Sparky Work for No Bones About It!

This Wednesday we had a Sparky visit to address the kill switch trouble and work on a new Telemetry system.

The tracking down the kill switch required some rummaging around where the dash was.  My favor quote that came bellowing out of the car was "even in a stripped out car I lose things in the dash"  that followed by an Oh!  I'll let you choose which part of that I liked.  What did result from that Sparky tirade was a fixed kill switch.

The second task for sparky was the working on the new Telemetry system.  We have been having trouble with this for some time.  We that we had some options with the Racerconnect.  That Company has failed leaving us with few options for a live feed.  We also were using the GPS acquisition system by Traqmate.  That company has stopped making equipment, and I can't remember the last software upgrade pushed out.  On top of that the Z's electrical problem extended into the Traqmate with the system cutting out routinely while driving resulted in us abandoning it's use during the race.

For the fix we are going with a change, so the Traqmate was removed and this new Telemetry system Race Capture by Autosport is being developed and should be installed in time for No Bones It!  This system has the added benefit of collecting car inputs information as well.  At this point, it sounds like Sparky can Identify Tach, Water temp, and Throttle position through the CAN bus and it shows up on the Raspberry tablet in the car.

We are also adding in a Cell Phone, so this information can be pushed to a server during a race.  This then can be accessed by the pit or more importantly, you wherever you are with Internet access.  We (mostly Sparky) are still working out the final layout of this, and we will give an update on what and where you can view this.

So, with that it, was a great Wednesday, and we can start to move to the punchlist to get us ready for Laguna.

Prep for No Bone About It

Lugnut, Torch, and I spent some for time getting the Z ready for the Laguna Seca run.  So, of course work on the D continued.

With a donation from Torch, the Pressure plate, and Clutch got replaced.  That paved the way for the spare transmission to be installed, and now the D is ready to be punch listed for Sears Pointless Race in March.

For the Z, work continued and we are close to punch listing for No Bones.  To do that, we have some parts that need to arrive to finish the list:

Item	Notes
Kill Switch	Saw this once on track.  Now does it routinely.  Kill switch does not kill car. – Kill switch replaced, but still a problem.
Gas Pickup	Likely cause of hesitation.  New pickup valves will like arrive this week.
Front Rotors	Replace – Pending arrival
Fire Suppression	Need tank replacement to pass Lucky Dog – Done
Door Net	Need New driver door net for Lucky Dog Rules – Pending arrival
Car Numbers on Bumper	Add for Lucky Dog Rules
Passenger Door Repair	What is needed is obvious
Replace Left Rear Heim joint track and trail	Have parts need to install – Done
3 x New Gas Cans	Add for Lucky Dog Rules – Pending arrival

One area that we do need more work is on the Z's power system.  The replacement of the kill switch did not solve the shutoff trouble.  So, this is a job for Sparky!

Post Arse Freeze Apalpooza and Start on No Bones About It!

I had a great time last week, so thank you team for the hard work.  Also, it was great to have Thomas the Tank Engine Jetta pitting with us.  It was fun to share the weekend with you!

Moving forward, the team came together today to evaluate the status of the two cars post the Arse-Freeze race.  Lugnut, Queen, Torch, and I evaluate the cars' status for the next race.  On that note, I got a wild hair, (which does not happen all that often with the few I have) and we have registered the team in an upcoming race at Laguna Seca "No Bones About It!", January 11-12 with the Lucky Dog Racing League.  This will be a single car run and work today is to evaluate which car is available for the run.

To start with, the team jumped on the D right away.  We knew the transmission digested some parts to end our Sunday early, the question is what.  To fix it, I have a second transmission from a previous engine, so a swap was plan.  Here is the scene within minutes of the team arriving.

As part of the exchange, the gear oil was dropped.  What was found was a lot of chunks of gear teeth, on the magnetic plug.

The chunks on the end of the magnetic nut is quite terminal.  The next step was for the team to get the transmission out.  This past week estimates was offered as to how long this would take measured in minutes.  It took about 1 hour.

Then once you are in this deep, it is a good time to examine the clutch and pressure plate.  Good thinking that was done, because the clutch is done with clutch pad material failing.

With the amount of damage on the leading edges of the paddles, this might not have lasted the race anyway.  We did not have a second clutch disk, so this brought the work on the D to an end.

On to the Z.  The Z did finish the race still running with no major report on trouble, except one.  The fuel cutout at high G left turns at lower fuel levels was pronounced at the bottom of the carousel.  At Thunderhill we had several issues that masked the cause.  Sparky's fixes on Friday before the Arse-Freeze race, cleaned up several intermittent ignition problem.  So, we need to figure out what we can do within the rules to solve this fuel sloshing problem.

After, that we went into the basic checks.  The first is the compression test, and here are the numbers:

Z	Cylinder
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Pre Race	180	180	180	180	195	180
Post Race	170	175	180	180	180	190

No show stoppers there.

Other inspections did find some trouble, and here is the list needed before we get to a punch list:

Item	Notes
Kill Switch	Saw this once on track.  Kill switch does not kill car.  Does it routinely now.
Gas Pickup	Likely cause of hesitation.  Need plan
Front Rotors	Replace
Fire Suppression	Need source tank to pass Lucky Dog
Door Net	Need new driver door net for Lucky Dog Rules
Car Numbers on Bumper	Add for Lucky Dog Rules
Passenger Door Repair	What is needed is obvious
Replace Left Rear Heim joint track and trail	Have parts need to install
3 x New Gas Cans	Add for Lucky Dog Rules

So, with that we have schedule another work weened next week to clear these items.

Race over

Lugnut has a nice run, ended up in 21st overall. The D is on the trailer so we only got one checker today, but the Z had a really clean weekend and everyone is happy. 

Last driver change

Muddy had a nice run and we are up to 25th pace out of a 154 cars. Lugnut is pacing ready to go as as good as we top the gas we’ll send him out to finish the day. 

Well, that’s not good

The Z has been running great all day. I picked up a black flag for bumping another car (opps) but other than that, it is just tearing around the track. Fixing the ignition switch has solved all of the hesitation problems and the car is running really well this weekend. We still have issues when you get to half a tank, the car starves for gas until the corner is over and the gas settles to the bottom of the tank again, but much better than the last couple races. Lugnut a time still stands as fast lap for the weekend!

The D blew something up in the transmission however. It still moves, but sounds like there is gravel in the transmission now. I think we will drain it and see if there are any identifiable parts that fall out but it is probably done. 

Thomas the tank engine is also done for the day. Seems to have spun a bearing in the motor. 

So I’m going to get lunch and help whatever is next. 

Day 2

Getting ready to start day 2. Blue sky’s and cold. 

Repairs last night went pretty smooth and we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the track. 

Driving order for today.