Sgt.Gator Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 Getting ready to race at Pacific Raceways this weekend! I installed a Vacuum gauge to see how much vacuum the DS pump is pulling. These pics are only under no load with no turbo boost blow by, so they aren't representative of what I'll see at the track, but I'm still very pleased with these numbers. Cold Idle right after startup, 13.5": Cold, 1,500 RPM, still 13" Warm, 3,500RPM, 13"- Excellent! Warm, 500-700 RPM Idle. The Vacuum drops to 1-2": I also installed an Aux Fuel Cell to get me thru a one hour enduro with no extra gas added: And an engine shot as it stands today: I'll be racing in the Enduro race late Saturday afternoon and the ST race on Sunday. Come on out! Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 I love your before Pacific raceways pictures. I hang them in my shop with a picture of the smiling turn worker holding the bucketized final result. Btw, i'm otherwise booked on Saturday. However, I can pick up Blue Sake on Sunday... Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 The Blue Sake Bomber is taking on ordnance for the battle in the Pacific Theater. In the Pacific war German machines are not allies of the BSB, no quarter given. Bring your best pilots! Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shralp Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Hells yeah best of luck at Pacific! BONZAI!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Looking good! Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 The Saturday racing started badly, got worse, then finished great! The great: We took First Place overall and in class in the Enduro! Now I''m in first place for the Enduro ME0 class Championship. The bad. It was a rough morning. The vacuum gauge showed up to 16" of vacuum at first start up <good>. But as soon as I hit the track I saw the vacuum drop off to 0 and potentially positive. Because it's a closed system positive pressure is very bad because it can blow out the seals. I ended the session to come in and figure out what to do about it. As I was coming into the pits I heard a pop but the car kept running and I got so busy worrying about the vacuum/positive that I forgot about it. I took the vac gauge line off the valve cover and ran hose from the VC to a homemade catch can with a 1/8" hole drilled in the top to relive the positive pressure. I went back out for Qualifying and instantly knew the pop I heard earlier must have been a intake hose coming off because I had no boost. Because it's a SD tune I could keep running with no boost so I did a few laps to get a qualifying time and went back in. Sure enough the throttle hose had popped loose at the bottom. But the catch can worked fine, it was totally dry. However that was under no boost. Went out again for the ST race, made it two laps and had oil spraying all over the windshield. Obviously the catch can was a fail. Back to the paddock. The only solution was to run a hose from the engine in the front to the DS tank in the trunk. A quick trip to O'Reillys netted 15' of hose and the adapters. We hooked that up and hoped it would work for the Enduro race. Jeff Remfert and I shared the ride in the Enduro. He's an exceptionally fast driver having won many Championships in our Conference racing and has driven the ThunderHill 25 several times, placing 3rd overall one year , if you can believe this, in a Caterham! He's also very experienced at Pacific Raceways, I was really looking forward to capturing his data and video on my Video Vbox for comparison to mine. Because I qualified with no boost, I was mid pack in the grid. The first few laps were fun working thru the faster qualifying cars now that I have boost! I quickly found myself in second place behind a Spec E46 BMW that was really fast. He must have been running a non-Spec E46 tune for the Enduro (which is legal if he is in the ME0 class) because even on the long front straight he was pulling away from me. My half of the enduro came to an end with us in a solid second place in class and overall. Jeff swapped in an started cranking consistent fast laps. As in just a couple of tenths separated his laps, over and over. I was amazed considering he had never driven that car before, not even one lap in practice. About 3/4 of the way thru the race we no longer saw the BMW going by. A grid worker reported that he had pulled off the track and was in the paddock. That put us in first, sweet. Jeff finished out the race, but not before a fool in a Pro3 BMW almost ran him into the wall on the front straight. We all saw it happen, there wasn't a gnat's hair between the passenger door handle of the Blue Sake Bomber and the wall. That one was a close call. Jeff took the Checkered Flag in overall first place, a very rare occurrence for the Blue Sake Bomber! As I type this I'm looking at The Video Vbox data and video. There's places where he is faster than me, and where I'm faster than him. And unlike me, he is consistently fast laps. But in the end his best lap was a 1:34.06 and mine was a 1:33.81. Now looking at where he's faster I could shave off another 1/2 second, maybe one second..... I'll try to post up the videos by late next week. ST Race on Sunday. We need turn workers for Sunday. No experience required! My wife volunteered to work with a veteran corner worker today because otherwise we weren't going racing. The SCCA Majors are in Portland this weekend and the usual volunteers are all down there. If you want to see racing as close as possible, come on out to Pacific Raceways Sunday morning, the workers meeting is 8AM. Thanks! Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shralp Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Subarashi nyusu! Hokoku-sho no okage de! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBT Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Subarashi nyusu! Hokoku-sho no okage de! - Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 At the track. The STI is looking good Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 Subarashi nyusu! Hokoku-sho no okage de! I have no idea what this means! The Group 4 race was fast. I only passed one car, a Spec E46. There was only one other car in the ST class, a LS1 powered Porsche 944. He was faster than me; his best lap was about .60 secs faster than my best lap. Unfortunately the race ended under full course caution because a GT2 car spun off and hit the wall between Turn 2 and and 3. Not much fun to end a race doing 4 laps behind the pace car. If the lack of ST cars continues I may switch to only doing the NWMECS Enduro races. All in All a great weekend. Pics and vids later, we just got home. Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shralp Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 That’s what google translate is for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 That’s what google translate is for In that case it should be: 素晴らしいです！ 北海道に感謝 (provided Google translate do it right) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 My Co-driver Jeff Remfert and I; and the ST grid: Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 Here's why on the full halo cage for the 818R, particularly if I'm instructing students, I want us to be Safe first. Fast second. This last weekend at the SCCA Majors - Portland International Raceway. Luckily the driver on the bottom was ok! Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 If you can't pass by any other means, go over them Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 28, 2018 Author Share Posted May 28, 2018 Next race is this coming weekend at Portland International. In prep for that: 1) All my brake pads were down to the nibbins. The rear pads, Cobalt XR2, have been on there since before I bought the car, and are being replaced with Hawk DTC 60. The fronts were and will be replaced with Hawk DTC 70. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of all my costs now with mileage, hours, name of the tracks, number of races. The Front Hawk DTC 70 lasted thru about 10 hours of racing (4 x 1 Hour Enduros and assorted 30 min sprint races, practice, qualifying. ) At +/- $400 a set that's a cheap $40/hour of racing. 2) I worked on my radiator/ FMIC shrouding. The airflow should be more efficient now. 3) I got a cheap Autometer Vac/Boost gauge to put on the crankcase. When I go out to bed in my brakes I'll carefully watch my crankcase pressures and see if it's safe to run a sealed system or go open vent to the DS tank. The problem before was I could only measure Vac, not positive, so i had no idea if I may be about to blow out my seals or not. I ordered some of the discontinued Hoosier/Continental racing slicks. They are the ones designed for the Rolex Endurance series, this particular model being specific for the high downforce race at Daytona, but they should work fine for my enduro racing. Hoosier says they are about 1-2 seconds a lap slower than R7s. But will last much longer and not drop off as fast. And for $150 a tire I can put up with 1 second a lap slower! I also got some tires for the Palatov too, the A2500 super softs. They also have racing Wets on sale at a crazy low price but none fit my wheels. In case any of ya'll are interested: https://shop.hoosiertire.com/index.php/circuit-racing.html 4) I've got the Torque Solutions Delrin shifter bushings combo kit, I'll see if I have time to get them installed before this weekend. Maybe tomorrow before the BBQs are in full swing. http://www.torquesolution.com/product-p/ts-su-707.htm And finally, there are some guys on the 818 Forum making custom motor mounts so the EJ sits better in the 818. They are making their own metal parts, then using this DIY urethane to make their own mounts. It isn't just for filling in the holes in oem motor mounts. https://www.suspension.com/blog/do-it-yourself-liquid-urethane-motor-mount-replacement-inserts/ That's it. Hope to see some of the PacNW crew at PIR this weekend. I'll be in the Enduro Saturday afternoon and the ST race on Sunday afternoon. Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted May 28, 2018 Author Share Posted May 28, 2018 (edited) My Fast Lap at Pacific Raceways in the Enduro And a few laps the next day during the ST race. My fastest lap of the weekend is in there, an official 1:32.871 on the timing system. Edited May 28, 2018 by Sgt.Gator Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 Heading to Portland International in the morning. The weekend has shaped up for some good racing. There's six cars in the ME0 class of the Enduro, including Retro Racing's Factory Five 818R. And seven of us in the ST class races on Saturday and Sunday. If you are coming out I'll have the Subaru of Bend Trailer next to the guys at Retro Racing. At least that's the plan! Hope to see a few of you out there. Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 The Short Version: Oil in the Coolant - No racing this weekend. The Long Version: On the way to PIR I stopped by ORP to bed in my brake pads. The first session at PIR is Qualifying, not a good time to be bedding in pads, the other driver's don't appreciate 100 to 10 mph stops for no reason on the straights! When that was finished I parked the car and heard gurgling in the coolant overflow tank. A lot of gurgling. And it kept gurgling. After 10 minutes the gurgling slowed down and I pulled the yellow cap off to see the chocolate brown color and floaters of oil in the coolant. Crap, head gasket seal failure! I went on to Portland and dropped the car off at Surgeline. We suspect that the block's pulled threads repair and heads installation done at Rallispec has failed. Of course that's only speculation until we dig into the engine further. Looking back I might have suspected something was going wrong when I had the positive psi in the crankcase under sealed dry sump vacuum. At the time I thought it was the 2 stage DS not keeping up with the loose built forged block. Now I suspect the repaired threads were starting to fail after a few heat cycles and the combustion gas was starting to slip out. Check List Modification: After every full day of track practice or racing use my head gasket CO2 sniffer to catch issues early, rather than just before a race. It will now be part of my standard post race inspection. Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnusonsubie Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 Bummer. You just can't catch a break with Subaru engine failures. 2005 Vader Wagon Material Tests on Ringland Failure Piston I should have held off and purchased a wagon instead of the spec.B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 (edited) Bummer. You just can't catch a break with Subaru engine failures. Yep. But I have to add this is not a Subaru issue, it could/has happened on Coyote blocks, all traceable back to the ARP TQ issue earlier in the thread. That caused the block to be repaired, and that repair could have failed on any race engine. Worth a revisit: Damage Alert: How to Avoid Pulling Threads or Killing Head Bolts By JEFF SMITH JANUARY 26, 2018 http://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/machine-work-assembly/damage-alert-how-to-avoid-pulling-threads-or-killing-head-bolts/ Edited June 2, 2018 by Sgt.Gator Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 Useful reading - and essentially it all comes down to that it's actually not the torque that shall be measured - it's the stretch of the bolt that shall be measured. But it's a lot harder to do. And I know that feeling of "this doesn't feel right" when torquing a bolt. What really sucks though is when you torque something and it snaps way before you expect it to. The work to clear out a broken screw... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 And I know that feeling of "this doesn't feel right" when torquing a bolt. I hate that feeling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted June 16, 2018 Author Share Posted June 16, 2018 The Front Hood Ducting is almost finished on the 818R. There will be rubber seal around the duct to hood interface. Josh at Arcflash has done some great work on the 818. When he's done with his part we'll swap the 818 for my STI. I'll take the 818 home to install the dry sump system and the fuel -AN lines, meanwhile he'll pull the STI engine out and we'll figure out why it's got oil in the coolant. .... Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Gator Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 Hoosier is the maker of Continental racing tires. Continental will no longer be sponsoring the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge next year, Michelin has taken that sponsorship at IMSA. The result is we can buy left over new Continental Race Tires now at a good price from Hoosier, and probably will only get better, as the 2018 season comes to an end. Not only are the prices good, exceptional really, but the shipping is very cheap. $15 total whether you buy 1 or a dozen. I've already received a bunch for my STI and Palatov, some of the available sizes may work for an 818. These are full on racing slicks in both wet and dry versions. They are not DOT approved for road use! https://shop.hoosiertire.com/index.php/circuit-racing.html Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine. "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now