SpecE30

After having studied the Traqmate data from RA and CMP I decided that New #6 was 10-15hp low. Surprisingly, the butt dyno thought it was nicely strong. I was so used to engine management problems sucking the life out of the engine that I'd been pleased at how strong the car felt at CMP and RA. It was only after studying the data that I realized that altho it was strong compared to 2011, it was a dog compared to earlier years.

It was surprisingly difficult to get believable hp data from Traqmate. Each time I thought that I'd set up a rigorous comparison, I'd come up with a variable that I'd not accounted for and therefore couldn't trust the result.

Dataloggers want to present data by location, but hp comparison requires that the cars are at the same speed and degree of elevation change. There was no controlling for wind, but I think I controlled for drafting reasonably enough. If you control for a car's location they are inevitably at different speeds so the hp comparison doesn't work. If you control for a car's speed they are inevitably at a different location so you need a long flat stretch so that neither car is changing elevation. Preferably a long flat stretch after a slow turn because slow turn exit speeds vary less than fast turn exit speeds, especially when you have different drivers in the comparison. Also, by far the best place to get a good hp curve is 4th gear, especially high rpm 4th gear.

I spent easily 4hrs setting up different comparisons. Altho none of them were perfect, they all did show the same thing....10-15hp low. The info was conclusive enough that I decided to blow off the expense and hassle of getting some dyno time to confirm it.

Note that the engine that came with New #6 had compression tests that varied between 136-140hp. That's darn little variance between cylinders.

I'm not racing in July so potentially I could do this after RA and take all the time I wanted for little projects a long the way. Or I could hustle and do it now.

I'm kinda a "now" guy.

I ordered a Goetz HG last night because all I have on hand is a V-R. I suspect it won’t arrive in time tho so I might be installing the V-R HG. I want the head on the engine before it and the tranny go in because that gives me an easy front anchor point for the lift. Maybe I’ll do a temp install of a head just to give me an anchor point. We’ll see.

I’m pulling engine and tranny out as a unit since it’s too hard to get the two to mate up in place w/o a helper. That means I need serious anchor points for the lift.

Last night I did everything short of pulling the motor. I'm trying to do it with the car on the scissor lift. Altho the lift makes it difficult to get under the center 2/3rds of the car, by putting the car well forward on the lift I might have enough room to get the engine and tranny out. The limiting fact might be getting the drive shaft to droop enough that I can separate it from the tranny.

Like every task the list seems longer in execution than it did in planning. Last night I
Drained coolant, oil and pulled the radiator
Disconnected all the electricals
Dropped the downtube off of the exhaust manifolds
Removed the clutch slave and separated shift linkage
Removed throttle body
Removed motor and tranny mounts
Dropped the center bearing
Unfastened the bolts to the guibo.

While cleaning up afterwards I noticed that I’d banged up a knee a bit. The bed is white. Entirely white. Every bit of linen and banky it’s ever seen is white. It’d be my ass if I bled all over it. So I wrapped some papertowels around my knee and then wrapped it in masking tape. Which is where much of my leg hair remains.

Good thinking on the paper towel/tape wrap!

Ranger wrote:

You should go to VIR in July. I'm hoping we can round up a decent SE posse and go see how the other region rolls.

I can't do Charlotte due to work so VIR is my July fix.

ctbimmer wrote:


I was all hot to do VIR in July, pun intended of course, but I decided to continue paying off credit card debts. I racked up a crazy amount of debt in the early days tracking first the Porsche and then the SpecE30 60days/yr.

Here's my Goetz HG coming to me from a Pelican Parts warehouse outside of Los Angeles. I ordered it on the afternoon of the 7th.
Jun 8, 2012 7:19 AM....On FedEx vehicle for delivery...SAVANNAH, GA
Jun 8, 2012 7:15 AM.... At local FedEx facility.... SAVANNAH, GA
Jun 8, 2012 6:45 AM.... At destination sort facility.... SAVANNAH, GA
Jun 8, 2012 4:28 AM .... Departed FedEx location.... MEMPHIS, TN
Jun 8, 2012 1:13 AM.... Arrived at FedEx location .... MEMPHIS, TN
Jun 7, 2012 5:30 PM.... Left FedEx origin facility.... GARDENA, CA
Jun 7, 2012 3:58 PM.... Picked up.... GARDENA, CA
Jun 7, 2012 4:17 PM.... Shipment information sent to FedEx

This is way cool. I don't ship stuff overnight very often. Check this out. It took FedEx 90min from pickup at customer site to the box to leaving their Gardena collection point. That included getting properly sorted and routed along with a bezillion other odd shaped parcels. ~5hrs later, controlling for time zones, it was in Memphis their central hub along with umpteen bezillion other parcels. 34min after that parcel hit the ground in Savannah it was on a truck headed for my house, where the dog waits to sign for it.

There are very few things that private enterprise can't figure out how to do vastly more efficiently than government. Unleash the imagination and determination of the entrepreneur.

I didn't get much done last night. I hadn't hit the rack before 01 in days and I thought I'd play a little catch up.

ctbimmer wrote:


VIR in July still sounds like a really good idea. Chuck, anybody else from SE going? {Scott, sorry about hijacking the thread)

Kelly was going to join me until he decided to prove his Evel Knievel cred last week, but I think it would be fun if we got up some guys. I was going to wait until after RA next week to start pitching it on SE30.com.

The last couple years a few of their guys have come to the Toy Race, at least partially since it extends their season, so would be nice to return the favor.

Engine's out. I'm kinda being a slug so it's slow going. I managed to screw up and separate the drive shaft, but a quick check at e30tech indicates that it's not the crisis I feared.


2 Goetz HG's showed up at my door today.

Look what I found in New#6. See how much material has been removed from the face of the flywheel on the right? Recall that in a prior life it was a GTS2 car so a lightened flywheel was kosher. Not so much for my last race at CMP tho.

That will skew your data logger numbers!!

While the head is off, go to NAPA and get some 400 grit valve grinding compound and a suction cup tool. Disassemble the head and hand lap the valves to the seats. You should see a narrow solid silver ring around the seat and the valve. Reassemble, and you have a freshened head!! Chuck

Fred42 wrote:


I will be there.

Now back on topic folks, I like seeing engine rebuild threads from Ranger.