T9S1i
15+ Year Contributor
- 1,869
- 9
- Dec 16, 2004
-
San Francisco,
California
So there i was sitting at the staging lanes, 5 races ago, Joel's DSM blew off the oil filter and spewed oil all over the track, track cleaned it up, OK now its my turn to race, i stage my car floor the gas, studderbox at 5500rpm, i start to slip the clutch (slightly faster than usual) and right when the clutch is let out WHACK!!!!!!!! Oh shit i think to myself and let out and short shift to second gear. That netted me a 26.4@40 mph.... just cruisin down the track.
Damn i think to myself, so i come back around, get my timeslip, dont really care what it says because i didnt race that time. I finally track down dave who was helping Joe fix his car and he came over and didnt see any of my race since he was helping joel, so i described to him what happened and he says the stock (193K) 3-bolt has probably died on me. So we get under the car, start grabbing axels and shaking stuff to check for obvious breaks or excessive freeplay...nothing really checks out. So we decide to do a short roll on wot in 1st gear just to see if something breaks then. Nothing really happens except i spun the front wheels. ( i do have a welded diff in the car) So we thought the car would be ok to drive a while since nothing broke under 15psi. We went and helped Joel put his car on his trailer (smart guy for bringing a trailer when racing a dsm!).
Dave, joel, you missed this part.
SO i say peace out to Dave and Joel. Leave infineon, easy on the throttle, easy ..... I get to the stoplight on 37 westbound towards 101, (about 1 1/2 mile away from the track)leave the stoplight cruise, get about 1/4 mile and feel this weird vibration, that turns into a wobble, that turns into a tap tap tap, then turns into a thunk thunk thunk, by this time ive crusied off the road and am coasting very slowly in neutral with the clutch in. Call my Alstate motor club whatever towing service, nobody in the area wants to tow somebody to SF, so a towing company from SF had to come all the way up to get me and an hour later im riding home on the flatbed.
SO something in the drivetrain broke. IT honestly sounds like its coming from the driveshaft carrier bearrings (i think thats what they are called) if not the T-case area. The car still drives and rolls, but anything over like 3mph i get that thump thump thump. Which sounds almost like a wobbling driveshaft, becasue something has to rotate all the way around for the thump to happen. Its sounds like its coming from the same place where you get the thump thump thump on a hard launch from the driveshaft carrier bearrings (that i never fixed the thump) which is right at or behind the front seats, under the car. Hopefully its just those bearrings, but if its the t-case or rear end, im royally F'd for a little while because im broke as hell.
Im going to go out soon and check out the car since it was dark and on the side of the highway last night. Wish me luck folks, if anyone knows specific things to check to rule different things in the drivetrain out let me know. I thought id start with the wobble check again, possibly jack up the rear end and try to rotate the wheels, then if im still stumped i'll start draining things and see if i find any metal shaving.
Any help/experiences/ideas/ thoughts on things to check are welcomed and appreciated.
happy boostin
Damn i think to myself, so i come back around, get my timeslip, dont really care what it says because i didnt race that time. I finally track down dave who was helping Joe fix his car and he came over and didnt see any of my race since he was helping joel, so i described to him what happened and he says the stock (193K) 3-bolt has probably died on me. So we get under the car, start grabbing axels and shaking stuff to check for obvious breaks or excessive freeplay...nothing really checks out. So we decide to do a short roll on wot in 1st gear just to see if something breaks then. Nothing really happens except i spun the front wheels. ( i do have a welded diff in the car) So we thought the car would be ok to drive a while since nothing broke under 15psi. We went and helped Joel put his car on his trailer (smart guy for bringing a trailer when racing a dsm!).
Dave, joel, you missed this part.
SO i say peace out to Dave and Joel. Leave infineon, easy on the throttle, easy ..... I get to the stoplight on 37 westbound towards 101, (about 1 1/2 mile away from the track)leave the stoplight cruise, get about 1/4 mile and feel this weird vibration, that turns into a wobble, that turns into a tap tap tap, then turns into a thunk thunk thunk, by this time ive crusied off the road and am coasting very slowly in neutral with the clutch in. Call my Alstate motor club whatever towing service, nobody in the area wants to tow somebody to SF, so a towing company from SF had to come all the way up to get me and an hour later im riding home on the flatbed.
SO something in the drivetrain broke. IT honestly sounds like its coming from the driveshaft carrier bearrings (i think thats what they are called) if not the T-case area. The car still drives and rolls, but anything over like 3mph i get that thump thump thump. Which sounds almost like a wobbling driveshaft, becasue something has to rotate all the way around for the thump to happen. Its sounds like its coming from the same place where you get the thump thump thump on a hard launch from the driveshaft carrier bearrings (that i never fixed the thump) which is right at or behind the front seats, under the car. Hopefully its just those bearrings, but if its the t-case or rear end, im royally F'd for a little while because im broke as hell.
Im going to go out soon and check out the car since it was dark and on the side of the highway last night. Wish me luck folks, if anyone knows specific things to check to rule different things in the drivetrain out let me know. I thought id start with the wobble check again, possibly jack up the rear end and try to rotate the wheels, then if im still stumped i'll start draining things and see if i find any metal shaving.
Any help/experiences/ideas/ thoughts on things to check are welcomed and appreciated.
happy boostin
