We bought our first xr. Autox/street machine in the making.

[catapultkid]

Not much going on. Just a quick little task that I had been putting off. Rewrapping the downpipe. The old wrap split in one place and it unraveled at VIR.

This time I added wire bands to keep it together. I didn't want to wrap a single wire because I was worried about it breaking of something odd and it would do the same thing. So I decided to spend the time with several bands.



Red tips are high temp silicone to prevent me from cut the crap out of myself over and over again.

[catapultkid]

Had a fun two back to back weekends. First was a test and tune, then autocross that Sunday and lastly a small track day the following weekend. Break down below.

Test and tune. Don Haulsee came out and joined us which was a nice surprise. He brought this folvo (volvo head, ford block) euro capri. I really see the benefits of this head and block combo and am toying with starting that project one day. However Don was impressed to see the response of the stock head and .63 A/R turbo on an autocross course. Maybe he can comment here. I did have a little too much fun and the car boiled over at the end of the day, luckily I think everything is ok.



Autocross. Justin (my co driver) kicked our asses again, no surprise there but am happy to see the car performing so well with a good driver. Justin placed 3rd overall in PAX, to me, that is respectable.

NCCAR. A small "dynamic testing facility" located at the boarder of NC and VA. We got invited with the Mercedes club. This small 2.2 track comprised of several very constant radius turns. Not the most exciting of tracks but really put your car into perspective in comparison to the other vehicles of the track. Mindy and I were able to run opposite run groups so two people in one car. This meant the car really didn't sit idle very long and there was only 15 minutes between the end of her session and the beginning of mine. The Merkur had a slew of small things happening, fender flare falling off, power steering leak, and the EGR plug I had in the E6 manifold popped out at 100+mph down the front straight. (Thought I had put a whole in the block with all the noise it made) Therefore my day was cut pretty short.

Hasty repair of the power steering pump, before we found out that it was the high pressure line.





Melted Ebay turbo blanket.



She will live to fight another day, just some small stuff. On another note I have been spending some time on another time attack Prelude and that worked great! I got to drive it on the last stint of the event last weekend. On big 'ol hoosiers it seemed like everyone else was in slow motion. Here are a few shots of some items we had made/fixed.

Carbon fiber gauge panel



Some interior re-work, gauges and hole filling

[DRHaulsee]

I rode along with Paul on one run. It was impressive.

I haven't autocrossed in years. At first I was thinking the last one I did was in the early 80's but then I remembered running my old 87 XR in one around 2001. Virtually everything I've done in the last 10 years has been road race.

I had forgotten how violent autocross is. In road racing there is time between corners and the G's build gradually (sort of) on the turn in. Autocross just whips you back and forth.

Paul's driving style is aggressive. He seems to be a believer in the fast way around is power oversteer....We had a discussion and it seems to work well for him as it keeps the turbo spooled.

I'm trying to talk Mark into bringing Scarlett down for the next VMSC autocross. She's not an autocrosser though I think she might be legal for E-prep... Here's a picture with the old front spoiler.


On the dyno ...195 whp@7800 rpm 2.3 Essy headed normally aspirated.
http://www.amcansolutions.com/amcandocs ... G_0438.MOV

[catapultkid]

Don, please talk him into coming out. Looks like a lot of fun and I'd love to see the car run.

Here is this weekends work below. Nothing major.

Found the culprit to the power steering leak that stopped our track day short. 30 minutes and $50 bucks later it is all set to go.

[hEaT]

Nice updates. From the previous page as well, FTD on street tires? Impressive!

[GPz11]

Say, where did you pick up the sight glass for your coolant tank?

I've got a buddy who's going to make one for me and I also want a sight glass in it.

Thanks!

[catapultkid]

Please let me clarify. FTD out of all of the people on street tires. Not FTD overall.

Couple weekends ago we had an autocross. I'm getting the car to the point where I don't actually have to do anything between events any longer. Best feeling ever BTW.

On the docket this week was flushing the coolant a few times, then using the bleeder to get all the air out.



Then i fixed the panel that fell off at the track day.





Then washed it!?



