The Trek North

It was six in the morning as I hit the road north and on my way to a very long drive to Cape Cod. Passing through the North Carolina country side traffic was not too bad at that hour and on the roads the would connect me to I-85.

It was not until I reached the Virginia boarder that things got ominous. After the obligatory “welcome to Virginia” sign was the sign that let you know that aircraft was used to enforce speed limits. It was a black sign with white lettering. Aircraft was not there to check or monitor your speed. Oh no, it was to enforce the speed limits. I pictured Blackhawk helicopter hovering just below the tree line ready pounce on any scofflaw that dared to exceed the posted speed limit.

The next signs let you know that Virginia will use radar and other electronic means to monitor your speed. But the next sign lets you know that you do not have the privilege of using a radar detector. In fact Virginia has made it illegal for you to use one.

From I-85 it was on to I-95, the north-south corridor. I headed on to Washington, DC and then on to Maryland. The traffic was congested from there on. The tolls in Maryland are now $5.00 for cars. Of course there is EZPass. It would make transversing toll booths faster, but of course they do monitor your time between tolls and will send you a warning if your time indicates you might have been exceeding the posted speed limits. Maintaining my anonymity is worth the inconvenience.

Delaware fades into the distance and it is on to the New Jersey Turnpike. Gasoline prices have been consistently three dollars plus. Of course with the Evolution I must only use 93 octane. New York and the dreaded Cross Bronx Expressway looms ahead after crossing the George Washington bridge. Connecticut is next. Here they monitor your speed with electronic devices. Everywhere along I-95 until after New Haven they have radar checking traffic flow and reporting to you on informational signs where the slow downs are and for how many miles or exits it will last. Finally I am in eastern Connecticut and heading for New London. Connecticut State troopers are sitting at strategic point in the road scanning all traffic for speed. It gives you a warm feeling to know they care so much. Finally you cross into Rhode Island and I-195 is just 30 miles away. RI is such a small state that you are crossing into Massachusetts before you know it. At first you cross in and out of those two states as their borders are jagged and the highway is straight, but soon you are not far from Fall River and not long after is New Bedford. I-95 ends and you get on 25 to the Bourne bridge being sure to roll down your windows so the smell of the ocean and the pine trees fills your car’s interior. Around the rotary and along the access road that runs north and parallel to the canal. The hills to your right are the diggings from the original construction of the canal, which was dug by hand. Then a quick right at a traffic light and you are on route 6 and headed to Yarmouthport. It is a fourteen hour trip of nearly 800 miles.

I have been looking forward to this for months. I am on the Cape.

How to deal with that stuck oil filter

It can be a demoralizing experience.  You have drained the oil and the oil filter is hanging on like a leach.  It won’t come off.

The best way to fix this is not to have it happen in the first place.  You can remember to put oil on the gasket and hand tighten the spin on filter just enough to seal it.  It might be best to use silicoln grease instead of oil on the gasket, but now that doesn’t matter because the dam thing is stuck.

One method is to drive a large screw driver through the side of the filter and lever it around.  This will work, but it leaves a huge mess and often totally destroys the filter leaving only the base attached.  Then you stick the screw driver in the small holes around the threaded center hole and with a hammer drive off the base of the filter.

Meanwhile your arms, clothes, the ground are covered with old motor oil.

Here are a few things to try before you resort to the screw driver method.

Remember that the filter is not stuck on the threads.  It is stuck on the compressed gasket between the filter and the block.  If you can break that bond the filter will spin free easily.  So take a single edge razor blade and work it between the gasket and the block and slide it all the way around the gasket.  You might need to use a thin screw driver instead, but be careful.  You don’t want to scar up the machined surface that the oil filter gasket presses against.

There are also many fine tools for wrenching off a spin on oil filter.  One tried and true tool is the band wrench.  Some are made with a wide metal band that tightens against the filter’s canister as force is applied.  You might have to put some sandpaper in between the band and the filter can to get enough friction.  When using band wrenches be sure to have them as close to the base of the filter as you can because there is less risk of crushing the canister there.  Another kind of band wrench uses something other than metal, sometimes a sythetic fabric or rubber-like material.  These may give you a better grip than the metal band wrenches, but often they are awkward in tight spaces.

Another very effective tool looks like a big pliers with a round jaw.  This give a great grip and should also be used at the base of the filter.  Its drawback is that there may not be clearance in some engines.

