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Old 04-25-2017, 03:06 AM   #1
Sgt.Gator
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Default CRR STI Endurance Racer Build

This thread will detail the thrill of victory and agony of defeat chronicling my 2005 STI endurance racer build. It's a continuation of Dirty Rice Racing's original build in this thread: https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho....php?t=2035408.
I'm starting a new thread because not only is the car under a new owner but the direction is being changed from sprint racer to endurance racer with goal of competing in the Thunderhill 25 in 2018.

I bought the STI last year when my Legacy GT Wagon, the former Subaru Road Race Team car built by Phoenix Performance and ICY Racing, and campaigned in the Grand Am cup, blew it's engine for the second year in a row at Pacific Raceways.

In the paddock:
My Wife and Head Crew Chief: "Honey, your engine sounds like it has rocks in it."

A guy who has wanted to own the car since it raced in GrandAm in 2006 walked up and offered to buy it as is, leave it in the paddock with all my spares. I took his offer, walked across the paddock and struck a deal for the former Dirty Rice Racing STI. At the time it had a brand new oem shortblock installed with less than 5 hours of track time. I thought that my 2016 race season would be saved!

I put new livery with my sponsor, Subaru of Bend (thanks for your continuing support!) and went up to ORP for a couple of practice sessions and an aero study. Then on to Spokane for a race.



Qualifying for the ST race was ok, trying to get used to the track and the new car at high speed. The Enduro qualifying went much better.
Then on the first racing lap of the ST race, loss of power... copious blue smoke....limped back to paddock.....blown engine.

Wife: "Honey your engine sounds like it has rocks in it. Only this time it's also shooting smoke, oil, and pieces of metal out all over the place."

The engine had less than 5 hours on it. It ran great for two track days at ORP so I had no idea this might happen.

The #4 piston was melted into aluminum ingots and there was a hole thru the block near the knock sensor.

Post Mortem: Two failures that each independently could or shortly would cause the engine to fail:

1) The primary cause: A Holley transfer pump + hydromat had been installed to move gas from the driver's side saddle bag tank to the passenger side of the tank, dumping the gas right at the in tank pump pickup. This was the solution to the fuel starvation our cars get in turns at 1/4 tank or less. However it wasn't until I was deep into the re-build that I removed the firewall between the rear seat and the trunk when I noticed the back of the pump where it's marked In and Out. The pump was 180 degrees wrong, it was pulling gas AWAY from the intank fuel pump and dumping it into the driver's side saddle tank. So the result was ultra lean AFR and a melted piston.

2) The block, radiator, heater core, everything that coolant passed thru was 50% blocked off with white goo, aluminum from electrolysis deposited on everything. It was so thick it must have already been cutting way back on the cooling capacity and since the engine had just been rebuilt it was happening very fast. I eventually discovered that a brass temp sender was installed in the new Koyorad radiator and grounded to the radiator support. Only it wasn't really grounded. It looked fine, but it wasn't until I was disassembling the engine bay that I discovered the wire down inside the insulated ring screwed to the support was broken. Therefore the temp sender was grounding thru the coolant back to the block ground, a recipe for disaster. Just by chance I ordered a part that came in a Koyorad box much later and saw this warning on the box:



I've learned a great deal about aluminum radiators and electrolysis. The takeaway is NEVER apply voltage, even the slightest, to an aluminum radiator. http://www.rondavisradiators.com/tech.htm

Next Up: The new engine rebuild and more drama!
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Last edited by Sgt.Gator; 04-25-2017 at 10:48 AM.
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Old 04-25-2017, 01:57 PM   #2
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Default New Engine Build

I've wanted to compete in the THill 25 for years. And here in the PacNW we have the ICSCC NWMECS Mini Enduro Championship. The Mini Enduros take place on the same race weekends at ICSCC sprint races and are not only great fun but are cheap racing seat time from a entry fee standpoint. The best part is occasionally sharing the race with another driver who I know is better than me and then comparing our data logs to see WHY they are better. Sharing the same car on the same track under the same conditions is the only way to make valid comparisons and learn.

