RapidC84B

No risk on a C5 batwing pan with oil cooler. The "risk" was in some F-body pans with low capacity pumping too much oil to the top of the motor too fast. I ran a GM LS4 pump (basically a GM Melling high volume) on my last 2 C5s. Had the 42 psi relief spring. Pressure never dropped below 40 on track on the analog gauge. However, you can get into a serious serious discussion about lubrication and pressure vs. flow and what's best. I had no issues with the high volume pump and 10w40 Amsoil for all my years. On the C7 it's a totally different setup with a variable geometry pump. I run 10w40 in that too.

911tt

Well crap. I thought I was looking good on Saturday, I had everything buttoned up, started up the car, everything seemed great. Mission accomplished. Then I started it again and got a low oil pressure warning. Oil pressure started low and climbed up to normal over several seconds. This repeated on the third start. Seems likely that I botched the oil pump o-ring install and it got pinched. So I spent Sunday morning disassembling again.

Went a lot faster now that I've done it once. Arrived at the part where the harmonic balancer bolt needs to come out. Won't budge with a breaker bar. With a 3-foot extension on the breaker bar the entire balancer rotates, I can't seem to get the drivetrain locked up tight enough (it's in 4th gear, e-brake on, wheels chocked as best I can with the car in the air). Took a Milwaukee big boy 1/2-in 18V impact wrench to it "1400 ft-lbs of nut-busting torque!" for about a minute and it still wouldn't budge.

This is the part where I finally learn the lesson that ToolHoarder is always right. Even though he wisely advised that I do 100ish ft-lbs of torque on the bolt since the balancer is now pinned, when I reassembled I went ahead and followed the instructions that said red loctite + 235 ft-lbs. I'm now paying the price. I'll try the impact gun a bit longer and then try a torch on the bolt for a while. Wish me luck

RapidC84B

I told you... 235 with red loctite is going to take a big impact and heat.

kevinj0101

A 3/4 inch pneumatic impact makes short work of that bolt.

911tt

My wrench is capable of 1400 ft-lbs, which is close to a 3/4" pneumatic I looked at that advertises 1700 ft-lbs. I'm thinking the red loctite is my main adversary at this point. Anybody have a guess as to how long I need to keep the torch on the end of the bolt to get the entire bolt heated to 500 degrees F for two minutes (that's what loctit'es website says you need to get it to break down)? I've given it a few goes without success, most recently 4 minutes with a MAP torch on the end of the bolt. Won't budge.

RapidC84B

Try a large breaker bar with a full jack handle over it. May need to have the hood off the car.

911tt

I gave that a shot but one of the rear wheels rotates. I think I need to lower the rear onto the ground (or onto ramps) so the weight of the car keeps the wheel from rotating.

RapidC84B

Yes... rear wheels on ground with good rubber chocks. Put it in 5th or 6th gear.

911tt

The observant among you will notice a couple of things that are abnormal in the above photo:

1) The car is not on jack stands.

2) The hood is closed.

No, I'm not preparing to tow her to the county dump and set her ablaze, she's fixed (hopefully)!

The key to getting the crank bolt off was a long cheater bar and lowering the rear wheels onto ramps so the weight of the car prevented them from turning. It's possible that a long session with a torch on the end of the bolt helped too. In any case, the bolt finally came out.

When I got to the oil pump, the o-ring was literally missing. I don't know if it fell out during the initial install or if it dropped when I took it back apart, but I spied it chilling down in the pan and managed to fish it out. Not cool.

After careful reinstall of the oil pump (I used the old high-pressure pump instead of my new standard pump) and an even more careful install of the balancer / crank bolt (this time 125 ft-lbs, no loctite), I was able to get everything back together in a marathon session last night.

I took her out for a shake down run today and all seems well. Oil pressure shoots right up to its previous levels, coolant temps stay around 195, and so far there are no leaks to be seen. I also found that my sway bar clunking seems to be gone at least for the time-being (I applied grease to the mounts).

It's hard to say for certain because the car was out of commission for so long, but the Doug Rippie aluminum steering rack bushing seems to have improved steering feel significantly.

I'm registered for another Track Night in America event at AMP next Wednesday, so hopefully there are no nasty surprises before then.

