January 2005

Preparation for Sno*Drift Rallies

Normally at a rally we go with the attitude that regardless of what happens during the weekend we will come home with a good finishing position OR a really good story. Well this weekend, WE GOT BOTH!

The good story part starts somewhere about November of 2004 when we started making the needed repairs / upgrades to the Dodge Shadow rally car. We started by welding a new cross bar into our roll cage to meet the current rule spec. Of course this also required shifting the fuel cell over to one side, making new mounting bracketry, new fuel fill and vent lines, new floor bracing to support the cell, new fuel entry / return mounts, etc. This project was proof that nothing is as easy as you originally think it might be. Once this was complete we worked on patching the holes that had been blown through the floor at LSPR '04, allowing mud to splash into my eyes at water crossings. We also updated our 6-point safety harnesses and roll bar padding to the new FIA spec.

Somewhere about the first week of January we were done with the big stuff and started tuning and tightening the small issues on the car. Among them was a small coolant leak that we thought was coming from the turbo delivery line. This is a $35 piece that takes about an hour to change. As we started to investigate it didn't look like the supply line was the source. It looked like it was coming from behind the starter. Hmmmm. Sure enough, we found a 4" - 5" long crack in the engine block that was allowing coolant to leak through from the water jacket. Worst possible scenario!

How fast can a tricked out 2.2l turbo engine have a block transfer? We were about to find out! We had 3 weeks until Sno*Drift and we were going to need every bit of that time to make this happen. Step number one was to find a matching engine block. Who knew that parts for an engine that was almost 20 years old would be hard to find? Well they were. We ended up using a block that came out of a 1984 Chrysler turbo Labaron convertible that we had in storage behind the garage. It had a spun main bearing and some rusted cylinder walls, but that just gives us an excuse to over bore the engine!

Within a couple days we had the engine out of the donor car, torn down, and at the Bob's machine shop to be cleaned up and switched over. Bob over bored the cylinders 0.030 and cleaned up the bearing journals. Then it was a matter of waiting for pistons, gaskets and other motor parts to come in from various area suppliers. Luckily our .030 over pistons were in stock and Bob was able to turn the long block around in only a couple weeks.

When we got the block back, we had five days until the car needed to be on the trailer to leave for Atlanta, MI. It was pressure time. On Sunday January 23 the engine started! We only put about 20 miles on the new engine before backing it onto the trailer for the ride north. It was going to get its break in when the flag dropped Friday at stage 1!

Thursday (1/27/05)

Atlanta, MI

Thursday at technical inspection, Dad ran into a few issues while I was still back in Detroit. He and Mom had to put the new decal package on the car at tech and after a few issues with tail lights, parking brakes and turbo inlet sizes, we were cleared to run! One problem was still a concern. The car pulled to the right under acceleration and to the left under decompression braking. Was it that we didn't have the engine centered properly after the rebuild? Oh well, the car likes to slide anyway. What difference would a little pull in one direction make.

Friday (1/28/05)

Sno Club Rally

Friday morning at about 4:30 am, Bill and I arrived in Atlanta. Bill drove the entire way up while I slept from Standish north. That sleep was key because I felt pretty good when we got up at about 8:00 Friday morning. Alan and Matt had driven up Thursday from Chicago and were there at the hotel sleeping when we got in. Friday morning we prepped the car and got ready for the stages to come that night.

Mid day we headed out to the Parc Expose where the cars go on display prior to the start of the racing. We made some final tire pressure adjustments and headed off into the stages. The stages on Friday went well. We ran stages that varied from fast and smooth to slow and rough, like the Lockwood Lake Ranch. While running on the ranch we sucked so much snow into our air intake that we formed a solid ice block against our square air filter. The turbo sucked the ice block into the air filter and it bulged out into the intake plumbing. Luckily, no damage was done, except being way down on power during the ranch stage! We knocked the ice out of the filter on the transit and set the paper air filter on the dashboard to dry out! Problem solved and an additional 75 horsepower was back!

On the road to exit out of the ranch, 25 MPH is the posted speed limit. Well, we were not paying too much attention to that and got busted at an OBS (observation) control going around 38 MPH?! It was a 6-minute penalty! GAME ON! We need to make up 6 minutes,AND WE DID!! Lets just say we were making good time on the remainder of the Friday stages. We ended up pulling out a G5 class win!

Saturday (1/29/05)

Drift Club Rally

Saturday was a new day, and a new rally for the divisional series. Saturday's rally was almost all daytime stages with a lot of fast county roads and spectators. We started the day with another Parc Expose, where the cars are on display in the morning. The rally cars leave right from the expose to start the transits to the stages. Somewhere about 5 minutes before our out minute, when we were supposed to head out to the first stage, Dad realizes that he left his helmet in the hotel room! I ran one way, he another, and we came up with a helmet for him to wear. I believe it was an extra helmet Bob Olsen had. Thanks Bob!!

We were off to the stages; all our excitement for the day is out of the way, right?! Not exactly. We had a good solid start, running strong in class. One AWESOME stage was a 26 mile long, fast, smooth, flowing stage where we were FLYING on! Somewhere about 15-20 miles into the stage we came up to a 90 degree right turn at T intersection. We setup and slid wide into the snow bank on the outside of the corner. I got on the gas and we pulled out of the snow, but the car stalled! No big deal, we will just restart, right? Well, the starter was NOT WORKING!!! The turbo charger had gotten so hot that it melted the starter solenoid.

Dad and I got out and pushed the car (on ice) as fast as we could. This was only about 2 mph! I jumped in the car and dumped the clutch to try a bump start. The ground was so slippery that the wheels just locked and slid on the ice. There was not enough traction to push start the car. While all this is going on, we watch as our competitors pass us, our chance of having a good finish slipping away fast! After ALL of the other cars went by (~20 minutes later) some corner workers run up and give us a push, a REALLY FAST PUSH. This time it was enough to start the car and we were off! We figured we would try to finish the rally just for fun, since we are now 20 minutes behind the competition.

We head off down the stage and realize that there had been a big crash 5 miles up the road. Scheamus Burke had spun his Mitsubishi Evo and blocked the road! All the rally cars had been stuck on course so all the stage times were going to be thrown out!! Our stall and time delay would not be held against us. Not only were we running again, but we were in the lead in our class!! AWESOME!

We push started the car after every service, never stalling the car for the rest of the day (because we knew it wouldn't re-start!) The rest of the race things went smoothly. We pulled off another G5 class win, our first Win-Win weekend! We all had a good time that weekend and definitely came out with a good story!