Competing in the Thill25 may be a pipe dream. After attending in 2016 I realized the enormous cost and enormous effort it takes to compete there. I'm too old to be a owner/driver AND crew chief. Maybe not too old to be an owner/driver though. But I know I can compete in NWMECs, which has a 6 hour spring enduro and a 8 hour fall enduro, with 1 hour mini enduros in between.

So the new build would be centered on "what does it take to keep a Subaru together for 25 hours of near WOT?" Engine; brakes; tranny; diff; suspension; aero; cooling; driver ergonomics; the whole package. What class do I build for at Thill 25?
ICSCC ST class is very close to NASA ST3, which for NASA endurance racing is the E0 class. At the Thill 25 any mods beyond NASA ST3 puts the car in the very expensive ES class against teams like the Flying Lizards which is several orders of magnitude more expensive.

Keeping it legal for NASA ST3/E0 became a main driver of the build. In the ICSCC NWMECS though the ST class is in the Enduro ME0 class, where I'd be up against SPU/SPM/SPO/GT1 cars with 500-700 hp and full tube frame builds. So flexibility to have more than 10lbs/HP ratio would be needed to be competitive in NWMECs. That means about 320 HP in ST/ST3 tune, and as much as I can get in SPM/ME0 tune.

I consulted with various engine builders on how to make all these differing demands come together. What we came up with was a wider power band, lots of torque, lower rpm, engine but with all the mods you would normally see in a 500HP+ engine. A wide power band with lots of TQ is important because I know from experience a couple of times in each race I'll go 3 wide into a corner millimeters from other cars and in the pressure of avoiding contact will find myself in the wrong (lower) gear coming out! Besides lower rpms with a lower stock level type redline will help the engine last for 25 hours.

I chose a well known vendor on here, Dave at Rallispec, for the race shortblock build. The heads would be from BuiltEJ. All the aero, electrical, and cooling mods I'd do myself, and the assembly of the built shortblock to the heads.

The engine specs:

Rallispec 2.7L Stroker, Closed Deck, Cosworth 9.4 compression pistons, 1/2" ARP head studs, rotating assembly balanced.

Heads: BuiltEJ stage 1.5 (lighly ported) upgraded valve train, OEM STI cams, oem valve sizes.

Turbo: Externally Gated GTX3067R Bolt On Turbo Kit For Subaru WRX/STI (**NOT GTX3076R **) with water cooled Tial EWG. I went with the builtin EWG on the turbo to avoid the possibility of the normal EWG uppipe cracking in an endurance race.

Perrin ELH headers, no wrap.

The Intercooler was a big challenge to find one that would work with the brake ducts. I knew from my aero study the TMIC with monster 2005 STI hood scoop had to go (the scoop is for sale, PM me). I almost went AWIC then ended up with a Turbo XS FMIC. It's one of the few that will work with front brake ducts, at least the way mine are located.

Cosworth Dry Sump. I've used Phil's Element Tuning system in the past, and then pieced together my own from parts, this time I bought the last Cosworth DS system for sale new in the US. Cosworth doesn't make them anymore. It's too bad because I think their's has the best DS pan.
The DS tank is mounted in the trunk with a Derale cooler. I mounted Phil's system next to me in the cockpit in the LGT wagon. OMG that was hot! I'm sure it's fine when doing a 3 lap Time Attack, but it was broiling me in one hour races. Even with a Cool Shirt going full blast it was like having a brick pizza oven facing me. Trunk mount now with a firewall between me and the tank.

Colonel Red Racing custom 3" intake. Because I'm using a closed system dry sump with vacuum there are no connections to the intake for oil to get into the tract.

Other mods: Power Steering Cooler. Transmission Cooler. Brake duct rebuild (more on that later). Provision for a Diff cooler. Full suspension bushings replacement with mostly Whiteline and Energy Suspension parts.

And Murray Constant Tension clamps. I'm a dealer for them. If you'd like to buy some Murray Constant Tension Clamps please visit my eBay page: http://stores.ebay.com/colonelredracing

Here's some pics before heading up to Cobb Surgeline in Portland for a break in on their dyno:

......

Next Up: What happened at Cobb Surgeline. It wasn't good.

