Some interesting STX results from San Diego .... I'm not sure if Bryan was in a generous mood to not show up following a 1 sec lead from Saturday or if he didn't think it was worth getting out of bed to just to smash everyone

 

He had to spend some time with his family on Easter.

 

Bryan was definitely in control on Saturday. Looking through results I thought for sure he would have been top PAX for Saturday. Not quite, 4th.

Mark, I think that may be my new favorite meme. Fantastic!

 

neah, I'd recommend this one instead

 

Once funny, twice trying a bit too hard. Stick with the first, it was the high point.

 

Let's get this thread back on track....

Racetech seats are in on modified OEM rails and custom steel side mounts. The seats drop down between the sliders for maximum head room. Weight is just over 26 lbs each on the sliders.

 

How did you do?

 

Well that's probably why I suggested it as a replacement rather than an addition guess I better get working on some new mods before the counterfeiters catch up. Hopefully you guys won't duplicate the endless issues I had last year. Put about 60 runs on the car this past Sunday and no signs of it returning whereas I couldn't get an event in without a major failure in 2012 following the TX Pro Solo. So hopefully it's all in the past now ...

another test event this Sunday and then the Mineral Wells Pro Solo the next weekend. There was a rumor about the event being cancelled for low entries, but its now above the minimum requirement. STX currently has a minimum class. Hoping at least one or two more enter just to make sure we don't go to a Bump class


.

 

Ok guys need your opinion on something.

As you know I got a reman engine from Mazda a month ago, put 500 miles on it to break it in then had the first race on it down at Dixie two weeks ago where the car felt amazing. Car has been great, until my first run today where just before the finish the car started smoking white smoke out of the exhaust like crazy, and it was sputtering and felt like there was no power at all. Everytime I start it up there is tons of white smoke, gets worse when I try to drive it.

Now I know people say this is a coolant leak in the engine, lost a coolant seal...etc. But this engine only has 575 miles on it, how would it go so quickly?

Here's the video of my run, you can hear it sputtering terribly as I cross the finish line.

 

Sorry dude. It's probably nothing you did wrong. As a career, I do failure analysis for a major OEM on various engine systems. I can say that statistically, with an extreme amount of confidence, that is probably a manufacturing defect. Actually almost any failure within the first couple thousand miles is almost always some sort of manufacturing defect.

To confirm, do you have a way of putting pressure to the coolant system? The other way would be to track your coolant loss, or try to.read your plugs.

That sucks.

 

Hate to hear that Mike. Have you pulled the plugs out? I would to see what the combustion looked like. Warranty on engine?

BTW, that the "Team Grab and Go" DS TT I spy in grid?

 

Mike, that truly sucks! Sounds bad, but I hope for your sake, it's something stupid simple.

BTW, that is the FienBakSpratmobile. Jim had FTD and Gwen had 10th fastest raw.

 

Sorry for the bad luck Mike.

 

A couple updates on my car...

First, I've posted my corner weights the last few years, so here are the the 2013 numbers:

With 180 lbs driver weight and 1/8 tank of gas:
LF: 786 RF: 729
LR: 721 RR: 665

Total w/ driver: 2901
Cross%: 50.0%
Front%: 52.2%
Left%: 51.9%

Total w/o driver: 2721 lbs

 

Second, we drove on the PSS and the Rivals for the first time yesterday.

Weather:
It was in the 30's in the morning, warming to around 50 by late afternoon; mostly cloudy, some sleet, very windy.

PSS:
We drove the PSS in the morning with the stickers on. The car was a real handful. The times were pretty good, but the car was on edge every run. Lots of fast hand and foot work needed to keep the car pointed in the right direction.

Rivals:
We switched to the Rivals at lunch and ran two runs each in the afternoon. Jeff drove first, and the tires came alive about half way through the first run. By the end of the run, they felt like hot RS3's. I jumped in the car and immediately dropped a full second from third morning run to first afternoon run (with one cone, unfortunately). Watching the video, the afternoon runs look boring compared to the very busy morning runs.

Note:
We ran RS3's last year, and the alignment / tire pressures / shock settings are unchanged. We may have been able to get a bit more out of the PSS by making adjustments, but the car is ultimately going to get tuned for the Rivals with the PSS on hand only if it rains.

Disclaimer: I'm typically a mid-pack driver, so this is probably just another "they turn zeros into heroes" story. Jeff was quite a bit faster than I was on the PSS and did not have the same 1 second improvement on the Rivals.

 

Dave drove the hell out of the car and deserved a win, sorry that last run didn't pan out.

I drove like a panzy on the Rivals following a morning of keeping the car pointed somewhat in a straight line. I think they will be pretty damn amazing tires. Neither of found the limit of grip in the afternoon runs, all 2 of them.

One note, and it is probably not conclusive given the temps, they launch like CRAP. There is very little longitudinal grip, but I would expect that to improve on a day where it wasn't snowing at one point. Could be an issue in Pro's if they don't improve though.

 

Oh and Dave was right, seats are awesome and worth it.

 

Been experimenting with a few things lately as well. Put Redline 75-90 (limited slip modifier standard) in the rear with the idea of gaining consistency from the diff. I've read cone clutch style limited slips don't handle heat well but the idea is the oil will reduce the initial bite and keep temps down. GKN doesn't recommend limited slip additives for the differential but so far so good. The car does feel a bit more progressive in the rear and did not pick up any inside wheel spin.

Re-valved/rebuilt the rear shocks with less high speed rebound and decreased compression front and rear. Had the rear shocks mounted directly to the housing with the bushing on top and the side load damaged the seals letting a allowing a substantial amount of oil leak out. Let's just say air bubbles in your damper fluid is not a good thing. The rear of the car had been a bit challenging to keep in place over bumpy surfaces (corner exit at lincoln in a few places) and have a feeling this was part of the issue.

Test and tune this Saturday in NJ. Hoping to dial in the Rivals for the Pro. Can't let those MA guys have all the fun.

 

What were you running before? The super expensive OS Giken fluid? I'm trying out Amsoil 75W140, but I only have a few runs on the diff, so I have nothing to compare to.

 

Still on the factory diff so whatever Mazda put in the car. It only had 13k miles when I bought it last year. Cant say I dont have OS-Giken envy though. How do you like it so far?

 

Ah, for some reason I thought you had an OS, but I clearly didn't pay enough attention to your post. I've only done a test and tune so far this season and it was in 40-ish degree weather on RS3's, so I couldn't evaluate things too well. The car responded well to the changes that I expected would be good for the new diff though so I think it's working. Or at least I'm convincing myself it is since it was so expensive! I just got some Rivals mounted so that'll be yet another variable to keep me from knowing where differences in behavior are coming from.

 

A few bubbles? Lol, try no gas or no oil for the real fun

OSG is night vs day, but like anything the details matter

STX has a checked in minimum class for the Pro. The course looks very challenging. Have to launch much lower rpm than last year, but am within a tenth of those 60 ft times despite using a 1.25" taller tire. Everyone else 2wd is complaining about the launch grip, but I'm coming out of the hole just fine, and on BFGs too


.

 

After the car sat at Mazda for a couple days they said there was nothing wrong with it, and when I picked it up it felt like normal.

Ran today in 75 degree weather and for the first 3 runs there was no smoke and the car felt awesome. Pulling into the pits after my 3rd run the car started smoking, and would smoke more after sitting for 20 minutes. Doesn't really have the power loss that it did last week, or nearly as much smoke, but it's still smoking too much, white smoke out of the exhaust...

Thoughts?

 

I still think that coolant is getting into the chambers somehow. Any noticeable loss at the tank? Plugs look strange?