Tweet
The car was OK after its little cooking session on the track on Friday night, and is running fine. I went looking for coolant in the oil, and listened carefully for any knocks or bangs in the motor, but I can't hear any even when it's cold. So it looks like the car is unhurt from its experience without a water pump.
However, what kept me away both days is that the pulleys were misaligned, and I took it to a garage (with a hoist and impact wrench) to get the pulleys in alignment. The crank pulley was slowly walking out on the crankshaft. Loc-tite is a wonderful thing.
Well, I told the guy to be very careful doing it. He told me that as long as it's pretty close there will be no problem... to which I replied that it was a 550hp car and the rules change at that power level (the motor spins up in a hurry). Obviously he didn't take to heart what I said, and I wasn't right there with him when he put the belt on (I went to the bathroom when the belt arrived on a parts truck and he was stalled waiting for it).
Of course, there's nothing open at 4:00pm on a Saturday when I got the suspension adjusted and the sticky tires on, then went for a quick (and hard) toot to check it all out. Not even Canadian Tire.
I then phoned a couple of people I know, but they couldn't help me out...
Other problem is that the car is a bear to downshift, I think the clutch plates are either sticking or something else is going on... it wants to crunch during downshifts on every third or fourth one... so I'm being pretty careful with it, and that doesn't lend itself to longevity OR safety on a track.
So... both of those problems considered, I decided not to come on the Sunday either. This is all due to problems getting some of the parts for my car, and not having the time to shake these fleas out of the dog. Sometimes it just goes that way.
Thanks to everyone for the help carefully towing the car off the track and walking it looking for my belt. I did eventually have to park it at the Sunoco at Marysville and get a new belt to get it home, but it's the trying that counts.
However, what kept me away both days is that the pulleys were misaligned, and I took it to a garage (with a hoist and impact wrench) to get the pulleys in alignment. The crank pulley was slowly walking out on the crankshaft. Loc-tite is a wonderful thing.
Well, I told the guy to be very careful doing it. He told me that as long as it's pretty close there will be no problem... to which I replied that it was a 550hp car and the rules change at that power level (the motor spins up in a hurry). Obviously he didn't take to heart what I said, and I wasn't right there with him when he put the belt on (I went to the bathroom when the belt arrived on a parts truck and he was stalled waiting for it).
Of course, there's nothing open at 4:00pm on a Saturday when I got the suspension adjusted and the sticky tires on, then went for a quick (and hard) toot to check it all out. Not even Canadian Tire.
I then phoned a couple of people I know, but they couldn't help me out...
Other problem is that the car is a bear to downshift, I think the clutch plates are either sticking or something else is going on... it wants to crunch during downshifts on every third or fourth one... so I'm being pretty careful with it, and that doesn't lend itself to longevity OR safety on a track.
So... both of those problems considered, I decided not to come on the Sunday either. This is all due to problems getting some of the parts for my car, and not having the time to shake these fleas out of the dog. Sometimes it just goes that way.
Thanks to everyone for the help carefully towing the car off the track and walking it looking for my belt. I did eventually have to park it at the Sunoco at Marysville and get a new belt to get it home, but it's the trying that counts.
Comment