And Now for Something Completely Different – One F1

Not that anyone of the FOTA or FIA players read this blog, but it appears that positive things have been taking place since my last entry. 

First is that FOTA will not be creating their own series and have reached some level of agreement with FIA.  Max Mosely is stepping down and the hope is whoever takes his place will not be aligned with any of the teams, current or past.

The 2009 rules will remain in place through 2012 for all of the teams.  This ensures very much needed stability and predictability for team owners.

Martin Whitmarsh of team McLaren, spoke to the need of the teams and F1 to listen to the needs of the fans.  I certainly hope this message remains and is acted upon.  I don’t think that FIA or many of the teams have paid enough attention to the fans and how the championship was evolving into something that was ignoring the needs and expectations of the fan.

FOTA invested in fan surveys in order to bring constructive and meaningful suggestions to the FIA table.  While I am not privy to the details, it has to be a step in the right direction.

 

WRC

Just when it looked like WRC was tossing out turbo charged engines they woke up and have now declared that 1600cc four cylinder engines with turbo will be part of the 2011 rules for the “new” WRC.  You can also expect to see more aerodynamics and electronics used in the drive trains.  It looks like Loeb might stick around after all.

Evolution IX – Rear Aero Diffuser (but not the end)

Today I had time between other projects to install the rear aero-diffuser that had made such a difference on the 2005 Evolution MR.  Luckily I was able to rescue it from the older car and have been planning to install it for quite some time.

About a week ago the weather was nice enough that I could put it outside on some saw horses and sand it down and paint it.  APR made the diffuser out of fiberglass and it had some road rash from the time it spent on the ’05. 

I decided to give it a satin black finish instead of the gloss black that it originally had.   I also had a chance to clean it up as it had accumulated a lot of road grime over the years.

The installation process really takes two people if you want to install it with the best fit possible and luckily I was able to recruit a friend despite the hot humid weather.

First there were several trial fits with some trimming done to the fiberglass as well as the bumper cover.  Nothing radical, just fine tuning.  Then it was time to mark the holes that would have to be made in the bumper cover in order to bolt it in place.  This is always tricky and we spent a lot of time checking and re-checking before the drill was taken out.  Here is where having two people really makes a difference. 

When I first installed it on my previous Evo I used tape to hold it in place and the results were OK.  With two people we could really get things lined up and kept everything in place for a very nice fit.

After all the bolts were in, I had a friend who is gifted with a great deal of patience and likes detail work, fill in the edges with black RTV so that dirt would not have a place to collect.

I like the look and how it turned out.  Now I can’t wait to get the exhaust in place. 

 

Formula None

It is like a bad dream.  FIA, Formula One’s sanctioning body is at odds with FOTA, Formula One Team Association.  FIA president Max Mosely is trying to stick with the idea of a budget cap and FOTA is resisting. 

The big boys in Formula One; Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Red Bull, Scuderia Toro, say no to budget caps and are now planning on establishing their own series.

Didn’t we live through something similar with IRL and CART?  And how did that turn out?

Jackie Stewart has stepped in saying that Bernie Ecclestone should use his leverage as holder of commercial rights to F1 and bring the teams back into the series.

Meanwhile this year’s F1 competition continues with the British GP being held at Silverstone for the last time.

I think they should all take the weekend off and think about just what the concept of a Formula One championship should really mean.  They should think about how it all started and where is the true meaning of the series.

F1 has gone through various rules changes over the decades of its existence.  Some for better and some for worse.  I would hate for it to become a spec series as has happened to Indy racing and NASCAR. 

It would be nice to see Formula 1 as a showcase of driving talent and not pit stop strategy.  It would be nice to see automotive technology that didn’t have to be supported by $100,000,000 budgets either.

I doubt we can return to the days when cars wore the country’s colors and the car’s number and the drivers’ suits only had their name and blood type.  But surely there can be a way for such a championship to exist without the winner being only determined by the depth of a bank account.

