Well that started out well. Went poorly. Got worse. Improved. Got bad. Solved itself. And still was pretty sketchy.
Pics now.
--- EDIT --- Put on your helmets boys its going to be a long war story... ---EDIT---
I took a bunch of time this week getting this thing ready for a few test hits. I was excited and nervous at the same time... because honestly who knew what to expect with an unproven build. I had tried to convince Natasha to come with the girls to watch/race. But this was a non-starter (but a very important factor in the story). We were suffering from the national communications outage thanks to Rogers. Knowing and accepting the risks I took my chances and work phone as well (another key factor in this story). With the drag radials mounted up and the car packing a few tools the drive was overall pretty uneventful. However, the car is a little bouncy in the front end, and is clearly suffering from my suspension mods and/or the wrong springs/shocks to control the motion. Maybe need to revisit the sway bar thing?
The conditions were not good for racing it was 88*F and humid, the DA was 4500ft, and the track did absolutely no prep due to a lack of traction compound nationally. I was only going to see how the tune stacked up and how the car would behave at speed (home alignment and stability things), and just have a good time. Spoiler alert: Not a lot of that really ended up satisfied.
At tech things went pretty well, the level of scrutiny here is almost unnecessarily precise and detailed IMO. The tech guy was expecting a 305-powered POS when he looked at the car. Popped the hood and his attitude changed: This thing is really clean and has the potential to be very fast... how fast are you planning on going?
Me: 11.5s at best, no cage.
Other than the battery relocation to the trunk and no firewall/battery box (and no sticker for the cut-off) the car passed without issue. I promised to fix that before coming back. PUSH OFF? Yeah, off a cliff.
I aired down the tires, configured the methanol injection to its smallest setting, and got the car into the lanes. I lined up next to a black Ford Lightning on a tire with nitrous, and a plate that read "LS ETR". I guess we'll see about that. Did a lame burnout and staged the car. Brought it up gently against the converter and eased it out of the hole. It didn't help. The car spun hard. I short shifted 1-2 at 5000rpm to get it under control. The "LS ETR" was way out in front at this point, and the Monte was settling in and I pussed out again and short shifted the car 2-3 at 5500rpm. This is where things got really interesting... I freight trained the "LS ETR". I was in utter amazement how hard the car charged at the top-end. High hopes.
Here's where the real fun starts.
Hit the return road and made my way back to the pits. On the way I see track staff running down the strip, hopping the wall, and coming toward me. First thought: I broke something and oiled down the track. Second thought: I went way too fast. Third thought: I am on fire (curse of the fuel injector o-rings). Buddy tells me that I have a "blue strap and buckle dragging". Thanked him and head back wondering what was going on... then it hit me: Axle strap came loose. Fortunately I didn't lose it - but, the nut and washer holding it on were long gone.
I was greeted with this timeslip. Definitely not moving too fast. A really cool dude with an 11 second 4G63-swapped Smart car suggested that conditions were so bad that the car would have probably done 120mph on a good day. I'll take that with a grain of salt, but the DA conversion does put the car at a 13.0@115mph. Still slower than it was with the 355 and nitrous almost 20 years ago. But, this was just the first pass so I am managing my expectations.
Reviewing the log there was just so much wrong. IATs were stupid hot (no cool down time off the street, meth turned down), pig rich at 0.66 lambda, really soft timing (no knock, just safety retard for IATs), and a boost curve that went down rather than staying flat. It is what it is. So let's tweak the VE table and go back out. Flash the tune and the car refuses to restart. Eventually I go back to an older tune and the car struggles back to life. Its running weird. Look at the volt gauge and it is showing 11.x volts. Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t.
After running a bunch of diagnostics. Alternator is wicked hot to the touch. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and the car dies while running. Alternator is dead. How to get one in a pinch late on a Friday afternoon with limited communication ability? Start emailing Natasha from my work phone hoping that she is at her computer. Exchange a few emails with my needs and she loads up the kids and tools... and PRINTS out directions to Canadian TIre and the track. That's old school.