My favorite is the K&N oil filter that has a “nut” on the base of the filter for a 25mm (or 1 inch) wrench.  It is a high quality filter that is easy to remove.

When you install a spin on oil filter be sure to lubricate the gasket surface and don’t over tighten.  It doesn’t take much to seal the gasket and the pressures are not so great that they will blow the seal (although in cold weather with a high pressure oil pump I’ve seen it happen).

There is always the screw driver method.

 

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If you read down the long list of comments that people have added over time - look for the one where Tom had a tough time with the screw on filter that was stuck on the engine of his 3000 GT.  Here are photos of the mess and the tool he used to get himself out of the mess.

Oil Changes

Show of hands, how many of you change your own motor oil?

A lot of us do and most of us are pretty good about having it changed whether we do it ourselves or have it serviced by someone else.  How often you do it depends on how much and what kind of driving you do.  The owners manual is a good start here.  For most cars the manufacturer recommends 5000 miles.  There is usually a shorter mileage for “severe duty” use.  Be sure to check the definition of that.  You might be surprised to find out that you qualify. 

Oil is used for lubrication, in other words, to reduce friction between moving parts.  It is also used to suspend and contain contaminates that occur from combustion and wear.  The oil filter has the job of removing and isolating some of the bigger stuff.  Oil also helps to cool the engine or at least transfer the heat to where it can be released, such as an oil cooler. Your choice of oil is basically refined from crude or synthetic.  Refined lubricating oil has been used for decades with excellent performance.  Synthetics came about during WWII as sources of crude oil were constrained.  Synthetics have demonstrated advantages over refined in terms of durability and performance.  Because of the extreme demands, I wouldn’t use anything else but a synthetic oil in a turbocharged engine.

Oils are classified in terms of viscosity or weight.  You will see numbers like 10W-30 which provide a relative indication of how thick the oil will be in use.  Relative, because everything changes with temperature and time.  Check your owners manual for what weight oil is recommended in what temperature ranges.  You can use a “lighter” oil and help improve your gas mileage.  In my 400 horsepower Eclipse GSX I used Mobil1 0W-40 with no problems. 

How did I really know that I had no problems?  I have my oil analyzed.  Every oil change I take a sample as it is draining and send it off to be analyzed.  I use a company called Blackstone Labs, but there are other companies out there that do oil analysis.  For about $20 a series of tests are run and I get back a report on what my used oil contained, how well it held up, and any indicators of problems such as antifreeze in the oil or too much fuel.  They can even help you determine how often you need to change your oil.  Depending on the results you might find that you can extend the miles that you drive between changes.

As important as the oil is the filter.  Usually the factory oil filters are excellent.  If you change your own oil you will probably go to an auto parts store to pick up the oil and will likely pick up your new filter at the same time.  You might do well to read one person’s study of oil filters (http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html).  My personal choice is to get a factory oil filter for my Evolution and a Mobil1 oil filter for my 1991 Toyota Pickup. 

While you are picking up the filter and oil there is one more thing you should remember – a new gasket for the drain plug.  If you want to make this really easy you can pick up an oil drain valve and never have to change the gasket again.  A company called Fumoto makes one for most cars and trucks.  It is a ball valve that locks in the closed position so it is reliable and safe.  It is not cheap, but you never have to worry about gaskets, over tightening, or stripping the threads again.

 

If you are going to change your own oil you will need to get the vehicle up in the air.  Everyone would love to have a lift in their garage, but not all of us are so lucky.  The other choices are ramps and jack stands.  Ramps are the easiest, but they need to be safe and rated for the weight they are supporting.  With a most vehicles weighing over a ton this is no time to find a cheap solution.  If you have jack stands it can mean that you can not only get the car up in the air, but you can have all of the car up which will provide you an opportunity to really inspect the underside for wear and damage.  Check that owners manual for jack points and where to place the jack stands.  Use wheel chocks!

You will want the engine oil to be warmed up.  This aids the draining process and also means you have to be very careful.  Hot oil can burn.  Wear safety glasses that will protect your eyes from any splashing.  Have rags handy to catch any spills and to clean up the underside of the oil pan.  Wear mechanics gloves or equivalent.