Evolution IX – Clean Up

There are always a few surprises with a used car and this Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is no exception.  With less than 5000 miles on the odometer you would think that not much could have happened, but that is not always so.  Certainly the body is straight and not had a major accident, but there are some tell tale signs that it has seen a couple of changes as well as owner stupidity.

As it was sold to me the exhaust is stock, at least somewhat.  The catalytic converter, while functioning, is not the factory original.  The engine side of the radiator show distinct signs of someone going wrench happy so I strongly suspect that an aftermarket downpipe was installed for a time. 

When I went to upgrade the fuel pump from a factory one to a Walbro 255 I discovered that one had already been installed.  I switched it out anyway.

The fender well plastic shield and under tray had all been replaced with new factory stuff and the original brake ducts had been gone missing and the brackets were bent.

There had always been a certain musty smell to the interior that I first wrote off to the car having sat idle for nearly two and a half years.  Then, as I was routing wiring for the radar detector sensors I discovered that the matting under the carpet was moist.  This did not make me a happy camper by any means.

I pulled the seats, center console, and floor trim and removed all the carpet.  It was soaked.  Some idiot had popped out a couple of the rubber plugs in the floor and rain water from the road had entered in to the under carpet.

The original carpet was useless and the floor underneath needed to be cleaned.  There was no rust, but a small amount of mildew was there to be removed.

I ordered a new carpet from Mitsubishi and it took about five days to show up.

In the mean time I dressed up all the new wiring for the Escort radar unit, the Ericsson Bluetooth hands free kit, and the iPod adapter for the factory radio.

The new carpet fit perfectly and I made sure that the rubber plugs were all replaced prior to installing it.  Then the trim, seats, and console went back in.

The clutch pedal was missing a floor stop and pedal arm stop so I picked those up from Mitsubishi as well.

It is nice to get these things straightened out, but it amazes me how many things can be lost, broken, or ruined in less than 5000 miles.  Don’t worry, this car will be just like new when I have completed the transformation.  Or should I say, better than new.

Next will be the exhaust upgrade, then the new GSC Stage 1 cams.  I have a new Mishimoto radiator and hoses, as well as a Greddy intercooler that has been anodized black.  The Tomei ARMS turbo is on order and should be here by the end of the month.

Evolution IX – Brake Upgrade

So why am I taking a car with barely 5000 miles on it and upgrading the brakes?

The car has nearly three years on the brake fluid and has been driven very little, but was originally from the Bronx in New York.  Certainly the brake fluid needed to be replaced and my experience with my previous Evolution showed the benefits of better rotors and brake pads.

I really liked the results from when I switched over to Brembo cadmium plated and slotted rotors that I had purchased via Tire Rack.  The rotors that came on the Evo were excellent quality but the plated versions are so nice in terms of keeping their good looks on top of the high Brembo quality.  The slots come with the rotors.  I don’t know that they are beneficial or necessary, but they certainly don’t hurt anything.  I do stay away from drilled rotors.  When subjected to the heat stresses of track use they are known to fail by cracking at the holes.  This is true even with drilled rotors with radiused holes.  Drilled rotors can look very sexy, and are generally fine for use on the street.  Not on this Evolution though.

The brake pads from the factory are adequate, but can certainly be improved upon.  On my previous Evo 8 I used Project Mu Blue pads for the street and like them very much.  This time I have converted to Satisfied GS pads for the street.  We have used them on a lot of customer cars and like the results.  They are not a track pad, but excellent for street use with good modulation, low dust, and no squealing issues.

Brake lines are another area that can be improved.  The factory flexible brake lines that come on the Mitsubishi Evolutions are of excellent quality and were never replaced on my previous car.  This time I decided to put on a set of braided stainless steel brake lines.

Brake fluid should be flushed and replaced at least once a year, particularly if you are going to use your car on track days (HPDE).  The fluid in this car definitely needed to be replaced.  The brake fluid of choice is Ate Blue.  This same fluid also comes in a clear yellow.  If you use Ate on a regular basis you can swap between the two colors so that you know when the new fluid has reached the bleeder as you flush the system.

