photoBlog

See more at the movies
Did I mention I race rally cars? Red Rocket Rally

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Front suspension rebuild
by brian @ 17:57:21 - [perma-link]
I've ordered some nice suspension parts from Hotbits for the rally car, but they won't be here for a couple of
weeks. We have a rallycross this weekend, so I'm rebuilding the
suspension with another set of KYB strut inserts and some new GR2s in
the back. Its the same stuff we've blown out at most of the rally
events. In fact I'm pretty sure they were already dead at Doo Wops,
based on the way the car bounces around in some of the videos I've seen.

There are some changes this time, though. I've replaced the springs
with 200lb/in instead of the 300lb-in that were on there. This puts
it in the range of the rally springs Josh and I found in a 1988 Toyota
performance catalog. The 300's are better for smooth roads, but are
too harsh for bumpy gravel. 200 is towards the upper end of the
range, but I didn't want to make too much of a change at once and be
bottoming out everywhere.

So first step is to remove the old strut assembly from the car. I
sort of cheated by loosening the top nut with the impact, and letting
the spring pop the whole assembly out of the top mount. Then remove
the two bolts connecting the strut to the knuckle. After that, slide
off the spring and remove the top nut from the strut housing and
remove the old, beat, nasty insert.

I put the new inserts in with some oil for better cooling. The oil
can transfer the heat from the insert to the housing better than an
air gap. Hopefully this will keep the inserts from heating up too
much and blowing out. The insert goes in, then crank down the top nut
to lock it in using a vise and a socket extension through the holes in
the lower tabs. Slide on the new spring and stick the strut assembly
back in the car, attaching the lower part to the knuckle first. Then
I use a floor jack under the control arm to push the strut up through
the strut mount, then crank down the top nut with the impact gun.

The rear doesn't use inserts. I replaced the whole assembly with new
GR-2s. The left rear strut was completely blown. The piston has no
resistance until it gets about 2" from the bottom, when the piston
finally hits the small amount of oil remaining inside. The right rear
strut seems to have held up fine. It has resistance all the way up,
and felt the same as the new one. Once compressed, the gas charge
pushes it back out, just like the new one. I swapped in the new one
anyway, but I'll keep the old one as a spare.

Finally, I pulled out the front sway bar. It turned out to be much
more difficult than I had expected. It tucks up behind the exhaust so
the only way to remove it was to take apart the exhaust connection in
front of the catalytic converter. I'm glad I removed it in he
garage. I was planning to run the morning session of the rallycross
with the sway bar, then remove it for the afternoon session to
compare. It would have sucked fighting with the sway bar and the hot
exhaust while lying underneath the car in the mud.

I also discovered a missing exhaust gasket. I'll get a replacement
tomorrow, or maybe tonight.

Friday, March 21, 2008
San Bruno BART
by ccons @ 14:36:44 - [perma-link]
Keeps out pigeons, among other things... :)

Thursday, March 20, 2008
Look! Mismatched branding!
by brian @ 21:53:53 - [perma-link]
I finally fixed my phone. No more broken joystick button thing! No
more randomly calling people from my pocket! No more smacking the
phone around to release stuck buttons! Yay!
I started by taking apart the "donor" Sprint PPC-6700. Its the same
basic model as my Verizon XV6700, but silver instead of black. I was
planning to completely disassemble it to get the good joystick, then
dismantle mine and install the working button in place of my broken
one. Unfortunately that button is just about the last piece you get
to as you disassemble. About 9 screws into the process, I reached the
"pull out the mainboard" step and saw a shortcut.
I could just swap the mainboards, since that board holds the radio
module and save myself lots of work. The radio module is the only
part that is different between the Verizon and Sprint models (really
its just the "ESN" coded in the radio that Verizon associates with my
phone number). The case, keyboard, buttons, camera, and whatever else
are the same. Swapping just the mainboard saved me from having to
disassemble the screen from the keyboard. I didn't have to snake the
ribbon cables out of the different case layers, or route them back in.
Now I have Sprint-badged Verizon phone. I went ahead and reassembled
the spare parts back into my old case and booted it up for a picture
(and to wipe out the memory).
This fix should last me until someone releases a phone running
Google's Android OS (hopefully in the next 6 months, based on how long
the previous phones lasted before breaking).

