Work continues to get us ready for Arse-Freeze

Yep, we had a group work today to get these cars ready.  The most successful item was the installation of the rebuild transmission back into the D.  Lugnut and Torch were able to jump on that first, completed the install, and had the car running before lunch.  Nice!

After lunch Torch and Lugnut helped me continue with the Z's new engine installation pep.  After todays work here is a list of items, I beleive is still the needed updated for the Z engine installation to be complete:

• Engine mounts
• Cross member and steering colum edits
• Transmission cross member and alignment
• Cooling system
• Oil cooling system
• PCV system removal
• Intake line to MFC
• Exhaust system
• Clutch placement 
• Throttle setup
• Starter hookup
• Alternator/power steering belt sized and changed
• Power steering lines
• Drive line
• Electrical system

Well, at least we know and have time to get these items off the list.

Onto Arse Freeze 2017

After Thunderhill in May, the cars need a bit of work.  However, Muddy was baked and needed a break.   So, I am just now getting back into this.  Looking at the Calendar, the next Race we are targeting, is the Arse-Freeze 2017 at Sonoma Raceway on December 2-3.

To get ready for this, this last weekend we started the autopsy post Vodden.

Our first test is to perform a compression testing.  Here are the compression numbers before and after Vodden the Hell.

		Engine Cylinder Number
		1	2	3	4	5	6
Z	Before	175	175	175	180	175	175
	After	0	0	0	0	0	0
D	Before	180	180	180	175
	After	180	180	170	170

Well, the Z was kind of known, so we have already acquired a new motor.  In our infinite wisdom we have opted to go with an upgrade.  So, instead the normal frustration in changing the motor, we are going to the Z33 engine or officially labeled a VQ35DE.

The engine to be used is out of a Z350 and will take all hands to get it in.  Its we need to figure out include; drive line edits, exhaust, mounting points, clutch, starter, intake ducting, oil lines, coolant lines, and electrical system will all need to be configured.  Like in all project we needed to start and this last weekend were able to get the old beloved motor out.

Now the real fun begins.

The other item we were able to get to was the D's transmission.  The biggest issue that showed up in the race was the Syncos for the D.  We are not completely sure how this failure happened.  The transmission was rebuild before the race and we seem to have returned to were we started.  So, to help diagnosis the trouble this last weekend we pull the transmission.

Now it is off to Torch's shop and for review and repair.  We'll see what information and item we get back.

Post Vodden Hell Race

Sorry for the technical difficulties.

I did know that there were Apps problems and network troubles on track, but I did not realize we had not updated blog until now.

As for the Weekend, overall we had a great time and the cars did well.   The D performed its steady work.  The weekend was hotter than expected, so the equipment and people did suffer some.  In the D it the heat  showed up as are shifting synco friend.  By the second day shifting normally ended with a crunch, so that will need to be looked.  Overall the D came in 29 place out of 129.

For the Z, the car was quick.  For this race, we put in a new water pump and unlikely past Thunderhill runs, it nearly managed to keep up with the heating.  On Saturday, the last driver did need to manage the overheating.  That is an improvement over past runs, so felt happy we were going in the right direction.  The only other trouble we had was the Transmission. Like the D the heat did not do good things to the Z syncos.  Even with these troubles, the car was still quick, we were 26th, and headed for a good finish.  However, on Sunday, with two hours left in the race the water hose to the new pump leaked, and before we understood what was happening we melted down the engine and had to park it.  The Z finished 58th.

Overall a really great weekend.  To get a feeling for the weekend our team mate Rock Crawler put together this video.

 Enjoy and thank you, Rock Crawler!