UPDATE: Confirmed that the car just needed the rollover sensor back in place. It now starts and runs like it should.
Pretty sure I diagnosed the fuel pump issue. Like a dummy, I disconnected this little blue sensor located near the speaker in the front passenger footwell. It was coiled up with a bunch of other wires and whenever I jostled it around, the hazards would turn on. When I disconnected the sensor, the hazards remained off.
Rollover Sensor.jpg
It's part number 61318350284 and it is a rollover sensor. It appears that this sensor cuts the fuel pump when it detects the car is upside down. I was not so dumb as to throw it away which is great because they're $84 on ECSTuning. I get the car back on Saturday at which time I can test my hypothesis. If it fixes the issue, I'll certainly keep it. An automatic fuel cut-off in a racecar is probably a good thing.
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 04-24-2017 at 10:01 AM.
The past two weeks, the car has been at Bret Hamilton Enterprises in Powhatan, VA getting a cage. On Saturday, I got her back:
Bent X with gusseting and lower bar. He also installed the window net and a tab for the kill switch.
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Straight X with gusseting on the passenger side.
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Triangulation of the A-pillar and windshield bars.
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Triangulation of the main hoop and roof bar.
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Lower X and rearward horizontal bar.
IMG_1451.jpg
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 04-24-2017 at 10:39 AM.
6-point harness install on both sides.
IMG_1457.jpg
Jacking plates in the middle of each rocker panel. Mmm simplicity.
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On Saturday evening I put in a new water pump, thermostat, aluminum t-stat housing, and installed a Spal fan. Sorry, was rushing, no photos.
Then on Sunday I took the car to RevTech Performance in Sterling, Virginia for a custom alignment. (www.revtechperformance.com) Awesome service from the owners, Brian and Musab. Brian is a newly minted Spec3 racer and Musab is building up a Spec3 car.
IMG_1456[1].jpg
These are my custom alignment settings. So if they're dumb, I'm to blame.
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Lots of miscellaneous stuff to button up and then I'm running HPDE3 at Dominion with NASA on Sunday, only. Can't wait to shake it down!
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 04-24-2017 at 09:14 AM.
Is the rear really toed OUT .20 degrees? The car graphic in the middle of the sheet makes it look that way. Front toe'd in .30 degrees and rear toe'd out .20 degrees. And if the car is mostly a track car, I'd go for more camber. I've been at 4 degrees negative for about 5 years now. Stupendous amounts of front grip!
Last edited by jakermac; 04-24-2017 at 12:56 PM.
The graphic is just confusing. Ignore the red/green. Red means out of stock spec, and green is within stock spec. The rear is 0.1 toe in (positive number) and the front is -0.15 toe out (negative number). The car is nearly 100% track use so I wouldn't be surprised if I increase negative camber in the future. We'll see what tire temps tell me.
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 04-24-2017 at 01:11 PM.
After adding some finishing touches on Friday and Saturday, including this switch mount of the absolute finest quality and craftsmanship:
IMG_1492[1].jpg
I drove it down about 1.5 hours to Dominion for a day of HPDE3 shakedown sessions. On the drive down, I discovered that that my old RA-1's were vibrating badly. Old mystery solved, that was the vibration I felt on the last few laps of the old car's life. Got the wheels and tires balanced trackside by Phils and all was well.
Car ran freakin' awesome. Motor, trans., and shifter felt great. This car, likely due to increased camber and grip up front, is a little more eager to oversteer than the old car -- but very predictable and tons of fun. I think I spent more time feathering and rolling onto throttle on exit, but less time off the throttle on entry waiting for the front end to bite and turn. Also, getting on the throttle actually helped the car rotate instead of just inducing more understeer. No video or laptimes because I didn't get that stuff hooked up in time.
I weighed the car with a half tank, me (170lbs) in it, the spare in the back, the stock exhaust, and all the glass in the doors. 2,930 lbs. So I have to drop 80lbs to hit spec weight of 2,850. Doable.
Felt great to get back out there and enjoy the car instead of just wrenching all the time. Of course, the car isn't perfect. Under heavy load, I get some serious oil squirting from the VANOS area. Might as well rebuild the VANOS on this motor anyway. Also, water temps started creeping up after 4-5 laps in the 90+ degree afternoon heat. I probably just need to add some radiator ducting since I removed all of the stock stuff. Now it's time to strip down the interior and paint!
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 05-02-2017 at 05:19 PM.
Was great seeing you back out there with us! Sorry I didn't have more time to chat, was a hectic weekend (more than usual) on my end. Glad the car is doing well! I would think with front door glass and spare wheel removed, you'd be underweight or right at the Spec number. Definitely underweight if you swap stock exhaust for Spec. I guess the plan is to remove what needs removing and add ballast back?
