Since the last post, the size of our group has diminished. Travis has decided to pursue other hobbies. Duncan has acknowledged he will miss the Road Atlanta race due to family issues. That leaves only three of us. We are actively recruiting additional drivers.
We expect to have the engine installation finished this weekend. We are currently installing a new temperature gauge that will give us a more precise reading during our races. Considering we've had some overheating issues twice now, the gauge along with the new radiator should help to improve our reliability. The new sensor for the gauge was sort of holding up installation of the old intake manifold onto the new engine. But that is almost complete.
- Install intake manifold
- Attach intake piping
- Plug in passenger side fuel injectors
- Add engine oil
- Start it up and make sure it runs
- Check compression
- Install exhaust downpipe along with new muffler
- Install fire new supression system
- Install ventilation tube
- Add tranny fluid
- Change oil & filter
- Check wheel bearings
- Bleed brakes
- Add new temp gauge
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Saturday, December 14, 2013
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
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.
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.
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.
upper and lower intake manifods
distributor
timing belt and tensioner
timing belt covers
exhaust manifolds
valve covers
clutch, pressure plate, flywheel
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| 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.
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| Many hours later... new engine is still going together |
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| 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.
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| Shiny new radiator beside old beat up one |
Monday, December 9, 2013
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.
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.
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.
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| Road Atlanta track map |
Sunday, December 8, 2013
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.
Close-up view, try not to cry:
Whatever can be salvaged off the old engine will be. We'll reuse the transmission of course.
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.
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| Blown VG30 - oil pan at bottom beat up with a few holes in it, block just above it with holes in it |
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| Close up of engine carnage |
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| Engine bay looking very empty |
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| Broken engine sitting on redneck engine stand |
Thursday, December 5, 2013
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.
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:
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.
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| Eric unplugs and unbolts the VG30 alternator |
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| Crunched up muffler courtesy of a mean trailer - gutter downspout and trashcan exhaust holder courtesy Casa Eric |
We'll close out today's update with a shot of the Z31 RACECAR BEAST barreling down the front straight of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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| The $500 Z31 duking it out with a $500 Crown Vic and a not-$500 Camaro |
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Some New Zip
After the last race, we have to get ourselves some new Zip. A couple of us plan on doing some prep work the week after Thanksgiving. We will unhook the wiring, hoses, intake, remove the radiator, driveshaft, exhaust. Then the weekend after, we hope to pull the old (ventilated) engine out.
We will spruce up the spare engine with a new timing belt and some gaskets, then swap it in.
If you are really lucky, we will post photos :)
We will spruce up the spare engine with a new timing belt and some gaskets, then swap it in.
If you are really lucky, we will post photos :)
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Charlotte Chump Race - Take 2 Results
Saturday morning, race day! Everybody was up bright and early and at the track well ahead of the driver's meeting. Except Duncan, who had an alarm malfunction possibly related to user error. The CTS-V made some sonic boom noises heading up I85, and he barely rolled into CMS at 6:31.
We were out of the driver's meeting, in the car, staged on pit row, and ready to rock. But c'mon, Charlotte Motor Speedway Chump Racing ain't racing without some drama. Mother nature did not cooperate. It was so foggy, the guys in the control tower couldn't even see the cars on pit row.
A 15 min delay turned into a 30 min delay, then 60. Finally, a few minutes after 8am, the fog had lifted enough for the green flag to fly. There were 52 cars in the lineup, and after 65 minutes of frustration, there were some happy drivers out there.
Because two of our five teammates did not get a chance to drive at the last race, we inverted our driving order this time. Jason was the first up.
The course was set up strictly on the oval. The CMS Christmas light thing was set up in the infield. To keep non-NASCAR drivers awake, with both hands on the wheel, Chump set up a chicane on both the front straight and the back straight. The chicane at the front was fairly wide and not particularly tricky. The chicane at the back was the opposite. It really wasn't wide enough to go in two wide, and the exit of the chicane was a little tricky. So this prompted a few spins at the front chicane, and a WHOLE LOT of screw ups on the back chicane.
