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Finally driving again, & second thoughts on instructing

Posted by davecarama , 05-23-2012 - - - - - - · 2,980 views

Turned out (if you followed the thread on Mazda Racers) that it was indeed the lifters. After I got the car together, it idled for about 30 minutes (we were burping the coolant). It took the entire 30 min to quiet the lifters. Once that was all done. Car was perfect. Right where you would want a leak down... and quite nice compression numbers too  :)So I...



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Frustration, maybe a little panic, and certainly some depression sets in

Posted by davecarama , 04-16-2012 - - - - - - · 2,317 views

The first race of the season is coming up soon and my motor is still not yet together. Last you heard from me I got a car (for the motor) and the head was leaking from cylinders 2 & 3 (leakdown determined it was the exhaust side). I brought it to a machine shop and when I got it back and attached it to the motor and did another leakdown, same issues w...



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Decisions... Decisions...

Posted by davecarama , 04-05-2012 - - - - - - · 1,889 views

Yes, it has been a while. I think last time I wrote I was cleaning engine internals. My major decision at the time was "polish and or machine the crank, or not". Then... as if out of a story book... An "opportunity" presented itself to me.Buy a '90 with a '95 motor installed, keep the motor, then sell the rest for what I bought it...



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A closer look at my pistons...

Posted by davecarama , 02-22-2012 - - - - - - · 1,832 views

Pistons... Ahh, Pistons...https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/424490_10150676881699120_684504119_10989251_1789676578_n.jpg I started wiping them down last night. In this photo, the one on the far left is still dirty, as in untouched. They really were not that bad, all things considered, and cleaned up pretty easy with some paper...



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Still playing with the motor parts

Posted by davecarama , 02-18-2012 - - - - - - · 1,489 views

Took me a while, but I finally got a chance to pick up my motor parts from my garage. Not from a machine shop... and certainly not ready to be re-assembled. But at least I can play with them (measure them, decide what I want to do to improve their performance).Didn't get much more done besides moving the parts into my basement.But I did snap a few sho...



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Motor Woes (continued) Cylinder Head

Posted by davecarama , 01-16-2012 - - - - - - · 2,160 views

Well, after a little bit of research with machine shops, I have decided, it would be best for me to just wait. On everything. I think I am going with a junk yard motor and settle for mid pack ITA for however long it will last me. In the mean time, save my pennies and slowly rebuild the motor I currently have, and rebuild it to be special... a real ITA mot...



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Motor Woes...

Posted by davecarama , 12-29-2011 - - - - - - · 1,280 views

Well, I sure have been quiet! This poor car. The previous owners were all boneheads. This thing is... less than par. Every time I do anything to the car, I find more effed up crap that I need to re-do...So I finally had time to pull the motor and tear it down. Took me about a day to get it to the point I could bring it to a machine shop to clean up an...



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Man... I decided to withdraw from the VIR 13 hour race... Booooo

Posted by davecarama , 10-25-2011 - - - - - - · 996 views

Well. We were chasing a gremlin for about a week and a half. Motor started smoking all of a sudden (smoking bad actually). Was absolutely burning oil. The things that changed? I put synthetic oil in, installed a header... but really, that is about it.Did a leak down  checkCyl 1 - 5% - good Cyl 2 - 11% - not great but not a show stopper. Diagnosed as exhau...



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Man... I decided to do the 13 Hour VIR race this year.

Posted by davecarama , 10-07-2011 - - - - - - · 1,362 views

Man... I decided to do the 13 Hour VIR race this year. The race is on October 29th.  Between September 1 when we made the decision and now, I have spent about $2000, but when it is all said and done, it will be a cool $4000. This is WAY WAY WAY WAY Late to get into this game. A 12+ hour race is a 6-12 month organizational process... ESPECIALLY f...



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NASA Instruction and TT Aug 21-22

Posted by davecarama , 08-23-2011 - - - - - - · 1,615 views

I invited a family friend to drive this past weekend with me. He entered his Audi S4 in HPDE1 as a true beginner. I entered in TTE with high hopes to win a tire! The race car was all prepped and ready to go! And MAN was I excited to get out and drive!My friend was SO much of a newbie, I had to (on the morning of the event) help him clean out h...



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