Last edited by Sgt.Gator; 05-07-2017 at 04:13 PM.
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Old 04-25-2017, 02:36 PM   #3
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Is 320hp @ WOT for 25 hours the goal for that build ?
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Old 04-25-2017, 03:50 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by EVT_Dan View Post
Is 320hp @ WOT for 25 hours the goal for that build ?
Not 100% WOT, but you get the idea. WOT everywhere except brake zones and a few places where part throttle is called for and pit stops. Yes, for 25 hours.
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:04 PM   #5
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subscribed!
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Old 04-26-2017, 04:11 PM   #6
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subscribed!
Ditto!
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Old 04-26-2017, 04:30 PM   #7
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So this cliffhanger with Cobb surgeline, UPDATE!

Looking forward to following your thread. Keep it up.
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Old 04-27-2017, 12:44 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by wrxracer519 View Post
So this cliffhanger with Cobb surgeline, UPDATE!

Looking forward to following your thread. Keep it up.
OK, OK. I was waiting until a final resolution but here you go:

The overall plan. Startup run in for leaks for 20 minutes at my house. Change oil/filer. Go to Cobb Surgeline up in Portland for a dyno monitored break in culminating in a SD tune at at wastegate pressure. Then do two 6 hour track days at ORP to finish the break in with low/no boost. Back to Surgeline for the race tunes for NASA ST3- ICSCC ST- ICSCC SPM. Compete in first race at PIR May 5-6-7.

At home I started and ran the car at low-high idle for 20 minutes, then changed the oil filter. Oil looked very clean, I filtered thru a fine micron mesh screen all 8 quarts (dry sump tank holds a lot).

I took the car to Cobb-Surgeline in Portland for a dyno monitored break in cycle.

First session was great. 2,500 - 4,000 rpm for 30 minutes with no boost. We let the car cool off for 30 minutes then on second start it immediately has a loud tick/clank/knock. The sound is at idle and when the engine is under no load. As soon as it revs and is increasing RPM the tick completely goes away. The Cobb-Surgeline folks don't think it's a bearing. Their best guess is a wrist pin retainer came off and the wrist pin is loose. They used a stethoscope and are sure the sound is in the center/back of the block above CYL #4. It's definitely not an accessory drive or the dry sump pump.

At no time did the engine ever see boost or more than 4,000 rpm.

Here's the tuner's report:

"The car was warmed up to 180* F coolant temp and 150* F oil temp before I started rolling on the dyno. I began by running through 1st - 4th gears at light throttle to setup an acceptable VE curve. Then I proceeded to run through 10 miles of light acceleration in 4th gear from 2500 RPM to 4000 RPM and then engine breaking back down to 2500 RPM. Rise and repeat for 10 miles. Oil temperatures peaked at 218* F at one point but usually hung around 200* - 210* F. Coolant temps were solid at 180* - 185* F. The engine still had not seen positive boost pressure. I was monitoring fuel trims and timing corrections the entire time. I also had det cans with an additional knock sensor bolted on top of the stock knock sensor. Nothing appeared to be out of place during this short break in run. Total run time was probably around 20 - 30 min.

I took a short lunch break and then went out to the dyno room to fire the car up and get it warmed up to continue doing a few more break in miles before I continued on with the tune. As soon as I started the car there was an audible knock/clacking. I immediately glanced over at the oil pressure gauge and it was around 70psi. I went and grabbed one of our techs to get a second set of ears and he confirmed with a stethoscope that the sound is coming from the rear of the motor. That's where we called it."

A very short video clip:


I brought the car back home (180 miles each way). I thought about pulling the engine myself but decided that it would be much faster if my sponsor, Subaru of Bend, pulled it so that we can get this thing resolved without missing too many races. And also it would be better to have two independent Subaru shops involved since neither was involved in the build/installation.

Subaru of Bend got the engine out. As soon as they pulled the dry sump pan off they noticed the #2 cyl wrist pin was loose/hanging out 1/2". I got there and we took the service hole cover off and looked at the wrist pin, there was no retaining circlip. There was no evidence that it fell out and got chewed up, or was ever installed at all. There was no metal bits in the pan and we didn't see it anywhere in the block. See pics.

...

It's a little odd because we and the folks at Cobb Surgeline both heard the noise further back, above cyl #4. It's possible that one is missing too, we didn't pull off that service cover, I figured if #2 is missing that's enough to stop our examination.

The block has been shipped back to Rallispec.

