Well, this project seems to be having trouble getting off the ground! Since the last update we decided we'd better address the transmission: the throwout bearing needed replacing, and since we were going to be in there I decided we should get a new clutch (and flywheel) installed. I then started thinking about the transmission itself and spent some time trying to find someone local to rebuild the 3650, but no one wanted to touch it, mainly claiming parts availability was poor and suggesting I just buy a rebuilt one. I looked into that, but eventually decided that I just replace the clutch and throwout bearing and see how it did.
I tried getting an ACT six-puck clutch, but after several purchases that were cancelled by the vendors ("oh, we don't actually have that in stock at the moment"), I ended up with a Spec Level 3 clutch and aluminum flywheel one week before our next outing. We managed to get the new parts installed in time, and a few short drives went well, so we thought we'd been successful. We also installed an aftermarket fan controller, as the fan wasn't running as much as it should have been the last time out, and we replaced the unknown brand of rear brake pads with the Cobalt Friction ones that had arrived.
However, as we got the car out of the garage to load it up on the trailer on Thursday, the day before the event, the brake pedal started getting squishy, eventually going to the floor. We got it back up on jack stands, bled all four corners and the clutch again, and the pedal felt firm until we started the engine and started applying vacuum to the system, at which point the pedal went soft again. Thinking the master cylinder might have had some air caught in it, we made a quick run to the parts store for a master cylinder bleeding kit and started bleeding the master cylinder. One port was fine, but the other port just produced an endless stream of bubbles. It seemed like the master cylinder had decided to give up the ghost, so we called around town and luckily found a new one, installed it, bled everything again, and this time the pedal stayed good and firm.
However, at this point we were four hours late for our desired departure time, and a big thunderstorm was rolling through the area. We made our way slowly into the mountains, where thankfully the weather improved, but about half-way up the mountains my wife, who was following us in my work van, called and said the van was overheating! We pulled off the highway and found that the shop that had done some work on the van earlier in the week had failed to fully tighten the cap on the radiator overflow tank and the van had lost a bunch of coolant. It was 45 minutes each way to the nearest auto parts store, so by the time we'd returned with some more coolant is was nearly 9 PM. We'd made arrangements to stay with some friends near the track, but now we wouldn't be showing up until after midnight, so I made the decision to call it. We drove back down the mountain and made it home safely.
We also intended to remove the dash after the event and drop the car off Saturday at our cage builder, who lives about an hour on the far side of the track, as he'd said he was (finally) ready to build our cage. We got the dash out on Friday, but I couldn't get ahold of the cage builder until Sunday, when he revealed he was out of country at a wedding and wouldn't be back for a few more days. Argh!