I was getting some warmer-than-comfortable numbers on my temp gauge as well, and I don't have any ducting at the moment. My after-work-and-weekend plans this week involve aluminum sheets, rivets, and some measuring/cutting. My goal is to have the car running as cool in July heat as it does in March and November.
2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
Out Motorsports
Was great to be back! No worries, I had a TON of stuff to do Sunday morning including techistration and getting my tires balanced, so I was fairly rushed.
I agree re: weight. I'd like to keep the spare as "ballast" but we'll see how the weight shakes out with removal of the stock exhaust and front glass. I suspect I'll be making several runs to the local dump to weigh in.
I too will be making a run to Home Depot for some radiator ducting supplies, and fan-mounting supplies, and painting supplies, and maybe some home-brew brake ducting.
Skip the "home depot" radiator ducting. I tried and failed over the weekend. I got a sheet of aluminum to look very nice on the bottom of the bumper but still too much of a gap between it and the radiator to really do any good.
So I looked at ECS and found the bottom radiator duct for $45. The L and R side ducting also goes for a similar price (my L is good but R was destroyed and mostly missing).
Also, go to beisan for the VANOS seals. That is all you need to replace (if its not rattling don't worry about the anti rattle parts). And as I mentioned at Dominion, I have the timing set if you want to borrow it.
2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
Out Motorsports
Last edited by dsm3383; 05-10-2017 at 12:11 PM. Reason: Typo
I really dragged my feet on painting the cage because it's an awful job. I used Eastwood 2K AeroSpray Epoxy Primer and Eastwood 2K Aerospray High Temp Ceramic Engine Paint. The color is "Cast Gray" which was on sale and (D'oh!) might now be out of production. First I took a wire brush to most of the cage to get off the surface rust, then gave the car a good vacuum followed by a wipe-down with pre-paint. The primer put down a chalky substance on all of the horizontal surfaces which I had to wipe up before painting. It was sort of a mess. Anywho, on to the photos:
All masked up:
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All Painted:
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Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 06-12-2017 at 02:19 PM.
Very slowly starting to make this car look respectable, starting with the headlights:
Before:
IMG_1554[1].jpg
After:
IMG_1555[1].jpg
Side-by-side:
IMG_1553[1].jpg
Finished:
IMG_1556[1].jpg
After seeing my coolant needle creep up at Dominion, I decided it's time to do some cooling improvements. Step 1 is to properly mount the Spal fan. As I only needed them to last one weekend, I used the zip-tie through the radiator fins method to mount the Spal initially. This time I did it properly with Massive mounting brackets and rivets. How have I lived this long without a rivet tool!?!
You can see the brackets are a little too long for this random aftermarket radiator so I had to drill a couple new holes. I will probably leave the brackets as-is in case I get a bigger radiator in the future.
IMG_1590[1].jpg
Really nice fit and quality. Though the brackets are now mounted permanently, I can still get the fan off pretty easily via these four nuts/bolts.
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Reverse side of the rivets through the excess radiator tabs.
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Next up is an aluminum underpanel and some custom HVAC radiator ducting.
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 07-03-2017 at 06:01 PM.
I think my rivet gun is one of my favorite tools, second to my cordless impact. So much fun!
2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
Out Motorsports
The pictures are mostly terrible but I'm finished with v1 of my homebrew radiator ducting. It could certainly be more elegant and I will likely refine it over time. But, I feel plenty of suction from the kidney grilles when the Spal fan is kicked on, so it seems to be directing air well.
Top:
IMG_1601[1].jpg
Top wraps around the upper lip of the radiator:
IMG_1602[1].jpg
Flat undertray bolted to the front bumper. No front spoiler allowed in Spec3. Also had to trim a bit from the outer parts for wheel clearance. I made some brackets to support the middle portion that bolt through the lower radiator supports.
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Additional bottom piece is bolted through the bumper and curves up to meet the bottom and sides of the radiator.
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Additional side pieces bolted through the nose panel and running down to the undertray.
IMG_1603.jpg
Next up is replacing the VANOS seals, valve cover gasket, and adding a bunch of gauges.
The Spec3 exhaust got bent up in the crash so I had the stock exhaust on temporarily. The quiet stock exhaust made shifting by ear pretty difficult, especially with other cars around. So, time for this racecar to sound like a racecar again. Bonus, the stock exhaust weighs 63lbs while the Spec3 exhaust weighs only 26lbs. Instant 37 pound weight reduction!
Exhausts side-by-side:
IMG_1615[1].jpg
Spec3 exhaust installed -- you can see the muffler is still pushed a little forward and towards the middle of the car:
IMG_1616[1].jpg
Got a deal on a used gauge panel from Hoki06. Carbon fiber in a spec car ... lolz.
