Weird Tranny issue

[benebob]

At the Carlilse Import/Kit Car Show we put the racer through 30 miles and 1/2 tank of abuse. Ran some real nice times, had some rides with some excellent instructors in it and came away with just some very leaky front seals, the need to replace the rear pads after day 1, very leaky struts (which were shot but not leaking prior to the event), a sheared rear caliper pin, a missing sway bar bushing, not so much tread on our tires and a weird tranny issue.

It seems to be bogging down about mid band in second at about 50mph or so. By bogging down I mean the tranny just seems to stop sending any power for a spell, engine gets real quite and then if you give it a sec and stomp on it she's back running fine. It is almost very similar to what some rev limiters do but it of course is in the 3-4k range I think that it is doing it.

Now remember it is a FWD Impreza 1.8 tranny in it now. Just curious as to any thoughts out there. It has us stumped.

The course is a 1/4 mile oval with 2 chicaines in it during the straight away. Our times were pretty much in the 24-25 second range for a lap today exce[t for a few of my runs where I became a cone killer. Best time I heard anounced all day was a mid 22 sec from an Elise. During the drivers school I had my instrutor take it for a spin with me in the pass. seat. He hit about 75 on the one straight away before taking the turn back too fast and sliding the thing sideways around the 40 foot 180 turn just after I told him that we were having trouble getting the rear to come around. He was very impressed with the car, esp since he's now touring somewhat with the national soloII in his Honda. I though his eyes were gonna pop out when I told him that the springs were just stock springs cut down to a new size.

Another issue is that since it is so light in the rear now after the straight away the rear wheels would hop to a stop actually lifting slightly off the ground. SOOO MUCH FUN!

[lee]

Just a thought (and probably wrong), but unless the engine is revving away while no power flows through then I doubt the tranny...so how about the rollover valve (fuel) check ball if you're flinging the car about...???

[benebob]

That's just it. It is kinda like it is in straight aways. It was tough to decifer out there but from a distance you just heard a drastic change in volume. (about a 1/3 less), then it just comes back. Always in 2nd always around the same rpm and always around the same place on the track.

[SVXRide]

Ben,
If the rpms were dropping off under the same conditions, I'd sit back and think some more about exactly what the car was being subjected to. You sure you've got everything bolted back tight (ECU, grounding straps , etc)?
Sounds like BIG fun!!!
-Bill

[benebob]

Its grounded pretty good Bill, just relocated the battery to the rear but I will recheck the ecu bolts. Car is being subjected to some pretty hard driving. Oil needs changed now after 70 miles The rear caliper pin on the pass side actually sheared off (luck would have it a non-memeber with 3 svxs at home in carlisle was nice enough to go home and bring a spare back for us on Sat night!). I too kinda think it might be engine related, possibly fuel delivery but again, we're hampered by a lack of a test track to work the stuff out on. The good news is we were about 1.5 seconds off the best time of the day that I heard (a mid 22 from a Lotus Elise). I think our bogging down is costing us about a second around the track and the lack of good struts stopping from that speed is creating plenty of dive causing the rear tires to behave poorly. Oh yeah, I don't think these Victo's have much more life in them after this weekend. There was plenty of rubber left on the track. We definately need to figure out a better cooling system though. The stock radiator and a fan just isn't coming close to cutting it.

[SVXRide]

Ben,
Couple of things:
1. When was the last time you changed the fuel filter?
2. You might want to upgrade to the higher pressure FPR - check my locker for pics
3. Falken Azenis (sp?) might be a good replacement for the VictoRacers - they're relatively inexpensive, but not as "sticky"
4. How the heck did you shear off a caliper pin? Was the caliper not bolted back on all the way?
5. I've got one good rear strut that I'll trade you for a good strut housing
6. You know you can get both fans to run - without the A/C compressor also running - by disconnecting the wires going to the compressor and turning the A/C on within the car...
-Bill

[Hocrest]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Ben,
Couple of things:
1. When was the last time you changed the fuel filter?
2. You might want to upgrade to the higher pressure FPR - check my locker for pics
3. Falken Azenis (sp?) might be a good replacement for the VictoRacers - they're relatively inexpensive, but not as "sticky"
4. How the heck did you shear off a caliper pin? Was the caliper not bolted back on all the way?
5. I've got one good rear strut that I'll trade you for a good strut housing
6. You know you can get both fans to run - without the A/C compressor also running - by disconnecting the wires going to the compressor and turning the A/C on within the car...
-Bill

1 - I'm guessing sometime in '92
2 - We'll check it out
4 - When we went to change the rear pads. I undid the bolt and as I "Hinged" the caliper up, out of the way, the caliper came off in my hand. Even after we pulled the calip off of the car, we were unable to use a punch to knock it out. But the pads were pretty evenly worn, so I'm guessing it siesed recently.
5 - Thanks, we'll let you know.
6 - There is no AC compressor or Controls for it inside of the car the Main fan is manually controlled by a switch. The thoughts are to put in the other fan and wire it to a second switch, or to use a hood scoop or other method to get more air into the engine bay.

