Basura Blanco Racing - an evolving fleet

This is about the best scenario I could have found.  Didn't have to pull the intake or much of anything.  The sealant seems to have squeezed out of the narrowest part of the mating surface.  Next time I'll add more on the engine side of things.  I'm going to give it one more shot using this goofy spring loaded bolt.  I really don't want to drill and tap the head.  There is not much meat in the area where it would have to be done.  The Facebook groups claim to have had success with this piece and are calling it "user error".  That's as far as I'm going to get before heading to Alabama for several days. 

Wow, the overlapping area is extremely small judging by the rtv imprint from the block. Is there any slop in the holes? Can it be pushed any closer to the manifold?

Hopefully the next go seals it up right.

I think I found a VSS sensor that should bolt to the transaxle for the 5 or 6 speed and will need just a little wiring work at the connector. I'll double check which one fits yours and report back if you're interested and haven't already ordered the gps signal part. The sensor I'm talking about is $5-15 for the cheap ones so it's an inexpensive solution.

Shavarsh said:

Wow, the overlapping area is extremely small judging by the rtv imprint from the block. Is there any slop in the holes? Can it be pushed any closer to the manifold?

You're right.  Iirc, I applied the sealant to the engine side and I hugged both openings very closely - and it still missed the sealing surface on the adapter.  I think I'm going to try an adapter from a different brand, TracTuff, that has a good rep. there's no opportunity to push the original adapter closer to the manifold. In fact, I had to shave both the manifold and adapter to get it to fit at all. 

 

captainawesome said:

Hopefully the next go seals it up right.

I think I found a VSS sensor that should bolt to the transaxle for the 5 or 6 speed and will need just a little wiring work at the connector. I'll double check which one fits yours and report back if you're interested and haven't already ordered the gps signal part. The sensor I'm talking about is $5-15 for the cheap ones so it's an inexpensive solution.

I haven't yet ordered anything related to the speed sensor.  I was kind of hoping my tuner could eliminate the need for it? 🤷‍♂️. Don't know if that's possible. But I'll wait to see what you come up with before ordering anything. 

Would it help to make a gasket out of paper gasket material, apply RTV to the head, stick it on and then apply RTV to the adapter? That might help with that super thin area. 

In reply to AxeHealey :

Good idea, maybe bump it up to sheet metal instead of paper.

The TracTuff piece has a lot of support on the FB discussion pages.  It looks to have a lower profile (better clearance against the intake manifold).  I'm hoping it looks better on the backside too, but I can't seem to find any pics.   If the mating surface is questionable in the same area, I'll look to use a gasket.  Ordered the TracTuff unit yesterday.

Rallycross Nationals weekend was a blast!  Beautiful venue, great weather, and awesome people!  I took home the win for UTV Sport class and even beat the times of the guys in UTV Max (turbo) class.  

Midway through day 2 (of 3 days!), I was the overall leader of all classes by a hair.  However, right about that time, my car developed a high rpm vibration and I had step my driving back to about 90% to try and conserve the car to the end.  I'm speculating that a flywheel bolt came out.  
 

I had never been so impressed by fwd class rally cars until this weekend.  I swear the top guys in that class are on throttle 99% of the way around the course, and they're fast! 
 

I arrived to the venue to find one of my trailer bearings had destroyed itself.  I didn't see/feel anything while driving, so no idea when it happened   Glad I was able to do the repair there rather than the side of the highway.  Only took 3 trips into town.  Apparently my trailer is equipped with some discontinued 5 lug pattern   

Saturday night I ventured into Huntsville to check out their little roundy-round track   It's a high-banked 1/4 mile.   Made for some good tight racing!

(Most of) the Florida gang!

edit for an SCCA complaint: there were a pair of guys co-driving one of the UTV max vehicles  they're both new to scca and quick drivers in a quick car.  One of them was leading the class early.  Being a 2-driver car, things were a bit unusual and hectic for them in grid.  I don't know the exact story, but apparently one of them left grid early (out of order?) at the direction of the grid official.   Somehow this resulted in a 15 second penalty for both drivers.  None of the class competitors were involved in any sort of protest and none of them wanted the penalty enforced.   However SCCA big wigs wouldn't budge.

that bullE36 M3 cost one of the drivers the win in that class.  The pair work for a company that makes UTV mods and sponsored their Nationals effort.  They said they're done racing with SCCA as a result   I was thoroughly embarrassed at the scca handling of the situation.  New class brings new drivers to the club   Scca immediately berkeleys then on a technicality.

Also, I've been involved in lots of different racing.  Never have I seen so much effort revolving around "protests".  There was like a 5 person committee assembled at the event just for protests.  The protest process was discussed at every drivers meeting.  WTF?  Isn't this supposed to be fun?  And they still come out with a horse E36 M3 resolution that sends 2 new members away for good. 🤦‍♂️

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

They have always been this way.I saw it through my parents eyes and ears in my childhood, and in 1973 when I first went racing I did not go to the SCCA. They don't like the competition from NASA, Grid Life, etc. but their attitude has been the impetus for the creation of those two and many other sanctioning bodies.

Lof8 - Andy said:

edit for an SCCA complaint: there were a pair of guys co-driving one of the UTV max vehicles  they're both new to scca and quick drivers in a quick car.  One of them was leading the class early.  Being a 2-driver car, things were a bit unusual and hectic for them in grid.  I don't know the exact story, but apparently one of them left grid early (out of order?) at the direction of the grid official.   Somehow this resulted in a 15 second penalty for both drivers.  None of the class competitors were involved in any sort of protest and none of them wanted the penalty enforced.   However SCCA big wigs wouldn't budge.

that bullE36 M3 cost one of the drivers the win in that class.  The pair work for a company that makes UTV mods and sponsored their Nationals effort.  They said they're done racing with SCCA as a result   I was thoroughly embarrassed at the scca handling of the situation.  New class brings new drivers to the club   Scca immediately berkeleys then on a technicality.

