Eurotrash Motorsports

Last saturday, Jeff and I decided it was time to change the front brakes on the truck.  We were ever right!  The rotors were rotten, the pads were rotten, and everything was seized together.  After 15 minutes with a sledgehammer, and still not being able to remove the driver side front rotor, we covered it in WD-40 and waited another 15 minutes.  After that, it practically just fell off when we touched it!  We learned our lesson for the passenger side, and went straight for th WD-40.  Worked like a charm!  In no time, the brakes were chaged and we were ready to burnish them.

 

Our next brake challenge was bleeding the fluid in the BMW.  Technically, this should have been done before my day at Calabogie… but you won’t tell right?  Anyways, better late than never.  We expected a challenge, as niether of us had ever done it before, and we were worried about stripping the seemingly seized on bleeder screws.  We raised the car up on jack stands, and removed all the wheels.  Starting with the longest system (the furthest from the master cylinder), we bled the passenger rear.  Jeff and I developped a pretty good system of him pumping the pedal, and me working the bleeder screw.  The first pulse of fluid coming out of that caliper was scary -  it looked like used motor oil!  After what seemed like forever, we saw clear again!  Moving to the driver rear, then the passenger front, and finally the driver front, we completed our brake flush with no real problems!  We’d be ready for the AutoX in Shannonville on tuesday! 

 

With Jeff on vacation for the next few weeks, you’ll have to be patient with the pictures, but don’t worry, they’ll come!

This was my first ever lapping day, and was it ever awesome!

After our Auto-X event from last weekend, Jeff and I noticed that our all-seasons were finished.  With my lapping day coming up later that week (yesterday), we decided it would a good idea to pickup some new tires.  Since we were spending the money, so big or go home right?  We went with the new Kumho Escta XS, size 205/50/15 competition tire (“cheater” tire) since they were on sale from Talon Tire, and are one of the best rated street legal competition tires.  They’re a little lower profile that the stock size, but since the car is a track rat anyways, who cares!  A trip to Canadian Tire on Carling resulted in them getting mounted & balanced and a passed track inspection to go with it!

Thursday morning was grey, and as I was heading out to the track, it only got worse.  There were two groups of 25 cars each, and we were scheduled to have 7 25 minute sessions throught the day.  Since I was a novice driver, I was assigned an instructor to help me learn the lines, and to ensure I wasn’t going to endanger myself or anyone else on the track. My first session was in the dry, but it was clear that I needed to work on remembering the track.  If you have ever been to Calabogie, there are many corners that you can’t see because of the elevation changes, but to get the right lines, you have to start turning in blindly.  It took me a bit to remember the track, but once I did, whoa!  What a blast!  After 3 sessions, my instructor signed me off, and I had the afternoon to have some fun!  I decided to ask a few more experienced drivers to come with me for some expertise, and it really helped me get comfortable at those high speeds.  Basically the entire day was in the rain, and there were a few spots with standing water which made them prone to hydroplaning (it only happened to me once, but at 150 km/h, it can get scary quick!).  I made sure to always leave extra room in the braking zones just in case!

Overall, this was one of the best experiences I have ever had!  The car performed exceptionally, and I improved steadily throughout the day, getting lots of compliments from other drivers :).   The tires on the car were fantastically grippy, and even in the rain, they only let go a few times, but it was always comtrollable and predictable.   Can’t wait for the next track day!

Check out the gallery for some pictures I took of the day, and stay tuned for some in-car videos!

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Another day of racing yesterday!

Jeff and I volunteered our truck to pick up the MCO trailer early in the morning and to help set up the track.  It was a lot of fun and really helped us get an appreciation for the work that goes on behind the scenes to organize one of these events.

We had 93 participants yesterday, and a FAST track.  This track was exicting because right out the start box, there were three course options.  After several course walks, Jeff and I picked our lines, and pounded rubber into the ground ;)  Unfortunately because of the speed of the track, it meant more upshifts to our tempermental third gear.  We were both pretty good today, and it didn’t really bother us.

