Topic: Race #2

I'm on the team with the #20 MR2. We had a blast at Our first race at NJMP, but were quite unprepared and got lucky with the help from a lot of other teams. We should be racing at Thompson in August. We now have a radio system and a race strategy that involves using the pits instead of our trailer. Aside from changing the brake pads, bleeding the brakes, changing the oil, building a new exhaust since the old one fell off... what else should we add to our 'to do' list? i think we have just about everything but a backup engine/trans.

Re: Race #2

Make sure your engine cooling system is up to snuff. Consider adding an oil cooler as well. The high strung 4a doesn't like getting too hot. It was cool for NJ, but who knows how hot CT will be. Also consider an alignment and an air dam/splitter.

The Cosmonaughts - 86/88 MR2 with 1MZ V6

Re: Race #2

I'm going to hope that "involves using the pits instead of our trailer." does not mean you were fueling in your trailer...


Echoing the above. Thompson will be hot. Last year it was brutally hot. Go over your cooling system with a fine tooth comb. Add a giant oil cooler (Look for RX7 units). If you don't have good temp gauges, get them. The gauge on your dash doesn't count, they're usually set to not show anything wrong unless you're in a dangerously hot situation. The biggest trick to keeping your car out there is keeping it cool.

Get a cool shirt if you don't have one. Trust me, you'll want it if the temps are over 80 with any humidity. Along the same line make sure you have a source of water for the driver in the car.  Heat exhaustion and dehydration can sneak up on you fast in the car, and it's scary when it gets bad.

20+ Time Loser FutilityMotorsport
Abandoned E36 Build
2008 Saab 9-5Aero Wagon
Retired - 1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby 2011-2015 "Lifetime Award for Lack of Achievement" IOE, 3X I got screwed, Organizer's Choice

Re: Race #2

Check your wheel bearings.  Do an overall inspection of the car.  Fix any minor issues now so that they're not a problem during the race.

Re: Race #2

Nut and bolt the car (check and tighten every nut and bolt that attaches something to the car - loctite them all)
check the brake system - all parts from MC down to pads
get your oil and cooling in order
Check all your bearings, bushings, ball joints
Check for metal fatigue where your seat attaches to the car
check your fuel filter
lube anything that you want to move - door hinges, hood releases, etc. 
check your spark plugs for carbon/oil/detonation/any internal problems to the engine. 
get a good racing alignment if you haven't already 

get a residual value from Jay and use that money for a front sway bar.

--Rob

--Rob Leone Schumacher Taxi Service
We won the IOE at Southern Discomfort.
We got screwed at The Real Hoopties of New Jersey  and we took cars down with us.
We got the curse at Capitol Offense but they wouldn't let us destroy the car.

Re: Race #2

TheEngineer wrote:

I'm going to hope that "involves using the pits instead of our trailer." does not mean you were fueling in your trailer...

We would never fuel up in the trailer. We used the gas station at NJMP.

We overlooked the thought of hot weather. Certainly going to look into some cool shirts. Also our oil temp gauge is a spectrum of cold-hot with no temps. I like the idea of getting an actual temp.

Re: Race #2

And it is not just the radiator, cap, res you need to check.  Every cooling hose should be inspected or just plain replaced with the best quality you can find for your motor.

Also consider cleaning up any wiring you can...not snipping and eliminating, making sure there is nothing that will chafe, dislodge or approach hot bits like exhaust headers.  Many a race-ending failure has been tracking down intermittent fuel or ignition faults.

8 (edited by RobL 2017-06-08 04:44 PM)

Re: Race #2

OutlawAnything wrote:

Also our oil temp gauge is a spectrum of cold-hot with no temps. I like the idea of getting an actual temp.

If it's the stock gauge, most are designed to point to the middle of the gauge when in the operating range of the engine and then only move when outside that range.  They do not give a linear response.  There were a whole host of RX7s that lost engines to heat because by the time the stock gauge moved, the engine was already toast.

--Rob Leone Schumacher Taxi Service
We won the IOE at Southern Discomfort.
We got screwed at The Real Hoopties of New Jersey  and we took cars down with us.
We got the curse at Capitol Offense but they wouldn't let us destroy the car.

9 (edited by RSB 2017-06-08 07:04 PM)

Re: Race #2

OnkelUdo wrote:

And it is not just the radiator, cap, res you need to check.  Every cooling hose should be inspected or just plain replaced with the best quality you can find for your motor.

Also consider cleaning up any wiring you can...not snipping and eliminating, making sure there is nothing that will chafe, dislodge or approach hot bits like exhaust headers.  Many a race-ending failure has been tracking down intermittent fuel or ignition faults.