I pulled all the wheels and tires that came with the car so I could get to the brakes.  Next I tapped out the pins that held in the brake pads.  Using a screw driver I leveraged between the pads and rotors in order to press the caliper pistons back. 

Ideally you should open the bleeder screw as you press back the pistons so that the fluid is not pushed back to the master cylinder.  At this point I was more concerned with keeping brake fluid off the Brembo calipers.  Brake fluid can take the clear coat off the calipers so it must be cleaned off quickly. 

With all the pins and pads out I could unbolt the calipers from the hubs and that freed up the rotors.  The original rotors were not in bad shape, but they showed a lot of wear for a car with less than 5000 miles on the odometer.  I knew the car had originally been owned by a woman that lived in the Bronx in New York so they were put through some tough times with a lot of stop and go traffic.  The environment also included salted winter roads so there was concern on my part that rust would make a mess of things.

Fortunately, while there was some rust, it was very little and not deep, like it would have been if the car had spent a couple of years in that environment.  When I removed the rotors from the hubs there was just a little rust on the hubs and what there was I could take care of with a wire brush on a drill.  I follow the cleaning with a very light coat of synthetic grease on the hub surface. 

Now it was the time to swap out the factory flexible brake lines for a set of braided stainless steel lines.  The new lines came with new banjo bolts and copper crush washers.  The fitment was excellent, which is not always the case with some of these replacement brake lines.

With the new lines installed it was time to bolt the calipers back in place.  It was also a good time to clean off the calipers.  I recommend Simple Green and water rather than brake clean spray.  The Simple Green does a great job removing brake dust and all the kinds of dirt that a wheel well sees.  Rinse with plain water and dry with some paper towels.  The calipers will look like new.

Bolting the calipers on take a certain amount of care as the threads are fine and can be cross threaded.  Sometimes it helps to turn the bolt backwards until you feel a click, then turn it clockwise. 

The bolts were tightened to the proper torque and it was time to slide in the new pads.  I had a fresh set of pins and anti-rattle clips to install, as well.  The Satisfied pads slipped right in.  Now it was time for the fresh brake fluid.

The method I use to flush the brake system is using the Mityvac vacuum tool.  I vacuum out the reservoir first.  Then I fill it up with fresh Ate fluid.  Taking the vacuum bleeder to the passenger rear caliper, I bled that caliper.  I made certain that the reservoir stayed full as I went to all the bleed screws.  Since each of the Brembo calipers have two bleed screws you start with the outside bleeder and then do the inner one.  The bleeding order on the Mitsubishi Evolution is to start with the passenger rear, go to the driver front, then the driver rear, and end up with the passenger front.  That may seem strange, but it is the way it is done on the Lancer.

With the brakes completed it was time to put wheels and tires on.  The tires that came with the car had been changed from the original Yokahama Advans to some basic Khumo tires.  The car deserved better than that.  Fortunately I had a set of factory BBS wheels with a set of Bridgestone R01 tires mounted, balanced, and filled with nitrogen, that I could replace them with.  Later I would dismount the Khumo tires and discover that two of the wheels were garbage.  One had been bent and sloppily repaired while the other was still bent. 

The lug nuts were torqued to the proper amount and the car was ready to back off the lift and see how the brakes were.

Between the upgrade in tires and the upgrade in brake components it was fantastic.  I really like this car.  More improvements will be in its future, and it is growing on me.

 

Citroen 2CV ala Ferrari

Citroen has produced some memorable cars, from the amazing SM to the lowly 2CV.  In the sixties you might have seen a few on this side of the Atlantic.  In the seventies they were a favorite of those who competed in ice racing.  I had a professor at my college that commuted every day in his. 

You can see them in the movie “Day of the Jackal”.

It had an air suspension that would allow the driver to raise and lower the vehicle as required, a silky smooth transmission, and the looks of a modern age.

The 2CV on the other hand was minimalist to the maximum.  It has a two cylinder engine and not even windows to roll up.  The 2CV intorduced in 1955 had an engine that was rated at only 9 horssepower. The side windows folded up instead of winding down.  They were the perfect vehicle to convince rural French farmers that they too could use a motor vehicle in their lives.