911tt

I've run a tank of gas through the car since I finished up the repairs and there's no sign of an oil leak, so that means I've addressed the two biggest issues with the car (excessive oil in catch can, oil leak). I can finally move on to some other stuff. TNiA at Atlanta Motorsports Park tomorrow. I'm feeling really rusty since it's been about two months since my first outing, but hopefully I'll make some progress, i.e. be just run-of-the-mill slow instead of embarrassingly slow.

911tt

I wish I could say that I stand before you today a humble man. I wish I had learned a subtle, valuable life lesson regarding sportsmanship. A semi-sweet reminder that this life is fleeting and we should all savor the hour just before dawn, when the dew clings to each blade of grass and the day ahead promises just a few moments of beauty. A tree dancing slowly in the wind. A string of clouds floating purposefully across a pale blue sky.

Instead, I am become Z06, destroyer of worlds.



When we arrived at AMP this afternoon for Track Night in America (great event, you should try it!), we were still hoping that the rain would stay away. Instead, it started pissing buckets as we set up the tent, and it only got worse during the early sessions. Coward that I am (was), I took things very easy. The transition onto the back straight included some standing water that caused my back end to step out even at very low speed and that scare was enough to keep me firmly planted in sloth mode. I was passed many, many times. I began to accept my lot in life as a permanent back-marker, the guy who goes to the track to make others feel good.

What I did not know, what I could not know, was that I had been passed for the last time.



When the second session came, the rain had reduced to a drizzle, which flipped some hidden switch in my brain. I found that the improved conditions allowed me to process what had happened earlier in a new way. Yes I had slipped and slid. Yes the front end had pushed. Yes the traction control had intervened unexpectedly. But I was still alive. I was ready to push the pace.

With fear of imminent death removed from my mind, I was free to focus on things like shifting, braking points, and lines. Stuff I hadn't had mental bandwidth to process. And I got faster. I caught a Miata that had passed me in the first session. I caught a Mustang. I (respectfully, at a very safe distance) rode their goddamned bumpers and wordlessly demanded a point-by. Get your little dog out of the way, my big dog wants to eat.

And that's how it happened. I passed a car. I had never passed a car on the track. Then I passed another. I caught traffic. I lamented how slow some of these novices were. I appreciated the point-by. I tried to be concise with my passes, but we're not out to embarrass anyone, let's short shift so we don't rub their noses in it.



By the third session, I was Cole-*******-Trickle. I got into a groove. Reel them in. Sit on their bumper, pass, and enjoy the clear air ahead. Miatas, Mustangs, and BRZs bowed under the thrall of my unchained beast.

I had 4 laps in a row that were not encumbered by traffic and all of them hovered around 1:47. This was on a damp track, compared to my previous recorded best of 1:56. I was feeling pretty OK about this 9-second improvement until my brother-in-law told me his best for the day was a 1:46 (he runs 1:35s in the dry). He runs in the advanced class and I watched him destroy a C6Z during his 2nd session. "In Whoville they say that 911tt's ego grew three sizes that day."

So yeah. I'm not as bad at this as I was a couple months ago, and that feels great. It doesn't hurt that I've been elbows-deep in this car for the last month and my fundamental optimism was put to the test. It also doesn't hurt that the car didn't skip a beat. Oil pressure is great. Temps are good. Brakes started to fade a bit towards the end. Things got a little hot and stinky. Watching the video I can see I have a long way to go. I'm no Lewis Hamilton, stepping into a kart for the first time and destined for a Formula 1 career. But I suck less than I did before, and that's what matters.

Kubs

The rain will teach you how to drive at the limit, just at a slower pace. My first time ever on track was in the wet and I had a similar experience. By the end of the day I felt I had learned so much. Glad you got the opportunity, and it sounds like you are progressing well and having fun! Good job!

911tt

A couple of take-aways that came to mind after the event:

• Swapping out the stock driver's seat for the Sparco QRT-R was really huge in terms of drivability. Instead of being tossed around in the seat and having to brace myself with my knees, I felt securely planted and it was therefore easier to feel how the car was cornering, even without a harness to keep me cinched in.
• I can't say for sure that it's not placebo effect, but the Doug Rippie aluminum steering rack bushing seems to have made a really big improvement in steering feel. It's still not the most communicative or precise steering, but combined with decent tires it made a substantial improvement.

