Second place by 3.x seconds.
Not second in class, second overall.
Video pending but it will take a while.
Second place by 3.x seconds.
Not second in class, second overall.
Video pending but it will take a while.
There is so much to process, but for now I knocked this together.
Playing with G Metrix layouts.
Afternoon runs shortly-ish.
I actually edited and uploaded the afternoon video on my lunch break at work, so I had no audio. Just listened to it just now.
I never realized how much the car bangs and pops. You don't hear it in the car hardly at all. To be honest, even when the exhaust fell off, I didn't really hear it, all of my focus was on the course. And just to show who's boss, at 5:38 or so, you can hear the characteristic "phshee-BANG!!" of Evan's Miata. While I was parking my car at the extreme opposite end of the paddock, as far away from the course as possible.
Also, I need a better horn.
In reply to Knurled. :
The course was set up “out front” this time? It looks like it was fun!
In reply to paranoid_android :
It was very fun, i always love the front courses. It was only 35 seconds but flowed nicely and not too rough.
To be honest I was surprised that we were running up front. What we had used to do was run one end of the yard for a season while the other end sort of sorted itself out, and then rotated to running in the front.
I like both fields, they have their ups and downs. So to speak! The back field is usually crazy-fun with a long downhill sweeper that is mostly a test of courage, followed by a snaking S curves to get back up the hill. Mostly because the terrain dictates that, there are some gullies and stuff that need to be avoided. The downside is the front yard absolutely sucks for parking if you have to change tires and stuff. A lot of people just drive up to the garage and change tires there then run back to their spot in the paddock.
The front field has even more elevation change, and there's always a fun banked turnaround at the top of the hill. I found that the fastest way in a front driver is to not lift at all and just pitch the car in, it will sort itself. Unless you hit a bump while sideways and you kick the whole back end and the inside front off the ground, causing an Evo-driving competitor who worked that heat to come up to you and say "DUDE!!! YOU GOT AIR!"
That S40 was so much fun. It's a shame that they rusted like Mitsubishis. And that nobody makes a diff for the transmission. I usually ran it with the boost minimized, so the engine made like 120hp, just to keep it from spinning one tire all the time.
Today was a good day.
Acquired a bumper so I can put the red one back on the '81. And a zero mile 12A rebuild that, by the date Sharpied on the intermediate housing, was rebuilt during the Clinton administration. Not pictured are two steering boxes (one with a failed shear pin and one not) for nefarious purposes, a 15mm rear sway bar since he didn't have any SA bars for me to glom, two '83-85 driveshafts with good U joints and unworn yokes (I stopped at two, there were like a dozen there) and a complete set of mismatched 13x7 4x110 wheels.
And then there's the star of the show. He left, I set up my GPS for my next stop, then realized something. Called him back up: "Hey, you gotta fuel tank?" "Yes I do!" So we both turn ourselves around, and he produces from the back of the shed a '81-83 fuel tank, also known as Pure Unobtainium. And he claims that it was recently removed from a running car, to boot.
SWEEEET. The major sticking point to getting my '81 back on the road is theoretically dealt with!
The rig:
S60R towed like a boss. Spent a lot of time in the mountains in 5th gear at 3000rpm because I have too much mechanical sympathy to climb those long grades under boost at 2500rpm in 6th. I mean, I am pretty sure it was in boost in 5th, but without a gauge I will err to the side of engine-friendliness. Still got 23mpg trip average while hauling ass, driving Cleveland to Summit Point to Cumberland, MD (Home of Dr. McNinja!) to Columbus.
Not home yet, I have some parts to deliver here in Columbus, but today was a good day.
After a couple S60 trunkfuls worth of deE36 M3ting, it is time to attack the back of the '81. First, we sweep up the dust that has accumulated there for the last, oh, 24 months or so.
Literally just the dust accumulation between the rear axle and bumper.
Next, the rust gnomes have been kind. The last time I tried to pull the tank out, I got frustrated by the number of Standard Japanese M6 Bolts Threaded Into Thin Heatshields that were seized and basically ruining everything. Today, everything zipped apart, and here's the demon:
Note abundance of red clay, and the hose routing peculiar to the '81-83 tank. The hardlines are part of the tank, this is why you cannot have them boiled out and resealed.
The bit that made me nervous... there are like four different tanks for 1st-gens. It appears I got the correct one!
Now the part that always gets me in trouble. I want this clean down to the paint before installing the replacement tank. Nothing I have is touching it. Going to buy one of those big bag o' rags (not a big bag o' glass) and some cheap penetrating oil and see what that does.
(yes, those are Tokico Golds, just like the black car)
Also, dug this out of the chassis rail.
I have a time related goal, so while I do have the 12A sitting here, the 13B swap is practically finished, so my current Plan is to get the tank in, mount the fuel pump I plan to use, and get the car running and driving for the first time in ten years. The over the winter I can put the 12A in.