Things were going REALLY smooth all morning – negligible timing errors, and very few reruns, which meant that we already had 3 runs under our belts BEFORE lunch!  After Jeff’s DNF  on his first run (having spun the car), both of us were running great, and steadily improving.  Unfortunately after that, one of the many clouds passing over us decided that we were having too much fun and that we deserved to be wet.  Our next run was in the rain, and both Jeff and I lost 9-10 sec in our lap times going from dry to wet :(.

The rain was really bad news for us, since our wipers don’t work and we ended up using a rag and our sleeves to clear off the windshield as best we could before our laps!  Luckily it only lasted for one run, and the track stayed wet for only one run after that.  In our second wet lap, I had a 5 second improvement (not including the cone I hit… so actually only 3), and Jeff was an amazing 7 seconds faster!  After that, we were able to get in one last dry lap before the end of the day, for a total of 7 RUNS!!!  Here’s a summary of our lap times for the day:

	Shawn	Jeff
Run 1	61.441	76.838+DNF
Run 2	60.419	65.936
Run 3	>59.597	63.257+1
Run 4	69.445 w	> 62.109+1
Run 5	66.322+1 w	70.777 w
Run 6	59.619	63.449 w
Run 7	60.422	63.295+1

These times were able to lock us in a 21st spot for Jeff (he would have finished 9th if it wasn’t for that cone!) and an 8th place finish for myself.  Neither of us had cameras today, but we were able to get some great footage from Jeff’s in-car video camera again.  This was by far the best event of the year despite the rain, and I can’t wait for the next one!

Last weekend,  Jeff and I had our third race, and it was a good one!  It was one of the biggest turnouts the MCO has ever seen – with 112 participants and 110 recorded times.  Timing seemed to be much smoother than last time, although after talking with some of the admins, it turns out there were several issues.

The track was once again great! After walking the track a few times, Jeff and I both decided on the best line and we set off to put down some good times.  Unfortunately, due to the incredible turnout, we were waiting over an hour between runs, and we were only able to get in 4 runs.

Jeff and I had a few hiccups of our own though:  when we got to the track on sunday morning, we realized that the power windows wouldn’t roll down…  The first thing we checked was the fusebox, and turns out our fuse was blown.  After going through 3 fuses, we realized that there must be an electrical short somewhere.  So with no windows and a big hole between the engine and the car, it got toasty!  We had to make due with waiting in line with the doors open as we were heading to the line to keep cool!

Here is a summary of our results for the day:

	Shawn	Jeff
Run 1	71.004	76.766+1
Run 2	69.84	76.597
Run 3	> 68.634	70.883
Run 4	69.312	> 69.915

These times were good enought to give Jeff a 10th place finish, and myself a 6th place finish in D class. More importantly though, it was one of our most consistent days as a team. Both drivers also showed improvement over the course of the day with Shawn shaving 3 seconds and Jeff shaving an impressive 7 seconds off their lap times.

Check the gallery for images, and stay tuned for some in-car videos!

With a pair of events under our belts, Shawn and I decided that there was still a lot of weight that could be shaved from our car.

So we set out to remove the air conditioning, blower motor, and auxiliary fan.

The first thing we did was read through our BMW service manual to see how much work we’d be up against. Turns out there were two methods of assembly for our car depending on the build date of the vehicle. Naturally, our car was the more complicated of the two methods and would require us to remove the front bumper instead of just loosening some bolts and removing a top cover.

With the bumper off, removing the aux. fan was actually fairly simple. If it weren’t for the 17 years of sand, dirt, and rust dust completely annihilating both of our allergies, we probably would have taken half the time to do all the work.

Next on our list was the AC condenser. Unfortunately, after reading more WARNINGS than removal instruction steps, Shawn and I decided to leave it alone for now and shifted our focus to the blower motor.

