1 pass and 1 crash

Muddy pointed out that the k-rail and the D definitely should not try to share the same space.

I must apologize again to the team as I made a LOT of work to do and for the most part all I could do afterwards is make sure everyone had a beer in their hand.  Taking a sawzall to the subframe is definitely outside the realm of electrical work that I normally live in.

Thankfully, with a lot of work, the car ran the next day and even posted the it's fast lap of the weekend.  And after Picasso did his work, the fender now looks a lot like the rest of the fenders, and I'm sure after it is filled with foam it will really look like the others.

Unfortunately there is video. So I cannot blame it on another car nor claim it was a miraculous bit of driving where "I almost saved it".  The mantra of in a spin, both feet in should have applied here as I failed to save anything.  At least I didn't take out any other cars.

Arse Freeze Aftermath

This weekend the team was able to examine both cars.  The result is that there is a lot of work to do to get us backup and running.  On the good side we have time with the next planned race May 21-22 at Thunderhill.  To added to the good news, the general compression test of both engines went well:

	Cylinder
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Z	180	180	170	180	170	170
D	180	180	160	180

Little to no change from the last test.

The bad side is both cars have a laundry list of other repair work to be done.  For the Z it is clear that the transmission needs to come out and be repaired.  That will be a big job and will take some time.  We also need to address the upper linkage of the Z.  Track side repair was done and non-adjustable parts were installed.  To recover adjustability we will need to come up with a new plan for that.  Finally for the Z, there are some odds and ends that will need to be checked, fenders to be pushed out, and general maintenance done.

For the D we also have a few issues.  The sharing space with the K-Rail is the obvious trouble.  To address that we needed to pull the rear subframe out.  So, the big job last weekend was to drop the subframe (Sorry Lugnut, I know I say no big projects.)  Here it is out:

And the right side where our suspension trouble resides:

I am now looking for replacement options for the subframe, upper and lower control arm.  

The reason that we did this work was another troubling issue.  It is not obvious, but you can see the issue on the picture of the subframe above.  It might take you to be in the shop to pick it up, but there is a wet spot on the right front.  There was also a wet spot on the floor under the car and the photo shows you under the car were we think it comes from:

Yes, it appears that we have a fuel leak from the gas tank.  A future project will be pulling the tank and see what is needed to be done to address that small trouble.  Finally, on the D we'll have to put this all back together and then do general maintenance and other odd items to make it ready for our next adventure.

This likely wraps up the work for the year.  Thank you for all the help.  With that, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and look forward to the fun in the next year.

PS

There is one project I would like to do in the early part of next year.  Before February (i.e. Super Bowl), I would like to thin the herd some.  Rubby has run her course and it is time.  So, in January (tentative 16 or 17) I would like to schedule a demo part where we can pay final respects to Rubby and have one more chopping party.  There are some roll bar parts that we should salvage, but that is all part of the chopping fun.

Arse Freeze Finishes in a Team Victory

Tow completed his run and quickly turned the D over to Lugnut to finish the day.  After the calamity that befell the Z, Torch was able to finish his stint.  Muddy was happy to even get the stint, and jumped in with an hour left to run.

Muddy entered the track right into a pack of cars.  Hidden in that group was the D.  Lugnut, seeing an opportunity pushed hard and the battle was on.  After several laps, Lugnut managed to finally get behind the Z going into turn 6.  With full pride on the table, both went screaming through the carousel (maybe not the brightest idea in wet conditions).  Muddy in the lead managed to get through traffic, stretch it out going into turn 7 and mostly disappeared from there.

However, Lugnut in the D still lurked.  With intermittent rain, a lot of tow truck action was needed to get other overdoers out of the mud.  With about half the stint completed a full course yellow bunched everyone up.  When the green flew again, Lugnut was able to find his quarry, and the chase was on.  Lugnut put down several flier's and in the process logged the quickest race lap in the D for the weekend (a 2:09.543).  His efforts was rewarded by getting under the rear bumper of the Z going into turn 3.  Muddy having none of it, throw caution to the wind, and dropped the hammer.  By the time the Z got through 6 the D was 5 car lengths behind, and the encounter was effectively terminated.

The race finished with both cars running and getting the checkers.  In the end the D placed 80th and the Z 60th out of 179 cars who log laps.  Good on that score.  The true victory was everyone got their allocated drive, with 3 stints each for the weekend.

That is a "W" to my goals, and it only happened with the team's hard work. Thank you!

Race update

We were running well.  Even after the repairs the D turned some good laps.  There are clear issues, but we are running.

On the Z side we had a scare.  Torch running on the back stretch was running along and bang, the gear shift drops and a whole lot of racket ensures.  First thoughts, transmission failure. Upon review, the bracket holding the gear shift failed.  After a quick fabricating of a bracket, the gear shift fixed,  and were back into the fight. 

Two driver changes done

We have made it through two drivers in each car. The weather is off and on rain so conditions on the track are changing fast. After starting first based on our lemons aid work yesterday.  We did lose Picasso and the Z to a black flag spin on turn 1 after the green flag and a report of the track being very slick.    Getting ready for the lunch round of changes and keeping the cars on the track.

Happy News to Start the Day

With a bit of effort from the team (thank you), both cars hit the track to start today. After that all bets are off come it rain, wind, or other possible driver calamity.

Day 2

Everything is back together now and we are ready for day 2. We lost 15 minutes of track time and the two cars are 50 something-th and 70 something-th 

We changed the oil in the Z's transmission and no parts came out today. So for it it was pretty much oil changes, clean the windows and it is ready for Sunday. The new control arm and bushings held up great so we did the same on the driver's side.  