I've been in communications with Dave at Rallispec. He of course wants to inspect the block himself before committing to a resolution, and I'm fine with that. I trust Dave and his company to do the right thing. So far I have no reason to think he won't take care of this. He's a respected builder here and has done other work for me in the past. I'll ask him to chime in on this thread when he's ready to make a report.

I did tell him this: "Thanks for your quick reply. Companies are made up of people and people make mistakes. A good company makes very few mistakes, but it happens. What separates great companies from all the rest is how they respond when they made a mistake.
Looking forward to your inspection report and resolution to this."

I'll miss the first two race weekends in May for sure. The problem is finding track dates where I can break the engine in, then get back to Surgeline for the race map tunes. They are booked way out in advance.

I picked the race car number 28 because in Chinese it means Double Luck. Apparently in Japanese it means something else!

I forgot to mention in the first post, I always name my race cars. The LGT Wagon was the Silver Eagle. This one is the Blue Sake Bomber.
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Old 04-27-2017, 02:50 AM   #9
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Bummer on the engine troubles.

What's that block mounted on the alternator, where the AC compressor would be? Guessing it's a pump, but for what?
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Old 04-27-2017, 11:30 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by gregroot198521 View Post
Bummer on the engine troubles.

What's that block mounted on the alternator, where the AC compressor would be? Guessing it's a pump, but for what?
Cosworth Dry Sump Pump. It's in the same place as the Element Tuning and most other pumps are mounted for DS, the exception being the Dailey pump that's integrated into the pan.

The Cosworth is different in that the pump mounts to a special plate that has the scavenge lines coming in from the top, thru the plate, and into the pump, then exits out the side.

On my last Aviad setup I accomplished the same thing after working with the Aviaid folks to build two of their pumps with the scavenge lines in the top and exit out the side:



If anybody wants one of them I'd be happy to sell it. I don't need two spare Aviaid pumps now that I have the Cosworth system. This configuration makes it much easier to connect the exit AN line since it normally would be 180 degrees from the inlet lines and exit out the bottom.
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Old 04-27-2017, 03:50 PM   #11
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great build!
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Old 05-01-2017, 10:54 AM   #12
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Wow, that stinks about the motor issues. Hopefully it all gets figured out is a short amount of time and you can get back on track.

Looking forward to following your journey.
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Old 05-02-2017, 12:39 AM   #13
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Default Brake Ducts

While we're waiting on the motor resolution I'll go over some other changes to the former Dirty Rice Racing STI that I've already made, and some planned ones.

First up the brake ducts:
Using the frame as brake ducts was/is brilliant! Concerns over weakening the frame don't seem to be valid because it's been like this for a long time with no apparent problems with the frame.

However what I don't understand and completely disagree with was running two intakes from different sources into one common plenum to feed the rotor. From everything I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics, which admittedly isn't much, both intake source pressures have to be equally balanced at all times for this to work. Otherwise the intake with higher pressure simply pushes air out the lower pressure side of the other intake, drastically limiting the total pressure to the exhaust side (the brake rotor). Here's what was on the car, large scoops feeding directly into the frame, and smaller side intakes fed by fans from a flush mounted fog light cover hole:

......

I've spent some time with the guys running former NASCAR ground pounders, they all run brake ducts with fans, and none have dual inlets with both a "ram air" scoop and a separate fan inlet. And their brakes work great with no overheating issues. They flip on the brake fans after a lap and don't worry about it from there.

So I cut off the intake ram air horns and welded them shut. At the same time I found lots of little leaks in the frame "duct" that would let pressure out so sealed those up too. I used kaminari fog light brake ducts purchased from another NASIOC member to feed the fans. This should give me both the high speed ram air effect and the low speed fan air with no loss in pressure.

..

You can see from the micro cracks these rotors have seen some heat. Also I've replaced all the suspension bushings and installed the Whiteline ALK:

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Old 05-02-2017, 04:27 PM   #14
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The 350Z that won the E0 class at Thill25 this year is for sale. That's the class I'm building to compete in. This gives you an idea of what I'm up against build wise and the kind of mods for endurance racing.



