Team3S: 3000GT & Stealth Monday, July 14
2003 Volume 02 : Number 203
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 23:26:06 +0200
From: "Mats Gebelius" <
mats.gebelius@chello.se>
Subject:
Team3S: Climate control
Hi.
Does anyone know if it is possible to change the climate control
from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and how this is done if possible on my -94 Stealth
RT/TT. It would be great if anyone knew the answer to this.
/Mats Gebelius
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 14:47:03 -0700
From: "Bob Forrest" <
bf@bobforrest.com>
Subject: Re:
Team3S: NG Road Course (Dave's track report)
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "bdtrent" <
bdtrent@netzero.net>
> For those
seeking explanation that are not on the Team3S Racers list,
> here's the
brief track report from my brief communication with the
> wall at
Gateway:
- ------------------------------>
[And here's the UN-quoted version of Dave's note, so everyone can read it
without quote symbols]:
I had been pushing turn 5 toward the end of the session trying to
carry a bit more speed into 6. Up to the point of the crash I was getting
a small amount of 4 wheel drift into five. On the last lap, the tail
stepped out as fast as I could say "Percoset". With the walls as close as
they are, very little speed was scrubbed off prior to hitting the wall at one
thousand mph. The hit wrung my bell for a fraction of a second before I could
take personal inventory. With the exception of my right arm, I knew I was
OK. WRT the infamous seats, the only harness strap fastened to the seat was the
sub-belt. I suspect that the seat broke from the seat track as a result of
the high lateral load and the dubious quality of the seat tracks more so than
tension on the harness. I will admit that given the force of impact, the
harness did a commendable job of keeping me firmly in the seat. Aside from
minor scratches from the shoulder belts and a fractured right arm (4-6 wks in a
sling) I suppose one could say I could have been worse. Wish I could say
the same for what had been the best car I've ever owned. I like to think
it died doing what it loved most. Kidding aside, I must apologize for such
a bone headed incident. The last couple DE seasons, I've been pushing my
luck when driving solo. Gateway was the wrong track to toy with.
Fortunately the car has been paid for since I took up the latest form of risky
behavior. Otherwise, I trust the rest of the NG went well.
Regards,
DaveT/92TTT
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 17:47:10 -0500
From: "xwing" <
xwing@wi.rr.com>
Subject: Team3S: Re: NG
Road Course (Dave's track report)
Wow, glad to hear you are not "very seriously" injured, Dave. I
didn't see the accident, but heard there was one, and then all the ambulance
stuff shot down there etc. I can certainly say that Dave was a calm,
reasoned driver that day, as he took me in his car around the track for my
"Instruct the Instructors About This Track" lapping before the students etc got
on track, and gave me good information and is a very smooth and fast
driver. The tail end in these cars can get light like that sometimes and
try to come around on you, I have had that a small number of times when I would
have thought the rear end traction should have been much better than the near
spins suggested.
The track was very good, interesting corners, many with several possible
"good" lines. A couple times I saw over 140mph coming up toward turn one,
but mostly was taking it sort of easy on the car due to boost/heat
limitations. My car was overheating in/past the red zone despite water
wetter, sealing some of the air leakage at front-end of car with
RacersTape
(tm) (hehhe)...Matt Monett suggests that the TD05, and other
LARGER turbo setups which are much closer to the radiator, and frequently
without external heatshields (like the STOCK turbos HAVE) can radiate way too
much heat INTO the radiator despite the airflow (not conduction via air
molecules but RADIATION by infrared rays), and throw in a FMIC and poor ducting
due to FMIC and voila', overheating propensity goes way up.
My new turbo setup was working fairly nicely but with all the previous
preturbo boost leaks solved, my efforts at overcoming the LACK of high boost
multiplied and I couldn't keep the boost DOWN except with my throttle foot.
