First time back at the track...

[SBstar]

WEIGHT IT! Thanks

Can't wait to hear about the results from Sunday! Good luck.

 

[Phil1320]

Very cool! Yes weighing it would be cool if you could!

 

[Gooberlog]

Should i just weigh it the ghetto way, by weighing myself on a scale and then weigh my self while holding it. I don't think i have any other way to weigh it. The produce scales at the grocery store don't go up that high and i might look like a terrorist carrying something like that in there. I also forgot to mention that i got the other 2 BFG's on the car mounted up. So i can't blame any traction on the tires...suspension is a different story though.
I'll let you know about the rack in a couple days or so.

 

[SBstar]

ghetto way is fine, it'll be as close to accurate as we can get I'd appreciate it!

Nothing looks quite like an awd dsm launching on original/old factory suspension!

 

[Gooberlog]

Yeah the pic i have of my car launching at the track looks like a RWD car doing a wheelie.

 

[bullettdsm]

....the 1-2 is the most important shift as far as Im concerned, if it's not optimal, you definitely lose alot of momentum. Now that I think about it, had I been a more aggressive driver, I would have ran 11's the night I officially took the all time record with 12.052 and 12.022 passes.................Maybe he is just shifting the 1-2 a bit lazy like I always did.

You learn well, glasshoppa, .

And Travis, I was going to post up some support/observations/advice but I see it is Sunday already. Tough work week for me.

Anyway, I am green with envy (the best green icon I could find, ) that you are running today. Good luck man,

MB

 

[Gooberlog]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone but Sunday's race was less than awesome. First i need to say that at the end of the day i drove the car home with no problems, so overall i call it a WIN. Taking a dsm down the track and not breaking anything or having ANY issues is a gift from God himself.

I got to the track about 12:45, they say they are only racing 1/8 mile! They said because all of the rain they are worried about the top end being too wet. So i waited it out. Around 2:00 they say "everybody we are running 1/4 mile today repeat 1/4 mile" so me and a buddy go to our cars to pay our extra $10 and go tech in. On the way to the car, they say "I'm sorry everyone, i meant to say, we are running 1/8 mile today" DAGGER!

Well a half hour later at about 2:30 they say they are starting to run 1/4 mile. So me and my friend wait and watch two passes to make sure they go the whole 1320 and the times come up as well. They did so we paid and teched in. My buddy was racing his new CBR 1000 RR. We quickly got teched in and got in our lanes. This was almost 3:00. For some reason it was taking a long time for the lanes to go through and run each car. There were only one set of lanes before mine then i would get to run. A few more cars make there passes and then it got quiet. A Mercury Marauder apparently got upside down and slid on the jersey wall at the end of the traps! Surprisingly this didn't take too long to take care of.

By the time they started running again and my lane started to move, it was about 3:45. I'm almost all the way in the back of my lane and just as i start to pull up, they say " We will be closing the lanes in 5 min everyone." So i hoped that i would get at least 2 passes but i figured this may be my only shot. I get up to the light and line up next to a V8 S-10 and give him a courteous stage. I got around the wet box ok my friend said. I take my time on the green light and hold a steady 5500 rpms and launched releasing the clutch probably a bit too fast as the car spun violently kicking the rear end towards the right. I try to save the pass and grab second, but no luck. Second gear grinded and laughed at me so i eased it down the track. I pass by the ticket booth as i putt behind the S-10 and come back to the lanes and they were closed.

So all in all $20 to race, $20 in 112 race fuel (still have 2.5 gal) and i got one pass and i spun and missed second. My buddy had trouble getting the CBR off the line and got a best of 2.4 60' and 11.74 @135. On the way home on the highway, we lined up, i down shifted in to 3rd gear and gave him 3 beeps. My boost shot up to 20 instantly and once i hit full boost i saw his bike move and he almost instantly jumped about 3 car lengths, shifted and then continued to roll out! The laser was running good but that CBR 1000 was running a lot better.

So i do have one more portion of race gas left, but there is only one day left in the season and i think my launch problems was part clutch release and part stock suspension. I think i'm done for the year and will work on installing my manual steering rack and replacing my LF axle that has a torn boot. I'll start looking for some good springs/shocks combos. Thanks again everyone for the good wishes.

 

[Phil1320]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone but Sunday's race was less than awesome. First i need to say that at the end of the day i drove the car home with no problems, so overall i call it a WIN. Taking a dsm down the track and not breaking anything or having ANY issues is a gift from God himself.

I got to the track about 12:45, they say they are only racing 1/8 mile! They said because all of the rain they are worried about the top end being too wet. So i waited it out. Around 2:00 they say "everybody we are running 1/4 mile today repeat 1/4 mile" so me and a buddy go to our cars to pay our extra $10 and go tech in. On the way to the car, they say "I'm sorry everyone, i meant to say, we are running 1/8 mile today" DAGGER!

Well a half hour later at about 2:30 they say they are starting to run 1/4 mile. So me and my friend wait and watch two passes to make sure they go the whole 1320 and the times come up as well. They did so we paid and teched in. My buddy was racing his new CBR 1000 RR. We quickly got teched in and got in our lanes. This was almost 3:00. For some reason it was taking a long time for the lanes to go through and run each car. There were only one set of lanes before mine then i would get to run. A few more cars make there passes and then it got quiet. A Mercury Marauder apparently got upside down and slid on the jersey wall at the end of the traps! Surprisingly this didn't take too long to take care of.

By the time they started running again and my lane started to move, it was about 3:45. I'm almost all the way in the back of my lane and just as i start to pull up, they say " We will be closing the lanes in 5 min everyone." So i hoped that i would get at least 2 passes but i figured this may be my only shot. I get up to the light and line up next to a V8 S-10 and give him a courteous stage. I got around the wet box ok my friend said. I take my time on the green light and hold a steady 5500 rpms and launched releasing the clutch probably a bit too fast as the car spun violently kicking the rear end towards the right. I try to save the pass and grab second, but no luck. Second gear grinded and laughed at me so i eased it down the track. I pass by the ticket booth as i putt behind the S-10 and come back to the lanes and they were closed.

So all in all $20 to race, $20 in 112 race fuel (still have 2.5 gal) and i got one pass and i spun and missed second. My buddy had trouble getting the CBR off the line and got a best of 2.4 60' and 11.74 @135. On the way home on the highway, we lined up, i down shifted in to 3rd gear and gave him 3 beeps. My boost shot up to 20 instantly and once i hit full boost i saw his bike move and he almost instantly jumped about 3 car lengths, shifted and then continued to roll out! The laser was running good but that CBR 1000 was running a lot better.

So i do have one more portion of race gas left, but there is only one day left in the season and i think my launch problems was part clutch release and part stock suspension. I think i'm done for the year and will work on installing my manual steering rack and replacing my LF axle that has a torn boot. I'll start looking for some good springs/shocks combos. Thanks again everyone for the good wishes.

damn..............sorry to hear, I was wondering if you were going to be able to run....the ground stayed wet up here for a good part of the day.

Unless you have blown struts/shocks, you're stock suspension should still be ok to launch. I have run 1.69-1.70 best on stock suspension, but, my mileage wasn't super high either.

Well, try to hit that last date if you can. Damn weather this years has be relentless.......

 

[SBstar]

Sometimes it just goes that way, keep your head up, it'd be nice to hear you get out for that last day. Keep up the good work.

 

[bullettdsm]

By the time they started running again and my lane started to move, it was about 3:45. I'm almost all the way in the back of my lane and just as i start to pull up, they say " We will be closing the lanes in 5 min everyone." So i hoped that i would get at least 2 passes but i figured this may be my only shot. .

I think we've all lived this one

I hate when that happens. Oh well, join the crowd of us waiting until next year and hoping for better weather.

MB

 

[Gooberlog]

I might see if i can take off next sunday if the weather is nice. This sunday we had more coverage at work and next sunday might be harder. Maybe if i try now i can find someone to cover. We'll see, i kinda want to run to give it one last stab and use up this race gas. Well i'm about to go throw a new axle in the car and start the manual steering rack install. I'll take my scale and let you guys know the weights.

WEIGHT IT! Thanks

Can't wait to hear about the results from Sunday! Good luck.

So i used a very scientific method of weighing both the manual steering rack and the power steering rack. I first weighed my self. Then i weighed myself while holding the manual steering rack with inner and outer tie rod ends.

Then i did the same for the power steering rack holding the power rack and all of the lines, brackets, reservoir ect in a plastic bag. The weight for the power steering components did not include: Fluid, the small rectangular steel bracket that is about 3" long by 1/2" (i previously removed it), or the power steering cooler line which is a line and ruber hose that run in front of the radiator (removed for the install of my FMIC previously). There is also a fairly large steel bracket that is bolted directly to the block and goes behind the water tube and around the edge of the ex. manifold that i have not removed yet. I think between the fluid, cooler line, small bracket and large block bracket there may be another 3 pounds +.

