T-Hill This Week!

We ended up not prepping V-Ram for Thunder Hill. I was lacking motivation after spending so much of my summer prepping for the buttonwillow race, and not feeling like enough of the team was serious about the present task. So covered the car, bought a new mountian bike and spent the my fall riding and camping. 

I'll be racing with Joe/Snowspeeder, and some of the other drivers will be driving with Paul and the Knights Of The Round Track. We'll see if there is enough interest support 2 local MR2 teams next season, but if not I'm happy to keep driving with my bro or Paul.

We're ready to roll out of town Thursday and everyone is excited for the race. 24HL has admited 160 teams (up from the usually 90-100) and will be running the full course. Thunder Hill is already a favorite course and certainly the nicest facility I have raced. EXCITED!

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.

Honk If You're Horny

After last week's rather destructive 'test' I borrowed Paul's welder and fabricated a rough but effective radiator mount.

We were at the junk yard for an ignition switch connector and I decide it was past time for a loud horn. We found two resonating pairs. I expected the conch shells from an 80's Saab to be loudest, but the pucks form a giant Mercedes literally rattle the whole car.

Three steps forward, ten steps back.

I had hoped for a successful test last weekend resulting in confirmation that the car is ready to roll. Instead we finished with more problems than we started with.

A subtle buzzing noise was agreed to be nothing to worry about. So I took it out for a spin.

First I drove into some giant ruts.

This bent the radiator mount and a fan shroud. Miraculously the radiator itself was unharmed, until we punctured it with a screwdriver while we tried to fix the shroud.

While assessing the damage I notice the subtle buzz was now quite distinct and smoke was coming from the timing belt cover. We had scored a FAIL on our timing belt job reassembly and part of the tension mechanism had fallen ad wedged between the lower cover and the belt.

FUHHHHHHHG!

Fear And Loathing

Buttonwillow scares me. 

It's going to be miserably hot.

It's going to suck hauling my car there solo from Salt Lake over passes and through the desert with my little truck.

It's stressful to have an out of state team relying on me to have the car prepped after the overheat problems we've had.

I hear the track is the most technical in the 24HL series. I felt good about my skills at THill, there was no room for skills at AMP, and Reno I felt like I had my ass handed to me.

Despite all of this I'm pretty excited for this, my most adventurous race. Mark Jr and I got the water pump and timing belt done. First attempt the engine barely started and response was horrible. We noticed we were off one tooth on the exhaust cam. Second attempt she fire up immediately and sounded great for about 15 seconds before we slipped the timing belt. Too loose. Third time was a charm and the engine sounded FAB! 

We then did a compression test. After all the overheating we've punished V-RAM with I expected to have valve/head problems. It made 150, 165, 155, and 180 psi. Not bad at all for a $250 car that has been flogged! I may be hesitant about this race, but V-RAM is chomping at the bit.

Bonneville or Area 51?

I went to Bonneville Salt Flats with Paul and the whole Knights Of The Round Track team. A surreal place. Once you move away from the staging area there you are surrounded by white  in every direction and distant mountains floating above a perpetual mirage.

Me and Paul drag-raced. Their car pulled ahead off the line but I could keep up. When we hit 90 MPH Paul veered off to head back, but I pushed ahead to see where V-RAM maxed out. It took some time to make 100. At about 102, things got strange. The car felt floaty. The horizon started to misbehave. I had the wheel pointed straight ahead, but the distant peak I was aiming for was sneaking of to the right so casually that I almost didn't notice. I had entered a wet region and was hydroplaning. No braking. No steering. Car spinning. 102 MPH last time I checked. Larry shitting. I didn't try to correct and just hoped I didn't hit a dry patch and flip. Salt sprayed my face whenever the car was sideways. The trunk opened and slammed shut as rotation passed backwards. The car finally stopped and I took a moment to get my bearings. The landmark peak was behind me now. I drove and the staging area slowly emerged ahead of me.

I had made a few calls to find out what the conditions were and got 'they may dry out by Saturday'. They seemed dry enough, but I must have sprayed 70 pounds of salt off the car tonight. Next year we'll give Bonneville Speedway a few more weeks to dry.

Powder Coat

April is making the car whacky and cool.

Dusty desert roads are mayby not so good for the car. At least all the spilled and leaked fluid stains are hidden now.

(2 Weeks Until Reno) Success!

(Here's a link to more photos from today.)