Now you need something to drain the oil into and hold the oil filter while it drains.  My favorite is an oil recycling bucket designed by a company called Delta 4.  I’ve seen and used many different kinds of driveway oil drain catch pans.  Most of them are horizontal in nature and that is great for minimizing the height and catching the splashing oil, but when you try to carry the hot oil in a flat pan it can be a balancing act that can be a mess when you lose it.  Once you get it in the flat catch pan then you have to figure out where you are going to pour the old oil so you can take it to recycling.  Delta 4 eliminates all that.  It catches the oil, the lid becomes a low drain pan.  The bucket has a shelf to catch the drain plug and drain the oil filter from.  When you are done you just put the cover on it and carry it like a bucket.  it is well balanced and is easy to empty at the recycling center.  I found mine on the Internet, but now several cities offer them to the public for a small charge or even free.

 

Aside from rags and buckets you will need a wrench for the drain plug and a wrench for the oil filter.  The big reason why I use a K&N oil filter is that it has a hex nut on the bottom that allows you to use a 25mm (1 inch) wrench to remove it.  K&N oil filters are also a very high quality that offer maximum protection from a spin-on filter.  The wrench you use on the drain plug should fit exactly.  A box wrench is best.  As you unscrew the drain plug keep pressure on it.  That way you can feel when it gets to the last thread.  Then you can just let go of the plug and get your hand out of the way.  Otherwise you will have hot oil draining on your hand as you try to unscrew the plug.

There are all kinds of oil filter wrenches to choose from.  The best is one that fits the bottom of the filter and is used on a socket wrench.  Next best is a strap wrench that grabs the filter and tightens as it is turned.  It is best to get that kind of a wrench as close to the base of the filter as possible so that the filter case won’t deform as the strap tightens.

Let the oil drain.  Open the oil fill cap and pull out the dip stick to allow air to come in.  Then go find something to do while it drains. One thing I like to do is fill the oil filter with new oil.  To me this makes sense because it primes the system with oil instead of air.  When the oil has drained enough wipe off the threads on the pan and the drain plug and install a new gasket before you tighten it up.  Put the plug on firmly, but don’t try to spin the car.  It just needs to be tightened enough to crush the washer a little.  Wipe the area where the new oil filter is going with a rag.  Be sure that the old gasket didn’t remain behind when you took off the old filter.  Coat the new filter’s gasket with some oil to keep it from sticking to the engine block.  Spin on the new filter and hand tighten.

Now you can fill up the engine with the new oil you bought.  I use a funnel with a big opening.  One designed to fill a radiator with works well.  It is short and has a big drain opening that keeps spills off the valve cover and holds the oil container while it is draining.  Check the oil level with the dip stick.  When you think it is correct, clear everything out of the way, put on the oil fill cap, and start the engine.  Take it easy and let the oil pressure build.  Starting an engine is when most of the wear happens.  Then shut off the engine and check the oil level again.  Add if you need to but don’t over fill.  Over filling can cause big problems.  If the oil level is too high the crankshaft can whip it into a frothy mix which doesn’t lubricate very well at all.  If you over fill, just open the drain plug for a quick second (you left the drain bucket out, right?) and check the level again.

Changing your own oil is not hard and will give you a chance to look over your car from a perspective you hardly ever get to see.  Something you can do yourself and feel good about, especially when you drop off your used oil at the recycling center.

That Time of Year

In about a week I will start my yearly trek to Cape Cod.  It is a drive of about 800 miles and I like to make it in a day.  My record is 10.5 hours, but I don’t expect to set any records.  It will be an experience of discovering constructions zones and how gas prices differ as I travel north.

This year I will drive a Mitsubishi Evolution VIII MR.  I bought it in 2005 and it has about 16000 miles on it now.  It is a high performance sedan based on a rally car such as you find in WRC.  Mitsubishi has equipped it with an all wheel drive (AWD) system that gives the car amazing grip and cornering capabilities.  It has front and rear limited slip differentials (LSD) and an active center differential (ACD).  This allows power and torque to be transmitted to the wheels that can use it the most as well as the end of the car that needs it.  The suspension consists of inverted struts designed and manufactured by Bilstein.  Most of the development work was done on the 13 mile Nuremberg track in Germany.  What came out of that work is a car that handles like a race car with the composure of a street sedan.  The tires that come on it are Yokohama Advans A046 in 235/45-17.  They are mounted on a set of very light weight and strong BBS wheels.  The brakes are Brembo four pots on the front and dual piston on the rear.  They haul the car down fast enough to make you wonder how you keep your eye balls in their sockets.

