So what did we learn at NEFR 2022?
Car:
-I think I can leave the rear shock valving alone now, we still didn't get to really throw it off anything huge but it handles small kicks (including off axis mid corner ones) so well that I can live with it if it still drops the nose a bit when we try to go too big.
-The rear brakes were smoking after some stages, unsure whether this is a problem vs. just continuing to break in or normal behavior once the rotors wear to a certain point.
-The thing feels AMAZING at speed and I can trust it even more than I already do.
-It can drive surprisingly far with one of the front struts disintegrating.
Driving:
-I was super happy with our late day 1/early day 2 pace and we were improving on it every stage. I hope we can pick back up right there and continue.
-Concord Pond was weak, Sara's suggestion for next year was to just try and memorize it from video which is probably what we'll do.
-Thanks to years of driving broken garbage, I was really comfortable driving to the limit of the hardware once the car was broken. Yay?
Other:
-The flatbed Tundra is an awesome tow vehicle and I should do some real maintenance to it this fall to make sure it can keep doing its' thing forever.
-Cheaping out on a spare finally bit us, although I'm not sure most teams would have made it back to service anyway.
-The suspension setup on the War Weasel was stock replacement KYBs with fresh rear bumpstops (really tall) on all 4 corners and it survived. Big foam bumpstops might be the most underrated budget rally suspension mod that exists.
-DNFing hurts, but feeling like we didn't compete to our actual ability level (Concord Pond or 100aw) hurts worse. I should remember that.
I tried to memorize Concord pond in 2018. But apparently I was using a much faster car's video, And that's why I overshot a corner and had to go down and access road and then back up lol.
I suppose memorizing it from your own video would probably be more useful :)
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
The BRZ is lower than most things and makes crests look way bigger from the driver's seat- I think I need to go off the bumper cam video to really accentuate that, then I'll feel like I can see for miles!
I think it's also worth mentioning that 2wd (well, everyone really) seems to be getting consistently faster- we were running a good amount faster than last year and still needed to drop a lot of time to catch the L2wd leaders. It's awesome seeing the current generation of drivers improving and trying to keep getting better along with them.
While the logistics of getting the crew together may be challenging, have you thought about practicing some repair procedures?
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
Everybody there absolutely aced the repair, if we had had a spare housing it would have been done in 5min and we'd have been eating lunch and chatting. This was all prepped before we arrived just based on "strut broken"
bluej's photo and handiwork I think
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
Everybody there absolutely aced the repair, if we had had a spare housing it would have been done in 5min and we'd have been eating lunch and chatting. This was all prepped before we arrived just based on "strut broken"
bluej's photo and handiwork I think
never has sennett laid out MY tools like that in all the years of crewing for us lol....
but always prepared when there's a known mission :)
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
You hit it on the head, you're a tidy driver and never really busted anything hard enough to need that sort of work, but still been able to limp it back to service. Closest was the first attempt at NEFR when you had that fuel pump issue, and some rear shock issues (or was that just Downey?)
That prep for the strut was Andrew, too. It was great getting to know him this year. Before Chris and Sara came in to the regroup, we were expecting more stuff to be busted/blown on that corner, so we had grabbed everything that they did have a spare of. I do like that about NEFR, that regroup on Saturday is right in the lot next door, so crew and drivers have time to assess and pre-game a bit 
. I hadn't seen a strut snapped quite like that before.
My theory now on the strut is that the previous small damage to the shock housing combined with the whole thing flexing on an R5 mostly unloaded, counter steered wheel, catching something just small enough as to be hard to see. The flex was enough for the bushing in the lower housing to bind some with the shock housing, and the shock housing failed where the damage was on the wheel side of it.
That's as good a guess as anything I can think of, especially since the wheel and tire seem fine. I'm going to assume this was a freak failure for now and just put the same thing back on, but if it happens again without hitting something obvious I think I'll be looking for beefier strut options.