Now, for those of you who have never worked under the hood of a BMW,  let me be the first to tell you that zee germans don’t make a habit of leaving tons of extra space. The location of the blower motor must have been suggested by some eccentric German puzzle lover with a twisted sense of humour because it’s located behind (what feels like) a 10 pound cover at the back of the engine just under the windshield trim and under the main wiring loom.

In order to remove the blower motor, we had to do the following:

1. Remove the strut tower bar
2. Remove the engine cover
3. Disconnect the remote battery terminal
4. Remove the ECM cover
5. Unplug the ECM
6. Move all the wiring out of the way

With those steps completed, all that was left between us and a lighter car was a round peg and a square hole.  I’m serious. When they assembled this car, I’m sure the blower motor did not go in the same way we took it out.  In the end it took us some careful maneouvering and a little bit of force, but we got it out.

While we were under the hood, we also decided that windshield washer reservoirs take up way too much space. After unplugging a few hoses and draining a bit of fluid, we had resolved that issue.

We have yet to officially weigh the pile of parts we took out of the car but if I had to make a realistic estimate, I’d say we shaved another 40 pounds.

Pictures taken throughout the day can be found in the Build Journal gallery.

Stay tuned for more updates :)

Ok I left a teaser here a couple of weeks ago and completely forgot about it. Better late than never :)

As Shawn mentioned in a previous post, Metric Homes has generously donated the use of one of their company trucks and trailers. The donation was a two-way deal however. Basically if we could fix the truck for a good price, we’d get to use it and the trailer at our leisure.

To give you a bit of background information on the truck, it is a 1998 Ford F-150 XLT Flareside (smaller box). It has a 5.4L Tritan V8 engine and has seen it’s share of miles on the road.

We used the truck for one event as a baseline to see how the truck would hold up while towing a loaded car-hauler.

After that first event the following issues became clear:

1. The exhaust was toast
2. Two out of the four tires were done
3. There was something loose in the front end that would cause a “death shake” if you were traveling over 80 km/h

We knew how to fix the first two issues but the last one through Shawn and I for a loop. After a quick trip to our friends at J&R Auto, we were told that it could be the tie rod ends but in order to get a proper diagnosis, we should replace the two worn tires. We were also told by our mechanic that he had never seen or felt anything like that shake and was genuinely scared – comforting right ?

Shawn and I spent some time that next week shopping around for tires and ended picking up two Toyo Open Country H/T  (265/70 R17) tires from Talon Tires in Montreal. The next item on our list was the exhaust system. Most of the parts we’ve purchased to date for the car have come from No Limits Autoparts so we figured we’d give them a call about an exhaust for the truck. Dealing with them was SUPER easy and the next day, Shawn picked up our new Walker Bolt on replacement 2.5 inch catback system.

Replacing  the exhaust was a true test of determination. Assembling the new system took all of 5 minutes. However, removing the remainder of the original system took the better part of 2 hours. What had happened was the original system rotted and broke off after the catalytic converter and the portion that remained had been clamped down so hard that the pipe diameter had constricted. As a result, Shawn and I spent the rest of our afternoon grinding, torching, and heaving on this little two foot piece of pipe until it finally came loose.

After completing the work on the exhaust, getting the tires swapped, and having an inspection performed by a Ford dealership, we took the truck back to J&R to have the work done.

In the end, the “death shake” in the front end was caused by (get this) there being TEN LITRES of water in the passenger side front tire. TEN LITRES!!!  We don’t know how it got there but we figure someone forgot to drain their compressor and it just blew the water in with the air when we filled up the tires.

Two tie-rod ends were also replaced and an alignment was performed.

So for now, the truck is fixed. After replacing the exhaust, however, it became clear that there is most likely a leak in the exhaust manifold that will have to be addressed when we perform our regualr engine maintenance.

Make sure to check out our video page for more info about the exhaust work.

Stay tuned for more!