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Prepared Car Support Group II

21K views 175 replies 15 participants last post by  David Hawkins 
#1 · (Edited)
The "sticky" thread appears to be closed? OK, so I guess I am continuing here.

The last weekend before the Dixie Tour was supposed to be an easy one. Install the battery and run the last of the wiring, mount seat and steering wheel, do final checkout and check the alignment. A leisurely weekend's work.

Well, that was the plan. Then things starting going wrong. Once the new battery was installed and wires connected, weird things started happening. Like the fuel pump running with the master switch off. The ECU powering up with the master switch off. Huh? How could this be?

Thus saturday afternoon I began the trouble shooting. None of the electrics made any sense. I worked for a couple of hours with the ohm meter and finally gave up and started ripping the wiring harness apart. Since most of the harness had been out for the interior repaint, I assumed I must have pinched it somewhere thus shorting between circuits.

With the harness completely disassembled and finding no faults, I looked elsewhere and eventually found a bad relay. The fuel pump relay was internally shorted. WTF??? Never seen a relay fail like that before.

So Sunday morning I bought a new relay and started putting the harness back together. Finally, with everything back as it should be, I found the "little" battery won't hold a charge? WTF??? So now I have to scramble and get a new battery ordered and shipped in by Wednesday so I can leave early Thursday for Cecil.

The (not quite) finished passenger side. Note additional ballast brick and the offending battery fitted but various ground wires unattached.



The redone cockpit.



Revised dash, if you want to call it that. The tach sure looks lonely.



-Steve
 
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#2 ·
I did my first event with the new differential and rebuilt transmission. Huge improvement in the drivabilitiy of the car. I can launch, I can exit corners, I no longer have massive amounts of wheel spin everywhere. New syncros made a huge difference too. Now I know why I broke a shift fork last year.
 
#3 ·
A mod will be along to stickify this one too.

I'm in the middle of a shop move. Pending life changes (g/f I are buying a house) I've relocated my base of operations to a 5000sq' warehouse shared with several other autocrossers (notably Jeff Stroh from CP, Kent Kroll from FS/ESP).

Suffice to say there are big changes coming before Nationals... I think. :thumbup
 
#4 ·
The new battery arrived this afternoon. But Terrie's (my wife's) flight back in from Europe was well over an hour late. So We didn't get home from the airport until after 10pm. So its about mid-night and the battery is in and the car runs.



The wires will get tidied up later but I can now make the Dixie National Tour. :)

Completed interior.



-Steve
 
#12 ·
XHead said:
Dave,

Where did you get the lower front valance? The piece under the bumper. That looks pretty good and I need to replace mine badly.

-Steve
It is a ToySport Front Valence - or a knockoff (search LOS ALMIGHTY or LOS LIP in MKI forum).

I have spare 87+ valence parts - both metal lower valences, unpainted and polyurethane lip in excellent shape to convert your car to an 87+ front end, if you want to freshen up the front of your car?
 
#15 · (Edited)
Not as bad as it could be, but I never thought my car would experience FOD:

http://www.pbase.com/mtb_zack/image/133680744

Otherwise, feel free to click through pictures and see what else has been going on.


Since my car is down, I played around with the 2010 SCCA Solo Nationals 2nd place XP car at our latest local event:

http://www.youtube.com/user/mtbmr2?feature=mhum#p/u/2/4FtcZ40961U

In spite of a old crappy Hoosiers, a gravelly surface, 3 giant jumps, and running in the last heat (i.e. no more line choices) I managed a 15th in PAX.
 
#16 ·
holy seat movement, batman!

I am really enjoying the new differential. I can't seem to get a run on drive tarmac yet, but the traction I had in the short time it wasn't raining last saturday was nothing short of amazing.
 
#17 ·
zipty842 said:
holy seat movement, batman!

I am really enjoying the new differential. I can't seem to get a run on drive tarmac yet, but the traction I had in the short time it wasn't raining last saturday was nothing short of amazing.

Yeah, 3 big dudes in OEM-ish seats on a bumpy/banked/jump-filled parking lot will do that, here is from the roof of the car:
http://www.youtube.com/user/spl642

Where'd you source your diff from?
 
#20 ·
I've been busy the past couple of weeks. First, I built a spoiler. Then I proceded to completely rewire the car. I moved the ECU and voltage regulator to the cabin from the trunk, and eliminated the rest of the stock wiring. The dash was removed, and the support bar was replaced with a unit in much nicer condition. I also installed some new gauges I had and relocated my ignition panel.






This has been cleaned up further

All this work, to have issues with revving over 6k, which I discovered on Tuesday. Figured out Thursday night that the foam in my fuel cell was already starting to disintegrate, and had plugged both the pump and the filter. Friday morning I set out to find a pump, failed to do so, but my dad could get one delivered on Saturday morning. I set out to the races not knowing if I would be able to drive my car, but had my hopes up. I ended the weekend not only with a running car, but a total domination with FTDs both days!



 
#21 ·
I'm selling out my 13x7, 4" BS wheels, w/tires if anyone wants them - though I think the 3-4 of us are pretty well set up in that regard.

XHEAD's ex-Keizers w/24 run Hoosier 13x9.5 - R25B cantilever slicks
1 new center, 1 new barrel, includes lots of spare hardware, all of it is 1/2" hexhead Grade 8 + corrosion resistant coating.

Plus some Diamonds w/ 1/3-1/2 tread Hoosier Rains.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Moar work the car. I am still waiting for the "cheap" set of valves so I can take the "now" head to the maching shop with the "future/full-build" head to get them worked on at the same time. Also I've given up on AST, and worked something out with someone else about custom suspension dampers:

http://www.pbase.com/mtb_zack/dpmr2

[EDIT:] Ok, more time now to post. I'm waiting on new bronze valve guides, 1mm oversize valves so I can take the head to a friend's machine shop. while I'm waiting for the man-in-brown to show up...

I've -
1) mocked up, measureed and now dropped the front lip off for some FG work
2) replaced the waterpump, T-stat, pulley's and lots of gaskets,
3) installed the Hinson bumpsteer pins,
4) did all the test fitting for the new wheels,
5) lowered the spring perches/re-did my struts,
6) covered all turn signal holes and sidemarker holes, etc,
7) vented the hood,
8) mocked up the new radiator position/mount,
9) gutted and vented the taillights
10) shortened the rear bumper by 3"
11) removed rear bumper brackets, the skin is only held on by Dzus fasteners.
12) test fit rubber t-handles for door handles/latches.
13) did some side-by-side-by-side-by-side weighing of MR2 suspension options
14) continued practicing with WinGeo using a CP car (yikes, 4.7" of scrub, front roll centers more than 4" above ground)
15) spent a gajillion hours in the new shop.
 
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