Old man's gonna go racing

[Dodging]

Not a bad day's progress, despite not having a full day to work on it - only started with the sub assembly around lunchtime

First got the block on my engine stand


Pistons in, new steel headgasket


Head on, torqued with new headbolts


Cambelt on, timing set, cambelt tension set just so


More bits added on, and outside for another wash


Gave the engine bay a quick clean as well. This is the cleanest that gearbox has been since I owned the car haha. Amazing what happens when you use the right chemicals


Pickup in, just before I put the sump back


Just had the sump tightened, and then Eskom put an end to the progress...

Tomorrow I'll continue

[Dodging]

Status update

[Dodging]

Had to call it quits - heading to the pre-Phakisa braai/meeting.

Have about an hour's work left to do, then I can start her up.

Feeling excited [ROLLER COASTER]

[scorpiotn1]

some nice work done there. bet you cant wait to fire it up again.

[johnny]

Can't believe how quick you got it done, to get that kind of work done round here you'd be waiting a fortnight for the machine shop to pull there finger out and do it

[Dodging]

Thanks, Guys

Can't wait to start it. Going away for wirk for the weekend, so I can only carry on working on it by Monday... Sucks

[Dodging]

Success!

Started it up yesterday, and drove it for a bit. Drove it to the Gautrain station this morning on the sly. I can feel the motor starting to loosen up nicely, as it was heluva tight and stiff initially. Feels nice and torquey so far in the lower rpm range, and picks up revs quite keenly. Sounds a bit tappety at this stage, but that should be sorted once I change the oil.

Tomorrow it gets tuned!

[Dodging]

Dyno is done - all went well.

For the first time I have confidence in the engine. Power curve has flattened out beautifully, and makes power all the way to 7000rpm. Apart from one really noisy injector, the motor sounds fantastic. Power delivery is really smooth and constant.

So now all I still want to do on the car is to box the radiator, and see what I can do to get as much cold air to the intake as possible.

Time to start packing the Hilux tonight - Friday morning we leave before the sparrows fart

[Dodging]

Wow... What a day on Tuesday (was a public holiday)...

I'm just going to give some details of the day because it is all kind of a blur - will have to check the video footage to get a recap haha

Qualifying - we were the first group out for the day, so the track was a tad slippery... Ran 5th fastest out of the 8 entrants in my class, and after all the grid shuffles happened I got 6th spot on the grid

Race 1 - As we line up on the grid, somebody got his position pointed out all wrong by a marshal and caused chaos on the line-up. Everybody's moving around, next moment the car in front of me has the reverse lights coming on and I am completely confused by all that's happening. The moment the reverse lights go off the race has started and everybody's past me - I'm left for dead... End if story I'm stone last as we exit turn 2. I'm rather rattled after all this being my first ever race start, but I set about chasing them down. Eventually caught up after a couple of laps and make a pass in turn 5. Do this a couple more times, and chequered flag drops with me finishing 5th in class. Over the moon...

Race 2 - thanks to the grid reversal of the top 5 of the previous race, I get pole for our class - awesome (so now what?). Flag drops and I get a so-so start. We head around turn 1 and I just see smoke, dust, hair and kittens in the air as a couple of cars got it all wrong going into 2. I back right off as I'm not keen to get involved ib a demolition derby, and promptly get demoted to 3rd. A lap or so later I'm in 5th and things seem to settle down. The guy running 4th has his alternator call it quits so I reel him in and eventually get on his inside in turn 2. Reckon 'I've got you' as I get on the power in 2nd gear, and realise I'm in 4th. Opportunity lost. I do eventually get him a lap later going through turn 4, but I now also realise my gear linkages are not quite all there as I can only find 3rd and 4th gear... Lovely... Continously praying for the chequered flag I manage to make it to the end in 4th position, also getting overall 4th in class for the day

Most fun I've ever had

Couple of pics:








So - videos

Qualifying - some of the slipping around and my fastest qualifying lap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSXVgMKL4nk



Race 1 (I took out the boring bits):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBKV05RgmLs



Race 2 (Took the boring bits out again):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-tZ79dEl8s



When I watched these videos today I realised just how many stupid little mistakes I made... It was a bit daunting being my first ever race in this car - can only improve

[scorpiotn1]

Class

[Dodging]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk