Getting Ready for the 2006 Race Season...................

[Greg Collier]

I too am curious about this type of thing, as I've read about reliability glitches under prolonged high gear loads. Granted a 20 min. track session isn't exactly full race distance but its more than a drag race. ^^^^ And there is my answer, nice timing.

I'm pretty sure Mueller is running one on Kent Jordan’s EVO racecar. It would have to be a proven and reliable system for me to throw one on my car at this point. Too many changes and or modifications make for too many possible problems. It took me a year of consistent failures for two years of reliability. We're hoping that with this new motor that learning curve will be cut to "ZERO", but ya never know...

 

[mavisky]

I noticed the Archer car that was purchased runs one. I'm guessing the Archer boys did their research on its components and one could probably walk in their shoes and expect reliability.

 

[Suparata]

Which Archer car?

 

[steve]

Which Archer car?

I would asume this one Mitch. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222227

Steve

 

[drivemusicnow]

It's on my "to do" list...

What i've found is that the Tilton electric pumps are pretty much the only ones you can find for this type of things. Running one of those, lines from the drain and to the fill, and a decent filter with air ducted over it is the essential parts...

Probem is the Tilton pumps are 200$, and they aren't even rated up to the proper temperature. (people use them, they just won't guarantee that they'll work) the only other, higher temp, pump I've seen was north of 350.

Figure with the Titon pump, lines and fittings wil be amost 40$, decent cooler wil be about 100$...

It gets expensive quick. From data I've seen though, these transmissions can reach north of 250* when un cooled and tracked... Which is way too hot for my tastes.

 

[underradar92]

My current take is now this. Since Greg has gotten this far without such a cooler so far, my trans should probably last another track day or two without one. I may get some temp. sensing stickers in the mean time. I will be considering one soon, as it should make my next (Shep) trans last somewhat longer between rebuilds. Aside from the actual pump stopping or leaks in the lines, reliability SHOULD only increase. Even if the pump does stop, one is no worse off than w/out the cooler. Just out of curiousity Greg, how do your gears, forks, etc. look after a season?

 

[Greg Collier]

Just out of curiousity Greg, how do your gears, forks, etc. look after a season?

After two and a half grueling race seasons, one clutch, and two discs, we've opened the Shep tranny three times and only replaced two shift forks. RRE did the first one and was absolutely amazed with the pristine condition of the tranny. DWS, a race tranny shop here in San Diego (they built all the 1/4 mile trannys for AEBS), had the same reaction that RRE did. Keep in mind that I'm as just as religious about changing the tranny fluid as I am about changing the engine oil. If you want it work, take care of it...

 

[Suparata]

Plus the fact that you shift like Granny.
Seriously a quality build, good care and not driving like it was just stolen will take you a long way.
Maybe John Shepherd and Jon Ripple should include “shifting courses” with their rebuilds because they both know how to do it right aside from doing quality work.

 

[tstkl]

After two and a half grueling race seasons, one clutch, and two discs, we've opened the Shep tranny three times and only replaced two shift forks. RRE did the first one and was absolutely amazed with the pristine condition of the tranny. DWS, a race tranny shop here in San Diego (they built all the 1/4 mile trannys for AEBS), had the same reaction that RRE did. Keep in mind that I'm as just as religious about changing the tranny fluid as I am about changing the engine oil. If you want it work, take care of it...

how often do you change your tranny fluid?

what about oil? my car has seen about 3.7k-3.8k miles since feb 17th, 2005 (when I got it) so I've only changed the oil three times, but thats once every 8 months or something like that, Im thinking I should start changing out fluids more often, what about you guys?

 

[TSIfreek]

Is a manual trany cooler really nessasary with the lubricants out now?? I could undersand if your doing a 24 HR race but the races you do greg are 1hr if im correct? We all pray you have good luck with the rest of the season with all the troubles you have had. Have you had any practice laps with the new motor yet?

 

[Suparata]

Some people are cooling freaks not just TSIFreaks. I got you here, didn’t I?
Engines and transmissions that have the correct fluid temperatures are happy ones. The quality of the fluid does not mean much when it is overheated.
Replacing the oil regularly has more than one advantage. Having clean, fresh oil that is doing its job as it should is one and the fact that you can monitor how the transmission/engine is working is second.

 

[Greg Collier]

Suparata Plus the fact that you shift like Granny.

Oh looky here... the head nut from the peanut gallery I remember a situation last year that I (accidentally) down shifted from 5th to 3rd at a 120mph. Shredded the clutch and disc but the tranny survived without a glitch. I'll never do that again

tstkl how often do you change your tranny fluid?

Depending how abusive the race event, every other race. I change my Dodge Ram V-10 every 5k miles.

TSIfreek Is a manual tranny cooler really necessary with the lubricants out now?? I could understand if your doing a 24 HR race but the races you do greg are 1hr if im correct? We all pray you have good luck with the rest of the season with all the troubles you have had. Have you had any practice laps with the new motor yet?

I'm assuming Mueller is concerned with all the added horsepower this year...

No practice laps yet. I'm getting a test day at Willow Springs to test and tune.

 

[underradar92]

After two and a half grueling race seasons, one clutch, and two discs, we've opened the Shep tranny three times and only replaced two shift forks. RRE did the first one and was absolutely amazed with the pristine condition of the tranny. DWS, a race tranny shop here in San Diego (they built all the 1/4 mile trannys for AEBS), had the same reaction that RRE did. Keep in mind that I'm as just as religious about changing the tranny fluid as I am about changing the engine oil. If you want it work, take care of it...