The engine is the venerable 4G63 two litre four cylinder engine that has been turbocharged with a very efficient turbine that produces about twenty pounds of boost.  Keep in mind that at 14.7 pounds of boost you have effectively doubled the engine’s displacement.  With the titanium exhaust system I’ve added and a couple of secret mods I get well over 300 horse power out of the engine and there is a lot more to come.

The MR version of the Evolution comes with the Bilstein suspension as well as a six speed transmission.  In addition to the aluminum hood and front fenders the MR comes with an aluminum roof.

The front strut towers are braced very well from the factory so I added a Mitsubishi aluminum brace for the rear strut towers along with an aluminium ”trunk bar” that braces the rear frame.  The suspension pieces are made of forged aluminum for strength and function. I upgraded the rear anti roll bar with a larger adjustable unit from Road Race Engineering (RRE). 

This car will put to shame exotic cars costing $100K or more.  It is truely amazing and a heck of a lot of fun.

For the highway portion of the trip I will supplement my eyes and sensibilities with an Escort remote radar/laser detector.  The car does not have cruise control, and it handles so well that you can easily find yourself driving far over the speed limit and feeling that you are doing about fifty.  The detectors are more to keep me alert and remind me to keep my speed in an acceptable range rather than allowing me to flaunt the traffic laws.

I will save my spirited driving for the roads of Cape Cod.  Those roads can be just what this kind of car really make enjoyable.  Granted, Cape Cod is more thickly settled than it used to be and in the summer there are often a lot more cars using the roads.  None the less, there are still some select roads with little or no houses or side streets.  Use them the right time of day and you can have a blast that is almost as safe as a race track.

Since Mitsubishi Evolutions are not common cars it will be fun to come across other Evo owners on the trip and on the Cape.  I hope to hook up with several Evo owners as well as Subaru WRX owners while I am up there.

 

Evolution X

In the US it is a contest between Mitsubishi and Subaru.  The contestants: the WRX STI and the Evolution MR.

Coming soon – the Evolution X http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/03/mitsubishi-concept-x-meets-wrc/

http://paultan.org/archives/2006/07/12/2008-mitsubishi-lancer-evolution-x-spyshots/

Mr. Bearse

Springfield, Massachusetts, was a city of firsts.  It was home of the U.S. Springfield Armory where the military’s rifles were developed and manufactured.  It was the place where someone hung peach baskets with the bottom’s cut out of them and started the first game of basketball.

It was also the only place outside of England that Roll-Royce cars were ever manufactured. 

In 1919 Rolls-Royce of America was incorporated in Springfield, Massachusetts.  In 1920 the first cars were being produced.  Nearly 3000 cars were manufactured until the Depression killed the colonial outpost of this brand.

When I was a young lad and going to elementary school we would be visited a couple of times a week by an old gentleman who was there to teach us physical education.  He would arrive in a large black Buick Roadmaster from the late 1930’s and be dressed in a business suit.  He would lead us through many a class continuing to wear his suit.  He was known to us as Mr. Bearse.

To us he was an old gentleman that dressed formally and guided us through sports and excercise, but in the 1920’s he was a college student in Springfield, Massachusetts.

While he was going to college he landed a job with the Roll-Royce company.  He didn’t work on the manufacturing line or in the sales office.  No, he had the enviable job of putting on the first 500 miles on Springfield Ghosts or Phantoms. 

Since every Roll-Royce was broken in for the new owner someone had to drive the first 500 miles and Mr. Bearse had that job.  What a time it must have been to be a college student that drove a new Rolls-Royce to class every day. 

What a chick magnet.

 

Be Nice to Your Tires

Don’t forget those black doughnuts, your life could depend upon them, and your wallet.

Tires are just too easy to take for granted.  After all, when do they ever complain?  Maybe when you are taking that quick left-hander a little too aggressively? 

Since they are your only contact with the road they deserve some respect and maybe a little love.  The first thing you should do is check the tire pressure.  You do know how to check the tire’s pressure right?  So what should the pressure be?  Check the door jam or the owners manual to find out the factory recommended pressure.  You can always increase it a pound or two from the factory setting, but you definitely don’t want to lower it.  The fronts are often set higher than the rear.  That’s to deal with the weight difference of the front of the car versus the rear.

So what difference will a few pounds make?  A drop of six pounds will increase fuel consumption five percent.  If it stays that low and you are cruising on the highway you might find a tire blows up because the low pressure allows it to over heat.