[Hocrest]

Originally Posted by benebob

The rear caliper pin on the pass side actually sheared off (luck would have it a non-member with 3 svxs at home in carlisle was nice enough to go home and bring a spare back for us on Sat night

Thank You Chris

[benebob]

Actually the filter came out off a 95 I pulled from a yard . Free versus $$$ at the time.

I'm kinda thinking about Yokohama A032r-H tires for the replacements. They are on sale for 245/45-16s now for about $150 each. Can be run without being shaved, are a road race tire so we'd need to heat them up good first but I'm told they wear great and stick great. The falken's won't work with a 2 driver car I don't think in the summer. They get very soup like when overheated and loose all their stickieness. I like them on the XT but there are better choices out there. Have been trying to find out more about Sumitomo and Hankook racing tires but haven't had much luck as of yet. WE NEED ANOTHER SPONSOR!!! Think we can talk Dalye into it????

I really don't wanna put money into buying another fan for the rad (we only have the pass side one on now) as I don't think the radiator is up to the task for the abuse it goes through so I'm thinking of adapting something else to fit since we now have plenty of space. I am thinking of some functional scoops and vents (maybe from a 2.5 or outback in a yard). Besides, cutting weight is good.

As for the rear strut I WANT!!! We have one good rear one (a pass side one on the D side rear now). What housing do you need? I'll plan on putting my koni's from my street car on for now but still need to get replacements for it first. I only have front koni's but it dives like a Zero at the moment. Rear tires were actually coming up so high they were skipping in hard braking.

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by benebob

*snip*

As for the rear strut I WANT!!! We have one good rear one (a pass side one on the D side rear now). What housing do you need? I'll plan on putting my koni's from my street car on for now but still need to get replacements for it first. I only have front koni's but it dives like a Zero at the moment. Rear tires were actually coming up so high they were skipping in hard braking.

Ben,
Interesting, I could have sworn that the back struts weren't interchangeable...I'll just want one from the same side to support a future "Koni w/coil overs" effort
Give me a call and we'll figure out how to handle the swap.
-Bill

[benebob]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Ben,
Interesting, I could have sworn that the back struts weren't interchangeable...I'll just want one from the same side to support a future "Koni w/coil overs" effort
Give me a call and we'll figure out how to handle the swap.
-Bill

Anything is swappable provided you don't care about the brackets for the brake line . I did that one first and it was bad so I figured I'd put the good one from the rear of my SVX on it. Little did I know at the time that the other 3 were bad. Will call ya as soon as everything calms down with the baby and all. We're not running again for a month. Got some definate work to do before then with the brake plumbing, ductwork for cooling 'em and probably cutting apart the hood.

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by benebob

Anything is swappable provided you don't care about the brackets for the brake line . I did that one first and it was bad so I figured I'd put the good one from the rear of my SVX on it. Little did I know at the time that the other 3 were bad. Will call ya as soon as everything calms down with the baby and all. We're not running again for a month. Got some definate work to do before then with the brake plumbing, ductwork for cooling 'em and probably cutting apart the hood.

Ben,

You did remove the a/c condenser from in front of the radiator? You might want to look at sealing the area around the radiator so no air bleeds around the radiator. Does your web site have a picture of just the front end (grill) ?
-Bill
p.s. hasn't your wife had that baby yet?

[Hocrest]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Ben,

You did remove the a/c condenser from in front of the radiator? You might want to look at sealing the area around the radiator so no air bleeds around the radiator. Does your web site have a picture of just the front end (grill) ?
-Bill

Yeah the AC condensor is gone, we do have a small Trans cooler up front. I was going to look at coming up with more "grill area" to allow more air into the rad.

Originally Posted by SVXRide

p.s. hasn't your wife had that baby yet?

Ask him again tomorrow

[benebob]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Ben,
You did remove the a/c condenser from in front of the radiator? -Bill
p.s. hasn't your wife had that baby yet?

Of course its gone. If I'm gonna take out the dash and every other bolt that holds the thing together I wouldn't miss that.

No baby yet. She is 3-4cms dialated at the moment. Just home grabbing a bite and feeding the kitties. Doctors think it'll be a 24th birthday as opposed to today though. Smart kid already, he/she waited until I got to race all weekend

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by benebob

*snip* Smart kid already, he/she waited until I got to race all weekend

PIT CREW!!
-Bill