$59,340

"With our sights set on ES and an overall podium, it is very sad but it is time to sell our tried and true E0 car. Valkyrie Autosport has spent 3 years and over $100,000 developing this car for endurance racing. Its last 3 races were a win at the 25 hour, a win at the 2017 WERC season opener, and a 3rd place our of 10 cars at the recent Buttonwilow 3 hour. This cars comes fully sorted with a comprehensive spares package. It is turn key ready to compete in the 2017 25 hour.

Engine/Drivetrain:

- 2008 HR wiring harness swap and engine swap.

- VQ35HR w/Jim Wolf Cams and Dailey Engineering Dry Sump, and PPE Headers, makes 335 HP.

- Engine was ordered brand new from Nissan before 2016 25 hour, it made more power at the end of the race than it did at the beginning!

- Aprox. 15 quart oil capacity w/rear mounted oil can.

- Brand new HR Transmission before 25 hour race.

- Brand new axles and driveshaft before 25 hour race.

- Brand new NISMO rear LSD before 25 hour race.

- Engine oil cooler, Koyo race radiator, transmission cooler, differential cooler

Chassis/Aero:

- Valkyrie Autosport fully integrated 6 pt roll cage.

- Competition weight of about 3000 lbs w/175 lb driver.

- Aeromotions Rear wing, chassis mounted through deck lid.

- Valkyrie Autosport custom front splitter, belly pan, fuel tank flat bottom cover feeding custom rear diffuser.

- Seibon dry carbon doors, hood, and wet carbon deck lid, over $8000 retail value!

Suspension/Brakes/wheels:

- JRZ RS Pro w/hypercoil springs, serviced before 25 hour.

- Custom Speedway engineering front sway bar

- Full SPL Spherical and suspension link package

- Stoptech STR-40GT endurance front BBK, takes 26mm pads! These last almost two seasons!

- OE Brembo rear calipers with Stoptech fully floating OE rotor/hat replacement

- 3 sets of Enkei 18x10 wheels.

Interior/Lighting:

- Custom switch panel controlling engine ignition and start, trans pump, diff pump, fuel pumps, wipers, JAWS system, window heater, coolsuit/defroster, 3 separate light switches, marker and tail lights.

- Baja Designs LED lights, cornering, spot, and driving combo, one of the best lighting setups in the field!

- Racetech 4009 WHR seat and harnesses

- Cockpit adjustable rear brake bias

Fueling:

- OE tank modified with top vent and fill port through -24 AN hose. We can dump 10 gallons in about 12 seconds.

- OE tank holds 20 gallons!

Legal for NASA ST3/TT3 sprint racing, could be easily modified for ST4.

Flexible on price if a buyer wanted to run the remaining WERC series with the car with our support.

Contact Seller »"

https://showroom.windingroad.com/lis...eid=122ff5697d

Awesome car.
The stock 20 gallon tank is a big advantage to my STI 14 gallon. Although the class is limited to 10 gallons per pit stop, that still pushes their first pit out by 50%.
I'm assuming that at a 3,000lb competition weight that the quoted HP is crank and not Dyno RWD, otherwise they are 350 lbs underweight.

Last edited by Sgt.Gator; 05-02-2017 at 04:40 PM.
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Old 05-02-2017, 08:15 PM   #15
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2.7 stroker would NOT have been my suggested shortblock for an endurance racer, especially at only ST3 power levels.

Beyond the shortblock option, I'm liking the rest of the list.

How are you planning to shield and cool the exhaust manifold?

Thermal management is the key to the engine lasting.
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Old 05-02-2017, 09:52 PM   #16
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I didnt know E0 has a 10gal per pitsop rule My vanilla sti takes 6 gallons every 20min at WGI just lapping, thats going to be alot of stops
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Old 05-03-2017, 05:33 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Homemade WRX View Post
2.7 stroker would NOT have been my suggested shortblock for an endurance racer, especially at only ST3 power levels.

Beyond the shortblock option, I'm liking the rest of the list.

How are you planning to shield and cool the exhaust manifold?