The D took a lot of hours to repair. The chassis is bent and the suspension was pointed decidedly to the right after hitting the wall. The first attempt was to unbolt the subframe, move it, drill some new holes and then reattach. That didn't work so we ended up welding it back to the chassis. While that got that left wheel pointed in the right direction, the right was still off.  So we cut the lower control arm, shimmed it until the toe was right and welded everything back together. 

What could go wrong?

Still no idea if there is any damage we haven't seen so we'll do a parade lap to start the day and then bring it back in for an assesment. 

No chance we could deal with the body damage, so pulled it away from the tire and Picasso painted it to mostly match. 

We had rain overnight, but it has stopped for now. So we are eating a breakfast sandwhiches waiting for the drivers meeting and track time to start. 

Broken miata

You can tell if a car oversteers or under steers based upon which end of the car goes into the wall. With the new diff, the D oversteers.

I hit the wall going into the carousel pretty hard and the frame is bent. We are in the process of hammering the car enough so that we can get the back wheel pointed forward again.  

In better news, Lugnut had a great run and the Z had a completely clean day with no penalties. 

More later when we figure out how much hammering is needed. 

Driver change

So far so good. Both cars running clean and Picasso and Queen had good runs. They have both come in for driver changes and muddy and torch are on the track.

Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but the following parts came out of the Z's transmission with the oil change yesterday. We assume Nissan put them in for a reason....  Muddy is telling us all to just leave it in 3rd and drive. 

Race start

We are doing caution laps while while they make sure the transponders work. As usual, there are a number of cars that didn't make it around the track for a first lap now being towed off. Knock on wood, but we are still circling waiting for the green flag.

Practice time

Track is open and we are starting to turn laps for practice.

The D has a new differential. We killed the last one and so are trying a welded diff today. Lugnut is taking the car out to see how it works and will be back in one lap to give us the thumbs up or down. 

10:10 and through tech

Tech opened at 10:00 and we were for the first time in our career first. Both cars were done in 5 minutes and then we were off to get the gear inspected. Couple minutes later still and we are back at the pits setting up for practice which starts at 1:00.

Both cars ended up with no issues in class A with no penalty laps. 

We have had rain off and on all morning, but it looks like it is clearing and we should have blue sky's this afternoon. 

Day 1

The paddock is waking up and the cars are idling to warm up.

Last nights repair work is all installed. We'll be trying a custom control arm with new bushings in the Z and ABS should turn on for the first time. We also have new tires on the Z so the flatspot issue is behind us for a little while anyways.  The clock also has a new battery since we were losing minutes every hour. 

Z Chef is cooking up something special for breakfast but I'm kind planning on eating leftovers from dinner last night. 

Drivers meeting at 9:00. 

We have a cold overcast morning but it looks like it will burn off and then just leave cold, but no rain. That's the hope anyways.

Welding away

Not much to add, but here is the control arm under fabrication.

Post practice

 The locked differential makes the miata a much more active car to drive. Not sure it is faster, but we have both understeer and oversteer to play with now. It is the diff that we have, so it's what we are running, but we definitely haven't made the car easier to driver. 

A challenge we have is everytime we make the cars faster, we find new parts that anrent up to snuff. We have been going through upper control arms each time we hit the track. Today was no different :-(  We did buy a new beefier one that also had adjustable camber, but it is much shorter that the old one. Lugnut and torch are now cutting and welding to get a beefier control arm the right size. It 'should' work.

Meanwhile I'm trying to get the ABS to work. I reviewed the original wiring I did and I definitely missed some of the power wires, so I got that all sorted out. Now when I turn the system on, it clicked and cycles so I'm hopeful. Give it 50/50 odds I'm done and done have to pull out the oscilloscope to figure out how the circuits are really working. 

For dinner, Cindy has quite a spread. We have tri-tip and ribs, but I'm very excited about the twice baked potatoes. 

Practice time

Track is open and we are starting to turn laps for practice.

The D has a new differential. We killed the last one and so are trying a welded diff today. Lugnut is taking the car out to see how it works and will be back in one lap to give us the thumbs up or down. 

Practice time

Track is open and we are starting to turn laps for practice.

The D has a new differential. We killed the last one and so are trying a welded diff today. Lugnut is taking the car out to see how it works and will be back in one lap to give us the thumbs up or down. 

We have landed at Arse-Freeze

We have found a nice little spot across from the grand stands.  Hopefully making where's Waldo a little easier.

Final Day Work Checklist

Work Checklist for 2015 Arse Freeze Alapolooza
Electrical Systems			Status
		Items	300z		Type D	Comments
	1	Descuzzify wires			Done
	2	Traqmate
	3	Check Clock Batteries
	4	ABS switch				Investigate
Engine and Driver train
		Items	300z		Type D	Comments
	1	Replace engine oil				Check plug and level
	2	Check differential oil	Done			Possible Replace
Suspension and Brakes
		Items	300z		Type D	Comments
	1	Alignment				Z – 3.5° F camber
	2	Tires and rims			Done	Z – Need 1 Rim and inspect tires
	3	Check tire pressures				Z – 29 f 28 r D – 28 f/r
Safety Systems
		Items	300z		Type D	Comments
	1	Go through Lemon’s Checklist
Chassis
		Items	300z		Type D	Comments
	1	Front skirt			Done	Z – Install
	2	Fender repair	Done
Décor
		Items	300z		Type D	Comments
	1	Car number				Remove Black Marks
	2	Team logo				Review
	3	VLE logo				Inspect
	4	Paint				Touch up