So.... a fairly major development:

a friend of mine realized he had enough parts to build a second clone of his STX BMW E36... so I'll be driving that next year the local STX class is currently huge (it averages about 20 entries) and has some very fast drivers in it... as opposed to SSM which is lucky to have 3 or 4 people... I'm looking forward to it

I'll still autocross the FC sometimes and probably take it out to more track events (because I'll be less worried about breaking it and not being able to make it to autocross)


in other less major news. I finally killed the wideband controller I had in the rx7 (innovate motorsports LC-1). Not terribly surprising, they're not very reliable, I'm surprised it lasted this long.

I ordered a tech edge 2C0B with a Bosch LSU 4.9 sensor... it should be much more accurate and reliable.

 

Hmmm that worries me since I have the LC-1 as well... what happened to it?

 

I forgot to plug it in when I installed my engine... I started the engine, then realized I didn't plug it in... plugged it in with the car running (and the controller on).

starting the car without the sensor heated probably killed the sensor, but me plugging in the sensor with the controller on probably killed the controller.

LC-1s are fine. but they're not terribly fault tolerant. Mine lasted like 5 years or something... so they can last a decent amount of time.

 

I also think I found my oil leak today... it appears when I replaced my oil cooler thermostat I created a leak where the bolt is.... (thanks new mazda crush washer...)

I installed my old bolt with a copper crush washer but didn't get a chance to make sure that fixed it.

I also got out my stripped differential fill plug bolt... thanks 24mm bolt out

 

My LC-1 is very temperturemental (yeah, I made that up). I had to install a heat sink on it to keep it from overheating and it was a good 16" down the downpipe and still would occassionally overheat. Ended up just buying a new sensor, but it only had maybe 7k miles on it. Long story short, I wish I would have went with another brand.

 

I had the innovate heat sink on mine in the stock location and it seemed to work fine. Heat isn't what killed it. (though I was on my 3rd sensor I think due to heat and running rich)

most of the widebands use the same sensors (Bosch LSU 4.0s or 4.2s... but the controller does have something to do with how well it manages heat.

Here is an article about the new style Bosch LSU 4.9s:
Bosch LSU 4.9 is superior to LSU 4.2 sensors.html

and here is the controller I got (yes, it's expensive)
Wideband 2C0B (updated) Technical Information (Tech Edge)

here is a cheaper one with a lot of the same features that also has a version that supports the LSU 4.9:
Wideband WBo2 2J2/9/P Technical Information (Tech Edge)

 

Get your comp license and come play in NASA TT & ST....enough with the parking lots already.

 

In what world is an optima battery $290? I get yellow tops for 180 and red tops for 160...

 

lol, mine is the same. at this point unit is dead/dying, i think sensor is no good too, the last car i used it on was apparently running 18:1 AFR @wot...

 

haha, not with this car... I might start doing some SCCA club trials and hill climbs (apparently you can run SCCA hill climbs with just a roll bar if you're in a "street" autocross class.)

When my daughter is a bit older (and in school, so I don't have to pay for daycare $$$$$) and I make a bit more money (hopefully haha) I might buy an ITS car or something and a tow rig... but first I need to fix my driveway so I can actually get a trailer up it

before I seriously track this car I need to get the boost creep figured out... which probably means an aftermarket turbo/manifold/and external wastegates.... or I could bandaid it with a pop-off valve haha, but I don't even know where you can buy pop-off valves anymore...

 

I'll let you know how this external wastegate works. It should work the same for boost creep as it does for the boost dropping off. The S5 is a little harder to work with since its twin scroll, but its doable.

 

Thats a bummer. SM and SSM is the most popular class around these parts even though our parking lots are fairly small. Maybe everybody just has the big power bug here.

 

I can't believe that the end to this saga is that the car is being mothballed for a BMW. I guess some people would rather drive a car than work on it endlessly. Who knew?

 

Haha, that's a BMW with Motons I just couldn't pass up the offer. That and my wallet needs a year to recover haha.

Hopefully this also gives me a chance to develop some aero for the car...



So last night I replaced the gear oil in the diff (it has an OS Giken clutch-type in it). I had Amsoil 75w140 in there with no friction modifier and the diff didn't like it... it was really abrupt and was shocking the tires loose. So I didn't really want to spend a thousand autocrosses getting the friction modifier ratio right so I just bought some OS Giken gear oil (80w250 w/ lots of friction modifier). Probably the most expensive liquid I know of other than printer ink... but we'll see how well it works.


I also re-checked my front bump steer with the stock ball joints and all the spacers taken out of my rod-end front tie rods.

it's not as nice as it was, but it's not bad, I'm sure I could get it better with some fiddling. at 2" compression and droop it's about -0.02" toed out less than 1/32" so it's good enough for me.. for now at least.

 

My advice? Spec Miata...

Ive done only a hand full of SCCA events. The way they are run makes me want to punch a baby...but you can race spec miata in either NASA or SCCA which is appealing.

 

Good advice, but it looks like the last thing eage8 needs is another car.

 

Yeah, I've heard pretty much the same thing about SCCA roadracing stuff. I've done 1 or 2 PDXs and it seemed fine, but that's much different than wheel to wheel racing.


I was researching boost creep stuff yesterday and came across this gem from my Rock Lobster himself:

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...s-spec-436262/

I want one of those spacers.... lol.

I'll have to talk to my friend who has a CNC machine about making one out of steel or something...


I also tested my oil cooler leak fix last night... and it wasn't fixed. It turns out I actually cracked the bung the thermostat bolt screws into when I replaced the oil thermostat.... luckily I had that 2nd oil cooler lying around I was planning on using so I threw that on and it seems to finally be fixed.

 

Been there done that.

 

So it appears the BMW ride fell through... no fun. Oh well.


Video from last weekend's autocross... I didn't drive great... in this run I messed up the end of the slalom going up the hill and the turn after that pretty horribly...


I was running with the boost controller off to try to keep the heat down. I didn't help that much, the car still got really hot... need to improve the radiator fan...



Some things for the off season. I ordered a set of GT Factory camber reducers (not really adjusters). We'll see how much camber they take out... I'm tired of dealing with adjustables. If the sides are within a few tenths and between -1.5ish and -2.0 I'm just going to keep them. If not I'll get something similair CNCed in a different length and move the bearings over.


I also got my new techedge wideband, it seems much nicer than the innovate...

got a flex-a-lite 118 to replace the 116. 300-500 more CFM depending on where you look (118 does 2500 CFM). I'm also going to try to add a shroud to it. We'll see how well that goes.

 

Have you given any thought to cutting the stock camber links in half and welding them together with some material removed?

 

yeah... I actually brought a stock one to the test and tune and talked to Larry about doing it and he didn't want to do it because they were cast...

that is essentially what these are... and they were cheap ($100) so I thought I'd give them a try...

 

I talked to dan -.5 degree is what you should expect to have reduced with those.

 

I forget what my car is with stock links so that doesn't really help me

 

Is that after the new thermostat? What are you seing as far as oil temps?

 

No, new thermostat hasn't arrived yet.

oil temps seem to hover around 220*F after an autocross run. If I drive around they drop faster than my coolant temps. but there is no fan on the oil cooler so they don't go anywhere if I'm sitting in a parking lot...

My current problem I think it with the fan itself. It just doesn't cool the radiator fast enough. my old fiero GT fan didn't have a problem. I'm going to attempt to add a shroud when I install the new fan... I had my friend measure my old fiero GT fan shroud (that I sold to him... damn) and the shroud has a 16" opening so hopefully I can just cut the fan out and put it around my current fan.... not sure how well that'll work though.