First, my little '98 Tacoma handily pulls the trailer and car.


Second, somewhere between the Energy "Solutions" nuclear waste facility and the Air Force bombing range, we found a great location to test uninsured, unlicensed, un-street-legal, unattractive cars. It was so out-there that four totally nude people didn't expect Mark Jr to drive by in his jeep, honking and waving. When he returned from scouting and told us about it, I knew we had achieved sufficient boonieness.


Third, the car ran like a champ. It looks like we've resolved our overheating issues. Mark Sr took it above 100. Mark Jr made sure it could handle a spin-out into sage brush, and also made sure it had enough mud on it. The only issue that bugs me now is that sometime when I removed the dash and climate controls I disconnected the fuel gauge. Hmmm.


It was an effective test, but next weekend, (last one before the race) I want to talk Paul into a bit of wheel to wheel at the real-deal Bonneville Speedway.

Out With The Old

Problem Solved

My new trailer.

Ups and downs.

My friend and professional graphic designer April has volunteered to give our car a new paint job. I've given her complete creative freedom within the race specifications and I'm excited to see what she does.

I now have a team of Marks. Welcome to Mark Zimmerer(erer), our fourth driver and third Mark.

We are trailerless again. The first loaner arrangement reneged upon realization that our race falls on Memorial Day weekend. Our second loaner trailer was an unregistered farm hauler with no brakes. Now I'm shopping for something I definitely don't want hogging driveway space. Maybe I'll let my dad 'borrow' it and just leave it at his place between races.

We're 3+ weeks with a few major issues to overcome. We still need to fix the cooling system, install the kill switch, and find a test location. We did finally get the hub and bearing reassembled. I pulled the dash and heater, and did some cutting of doors, hood, trunk, and my finger. Utah weather in April is less than cooperative for working in the driveway. Time to get serious about a new garage.

What's wrong with this picture?

We thought we could just replace bearings on our shot hub. We thought wrong. Not only is the race pitted, but the hub shaft itself has been worn down a millimeter. Going to need a hub, rotors, pads, and I'm going to look carefully at the axle.

I'm having fun junk shopping. I keep finding stuff for my 89 street car though and not VRAM. The local online MR2 guys have been helping locate cars.

In other news I think we're now a team of three. The Marks have paid their fees but Brent has gone quiet.

Shot Hub

I had noticed a lot of play in the rear passenger wheel. Mark Jr and I pulled the brake off tonight and found a minor disaster: Bearing races shot and the brake pad worn at about a 10 degree angle. Andy and Paul had struggled to get this hub assembled solidly last year and I now question if it was already damaged and ever possible. I'm glad the wheel didn't fall of at Altamont, but anyway it shouldn't be too tough to repair. Paul let me check fit with an '85 hub assembly he had handy. The hub itself may fit but the housing does not mate to the suspension. Time for parts shopping.

Accepted to Reno!

We received our official acceptance notice today. WOO! Now we can start really getting excited. 

A bummer is that we are no longer allowed to prefix our car number with zero, so we have to give up '04'. I managed to get '0' before anyone else which is cool because we'll be at the top of any list, like the Jalopnik Uber-gallery, that is sequential by number. I don't know though, we may still try to get in sequence with Joe.

Now we can get busy pouring money down the racing hole!

10 Weeks To Reno

We finally rallied and had a work day on the car with Brent and Mark jr. Besides spilling about seven beers, here's what we did:

• Painted the roll-cage.
• Filled/bled the cooling system.
• Installed the original tail lights.
• Discovered our brakes are mush.
• Confirmed our rear passenger wheel is floppy.

The big break we had this week was securing a loaner transport trailer from a friend of Mark sr. That is a huge relief!

11 weeks to Reno

Thunderhill is already a faint memory, though only a couple months ago. Racing has been far from my mind and the enthusiasm needs to rekindle. Footage from the season opener in Texas and visiting Paul's garage has cleared my head a bit. I suppose the when faced with the burden organizing a team the work aspect can overshadow the fun aspect of racing. I know it will all be worth it again.

I'm working on getting the new team organized so we can prep for Reno. The biggest issues we need to tackle to V-RAM to the race at the end of May are:

• Car transport.
  
• Cooling system.
  
• Rear passenger hub is floppy. 
  
• Install kill switch.
  

Other than that there is a long list of minor issues I'm confident we will resolve easily.