The ultimate goal, to reiterate, is to have a pleasant driver first, and maybe run it in PR at Detroit rallycrosses as a secondary goal. So the 12A has to go in regardless.
HA! You see the "before"?
Here is after.
Oh and also spent way too much time wire brushing the top of the tank so I could paint it with gloss "chassis black". Don't want to risk this tank ever rusting out.
So, what did you use to get it that nice and clean? Id rather try that first on my neon before going nuclear with sandblasting and such.....
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Penetrating oil.
PB Blaster was the cheapest at $8.50 for an 18 ounce can. Not gonna waste my Kimball on paint descuzzing duties.
It leaves the paint oily but... is that a bad thing?
So, seriously. Pb blaster and a rag? That's it? Its really that simple???
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Yes. And if you think that's magic, use it to remove the leftover residue from duct tape that had been baking in the sun. The volatiles dissolve the residue, the oils keep it from re-sticking to the paint.
One (1) RX-7, covered with all sorts of weird dirt and moss and who knows what.
Very light duty application of a rag and PB Blaster, and a foaming glass cleaner finish. (Spray Nine dissolves the paint)
Oh, also I now have another storage facility to unload some of the stuff in my way. Spent much of the day first acquiring it, then shuffling things over to it. Tomorrow I move the bulk of the Quantum spares out there.
You don't want to use the Kimball penetrating oil for that because you risk of removing paint as well.
....Yeah, I ain't moving E36 M3 today. I NEED to do something, keep moving forward, anything at all related to that task. Arg.
Well, let's just get out there and see what I have in the parts stash relative to fuel components. It's been so long, I don't remember.
So the glass cleaner takes care of the PB Blaster residue?
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Well not quite. The PB does the heavy lifting, the glass cleaner finishes the job. Much more noticable on the relatively good finish of the exterior paint. I think the oily surface prevents the smearing dirt around effect that you otherwise get.
About ten years ago, a friend discovered this method for removing that awful Ziebart coating crap that half of these cars had underhood. I extended that to use on duct tape residue. More recently, a guy I worked with used an oily solvent (don't know what brand, he got it in gallon jugs and it had the consistency of a light oil, smelled like Pepto-Bismol) to wipe down and clean off the lifts.
Also a longer time ago, a guy I worked with said you could use ATF to detail a car, if you only needed it to look shiny for a day or two. Sure enough it works just fine 
So, back to my fuel system. I could have sworn that I had acquired one of those cheapo parts store rattlebox fuel pumps, new in package, at some point. If I did, I can't find it. I tore apart all of my boxes of "unsorted acquired" bits, as well as the junk drawers in my toolbox. Nope, nada. Oh well.
What I do have, is what the guy I acquired parts from told me was a "GSL-SE" fuel pump. GSL-SEs had mongo badass fuel pumps basically rated for 400hp at 71psi, which is kind of silly given that they were 135hp engines running a 35psi base fuel pressure. Anyway, one look at this skinny little thing told me that it was not. It's a part number 402-P8016S, and I'm having difficulty finding specs on it because apparently Precise is no longer a brand used by whoever made it.
...Aaaand RockAuto just spit me a spec sheet even though I had already been given a 404 error after searching different terms. Ugh.
Anyway, max pressure 4.5psi, 20gph. 20 gallons is roughly 120 pounds of gasoline, times .5lb/hp/hr is 240hp worth of fuel. Probably will be enough for now but I may need to revisit down the road. The important thing is, I already own it, and I can mount it on a under floor fuel pump bracket instead of drilling holes to mount the Holley fuel pump in the kickup. More better, if I am not mistaken, the Dell'Orto wants 4.5psi of fuel pressure, so I probably won't need to plumb in a regulator. I will want to when I go back to running a 12A because the Nikki carb is happiest at around 1.5psi pressure, by my recollections, but that can wait.
Fuel tank is installed and plumbed in with mostly new hoses, heat shields all reattached, and I realize now that I forgot to install the bolts for the fuel filler, so I may need to take the plastic fender liner back off if I have to reposition the fuel filler hose.
As it turns out I do not have a fuel pump mounting plate. I'm going to try to find one, but for now I guess I can just Adel clamp it to the floor like the old pump was. I won't LIKE it but it will work.
After fruitlessly searching for that, but finding the pedal box from my white Quantum after I thought it had gone to the scrapper with the car, I decided to try to make a hose to the carb. The car has an 8mm hardline, the carb has an AN -6 fitting.
What I discovered was, you can almost use a Summit AN -6 straight fitting on 5/16" rubber hose, but to get the fitting threaded into the nut more than 2/3rds of the way will just end in shredding the inside of the hose. So, I went back to plan A and used a hose clamp to hold the hose on instead of the nut meant for braided line. It's ugly and hacky but I tell myself it's temporary.
In reply to Knurled. :
I've got a hydraulic hose crimper if you feel the need to make up some new lines.
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