 |
|
Robert - great report. We (Mike and I) have only been racing regularly for 3 years but have learned that the trailer prep is as important as race car prep. We have had blown tires (2), bent an axle on a gas pump guard, and side-swiped an 18 wheeler at 70 mph. Check the trailer throughly before you leave town (grease bearings, check lugs and tire pressures) and have at least one spare tire and bottle jack with you.
Looking forward to Nationals - see you there.
Ed
Had a great weekend, except for the usual being back of the pack. Dynoed the car & it showed 149 hp & about 150 torque if I recall. Not bad enough to excuse my lap times I suppose.
Concluded it’s time for some in-car feedback if I am to improve. I was the only one without. I ordered a Display-It to see transponder times & think I will save up for probably Traqmate.
Great seeing you guys. Thanks for advice.
[edit]
World’s oldest rookie,
Tom
[quote]tomzzy wrote:
think I will save up for probably DL1 from FastTech.
[/quote]
Fixed that for you. 
Next time we are at the track, I can show you why.
Steps 2,3,4,5,6,7…
Clutches are in and the diff is back in the car.
Fusable link replaced.
BTW these are these a BMW engineer’s sick joke (illustration from Factory3 write-up; thanks for the parts Chuck!):
Not only are they allen head, but they are half height. My 3/8 drive impact wouldn’t budge them but it had enough to juice to slightly damage the cap head. Doh!.
What ended up working best was a long handled allen key (short handle didn’t have enough leverage), turning against a wrench on one of the large ring gear bolts because even with 2 people you can’t hold the diff still. For the ones that got a rounded a small vise grip (think equivalent of a 1/4 drive rachet) worked just fine and didn’t really mark them hardly at all.
An allen head tip I picked up from Just BMW in Cincy (after rounding a couple!!) is to put a little valve lapping compound in the the socket head to keep it from slipping and to give it a little more bite when your trying to turn it.
One other diff rebuilding tip is that I would not ever do this solo. There are just to many times when an extra set of hands are needed.
For reference the freshly installed diff (with no friction material break in) was 70 ft-lb break away.
I am sure Simon is OK with that. He called it bump drafting when he did it to me.
Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region
ilateapex wrote:
[quote]I am sure Simon is OK with that. He called it bump drafting when he did it to me.
Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region[/quote]
:whistle:
SpeedSmith wrote:
Guys:
Eventually, we’ll have a diff breakaway spec for the class.
It will be established after a great deal of testing, and many drivers have asked for it, due to the fact that there is a significant advantage to having more lockup. And personally, I do think that most racers want to be legal and shouldn’t ever have a problem when the spec is put in the Rules.
Below are some numbers we have seen in testing actual Spec E30 cars at the track.
[i]Diff with 200,000 miles – breaks loose at 45 lb. Ft.
Fresh and legal 25% lockup diff – breaks loose at 55 lb. Ft.
Two year old diff – breaks at 40 lb ft.[/i]
At Summit Point last weekend, we saw diffs that broke at 47, 45, and 55 and it looks like the testing from the Southeast saw fresh diffs in the high 50’s to low 60’s range.
If yours is breaking at 70, check it again and let us know what it reads after a weekend or two.
Thanks,
Carter
Oh, I fully expect it to go down. That’s why it was listed as with “no break in”. I’m sure there will also be some differences with the fluid stone cold and after a track session. We plan to keep track it just like tire wear so we know what to expect in the future for life and frequency of rebuilds. All that was replaced was the friction plates so I’m sure it’s all legal and would be in line with any legal diff so no worries there. How often are people changing the diff fuild?
Carter, speaking of rules, where’s that stock unmodified airbox rule ?!?
The diff break away will depend a lot on the fluid, if running friction modifier, how old the fluid, type, weight, etc. I installed new friction discs in mine and got in the mid 60’s with cold fresh fluid. It goes down when the fluid heats up. Make sure the break away number take into acount those factors. Depending on what fluid and such will effect the life of the friction discs.
Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region
jlucas wrote:
[quote]Oh, I fully expect it to go down. That’s why it was listed as with “no break in”. I’m sure there will also be some differences with the fluid stone cold and after a track session. We plan to keep track it just like tire wear so we know what to expect in the future for life and frequency of rebuilds. All that was replaced was the friction plates so I’m sure it’s all legal and would be in line with any legal diff so no worries there. How often are people changing the diff fuild?
Carter, speaking of rules, where’s that stock unmodified airbox rule ?!?[/quote]
As of right now, the stock unmodified airbox rule will probably be in the Rules January 1, 2009. However, I’m going to get some more feedback from the Regional Series Directors before making the formal announcement.
Carter
ilateapex wrote:
[quote]The diff break away will depend a lot on the fluid, if running friction modifier, how old the fluid, type, weight, etc. I installed new friction discs in mine and got in the mid 60’s with cold fresh fluid. It goes down when the fluid heats up. Make sure the break away number take into acount those factors. Depending on what fluid and such will effect the life of the friction discs.
Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region[/quote]
The breakaway rule will definitely take all these factors into consideration. Thanks for the tips.
Before the number is set, we will continue to test many cars, cold, hot, and in the middle.
Carter
Carter wrote:
[quote]ilateapex wrote:
[quote]The diff break away will depend a lot on the fluid, if running friction modifier, how old the fluid, type, weight, etc. I installed new friction discs in mine and got in the mid 60’s with cold fresh fluid. It goes down when the fluid heats up. Make sure the break away number take into acount those factors. Depending on what fluid and such will effect the life of the friction discs.
Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region[/quote]
The breakaway rule will definitely take all these factors into consideration. Thanks for the tips.
Before the number is set, we will continue to test many cars, cold, hot, and in the middle.
Carter[/quote]
As Jeremy mentioned, we’ll log our diff break-in numbers at Nationals. It love to see the difference between some of the “built” diffs and just replacing the friction plates. If there is one.
Simon / Jeremy / Kyle,
I just watched the race vidoes from you last race. WOW did that look like fun. Nice Job.
Don
Thanks Don!
Jeremy and Simon have had some very tight races this season for sure. They’ve been a blast to watch. I personally have a bit more to learn about race craft, particularly the starts. But the SE30 class has proved to be quite fun and I’m certainly learning a lot. I’m looking forward to watching the action at Nationals. I’m also looking forward to racing at Putnam Park in October. Hopefully we’ll have a decent car count. But it’s too early to tell.
-Kyle
Elephant4 wrote:
[quote]SpeedSmith wrote:
I doubt there will be many cars, but I’ll be there :).[/quote]
I was hoping you’d be there! Sadly we may not. Too much body damage from National’s (looked like a Spec Miata race from where I was sitting). We also lost 4th gear. That took Jeremy out of the race. So we’ll see what we can get done before October. Wish us luck!
SpeedSmith wrote:
[quote]
I was hoping you’d be there! Sadly we may not. Too much body damage from National’s (looked like a Spec Miata race from where I was sitting). We also lost 4th gear. That took Jeremy out of the race. So we’ll see what we can get done before October. Wish us luck![/quote]
Yeah you guys had a rough one. I’m on the fence also. I’m going to try and get the red car to a legal state and finished. If I do that I will probably shake it down in October. Good luck.