Combine overheating (though not obviously steaming over), overboosting, ~96
octane gas, and my NOT knowing my ERL Water/Methanol injection was never
activating because a small wire was off (not giving me a fault light though,
grr) and I developed a miss and dipstick tube pop out...I think a piston had
enough and cracked its compression ringland/s. Not alot of smoke, could
drive it, just an uneven compression sound on car startup, a slight miss, and
the previous dipstick blowout etc so I didn't dare run the drag event, as hot
combustion gasses escaping into the oil pan would inevitably slag down that
piston and cause a more catastrophic engine failure. I've done this
before, and the gasses literally melt not only through the piston like an
aluminum river, but they cut and melt the STEEL rings too!
Oh well. My fault, but the car just got done and back from the
fabricator ~9pm Tuesday night, and had no time to do anything but load it up
before leaving, there is only ONE NG...motor is coming out this week. It
was a stock shortblock anyway, I suspected it would do this eventually but pride
goeth before the fall, and when I saw the Porsche AWD Turbo in the rearview
starting to gain on me I couldn't resist throwing SOME caution to the wind...the
wind unfortunately was off the sewerage treatment plant and won
;) The
rollcage looks really good, VERY tight to roofline etc. I have ball bearing TD05
turbines, relatively small, and a large ~40-44 lb/hr compressor and these had
too much lag for good road course performance IMHO. To the non-NOS/non-drag race
inclined, I would have to suggest a smaller TD05 with a very small turbine
section, or sticking with TD04's and hoping your center section holds up/doesn't
start smoking as I have had happen many times. I have NOS available for spool up
off corners but didn't use it due to the teething problems.
Jeff Wong, in VR4 SPYDER, won the Drag race Quick 8, running a best of 11.7
@ 124 for the day; Matt Monett was going 11.08-11.6 or so all day long and may
well have won, but he had to race Mike Mahaffey...Matt was quicker for the day
but stalled his car on the line so Mike won. Mike's car has new gigando
turbos that took too long to spool so I think his best was ?11.7, 129 mph. He
will likely spray it to get spool up in the future.
Matt Jannusch, in VR4 SPYDER, won his class of bracket racing! I
think he
was in the low 12's but I didn't commit all the numbers to
memory. He was
using relatively lower boost on a new turbo
setup and will go faster yet.
I didn't get to the autocross, so no info there.
I am sure Joe
Gonsowski, Engineer, Scientist and Scribe Extraordinaire will come out with a
much better recap of the details! Jack T.
ps: my 2001 GMC 2500HD Extended Cab Longbed 6.6 Liter Duramax Diesel
pickup/tow vehicle ran a 14.098/92 mph or so, best ET ever...I had to run
SOMETHING at the drags, I'd paid, and they opened the lanes up at the end :) 60
footing 1.8's or so.
------------------------------
The rear valve cover I had listed on eBay did not sell, so if anyone is
interested, it is up for sale. Hopefully I won't have to relist it.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 17:48:40 -0700
From: "Bob Forrest" <
bf@bobforrest.com>
Subject: Re:
Team3S: NG Road Course (Dave's track report)
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "bdtrent" <
bdtrent@netzero.net>
> Again, to
pass on information shared with the Team3S racers list, I
> very much
appreciate the concern of my friends on the list. The car is scheduled to
show up tomorrow evening. I'll let you know what I find with the seat
shortly thereafter. Jim B. describes a kind of track motivation I have
struggled with the last couple of seasons. I started to question the time
and significant expense of DE events when I couldn't drive away feeling like I
had made some noticeable improvement in lap times and/or car control. I
think I will refer to this as 'the spin cycle'. These cars with a few mods
start to achieve very high limits on a road course tempting you to push
racecar speeds in order to test the limits. As a kind of personal
motivation, I have never carried coverage on the car outside of legal
necessity. As I liked to tell my wife; if I ever stack it up, I will live
with the consequences, i.e. lessons learned. OK, anyone got a line on
a salvageable chassis? ;-)
> Regards,
> DaveT/92TT
-
------------------------------------->
Hey, Dave,
We are all just plain relieved that all that happened to you was a broken
arm, even though that's still pretty damned awful! But even magnificent
cars are replaceable. We all manage to come up with a few more dollars
whenever our toys break (or we wait a while for the dollars to magically
appear). You'll be back on the road with another great beastie soon - it
sounds like this one served you well and died valiantly..., all the while
protecting you. "RIP" to a fine road warrior chariot...
