  I have seen zero NEOhio people at WOR or OVR events, which tells me they have either been going to DRSCCA events, or they have been going to zero events and the NEOhio event is going to be a E36 M3show, as expected from my last experience with trying to help NEOhio develop an RX program.  So I *need* to go to the DRSCCA event if only for the reconnaisance factor.

Also, I want to talk to Paul about tyres.  I think I'm going to have a need for some 13" hoops for next season.  And my '81 is going to exclusively be run at DRSCCA events, because they are admittedly a lot more low-intensity than events run at Bitzer's.  And my overarching Goal is to learn the car, make the car work, and take it to Nationals next year, to run in Prepared RWD again.  And, Fates willing, take home the PR trophy.

YES I KNOW WHO ELSE RUNS IN PR.  I plan on hitting some DCR events too.  The '81 is frickin' pleasant to drive.  Anyway, I know what number I'm going to run with the '81. Since it's going to spend a lot of time driving to and fro at night, it's going to be a Night Witch...

I wish more regions ran Rallycross here.  Only have ETRSCCA and that is still 110miles away. next closest is 220 miles away with TVRSCCA.

In reply to MrChaos :

Thistle Hill is about 175mi away, my home region runs about 220mi away.

I don't even remember how far away Crystal (Detroit Region site) is, but I do remember that it was a six hour drive because I could listen to Slayer's entire discography up to 2002, minus that one album I don't like.  And if you wanted to rallycross in the winter, you HAD to hit Crystal, because it had a huuuuge field, and since it was the offseason, we could run on the dirt oval too!  And it was far enough north that the ground was more likely to be frozen instead of turning into a mud pit when the sun would work on the ground after the cars cleared the snow away.

Okay so Google says Crystal is only like four hours and 293 miles away.  I'd usually leave at about 3am to get there, though, and I'd sleep at rest areas on the way back home and get home around 3-6am the next day.

Huge fun though, even in a car that needed faster steering and about 300 more horsepower (up from maybe 80). 

THOON (picture from 2014.  "Thoon" is relative.  Hey, I do.. things... eventually.  I mean the '81 RX-7 runs and drives now, right?  And I did that in under three years)

Snap back to reality.  Changed the oil in the black car, since the oil was like 2 quarts overfull, and refilled all of my Penngrade oil bottles with 2 stroke oil.  I like the Penngrade bottles because they have wide mouths and a clear section on the side.  Five quarts are in the '84.  I only expect to need one, but being prepared knows no bounds.  Besides, it's not like I'll never use them, and it is amazing how many truck stops do not stock 2 stroke oil.

Then I drove out to the Batcave-Annex and reacquired my trailer, went back to Batcave-Prime (it's like Optimus Prime but with spiders) and loaded up the trailer.  Then, since I didn't want to drive the tetchy '84 in what was still rush hour traffic,

I decided to drain the oil drain pan into the gallon and 5-quart oil jugs I have been hoarding.

This is when I found Deadmau5.  (Which is pronounced dead-mow-five, of course).  Or rather, I found a mouse in the bottom of my oil drain pan, and it didn't look very lively at all.  My first thought was, aww, that was a really E36 M3ty way to die, that had to have been awful.  Then I thought, well, maybe it was the mouse that crapped all over the passenger seat of the '84, so I can feel bad for it but not that bad.  Anyway, it got nothin' on Toiletbird, and not just because Oildrainmouse doesn't have the same ring to it, and Deadmau5 is taken.

In reply to Knurled. :

i had to reread cause i though you said you found a mouse in your oil pan. I was like hmm.

Actually there was "something" in the oil pan.  I took the drain plug out and the stream turned into a trickle.

I am fairly sure that this engine doesn't have a prostate (because it is a stockport it has no balls...  WOAH) I figured there was something stopping up the drain, so I used a conveniently located on the floor broken Allen wrench to do the knife-in-the ketchup-bottle thing and push aside whatever cheeki breeki was in the oil pan, while I watched some seriously anorexic spiders milling around.  They don't even bother me anymore.

At first I was like, well, this engine is coming out soon anyway, who cares.  Then I realized, no I am working on the '84, it is the '81 that is getting an engine transplant.

I guess this means I need to send my bridge ported side housings off to Chip's to be ground and re-Nitrided, and buy some GSL-SE rotor housings while Mazda still has them in stock.  (A friend in the know tells me that Mazda is actually still manufacturing them, which I kind of want to doubt but he knows enough people who know other people that I can believe it)

rotaries just sound like you are lighting money on fire to me.  Dont get me wrong, they still tempt me heavily. but $$$$

Look through side windows when driving for best effect, even if you're pointed straight.  Makes for better looking photos.

I'll work on the video tomorrow, I feel like I'm part zombie and part ex-zombie.  Can't wait to review it myself, as the courses, especially the afternoon course, were silly tight in spaces.  I kept thinking I either hit none of the cones or I hit all of them, and apparently I hit none of them.  Except for that one at the end of my final run, because Artur kept running faster times than me and it was psyching me out.