Photo because why not:
Upon initial inspection, things seem pretty much fine:
The inside of the strut tower will need paint but nothing important moved:
What's left of the top of the offending insert, for reference:
And the remaining portion that was connected to that, which we had to cut along with the strut body in order to get things apart:
And now we wait for parts.
My inner shock towers and wheelwells are gravel-blasted as well. Gonna need to get some more spray bedliner lol.
As you weld that new set up, will you use the hub bolted up to ensure the ears don't move during welding?
I'm curious because that's the step I'm getting ready to do on mine as well.
PS: Old Tyme dynamite is my new favorite rally failure
In reply to rallyxPOS13 :
Yes exactly- I bolt the whole thing together on a spare knuckle and use clamps to hold the tube to the ears. Planning on Friday, I'll try to remember to take pictures.
Just for Mr. S13, lots of detail. So first I bolt up the ears on a spare knuckle- leave them slightly loose until the tube is on there for alignment:
Then, once you have both ears nice and straight to the tube and the bolts snugged down, take some big hose clamps and hold the tube on as tight as you can- I use a hex key through the ziptie hole on the ears to keep the lower clamp anchored:
Then I weld every bit of the ends and inside surface of the ears that I can reach:
Once that's done and cooled enough that it's not making pinging noises, I take the clamps off:
Then weld the outside seam on each ear and always wish my welder had a liiiiiiiitle more power because this is some thick stuff:
Then I add all my little gusset plates, using an impact socket sitting on the hardware to ensure there's enough clearance. It's debatable whether these are necessary but I like having more stuff keeping the ears in place so I keep doing it:
Repeat for the other one and:
Paint:
Ready to assemble:
A bunch of stuff later:
One last look because they're only pretty and clean once:
Drives great! We're signed up for the Rausch Creek RallySprint next Saturday.
A note about paint stripes- obviously I put them on a lot of stuff, but this nut at the bottom of the strut should get one even if you're just going to use these on a road car:
That's the only one that has loosened up on me consistently, I use blue loctite on it as well. Check frequently.
So what does our "fixed" strut housing from NEFR service look like? Here's the top:
The upper bushing was smashed so we had to cut it to get the old insert out, and about half of it stayed in there and was still round-ish.
We also had to cut the mounting ears to get it to bolt back up:
The insert that I hammered into it can still be a spare, but it was definitely leaking a little as a result of being off-axis in the mangled housing. Labeled accordingly:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
A note about paint stripes- obviously I put them on a lot of stuff, but this nut at the bottom of the strut should get one even if you're just going to use these on a road car:
That's the only one that has loosened up on me consistently, I use blue loctite on it as well. Check frequently.
That's a reminder that I need to check mine before next weekend....
Thanks for all the pictures, I really appreciate the detail and lessons learned!
I'm regretting my attempt to liberate some existing ears from my set of shocks, I still don't have them all the way off and am >$50 in dremel consumables. I'm assuming your Send-Cut-Send order was less than that!
In reply to rallyxPOS13 :
The ears are about $8ea, the only difficult part of designing them is knowing your centerline distance from the strut to the holes. If you need me to draw you up some and can take detailed measurements I'd be happy to make you files.
I'm always super impressed with your strut housing work, very cool.
Happy Birthday from a random person across the internet!
In reply to adam525i :
Thanks!
To update the thread- STPR registration opens Monday with the event only a few weeks later, that'll be our last rally of the east regional championship.
Did the Rausch Creek sprint on Saturday- not a ton to report there, it went fine but we ran bald tires and drove relatively slow in order to avoid breaking the car this close to STPR. Putting on worn but not-totally-borked front tires in the afternoon yielded a 10 second per run improvement so at least I confirmed that it was tires and not that I've forgotten how to drive. I don't have any action photos yet so here are some repairs and stuff instead.
Predictably dinged muffler:
Getting every last bit out of this Hoosier:
Had to rewrap the handbrake since the bar tape finally came off, it's actually somewhat necessary because the lever gets HOT with the exhaust tucked into the tunnel:
Those tires are TOAST! What compound do you use? I've heard the Hoosier and Cooper really are one step softer than advertised.
Making it to LSPR?