Thermal management is the key to the engine lasting.
With the Perrin ELH I'm planning on not wrapping it all so it doesn't crack from retaining too much heat. Perrin's Warranty has an exclusion specifically if you wrap the headers.
There is offset heat protection where the dry sump lines go past the headers. I'll post up a pic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jvangelder View Post
I didnt know E0 has a 10gal per pitsop rule My vanilla sti takes 6 gallons every 20min at WGI just lapping, thats going to be a lot of stops
I agree, about one every 40 minutes! All the heavier cars/hp ( 3,000lbs/300HP ) are in the same boat. The best car would weigh 1,800lbs/180 Hp, which means much further on 10 gals. There was an 818R there in 2016 in E0 that is about 2,000/200 which blew their turbo after a few hours, if they can keep it together in 2017 they will have a nice pit stop advantage.

I think the real chance for the STI comes with Thunderhill's sometimes awful December weather. It usually rains for at least part of the race, and has snowed during the race in the past. If we can get a good amount of rain, and especially snow, the STI will be hard to beat. Miserable racing for 25 hours, but would be worth it!
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Old 05-04-2017, 12:10 AM   #18
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Now that the Blue Sake Bomber has an FMIC the STI hood scoop had to go. I'll eventually spring for a nice CF hood with heat extractor vent, but for now the budget called for the special Colonel Red Racing Economy Racer Hood, with Grimmspeed dampers and AeroCatch latches:

........


On the AeroCatch: One trick I came up with in case ya'll are considering them: Superglue the nyloc nuts into the nut holders on the underside plate so you don't have to use one hand to try and hold them in while turning the screws on top of the hood.

I got the suspension settings all done. Setup the Smart Strings and started going thru the checklist. I expected that since I had replaced every suspension bushing and installed new rear lateral links that things were going to be way out of whack and it would take all day. Surprisingly it was almost fine as is! I still spent an hour fine tuning down to the 1/16" but it could have been much worse.

I ended up with:
Front: -3.4 / -3.4 zero toe
Rear: -3.0 / -3.0 1/8" toe In.

There's no more camber to get in the front. Maybe I can get more when I replace the Noltec camber plates with Ground Control, but that's a winter 2018 project.

Corner weighting done. Final Cross 50.3% with me in the driver seat.

..

Last edited by Sgt.Gator; 05-08-2017 at 03:30 PM.
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Old 05-06-2017, 01:41 AM   #19
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I heard from Dave at Rallispec, the #2 wrist pin retainer circlip had come out, they found it somewhere in the block. The result was the wrist pin pretty badly scarred the cylinder wall. We are still discussing what the next step will be , but no matter what it will be a minimum of 3 weeks before he has another block ready for me. Add on a week shipping time and a couple of days to put it back together, then a break in dyno tune, break in track time, and final race dyno tunes, I'm looking at 6 weeks until it will be ready to race. So I'm not waiting!

I'm up in Portland to race my former race car, a 1990 Acura Integra, in a 30 minute sprint race and a 1 hour enduro Saturday. It will be great to get back on the track in competition again. The enduro should be crazy fun, there are 16 Miatas in my class. That means I will for sure be nose to tail with at least 3 of them for most of the 1 hour race. I can't wait!
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Old 05-07-2017, 03:29 PM   #20
Sgt.Gator
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Had fun racing at Portland Int'l in my Acura Integra. It's a heck of a change from the Subaru though. I kept having issues with braking at the end of the two straights. This was a non-chicane weekend at PIR so the first corner at the end of the long front straight is a bit of a pucker factor if the brakes/alignment make the car a bit squirrely. I kept overslowing for the corner because the car felt so squirrely going in.

There was a LOT of cars there, 189! Spec Miata had close 40 cars alone, and unfortunately they were in our Groups 2 & 5 races, and also in my Class in the Endurance race. They sounded like a swarm of hornets all around me.

We did have 3 Radicals show up, and a Ferrari race car. The Radicals are always fast, but the Ferrari was crazy fast. He was in the Enduro with me and would smoke by like I was going backwards. Although something happened and he dropped out.
....

And this classic was in the Novice class, it was awesome to watch him on the track! I love the technology juxtaposition of the Ferrari and Radical to the Mercury stock car.

..



The Group 5 practice race was fun because I ended up nose to tail with a Spec Miata for many laps, then coming out of the corner onto the main straight I got a better exit speed that allowed me to just pass him in time to setup for the next corner. Then we spent the next 10 minutes with him right on my rear bumper. The last lap was awesome, him trying to pass, me defending and trying not to screw up with a missed shift or botched corner entry. I crossed the finish line with him next to me but behind my rear bumper. What a blast!