Also:  I filled up at the Pilot at exit 15 on I-75 in Michigan.  Drove to the event, ran the event, and then drove the 165 miles to the Batcave, all on the same tank and without using my 5 gallon reserve jug.  And the lift fuel pump wasn't even rattling in corners yet, although the gauge had been on E for about ten miles.  (I figured if I ran out, I had five gallons with me, and I just wanted to get HOME)

Now comes the part where I'm too tired to sleep, probably.

MrChaos said:

rotaries just sound like you are lighting money on fire to me.  Dont get me wrong, they still tempt me heavily. but $$$$

Are you kidding?  What got me into rotaries in the 90s was that you can make lots more power with a die grinder.  No need to spend thousands of dollars on the valvetrain, camshafts, etc.  Even today the top racing rotaries use slightly modified OEM parts.

Teaser video.

i was talking about like replacement irons and rotors since iirc mazda isnt making anymore and people have only just started getting billet housings mainstream.

MrChaos said:

i was talking about like replacement irons and rotors since iirc mazda isnt making anymore and people have only just started getting billet housings mainstream.

It's still cheaper than giving all your money to a machine shop.

An LS1 swap, near as I can figure, would cost around $10,000 to do it right.  And then you're still going to explode it on a regular basis.

Looking forward to seeing your footage from the afternoon runs, we had a nice little battle going there! 

In reply to artur1808 :

Well, it's been taking me long enough.  Having issues with VIRB Edit.

Morning runs are up.  Hoping to have afternoon runs up by this time tomorrow.

It was a kickass time running against you and all the other people in MR, and hanging out with/watching the runs of old friends who I haven't seen in forever.  (Like Burke's last run in the CRX... that was friggin' EPIC)

In reply to Knurled. :

Most of Burke's runs tend to be fairly memorable haha. I was working start and felt like I needed to have a blast shield and earmuffs to protect myself every time that CRX pulled up to the line. 

In reply to artur1808 :

That CRX sounded friggin' awesome from my station at corner 3.  Reminded me of a BDA somehow.  All intake noise and a great music it was.

Afternoon video:

That looks wicked fun. I've always wanted the opportunity to get out and do something like this. Someday.

Azryael sai

That looks wicked fun. I've always wanted the opportunity to get out and do something like this. Someday.

Someday is either never, or tomorrow.  Whichever that is, is up to you and nobody else.

#saywhat

Ain't that the truth lol. Can't say I have a good rally-capable vehicle currently in the stable, but I can think of a few good platforms I'd love to get started with.

Threw away an entire S60 trunkful of stuff, including the cooler that still had lunchmeat in it from the National Tour event (I taped that sucker shut and threw it quickly) and some broken transmission stuff and those 4.44 gears so I don't get tempted to try to run them again.  The cooler was especially satisfying because it always seemed to be in the way.

Ed Trudeau thinks I should be at the NEOhio event.  Well, if Ed says so.  Plus there are a lot of seasoned competitors who have been running with WOR/OVR and Detroit (including a certain Miata from Avon Lake that I haven't seen in forever).  The question now is if I enter the black RX-7 and risk breaking it five days before the event on the 12th, or if I just show up to work and drive the red RX-7 which is infinitely more pleasant to drive.

So, things happened.

First, I took teh R to work to do an oil change and look things over.  The low oil warning has been whining at me for a week or two, but the oil was only 3/4 quart below the full line, and it had been almost 5000mi since the last change (shame on me).  $37 for a bucket of Mobil 1 and a filter, not bad at all.  This, however, is bad.

There's a corner on the way to work where my internal navigator says don't cut, but it is fun to see how much I can feel the tires overhanging the missing chunk of asphalt on the inside.  Well, one morning two weeks ago, I went too far and fell in a bit, and this is the result.  Oops.  Rear tire is also mangled but not into the cords.

Waiting for new production 225/45R18 winter tires to show up in our supplier's inventory.

Went to teh Batcave and dug out the RX-7 which I have not touched since the last, triumphant rallycross last weekend.  Because I did not need to.  I parked it almost out of fuel, and I need to leave the Batcave at about 6am to make it to tomorrow's event in time, which means I need to leave the house at about 5:30am.  So I turned the trailer around in the car's bay and took the RX-7 for a fuel trip.  It swallowed 13.8 gallons before clickoff, at 260mi on the trip odometer.

Now.  The odometer is calibrated for a 185/70-13 tire with 3.91 gears.  I have 195/65-15 tires with 4.86 gears.  I'll spare you the math, it's about 15% high going by mile markers.  So 260 divided by 1.15 is about 225 actual miles.  But this included the rallycross, which accounted for about three or four of those gallons, and maybe 5-10 miles.  Either way, it results in a bit over 20mpg while towing a trailer and hauling ass at about 75-80 most of the way.  I am pleased with this.

What I am not pleased with.

That is a spider web/nest on the car's mud.  Not sure if the spiders are native to the increasingly poorly named Batcave, or if they were imported from a few miles west of where Eight Mile Road turns into a gravel 1.5 lane path.

Speaking of South Lyon. 

Next time you’re here grab a cooler I have plenty 

Heels on ground when slavs squat around.