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Super critical project. Drilled the front bumper plastic trim for the tow hook.
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Somehow, this car was squirting oil up onto the underside of the hood while on track -- and only on track. I couldn't replicate it on the street even at high RPM. The oil seemed to be coming from the VANOS area so -- rebuild time! New Beisan seals for the VANOS unit, new VANOS gasket, new valve cover gasket. The VANOS hose was already quite new so I reused that.
This project was straight forward and pretty easy. I was actually relaxed and enjoying the process -- until I tried to remove that damned VANOS gasket. About 25% of it crumbled and the rest was stuck to the head. After much soaking in gasket remover and using plastic scrapers, I finally gave in and resorted to razor blades. Nothing a dab of RTV can't fix, right??
Oily Bits:
IMG_1633[1].jpg
With everything apart, might as well go for some engine bling. Used some orange high temp paint as a tribute to the old car -- and actually this motor is from the old car:
IMG_1634[1].jpg
8/19/17 - 8/20/17 :: HPDE4 :: VIR :: NASA MidAtlantic
First time running in DE4 and dang those guys are quick. Gone are the days of running down much higher HP cars. It's really nice to not have to wait for point-by's, though most drivers are plenty courteous and give point-by's quickly. There were three of us running Spec3 cars in DE4 and it was a blast to run with similarly prepped cars. Hopefully all three of us will run Spec3 next year. One of them got a little excited through T10 when we were running together:
The car ran nearly flawlessly. No more oil squirting up on the underside of the hood. It handled pretty well but tended toward understeer. I think I will dial in more negative camber up front. Personal best lap time dropped from 2:20.8 to 2:18.3 on some well-loved Toyo RR's. My best lap came during the first session on Sunday while temps were still low. I'm sure I improved as a driver throughout Sunday but I just couldn't overcome 90+ degree temps later in the day plus the added weight of a passenger in those sessions. Pole for Spec3 was 2:14.2 followed by a bunch of guys at 2:15.x so I still have quite a bit of work to do.
Thanks to my new gauges, I know that my water temps stayed at about 210f on track with oil temps a touch lower than that. Not terrible for 90+ degree ambient temps but I'd like to get it below 200f. Still, the ducting and Stewart pump helped tremendously. Guess I'll add some water wetter and a lower temp. thermostat.
Only hiccup all weekend was a momentary loss of ABS entering T1. Not knowing I didn't have ABS, I locked up a bit and then spun off to the left where there is ample runoff. I hope the white Miata I passed just before T1 laughed his ass off at me. Once I cycled the car off and then on again, the ABS light stayed off for the rest of the weekend. Seems the wheel-speed sensors and the brake pedal travel sensor are the most likely culprits.
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 09-14-2017 at 04:58 PM.
Long ago, I deleted the charcoal canister in the spare tire well. I looped some extra fuel hose a couple times in the trunk, leaving the end open to vent. Apparently that was insufficient as some fuel was spilling out of the looped hose and then out the bottom of the trunk. Hopefully this catch-can will keep the fuel where it belongs. Gotta love fixing problems of my own creation.
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Yea, I was surprised that I had fuel coming out of the looped line. I dunno. I'm hoping I won't have to think about it again after this.
I had an absolute blast at VIR. Again there were three of us in Spec3 cars running HPDE4. We gridded together and drank way too much together on Saturday night. Great times. I finally feel like I understand the track and generally where my shift and brake points need to be. Whether I execute those things is still inconsistent. I posted a new personal best by nearly two seconds at 2:16.44 which is approaching decentish. I think my biggest weakness is T1 followed by Oak Tree. I can also brake much later into T14 at the top of Roller Coaster.
If 2:16.44 were my qualifying time, I would have been a theoretical 8th out of 11. The Spec3 qualifying times are listed below:
1. 2:13.8
2. 2:14.3
3. 2:14.8
4. 2:14.9
5. 2:15.5
6. 2:15.7
7. 2:15.9
8. 2:17.5
9. 2:18.9
10. 2:35.9
Now, forumfolk, let's play the game of "Who is the Jerkwad!?" I gave this McLaren a point-by to my left as we entered the uphill esses. I also lifted to allow him to take that pass. I got on the gas just before and as the McLaren was passing, assuming we'd go side-by-side through the first apex. Maybe my getting back on the gas surprised him? Then he took the first apex away from me forcing me off-track at about 90mph in the uphill esses. Not cool. I tend to think the McLaren should have given me room but I dunno. Input welcome. See 6:05 of this video:
Last edited by OCRentAPopo; 10-11-2017 at 07:58 PM.
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