Then the 1 hour enduro: A large field, I think 40 cars, including 16 Miatas. With about 15 mins to go Rocky ( the Integra) developed a strong pull to the left. That lasted about 1/2 lap, then bang, the left front CV axle disassembled itself. I had enough speed coming off the back straight to coast thru the final turns and all the way down pit road and off the track, to avoid having to be towed in. It was ok though, there was no chance of even placing against all the national level Spec Miatas in my class. I just had fun racing against the ones around me.

In the paddock we discovered that the left front lower brake caliper bolt was gone along with the disassembled CV axle. We don't know if the brake caliper bolt being loose and eventually falling out caused the CV axle to fail, but it sure explains the lack of braking stability at top speed. And it must have happened over a little time because the left front brake pad had a goofy uneven wear pattern.

One of the Radicals took 1st overall in the Enduro. A Mustang Boss302R took 2nd overall and 1st in the ME0 class. The Boss302R driver is a great guy, the crew I hang out with crewed for him in the enduro because he didn't think he could a full hour without a splash of gas so they fueled him during the mandatory pit stop.

Finally a connection back to my STI. The guy I bought the STI from, who bought it from Dirty Rice Racing, Mike Conatore, had a brake failure in his gorgeous Spec E46 at the end of the front straight. My little 140HP Integra is doing 122 mph there, so I'm guessing he was at 145-150mph. He threw the car sideways to scrub speed, it rotated around and went across the run off area backwards, thru two tire walls, and climbed the chain link fencing. Thankfully he was unhurt, and given the speed involved the car was relatively unhurt. Hitting the tire walls going backwards saved a lot of damage and injury. His pics from his Facebook post;

....

They called the race over because of the damaged tire walls. This happened only about 5 mins after I exited the track with my broken CV.

I have to say this was an Arrive & Drive for me, and how sweet that is. No stress to prep the car and get it on the trailer, I didn't have to gas it or fix. Concierge racing I can get used to!
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Old 05-08-2017, 01:29 PM   #21
Sgt.Gator
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Location: Bend Oregon
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Knocked out the rear firewall and package shelf re-do . Previously there was nothing across the package shelf at all, and the"firewall" had a lot of holes in it.

I'm surprised it got thru tech and made me nervous with the fuel transfer pump installation right behind the "firewall".

I riveted plates over the firewall holes and painted it WRB. It's bolted in four places and push pins in 6 more. For the package shelf I first sealed up the holes with aluminum tape then riveted and bolted an aluminum plate on top of that.

The firewall system is not liquid tight but should keep any major fires from the fuel transfer pump or oil tank in the trunk at bay long enough for me to exit the car.

The second benefit is keeping the heat from the DS tank and DS cooler out of the driver compartment.


Last edited by Sgt.Gator; 05-08-2017 at 02:14 PM.
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Old 05-08-2017, 01:37 PM   #22
Zefy
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hey there, just so you know, anybody that is not a member of legacygt.com cannot see your images that you're hosting there.
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Old 05-08-2017, 01:48 PM   #23
BlueSTI4Me
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zefy View Post
hey there, just so you know, anybody that is not a member of legacygt.com cannot see your images that you're hosting there.

Not a member and I see the images.
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Old 05-08-2017, 01:53 PM   #24
Zefy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueSTI4Me View Post
Not a member and I see the images.
my bad. guess it must just be region blocked or something. All I see is the broken image thing and when I try to open the image it tells me I'm not allowed to see it without logging in. Carry on
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Old 05-08-2017, 02:08 PM   #25
Sgt.Gator
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I just heard back from Dave at Rallispec. They are stepping up and taking care of the shortblock issue. He is shipping a new Closed Deck version of their RSB-RS25 Race Block machined for 1/2" head studs. He has one in stock he can ship right away. It will be standard compression and standard stroke. Otherwise I'd have to wait 3-4 weeks to machine a replacement of the original order. He's also supplying new RCM head gaskets and will reimburse my shipping costs.

I'm completely satisfied with this outcome. Especially since I should be able to get some racing in this season.

Kudos to Rallispec for being a good vendor. I've invited Dave to come out and experience the Thill25 with our team (if we can get it together).
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