New Buttonwillow Tech

A few people have asked for pics of our air scoop and on-board cooling system re-filler. Here are close-ups. 

Fabbed this scoop from a cardboard box and attached it with sheet metal screws and washers, packaging tape, and a those two steel rods that originally supported the front wheel fender. It worked great and survived at least 4 off-road excursions.

When our overheating issue returned at the beginning of day one we considered our options. We decided to suffer through the day refilling the cooling system as needed implement a fix in the evening. After watching Paul do a 7 hour head gasket job only to still have overheating issues, we decided to it would be better to find a more effective way to refill and bleed the cooling system than tear the engine open. 

I'd seen Team Eyesore's weed sprayer with a pressure fitting on their cooling system and suggested we copy them. Randal took it a step further and mounted the bottle in the cab so we could refill on the track. The pressure bottle feeds through a ball valve and into the heater circuit on the engine. We would pump the bottle a few times on the front straight and if we thought the engine was getting warm, we opened the valve for a few seconds. Not really a solution, but certainly an effective temporary fix. We didn't overheat again during the race! 

If you want more details or images contact me. 

All my photos from the race are HERE (including several shot by Judy Kiel). Joe's are HERE.

Back At It

We've been accepted to Thunder Hill. I've had a nice vacation from so much as thinking about cars and now I'm ready to wrench. 

Met with teammates and potentials for brunch Saturday to plan. Our big issue is still the overheating problem, likely a head gasket. Combined with some mediocre compression, it is time to get serious about rebuilding or replacing our engine. There are some good arguments for either solution. There is an interesting thread about a 1ZZ engine swap underway on MR2OC forums. I love the idea of a lighter, modern, reliable engine with a mild HP increase, but our engine is a known evil and we'll likely just rebuild. 

The team for this race is taking shape. Mark Jr is back for more. Tim, a friend of Mark's who has even less experience with cars than me, has been lending a hand and is in. I met Bill down the street working on his Corolla FX. He spent a lot of time helping me prep for Buttonwillow and is trying to arrange to drive or crew with us. There are a few others thinking about it.