my LeMons car

[JKav]

Hey--the connector shell for the fan thermoswitch literally exploded spontaneously off of our harness today.

If anyone out there has a spare 1.6 harness and doesn't mind clipping off a connector shell, let me know.

[eyesoreracing]

Testing went great this weekend. Car ran pretty much flawlessly, though it does have a tendency to corner with one front wheel in the air (we disconnected the rear bar to reduce oversteer--something I have NEVER done before).

Here's a little vid of our lucky Mexican turbo taking two laps of the track.

YouTube - Angry turbo goes for a drive

Keep in mind that this is an incredibly wide angle lens, so it makes things look much faster than they really are. Note my speed through the pits at the end: That's what 5 mph look like.

Also, we were stuck in a slow-intermediate group, so catching up with real cars isn't as impressive as it seems.

Still, we showed up, lapped the track, and nothing exploded, so we'll call that success. Our apologies to the track for the enormous puddle of oil...

-Dave

[Matt [exz3owner]]

awesome. interesting to see how much the engine moves around. I've never driven around without the hood attached... Are you using stock engine mounts? or ones you filled with something?

[eyesoreracing]

Actually, engine movement is less than I expected (I've driven a LOT of hoodless cars). The effect is magnified by the turbo sitting so far from the engine's axis of rotation, but the engine itself doesn't move that much. If you spin the tires (it was wet earlier in the day) and get some wheel hop going, then it moves a lot.

Miata mounts are solid chunks of rubber, so there's nothing to fill up.

-D

[hustler]

[Saml01]

Simply bad ass. Congrats guys, and good luck.

[MattEGTR]

That was the best thing I've seen all day.

[speedf50]

That was the best thing I have seen in my life...

Any lap times? Or is it all hush hush?

Seeing this thing in the rear view must cause some double takes.

[eyesoreracing]

Originally Posted by speedf50

Seeing this thing in the rear view must cause some double takes.

Aaaah! I just polished my car, get that thing away from me!

linkey poo: 940am - CP3_3993

And no, the lap times aren't secret, we just didn't think to bring a stopwatch. It was faster than an STI. AN STI. One particular STI... And it was faster than one other Miata racecar. One without a turbo...

-D

[JKav]

Yeah, the test session wasn't really about going fast. It was about trying not to suck.

[eyesoreracing]

940am - CP3_3920

-D

[y8s]

btw, saw the SCC article on the crx. pimpy. is the miata going to get the same rubber body part treatment? azenis fenders=fast

[eyesoreracing]

Here's the latest:

1: The car has survived 5 hours of track testing with no problems. It's quick, handles well, and doesn't overheat.

2: We now have a PVC intake (photos soon) to replace the fancy aluminum one (aluminum looks expensive, even though it was free scrap, and PVC looks cheap, even though it cost us $10...)

3: Our engine is about to blow up.

Runs great, good oil pressure, no funny noises, but we just changed our break-in oil and found this:



So if anyone in SoCal or anywhere between SoCal and Thunderhill has an extra BP enigne laying around, we'd be glad to clear up some space in your garage for you...
We'll be bringing an engine hoist to the race, and if we ventiate the block, it sure would be swell to have another engine to put in...

-Dave

[eyesoreracing]

On the bright side, at least we'll have active aero in the few laps before our engine esplodes.

YouTube - Eyesore Racing's first active aero demonstration

-Dave

[akaryrye]

looks crappy, ive got a 1.6 bottom end with no oil pan in my shed I wouldnt mind getting rid of 2 hours drive south of thunderhill by the way. You are using a 1.6 right? I have to look again and make sure its all there, but I think it just burned a bit of oil when I pulled it, didnt compression test or anything though.

[18psi]

just read beginning to end...SIMPLY AWESOME...had me chuckling the whole time

[johnwag]

Originally Posted by eyesoreracing

On the bright side, at least we'll have active aero in the few laps before our engine esplodes.

YouTube - Eyesore Racing's first active aero demonstration

-Dave

LOL! Genius!

I dig the vid of the frankenmiata on streets of willow. Very Cool!

What are those accordion shaped things you found in the oil?

[hustler]

Originally Posted by johnwag

What are those accordion shaped things you found in the oil?

that would be metal shavings in the oil filter element...which my car did not have thankfully. Self machining ftl.

[eyesoreracing]

Originally Posted by akaryrye

looks crappy, ive got a 1.6 bottom end with no oil pan in my shed I wouldnt mind getting rid of 2 hours drive south of thunderhill by the way. You are using a 1.6 right? I have to look again and make sure its all there, but I think it just burned a bit of oil when I pulled it, didnt compression test or anything though.

Great news, thanks! I just PM'd you.

-D

[eyesoreracing]

Originally Posted by johnwag

LOL! Genius!

I dig the vid of the frankenmiata on streets of willow. Very Cool!

What are those accordion shaped things you found in the oil?

The accordion is the oil filter, all cut open and stretched out.

The shiny bits are anyone's guess, but I'd guess bearings.

Damn shame, as it took us four engines to find a crankshaft that wasn't all scored from shit like this running through the bearings. Clearly ours now looks just as bad as the ones we rejected.

On the bright side, I guess, 2 of the other 3 engines clearly had a bunch of crap run though the bearings and didn't spin bearings...

-Dave