Some people look at the tire’s sidewall to figure out the correct pressure.  Wrong.  Go back to the label in the door jamb or the owners manual. 

Check the pressure when the tires are “cold” or haven’t been driven on in an hour or so.  Driving a mile can raise the temperature of the tire and therefore the pressure.  If you have to drive to get air put in the tires use this trick.  When you check the tire and find it is down three pounds of pressure from the recommended you drive to where you can get the tire inflated and read the pressure one more time before you fill it up.  Maybe it now reads a pound higher than when you measured it cold.  Just add three pounds of pressure to THAT reading.  Check again when the tires are cold and you should find that the reading is correct.

What are you checking pressure with?  I hope its not one of the “pencil” gauges.  They are notoriously inaccurate.  What you should use is a dial gauge.  These use a bronze Bourdon tube and are very accurate.  many of them come with a bleed valve built in so you can bleed off pressure easily.  When you get a dial gauge get one with a maximum reading that is about twice what you run your tires at.  If you are supposed to have your tires at 32 pounds then find a gauge that has a top reading of 60 pounds, not 120.  That is because the gauge will have its highest accuracy in the middle.  There are some electronic gauges out there that are very accurate as well, but it is hard to beat the dial gauge with a bronze Bourdon tube.

Rotate your tires if you can.  If they are all the same size on all four corners then rotate them front to rear (not cross, unless the tire manufacturer allows).  Do this every three thousand miles, or at the very least every five thousand miles.  When I say rotate I’m not talking about spinning the tires.  I mean put the front tires on the rear and the rear tires on the front.  This allows them to wear more evenly.  This is especially true with front wheel drive cars.  You will get more life out of your tires that way.

While you are moving them around (or having them rotated) take the time to look over the tread.  You might be surprised to find a nail, screw or other sharp object has found a home in your tire.  Looking over the wear pattern in the tread will also let you know if you have another problem.  If your car’s alignment has been changed by a pot hole or hitting a parking curb too hard you will likely see it reflected in how the tires wear.  If you’ve lost a wheel weight you might not notice the vibration, but it could show up as intermittent wear on the tread.

Also take a look at your brakes and other parts of the suspension while the wheels and tires are not blocking the view. 

When you put those tires and wheels back on use a torque wrench to tighten the lug bolts or nuts.  Professional tire shops use an air gun with specially designed socket extension that is supposed to limit torque, but these can still be off by 10 lb/ft or more.  Spring for a good torque wrench and buy a 1/2″ drive socket that fits your lug nuts snugly.  There are two types of torque wrenches.  One is the deflection beam type that is very accurate but many people find difficult or confusing to use.  The other is the “click type”.  The click type is much more expensive and must be treated carefully, but is very easy to use.  The click type also has a built in ratchet.  You set the torque you need as the maximum and when the wrench senses you have reached it you feel a clunk and here a click.  These torque wrenches must be set to a lower setting, say 25 lb/ft when not in use in order to retain its accuracy.  They should NEVER be used to loosen nuts or bolts.

When tightening wheel nuts or bolts be sure to come up to the desired torque setting gradually and use a star pattern as you tighten each nut.  The idea is you don’t want to tighten up one nut all the way before you move on to the next.  You want to evenly tighten the wheel so you don’t warp or break something.

When you get a new set of tires be sure to have the car aligned ASAP.  Fresh tires is the best time to have an alignment done.  Also make certain the tire pressures are correct when you have it aligned.

If you have a leaking tire or one with a nail or other foreign object, get it fixed by a tire place.  They can dismount the tire and plug it from the inside out in many cases and save you the expense of purchasing a new tire. 

Check for unusual appearance on the tire.  Check the sidewalls for scarring or bubbles on the inside of the tire as well as the outside.  If you don’t drive much and the tires are five years old you better plan on getting replacements.  They don’t have a good shelf life and can dry rot or be damaged from exposure to sunlight and ozone.  If you do store your tires try to keep them inside and sitting on their sides, not on the treads.  This may be the case where you have snow tires for the winter and summer tires for the rest of the year.

Treat your tires with respect, they are keeping you in contact with the road.  They deserve your attention.

 

1971 Superbeetle

I was just starting college and my father provided me with a new car.  It sold new for $2100 dollars, which was a tidy sum.  Its color was Chinese red and it had a sunroof.  In a few years it would become my race car.

