New Engine - Update 2

Spent several hours stripping down the old engine and accessorizing the new engine.  Swapped over:
upper and lower intake manifods
distributor
timing belt and tensioner
timing belt covers
exhaust manifolds
valve covers
clutch, pressure plate, flywheel

Jason the timing belt king

We took the old engine to the junkyard, and got a whopping $30 for it.  Wowzers, with the gas we burned getting there and back, we would've been better off chucking it in Eric's back yard and using it come summertime to sit our beers on.  It's time for Eric's neighbors to get an even better taste of this whole Z31 parts depot anyway.

Jason is kind of our engine guy, and since the engine went boom it's important that we give him a hard time.  He swore he would have the new engine ready to drop in within four hours.  Trust me, it took a LOT longer than that.

Many hours later... new engine is still going together

A few of us hit up the Christmas parties the night before.  Not much sleep was had.  A few adult beverages were consumed.  Made for a really long work day.  Here we see Eric yawning and sleeping on his feet.

Eric gets drowsy but is reinvigorated when he gets a whiff of gear oil

We bought a new radiator.  The old one had too much bad juju.  We had overheated the car in two different races, so even if it wasn't the radiators fault, out it goes.

Shiny new radiator beside old beat up one

Next Race - Road Atlanta

The next race we are planning on is Road Atlanta.  This is in 8 weeks, Feb 8-9 2014.

This would be our team's third race.  Both our previous races were on a speedway (Charlotte Motor Speedway).  Generally, ChumpCar converts the speedway by using part of the oval, part of the infield, or adding some brake/turn elements somewhere.

Road Atlanta is an actual road course.  It is 2.54 miles in length, with twelve turns and plenty of elevation changes.  It is a phenomenal track.  I've been to Road Atlanta many times to see the Petite Lemans races, but I honestly never thought I'd be there as a part of a race team.  The track was opened in 1970, and immediately served as a host for Can-Am races.  It was sold several times, sort of declined, and went bankrupt in the early 90's.  It was purchased by Panoz in the mid-90's and a bunch of improvements were made.  Panoz is also the one that put the kink at the end of the back straight to keep people from going airborne and becoming roadmeat.  A 1:06.2 is the current lap record, and something tells me we will not beat that in our Z machine.

Road Atlanta track map

This will be a learning experience for our team, and we are excited to get out there and get some more seat time.  We feel like we are slowly dialing our car in, and we're hoping it's more reliable this time out.

Engine Removal

We broke Eric's new engine lift in right by hooking it to a very damaged VG30 and yanking it right out.  Other than hanging the shifter up for a minute, we really didn't run into any problems.  The two of us probably spent 3.5 hours total pulling it out.  That was at a somewhat leisurely pace, taking time to label wires, fab some brackets to mount to the engine tabs, and stopping every 17 minutes to do 15 pullups.  Cause that's how we roll.

We haven't torn into the old engine yet, but the carnage is magnificent.  There is a gigantic hole the size of a baseball (maybe softball?) in the left hand side between the block and the oil pan.  It's conceivable the heads are salvageable, but we suspect they are warped.  If water got into the oil, anything that was supposed to be lubricated will have gotten a thrashing.  We will take a look later.

Blown VG30 - oil pan at bottom beat up with a few holes in it, block just above it with holes in it 

Close-up view, try not to cry:

Close up of engine carnage

Engine bay looking very empty

Whatever can be salvaged off the old engine will be.  We'll reuse the transmission of course.

Broken engine sitting on redneck engine stand

New Engine - Update 1

A couple of us got the process started last night.  Pushed the car into the garage, got it up on jackstands.  Dropped the exhaust.  Unbolted the driveshaft.  Unplugged and labelled all electrical and fuel connections.  Pulled alternator off.  Removed nose piece, radiator.  We think we can finish pulling the old engine out over the course of a couple of hours this coming weekend.  Jason is scheduled to come up with the spare and we will install the weekend of 12/17.

Eric unplugs and unbolts the VG30 alternator

We had a bit of an incident with the trailer when we were loading up to leave the last race.  The trailer ramp has a lift assist spring, and it broke free of the ramp and stuck straight up.  Not realizing this, we pushed the car up onto the trailer and got it stuck halfway when the spring dug into the underbody.  The car sits pretty low, so without jacking it up we couldn't see any damage.  When under the car removing the exhaust and driveshaft last night, we found the damage:

Crunched up muffler courtesy of a mean trailer - gutter downspout and trashcan exhaust holder courtesy Casa Eric

Looks like the spring dug into our muffler and gave it a real hard time.  Not only is it bashed in and wrinkled, it actually gouged a couple of holes in it.  We may replace it or... then again, this is ChumpCar.  We may cover the hole, rebend the hanger, and slap it back on.

We'll close out today's update with a shot of the Z31 RACECAR BEAST barreling down the front straight of Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The $500 Z31 duking it out with a $500 Crown Vic and a not-$500 Camaro