I don't recall if i posted here, but my last track event was cut somewhat short by the passing of a left front wheel bearing. Wow it was bad!
I did make it home on my own, but was nervous.
I elected to drop the car at a young engineer-turned-speed-shop who offered to first do a gratis dyno pull with all the engine management stuff connected, on the theory that my car was probably not ideally tuned with a factory map and a very un-factory motor. The closed feedback loop (o2 sensors) had it darn close, but he was right. Wandering and sometimes leaner than ideal (heat), other times richer (waste fuel, emissions).
So i had a custom tune done, which resulted in better drive ability and a rise from 238 --> 249 HP at the rear wheels (about 280 at the crank, working backwards).
i also had him do the 4 wheel bearings, which only had 233,000 miles on them :-) Unfortunately, this turned into a series of fiascos that I wont go into, but in the end i have nice new wheel bearings, and at the same time swapped my driveshafts for backup units so I can re-grease/boot the originals.
Finally, i put in the replacement headlights i bought from Steve. Wow, they look *new*. go Steve! Considering how the old one's looked this is a facelift for the old girl.
Bottom line - car pulling very well, and very smoothly. It should, pretty much everything is new!
So tonight (afternoon) i head to Thunderbolt, NJMP for two days on track.
As an investment in a used car, this has become silly. As a track car that is built to (i hope) last, its actually a decent deal. And I really like the way it drives now, and have a chassis with essentially no electronic nannies, and that old-school mechanical feel.
next job, oil pressure and temperature in the console. Gauges ordered, one sensor installed, one to go.
Grant
Grant
gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com