Sunday, March 9, 2008
Ack!
by ccons @ 16:59:11 - [perma-link]
What did Tony do to my (now his) Saturn?!

Friday, March 7, 2008
Forgot something yesterday
by brian @ 11:46:33 - [perma-link]
I tried out the "Intervalometer" on my Canon G3, taking one shot every
minute while doing a quick "repair" on the rally car. I had to
tighten the two bottom strut bolts that I forgot about yesterday when
I changed the top strut mounts (I got two new ones to replace the ones
that were welded up at Doo Wops). I messed up the big rule: always
tighten the bolt/nut/screw when you put it back on or else you might
forget, which I did.
Fortunately I hadn't driven the car at all, and when I was falling
asleep last night it occurred to me that I hadn't tightened those two
bolts. It was a quick repair. I loosened the lug nuts, jacked up the
corner, spun off the nuts, then removed the wheel. I used my impact
gun to crank down the strut bolts, then put the wheel back on and
torqued the nuts to 80 lb-ft.
Six minutes of work (not counting the real work yesterday) and its all
set to drive around town.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Qarl has a window
by ccons @ 17:45:24 - [perma-link]
Fucker... ;)

Monday, February 25, 2008
Doo Wops Rally
by brian @ 21:44:56 - [perma-link]
Josh and I raced the FX-16 in the Doo Wops Rally this weekend. It was
the best rally ever. We took home a third place novice trophy!
It was just the two of us with no service crew, but the 420 team
offered to share a spot and help us out. It was amazing having an
organized service crew of several people helping us between stages.
After each stage they checked our wheels and oil and washed the
windows. They even spotted and fixed a broken wire on the driving
lights. All Josh and I had to do at the first service was eat a
sandwich and drink water.
When we broke a strut mount during the second stage, the crew helped
us replace it quickly. Our previous experience breaking one at
Olympus last year really paid off. We had the spare (even if they
were junkyard issue) and knew what to do. The repair was made with
plenty of time to relax before transit to the final stage of the day.
On that third stage we had a "Less filling! Tastes great!" moment. I
thought we broke another strut mount. Josh swore we got a flat. The
steering was all screwed up like the break on the second stage, but
the rear end was really squirrely and it hadn't been before. Turns
out we were both right! Front right strut and left rear tire were
both blown. Still we limped through the rest of the stage and back to
service and back to the trailer and saved the repair for after
dinner. We were done before midnight.
Day two brought us a new problem. The Parc Expose (all the rally cars
line up on display before heading out to the first stage) was across
the street from the hotel, but there were two service areas that were
about 40 miles away. Since it was just the two of us, we had no one
to drive our service truck. Lucky for us, the Red Menace team had an
extra. She had been spectating on Saturday, but on Sunday she totally
saved our day. She drove the Defender towing the trailer to both
service areas. She helped us with everything during service. When we
broke our last replacement strut mount (that'd be 3 of them!), she
helped Josh set up the welder so he could weld them solid. And at the
end of the day she drove the rover and trailer down the Brooklyn stage
to the awards banquet dinner. (Thanks, Missy! We'll see you at
rallycross.)
With the service vehicle problem averted we set off for Blue Slough,
where we ran the first two stages on pavement. It was really fast,
and reminded me of last year's Idaho Rally. We topped out at about
87mph according to the GPS, which is the fastest I've gone in that car
by far. The third (and subsequent) stage was on gravel. Josh and I
both remember hearing the loud pop when the strut mount blew out. We
finished the stage and went into service already discussing who would
change the tires (from gravel to the new Silverstone mud tires) and
who would change the strut mount.
As we were tightening the last few nuts someone stopped by and asked
if we had another spare for the other side. "That one's fine," one of
us said as we slowly walked around the car to see he was talking about.
He told us, "its not poking through yet, but its definitely torn." He
was right, and we had no more spares.
We did have another 30 minutes in service, a big generator and a
welder. Everything came out of the Defender and we started a mad
search for "pieces of metal." Tim (co-driver of 420) dug up some fat
washers and Josh welded them to the inner and outer parts of the mount
to make them solid. Mostly solid anyway. We strapped the generator
and welder onto the trailer in case we'd need them again (we did.
several times), and made it to the next stage just in time. I took it
a little easy on Pico Reverse, since we really wanted to make it to
Brooklyn, which everyone had said was the best rally stage in North
America.
Brooklyn was a blast. We stopped in at service and Josh made some
quick repairs to some broken welds on the strut tops, and we were back
out. We ran the Smith Creek stage in both directions, then one more
service, and a few more welds (I believe the technical term Josh used
was "welded the s[no]t out of it").
The final stage was another pass on Brooklyn in the opposite
direction. The start was delayed due to "domestic violence, shots
fired", apparently in the spectator area. After the cop ran Brooklyn
West (someone wondered what his time was), it was all clear but
considerably darker than it had been an hour before. The driving and
fog lights we installed last week were a total success. We ran
Brooklyn East at night 5 seconds faster than Brooklyn West a few hours
earlier. The driving lights shined much further down the road, and
the fog lights were aimed slightly outward to spread light around the
turns. It was a huge improvement over the night stages at Mt Hood
with just the stock headlights.
As for the broken strut tops, we got a tip from one of the rally
veterans about how they solved this problem on their late 80's
Corollas. Hopefully we can fab up some supports and eliminate that
weak link before Olympus in April.

Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Ramp Restaurant for Brunch
by ccons @ 11:25:31 - [perma-link]
Jen must do this next time she's in town. :)

Thursday, February 14, 2008
Water cooling woes
by brian @ 10:45:56 - [perma-link]
When I got back from SF I went around the house turning computers back
on. My linux box out in the garage didn't come on properly. It would
start to boot, but shut itself down after a while. Eventually I
discovered that the water pump for the cooling system wasn't working.
The CPU would overheat and trigger a shutdown.
After doing some online shopping for a replacement pump, I decided I
didn't want to wait for shipping. I went to Harbor Freight and got a
small submersible fountain pump for $6.99. I emptied all of the
coolant into a disposable storage container, added water until the
pump was submerged, and connected my the pump in place of the old
one. The system is running nice and cool now.
I'm going to look for a smaller container so the new pump can fit
inside the case.

Monday, February 4, 2008
Claude and I are extras for the Milk March
by ccons @ 19:31:02 - [perma-link]
[I didn't write anything about this picture.]

previous

XML

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
	Front suspension rebuild by brian @ 17:57:21 - [perma-link] I've ordered some nice suspension parts from Hotbits for the rally car, but they won't be here for a couple of weeks. We have a rallycross this weekend, so I'm rebuilding the suspension with another set of KYB strut inserts and some new GR2s in the back. Its the same stuff we've blown out at most of the rally events. In fact I'm pretty sure they were already dead at Doo Wops, based on the way the car bounces around in some of the videos I've seen. There are some changes this time, though. I've replaced the springs with 200lb/in instead of the 300lb-in that were on there. This puts it in the range of the rally springs Josh and I found in a 1988 Toyota performance catalog. The 300's are better for smooth roads, but are too harsh for bumpy gravel. 200 is towards the upper end of the range, but I didn't want to make too much of a change at once and be bottoming out everywhere. So first step is to remove the old strut assembly from the car. I sort of cheated by loosening the top nut with the impact, and letting the spring pop the whole assembly out of the top mount. Then remove the two bolts connecting the strut to the knuckle. After that, slide off the spring and remove the top nut from the strut housing and remove the old, beat, nasty insert. I put the new inserts in with some oil for better cooling. The oil can transfer the heat from the insert to the housing better than an air gap. Hopefully this will keep the inserts from heating up too much and blowing out. The insert goes in, then crank down the top nut to lock it in using a vise and a socket extension through the holes in the lower tabs. Slide on the new spring and stick the strut assembly back in the car, attaching the lower part to the knuckle first. Then I use a floor jack under the control arm to push the strut up through the strut mount, then crank down the top nut with the impact gun. The rear doesn't use inserts. I replaced the whole assembly with new GR-2s. The left rear strut was completely blown. The piston has no resistance until it gets about 2" from the bottom, when the piston finally hits the small amount of oil remaining inside. The right rear strut seems to have held up fine. It has resistance all the way up, and felt the same as the new one. Once compressed, the gas charge pushes it back out, just like the new one. I swapped in the new one anyway, but I'll keep the old one as a spare. Finally, I pulled out the front sway bar. It turned out to be much more difficult than I had expected. It tucks up behind the exhaust so the only way to remove it was to take apart the exhaust connection in front of the catalytic converter. I'm glad I removed it in he garage. I was planning to run the morning session of the rallycross with the sway bar, then remove it for the afternoon session to compare. It would have sucked fighting with the sway bar and the hot exhaust while lying underneath the car in the mud. I also discovered a missing exhaust gasket. I'll get a replacement tomorrow, or maybe tonight.