It was when VWs had air cooled flat four engines.  The Superbeetle model did away with the torsion bar  in front and went with a strut front suspension.  The rear was torsion bar with a fully independent rear suspension.  A four speed was all the gears you could expect.

In the first year I played around with better flowing air cleaners than the standard oil bath and experimented with some different exhaust systems.  It wasn’t until I decided to get serious with the local sports car club and take up autocrossing that I really looked into modifying the car.

Keep in mind that this was decades prior to the Internet.  Doing research on what could be done to improve the VW was demanding and did not produce much information of value. It meant finding every car magazine there was that had an article on VWs.  It meant writing away for catalogs.  It meant traveling to locate tuners that specialised in VWs.

One of my first challenges was that I knew I wanted to build an engine with plenty of power that would also keep me in the sedan 3 class that I wanted to compete in.  I had never built an engine of any kind before.  I had read a lot and felt confident that I knew the characteristics I wanted out of the engine and the parts it would take to give me those qualities.  I knew that I needed an engine that would rev high.  A lot higher than the stock engine could.  VW engines were a horizontal opposed layout (like Subaru of today) and had a split case and removable cylinders.  Stock you were living on the edge to rev much over 4000 rpm.  Above that and you were likely to vibrate so bad that you would pound out the soft magnesium case.  In order to rev as high as I wanted I would have to get a counter-weighted crankshaft and have the whole assembly dynamically balanced.

First was the engine case itself.  I picked up a new case that had seen improvements since 1971.  It had better oil galleries and threaded inserts in the case so the head bolts wouldn’t pull out of the soft alloy of the case itself.  I got ahold of some black motorcycle case paint and painted the block.  This was to provide as much cooling as possible.  They were called air cooled engines, but the oil did a lot of the cooling.  With that in mind I converted to a type four oil cooler that had greater cooling capacity.   It meant modifying the fan shroud to fit, but it was worth the effort.  Added to the case would be a heavy duty oil pump that incorporated a spin on oil filter.  The stock VW engine had a simple screen to filter the oil.  About all that screen did was catch the scary large contaminates.  I also put in a windage tray in the oil sump that was cast as part of the split case.  I also added baffling to the oil return at the bottom of the push rod tubes so that oil would stay near the oil pump pickup during hard cornering.  I also had some perforated metal screen welded on the plate below the pickup to help keep oil from being pulled away.

This class required that I keep very close to the stock displacement so I used a 69mm counter-weighted crankshaft and 87mm pistons and cylinders.  I used an eight pound flywheel and a clutch from a Porsche Carrera.  I had the entire assembly balanced at a race shop in Marblehead. 

The rods were weight matched as well as the pistons.  To do this the pistons were all weighed and the lightest one was found.  Then they were put in a lathe and metal was removed until they all weighed the same.  The rods were weighed as well, first the large ends and then the small ends and by removing metal were all made equal.  This meant that I would be able to rev close to 8000 rpm without damaging the case.  It also meant that energy would be transferred into horsepower instead of wasted  on vibrating.

I chose a cam shaft with .410″ lift and 286 degree duration.  This allowed the engine to have a good idle, yet provided great breathing as the rpm increased.  Chrome molly pushrods and heavy duty rocker shafts with equally weighted rocker arms and swivel footed adjusters finished off the valve train.  Dual port heads with big stainless steel valves assured excellent breathing.  Everything was ported and polished.  The stock valve covers that were held on by a large spring clip were replaced with large cast aluminum covers that bolted on. 

Bosch made a big blue coil and a mechanical advance distributor called the 019 that I used for spark.  The spark plug of the day was Champion UL 82 Y.  It was a little colder than the stock plugs.  There was not a lot of choices in terms of plug wires so I just used a nice new set.  The carburetor was a two-stage two barrel made by Weber.

Headers and turbo muffler came from an outfit called Treuhaft.  They also campaigned a Superbeetle in TransAm racing.  They were able to provide me with information on the Superbeetle that I never would have found on my own.  One of the quirks of the US version of the Superbeetle was that while they came with front disk brakes in Germany they were converted to front drum brakes before they were sold over here.  Something about a lack of confidence in the technology by Americans.  Treuhaft provided me with the VW part numbers to convert the car back to disk brakes, which was a huge improvement.