Since it *did* happen, and since it happened to one of us who KNOWS what
he's doing - a talented instructor at that - it should serve as a wake-up call
to all the young bucks out there who think it's all about speed. It's all
about control, guys - the speed will come with control. With your
permission, Dave, I'd like very much to document the entire event on our website
as a reminder to all the other 'racer' folks out there. Yes, we'll do the
normal "Race Reports" page about everyone's experiences, but I'd like to do a
separate section, and make this incident a part of it. If just to let
people know that in a safe, stable car with an excellent driver, contact can...
and *will* happen on occasion. It happens to the best professionals, and
it can happen to us.
We've all "gotta know our limitations", whether that's having stock brakes,
street rubber or even lack of experience. On a track day, any one of those
is a serious disadvantage. On such a day, we can't run with the big dogs,
nor should we even try. It's not a bad thing to let your pucker factor
rule. Run within your limitations - TO the limit, not over it. Like
the experts say, "On the track, don't let anyone else drive your car", meaning
that you can't get caught up in the moment and think that your street rubber can
corner with the Vette in front of you with the 12"-wide shaved Hoosiers.
AWD or no..., it just ain't gonna happen. We need a page to point these
things out, and I think that some of the other "words of wisdom" like you, Jim,
Rich, Jack and others have shared with us will help out a lot of people. I
think it's important to publish those "words" prominently where people can see
them.
Take care of that "bad wing", Dave, and we'll all work on finding you a new
ride.
Regards,
- ---Forrest
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 18:37:41 -0700
From: "Bob Forrest" <
bf@bobforrest.com>
Subject: Team3S:
Clutch/Tranny diagnosis needed!
Since ET is racing in her first 6-hr Enduro next weekend in Reno, she drove
the VR-4 up to Sears Point (Infineon) to walk the track today and watch some of
the other Spec Miatas that were racing... On the way back she noticed the
that tranny was stiff, and she almost had to put the clutch to the floor to get
it out of gear and into the next one. And this is a clutch that had been
set to engage within about 1" of travel. I just tried the car myself, and
I almost couldn't get into gear at all! It took me about 10 tries of all
the gears to get in reverse. All gears seem to be almost impossible to
reach, and it feels like the entire tranny (or something) 'moves', but it still
doesn't go into gear. By trying all gears, I eventually can get it into
first, or reverse, and then it feels OK, sort of... It almost feels as if
there is something in the way of it going into gear. Does this sound like
the symptoms of a trashed throw-out bearing? bad clutch? synchro failure?
I remember someone mentioning a wire or cable getting in the way of the shifter
(under the boot?), but I can't find it in the archives - any thoughts of this as
a possibility? I haven't had the tranny fluid checked in a while (since
they did the Xfer case seal recall service in April). Does this sound like
no fluid? Any help is appreciated!
- ---Forrest
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 20:41:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: Geoff Mohler <
gemohler@www.speedtoys.com>
Subject:
Team3S: Re: 3S-Racers: Clutch/Tranny diagnosis needed!
IMHO, you're probly out of pedal travel..and you're not fully disengaging
the clutch.
Could be many things..but that's the basic problem it sounds like.
Bad MC/SC, or just readjust the pedal.
- ---
www.SpeedToys.com: Geoff
Mohler
orders@speedtoys.com
Team3S/3Si.org Vendor approved brake discounter; also, parts for Toyota, Audi,
BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, SAAB, Volvo. Where do you buy YOUR brakes? I can
help...asking is free! :) "If its in stock, we have it!"
