Roebling Road

[drecords]

1st HPDE this weekend ever this weekend at Roebling Road. 1st time to drive this car ever. Lot of 1st's.

Only had two days to prep the car for the first event. Needed a seat, seat belts, and a good overall inspection. Got it all done without too much problem. (forgot to check fluids DOH!)

Drove to Georgia to visit my brother and hit Roebling Road for HPDE1. My Excursion, trailer, and car inside the trailer were filthy from dirt roads where they all had been stored at while in Korea. So on our way from my brothers house to the track my wife and I stopped at a carwash. Pulled the car out, sprayed it down being careful not to spray inside. Car wouldn't start back up. DOH!! Mother *%&$^. Thought maybe the ECU inside had some water run down the wires and into the circuit board....not sure really. Got some help and pushed it into the trailer. Drove to Roebling Road and like a first time newb parked in someone else's territory (SpecE30). They helped me with the car some (mainly to get me out of their area probably lol). Swapped ECU, still nothing. Checked for spark, had good spark. Pulled the dizzy cap, no moisture, reinstalled. SpecE30 guy hits the start button and she fires up like nothing ever happened. Not sure WTF. Happy she's running, I moved and setup camp this time in accordance with the paddock map and drove to inspection.....no problems there.

Next day, class and then 1st track session. I realized I missed checking the fluids properly. So one last lug nut torque, tire pressure check, and I went ahead and checked fluids......NO WATER in the radiator. Started filling with water and it was pooring out a freeze plug that popped out. WONDERFUL. Missed that session. Its the one between the engine mount and the block, so we get a crow bar and pry it back into place hoping it holds. Cut a piece of wood and wedged it in there so it can't back out. This time, she held water. 2nd session rolls around and I go out on track with my instructor. Im super slow. Miatas, 4dr Mini Coopers, and a bone stock Ford Fusion among everything else on the track passes me as I am getting a feel for this car. Car ran great no problems. 3rd session I put on the rains that the previous owner included with the car as I go out in a torrential down poor. Learning a lot and not getting passed as much, the car ran great. Last session of the day car is running hot on the grid, and she stays at the 200* mark for 3 laps and starts climbing. Bring her in early and she's blowing steam from the left bank. GREAT....blown head gasket I think.

Wife and I frustrated, we go eat to relax. Come back after dark, jack up the car, look at it from underneath.....EVEN MORE BAD NEWS. Cracked engine block. FUCK ME. What a first experience with my new CMC racecar right? Well one good thing is the head gasket isnt blown, steam was just venting from the cracked water jackets. Drive back into town, buy some quickset JBWeld and some brake cleaner, returned to a thunderstorm and more down poors. Crawled in river flowing underneath my car to scrub the block with a steel brush and the brake cleaner. This water jacket was displaced by 1/8" with the crack 4" long in 3 directions. Mixed up the whole batch of JBWeld and pressed it into the cracks and smeared a thick coat over the entire side of the block and let it cure overnight while it rained all night.

Next morning nothing but sunshine and after class session, filled radiator with water....NO leaks at this point. Meet the instructor, and we grid. Ran the car balls to the wall, and learned how to drive this car and finding its limits. Learning the lines, breaking points, and trying to put eyes on the flag stations as I pass by. Speed came to me a little bit more and more each session. The car survived all 5 sessions today without even a trace of water leaking. JBWeld did the trick. Can't believe it. Solo'd the last two sessions of the day. What a blast. Still lots to learn.

Car runs great. Loving it. Gonna run it as-is at Memphis International Raceway next weekend and hopefully get checked out into HPDE2. We'll see. Fingers crossed this bubble gum repair holds as I have MIR and CMP scheduled in the upcoming weekends. I know Im on borrowed time with this crack, but I do not believe at stock power levels that we have a structural problem. Thoughts anyone??

Tire question: All my tires that came with the car are RA1s. I noticed AFTER I took off my rain tires that they were a little dry rotted on the treads....looked at the date codes and they are 15 years OLD!!! YIKES, I ran these at 130mph down the straights in the rain! Looked at the rest of the spares.....yea 12-15 years old. Only two of these tires appeared dry rotted, the rest look ok. Whats the thought on this? Discard the dry rotted tires, and run the rest that look ok? Or replace them all?

I'd start getting the parts and pieces together to replace that engine block...also consider an LS swap if your car isn't already (I don't remember from your previous posts). We have enough difficulty getting engines to hold together in the base case, let alone with a crack pookyed (technical term) up w/ JB Weld.

Also -- if you're just running DE pick up a set of 200TW street tires, see other thread on that -- I'd rather have a consistent tire to learn on then risk driving around on hard as rocks old stuff. Pick up some RR's when you're ready to come race.

[Supercharged111]

I was gonna suggest a 5.3 swap as well. You can run the truck accessories everybody throws away.