It was once voted the world’s ugliest car, but I think homely would be more appropriate.

It came in your very basic sedan as well as a few variants, including a small van-truck.

An Italian rally team found some spare time to take a Ferrari chassis and graft a 2CV truck body on to it creating the most wondrous Citroen ever.

Thanks to Kevin for steering me to this video.

Evolution IX – Adding New Stability

While there have been few entries for a while we have been quite busy getting the “new” Evo fitted out with more goodies.  One Saturday we laid out just about all the suspension pieces that we wanted to equip the car with.

That includes the Swift Spec R springs that we found to be such an advantage on the track.  Also a 25mm adjustable anti-roll bar (a.k.a, anti-sway) from Road Race Engineering.  The folks from Whiteline make an essential pair of kits to restore the roll center in the front suspension after lowering and a bump-steer fix for the rear suspension.  It was also time to install the front fender braces and upgrade the front anti-roll bar bushings.

There is nothing like having a garage and a lift at your disposal when executing a project like this and the first thing to do was to remove the wheels and tires from the car. This allowed easy access to the suspension pieces.

I started on the fender braces while a couple of friends tackled the rear anti-roll bar.

The first thing to do when installing the braces is to remove the front fenders and the first thing you have to do is remove the fender liner.  This consists of removing many push pins, a couple of scrivets (screw rivets), and one bolt.  Then you pull the liner out from under the wheel well.

From there you unbolt the bolts on the top of the fender and loosen the fasteners holding the headlight assembly. 

You also have to pop off the J-panel by the rear view mirror in order to get to one of the fender’s bolts.

Another bolt is accessible by opening the door.

Finally there are two bolts at the bottom of the fender as you pry back the rocker panel.

After all those fasteners are taken care of you should be able to pull off the fender.  It helps to have some extra hands so that things don’t get scratched or bent.  The fender is very light since it is made from aluminum.

That exposes the area behind the fender and that is where the fender braces are mounted. 

It is best to keep the car’s door closed as you must remove three bolts on the door’s hinge and then bolt the brace using those bolts.  Later you should test how the door latches and adjust the hinges if necessary.

Then you need to drill two holes for the two Allen-head bolts at the front of the brace.  You can also install the single Allen-head bolt using an existing hole in the subframe. 

With the holes drilled you install and tighten the bolts.  The result is a brace that will hide behind the fender and provide excellent stiffness to the chassis.

Meanwhile my friends were making progress with the rear bar.  We had to unbolt the shocks and rear hub so that the new bar could be exchanged with the factory bar. 

The new 25mm bar has stops welded in so that the bar won’t slide back and forth.

It also has a new mount that accommodates the added diameter and provides a strong anchor to deal with all the torque the new bar will have to sustain.

The bar is adjustable with three positions to choose from.  I am starting with the softest setting since my other modifications will provide the rotation I need.  That leaves plenty of roll stiffness I can add in later if I need it.

With the new bar in place it was time to replace the stock springs with the Swift Spec R springs.  I had found these springs to be just fantastic on the road course.  They may not be as exotic as coil-overs, but they worked exceptionally well to keep the tires planted and transferring power to the track surface.  They really complemented the factory Bilsteins.

The rear springs were mounted over the shocks so they were unbolted from the shock towers from inside the trunk.  Fortunately I had not fastened the trim panels and they just pulled out of the way allowing access to the top bolts.

With the shocks unbolted from the car they were put in the spring compressor and the new springs were exchanged.

With a little help from a suspension screw jack the lower arm was held up high enough to secure the shock bolt.

Before the front struts went through the same process a couple of other steps took place.

First, since the new rear bar now had Energy bushings to rotate on the front bar was unbolted so that new Energy bushing could be swapped out for the factory rubber bushings.

The front bar did not have to be removed to get the new bushings installed.  The Energy bushings were liberally coated with synthetic grease and popped into place and then the bushing clamps were bolted into place. 

