TO Iowa or NOT TO Iowa.....that is the question....

With several team members having scheduling difficulties, and fairly lengthy to-do list...do we go to the Iowa race or do forgo Iowa, regroup and get the car done right for Autobahn?
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So I bribbed a VW guru to give Chumpy a listen to......his diagnosis is trashed thrust bearings....aparently one can see the crank pulley vibrating side to side in sync w/ that squeak/squeal.   He doesn't think those bearings can be done w/o a complete rebuild.   He basically said it might make it all 24hrs, but prolly not, it might make it only 5 minutes....   His reccommendation is to swap in the other motor I have in it...install the higher grade valve springs into (ODBII motors had weaker valve springs that float w/ big cams and high
rpms), and swap the the cam.  We also COULD try some different snake oil.   STP has a product that pours out like honey, and sticks to metal surfaces, several ppl I have talked to says that it will stick to bearing surfaces and buy time.  Supposidly if you pull a motor apart some time after treatment, one can sill find residue on the bearings.

CHUMP CAR ISSUES:
-motor....see above
-rear passenger brake does like almost no braking -bleed brakes
-install baffled oil pan?
-install oil cooler?
-install head lights (will oems be bright enough?, I have only one  spare, what do we have for plan B?, do we need additional lighting?
-apply tint to rear view mirrors so we don't get blinded by cars behind us w/ bright lights.
-upgrade to springs?
-will that axle/output cup on the tranny hold?
-what about that FUBARed subframe bolt?
-install a rear sway bar/rear beam stiffing bar?  More rotation/less understeer would be faster.
-what to do about fumes?  (1. Hatch w/ lexan, 2. hatch w/ no window, 3. no hatch w/ roof spoiler, 4. wing on top of rear bumper)
 http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/chump-car-no-hatch-exhaust-fumes-aero/22961/page1/
-what to do about fuel starve?  New pump and filter?
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4915647-Fuel-Starvation
-what to do about hospitality?  Setup cots?  Setup a Tent?  Rent an RV/camper?  Get a Hotel REALLY close track?
-Tires: we have six very used falkens and one set of Dunlops......we
-other stuff i haven't mentioned????????

Race Day 2 @ BIR

Started out the day on the worn out azenis, Jeff started, followed by Dave H., who exchanged paint w/ the silver BMW trying to pass him on the inside of turn 12. Dave H. says he was give a wave by, but the BMW driver didn't allow him room......under racing rules the BMW would be at fault...especially since Dave did have a wheel well up to if not beyond the door of the BMW….a loud thud and both cars went off in the dirt…fortunately both cars just suffered flesh wounds, we brought Dave H. in to have a look and pull out the fender. No real harm done. We did notice that the front driver tire was cupping badly, apparently the front control arm bolt was a bit loose and allowed for some slop in the wheel! Yikes!  Check Engine light started going on and off at will, but nothing LOOKS wrong.

YouTube video  <--whoops!  that isn't how that is suposed to work!


Barry had a good bout with Jay w/ Team Mayhem’s Honda Civic. For over a dozen laps they changed positions and rode each other’s bumpers. Doing so Barry flat spotted two of the azenis, people in the pits saw the cloud of smoke way over in turn 3! During the bout a yellow flag was thrown, both our team and Mayhem got penalized “for being overly aggressive in a yellow”….which in our opinion is poor call….we were told no passing and back it down to 75%...well that is what they did…anyways….

Bob went out and spun the car in the clover leaf on his 1st lap, opps! No harm done. Dave L. went out w/o no real drama other than the rain clouds coming in meant we gambled by keeping in on the worn azenis (which are horrid in the rain). The Check Engine Light is now on constantly....I personally am hoping that doesn't mean that the motor is knocking so bad that it is upsetting the knock sensors. 

I went out for the last 25 minutes of the race after switching to the Dunlops. About 5 laps in the rain clouds opened up and dumped on us…passing on the inside of turn two in the rain at over 90mph is real scary. Lap times dropped significantly, down to 2 min 20 seconds. However having “good” tires and front wheel drive meant we were gaining on several of the competition. Wheel spin in 4th gear, drifting turn four, clipping the apex in turn 13….all good times! I believe we ended up 11th.  

Stopping every hour to hour 20 minutes, because of fuel starvation hurt us, because each time a team fuel, the car must remain there for at least 5 minutes (just over 2 laps).  Having the control arm come loose, tire changing, and fender fix issues certainly didn't help either.  The penality we recieved certainly hurt us.  All those taken in consideration we could have placed a lot better.  However that being said we had a good time, and played w/ some stiff competition.

Far as I am concerned, we won a major victory! The team held together, we took the checker both days. The car might as well be named “Thomas the Little Train VW that could”….No one thought the motor would hold together, we all figured the tranny wasn’t going to make day one. The car is only slightly wrinkled, hell we drove it back on the trailer!

Race Day 1 @ Brainerd Intl. Raceway

We arrived at BIR fairly early...enough to get a few practice laps in w/ the Slow Pokes group. The noises from the motor were disturbing, we also discovered that the car really doesn't like having it shut off via the emergency kill switch (the ECU takes a while to refigure out what is going on). It was also discovered that car fuel starves around 1/2 a tank. We debated long and hard about swapping the motor w/ the spare that night. Being lazy and generally distraught we decided to run it until she blows...each driver gets 1/2 hour in the car and keep it below 4000rpms.

Race day 1: sent Jeff out on worn out Falken Azenis, no issues, decent lap times, then the rain came so we switched to our Dunlops Direzzas (full treaded new summer tires)....after three drivers w/ the car still going strong, and us in 12th place, we moved the self imposed rev-limiter to 5000rpms and an hour stint. I went out for a 1hr 25min session, my laps times got down to 2min 4secs a lap...somehow we worked ourselves up to 5th place, out of 24 cars starting! However when I came in for my pit stop & driver change the passenger side output cup was still attached to the axle but came out of the transmission and was puking tranny fluid in the hot pits! We also discovered that one of the motor mount bolts were loose! 47 minutes later we got the car jury-rigged it back together (Ryan H. I owe you a beer & food!), and sent Bob back out on track w/ instructions to only use 4th gear, figuring the tranny was for sure to blow! Amazingly Bob did 8 more laps like this...our position fell to 11th place, but we still took the checker!

After the race we changed oil (cuz we decided that if it has run this long she is going to keep running, no sparkles were found, the magnetic drain plug was nearly clean), fixed the down pipe collector that broke and was trying to free itself, tested the transmission for leaks...drained it looking for sparkles....and said pssshhh, fill it full of fresh fluid and see what happens. Attempted to fix the rear brakes, as the passenger side rear was doing almost nothing (about half what the driver side was).

I think we got it!!!!

drove the car for the 1st time since bringing it to the The Alignment Guy's shop back in January!
So it looks more like a bumble bee than a school bus...but ehhhh..   The car seems really strong...the exhaust and the header must really wake up the old 8-valves of furry.   Truth be told there is a strange noise that COULD be rod knock.....it makes me loose sleep at night.

Final push...

ACOMPLISHED TONIGHT:
-head light covers installed
-fog light covers installed
-oil/water heat exchanger gasket replaced
-more subframe drilling
-more paint
-front tow hook done
-cooling fan works...car doesn't over heat idleing
-gastank filler tube enlarged

TO BE DONE:
-more paint
-numbers/stickers/vinyl
-more subframe drilling/rebolting
-test drive
-bed in brakes?
-install areolas
-label tow hooks?
-air damn?
-make fasteners for the sides of the front bumper cover
-sheath the oil pressure line?