I brought the part numbers to the VW dealership (steering knuckles 113 407 311F and 113 407 312F, rotors 311 405 583A, calipers 113 615 107A and 113 615 108A, splash shields 113 407 165) and was told that the part numbers would not work.  I told them to order them anyway and a couple of weeks later all my parts arrived – handed over to me by an amazed parts department.

I changed the wheels from the stock 4″ wide rims to a steel Brazilian wheel that was 5 1/2 inches wide so that I could move up to a 165-15″ tire (huge at the time).  A larger front anti-roll bar went on as well as a rear one (none came stock).  The hub caps were replaced with chrome lug bolts.  The transmission mounts were aided by Crown transaxle straps.  I had taken the car out for a test ride and gotten air.  When it came down it caught on the exhaust and snapped the nose of the transaxle.  That wouldn’t happen again.  Koni struts in the front and shocks in the rear were the best at the time.

On the inside I installed a roll bar and changed out the front seats for a pair of upholstered fiberglass seats with a six point safety harness.  The steering wheel was swapped for a 13″ four spoke leather rimmed model.  The rear seat was removed and covered with a simple deck.  Type 3 rear brakes were used in the rear and a bias valve was put in to ensure that the fronts locked up first.  The original speedometer was replaced with a 1973 model that would read as high as 100 mph.  A VDO tachometer told me how high the engine speed was.  The shifter was replaced with a short shifter and the rear view mirror was replaced with a Wink wide angle.

It became a flat cornering, high reving, sports car that put 100 hp to the wheels.  That was quite impressive for 1973.  It also allowed me to dominate the autocross class it was in.  It was especially fun on the street to circle a traffic rotary with the engine screaming at over 7000 rpm.  It didn’t sound like a VW any longer.

I learned a lot from that project.  I also learned that you can fix your errors and do something with the insight gained that you could not have had without experiencing the mistakes. 

I had a lot of fun in that car and often wonder if the next owner realized what a gem he had acquired.  People still talk to me about that car.

 

WRC – is it time for the USA?

It is debatable if they are the best drivers in the world, but I don’t think you will get an argument if you declare them the most fearless and talented drivers anywhere.  They don’t just turn left and right, they slide, skid, spin, and fly along roads you might crawl along on your best day.

The World Rally Championship is an astounding level of racing that is followed with a fanaticism everywhere in the world except the United States.  At least for now. 

Certainly there are a few rally-like events that are known in the US.  There is the Pikes Peak hill climb and the Rim of the World Rally.  Baja racing is similar, but these rally cars in WRC are very much like stock cars were back in the sixties.  Other than the roll cages and some racing bits these cars are very much like cars that come off the showroom floor.  While most of them are brands and models that have not graced our shores for a decade or more, at least two should be recognizable.  The Subaru WRX and the Mitsubishi Evolution derivatives of the WRC cars can be purchased in the states.  These pocket rockets even in their domesticated street version are incredible performers.  How about zero to sixty in well under five seconds?  How about turbocharged two litre engines that nearly 300 horsepower and even greater torque?  How about all wheel drive?  These are the street versions mind you.

The WRC venue spans the globe with events in many different geographies and climates.  Some are run in snow and ice while others are on gravel in the desert.  Sweden, Turkey, Japan, New Zealand, to name a few. 

Rallies are not wheel to wheel events, no these are timed events where the cars are spaced a few minutes apart and are challenged to run the stage as fast as they can.  It is rare that they ever see each other on the course.  But the fans watch with great anticipation.  They pick out the most exciting corners to stand at fearlessly as these rally cars of 300 horsepower perform handbrake turns at speeds that are unbelievable just feet away from the fans.

Unlike other motor-sports when there is a shunt or something breaks these cars don’t stop.  Even if they only have three wheels working these cars keep going.  They have to.  Each car has a driver and navigator and they must work in perfect harmony.  The navigator and driver speak in a coded language so that the driver can anticipate every turn, switchback, breaking point in terms of direction and optimal gear.  There is a tremendous amount of dependency and trust here.

Between each stage is the Service Park where the pit crew waits to see what condition the car will arrive in.  The crew will have only twenty minutes to make the car road worthy again.  This is like no other racing.  These Service Parks are not in nice air-conditioned garages, but tents set up in what ever weather conditions exist.  The crew that restores these cars back to some semblance of rally condition truly work miracles.

Did I say this was coming to the USA?  Yes, in the 2006 Summer X-Games. 

