What did you do on the rally car today?

LOL, looking at John's pictures and my backyard reminds me that, as a group, rallyists are the "those" neighbours...

Informal poll, how many out there have had a call or visit from the city this year?

Cheers, Ted

---

Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec

Dug more racecar parts up..Got lot to work with..Thats good...

Got to do some things on Preracecar..Thats in the away of race car.. That was first race car..Then I could see AWD car was not for me..So almost got it going..Need to clean that mess up first..So the little Lady can drive it.... Back to a street car..LOL

But did clean the beater race truck this week end ...And did some work on it ..

Watched the Sens loose the Stanley Cup :-(

Spent an hour on the phone with JVL.

Dismantled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled RF strut.

Changed setup from tarmac to gravel, raised ride height etc. Set corner weights.

Messed around with brakes... ordered new master, and new pads.

Mounted gravel tires.

Washed car with the kids.

Started making rim scrapers.

-Martin.

Carl S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ut oh. Large hole in floor. Had "some" rust
> issues. I did the other side a few years ago, but
> this side was worse than I though.




YIKES! I know that washing machine you're using for a floor is probably stronger than the original, but that's really scary looking. Is that cage supported anywhere other than the floor? When my 510 went from fuckaroud car to actual rally car, I had to do some updates to the Autopower cage in it (yours looks Autopowery).

Besides welding up the bolt-on parts and adding gussets, we welded plates from the main hoop and front hoop over to the nearest strong box section thingy. (doorsills up front, bottom of rear bulkhead out back.) This way, when the car landed on its lid the various things we welded to would prevent the tiny Autopower pads from punching through the floor.

I rolled it about two years later. It worked.

If you haven't done somehting similar, I'd do it now. Like yesterday.

If my eloquent prose hasn't painted a vivid enough mental picture for you, I might remember to go out in the garage and take a picture tomorrow.

-Dave

I pulled the trans out yesterday and tore it down to see if our new external oil pump system is lubricating the gearbox sufficiently. Everything looks hunky-dorey in there...in fact, better than it looked using the stock pump setup. Going to tear into the pump itself tonight for a post mortem.

Also disassembled the axle shafts to see how the joints held up. Very well, indeed.

This brings validation to all the changes we have made (lowering engine 19 more mm, rotating trans on engine 5 deg., rotating engine and trans together .5 deg., new shift linkage, dry sumping trans, new front track, etc.)

Car is off to body shop today.

---

Lurch
Eric Burmeister
The west coast...of Michigan

Lurch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I pulled the trans out yesterday and tore it down
> to see if our new external oil pump system is
> lubricating the gearbox sufficiently. Everything
> looks hunky-dorey in there...in fact,

Transmission pump? Sweet Jesus.

Did you ever take transmission temps, or is a trans cooler just the kind of thing sensible people put in expensive transmissions?

-Dave

The Xtrac is designed to only carry about a quart of oil in the case. There is a small sump with a mechanical pump that runs off the reverse idler gear in the bottom of the trans that pumps the oil out from the bottom and back around to the top (and thru a cooler or expansion tank if one wishes) where it comes back in and gets distributed thru passages to bearing and gears.

The trans was designed for BTCC. In it's original configuration, it was designed to be mounted as low as possible...couple inches off the tarmac. As we mounted it in a much less precarious position, we rotated it back to lower the diff in car and hence minimize front view axle angle (FVAA), for both CV/axle longevity and for torque steer. Unfortunately, even with it rotated back *some*, it still had excessive FVAA.

If you tip it farther, the oil runs out of the sump, hangs out in the diff area where it gets preheated by the plates, and the internal pump runs dry. Simply adding more fluid just makes the diff run hotter.

Solution was to port the bottom of the sump AND the diff housing and run that to an external electric pump, which pumped the fluid up to a small expansion tank before coming back into the box. I gutted the impeller gears out of the internal pump, since the housing is still necessary to hold the reverse idler gear.

I have about 1.75 qt. capacity now and the pump seems to be doing well.

---

Lurch
Eric Burmeister
The west coast...of Michigan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2007 06:44AM by Lurch.

Lurch Wrote:

And here I am snivelling that I don't have the $400 for the right complete GEARSET for the T5 BorgWarner I have on the shelf.


-------------------------------------------------------
> The Xtrac is designed to only carry about a quart
> of oil in the case. There is a small sump with a
> mechanical pump that runs off the reverse idler
> gear in the bottom of the trans that pumps the oil
> out from the bottom and back around to the top
> (and thru a cooler or expansion tank if one
> wishes) where it comes back in and gets
> distributed thru passages to bearing and gears.
>
> The trans was designed for BTCC. In it's original
> configuration, it was designed to be mounted as
> low as possible...couple inches off the tarmac.
> As we mounted it in a much less precarious
> position, we rotated it back to lower the diff in
> car and hence minimize front view axle angle
> (FVAA), for both CV/axle longevity and for torque
> steer. Unfortunately, even with it rotated back
> *some*, it still had excessive FVAA.
>
> If you tip it farther, the oil runs out of the
> sump, hangs out in the diff area where it gets
> preheated by the plates, and the internal pump
> runs dry. Simply adding more fluid just makes the
> diff run hotter.
>
> Solution was to port the bottom of the sump AND
> the diff housing and run that to an external
> electric pump, which pumped the fluid up to a
> small expansion tank before coming back into the
> box. I gutted the impeller gears out of the
> internal pump, since the housing is still
> necessary to hold the reverse idler gear.
>
> I have about 1.75 qt. capacity now and the pump
> seems to be doing well.
>
> Lurch
> Eric Burmeister
> Greatlakesknowitallatlarge
> Dee-troit
> Still work at Ford...for now...check back
> tomorrow.
>
>
>
> Edited 1 times. Last edit at Jun 12, 2007 by
> Lurch.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Ehhh. nuthin'.

---

Lurch
Eric Burmeister
The west coast...of Michigan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2007 06:35AM by Lurch.

Finished bolt-up of transmission.
Installed and aligned linkage.
re-routed starter wires (they were getting bar-b-q'd by the turbo)
re-wired the fan.

Went to fleet farm and bought a battery.

---

Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

Got the wrong torque spec on the CV joint (inner) bolts.

Popped one - son of a bitch!

Removed the flange and extracted the busted bolt.

Reinstalled shaft, now I have the correct torque setting.

Plugged vacuum lines I no longer need, since we locked the center diff and do not need the vacuum any longer.

Only got to 1/3rd of my list - oh, Mr. Murphy - how are you, you heard I'm getting ready for an event - how nice of you to come...

Thursday: Found gold flecks in the oil of my engine. Checked the filter - bottom was caked with gold dust. Pulled the pan. Found the center main bearing was toast. Oil-starved. Welded itself to the block/cap. Toasted the crank. Not sure what happened - still investigating.

Panicked. Called around. Found a new (used) 9A block 2.0l VW engine. Picked it up yesterday. Leak-downed it today. Looks good.

Three weeks to get this pup overhauled, swap heads and get it all buttoned up before heading out to Maine. Should be ok if there're no more surprises.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

lucky...^^^^^

cut the front end off the car....time to add/rebuild and repair...damnit, just when I thought we could loose some weight.

---

-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

Aaargh - got it all buttoned up - but the crank is locked solid. Looks like the flywheel is hung up on something...

Got to take it all apart again

You live, you learn, you live you learn some more, you live you learn there's a lot to learn, you live you learn education ain't cheap...