Umm, need to add "heater hose" to the list, since those also carry coolant.

Ask me how I know. Never mind, here is how I know:


SplitHeaterHose

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B33h1C … lmYTg/view

This ended our weekend early at NJMP last month.

We Audi Be Faster
'85 Audi Coupe G(in &) T(onic)

Re: Race #2

OutlawAnything wrote:
TheEngineer wrote:

I'm going to hope that "involves using the pits instead of our trailer." does not mean you were fueling in your trailer...

We would never fuel up in the trailer. We used the gas station at NJMP.

We overlooked the thought of hot weather. Certainly going to look into some cool shirts. Also our oil temp gauge is a spectrum of cold-hot with no temps. I like the idea of getting an actual temp.

You may also consider idiot lights. Speaking from experience, drivers do not watch gauges. I am good about checking things at least once a lap, but not everyone is. We killed our daytona at it's last race when an oil line popped, and then the driver continued for half a lap with zero oil because he wasn't watching the gauge (which was on the hood in line of sight). You can buy sending units that trip at set pressure or temperature points and use those to turn on big annoying idiot lights to tell your driver that something has gone wrong. Just food for thought.

Do not underestimate the effects of hot weather. I had a driver get some really bad heat exhaustion at a NJ race. Our cool shirt stopped working. I looked up in the pits to see him just wandering around back towards our spot. Not in the car, walking. He said that his legs had started to loose feeling, and then suddenly he forgot how the track went. Luckily he came in, but he couldn't remember where our pits were, so he just dropped the car in front of some random team and got out. It was incredibly scary, but thankfully he was fine after we got him cooled down and pumped a lot of water through him. I'm not trying to scare anyone, just remind people to be safe. Search this forum for DIY cool shirt stuff. The official cool shirts are expensive, there are alternatives. Ultra-chiller makes systems as well, and you can find all the part numbers for quick disconnects and cooler builds in various threads.


The rest of the suggestions are good ones. You guys finished your car in a thrash session. This is a good time to go through it with a fine tooth comb. Learn every bolt, connector, wire run, etc. Check them all, look for things that look like they might be close to failing. Tidy up wires, look for cracking wires and failing crimps. It's usually the silliest things that will take you out. We lost a full day racing because I forgot to tie up the O2 sensor wiring and it hung against the turbo out flange. I got 3/4 of a lap before the wires melted and shorted a ton of stuff out. took the entire day to find that problem after we traced the entire wiring harness. Should have taken 10 minutes.

Keep asking questions, we've all been novices and we've all learned different lessons.

20+ Time Loser FutilityMotorsport
Abandoned E36 Build
2008 Saab 9-5Aero Wagon
Retired - 1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby 2011-2015 "Lifetime Award for Lack of Achievement" IOE, 3X I got screwed, Organizer's Choice

Re: Race #2

Minor thing: find me at Thompson, I'll give you a pair of rear rotor spacers (I made 50 back in the day because it was only $20 more than making two, never got around to ebay them off). These let you run 2nd gen Turbo calipers and pads with AW11 front rotors on the back axle.

Also, get license plates for the car if you can, if you haven't already. This lets you test-drive it, bed in brakes, heat-cycle tires, purge bubbles out of the cooling system (extra important on mr2), all that jazz. Many states have some provision for "historic" cars that lets you bypass emissions and inspection.

K Car Stalker

Re: Race #2

Here is a thread that may help.
http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewt … p?id=14883

Duck Die nasty Button turibble 13  60 somthinish  Snowballs Chance in Hell 85 MR2
The Skankaway Anti-Toe-Fungal 500  16th  WOOHOO
Arsesweat apaoooza 2011  90th Arsesweat 2012 36th
Sears pointless 2011 47th 2012 118th

Re: Race #2

firegremlin wrote:

Minor thing: find me at Thompson, I'll give you a pair of rear rotor spacers (I made 50 back in the day because it was only $20 more than making two, never got around to ebay them off). These let you run 2nd gen Turbo calipers and pads with AW11 front rotors on the back axle.

Also, get license plates for the car if you can, if you haven't already. This lets you test-drive it, bed in brakes, heat-cycle tires, purge bubbles out of the cooling system (extra important on mr2), all that jazz. Many states have some provision for "historic" cars that lets you bypass emissions and inspection.

Are those second gen rear or front calipers?

The Cosmonaughts - 86/88 MR2 with 1MZ V6

Re: Race #2

Second gen rear, late (you can get 1995 turbo ones for $130 a piece on rock auto but only $60 if you can convince them to take your AW11 cores) . This also lets you keep your parking brake. You might be able to use front calipers if parking brake isn't a problem.

K Car Stalker