Yeah, long writeup didn't happen.
Got some stuff sorted though.
Had heat related issues at the first event, the car would overheat when sitting at idle (had no fans running). Surprised the hell out of me, as I had let it idle for long periods of time without this happening before. Turned out that the skidplate really keeps air from flowing. I *had* one fan installed, just not wired. I ran a couple of wires to the stock plug real quick during service and no more issues. Since then I've installed a second fan and put together a nice, clean wiring harness for them.
I also ran the first half of the event with no alternator, after having lost it sometime during the recce beforehand. The car has a hybrid alternator harness (Maxima alternator) and the connector I'd put in where I spliced the regulator connections had burnt from the heat of the header (which was heat wrapped, no less) and failed. Did some hack patches and got back charging for the second half of the event. Thank you Optima yellow-top! Without a deep cycle battery I'd have been dead in the water.
I also took the car to a rallycross. That was painful. The car is set up to be stable on high speed gravel and neutral handling. rallycross really like super-twitchy, and I just couldn't make the car rotate. But I did learn that under hard braking, if the hydro handbrake was in the wrong position, that the rear brakes owuld lock up and not let go. Good to find out at a rallycross, verses a stage rally. I know what I need to do to fix it, will probably do it tomorrow, but if I don't, it's not a huge loss. I used the handbrake as a staging brake only at the real rally. Most of the time turns just aren't slow enough to call for it.
Oh, I also found out that I made my skidplate too wide, and it would hit the tires about 1/4 turn before full-lock. Oops. Didn't matter on stage, but was a real hassle in service. narrowed the rear part of the plate and that's a wrap.
Bent up a light bar. 1.5" tube with 4 90deg bends. Goes into a couple of receiver tubes made from 1.75" 13ga DOM tube, which are welded to the bottom of the radiator core support, and then has two 1.5x0.124 flat bars that run from the top and are bolted to the brackets that come out of the top of the radiator core support, and get sandwiched between the hood and the grill when it's all buttoned up. I'm a big guy and I can stand on the bar and it doesn't deflect at all. Has 2x Hella Rallye 4000 pencil beans in 55W HID, 2x Hella FF1000 driving beams in 55W HID, 2x Hella Micro FF fogs in 55W halogen and 2x Hella Micro FF driving lights in 55W halogen. That's in addition to the Morimoto 35W low/high projectors in the Tsuru housings.
Also got a Cool-Shirt and made a home-built cooler/pump system. Works amazing.
Got a full set of new, high quality rally tires (Lassa) mounted up on some NX2000 rims today. They'll be my main tires for OFR, with a set of old, but very good shape Kumho R700 rally tires as my second set, and a very rounded off Hankook R202 in the spare tire well.
Would take pics, but it's dark and raining now.
My co-driver for Ojibwe will be Colin Vickman, who is a very experienced navigator, who usually competes with Jim Scray in a Datsun 510 with a KA24. One of my vary favorite cars to see at any rally. Colin also knows B13s as well, having owned at least one.
Put a new, non cracked bumper on too.
Need to find a solution for wheel well liners. There is too much travel in the new suspension, and stock liners get ripped out by the tires under even gentle driving. This becomes even more significant as I ordered up a CAI to hopefully get some air from outside the searing hot engine bay (that skidplate thing again), and the filter will have to be well protected.
Got some stuff sorted though.
Had heat related issues at the first event, the car would overheat when sitting at idle (had no fans running). Surprised the hell out of me, as I had let it idle for long periods of time without this happening before. Turned out that the skidplate really keeps air from flowing. I *had* one fan installed, just not wired. I ran a couple of wires to the stock plug real quick during service and no more issues. Since then I've installed a second fan and put together a nice, clean wiring harness for them.
I also ran the first half of the event with no alternator, after having lost it sometime during the recce beforehand. The car has a hybrid alternator harness (Maxima alternator) and the connector I'd put in where I spliced the regulator connections had burnt from the heat of the header (which was heat wrapped, no less) and failed. Did some hack patches and got back charging for the second half of the event. Thank you Optima yellow-top! Without a deep cycle battery I'd have been dead in the water.
I also took the car to a rallycross. That was painful. The car is set up to be stable on high speed gravel and neutral handling. rallycross really like super-twitchy, and I just couldn't make the car rotate. But I did learn that under hard braking, if the hydro handbrake was in the wrong position, that the rear brakes owuld lock up and not let go. Good to find out at a rallycross, verses a stage rally. I know what I need to do to fix it, will probably do it tomorrow, but if I don't, it's not a huge loss. I used the handbrake as a staging brake only at the real rally. Most of the time turns just aren't slow enough to call for it.
Oh, I also found out that I made my skidplate too wide, and it would hit the tires about 1/4 turn before full-lock. Oops. Didn't matter on stage, but was a real hassle in service. narrowed the rear part of the plate and that's a wrap.
Bent up a light bar. 1.5" tube with 4 90deg bends. Goes into a couple of receiver tubes made from 1.75" 13ga DOM tube, which are welded to the bottom of the radiator core support, and then has two 1.5x0.124 flat bars that run from the top and are bolted to the brackets that come out of the top of the radiator core support, and get sandwiched between the hood and the grill when it's all buttoned up. I'm a big guy and I can stand on the bar and it doesn't deflect at all. Has 2x Hella Rallye 4000 pencil beans in 55W HID, 2x Hella FF1000 driving beams in 55W HID, 2x Hella Micro FF fogs in 55W halogen and 2x Hella Micro FF driving lights in 55W halogen. That's in addition to the Morimoto 35W low/high projectors in the Tsuru housings.
Also got a Cool-Shirt and made a home-built cooler/pump system. Works amazing.
Got a full set of new, high quality rally tires (Lassa) mounted up on some NX2000 rims today. They'll be my main tires for OFR, with a set of old, but very good shape Kumho R700 rally tires as my second set, and a very rounded off Hankook R202 in the spare tire well.
Would take pics, but it's dark and raining now.
My co-driver for Ojibwe will be Colin Vickman, who is a very experienced navigator, who usually competes with Jim Scray in a Datsun 510 with a KA24. One of my vary favorite cars to see at any rally. Colin also knows B13s as well, having owned at least one.
Put a new, non cracked bumper on too.
Need to find a solution for wheel well liners. There is too much travel in the new suspension, and stock liners get ripped out by the tires under even gentle driving. This becomes even more significant as I ordered up a CAI to hopefully get some air from outside the searing hot engine bay (that skidplate thing again), and the filter will have to be well protected.
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Originally Posted by ciclon1 
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