We're going to be hitting the beach for a week so I'll try to work up a revised to-do list. Top priority is probably getting the passenger seat and harnesses mounted (which will then require a hans device before the next event). After that I need to get more familiar with the fluids I haven't changed yet as well as other wear items that will need to be checked (brake pads, for instance). Beyond that it seems like the best thing I can do is attend more events and maybe consider an HPDE that offers some instruction so I can catch any bad habits I might be developing.

This stuff is a lot of fun, I can't wait to do more.

Edit:

Not sure how much longer these R888Rs will last. It took a while for me to build heat in them, but once I did I thought they felt really good (although I don't have any real point of reference). I am starting to see the wisdom in replacing them with something cheaper and less grippy for my next set. I'd like something that talks to me when I run out of grip so I can get more familiar with how the car handles at the limit. It would also be nice to have something that's capable of year-round driving in North Georgia - it gets below freezing in the winter but rarely snows. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's I have on the Porsche have very scary warnings about how you should never expose them to temps below 20 degrees F because all sorts of terrible things can happen if they aren't carefully brought back up to temp over 24 hours. It would also be nice to have something that isn't terrifying to drive in the rain

911tt

Dang! Looks like I have a very minor coolant leak - I'm seeing some drops sprayed around the lower part of the front of the engine. Nothing leaking onto the floor. I'm guessing I didn't get a perfect seal with the water pump gaskets somehow. The water pump is a little tricky to install. Luckily it's not too difficult to access, but I'm not looking forward to draining the coolant for a third time.

RapidC84B

Water pump is easy... use new gaskets.... and if I recall first pass is 11 lbs and 2nd is 22? Don't quote me on that. You could have the actual pump seal failing, so depending on the age of the pump I'd replace it.

911tt

Good news - the coolant leak turned out to be a loose hose clamp on the throttle body bypass coolant line. It was seeping out around the fitting so I snugged it up and no more leak.

I'm getting started on the passenger seat install, any tips on how to relocate the accelerometer for the active handling system that's under the passenger seat? The Marrad bracket doesn't clear it so it needs to move a couple inches away from the center tunnel. I can't imagine it's too hard but if anybody has insight to lend I'd love to hear it.

RapidC84B

Never had to do that. AMT’s rails have a place specifically to relocate it.

0marrad

It's not hard to remount the sensor on top of our or any aluminum rail. It's the steel bracket for sliders that's being referred to because we made it sit lower than the stock rails since headroom is such an issue. We may make another slider bracket that can clear it in the future.

NSFW

Pics of the install process would be great. I have pairs of brackets and sliders in my garage, just waiting for me to make up my mind about which seats to put on top of it all.

911tt

Ahhhh... so refreshing to take on a small, manageable project that only eats up a reasonable chunk of the weekend.

I partially installed my driver's seat a while back, but with the new seat rail the rear seat studs were too short to accommodate the upright for the BK harness bar, so I had to remove that upright. The goal this weekend was to get the passenger seat in and to install longer rear seat studs on both sides.


Marrad parts that have been patiently waiting for install.


OEM passenger seat out.


Makeshift tool cart.

The basic idea with longer seat studs is to pound out the old ones, which are spot-welded to the reinforcing bar under the floor. To avoid floor damage I used a 1" socket jacked up underneath and pounded the top of the stud down. There was minor damage to the original bar, but I added a new steel bar drilled to accept 7/16" grade 8 bolts (2" long).

On the passenger side you also have to relocate the accelerometer that feeds data to the stability control system. The Marrad mounts don't quite clear it but if they'd used less epoxy at the factory I might have been able to get away with just removing the carpet above it. Instead I shifted it a couple of inches away from the tunnel and affixed it to the floor, making sure to maintain the same orientation as the factory. You can get some slack in the wire by tugging on it a bit.


Here's the accelerometer after being carefully pried loose.


Drilling the steel reinforcement for new bolts. I need to mount my vise.


With the steel bar cut to length and drilled for the new bolts I placed the new seat (Sparco QRT-R).

You could definitely save some headroom by going without sliders, but at a hair under 6'2" I'm able to fit reasonably well with a helmet and the sliders make it easy to get at the mounting hardware, not to mention allowing others to drive the car.


Here's the installed reinforcement bar. I used RTV between it and the floor (and in the bolt holes) to keep it in place during install and keep water out. Then I gave it a good coat of spraypaint to avoid corrosion.




All wrapped up.

I still need to install my Schroth 6-point harnesses, but I'm going to hold off until I'm ready to pull the trigger on the HANS device.