Power steering rack w/ inner & outer ends and most components = 28 pounds
Manual steering rack with inner and outer tie rod ends = 14 pounds

So from my set up where i was a couple days ago i dropped 14 pounds + fluid, cleaned up the engine bay A LOT, and less drive on the engine with one less belt. At this point the manual rack is in position and i just have to bolt it up. I still have to remove my LF axle and send it out and i want to replace my worn sway bar links and look into my torn front lower ball joint boots.

 

[Phil1320]

Very Cool! Im curious as to what the power rack itself weighs compared to the manual rack. Basically RACK for RACK, hehe. As I have all the power steering components removed in my car and want to see if there is much of a weight savings over what I have left in the car. I remember someone in the past saying about 3 pounds, rack for rack.....hehe...

 

[SBstar]

14lbs isn't bad at all! I would like to see what Phil talked about though. Rack for Rack ! Thanks! I really appreciate you doing the "scientific process" for me

 

[Gooberlog]

The manual rack with the inner and outer tie rod ends was 14 pounds and the power rack was 28 pounds with the inner and outer tie rod ends + resivoir, pump, ruber lines, couple thin brackets, bolts and light weight hard lines. I would say that other stuff may have been 4-5 pounds. So swapping to the manual would save you another 10 pounds roughly. The power steering parts are locked up in the shed as of last night and the scale is back at the garage. Yes i forgot the scale last night, and yes my wife was asking me WTF happened to the scale!? I explained and she sighed. She loves me so much.

I have to let you know that it's kinda a pain to swap the rack in a 1g on the floor with jack stands. I had to disconnect the sway bar, lower the driver's control arm, remove that bracket under the trans with the 5 bolts, lower my down pipe and lower the long bracket under the timing belt side. Then the wiggle process commenced. Once the power rack was finally out, the new one went in quick as it's much slimmer.

 

[Phil1320]

Rofl

 

[SBstar]

Nice, I'm trying to get a price on a manual rack currently, supposedly brand new! We'll see how it goes, 10lbs is still worth it off the front end to me, plus it being easier to turn then the power rack w/out components. Thanks again!

 

[Gooberlog]

Nice, I'm trying to get a price on a manual rack currently, supposedly brand new! We'll see how it goes, 10lbs is still worth it off the front end to me, plus it being easier to turn then the power rack w/out components. Thanks again!

Well i was wrong. I thought i put the power steering rack in the shed, but that was just my exhaust and stuff that was cluttering up the garage. I still had both the power steering rack and the scale in the garage.

Just the power steering rack with inner and outer tie rod ends only weighs 3.5 pounds more than the manual. I can't believe that all of those small components add up to about 13 pounds.

Manual rack with tie rod ends = 14 pounds
Power steering rack with ends= 17.5 pounds

So if you already have everything removed from the car and just a power rack depowered, i wouldn't do it just for the weight since it looks like you'd only save 3.5pounds. I saw another rack in the classifieds with the bracket for $250. Seems to be the going rate for them.

 

[Phil1320]

Well i was wrong. I thought i put the power steering rack in the shed, but that was just my exhaust and stuff that was cluttering up the garage. I still had both the power steering rack and the scale in the garage.

Just the power steering rack with inner and outer tie rod ends only weighs 3.5 pounds more than the manual. I can't believe that all of those small components add up to about 13 pounds.

Manual rack with tie rod ends = 14 pounds
Power steering rack with ends= 17.5 pounds

So if you already have everything removed from the car and just a power rack depowered, i wouldn't do it just for the weight since it looks like you'd only save 3.5pounds. I saw another rack in the classifieds with the bracket for $250. Seems to be the going rate for them.

So, whoever told me the difference was 3 lbs. was right......good stuff, one thing I can cross off my list! Not that I would have done it anyway because of the possibility of road racing in the long run....

 

[SBstar]

No kidding eh!?!?! I might still do it for the ease of turning, but since the car might go full drag eventually anyways, maybe not.

