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Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 4:37 pm
by MostMint
Made some further adjustments on the tune and had the new Megaquirt ready for a road test.

Went to work on post race inspections:
- For the rear suspension checked all the bolts holding the knuckle to the adapter, and the adapter to the hub. To do this had to remove the hub to access the bolts for the adapter to knuckle. To make future inspections easier I reinstalled those with Loc-Tite blue. They were not loose so it seem likely that with Loc-Tite they will not be coming out on their own.
- Front suspension had a bad stud for the Heim joint on the passenger side. It was damaged in contact with another car in the race. I had spares
- RF halfshaft had more free play than I was comfortable with- so it got replaced. Warranty item.

Also addressed:
- Replaced the oil filter - inspection of old filter found more than average amount of tiny metal chips, but not enough to make me think we wrecked the bearings. At temp engine still sports 20 PSI oil pressure so will for now assume its OK, but keep an eye on the pressure.
- Radiator has a small leak where top hose comes in. Well the side can is plastic and there was a decent lip there from the casting. This has been a slow nagging problem for a while now. Also replaced the hose. Test drive uncovered it still leaking, so I snugged the clamp a bit more. I think a spring loaded clamp is going to be the answer here ultimately.
- Replaced the shifter cables. Both of them had kinks in the inside cable, and had noticeable drag in the shifting. I think we did this when removing the engine and the cables getting bound up. It shifts so much nicer now. We had a nice used set in stock.
- Low coolant light is now working properly. Turns out the INJ fuse does more than injectors.
- I've made several attempts to remove the oil from the car. Each time it gets better but there is still oil in a lot of places. I'm done with this for now we can get serious about cleaning up the rest next time the engine comes out.
- On first attempt to test drive, the car would not idle without my help holding the throttle open. Grr. This was resolved by installing an old idle air controller (IAC). The one Dave installed the pin was loose and engine vibrations were allowing it to change its starting location. (see pic)
- Made a preliminary test drive with the MS3. Overall it behaved well. I only stood on it once and it felt really good in 1st gear. I'll try it again in higher gears when I can take it on the freeway. I did notice some part throttle hesitation. I need to re-learn the functional equivalent of the accelerator pump in Megasuirt land and make some changes.

Still a ways to go to really be ready, though it could do a track day right now if that was needed.

I ordered some metal to redo the seat mounting - hope to have that addressed before the next track day. Also the front and rear toe in need to be addressed, as does installing the passenger seat, as well as some touch up and removal of lots of rubber marks - we get a lot of little bits of rubber flying up and leaving residue on the paint.


Not washed yet, but back from a test drive!
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Bent Heim joint stud
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New Heim joint stud installed
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Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:29 pm
by MostMint
Today I replaced the bracket holding the AFR gauge as the one that came with the gauge was about 1/8ā€ too short. I also got to work shortening the cold air intake. It was designed to fit around the battery which is no longer there and it rubs on the upper radiator hose in two places. Shortening the CAI will fix one and extending the support brace about an inch will fix the other.

Here is a before pic of the cold air intake. Who knew it was chrome plated:
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Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 6:56 pm
by MostMint
Latest activity:

* Fixed rear toe in. It was actually toed out quite a bit and apparently dog-tailing. Took some work to establish parallel lines (no straight panels - I used the center of the hubs which I figure is close enough). Expanded the alignment hole slightly as we it was at the end of travel on the passenger side and still toed in.
* while I was under there I swapped out the aftermarket sway bar and put a stock one in there. In ChampCar this is 20 points that I believe is not bringing any value - so lets test and find out. At 15 mm the stock bar is 1 mm smaller than the aftermarket.
* Fred32v was over today and he installed the passenger seat and did a "test fit".
* He also jumped in on redoing the front brake ducts. It's not done but in pretty good shape. Plan is to take a bit of air from the radiator intake (much smaller than the license plate would block) and direct it to the brake ducts. We've been warping rotors and a faster clip since we switched to the 95 front end which I think is because we were using the fog lamp openings as intake points. Again we'll test it and see
* CAI work is done and it is installed
* I now understand the accelerator pump settings enough to start experimenting with them
* took a look at a hole developing in the floor pan near the LR wheel. It's not structural so I just cleaned up the loose rust and cut off the paper thin metal and painted it

Targeting July 6 track day.
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The only other difference in the rear bar is the connection point is just a bit further down the bar (stock bar on top)
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Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:38 pm
by MostMint
Updates:
* With assistance from Fred32v the car now sports new front brake duct inlets
* While the front bumper cover was off I took the opportunity to repaint the front end - lots of chips in the paint and the red base color looks kinda bad showing through.
* Today I made some preliminary adjustments to the "accelerator pump" circuit. Seems decent but will need more driving to know for sure. Might be able to thin down the higher % TPS change setting to save a bit of fuel.

It still feels a bit flat though. I was contemplating revising the ignition timing tables until I remembered it had been retarding the timing so I'll need to look at the logs to determine if that is still happening. Also for Dave - note that in 2018 I had discovered the same issue with the MS2 not taking a negative trigger angle, so the tables we have been using are already 2 degrees higher than the actual timing.
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Also- looking at our history with this car, 6 of 14 race weekends have been at Nelson Ledges. By race hours over half the race hours we've done have been there. I did a bit of touch up on our race history banner:
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Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 2:05 pm
by MostMint
I'm getting to the point where it is time to sell this car.

It has an engine rattle that needs addressed (piston skirt cracked I think) though I do have a good working spare I could put in.

Right now I'm thinking $3k for the car, another $1k for spares and $1k for the radio setup.

It has been a great run with the team and this car, but I don't have the fire for it anymore and it's not going to be a garage ornament.

I'm scheming I'll get the Vette set up for track days and if I want to race again I can rent a seat or finish the Vette.

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 8:39 pm
by TireSmoker
It was a great run and I'm happy I was a part of it. We had some pretty good adventures :-)

-Dave

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 3:45 pm
by Fred32v
Many awesomely great times!
THE Yard of Bricks!
THE Yard of Bricks!

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2023 2:15 pm
by MostMint
OK so it seems I'll be on Inside ChampCar tonight at 9 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_hQUNtA2VU

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 8:23 am
by Basement Paul
You're like a minor celebrity. Good work. I'm sure that wasn't easy, but they were interesting and seemed to keep everything moving along smoothly.

-BP

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 9:04 am
by wxo
Great interview, Andy. In total, it was well done. I found it very interesting and entertaining.

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 9:18 am
by MostMint
Thanks. I only learned I would be doing this at noon that day. Fred from Nelson Ledges was asked and he said he was not available then suggested me.

It was enough time to shake off the rust on some of the details. Obviously the team, the car and Nelson Ledges are subjects Iā€™m quite familiar with so it was fairly easy and went really fast.

Afterward i thought of many things that could have been added in. The main thing is I would have liked to thank everyone who has put in so much time and/or money to support the team throughout all the years.

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 10:12 am
by TireSmoker
I'm a little late, but yeah, good interview! Pretty nice of Bill to call out the trophy case. :-)

-Dave

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 2:47 pm
by Fred32v
Really liked the interview, I'll check the "Like" box.

Re: cheap car racing

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:20 pm
by MostMint
TireSmoker wrote: ā†‘Tue Oct 24, 2023 10:12 am I'm a little late, but yeah, good interview! Pretty nice of Bill to call out the trophy case. :-)

-Dave
Yes. Made that possible when I moved it there earlier in the day, and showed him before we went on air. :wink: