Dave's SE - REBORN

[lightyear]

Owen, I am doing 12th June Nulon Super Sprint, 26th June VSSC, and 2nd July at Phillip Island. I may be upgrading to a 2.5" exhaust and better (less broken) wing, so hopefully the car goes well.

[MrsB]

Hi dave,

I quite like the idea of winton on the 12th if that's where you are going if not there is some chance at the island on the 2nd - will just see how we pull up after this weekend at Sandown with Vic state and see where we go from there.

[lightyear]

I am at Sandown on the 12th.

[lightyear]

And best of luck for the weekend.

[smy0003]

Hey dave, Did you ship the car up to Newcastle?
How was that? Who did you use etc.?

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[davekmoore]

http://www.cevacarcarrying.com.au/

Same people who bring new Mazdas to us. $650ish. Cheaper overall than the total fuel, accommodation, return trip, time off work etc costs of driving it up.

Drove up to collect it in a car I'd paid very little money for and left it in Newcastle. One of Dann's mates bought it. A flight up would have been more cost and time effective and Dann would have collected me from Newcastle, but I wanted to stop at Wakefield Park on the way up for half a day's tuition on how to be less of a dufus on a track.

Then drove BARMY back overnight, with 5 stops for mini-sleeps. DO NOT DO THIS. I only did it out of a desire to be back in time for Sandown on the Saturday.

[smy0003]

Thanks Dave, a lot to think about but very helpful. Cheers.

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[billybunter]

that was a very good price to transport from interstate. I had 2 quote from Orange NSW to Newcastle NSW about a 5 hour run and both came in at $550 neat. was easier just to get the daughter to just drop it off

[davekmoore]

Bearing in mind the electrical issues BARMY has had I now carry spares of pretty much all electrical items, even down to relays, main 100amp fuses and a cam angle sensor.

Today I discovered I was short of one item, when the car lost spark and fuel because the ECU wasn't seeing any rpm signal due to the crank angle sensor packing up. This was perhaps because it was 12 years old and overdue to fail. It may also have been because it was installed too close to the main crank pulley after an engine rebuild and the pulley had rubbed a groove in the sensor.

Only $62 from Mania on the ebay site. Well worth having a spare in your car.

Many thanks to David Wilken for loaning his sensor when he decided to trailer his car home (a brand new sensor is already ordered for you). Saved me an expensive 300km trip on a tow truck. Also lots of thanks to everyone who helped me find someone who could come and assist me with a solution, and to NitroDann for pointing us at crank angle sensor as a possible issue. Especial thanks to Dean for coming to do the work and not only making it so I could drive the car home but also for getting me out for a couple of sessions. It would have been a pretty disastrous day without all this assistance. Thanks folks!

[IanR]

good job getting it sorted out.

[Sean]

Interesting to hear the CAS packed up... It's not an uncommon 'fault' on a number of NA/NBs running an aftermarket ECU.

[Magpie]

You can replace the CAS sensor with an aftermarket one or repin the existing plug and use an electrical epoxy to remove the vibrations.

A simple test is to cable tie the CAS sensor, if this fixes the issue then it is the plug.

[lightyear]

The cas was getting chopped by the wheel. It wouldn't have failed if it was spaced properly.

[davekmoore]

There was also evidence of the wiring having been "repaired".

Important we make the distinction between cam angle sensor and crank angle sensor. This time it was the crank one which failed. Instantly diagnosed over the phone by NitroDann by the way, as soon as Dean plugged his laptop in and saw no rpm signal.

[davekmoore]

Good day at Phillip Island yesterday. Got down to a 1:53.5. Nowhere near the pace of David Wilken of course and I'm still being beaten by a couple - and closely followed by several - well dríven and sorted n/a cars.

As usual, BARMY had a failure. This time it was very minor - just a pinprick hole in a heater hose (yes, he still has a heater as he's a road car). All the coolant hoses were due to be replaced next week and I had them with me, but Leon had some magic tape which repaired the existing hose. Of course, being Leon, he also had pre-mixed coolant and stuff for cleaning the grease off the pipe before we put the tape on. Thanks Leon. Long may these failures keep being more minor.

Lap times are still being limited mostly by lack of driver skill and lack of bravery, but I now also have two potential genuine excuses:

Going a bit more quickly round left handed corners is causing fuel surge, so the motor is cutting out. The faster I go the more it cuts out and the longer it takes to run properly again after the corner. I'm smoothing out the corners as much as possible and grabbing a higher gear to reduce g forces and to reduce the amount of fuel required. It still cuts out, but less so. A full tank of fuel reduces the issue, but doesn't completely get rid of it. Having the car not respond to the throttle as expected mid-corner does not inspire confidence in a mere mortal driver.

At the corners where the fuel doesn't cut out there's a lot of wheelspin from the inside wheel. This has been getting worse for the last few years. Reckon the diff has had enough, or just doesn't like the extra power. My version of traction control (lifting the throttle) must be losing time compared with getting more of the power down.

Lightyear is chasing a number starting with a 1:3x complete with skill, titanium testicularity, aero, and that sprinkling of madness which Robin Williams said we must all never lose. I'll be very happy with something starting with a 1:4x and reckon solutions to the two issues above could get me there.