I haven't been doing much work to the bug lately, not because I don't have upgrade and development plans...but because my garage spot has been taken up by a Dodge Colt! Friends who have me on Facebook or twitter will be familiar with much of this post. Not sure if anyone else will recognize the car, but it was originally a US SCCA build, that was later sold to a guy in Canada before being sold to a close friend of mine. The car has been in storage for a couple of years, and he's asked me if I wouldn't mind getting it stage ready again.
Rally cars which have lived for years, over multiple owners, tend to have a long list of interesting issues..and this one is no exception. A skim through the logbook shows more DNF's then finishes, and that's a core problem we intend to sort out of the car. My personal assessment is that the car has a great base (or shell), and some well thought out suspension modifications. The mechanicals, drivetrain, electrical and prep have either suffered, or leave much to be desired. But the hit list was relatively simple:
1) Get it running
2) Get it driving
3) Test, create the priority list of needs
4) Fix, Update
5) Clean and "professionalize"
6) Go racing
Somewhere in that list is my number one complaint about the car. The electrical system is just embarrassing. Factory wiring, additional rally wiring, every type of crimp connector you can imagine, sometimes used two or three times in a single length of wire. It usually costs me $600-1500 to build a whole new harness, which isn't in the budget...but we'll come back to that later.
When it was purchased, the motor was in pieces with one of the pistons missing the entire top. The build was a rather eclectic mix of Mitsubishi, VW and custom pieces and it was determined that the most reliable option going forward was a standard Mitsubishi mill. The transmission was also damaged, so a solution would need to be found there as well. A running Dodge D50 Pickup was sourced and parted, giving us the engine and transmission we needed. A third transmission of unknown origin was parted to give us the correct length tail-housing and shifter location, as they're different on D50. Sorry, no photos of the process. We parted and swapped the whole assembly over two days while shooting it as part of a pilot for a TV show.
The car came with a custom intake setup which utilizes two Weber IDF 48 downdraft carbs, which are the same units I use in my VW Beetle. We opted to drop these onto the motor, as they'll breathe a heck of a lot better then the stock D50 setup.
With the basics sorted, we got it running and quickly discovered it's an absolute hoot out on the road. The suspension isn't bad...with the 2.6L mated to 5:83 gears and a welded rear diff the car is certainly going to give Adam a run for his money at the local rallycrosses! The excitement was short lived, however, as a couple of days into tuning the gearbox lunched itself. I was shifting from 4th to 5th at our current redline (5500rpm) when the transmission locked up and shut the motor down.
Turns out that slight bearing noise in neutral wasn't the throw-out bearing, and was actually the mainshaft bearing. Ouch!
In order to get at the above bearing, everything gets dismantled and removed from the gearbox except for the rear mainshaft.
With the box reassembled, the car was back on axle stands and the engine and transmission was reinstalled. Electrics were hooked up, and various systems were being tested. Shortly there after, flames were coming up from the dash...announcing themselves by shattering the windshield due to heat. (bad cell phone pic)
You know, a phone call that includes the words "sorry to tell you this about your car", combined with "at least the shop didn't burn down" are never good. Fortunately my buddy (who owns the car) took it all in strides. Needless to say the above mentioned electrical system is going to be attended to next.
-Dave