Farfrumwinnin living up to its name at Loudon

Wow, what a shitshow that weekend was.

So short version of a long story you all know anyway we blew up at Monticello (engine and trans), I rebuilt the car 2 weeks ago where it blew up again immediately because the block was damaged, so then I had the brilliant idea of upgrading to a very rare Audi 3A 2.0 liter engine (since I had to replace the block anyway).  Which... in 10 not even full practice laps proceeded to break the skirt on a piston  (due to a faulty fuel injector) while I was still sorting out transmission issues.  The Keystone Kops didn't believe me when I said I could have the head off the car in under 40 minutes (especially after we had been doing shots of Limoncello, and drinking vodka spiked Lemonade all evening, and some beers), so I took them up on the challenge and had that thing off in under 30 minutes!  Guess I work better when drinking.

Finding a replacement for that engine in NH is next to impossible, or just even a replacement piston, so we found what I thought was a 93 Fox motor ready to drop in on car-part.com.  I found out when I got there that instead it was three 89 Fox motors, they were far from drop in ready, and they were all the old style mechanical fuel Injection.  As I was perplexed by the fact that someone would actually save these boat anchors, I plunked down $200 for the only one he could "get down from the shelf before Monday".  All three had 3 inches of dust, but luckily the Loudon monsoon took care of that on my drive back.

I got back to the track at about 1:30 PM (by dumb luck I had found a parts house that actually had a head gasket for it too), and went to work.  By 11 PM we had the new engine assembled with the old head/intake etc and in the car but it wouldn't start, and we were shot.  Next morning until about 1:30 PM we messed with timing, wiring, spark plugs, and replaced the bad injector, after blowing it out didn't help, using a slightly bigger one borrowed from our cellmates the Swedish Mafia.  We had gotten it started a few times but it ran like shit and made no power.  I got stuck on the hill once and learned that the push truck driver has very poor bedside manner.  We eventually figured it out (thanks to Dan from the Swedish Mafia) after running back and forth to VW Fox drivetrain guru Judge Rich 500 times and were back on track by 2, nursing some shift linkage problems.  But we got it running and we finished!  It probably would have run right about an hour or so earlier If I had the plug wires on in the right order.  I was so delirious that when were messing around I flipped 2 and 3.

And the pièce de résistance, winning Heroic Fix after all of that.

Just want to thank everyone that came by and helped, and especially everyone that cheered when we finally got it running, when we made some laps, and when they saw us come through the finish.  The response we got was like we had won the race, which made a horrible weekend pretty damn good.  Would like to specifically shout out to Judge Rich for all his help, the guys with the 944 Porsche for the boatload of advice they gave and contacts as well, the Swedish Mafia for being great friends and garage mates and providing us with help and tools and a fuel injector and food even while their motor blew up too (but they were way more prepared than us), The Keystone Kops for the help and advice and liquid motivation and engine hoist, Bill Danger and the Road Hazards for being great friends on and off the track and also helping us modify our distributor so it would work with  the older style engine, Team Pro Crash Duh Nation for also being great friends and providing a great meal every race, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch more people who came by and leant a hand or food or advice or a clamp or whatever.  It was a paddock wide effort.  Its why I love Lemons!

Unfortunately Farfrumwinnin will be taking a break from the next 2 east coast races (Summit and NJMP).  We just can't keep going to races and blowing up like this, so we are gonna take some time and disassemble the car and figure out what the hell is going on with it and get it back together for the next Loudon race.  Thanks again everyone for all your help and support!