BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
We have been wondering why our Porsche came with the same size battery as our Mercedes Sprinter van for some time. This was made more intriguing by a used PC680 battery sitting on our parts shelf. Well, this week we cracked and threw the much lighter PC680 in the car spurred on by a desire to corner balance and align the car in the near future. We have used these batteries without any issues in our previous RallyCross project. We just kept that on a Battery Tender when not in use. Has never let us down. Let's see if the 911 likes it.
![]() No surprise it is almost 30lbs lighter. ![]() It almost looks lost in there. ![]() Installed using a crude, cobbled together mounting bracket for now. ![]() Ryan of Thompson Racing Fabrication, the genius who built our harness bar and skid plates is fabricating a more elegant aluminium version for us but at least we can corner balance the car now. We weren't tempted to put this in the smuggler's box like many do as our a/c blower is still in there and as it only weighs ~15lbs does it really matter where it is? Now where did I put those scales? . Paul Eddleston BRAID Wheels USA www.BRAIDUSA.com Team Illuminata Motorsport www.teamilluminata.com |
BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
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BJosephD Brian j Dyer Professional Moderator Location: southern maine Join Date: 05/01/2009 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 381 Rally Car: 04 Rocky Mountain MTB... |
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BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
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BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
No cup holders but it does have a Chapstick holder! Does your Fusion have one of these?
![]() We've seen the light! ![]() Well, not quite yet. Lights aren't needed for a while but we couldn't resist drilling holes in the trunk lid. ![]() The view from the "office" ![]() Last Friday we put the autocross wheels on and weighed it. The mud flaps now scrape on the ground! ![]() Might need to tweak the front left or right rear ![]() Firmed up the battery install with a proper bracket from Thompson Racing Fabrication. ![]() and then drove the wheels off it at the autocross ![]() Our 911 Rallycross car autocrossing - YouTube We also had the car at a PCA track day Tuesday and Saturday we have a RallyCross. PHEW! Paul Eddleston BRAID Wheels USA www.BRAIDUSA.com Team Illuminata Motorsport www.teamilluminata.com |
BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
On Saturday we took the car to round 3 of Detroit's RallyCross series for 2013.
![]() This was the first event that wasn't sloppy mud or snow and ice so was something of a new experience being dry and dusty. The final phase of a week of firsts for the car: first autocross, first track day and now first non-slippery dirt. Based on an old horse racing oval the course consists of sandy rockck dirt on one saide and more grassy loam on the other. The organizers, anticipating plenty of grip designed a tight and twisty course to keep the speeds down and challenge the driver. Perfect for the agile 911. ![]() As usual I shared the car with Scott Harvey Jr. based on the adage "If you can't beat them at least let them beat you in your car". Scott's dad was a national level professional driver back in the day. My dad was a carpenter so all things considered I think I doo pretty well just to keep up. After 4 frantic runs in the morning and four more controlled efforts in the afternoon we finished just 5 seconds apart with Scott and his genes in first place and me in seconds. Five seconds is just two and half of the four cone penalties I accrued during my runs. Just have to be more precise with the car I guess. ![]() ![]() Here's some iPhone video footage, mostly of the starts. 911 RallyCross - YouTube 911 Rallycross car - YouTube Porsche 911 RallyCross - YouTube Lancer Rally Car - YouTube Porsche 911 RallyCross Start - YouTube Porsche 911 RallyCross Launch - YouTube Porsche 911 RallyCross - YouTube Porsche 944 RallyCrossing - YouTube Porsche 911 RallyCross One Last Time - YouTube https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151920053997646 Paul Eddleston BRAID Wheels USA www.BRAIDUSA.com Team Illuminata Motorsport www.teamilluminata.com |
JohnLane John Lane Infallible Moderator Location: Lynden Washington Join Date: 01/14/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 725 Rally Car: The Fire Breathing Monster |
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BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
You'd think we'd be crazy busy working on the car prepping it for the Porsche Parade in 10 days. Well, we have been crazy busy but keeping up with wheel sales instead so the car my not be quite as we'd like it to be when we get to Traverse City. It will work; just wont have it's new livery perhaps. We have worked on a few things though. Mostly small issues. The PC680 battery we put in had to be replaced. The one on our parts shelf proved to be less than pristine, probably how it got on the parts shelf. Now it starts every time again.