If you watch closely you might find the WRC events shown on the Speed Channel, but usually at odd hours.  If you can, it is worth the sacrifice.  If you can ever attend an event live it will be an experience you will never forget.

Oh, and these cars don’t get put in a trailer and carted to the next stage, they are licensed and drive the roads with the rest of the public traffic. 

I would love to see how the WRC would look being run on the Tail of the Dragon.

WRC and the USA – your time has come.

 

Driving in the UK

I had been in Scotland for a couple of days.  The trip from the airport was fine and I managed to find the hotel alright.  It is one of the advantages of driving in a country whose road signs were in your native language, at least for the most part.

The time difference was about five hours.  I thought I was getting used to that as I got dressed for work and the commute in.  I was up early enough to grab some breakfast.  I found I could deal with the toast being dry and set in racks so it was always room temperature.  I wondered how the natives would react to warm buttered toast with sugar and cinnamon on top.

A quick dash back to my room to clean up my teeth and I was ready.  I had plenty of time for the drive in and made sure that I had my laptop bag and papers.  Stepping outside the air was clear and just slightly damp as there was a hint of fog that was quickly dissipating.

I strode with confidence to the rental car and opened the door and threw my bag in the back seat.  Then settled in to the driver’s seat…and swore.  I hoped that no one had been watching this American as I got out of the passenger side and went over to the right side of the car to get behind the steering wheel.

I knew that I had to concentrate to overcome a couple of decades of habit.  Left, left, LEFT!  I drummed into my head as I navigated my way to the motorway.  That is the UK equivalent to our interstate highways.  Also known as the “M” roads.

Centering yourself properly on the road took real concentration.  It made me realize just how much driving in the States had become automatic.  Checking my mirrors I cursed silently again looking UP on the left and DOWN on the right.  Whew, this definitely kept me awake and alert as I merged into the M road traffic and into what at home would have been the high speed lane fighting the urge to slide the car all the way to the right hand lane.

My speed increased and I felt more confident as no one was honking their horn at me and I appeared to be part of the normal traffic flow.  The M road was helpful because of the lane discipline that is enforced throughout Europe.  Slower traffic stays on the slow side of the road and faster traffic is, for the most part, allowed a clear lane.

In a little bit I was in the far right lane keeping my speed up, but not unreasonable.  In Scotland the police had mounds on the side of the roadway that they could drive up on and observe traffic from.  It wasn’t until you drove south, through England, that you were confronted with speed cameras.

After just a few minutes I was getting close to my destination and the biggest challenge in this “drive on the left” country.  It is known as the roundabout.  Where I grew up on the Cape they were called rotaries or traffic circles.  A great invention, they allowed several roads to come together without the stop and go of an intersection.  But I had to put my full concentration on not going to the right.  All my logic screamed at me to go the wrong way, but I kept my logical mind focused on circling around the left (clockwise) side of the rotary.  It took further concentration to set up for the critical exit off the roundabout and on to the road toward work.

After a couple of weeks my mind was more relaxed in the right hand drive environment.  It allowed me to enjoy the scenery and the experience of the Scottish countryside.  There were certainly times that I had to be sure to focus such as when I had spent some time after work socializing at a local pub with my colleagues.  No I didn’t get in on the wrong side of my car again.  It was the challenge of pulling onto the road from the parking lot.

What could be the big deal you think?  Well with a couple of pints in your system you have to focus very hard as you decide that you need to turn right onto the road and NOT go into the right hand lane.  It would be so  easy to turn to the right and stay on the right side of the road and be clobbered by the lorry (truck in American) heading toward you on the proper side of the road.  Believe me, I would not be the first American to have a head on collision at a T-intersection.

I was able to spend a few months in the UK and really enjoyed getting off the M roads and on to the A roads and finally feeling comfortable navigating the B roads.  In fact when I was with other Americans who were trying to transverse the B Roads I often would relieve them at the wheel and confidently drive on.  For me it was just like the roads I had grown up with on the Cape.

I enjoyed driving to London and back getting to see the changes in the countryside of the UK.  I even spent a few hours at the museum devoted to the original Mini Cooper.  That was especially fun because my visit coincided with a meet of Mini owners from all over Europe.  It was fascinating to see how owners had personalized this unique car.

When my plan landed upon my final return trip from the UK I brought back a lot of great memories as well as the skill of successfully driving on the “wrong” side of the road.