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 19:45:32 -0700
From: "fastmax" <
fastmax@cox.net>
Subject: Re: Team3S:
Re: 3S-Racers: Clutch/Tranny diagnosis needed!
Or as simple as low fluid level and/or maybe some air in the line. Top it
off and bleed the lines.
Jim
Berry
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 20:26:26 -0700 (PDT)
From:
dark@non-corporeal.netSubject:
Team3S: Recommended Stealth shops?
I have a 91 Stealth TT and am trying to get a handle on where it
stands
mechanically.
Who does the group recommend in the way of specialized shops for the
stealth? I.E. Someone who you know is doing it right and is worth the
money. In the bay area near Sacramento...
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 23:18:32 -0700
From: "Bob Forrest" <
bf@bobforrest.com>
Subject: Re:
Team3S: Recommended Stealth shops?
They are famously awful up there, but I think Ann Koch knows someone good
100 miles north... Next closest to you is San Rafael Mitsu - they are a
"Good Guys" dealer who give 25% off on parts; call Mike there about service
discounts (check the "GG" page in the FAQ Index). There's a great mechanic
in Pinole - Vicman Ng at Metric Motorsports 510 724-9188. He's done well
with my car, and knows his stuff, but he's not a 3S guy - he's just good.
My regular (most trusted) mechanic is right here in SF - a meticulous whiz named
Willy who owns Wynn's Motors 415 626-6936. I've had so much work done
there, I gave him a copy of the 94 Stealth Repair Manuals... He's done
lots on my VR-4 and put the new engine in the Stealth for me. Top notch,
but you'll pay big city prices. And worth every dime. Best,
-
---Forrest
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 09:17:50 -0400
From: "SWC" <
swc@centurytel.net>
Subject: Team3S:
FS 92 RT TT stock, original owner
Hey All - its time to part with my baby. Here's the vitals:
1992 Dodge Stealth Twin Turbo
Green w/Tan leather
140k
miles
original owner - I bought this car brand spanking new in Feb,
1992.
Recent Dealer work: (60k maint in March 2002)
timing belt
water
pump
magnecor wires
new plugs / tune up
oil cooler
radiator
flush
variety of hoses
About 1000 miles or less on Eagle GSC's.
Fresh Y-pipe (stock)
Test
Pipe
Cold A/C
Injectors Cleaned and Balanced by RC Engineering.
ECU was recently refreshed by AVPROECM.com. These guys do great work and
Mark there says he'll honor the one year warranty even for a new owner.
Its been in storage since fall, 1999. I had all the above stuff done last
year and this spring in preparation for cranking up the boost, but my wife
decided she wanted a new house. So now its pretty much all stock, fresh and
ready to be cranked......by somebody else.
Interior is real nice, except the left side lumbar of the drivers seat is
worn. Exterior has a lot of chips in the paint on the hood, a nice door ding in
the drivers side, and scraped paint on the rear bumper from a parking lot
incident.
I have it sitting on the side of the road for $6,500 O.B.O., and in the
Swapper magazine for $6,000. I'd be happy to let it go for less than that to a
3SI'er. Lets talk.
Steve C. - Michigan (Flint area)
92 RT TT - bye bye (sniff)
93 Toyota
MR2 Turbo
96 Impala SS
70 Dodge Charger R/T
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 07:12:33 -0700
From: "Tyson Varosyan" <
tigran@tigran.com>
Subject: RE:
Team3S: Recommended Stealth shops?
Advice that will save you heartache, time and money, lots of money:
Step 1: Find local 3S club
Step 2: Buy the CD Manual or the
books.
Step 3: Use the "gear heads" in your local club and your new CDs to do
the work yourself.
There is no way around it. You will get scammed, have your car messed up
and be out of a lot of money if you go the mechanic, or worse yet, the dealer
route.
The one exemption to the rule would be a friend-mechanic that you can trust
that happens to know this car well. However, by that time they will likely be in
the local 3S club, so go to Step 1 above :)
Tyson
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 09:42:18 -0500
From: "cody" <
overclck@satx.rr.com>
Subject: RE:
Team3S: Recommended Stealth shops?
I totally concur. Cars are one of those things, you either know how
to fix them yourself, have a buddy that loves fixing them for you, or you are
rich and can afford to pay insanely high prices for mediocre work...
- -Cody
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 08:30:21 -0700
From: "Bob Forrest" <
bf@bobforrest.com>
Subject: Re:
Team3S: Recommended Stealth shops?
Great suggestions. But you forgot the additional steps:
Step 4: BE
under 30 years old.
Step 5: Have free time.
Step 6: Be prepared to give up
wife and family.
Support groups such as Team3S are important is for the rest of us who
just
don't have time to physically "hang out" like when we were
single... Most of
us are NOT 25, do NOT have free time, and do NOT want
to give up precious time
with family to work on our cars. Many of us
did our own repairs 20 years ago,
but we're not that motivated now that life
is more demanding than it once was.
And there are those of us who don't have
a place to work on our cars anyway.
I'm in a major city yet my closest friend
who *knows* our cars is 100 miles
away. And I don't have a garage - I
have a parking lot. It's a 2 blocks away
from my house and my
tools.
The manuals are invaluable - for us to see what might be wrong with our
cars
and to give intelligent guesstimates of problems to our local
shops. But if a
repair is going to take me more than a couple of hours,
I'd just rather pay
somebody (and research the manuals just enough to verify
that they did a good
job). I hear the word "club" and I think of a tree
house and lemonade, or a
bunch of middle-agers in funny clothes chasing a
little ball around a course
with a stick. Lots of us are past our
"club" years, and we weren't "joiners"
even when we *were* 25...
;-) If repairing cars is your hobby, then a local
club is the way to go
(IF you can find one).
Let's find out more "Good Guys" shops - for "the rest of us"...
;-) Even
good shops will make mistakes (and you will too, if you do
your own work).
But most of the time a good shop will do good work - possible
better than we
could do in a DIY project. Don't underestimate the value
of a reliable shop.
For many of us, time is worth way more than money.
- ---Forrest
------------------------------
>Lots of us are past our "club" years, and we weren't
"joiners"
>even when we *were* 25... ;-) If repairing cars is
your hobby, then a local
>club is the way to go (IF you can find
one).
When I was 25, I hung out with guys (coworkers, mostly) in their
50s,
because they were much more interesting people than the vapid young men
of
my era. Today, most men I know in their 50s and 60s seem to be
sitting
around waiting to die. The fire has gone out.
So now that I am of that advanced age (ahem) I like to hang out with
guys
in their 20s and 30s, almost everybody on this list, and my ROWG buddies
in
Cedar Rapids. Them folks are still ALIVE. Fast cars do that to people.
Our little Stealth support group here is going to tackle replacing my
broken
Getrag transmission. It's not a project I would take on all by myself,
but
with four willing friends and a few cases of beer, it almost sounds like
fun.
Rich/slow old poop
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 09:11:54 -0700
From: "Alex Pedenko" <
alex@kolosy.com>
Subject: RE: Team3S:
Recommended Stealth shops?
That sounds rather depressing. I can understand the whole time vs.
money
thing, but as far as a shop doing a better job than me, that I'll
have
to disagree with. I'm not saying I'm a great mechanic or
anything
(before my vr4 the most I ever did was put on a spare, and even then
I
did it wrong), but it comes down to one simple thing - it's my car.
I'm
sure I'll mess something up at some point. I'm sure I already have,
but
unless your mechanic buddy is your best friend who you've known
since
grade school, he won't treat it the same way as if it were his own.
My advice is simple. If you have the space and the time, do it
yourself.