At the last RallyCross the car popped out of second gear twice on me. Didn't do it for Scott though. On our Subaru when this happened replacing the transmission mount was the fix so we popped out the two rears on the 911 and found almost new Club Sport mounts. ![]() That's good because we don't need to replace them but bad because we haven't found the cause of the problem. Of course the front mounts could be bad but we have a car stuck on the hoist so haven't been able to get under the 911 yet. Let's assume they are good and move on. A little research suggested that worn shifter bushings could cause it to pop out of gears and are a common wear items so we ordered some new ones from Pelican along with some new brake lines (later). ![]() The rear coupling was easy to find and soon came out. ![]() It definitely had some play both side to side and along its axis ![]() Soon dismantled it and put in the new Delrin bushings ![]() We were a bit disappointed to find that the holes in the new bushings were as ovalised as the old ones but at least the side to side play has gone. More research suggested that this is a "design feature". We may have to source some after market round hole versions later. On to the front bushings. The console was a complete PITA to disassemble. Took an hour to figure out and ten minutes to put it back together. ![]() Got there eventually then removed the lever form the tunnel. ![]() We replaced both the bushing on the end of the lever and on the rod support ![]() ![]() We applied some grease to the lever mechanicals then installed this modification ![]() Yep, that's a rubber band. I never liked how the lever flops around in neutral so thought this might help. So what did we achieve? Well, at least with the gear box cold the shifting felt a little smoother but it is still not super slick. I suspect the bushings were replaced in the somewhat recent past. None of them seemed desperately worn and there were paint marks in the coupling to indicate how it was positioned. Have we fixed the popping out of gear problem? The next RallyCross will tell us but we did notice that in second and fourth gears the shift lever was all the way back against the gate. I suspect this was why it popped out. We forgot to take a picture of this but when we put it back together we made sure it had some clearance. Time will tell I guess. Stay tuned. . Paul Eddleston BRAID Wheels USA www.BRAIDUSA.com Team Illuminata Motorsport www.teamilluminata.com |
Greg Donovan Greg Donovan Infallible Moderator Location: Fargo, ND Join Date: 04/12/2007 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 423 Rally Car: 95 Impreza Sedan |
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BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
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Greg Donovan Greg Donovan Infallible Moderator Location: Fargo, ND Join Date: 04/12/2007 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 423 Rally Car: 95 Impreza Sedan |
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TronDD Tim Meunier Ultra Moderator Location: Boston, MA Join Date: 10/27/2011 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 252 Rally Car: 96 Subaru Impreza |
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BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
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BRAIDusa Paul Eddleston Mod Moderator Location: Birmingham, Michigan Join Date: 09/06/2012 Age: Ancient Posts: 560 Rally Car: Subaru Outback Wagon EG33, 911 Carrera |
Some catching up after a hectic two weeks:
We had another successful RallyCross finishing first and second again. As usual the car ran perfectly in the dry and dusty conditions. ![]() [url= ]911RallyCross June 22nd 2013 part 1 - YouTube[/url] [url= ?t=2s]911 RallyCross June 22nd 2013 Part 2 - YouTube[/url] [url= ]911 RallyCross June 22nd 2013 Part 3 - YouTube[/url] Not sure which got dirtier; the car or the van. [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1043925_3259410140646_625322178_n.jpg[/IMG] We wanted our BRAID BZ Fuchs replica wheels to be white like the Rothmans SC/RS cars but thought nobody else would. So we decided to Plasti-dip them as it can be easily removed or so they say. For those not in the know, Plasti-dip is essentially spray on vinyl so these will be wrapped liked the car except sprayed on. It went on just like paint [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/993791_3237448711624_1864581265_n.jpg[/IMG] and then we found that stickers wont stick to it. [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/970750_3239020030906_375048009_n.jpg[/IMG] and it peels off REALLY easily. [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1010784_3246485057527_796451053_n.jpg[/IMG] Still, once reapplied to the two wheels effected it looks quite good. At least race car good. [IMG]https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1003824_3248503787994_1081643528_n.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/954841_3237448031607_1136932722_n.jpg[/IMG] We also discovered that the car DOES have a cup-holder. Its just Euro-sized. [IMG]https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/6457_3238895387790_501791564_n.jpg[/IMG] . Paul Eddleston BRAID Wheels USA www.BRAIDUSA.com Team Illuminata Motorsport www.teamilluminata.com |
Pete Pete Remner Professional Moderator Location: Cleveland, Ohio Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 2,022 |
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