New Paint

Got the engine bay painted. It looks a lot nicer now. It will be easier to work on and find potential issues now that it is all clean.

Wiring Woes

We decided that it would be a great idea to simplify the wiring harness by removing all unneeded wires. Sounds good in theory, but once you get into it there is an amazing amount of wiring in a car.  The stuff in the bag is what was removed. This is the second go around of wire removal. Last year I removed a good portion of it, but it was the more easily accessible wire. There is no wiring left in the car. Everything has been removed. So here is to hoping that it still work when I am done!

The work begins...again

This past weekend marked the start of the car rebuild for 2012 season. Planned projects include, refresh motor, find trans that doesn't grind, replace clutch, cosmetic improvements to the interior, increase safety of cage, re-wire car for ease of troubleshooting and appearance, replace brakes and wheel bearings.

The interior was stripped down to bare essentials and Rob went to work removing the sound deadening.  It had been bugging all of us that we never removed it during the initial build, but it was really bugging Rob. 20lbs/ of dry ice, a hammer, and a couple hours later... it was all out. It probably weighs 5 pounds at most so not a huge weight savings, but it really makes the car look clean with that out of there. It collected dirt real fast and made for an unappealing look to the interior.

The wiring was functional, but very difficult to troubleshoot or work on. Lots of junctions, distribution blocks going to distribution blocks, wire nuts, all made for a rats nest of wiring. This winter it will all be removed, shortened or lengthened as needed and then re-loomed. The gauge panel is also going to see some improvements. Only the top row of gauges were easily visible, so we will be re-locating them around the stock instrument cluster for easier viewing. A couple gauges will be upgraded to digital readouts as well. Have you ever tried to get readings of your oil pressure, oil temp, and coolant temp, going 115mph surrounded by cars? Oh yeah, you only have 2 seconds to do it because the next turn is fast approaching :)

Once the motor is removed, the remaining wiring will be taken out. A couple new bars will be added to the cage and a fresh coat of paint will make things look new again.

Chumpionship Summary

The chumpionship was a great time. Unfortunately some mechanical failures prevented us from being competitive. Axles, wheel bearings, ball joints... We overheated the front brakes during practice on friday before the race and most likely caused excess wear on some of the other components that failed on saturday. After 25 1/2 hours of racing, we're happy to have taken the checkered flag sunday night in 21st place. Thanks to everyone who has supported us and helped out this year. DB Performance, Stellar Autoworks, The Alignment Guy, Primo Performance. Expect bigger and better things from slugworks next season.

10:41 to change out an axle

Mid race fix at Iowa Speedway. In a straight line the car drove OK, but not so much in the turns. 10:41 to change an axle from pit in to pit out. Pretty impressive. Thanks to John, Shane, and Alex.

Well, racing season is over.

Well, racing season is over. This just means we are getting started on tweaking, upgrading, and fixing things that gave us issues over the past 6 months. More updates and picture will be coming soon!

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