Jason settled into the car well, with frequent interruptions for yellow flags. He reported the temperature of the car would stay reasonable as long as he didn't run it too hard. Short shifting at 4k or 5k rpm seemed to hold things together. The car was handling well, and the brakes were phenomenal. Top speed was around 105mph, a bit of an improvement from the last race. Jason completed about 80 laps before roaring into pit row.
After a quick addition of five gallons of gas, Brad was up next. With plenty of open track in front of him, Brad scooted around half a lap before doing a great job of exploring the tire wall in the back chicane. After sliding to a stop about 2" from it (2:37 in the vid below), he waited for a chance to reverse and get back into the mix.
Another 30 minutes went by, with Zip6Racing showing as high as 13th or 14th place. Then Brad put the finishing touches on a strong passing maneuver down the front stretch by managing a lurid slide and a complete 360 going into Turn 1. No harm, no foul, no impact or crunched body panels, but good for a bit of a pucker.
Alas, the vg30 was fading. An oil pressure warning light, set to go off when oil pressure dropped below 10 psi, went from flickering occasionally under heavy braking and low rpm, to flickering frequently under hard cornering. Engine temps would only stay down if the car was kept below 4k rpm.
Roughly 128 laps into the race, Brad accelerated out of a chicane and knew something was wrong. The car seemed to lack power, and was reluctant to pull up to speed. A few hundred yards later... BOOM! She blew:
We got a tow back to the garage, and mourned our dead engine. Even if we had a spare with us, it's questionable whether we would've had time to swap it in and get back on the track before the end of the race. We packed up and headed home. We'll be back! In the coming weeks, we'll decide which of the 2014 races we want to shoot for.
We were out of the driver's meeting, in the car, staged on pit row, and ready to rock. But c'mon, Charlotte Motor Speedway Chump Racing ain't racing without some drama. Mother nature did not cooperate. It was so foggy, the guys in the control tower couldn't even see the cars on pit row.
 |
| Thick fog delayed the November CMS Chump race |
Because two of our five teammates did not get a chance to drive at the last race, we inverted our driving order this time. Jason was the first up.
The course was set up strictly on the oval. The CMS Christmas light thing was set up in the infield. To keep non-NASCAR drivers awake, with both hands on the wheel, Chump set up a chicane on both the front straight and the back straight. The chicane at the front was fairly wide and not particularly tricky. The chicane at the back was the opposite. It really wasn't wide enough to go in two wide, and the exit of the chicane was a little tricky. So this prompted a few spins at the front chicane, and a WHOLE LOT of screw ups on the back chicane.
 |
| The Charlotte race used the entire oval, with a chicane added in each straight as marked in yellow |
Jason settled into the car well, with frequent interruptions for yellow flags. He reported the temperature of the car would stay reasonable as long as he didn't run it too hard. Short shifting at 4k or 5k rpm seemed to hold things together. The car was handling well, and the brakes were phenomenal. Top speed was around 105mph, a bit of an improvement from the last race. Jason completed about 80 laps before roaring into pit row.
After a quick addition of five gallons of gas, Brad was up next. With plenty of open track in front of him, Brad scooted around half a lap before doing a great job of exploring the tire wall in the back chicane. After sliding to a stop about 2" from it (2:37 in the vid below), he waited for a chance to reverse and get back into the mix.
Another 30 minutes went by, with Zip6Racing showing as high as 13th or 14th place. Then Brad put the finishing touches on a strong passing maneuver down the front stretch by managing a lurid slide and a complete 360 going into Turn 1. No harm, no foul, no impact or crunched body panels, but good for a bit of a pucker.
Alas, the vg30 was fading. An oil pressure warning light, set to go off when oil pressure dropped below 10 psi, went from flickering occasionally under heavy braking and low rpm, to flickering frequently under hard cornering. Engine temps would only stay down if the car was kept below 4k rpm.
Roughly 128 laps into the race, Brad accelerated out of a chicane and knew something was wrong. The car seemed to lack power, and was reluctant to pull up to speed. A few hundred yards later... BOOM! She blew:
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| This twisted chunk is what's left of a connecting rod that went through the oil pan |
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| A now well-ventilated VG block |
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