Morning comes, way to soon and we drive out to the start of stage 5. there's a long line which surprises me as we are getting here at 6:40 and most of the field should be out doing recce. Well apparently the Notes hadn't arrived yet so everyone had to wait. only missed out on 20 minutes of sleep, or a stop at McDonald's for breakfast. John had some food in his car that he shared with us and shortly after the notes showed up. and we were off! the crew got to check out the stages and got to nap just a little bit. hard to nap when you are on the side of a cliff, with cars coming the other direction in mostly a lane and half road. We managed to get off the notes several times in recce. the lack of sleep was definitely affecting us, towards the end we were doing great.
we ran back to the hotel and unloaded the car and got ready to head over to Tims. got slightly confused on the way there but managed to find it. Man i felt tired.. Well lets get ready for tech. i signed up and got ready for tech. i grabbed food and ran back to the crew to see what they wanted. i asked nick to register the jeep , grab food around the corner, and i'de grab Thad food. I was hoping to change my springs before the Rally.
We got out of tech and i was set to change my springs.. I asked Odi if he felt it was an okay idea. he looked at me kinda funny and said no i shouldn't try to do that with only 60 minutes left. (Good Advice!) i mulled it over and decided not to. The event started with a demo autoX course.
Sweet. new diff... why not go 10/10ths and really test it ! I Rev hard to about 4K and let out the clutch, i smell tires! i lay down 2 black lines and take off hard. after about the 3rd corner i get really really bad engine hesitation in 2nd. wtf... didn't warm it up first.. damn it oh well press on. I was able to drift a few of the corners, though i pulled the ebrake on one of them
. i pull out and start transit. Unlike last year we didn't get lost, but the route was actually the same
ya.
we reach the start of stage 1 and unlike last year its not pitch black already, the sun is setting and in my eyes pretty bad, and my wind shield is very dirty. We set off, and i still don't really know how this differential is going to feel in the dirt. but now is the time to figure this out!
Its way less predictable than an open Diff , that's for sure. which ever side has more traction gets more power and the front end tries to rotate the car.
it feels a bit wierd.
I keep working with it through stage 2 and maybe sort of am feeling it out, a late call (sorry john) causes me to go through a ! Dip Keep Right at full speed and on the left.
and the car just got a whole lot louder (broken exhaust Y-pipe (manifold)) and a nifty lil check engine light. I keep left and 80% throttle through ! Dip keep left. we mob the rest of the stage with out any major issues.
like last year the Quiet zone next 1 mile gives us an issue. and we got caught up in slow traffic for a penalty, but John wisely files an inquiry and we get the penalty taken away.
I had won day 1 of my prod-2 competitors 2nd place in P-stock. (performance stock cars can do some mods that prod-2 cant, battery relocation, Final Drive, Motor internals... i might be allowed to do final drive i'm not sure)
Our over night service was frantic, i roll into service, and can't find my crew. we go up to the hotel and they are trying to take a nap. Can't blame them consider no one has slept yet. but i'm all pissy and i want to try and fix my car. Thad springs up and Nick gets up after a moment, he had Just fallen asleep and was dying for some rest. We attack the car, putting it on jack stands and thad tears into the exhaust. i decide to check my drums. the left one is having a problem. its all seized up, guess it was that way on stage.
i get it off and its adjusted a bit wrong and wearing funny. after fighting with it with john we get it into place. next i decide to change the springs. when working on the back right i see that the toe is just free to adjust by hand...
hmm, maybe that's part of why i had a hard time figuring out the diff. Thad ran back and adjusted it while i held the tire straight.
I continued working on changing the springs. left rear, Easy.
right rear.. damn metal top spring (plate?) won't come off i get frustrated and Thad tells me to just keep working on it. I do, i put some PB blaster on it, try prying it, tapping it, everything, eventually it comes off and i change my back right.
I had been using 6.5/5K (350/280) which seemed too stiff and Odi who does suspension even said so at my last rallyX. I got my right rear 200# spring in, and thad had a 250# front in, wanting to go 4.5k/3.5k. the right rear smaller washer/collar piece wouldn't come off. Thad fought with it for a long time and we couldn't get it. everyone was super tired and almost not able to stand up. Nick cleaned up tools , trash, and fluids, john helped me zip together the rear end of the car. ( I later found the rear camber bolt was loose on the right side and the camber was adjusting on me)
Thad returned the front left to the 350 and we buttoned it up. and went to bed. finally, wow!
http://www.rallydata.com/Results/Pre...ub1Results.htm