Age doesn't matter. My dad (early 50s) still does stuff himself (he
just
rebuilt the head on our riding mower rather than buy a new one).
Take
the manuals, buy the right tools (those go a long way) and
most
important - take your time. If you have the slightest
mechanical
inclination (i.e. your hands don't grow out of your a**) you'll be
fine.
The manuals and sites like the team3s one and 3si do a great job
of
breaking stuff down. I did the 60k myself and the car's been running
for
20k since w/o problems (knocks on wood).
You need tools and space. That's it.
Alex
'95 VR4
------------------------------
The "open track" session was an attempt to let everyone get as much track
time
as possible at the end of the day. As usual, there were several
incidents
during the day that caused a loss of track time, mostly mechanical
problems
that required tows.
I was in the last session and did not notice passing without
point-by's,
probably because I had my left hand out the window most of the
time. There is
a tendency to regard close driving as aggressive driving
- more experienced
drivers will approach cars closer and overtake at higher
speeds than novices.
Instructors need to exercise special care and courtesy
when driving in student
groups. I think you should also consider that the
average experience level of
our instructors is far less than a typical
HPDE. These guys were all
volunteers to put on the event and to risk
their own safety riding in the
right seat with students.
Mixing the run groups at the end was probably not a good idea, considering
the
significant speed differential between the instructors and all the
student
groups. In my "commuter car", I was running 10 seconds per lap
faster than
the car with the huge 16G turbos, and I never went faster than
125 mph on the
front straight. Consider that this was only a 1.7 mile
course. I was out
with all three of the student groups, and I didn't
notice that much
differential in average lap times between novice and
advanced students.
I'm going to encourage John Monnin to do an email poll of each student
and
instructor to ask specifically what they liked or didn't like about the
Road
Course. While I think this was a huge success and better than last
year's
Gingerman adventure, as the events get bigger, we have to be more
organized.
More structure would help, such as car numbers, stickers for
passing tech,
stickers for Solo qualified. I think everybody needs a
check ride for a new
track. I'd also like us to try to keep track of
our experiences with students
for next year.
There was a lot of difference in lines being driven and taught
among
instructors, but this is normal. As students, you just have to
try to do what
your current instructor is asking. We had some excellent
help from the local
instructors.
The strange thing is that Dave Trent was the one who warned us of
the
ubiquitous concrete walls at Gateway, and even brought up the frequency
of car
damage at Gateway in the morning driver's meeting. I nominate
Dave to be the
Safety Officer for next year's event!
Chuck Willis
BTW my '93 VR4 had stock brake calipers and stock suspension stuck in
Tour
mode and it was missing like a pig under high acceleration at about
10-11 psi
boost, but it still made for a good ride!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 11:16:22 -0500
From: "cody" <
overclck@satx.rr.com>
Subject: RE:
Team3S: Recommended Stealth shops?
A friend of mine and myself tackled removal and reinstallation of my
AWD
Tranny/Transfer case on the Talon... Under the cars, they look the
same,
and it took us about 6 hours total... 2.5 hours removal, 3.5
hours
reinstallation.
Shouldn't be too terribly bad....
- -Cody
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 12:28:49 -0400
From: Mark Frouhar <
mfrouhar@bear.com>
Subject: Team3S:
Leaking Oil Cooler line. Recall??
Does anybody know if there is a recall on a leaking oil
cooler line for
the 2nd Gen VR4?
A DSM guy told me there is a recall on this when I mentioned
my VR4 has
this leak. I'd like to verify it with you guys.
thanks
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 11:52:21 -0500
From: "Willis, Charles E." <
cewillis@TexasChildrensHospital.org>
Subject:
Team3S: RE: 3S-Racers: National Gathering "Open Track" Evaluation...
Oh, yeah, I forgot to include the AO32R racing tires ... the car did stick
nicely!
