| Wednesday, March 4, 2009 |
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Fixing the FX-16 Fuel Pump
by brian @ 21:08:30 - [perma-link]I took a time lapse this afternoon while I worked on one of the
Corollas today. I merged a few shots in The Gimp.
I was figuring out why we couldn't get fuel after I installed a "new"
fuel pump yesterday. I tested the flow at a few different spots along
the fuel line. I have a video of one of
the "flow tests" that I couldn't see from the
drivers position (I'd say "seat", except there isn't one right now).
Fuel was definitely flowing. Whatever was clogging it must have
worked loose overnight, and blasted out during one of the "tests". I
swapped in a a fresh battery (cranking the starter for the better part
of a half hour yesterday pretty much killed the one in the car), and
it fired up.
(This isn't the rally car. Its the other one.)
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| Saturday, February 7, 2009 |
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It's in the car!!!
by brian @ 21:08:12 - [perma-link]We got the motor and tranny in the new rally car! Lowering it into the
engine bay was the easiest part. Tomorrow we'll hook it all up.
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| Friday, February 6, 2009 |
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New motor for the rally car
by brian @ 17:33:03 - [perma-link]I picked up the motor from Loyning's last weekend. In addition to a
strong rebuild, hey installed a 36-1 tooth wheel and mounted the Ford
sensor to send the crank position signal to the Megasquirt. It looks
really nice. I can't wait to see what kind of power we get out of it. Josh and I started reassembling it this week. We attached the intake,
all of the accessory brackets, the oil filter, and whatever else we
could. The power steering pump idler pully bracket interfered with
the crank sensor, so Josh ground it for clearance and trimmed the
adjuster bolt. This morning I pulled the 6-speed transmission from the old rally
car. We'll mate that to the new engine and install them in the new
car this weekend. The custom axle-shaft bracket will be much easier
to install outside of the car.
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| Monday, December 1, 2008 |
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Saxby Rally
by brian @ 12:40:25 - [perma-link]I'm at the rally for the Republican candidate for the last remaining
Senate seat. Sarah Palin will be speaking in a little while. Should
be interesting.
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| Tuesday, October 28, 2008 |
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Gutted the "new" FX-16
by brian @ 12:39:55 - [perma-link]Quick recap: Back in May I bought another used FX-16 GTS to turn into
a better rally car for next year. In the meantime I was using it as
my daily driver. Then about 3 weeks ago, someone turned left right in
front of me and we got into a little fender bender (no injuries). It
also collapsed the crumple zone on the front of the frame. We might
have been able to beat it back into shape, but it was quite a bummer.
A couple of days later at Rallycross, I found out about another pair
of FX-16 GTSs, a nice motor, and some spare parts for sale. On Sunday
a few of us went and made an offer and I brought home another black
carfor less than what I'll be getting back from the insurance company
for the "wreck", plus I bought the wreck back for parts. The "new" black car will be the rally car. This morning I gutted the
interior to get it ready for the roll cage builder. Josh and I will
pull the motor and transmission sometime this week, then I can send it
off to get caged. I'll send the motor to an engine builder to get it
built up strong, too. We'll have 3 engines and 3 transmissions for 2
rally cars. The old black car will be stripped for parts, then I"ll take the
carcass to the junk yard and sell it as scrap. We're going to try to
use the roof and sides to repair the red rally car, too.
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| Wednesday, October 22, 2008 |
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Mt. Hood Rally - Oops!
by brian @ 15:15:26 - [perma-link]Josh and I raced in the Mt. Hood Rally over the weekend and had a
blast. Friday we did recce in my Vanagon. It held up to the trails
pretty well, and we managed to make some pretty good notes on all the
stages. The race was on Saturday. We started off pretty well. I took it a little easy on the first
stage, just working out the kinks and getting a feel for the car, the
road and our notes. With no glaring issues, I stepped it up on the
next set of stages. We passed a car just after the spectator area on
Stage 3, the 13-mile Fir Mountain road. I'm hoping there was someone
at that corner getting video of us coming down the hill right behind
the other car. When we went back to service at the halfway point, we were in 3rd
place in Group 2. On the next 2 stages (repeats of Gilhouley and Fir
Mountain) we opened up our lead a bit further, while Matt's co-driver
was too busy puking to call corners. Then the sun set. We started out on 17 South in the dark, and only made it about halfway
through the stage. There were 2 fast left turns followed by a long
sweeping right. I misjudged it and carried too much speed into the
right turn, and when I tried to correct the car swapped ends. We slid
backwards off the edge of the road, and slid sideways for a short
distance on the shoulder. Then the car either hit something, or the
shoulder sunk, or something and we quickly rolled over smacking the
rear-quarter on the passenger side against a tree and coming to rest
on the roof. Neither of us was hurt. The car looks pretty bad, but I
think it will buff out. ;) That's the end of the rally season. With the DNF at Mt. Hood, I think
I blew our chances of a decent showing in the Northwest series.
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| Friday, September 26, 2008 |
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Wild West Rally
by brian @ 18:53:29 - [perma-link]We're teched, registered and all set up for racing tomorrow. The
welcome party starts in an hour.
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| Thursday, September 25, 2008 |
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Clean Rally Car
by brian @ 12:33:25 - [perma-link]After the almost constant ribbing we get from the Rally America
scrutineers about our dirty engine bay, I finally cleaned. The last
time I cleaned it (I believe it was August 2007, right before the
Astoria rallycross), water leaked down past the spark plug wires and
caused some misfires. After we fixed the problem, I vowed to never
intentionally wet the engine compartment again. (I've also previously
screwed up the electrical system on my Defender using a high-pressure
water spray to clean out some caked-on mud, so I'm sort of paranoid
about wetting the engine). Last month at the Worker Sprints, the scrutineers pointed out all
sorts of things that they couldn't really see because of the dirt. I
mentioned the spark issues, and one of them offered a solution: put a
towel over the wires to keep water out of the holes. Brilliant! This morning I went to the carwash. I popped the hood, covered the
plug holes, and sprayed the whole engine bay with the engine cleaning
solution. Then I closed the hood and washed the rest of the car as
usual. When I was done with the outside of the car, I raised the hood
again and rinsed everything with LOW PRESSURE water (ie. don't squeeze
the handle). Then I wiped the top of the valve covers with the
towels. The engine is super clean now. When I got back home I wiped the dash with Armor All, making it
cleaner than its ever been since I've had it. On the outside, I
touched up some of the bigger scratches (and hammer marks from the
Idaho repairs) with red spray paint. Finally I replaced the damaged
stickers on the rear bumper (because stickers make ti faster ;). Now I just need to load up the tool bag and its all set to go on the
trailer. We leave for the Wild
West Rally in the morning.
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| Wednesday, August 13, 2008 |
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We have Schwag!
by brian @ 12:25:22 - [perma-link]Our first round of Red Rocket Rally schwag came in. The can koozies
arrived a few days before the Worker Sprints, and Niko sold a bunch of
them. The hats showed up yesterday. They look rad!
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| Sunday, May 18, 2008 |
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End of the Oregon Trail Rally
by ccons @ 19:54:40 - [perma-link]Wahington Co. Fairgrounds, Hillsboro, OR
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