While I waited hoping she could locate the correct unit I got to hang out beside my car and do a lot of chatting with cool people. Including a professional lock-smith named Dave. There is some irony here in a moment.
Then out of nowhere my doppelganger appeared. These guys were cool and I helped them sort out their issues (wrong plugs), and were really helpful with tools once Natasha arrived with the alternator. Eventually Natasha showed up and I got her parked next to me. The girls were sweet but clearly at the end of their ropes (it was waaay past their bedtimes). What came next was hilarious. I realized that I managed to lock my keys in the car. Fortunately I managed to hunt down a coat hanger while the wife and kids stood next to the car severely unimpressed. The lady at the souvenir shop had one for me in her camper, and had her husband bring it over. Amazing people here. My kids got to watch me break into my car, so I guess that's some legacy knowledge passed on.
After I got into the car, unpacked the tools and got to work a magic Dave appeared again. We had a good laugh about it... and yes, he had his pick set on him. I have his card for future projects/problems. While Natasha chatted with Dave I swapped the alternator out in short order. Fired the car up and it was charging. Hooray! But the belt was squealing really badly. Got the squeal mostly solved and then it stopped charging. F*ck my life. So in a panic we packed the car up and made for the gate and toward the highway so I could get a tow home before they locked us in for the night. With the car running like sh*t I nursed the car out the gate and down the road. Then a miracle: it started charging. Like really well. 14+ volts. I don't think the old one ever got that high. Told Natasha I was going to make a banzai run home. This was not the wisest move. In my haste I never aired the tires back up... 16psi was sketchy to drive on at highway speeds. Shoved the car in the garage and called it a night.
One other tiny development... the brake light came on ever so faintly after that pass (asked too much of it maybe?). So I bled and monkeyed with the whole brake system yesterday in hopes that it could be resolved. It wouldn't have it. No external leaks. Bench bled the master. Swore at it. No change. Given that I just hemorrhaged my LS1 brake swap money on that over-priced alternator the car is FUBAR for the time being.
Pics now.
--- EDIT --- Put on your helmets boys its going to be a long war story... ---EDIT---
I took a bunch of time this week getting this thing ready for a few test hits. I was excited and nervous at the same time... because honestly who knew what to expect with an unproven build. I had tried to convince Natasha to come with the girls to watch/race. But this was a non-starter (but a very important factor in the story). We were suffering from the national communications outage thanks to Rogers. Knowing and accepting the risks I took my chances and work phone as well (another key factor in this story). With the drag radials mounted up and the car packing a few tools the drive was overall pretty uneventful. However, the car is a little bouncy in the front end, and is clearly suffering from my suspension mods and/or the wrong springs/shocks to control the motion. Maybe need to revisit the sway bar thing?
The conditions were not good for racing it was 88*F and humid, the DA was 4500ft, and the track did absolutely no prep due to a lack of traction compound nationally. I was only going to see how the tune stacked up and how the car would behave at speed (home alignment and stability things), and just have a good time. Spoiler alert: Not a lot of that really ended up satisfied.
At tech things went pretty well, the level of scrutiny here is almost unnecessarily precise and detailed IMO. The tech guy was expecting a 305-powered POS when he looked at the car. Popped the hood and his attitude changed: This thing is really clean and has the potential to be very fast... how fast are you planning on going?
Me: 11.5s at best, no cage.
Other than the battery relocation to the trunk and no firewall/battery box (and no sticker for the cut-off) the car passed without issue. I promised to fix that before coming back. PUSH OFF? Yeah, off a cliff.
I aired down the tires, configured the methanol injection to its smallest setting, and got the car into the lanes. I lined up next to a black Ford Lightning on a tire with nitrous, and a plate that read "LS ETR". I guess we'll see about that. Did a lame burnout and staged the car. Brought it up gently against the converter and eased it out of the hole. It didn't help. The car spun hard. I short shifted 1-2 at 5000rpm to get it under control. The "LS ETR" was way out in front at this point, and the Monte was settling in and I pussed out again and short shifted the car 2-3 at 5500rpm. This is where things got really interesting... I freight trained the "LS ETR". I was in utter amazement how hard the car charged at the top-end. High hopes.
