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Well, guys, it's been a bit of a hiatus from this thread (some COVID-inflicted, some self-inflicted). After the prior update I ran a weekend at Chuckwalla in February 2020 where I was on my way to a class win, but had a brain fart late in the race and nearly took out a SPECE46 I was lapping--destroyed (another) splitter in the process and punctured the radiator. I managed to get the car all wrapped up for a local March 2020 event where I took two wins in-class, then discovered a massive exhaust leak on the scales after the final race. Turns out the "spike" inside the header had decided to separate from the rest of the assembly...
We're not 100% sure why the header failed, but the best theory is the solid motor mounts not giving the vibration anywhere to go. I purchased a set of new headers (ARH, this time) and had the Kooks ones repaired and sold. I had my fabricator friend install a couple of flexible bellows on the new X-Pipe to help with the vibrations in the future.
Anyways, with the motor basically having to come out of the car to get the header repaired, I decided after 5 seasons it was time to refresh it. Then COVID lockdown hit at the end of March and I kind of lost all motivation to actually get the engine out of the car. By the time I cared again, it was June. I was hoping to get the engine rebuild done locally in a month or two and be ready to race by September 2020--but it turns out that was a wishful estimate, as I didn't get the engine back from the builder until February 2021. On the plus side, I saved a lot of money not racing the rest of 2020. If the motor ever needs to be worked over again I'll get a crate engine and save myself the schedule pain.
The good news is that the refreshed engine is back in the car, and makes a nice 465hp to the tires. We had the break-in done a couple weeks ago at Chuckwalla and everything ran great! Here are a couple videos from the weekend...
We're not 100% sure why the header failed, but the best theory is the solid motor mounts not giving the vibration anywhere to go. I purchased a set of new headers (ARH, this time) and had the Kooks ones repaired and sold. I had my fabricator friend install a couple of flexible bellows on the new X-Pipe to help with the vibrations in the future.
Anyways, with the motor basically having to come out of the car to get the header repaired, I decided after 5 seasons it was time to refresh it. Then COVID lockdown hit at the end of March and I kind of lost all motivation to actually get the engine out of the car. By the time I cared again, it was June. I was hoping to get the engine rebuild done locally in a month or two and be ready to race by September 2020--but it turns out that was a wishful estimate, as I didn't get the engine back from the builder until February 2021. On the plus side, I saved a lot of money not racing the rest of 2020. If the motor ever needs to be worked over again I'll get a crate engine and save myself the schedule pain.
The good news is that the refreshed engine is back in the car, and makes a nice 465hp to the tires. We had the break-in done a couple weeks ago at Chuckwalla and everything ran great! Here are a couple videos from the weekend...