The description above makes this process sound trivial, but believe me it was not.  The guys installing the entire new rear bar had a much easier time.  The front bar is best tackled using a lift in order to have access to everything and even then it is difficult.  The bar has to be unbolted from the control arms as well and here is where it was discovered that the optional brake deflectors were missing and the mounting brackets were bent.  Hmm, I wonder what happened to this car? 

Fortunately I had a nice set of carbon fiber brake deflectors that came with new brackets.  They fit and worked just as the factory ones had, just a lot more bling.

After getting the new roll bar bushings installed I pulled the lower control arms so I could fit a new set of arms that had the Whiteline ball joints installed.  Normally it would have been some extra steps to press out the factory ball joints and press in the Whiteline ball joints, but I had an extra set of control arms that I had done all that work to already.  That made it a simple job to swap out the lower control arms and attach the ball joint to the front hub. 

 

 

All the bolts were tightened to proper torque and the anti-roll bar was connected to the arms.  Then the new brake duct and brackets were installed.

The struts were unbolted and the Swift Spec R springs were installed using the shop spring compressor.

Finally the new Whiteline tie rod ends were swapped with the factory ones completing the roll center correction kit.

Next it was time for an alignment since everything was new or had been unbolted.  I also purchased new eccentric bolts, washers, lock washers, and nuts for the key suspension links in the rear.  The old ones were okay, but didn’t feel right was the nuts were loosened and tightened.  I didn’t want to save a few bucks only to end up like I did last fall with a stripped bolt.

The initial alignment went well.  I had ground the rear toe links just a little so that they had plenty of room for me to minimize toe. 

The new front tie rod ends were easy to adjust, as well.  Later I would work on perfecting the camber settings, but it was fine for now.

Indy 500 – Remembering the First

As some of us prepare to watch the running of the Indianapolis 500 today we should remember the first Indy 500 run on the “brick yard” in 1911.  Ray Harroun drove the Marmon Wasp to victory as the only car to compete without a mechanic.  After much controversy he was allowed to run sans-mechanic by mounting a rear view mirror, the first ever on the cowl of his number 32 yellow Wasp.

With a purse of $25,000 for the winner and contestants from all over the world, this inaugural race drew a crowd of 80,000.  The race was sactioned by the AAA.

In those days a mechanic road with the driver and constantly made adjustment to the clutch, engine, and grease cups, etc. as well as warned the driver of cars around him on the track.  Today spotters around the track are in radio contact with the drivers alerting them to the same situations as the mirrors in use provide only a limited amount of visual information.

Back in those days the Indianapolis track was paved with bricks in order to provide a hard surface for the race cars, hence its nickname of the Brickyard.   Over 3 million bricks were used and today there remains a three foot strip of those bricks exposed at the start finish line so that the nickname can still be used.

The track was established as a development test track for the emerging automobile industry.  At the time Indiana was the home of over 100 manufacturers of cars.  Far more than Michigan.

The Wasp was powered by a straight six cylinder engine of 7.8 liters and developing 110 horse power.  Ray’s average speed was just shy of 75 miles per hour.  He chose that speed so that his tires would out last the other competitors. 

In 1962 Ray came out to the track to do a lap in the Wasp in celebration of the fiftieth running of the race.  He was 83.  You can see his car in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum at the track.

Here is a film of the first Indy 500.

Evolution IX – Gauging a New Perspective

It is a relatively small change, but one that really improves a key feature of the Evolution MR.  The MR edition came with a three gauge cluster that provides some useful information, but its placement is not the best for quick scanning or getting the most useful information in your line of sight.

The three gauges consist of a boost gauge, on the far right, an oil temperature gauge, in the middle, and a volt meter, on the left.  The problem is that it is mounted down below the dash, and just above the console.  This makes it difficult to see and make use of the information it provides. 

Fortunately the gauge cluster is just the same size as the radio which is mounted up on the dash, so the two can be swapped with each other.  The gauges can also be rearranged so that the boost gauge is closest to the driver’s line of sight.

