greg1647545532 Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Since I haven't done a lot of track days this year owing to my shitty schedule, I decided to splurge a bit and do a couple days at VIR last week. I popped my track cherry at VIR back in 2008, and then didn't go back until last year, when I did my first ChumpCar race on the south course. This most recent event was a Mon/Tues, with the conventional Full course on Monday and the 4.something mile long Grand course on Tuesday. I'd had some charging issues over the summer and as usual I waited until the last minute to put my car back together. I literally reinstalled my ignition switch and put my dash back together on hwy 33 driving down to Athens the day before, because I'm an idiot. Nevertheless, the car did the 500 mile trip without issue. During tech, a couple people pointed out the noise coming from the engine bay, which I assured everyone was the exhaust leak coming from the header I've broken twice now. (Foreshadowing). Monday morning is a bit chilly, so I we're instructed to take it easy for the first session. No problem, I'm a bit rusty anyway. So I slowly build some speed into T1 on my first lap and suddenly the car starts misfiring. I figure it just needs to warm up a bit more, so I try to keep the revs up the rest of the lap but it's still misfiring. I pull into the pits, annoyed that I'm missing a session, and try to find the source of the misfire. Everything looks good other than the fact that I'm not getting ignition in cyl 4, so one of the guys I met down there told me to do a compression check. I'm like, What? It's a little misfire, if something happened to make me lose compression there'd be clanging and smoke and shit, right? But, out of ideas, I borrow a compression tester from the biggest racing rig in the paddock and sure enough, no compression in cyl 4. I pull the valve cover off and the problem is apparent -- several of the valve lash adjustment nuts have worked themselves lose, leading to two broken rocker arms and a dropped/bent valve. Fuck. I have the choice -- drive home on 3 cylinders or go into ChumpCar mode and risk it all. I choose the latter, and by noon I have in my possession a "new" cylinder head from a 2000 CR-V, sourced from a local junkyard who highly recommended I have it checked out at a machine shop. I told them no, I was going to slap it on my racecar and beat the fuck out of it instead. Picked up a head gasket from Advance and a few hours later: http://photos-a.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xap1/10723743_393153340841904_133173205_n.jpg The head gasket had to be ordered from a store in Greensboro so I didn't have that back in my possession and back at the paddock until 5:30 or so. By 8, it was all buttoned up, and the next morning: I told myself I was going to take it easy, that lasted about the first lap until the oak tree turn and then I just said fuck it. By the end of the day I ran a couple 3:17 laps. There's a few seconds to shave off still but 4.1 miles is a lot to learn/relearn in 1 day. I don't think it's too shabby for a car with 146hp at the crank and a cylinder head hastily installed by a substandard mechanic Oh, we only found 3 of the 4 missing adjustment nuts, so one of them probably fell down into the oil pan and is still sitting there. I'm going to have to pull the engine apart this spring, unfortunately; fish anything out of the oil pan and have this head checked out properly. The head and supplies cost me about $300, which sucks but it's still pretty darn cheap. I'm mostly annoyed with myself for misdiagnosing the valvetrain noise, and the lost track time, but I may still keep the car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Massive respect for at racetrack repair like that! I'd have packed it up and been depressed all week/month if that happened to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Jones Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Massive respect for at racetrack repair like that! I'd have packed it up and been depressed all week/month if that happened to me. +1 Awesome read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsm_sleeper Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 +1 Awesome read. +2 Good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagner Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 All killer and no filler :fuckyeah: I think the Koolrayz quote form LS Fest a few years ago fits best here. After the car goes on the bumper and tears some stuff up we go into full thrash mode to try and get it fixed for some more test hits and data. Guy asks Ray, "why are you fixing the car like this at the track?" Ray's response, "Because I didn’t drive all this way to be a spectator" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 ...sourced from a local junkyard who highly recommended I have it checked out at a machine shop. I told them no, I was going to slap it on my racecar and beat the fuck out of it instead. +rep for the LOL and hutzpah. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Bastard Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Awesome. I would also probably be the guy to pack it in and head home unless I had the spare parts I needed with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Apex Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Well done man!! I nursed my shitty brakes around there the once I've been, thankfully not a full fledged break down like that. Will never forget that track, wished they had offered the Grand Course while I was there but was happy just to get to run it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pntbll309 Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Gotta love at track repairs. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitamincj Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Great read! Glad you still go in some track time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted November 25, 2014 Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 Great recovery from a possibly crappy weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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