 

[Gooberlog]

Well guys i finished getting the manual rack installed and installing my re-man axle and new front sway bar end links and took the car for a spin. All i have to say is for anyone who is running power steering and wants to upgrade to a manual rack but they're scared it will be too hard to turn, don't be scared. The work of getting the rack removed and installing the new manual rack is more work than you'll ever out put trying to drive a 1g with a manual rack. I couldn't believe how effortless it was with out the help of the power steering pump. I did notice i had to turn the wheel a bit more going in to turns and backing out of the garage in to the drive way etc, but the effort required was not bad at all. Even being kinda old and lazy now, I said i would still daily drive this car like this if I had too. It might get old driving like that all the time, but it's just not that bad. I rate this upgrade/weight reduction right up there with ABS removal. Saves some weight, cleans up the engine bay and feels cool when your driving. Couldn't tell if there was any power increase since when i boosted it up in second all four wheels broke loose (it's been raining lately). That felt pretty cool by the way as the ass end came out a little and continued to push me forward even harder. Man i love AWD. Here are some pics after the install. Questions & comments welcome as always...

 

[SBstar]

Now get rid of that big ol heavy piece of iron that the pump used to be bolted too

Looks good though, your engine bay is pretty clean for a budget build. Keep up the good work!

 

[Phil1320]

Cool Trav! Glad you like it and it went in pretty easy. Yeah, that bracket that's left there is 7.5 lbs. Yes, you have to drain coolant and pull the pipe to remove it, it sucks, but, it's the only way........

 

[JEFFREYCASTGSX]

Was your car cold when you did compression test?

 

[Gooberlog]

I was positive you guys would notice that AND comment on it. Since i have to pull the water pipe off to remove it, which i will at some point, i think i may wait till i swap in a N/A water pipe during a turbo upgrade in the future. Untill then, i might just have to keep staring at it.

I forgot to mention that while i was working on the rack, my buddy who is kind enough to lend me his garage to work in was restoring my head lights. They weren't too bad before as you can see in my pics but now they look really good. Not new, but really good!

Coming up soon for the laser i have an auotmeter boost gauge to be swapped out in favor of my prosmart gauge (looks preference), i'll be touching up some of the trim on the exterior of the car and touching up the gunmetal paint on my FD wheels. Also my buddy will have some left over gray carpet from his boat that matches mine perfect. Once he's done, he's going to give me some so i can cover where the rear seats were to clean up the interior a bit. Just a couple inexpensive small projects to keep the ball rolling in these tough times. I also have a couple engine pieces like part of the driver's side engine mount and the trans mount that i should remove, sand and repaint to clean up the engine a lot.

Now that the engine bay is so empty i really need to start cleaning it up a bit. I also need to tear away at the firewall blanket that's under the hood for a much cleaner look. Any other ideas to clean things up a bit? Thanks as always guys.

Was your car cold when you did compression test?

One of the times it was. Then i remembered that it should be at operating temp. I ended up doing the compression test about 5 different times, cause a few times i kept forgetting something since it's been so long since i've done one. I used to work on toyota's and they really don't have many engine issues other than sludge due to maintenance neglect.

I also did a cylinder leak down test and that pointed to worn piston rings.
I'm just happy the car is running this good considering my poor findings on the engine.

 

[Phil1320]

I was positive you guys would notice that AND comment on it. Since i have to pull the water pipe off to remove it, which i will at some point, i think i may wait till i swap in a N/A water pipe during a turbo upgrade in the future. Untill then, i might just have to keep staring at it.

I forgot to mention that while i was working on the rack, my buddy who is kind enough to lend me his garage to work in was restoring my head lights. They weren't too bad before as you can see in my pics but now they look really good. Not new, but really good!

Coming up soon for the laser i have an auotmeter boost gauge to be swapped out in favor of my prosmart gauge (looks preference), i'll be touching up some of the trim on the exterior of the car and touching up the gunmetal paint on my FD wheels. Also my buddy will have some left over gray carpet from his boat that matches mine perfect. Once he's done, he's going to give me some so i can cover where the rear seats were to clean up the interior a bit. Just a couple inexpensive small projects to keep the ball rolling in these tough times. I also have a couple engine pieces like part of the driver's side engine mount and the trans mount that i should remove, sand and repaint to clean up the engine a lot.

Now that the engine bay is so empty i really need to start cleaning it up a bit. I also need to tear away at the firewall blanket that's under the hood for a much cleaner look. Any other ideas to clean things up a bit? Thanks as always guys.

Sounds great Trav, and looking really good! That firewall blanket is pretty heavy for what it is too.....you'll see.....weight is everywhere in our cars. It's crazy just how much crap you're carrying around at full weight.