Rumor has it (and the Chumpcar guys flew in last week to talk) that Chumpcar in Edmonton is happening in August.
I have been offered a rental integra to captain and staff as I see fit.
I will have some time to put into the rental car to insure it is up to my standards, as well as good facilities to do the work. I won't even be sad to throw some additional money at it as obviously, there is only so much work you can expect someone to do on a chumpcar rental. My main concerns are increasing reliability and failure points to possibly stock up on additional, PROVEN working parts (too many people bring broken or severely degraded spares to the track which seems counter intuitive).
What would you do maintenance-wise? Should be a 1990-1993 Integra. I am trying to get the rental car out to a lapping day with the newbs who may be piloting it, and wanting to practice pit stops and communications, so that is all sorted :)
Check all belts and hoses. Go over every suspension bolt and make sure it is tight.
Redo all of the grounds.
Check the condition of the electronic systems - check the wire harness.
Check to see how the seat is mounted (I have seen some scary seat mounts)
Grab soem beers and some friends and just poke and prod all parts of the car. Fix EVERYTHING you think is marginal.
Not maintenance, but if it doesn't have them, I'd install a few gauges (fuel pressure, oil pressure, maybe engine temp, maybe voltage). I wouldn't expect too many drivers to watch them (unless you can remind them on the radio), but it makes diagnosing problems much quicker in some cases, especially fuel pressure, since that can be a little hard to check.
I agree that making sure you have a pile of good spares for common parts is pretty critical for an unproven car, too.
In addition to the above, change all the fluids with good synthetic stuff (engine, brake, trans, ps), bring extra brake pads, belts, hoses, etc.
EDIT: Honda specific stuff that comes to mind, full timing belt job (water pump, idlers, etc) and valve adjustment, probably not a bad idea to set them on the wide end of the specs.
The 90 Integra we ran at Chumpcar Calgary got a set of PBR Metalmaster pads on new Chinese rotors, one used connecting rod and piston to replace the one that had been shortened when the car got hydrauliced and written off, a set of rings, a quick touch on the head to make sure the valves weren't stuck, a new timing belt kit and a set of used up Yokohama tires of some sort. Dave K bought the car shortly after, and has now been running on the same motor, but with much improved suspension paint and tires since then, including last years 1,000k event. I think he put a set of valve seals in it once, and keeps thinking he should rebuild it, but it just keeps smoking along.
With absolutely no suspension prep, it ran about 3 seconds off my IT2 Neon, which was always a front runner there. The Metalmasters lasted 13.75 hours of the 14, the hard old Yokos looked roughly the same after the event as before, and 2 of the 4 of us ran it really quite hard.
It was so good, I have a 98 sitting here ready to strip and cage.
JohnyHachi6 wrote:
Not maintenance, but if it doesn't have them, I'd install a few gauges (fuel pressure, oil pressure, maybe engine temp, maybe voltage). I wouldn't expect too many drivers to watch them (unless you can remind them on the radio), but it makes diagnosing problems much quicker in some cases, especially fuel pressure, since that can be a little hard to check.
I agree that making sure you have a pile of good spares for common parts is pretty critical for an unproven car, too.
from my experience with Honda's on the track …. pads, rotors, alternator, and distributor … I'm sure there are several other parts, but those for sure …
an extra set of tires (mounted) …. flush and check completely the cooling system, flush the brake fluid, and refill with a high temp Dot 4 fluid … ATE, Motul … etc check the calipers for their condition
drive it hard yourself, to make sure the syncros are in good shape … and if you noobs don't know how to heel and toe, tell them to not even try (they'll do more damage trying and screwing up than if they don't try at all) … if you can find a Chump tech, make sure the cage is up to snuff … not much worse than trying to rebuild the cage at the track
hubs, ball joints, tie rod ends … go through the entire suspense (I think someone else mentioned this) … alignment
all I can think of for the moment
I'd first make sure the rear trailing arm bushings are up to snuff and not coming apart - you'll get some wild handling when they start deteriorating. 3M window welded mine on my '90 RS autocrosser/track car and it helped with turn-in rotation as well.
Like most cars it also needs better brakes for track duty. So make sure the brakes are up to your standards as well - adequate rotors/pads/fluids for endurance events should probably suffice if you add cooling.
Not sure of the rules for Chump Challenge, but if you can go with a lightweight battery (like an Oddyessy PC680) and mount it down directly onto the front crossmember and against the side it really helps out with handling as well. See pictures of the setup below:
"Where are you battery?..."
"O, there you are!"
Moving the battery there also has a side benefit of making any work dealing with the engine or transmission just that much easier too.
If legal, for axles go with Raxles replacements... don't go with an auto parts store rebuilt ones. Raxles will last with rough use...rebuilts won't.
If legal, change out the rubber factory exhaust camshaft plug with a nice aluminum one with high quality o-ring seals, and still seal it well with sealant.
Main Fuel Relay (located under the dash) will absolutely shut things down on you (ignition and fuel injection) when it fails from age/deterioration... make sure you have a spare one in good condition.
If legal, I'd also depower and gut the valving in the steering rack (drain most of the fluid out and loop it to itself to make it a closed system)... really nice steering feel(better than my FRS) and you get rid of a failure point while also reducing parasitic loss on the motor. While turning effort is harder from a stop, it is no different when up to speed.
But yeah, Honda FWD transmission and 3rd gear synchros are an issue...rebuild if you can or get a transmission that is still without the issue yet if third gear balks and grinds when trying to shift quickly.
That's about it for the non-generic stuff...
Like has been said, definitely give it fresh fluids (with some good brake fluid) and then pads and a decent set of tires. I did go through a distributor or two in my old Integra, so would be good to update that or have a spare handy.
If VTEC you could possibly lower the engagement with one of those piggyback VAFC units, secondhand you could probably get one cheap. Squeeze out a little extra oomph (but sounds like that may be against the rules).
Make sure all your drivers fit. Is the seat on sliders? Helmet far enough below the roll cage?