Here's where the real fun starts.
Hit the return road and made my way back to the pits. On the way I see track staff running down the strip, hopping the wall, and coming toward me. First thought: I broke something and oiled down the track. Second thought: I went way too fast. Third thought: I am on fire (curse of the fuel injector o-rings). Buddy tells me that I have a "blue strap and buckle dragging". Thanked him and head back wondering what was going on... then it hit me: Axle strap came loose. Fortunately I didn't lose it - but, the nut and washer holding it on were long gone.
I was greeted with this timeslip. Definitely not moving too fast. A really cool dude with an 11 second 4G63-swapped Smart car suggested that conditions were so bad that the car would have probably done 120mph on a good day. I'll take that with a grain of salt, but the DA conversion does put the car at a 13.0@115mph. Still slower than it was with the 355 and nitrous almost 20 years ago. But, this was just the first pass so I am managing my expectations.
Reviewing the log there was just so much wrong. IATs were stupid hot (no cool down time off the street, meth turned down), pig rich at 0.66 lambda, really soft timing (no knock, just safety retard for IATs), and a boost curve that went down rather than staying flat. It is what it is. So let's tweak the VE table and go back out. Flash the tune and the car refuses to restart. Eventually I go back to an older tune and the car struggles back to life. Its running weird. Look at the volt gauge and it is showing 11.x volts. Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t.
After running a bunch of diagnostics. Alternator is wicked hot to the touch. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and the car dies while running. Alternator is dead. How to get one in a pinch late on a Friday afternoon with limited communication ability? Start emailing Natasha from my work phone hoping that she is at her computer. Exchange a few emails with my needs and she loads up the kids and tools... and PRINTS out directions to Canadian TIre and the track. That's old school.
While I waited hoping she could locate the correct unit I got to hang out beside my car and do a lot of chatting with cool people. Including a professional lock-smith named Dave. There is some irony here in a moment.
Then out of nowhere my doppelganger appeared. These guys were cool and I helped them sort out their issues (wrong plugs), and were really helpful with tools once Natasha arrived with the alternator. Eventually Natasha showed up and I got her parked next to me. The girls were sweet but clearly at the end of their ropes (it was waaay past their bedtimes). What came next was hilarious. I realized that I managed to lock my keys in the car. Fortunately I managed to hunt down a coat hanger while the wife and kids stood next to the car severely unimpressed. The lady at the souvenir shop had one for me in her camper, and had her husband bring it over. Amazing people here. My kids got to watch me break into my car, so I guess that's some legacy knowledge passed on.
After I got into the car, unpacked the tools and got to work a magic Dave appeared again. We had a good laugh about it... and yes, he had his pick set on him. I have his card for future projects/problems. While Natasha chatted with Dave I swapped the alternator out in short order. Fired the car up and it was charging. Hooray! But the belt was squealing really badly. Got the squeal mostly solved and then it stopped charging. F*ck my life. So in a panic we packed the car up and made for the gate and toward the highway so I could get a tow home before they locked us in for the night. With the car running like sh*t I nursed the car out the gate and down the road. Then a miracle: it started charging. Like really well. 14+ volts. I don't think the old one ever got that high. Told Natasha I was going to make a banzai run home. This was not the wisest move. In my haste I never aired the tires back up... 16psi was sketchy to drive on at highway speeds. Shoved the car in the garage and called it a night.
One other tiny development... the brake light came on ever so faintly after that pass (asked too much of it maybe?). So I bled and monkeyed with the whole brake system yesterday in hopes that it could be resolved. It wouldn't have it. No external leaks. Bench bled the master. Swore at it. No change. Given that I just hemorrhaged my LS1 brake swap money on that over-priced alternator the car is FUBAR for the time being.
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