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Time for an engine rebuild. Why? Just based on time. This is a used engine with 50K miles on the short block when I installed it. And then I raced it for 3 seasons. Time to freshen it up, new rings, new valve springs, etc.

When I was racing the Cobra, I did this every 2 years. But that car got a lot of street time, to.

I’m also going to add a little more power. Nothing dramatic, just a little more. A hotter cam, and a better intake. Heads are the same, and compression will be the same.

Engine Removal

This was more of a pain in the ass than I thought it would be. Just unbolt everything, and drop it out the bottom. Yeah, right. So, I unbolted everything underneath the car- driveshaft, exhaust, trans mount. Nothing overly difficult or complicated.

The wiring harness was easy. When I built the harness, I put plugs in places specifically to make this job easy. Unplug component harnesses instead of each individual component.

Only unplug 3 oil hoses, and 1 fuel hose.

I also shoes to remove all the suspension components. They are all bolted to the crossmember. You could leave them connected and remove it all at once. But smaller size and less mass made it easier for me. I had just rebuilt everything after the recent track trauma, so it needed an alignment anyway. I still need to make new fender mounts.

Then I lowered my 4 post lift almost to the roof. I attached the car at 4 corners with 3,000 pound cargo straps.

Then I carefully lifted the whole car off of the drive train. I was very nervous about this, and made sure I was never under the car when it was suspended by straps. It’s hard to imagine that 2 straps would break, and the car would fall on me. But……. 😉

And now we’re ready for engine disassembly. For the rest of the story, look in the Engine section of the main menu.

I was out of town for a couple months, and I missed a couple of races.   Although I had a great time, I missed those events.     North to Alaska 

Anyway, we were at  High Plains Raceway  last weekend.  The weather was almost perfect.   Warm sunshine, strong sun on the track, and some cool air in the morning.   Unfortunately, we hit some rain each afternoon.  Not much, just enough to slow down the lap times for a session or two.

Had a great time.  I struggled a little bit on Saturday, with a best lap of 2:02.   Not bad, but I’v done better

Sunday, though, was different.  Not sure why, though.  I think maybe being gone so long I needed time to get my head in the game.   The car ran well.  Not perfect, but well.   The suspension changes I made last winter are awesome.   The car is very well planted, stable, and not the least bit twitchy.

On Sunday afternoon, I turned in a number of laps that were 2:00 flat.  Fastest I’v ever been around this track.  In the last session of the day, I was closing in on the magical 1:59, when it started to rain.

The only problem I have is with the differential.   Turn 11 is a fast slightly decreasing radius corner, that exits on a steep uphill climb.  My favorite corner.  🙂   You can see it in this video, starting at 1:26.

The suspension handles this corner just fine.  I suspect even faster than I’v been doing it.   But the inside tire spins, leaving a long black mark up the hill.  I can control it by feathering the throttle.  But then I lose time.   If I keep my foot in it, the car will still accelerate as the inside tire is spinning.  Once the car is pointed straight, I can just hammer it and the car will accelerate quickly up the hill.

I believe this is a differential problem.  The Eaton Detroit TruTrak was brand new 2 1/2 seasons ago.   I think it’s failed already, and needs to be replaced.  I could have it rebuilt.  But 2 years from now (more or less) I’ll be right back in the same place.  Pretty disappointing.   I had the same diff in my Cobra, and I beat the hell out of it for 12 years on the track and street.

Now I’m looking at an Auburn cone clutch diff.

I sent an e-mail off to Eaton.  We’ll see what they say.  Probably nothing.

We had a great time at La Junta Raceway  in La Junta, CO.   1.2 miles, 7 turns, 4,238′ ASL.

If you look at the track map, it looks pretty easy.  Only 7 turns, and fairly flat.   But this track is a challenge to get right.  You really have to pay attention, and know how to read the track.   When you do get it right, it will reward you with some very fast corners.  Especially turns 1 and 2, which I can  run at about 120-125 mph.

The biggest problem to overcome is that the track is pretty rough.  Look at turns 1, 2, and 3.  It crosses over an old taxiway, and onto an old runway.  It’s like a huge berm.  For a lot of cars, that up and down really upsets the suspension.   But the super Miata suspension I installed soaked up those bumps like nobody’s business.   It really inspired a lot of confidence.

Turns 6 and 7 are a challenge as well.   Narrow, difficult to see, off camber, and slow after coming off a medium straight.  Lots of cars went in to the dirt here.

I’m telling you, get rid of those rubber bushings if you can.   Spherical bearings are a huge improvement.   I am really pleased with this car.   It is so fast, and so much fun to drive.  It only gets outrun by cars that cost 2-3 times as much to own.   And racing in an open car is really something else.

This is what a fast lap looks like.  My best time was 55.659; that’s viper and Z06 territory.  Not bad for my little home made go cart.  The track manager has a ton of laps in his Viper, and he said he usually runs in the mid 55’s.

It’s not a long haul from the Springs.  No further than High Plains.  But it’s a bit of a haul for the Denver and Broomfield folks.   I sure hope it’s on our schedule next year.

I’ll be out of town for June and July.   Heading to Alaska for some vacation time.