The first thing to do is to get enough of the dash apart so that the radio and gauges can be removed.  To do this you need to pull out the heater control knobs.  This doesn’t take much strength and exposes a couple of Philips headed screws that also have to be removed. 

There are another two Philips screws to be removed on the trim around the gauges.

Then some gentle prying will remove the lower trim piece.

Just hooking your fingers through the control holes will allow you to pop off the panel around the radio.

More Philips screws hold the radio and the gauges in place

I put towels on the console so that it wouldn’t get scratched.

When you pull out the radio you will need to disconnect the white plug and the antennae lead.  Just put it on the floor until you get the gauges out.

You can pull the gauges out and unplug them so you can reroute the wires and hose to the radio’s old location. 

If you want to move the boost gauge closer you can completely remove it and the volt meter from the cluster or you can make it real easy and just loosen all three gauge clamps and rotate them in the bezel 180 degrees.  That will get them in the preferred order without totally removing them.

With the gauges clamped in to the bezel you need to route the wiring to the upper location to you can plug them in with no strain on the wiring or tubing.

Connect up the wiring to the gauges and set them in place up top and screw them in place.  Take your time and make certain that no wiring or tubing is pinched.

The radio is much the same situation.  Make certain that the wiring is not going to be stretched or pinched when the radio is fastened down in the new location and don’t forget the antenna lead.

Screw in the radio using the mounts that used to hold the gauges in place.

Put all the trim pieces back and screw them down.  Push the knobs back in place, too.

Now your gauges are easy to view and make use of while your radio is still very usable.

I added the Mitsubishi IPod adapter to the radio while I had it out and ran the connector for the IPod to the glove box.

39 Miles Per Gallon

Today the President announced that new cars would be required to achieve 39 miles per gallon in a few years time.  Given the current state of America’s automobile industry this was an optimistic road to take.

I would be delighted to achieve mileage in that range as I am sure most of us would.  We need to acknowledge though that to achieve higher mileage we will have to pay in other ways.

The fastest way to improve motor vehicle’s fuel consumption is to make it as light as possible.  Unfortunately motor vehicles have steadily been gaining weight over the years and it is not just the SUV’s and full-sized pickup trucks.  Sedans and coupes have also put on pounds.  A big factor for the weight gain is due to more stringent crash requirements by the Federal government.

Even before the new mileage requirements go into effect new roll-over requirements will challenge the car companies.  Frontal and side impact requirements continue to demand more from automotive design. 

Engineers can add more metal and weight to achieve these requirements or resort to more exotic materials that, while far lighter, will be more costly to produce and manufacture. 

More “air bags” (SRS) positioned about the cabin require more expensive design and computer networking within each vehicle.

It is true that there are new technologies that are yet to be applied broadly to the internal combustion engines sold as power plants to US motor vehicles.  Technologies such as direct injection, that will cut fuel consumption and emissions.  More exotic methods of controlling and varying valve timing will come into play as well.

Aerodynamics can also be improved, but that factor only comes in to play at speeds that, well, consume more fuel.

We can add more hybrids and pure electric vehicles to the mix to enhance the fleet average, too.

If you are expecting me to say that this new national requirement is a bad thing you are going to be disappointed.  The stated goal is a good one.  It would be good to reduce “greenhouse gas emissions” (what ever they really are) and it would be good to get more miles out of a given unit of fuel.  But when you ask for all that you must be careful that you understand all that you are asking for and what it will cost in other areas to achieve it.

Would you be willing to give up safety in order to have a lighter vehicle?  Would you be willing to live with slow acceleration and limited top speed so that fuel consumption would be enhanced?  Would you be willing to pay twice what you pay now for a motor vehicle so that you could have everything you have now and better mileage? 

You didn’t hear any push-back from the automobile companies because they know that their very existence is now in the hands of the Federal government. 

All the desires for lower fuel consumption, enhanced safety, lower emissions, etc. may very well be achieved, but only as measured at the vehicle itself.  Do your math so that it includes the emissions, safety, and fuel used during design, manufacture, transportation, and distribution.  There is no free lunch.  It all has to come from somewhere.

We live in interesting times.