Chuck
BTW my '93 VR4 had stock brake calipers and stock suspension stuck in
Tour
mode and it was missing like a pig under high acceleration at about
10-11 psi
boost, but it still made for a good ride!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 11:53:24 -0500
From: "cody" <
overclck@satx.rr.com>
Subject:
Team3S: Motor Mount Pictures
So that you all can see what I was talking about in reference to
the
Prothane motor mounts, and why I think they are superior to the
3SX
mounts.
As you can see, they are two piece mounts with a new through sleeve.
They fit so snugly in the actual mount, nothing moves front
rear,
regardless...
- -Cody
------------------------------
BTW we have a very nice picture of Dave's intact car and intact right arm
before the incident!
Chuck Willis
------------------------------
This is a short report on the NG autocross.
There were 14 N/A's, 14 Turbos and four classes - N/A street prepared,
N/A
modified, Turbo street prepared and Turbo modified (anything goes). I
do
not know what the difference was between prepared and modified but most
of
the fast cars ended up in the modified classes.
The track layout was very nice and fast without ridiculously slow
turns
that most SCCA tracks often have. There were plenty of pylons to mark
the
track, so many that when I hit one I took out five-six others too, but
even
then a few novice cars were getting lost and were off-tracking. I liked
the
start, where I was doing a drag-style launch and then was making a
sharp
left turn while shifting into second. There was a "twisty
straightaway"
half-way through the course, which looked straight, but had a
twisted
start, which prevented cars from reaching the top of second gear by
the
end. Then there was a loose slalom with a 90-degree right-hander and
a
finish line shortly after the right-hander. Lots
of
at-the-limit-of-traction driving. Once I figured that I needed to go
wide
to the left at the end of the slalom I started doing long four-wheel
slides
with a little counter-steering all the way to the finish line.
I was all over the place on my new 275x40R-17 Yokos. They were holding
well
but the steering was so imprecise that I found it easier and faster
to
follow the middle of the track and make corrections when the car
was
getting too far to one side.
My road course student 112-lbs Shawn (I think he is here, hey Shawn)
took
the first place among the NA. His goal was to beat my Turbo class time
in
his FWD NA (hehe). I kept the FTD until Rhode Island Jay F. beat me
right
at the end of the day by 0.3 seconds. Jay started very slow but then
kept
going faster and beat the FTD without even knowing it. He did not
believe
me that I told him that he set the FTD because the thought that he
was not
going fast. He ran those @#$% sticky Hoosier tires (and had a brand
new
spare set of them set on his car trailer). I need to get those too,
at
least for autocross. Having non-sticky tires is not an acceptable excuse
in
a competition where anything goes.
Some best lap times that I remember were:
Turbo Modified:
1 - Jay
F.
- 32.1 sec
2 - Philip (me) and Neal as passenger -
32.4 sec
3 -
TurboTension
- 34.*? sec
N/A
1 -
Shawn
- 35.2? sec.
I will be posing in-car videos, as usual. Also, we had a guy shoot a
camera
at us from the top of the grand stand, which was a bird-eye view.
Very
cool! I hope to get that footage soon too.
We were all very concerned about Dave Trent. John Monnin called
the
hospital and gave us some details. We wanted to visit Dave. Then next
time
John called he was told that Dave checked out, which later turned out to
be
wrong information. I am glad Dave says that he is relatively okay, but
I
heard he broke his arm in five places, which can't be okay. I saw the
car.
It is most likely totaled. Most of the damage was from the tire
barrier,
which pushed in all the softer sheet metal on one side, but the
suspension
does not look straight either. The impact was so strong that the
car
bounced back from the tire barrier all the way back on the track.
St. Louis is a nice city, even though I got lost a few times
following
random cars. Kinda hard to drive without a co-pilot and when
everyone is
following everyone else and then we find out that the leading car
does not
know where he is going. The organization was a little messy this
year, with
too many people knowing little about what's going on. There was a
lot of
partying going on every night and I am glad that the hotel was
very
tolerant. I am still recovering from partying too. :-) We need to stick
to
the schedule a little better next time, both for partying and
the
organization. Overall, the Gathering was a lot of fun. I look forward
to
the next year's!