Friday, March 21, 2008
	San Bruno BART by ccons @ 14:36:44 - [perma-link] Keeps out pigeons, among other things... :)

Thursday, March 20, 2008
	Look! Mismatched branding! by brian @ 21:53:53 - [perma-link] I finally fixed my phone. No more broken joystick button thing! No more randomly calling people from my pocket! No more smacking the phone around to release stuck buttons! Yay! I started by taking apart the "donor" Sprint PPC-6700. Its the same basic model as my Verizon XV6700, but silver instead of black. I was planning to completely disassemble it to get the good joystick, then dismantle mine and install the working button in place of my broken one. Unfortunately that button is just about the last piece you get to as you disassemble. About 9 screws into the process, I reached the "pull out the mainboard" step and saw a shortcut. I could just swap the mainboards, since that board holds the radio module and save myself lots of work. The radio module is the only part that is different between the Verizon and Sprint models (really its just the "ESN" coded in the radio that Verizon associates with my phone number). The case, keyboard, buttons, camera, and whatever else are the same. Swapping just the mainboard saved me from having to disassemble the screen from the keyboard. I didn't have to snake the ribbon cables out of the different case layers, or route them back in. Now I have Sprint-badged Verizon phone. I went ahead and reassembled the spare parts back into my old case and booted it up for a picture (and to wipe out the memory). This fix should last me until someone releases a phone running Google's Android OS (hopefully in the next 6 months, based on how long the previous phones lasted before breaking).


Sunday, March 9, 2008
	Ack! by ccons @ 16:59:11 - [perma-link] What did Tony do to my (now his) Saturn?!

Friday, March 7, 2008
	Forgot something yesterday by brian @ 11:46:33 - [perma-link] I tried out the "Intervalometer" on my Canon G3, taking one shot every minute while doing a quick "repair" on the rally car. I had to tighten the two bottom strut bolts that I forgot about yesterday when I changed the top strut mounts (I got two new ones to replace the ones that were welded up at Doo Wops). I messed up the big rule: always tighten the bolt/nut/screw when you put it back on or else you might forget, which I did. Fortunately I hadn't driven the car at all, and when I was falling asleep last night it occurred to me that I hadn't tightened those two bolts. It was a quick repair. I loosened the lug nuts, jacked up the corner, spun off the nuts, then removed the wheel. I used my impact gun to crank down the strut bolts, then put the wheel back on and torqued the nuts to 80 lb-ft. Six minutes of work (not counting the real work yesterday) and its all set to drive around town.


Tuesday, March 4, 2008
	Qarl has a window by ccons @ 17:45:24 - [perma-link] Fucker... ;)