Ok, I am no longer going to worry about it at all. I use high end synthetics and they get changed before every track day, plus I have way less h.p. than even your old setup, and won't ever be making as much as the new one!

 

[Greg Collier]

I pulled the twisted panhard rod today, straightened it, and re-enforced it with 3/4" tube aluminum. I also re-installed the airfoil over the front I/C pipe to reduce turbulence and get that controlled forced air the car loves so much. I had the Grand Am Hoosiers mounted on the new Mustang Cobra rims and checked for any clearance issues. I shot a couple of pics of the wastegate dump-tube extension. (No more fire and extreme heat blowing on the motor mount. All looks good...

 

[TSIfreek]

Make sure you put some heat wrap over the O2 sensor wiring. The wheels look killer though

 

[Microrcdude]

Those wheels look right at home on there! Your garage is messy btw...

Yeah defidently heat-wrap the sensor wiring, its running too close for my comfort.

 

[Greg Collier]

Those wheels look right at home on there! Your garage is messy btw...

Yeah defidently heat-wrap the sensor wiring, its running too close for my comfort.

The garage is an absolute pit right now... way to many projects going on at the same time, with the motor install right in the middle of it

The final position of the dump tube put it right over the downpipe and at least three inches away from the wiring and turbo oil line (which both got wrapped with heat shield material)

 

[drivemusicnow]

The garage is an absolute pit right now... way to many projects going on at the same time, with the motor install right in the middle of it

The final position of the dump tube put it right over the downpipe and at least three inches away from the wiring and turbo oil line (which both got wrapped with heat shield material)

I wasn't going to put words in your mouth, but after reading pretty much every post you've ever written on this board, and looking at every picture... I've found you really don't leave anything to chance. A good habit to have when building a race car... I've adopted it as my own policy as well.

 

[Greg Collier]

I wasn't going to put words in your mouth, but after reading pretty much every post you've ever written on this board, and looking at every picture... I've found you really don't leave anything to chance. A good habit to have when building a race car... I've adopted it as my own policy as well.

Thanks Greg... at this point I can't afford ANY mistakes. I'm glad though that everyone is keeping a watchful eye out. It's the simple and sometimes obvious mistakes that are the worst.

Been there, done that!

 

[Suparata]

I ned the same size as Greg to clear my Stoptechs. Nice cheap wheels, just for rain tires.
Rich

Hopefully Greg, some other guys and I will run true racing wheels soon at a decent price. If you guys are interested let me know.
Take a look at this thread http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230885
and feel free to participate in the discussion.

 

[Greg Collier]

We set up a dyno day at Tuning Technologies in Colton California today. It’s an hour and a half drive from San Diego but a half waypoint to meet Scot Gray “the master-tuner.” We left a noon at a temperature of 80 degrees and by the time we made it to Colton the ambient temperature reached 110 degrees of blistering blowtorch heat.

The new motor re-build had only about 20-minutes of run time so it was a “Motoman’s” dyno break-in procedure. The shop was a mere 112 degrees as the enormous airplane fans blew the searing air through the I/C and radiator. After an hour and a half of break-in time the motor was ready for some serious power. We installed a DeJon manual boost controller in place of the Greddy Profec-B that failed in March. A twist of the boost controller here and a tap of a lap top adjustment there, we ended up with a mere 455hp at 16psi for next weekends race. (we decided to be a bit conservative) Scot will be at the track next weekend so we’ll add a little more adjustment with some actual laps under the cars belt.

Other then the ridiculous heat, it was a good day. No major water or oil leaks to speak of and the car did excellent in its adjustment period. We did discover that the top end of this motor went from 65k rpm up to 78k rpm. I’m very pleased with its the performance, as I’m sure Mitch will be too…

 

[steve]

Wow! 78k RPM rev limiter and you only got 455HP.
Sounds like we are missing a decimal point somewhere

Good Luck next weekend, we are all rooting for you.

Steve

 

[Zero Bar]

Good to hear about the motor Greg. 455hp isn't bad on that small amount of boost and considering the outside temperature. I can't wait to see the power it puts down at something like 30psi!!

Good luck next weekend!

 

[mavisky]

455 is a very good number on 16psi, that turbo doesn't even know it's working yet at that boost level. That monster from FP could easily deliver north of 30psi all day long so you've got plenty of un-tapped power which means the car should run all day and night at these lower boost levels.

 

[tstkl]

do you find that in these races you tend to run out of gas? how many gallons is your tank and how many gallons do you use in one day. (on average) I tend to find my car doesn't like going below 4 gallons for some reason. It gets really frusterated or something because the gas is sloshing around or something. I can't really explain it, but I've never filled up my tank with more than 12 gallons, it always reads empty and the light starts blazing in my eyes, then I go fill up and its somewhere between 9-11 gallons. Then if I keep driving it and give it some gas on the freeway it will sputter like theres no gas in the tank. I don't daily drive the car, so I don't really care. Are you going to get a two stage boost controller with an in cabin switch so that you can pass people easily on the straights? I would love to see you fighting with a car, then all the sudden blast ahead of him. I can't wait for your next write up. 455 hp off 16 lbs in a super light car.... weeeee!!!