The following day was the autocross event. My brother Pat drove with Mindy and I. Really looked forward to his feedback on the car because he has a lot of experiences in many other cars over the years. His suggestion of removing the bumper for more airflow was a good one. The car barely got hot at all. Maxing out at around 210*, so between the flushing system and increased flow it ran much better than normal. Typically we start seeing the temperatures in the 220-230 range just after a few short runs.

[DSPXR4ti]

You have a T5 in your XR now right?

Ratio's?

Ben

[catapultkid]

You have a T5 in your XR now right?

Ratio's?

Ben

Ben, how are things?

You are correct, T5. However I don't know ratios as the PO put the transmission together way back. I know the ratios are swapped around some, top of second gear is like ~54mph @ 6800rpm. Then I have the 3:73? rear diff as well.

[DSPXR4ti]

You have a T5 in your XR now right?

Ratio's?

Ben

Ben, how are things?

You are correct, T5. However I don't know ratios as the PO put the transmission together way back. I know the ratios are swapped around some, top of second gear is like ~54mph @ 6800rpm. Then I have the 3:73? rear diff as well.

Things are going great.

I'm not sure if I had mentioned this but my XR over heated at an event one time and I know what I did to make it happen, shifted to 3rd gear and put a high load on the turbo, you know low RPM's with your foot to the floor. That's why I was asking. Because you've had this problem for a long time and I've been waiting to hear if you ever got it fixed. It sounds like you have the 2.95 1st gear t5 especially because you have 15 inch wheels/tires. Anyways your car looks great and they are nice when things are working, right?

Ben

[catapultkid]

You have a T5 in your XR now right?

Ratio's?

Ben

Ben, how are things?

You are correct, T5. However I don't know ratios as the PO put the transmission together way back. I know the ratios are swapped around some, top of second gear is like ~54mph @ 6800rpm. Then I have the 3:73? rear diff as well.

Things are going great.

I'm not sure if I had mentioned this but my XR over heated at an event one time and I know what I did to make it happen, shifted to 3rd gear and put a high load on the turbo, you know low RPM's with your foot to the floor. That's why I was asking. Because you've had this problem for a long time and I've been waiting to hear if you ever got it fixed. It sounds like you have the 2.95 1st gear t5 especially because you have 15 inch wheels/tires. Anyways your car looks great and they are nice when things are working, right?

Ben

They definitely nice cars once they have a few little things worked out. The car's spring rates are matching the amount of grip I have to a tee. I see what your saying about third however I'm not 100% sure that is the reason on my end, it overheats at the track even quicker and too me it is all about energy in energy out. More boost/rpm/load = more fuel consumed = more excess energy and therefore I need more cooling. Of course some of the cooling is offset by air movement but my radiator angle and whatnot doesn't help me. (changing this winter if I find time). Do you have G11 coolant in your car Ben? or straight water?

[DSPXR4ti]

They definitely nice cars once they have a few little things worked out. The car's spring rates are matching the amount of grip I have to a tee. I see what your saying about third however I'm not 100% sure that is the reason on my end, it overheats at the track even quicker and too me it is all about energy in energy out. More boost/rpm/load = more fuel consumed = more excess energy and therefore I need more cooling. Of course some of the cooling is offset by air movement but my radiator angle and whatnot doesn't help me. (changing this winter if I find time). Do you have G11 coolant in your car Ben? or straight water?

Pretty much straight water, 1 bottle of water wetter and about 1 pint of coolant so thing don't rust, it seems to be working.

Did you go to the T04E yet? or something bigger? I remember in DSP trim with the stock T3 at 20 lbs of boost and boost spike of 23 lbs made my XR over heat all the time.

Ben

[Esteban]

What spring rates are you running kid?

[catapultkid]

Ben, I'm running like 18psi with the stock turbo and a .63 hot side. That is some of the heat right there for sure.

Esteban, wish I knew exactly as I picked the fronts out of a bag of springs a friend had, the rear came for Ben and I think they are 550ish. So something like 450# front 550# rear. Whatever it is it does very well with the 225/45/16 starspecs at 40psi and 3.75* of camber and a whole lotta caster, very well.

[catapultkid]

Another autocross. Car did well, could say the same for me.