Philip
------------------------------
Well I took the ISC off and cleaned it and cleaned the throttle body
while it was still on the car( throttle bod spray), and looked at the
BISS and added some fuel injection cleaner to see what happens. The BISS
was not covered with a grommet, and the screw is very easy to turn. The
gasket on the screw itself looked ok (i.e. no visible cracks). So I'm not
sure if there could be a vacuum leak there that would cause this to
happen. I checked all the hoses and could not find any that were cracked
or unplugged.
One thing I do notice right off the bat is when I drive the dummy boost
gauge seems to bounce to the first tick very quickly and indicates
almost baseline when I am driving. It did not do this before I ran into
this problem It at least stayed above the first tick unless I accelerated
or put the car under load. Then when I accelerated it acted as normal.
But it sometimes bounces as the RPMS bounce.
The car still idles rough from anywhere between 200 rpm (if it
doesn't
die) to 1k rpm. When I turn on the AC the idle speed does go up but
still bounces.
Greg Gonzales
92 RT TT
------------------------------
have you checked the y-pipe? this sounds like a problem with a leak
on the y-pipe gasket at the throttle body.
Chuck Willis
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 15:45:56 -0500
From: "Willis, Charles E." <
cewillis@TexasChildrensHospital.org>
Subject:
Team3S: so does anybody know where the 2004 NG will be? officially?
Was there an announcement at NG2003?
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 13:57:11 -0500 (CDT)
From: William Crabtree
<
wjcrabtree@earthlink.net>
Subject:
Re: Team3S: so does anybody know where the 2004 NG will be?
officially?
The short answer, no.
The abbreviated answer:
They announced that they were looking at 5 cities to hold the NG at next
year. Here they are in no particular order:
#1. St. Louis again(I like this one because it's my back yard)
#2. Chicago (this one got the most favorable response(appluase) from
the crowd)
#3. Colorado Springs. (not much response from the crowd)
#4. Atlanta, GA. (again....not much response from the
crowd)
#5. Orlando, FL(you could hear crickets chirping in the room when
this one was read)
I'm hoping that they at least announce dates VERY VERY soon as this was my
very first gathering and I had a blast. I have to know when early so that
I can pick those dates for my vacation time!!
- -Jeff Crabtree
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 14:00:08 -0500 (CDT)
From: William Crabtree
<
wjcrabtree@earthlink.net>
Subject:
Team3S: Transfer case recall details
I DO NOT want to start a long thread on this matter, but could someone
email me privately and fill me in on the details of the x-fer case recall.
Mine started leaking like a sieve yesterday after an odd clunk from under my car
while taking off from a stoplight.
- -Jeff Crabtree
'91 R/T TT (3SI
#0499)
2K Jeep TJ
Sport
St. Louis, MO
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 16:06:27 -0500
From: "Willis, Charles E." <
cewillis@TexasChildrensHospital.org>
Subject:
RE: Team3S: so does anybody know where the 2004 NG will be?
officially?
Thanks, Jeff!
#1. Not really fair - give somebody else a chance.
#2. Not really that different from having it in Elkhart, IN. I'm not
surprised this was popular, considering the geographic composition of the
participants.
#3. C. Springs has the potential to draw folks from the left
coast.
#4. Well, there is Road Atlanta, but you can write off any Western
participation.
#5. Orlando? Like Tony Orlando? I guess the crowd wasn't
much into Disneyland.
Chuck Willis
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 16:05:23 -0500
From: Jon Paine <
ppainej@attglobal.net>
Subject:
Re: Team3S: so does anybody know where the 2004 NG will be?
officially?
There's a voting poll active at 3si for these locations. If you have a
preference (especially if it's Chicago), go vote:
Jon
------------------------------
End of Team3S: 3000GT & Stealth V2
#203
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