Monday, February 25, 2008
	Doo Wops Rally by brian @ 21:44:56 - [perma-link] Josh and I raced the FX-16 in the Doo Wops Rally this weekend. It was the best rally ever. We took home a third place novice trophy! It was just the two of us with no service crew, but the 420 team offered to share a spot and help us out. It was amazing having an organized service crew of several people helping us between stages. After each stage they checked our wheels and oil and washed the windows. They even spotted and fixed a broken wire on the driving lights. All Josh and I had to do at the first service was eat a sandwich and drink water. When we broke a strut mount during the second stage, the crew helped us replace it quickly. Our previous experience breaking one at Olympus last year really paid off. We had the spare (even if they were junkyard issue) and knew what to do. The repair was made with plenty of time to relax before transit to the final stage of the day. On that third stage we had a "Less filling! Tastes great!" moment. I thought we broke another strut mount. Josh swore we got a flat. The steering was all screwed up like the break on the second stage, but the rear end was really squirrely and it hadn't been before. Turns out we were both right! Front right strut and left rear tire were both blown. Still we limped through the rest of the stage and back to service and back to the trailer and saved the repair for after dinner. We were done before midnight. Day two brought us a new problem. The Parc Expose (all the rally cars line up on display before heading out to the first stage) was across the street from the hotel, but there were two service areas that were about 40 miles away. Since it was just the two of us, we had no one to drive our service truck. Lucky for us, the Red Menace team had an extra. She had been spectating on Saturday, but on Sunday she totally saved our day. She drove the Defender towing the trailer to both service areas. She helped us with everything during service. When we broke our last replacement strut mount (that'd be 3 of them!), she helped Josh set up the welder so he could weld them solid. And at the end of the day she drove the rover and trailer down the Brooklyn stage to the awards banquet dinner. (Thanks, Missy! We'll see you at rallycross.) With the service vehicle problem averted we set off for Blue Slough, where we ran the first two stages on pavement. It was really fast, and reminded me of last year's Idaho Rally. We topped out at about 87mph according to the GPS, which is the fastest I've gone in that car by far. The third (and subsequent) stage was on gravel. Josh and I both remember hearing the loud pop when the strut mount blew out. We finished the stage and went into service already discussing who would change the tires (from gravel to the new Silverstone mud tires) and who would change the strut mount. As we were tightening the last few nuts someone stopped by and asked if we had another spare for the other side. "That one's fine," one of us said as we slowly walked around the car to see he was talking about. He told us, "its not poking through yet, but its definitely torn." He was right, and we had no more spares. We did have another 30 minutes in service, a big generator and a welder. Everything came out of the Defender and we started a mad search for "pieces of metal." Tim (co-driver of 420) dug up some fat washers and Josh welded them to the inner and outer parts of the mount to make them solid. Mostly solid anyway. We strapped the generator and welder onto the trailer in case we'd need them again (we did. several times), and made it to the next stage just in time. I took it a little easy on Pico Reverse, since we really wanted to make it to Brooklyn, which everyone had said was the best rally stage in North America. Brooklyn was a blast. We stopped in at service and Josh made some quick repairs to some broken welds on the strut tops, and we were back out. We ran the Smith Creek stage in both directions, then one more service, and a few more welds (I believe the technical term Josh used was "welded the s[no]t out of it"). The final stage was another pass on Brooklyn in the opposite direction. The start was delayed due to "domestic violence, shots fired", apparently in the spectator area. After the cop ran Brooklyn West (someone wondered what his time was), it was all clear but considerably darker than it had been an hour before. The driving and fog lights we installed last week were a total success. We ran Brooklyn East at night 5 seconds faster than Brooklyn West a few hours earlier. The driving lights shined much further down the road, and the fog lights were aimed slightly outward to spread light around the turns. It was a huge improvement over the night stages at Mt Hood with just the stock headlights. As for the broken strut tops, we got a tip from one of the rally veterans about how they solved this problem on their late 80's Corollas. Hopefully we can fab up some supports and eliminate that weak link before Olympus in April.


Sunday, February 17, 2008
	The Ramp Restaurant for Brunch by ccons @ 11:25:31 - [perma-link] Jen must do this next time she's in town. :)

Thursday, February 14, 2008
	Water cooling woes by brian @ 10:45:56 - [perma-link] When I got back from SF I went around the house turning computers back on. My linux box out in the garage didn't come on properly. It would start to boot, but shut itself down after a while. Eventually I discovered that the water pump for the cooling system wasn't working. The CPU would overheat and trigger a shutdown. After doing some online shopping for a replacement pump, I decided I didn't want to wait for shipping. I went to Harbor Freight and got a small submersible fountain pump for $6.99. I emptied all of the coolant into a disposable storage container, added water until the pump was submerged, and connected my the pump in place of the old one. The system is running nice and cool now. I'm going to look for a smaller container so the new pump can fit inside the case.


Monday, February 4, 2008
	Claude and I are extras for the Milk March by ccons @ 19:31:02 - [perma-link] [I didn't write anything about this picture.]
previous