TARP Blog

Steve Nix and I took the TARP Special out to Eagles Canyon Racetrack on Saturday for a little testing of the car. I’m glad that we went, as it revealed some issues that we want to get sorted out on the car before the upcoming race. The car ran well at the track and didn’t give any signs of overheating despite it being a pretty hot day out there on the track (temps were in the low to mid 90’s). That said, we were only on the track for about 30 minutes at a time.

A couple of weird issues came up. We developed a nasty shimmy of the car at higher speeds (70ish) that was disturbing and, if unresolved, will prevent us from running full-out in Houston. So we need to fix that; it’s likely a problem of not enough rear-toe in, but maybe not enough front toe-in too. We’ll start with the back because it’s more likely the problem on this car. Click below for more reading:

Another new one was that we started blowing the dipstick out of its tube, leading to oil spewage. This could potentially lead to a day-ending engine fire, so we’re going to get that fixed post-haste. We talked with some high-horsepower guys and they thought that the problem might be that the new ram-air intake system that I’ve added to the car might actually be working(!), which results in higher-than-normal pressures in the intake manifold. The result is that the pressure that usually goes through the PCV tube from the valve cover to the intake manifold is not able to make it’s way in there, thus building up in the crankcase instead, until the pressure is enough to blow the dipstick out of its tube. So the solution is to cap the intake manifold cap and either vent the crankcase pressure out of the valve cover to atmosphere (through a filter) or, alternatively, to vent it to a catch can and then to atmosphere.

There is a fair amount to do on the car to finish getting it ready to run in the race, but it’s nothing insurmountable. In the interest of keeping everybody informed, here’s the list of the high-priority stuff:

• Install new double-door bars (required per mid-summer LeMons rule changes)(thanks to Paul for bending these and shipping them to me);
• Re-check alignment, probably increase rear toe-in to arrest high-speed shimmy; also check wheel balance if additional rear toe-in does not correct problem;
• Correct positive crankcase pressure problem;
• Rebuild rear brakes and re-bleed brake system (left rear seems to be sticking, so I ordered a rebuild kit);
• Install rear tow strap and possibly fabricate and install new rear bumper bar (although I really like the clean look of the back of the car when stripped of its bumpers);
• Fix rear view mirror & install side mirrors;
• Correct faulty tachometer reading;
• Correct engine coolant gauge not working or replace;
• Drain and re-fill engine oil & transmission oil;
• Paint car, especially car numbers & “sponsor” stuff.

I expect that installing the new door bars will take the better part of one weekend. Since I’m out of town next weekend for the Nelson Ledges race, that only leaves 2 open weekends to get the rest of this list completed, plus get everything packed up and ready to go for the race. Fortunately, Rachel’s pretty well prepared at this point that I’m going to be in the garage most evenings until the list of to-do’s is complete. I’m sure she will be inside shining her halo while I get grungy with brake fluid.

That’s a pretty fair list, plus there’s some other small things that need to be done that I’m not writing up there but that are on the master to-do list (like clean the windshield of the oil splatter, etc.). So if anyone wants to come over one of the open weekends to help out, please feel free. Give me a call first, though, as we need to work around some 6-year old soccer games.

Race Prep Author: Pat