Also, I've been involved in lots of different racing.  Never have I seen so much effort revolving around "protests".  There was like a 5 person committee assembled at the event just for protests.  The protest process was discussed at every drivers meeting.  WTF?  Isn't this supposed to be fun?  And they still come out with a horse E36 M3 resolution that sends 2 new members away for good. 🤦‍♂️

Congrats on the win Andy!  It was nice to meet you in person!

While I wholeheartedly agree with you on the how the UTV situation ended up, I'd like to add a little clarification on the whole protest thing.

The protest committee (jury of your peers) was 3 people on site and they ruled to throw the penalty out, due to mitigating circumstances.  Unfortunately, a certain SCCA big wig decided to appeal this decision and then it was sent to the court of appeals (3 people that hold this role for year long terms).  They chose to uphold the penalty.

Literally no one was happy that the penalty was upheld; including the driver who then was awarded first due to it.  In general, the rallycross community doesn't get all serious business like this and this is only the second time I'm aware of the court of appeals being invoked (1st time was 2015 over some tires).  The bigwig who chose to push this forward certainly errored IMHO and like you said, likely chased away future competitors.

Lof8 - Andy said:

The TracTuff piece has a lot of support on the FB discussion pages.  It looks to have a lower profile (better clearance against the intake manifold).  I'm hoping it looks better on the backside too, but I can't seem to find any pics.   If the mating surface is questionable in the same area, I'll look to use a gasket.  Ordered the TracTuff unit yesterday.

This is obviously a single anecdote but the guy that runs tractuff is giant boner with customer service skills rivaling a braindead mime in a foreign country.

In reply to FooBag (Forum Supporter) :

Hi David!  Great to meet you too, and congrats!  3rd in class, I think?  Thanks for adding some clarity to the situation.  It was a crappy sequence of events.   But that was literally my only complaint for the whole weekend.  Everything else was fantastic!!

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

I was on the protest committee for the other car that made the same error.  It almost caught us out too as our 1XX driver ran first on Friday.  The run order was posted after I went to sleep on Thursday and there wasn't enough internet at the site to download it.  I thought the right decision was to kick it back to the competitors to protest if they wanted.  I didn't think the wrong run order impacted the times on Friday.  If it happened on Sunday morning with the slow and wet first runs, I could see a protest.

I was surprised that the person who handed out the penalty dug in their heels to ensure it stayed on the books.  It was a big swing and a miss on providing a welcoming event.  The takeaway for me is that you can take a 5 minute mechanical timeout/break at any time for any reason, even after scanning the wrong helmet.

In reply to ojannen :

Do you know the name of the person that handed out the penalty, and then dug in their heels to keep it enforced?  I don't care to pursue anything, I'd just like to know who the dick bag is for my own knowledge bank.  You can tell me at the next rallyx rather than posting here. 

Found the results of a poll before the Nationals.  I received as much support as "other".  There were only 3 of us in the class!  😂

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

According to the vote totals on that poll, I am half of your fan base.

ojannen said:

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

According to the vote totals on that poll, I am half of your fan base.

Well thanks, Jeremiah!!  Lol!

Congrats on the win!  It was cool watching you guys run, and I was impressed with how fast the UTV Sport guys went vs the UTV Mod guys.  I'm a local and I'm used to seeing Jon Coatney and a few other UTV Mod guys at our events, but it was cool watching the just how close the classes are.

Lof8 - Andy said:

In reply to FooBag (Forum Supporter) :

Hi David!  Great to meet you too, and congrats!  3rd in class, I think?  Thanks for adding some clarity to the situation.  It was a crappy sequence of events.   But that was literally my only complaint for the whole weekend.  Everything else was fantastic!!

I wanted to confirm what David said and give a bit more info.  I was on the protest committee for the UTV protest.  The on-site committee was only allowed to vote yes or no to uphold the protest or keep the penalty, and we felt that the penalty was too much.  If you care, the protest paperwork is all available in the Sportity app still for viewing. 

Thank you for the thoughts about the event, I'm really happy to hear it.  A lot of the locals put a ton of time into trying to ensure that the event was well run, and positive feedback really helps.  I hope we see you guys at the next one!

In reply to CollectingJunk :

The event was top notch!   The only negative was that UTV max incident.  berkeley the grand poobah guy. 

Third times a charm 🤞

this piece is designed much better in every way - clearances, attachment method, etc

Fingers crossed!

The floor under the 914 remains dry!!  I'm hoping to finish up wiring this weekend and be close to ready for some ecu setup/fire up/tune soon!

got the YXZ up in the air.  Flywheel bolts are all present.  More investigation needed.  And some trans seals. 

Boxster needed some blue up front to balance it out.  Added a lip spoiler. Not everyone's taste but I dig it!  It looks black in the pics, but it's the same "midnight blue metallic" as the hardtop and cayman spoiler.

With a little help from the YXZ fb group, I think I've found the source of my vibration.  I think I've twisted the splines on the engine to trans driveshaft slip joint.  In this pic, you can see my previous marks for lining up the slip joint.  Apparently this is fairly common on high hp turbo cars (mine is not one of those but I do drive the piss out of it). I'm glad it didn't snap and cost me a championship!

I was just about to type up driveshaft joints or slip yoke. My XJ had a sloppy front slip joint and it was a TERRIBLE vibration. New one installed and it was smooth as butter.