thecarman

Please forward to anyone (or any list) you think might be interested. Make sure you pre-register ASAP if you'd like to go, because they will cancel the event if we don't get at least 25 people pre-registered by 14-Nov. You do NOT have to pay online when you pre-register. You can just pay your entry fee when you get to the event. The Tarheel Sports Car Club puts on RallyCross events about once a month at a few locations just outside the RTP area (Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Durham and surrounding areas). These are like autocross, but on dirt. Only one car on the track at a time, course is layed out by cones, the course is about 60 seconds long. It is in the open, so no chance of hitting trees. The next event is 21-Nov on some private land near Clayton, NC. Directions are here: http://www.thscc.com/general/directions/bmwfarm.html You can pre-register here: http://www.thscc.com/rallycross/prereg_rallyx.html Rules are here: http://www.thscc.com/rallycross/info/rallyx_rules.html If you have any questions about the event, I'd be happy to discuss. Some pics and vids from previous races are at: http://www.thscc.com/rallycross/photos/index.php (for this specific course from February 2009, see: http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff49/csuich/RallyX%202009_0201%20Sandblast%20RallyX/?albumview=grid http://picasaweb.google.com/morgan.mehler/20090201RallyXAtBMWFarm#) The format of a race is that each car in your class gets 3 timed runs in the morning and 3 timed runs in the afternoon. The scoring is cumulative - all your runs count. But to me, how my time stacks up against others is not as important as the fun I have racing in the dirt. With that said, I won the street-tire AWD class last August in a beat 89 GL-10 wagon, and got 2nd overall out of all entrants. While one group is running the course, the other group works the course to watch for knocked-over cones, call them in to the scoring table, and set them back up. Knocked over cones are a +2 second penalty each. We break for about an hour for lunch. The race is usually over by 2PM, after which you can have "fun runs" that aren't part of the competition, but are still timed, so you can practice against the clock or just have fun. You get a plaque if you place in your class, but there is no monetary reward. I have been racing in this series for over a year. I started out with an 89 Subaru AWD wagon, and now have a 91 Audi Quattro. Neither car is far from stock. Last race in the Audi, I glanced down at the speedo, and hit 50mph at the fastest part of the track. That feels very fast on dirt (especially if it's slick). Most cars stay in 2nd gear the whole track - if that gives you an idea of the speeds. Lots of people run daily drivers, but some run dedicated RallyX cars that are gutted to save weight, and there are several highly modded Subarus that throw a lot of dirt and are fun to watch. Even so, I won the street tire AWD class against these cars in a GL-10, and I also won the race-tire AWD class in the Audi we have now. Front-wheel-drive cars are very competitive because they are so light and generally have better dirt traction than a RWD. You can register for multiple drivers in a single car. Since the runs are solo (only one car on the track at a time), this works out fine, and each driver gets their 6 timed runs. I co-own my car with a friend from work. You can also have registered participants ride with you in your car, which is fun (and is also a good way for your co-driver to get a good look at the course before they run it themself). Vehicles have to pass tech, which means no loose suspension joints or bearings (they shake the tires with car on the ground to see if they are loose), brakes work, seatbelts work, no loose items inside the car, structurally sound floor and body, no rust holes in the floor where stuff could fly in. You need an approved helmet. If this sounds like fun to you, definitely come try!

I think you've got air pockets in the cooling system - that's the gurgling noise you're hearing, and that's why the heater doesn't always work. I'm not sure of the best way to bleed it out though.

Thanks all, and sorry about the crappy pics. It was late and I just grabbed my wife's camera, took the pics, and uploaded so I could get to bed. My browser auto-resized them for me, so I didn't realize how huge they were. I can see it now (if I watch them download, I see the giant pic for a split sec before it gets resized). Next time, I will resize before uploading. Thanks again!

I'm swapping a used longblock into my 89 ea82t wagon. I found this sensor on my original engine, and the wires had cracked and corroded off of it. It looks like a vacuum switch between the evap canister and the intake manifold. Pics: http://www.triadfoundry.com/richards_pictures/subaru_sensor/ This car is for RallyX only, and is not licensed for the street. Can I run without this sensor, and just cap the vacuum lines? I have a race on Sunday, and doubt I'd be able to get a replacement before then. (the one from the donor car that supplied the long block had the plastic nipples broken off when I got the car) Thanks! Richard

I've got one of those spoilers for $20 plus shipping from Apex, NC. Assuming I can get it off OK - I think they are glued on.

At our last RallyX event a guy had welded the front diff on a Nissan Sentra. He said it sucked on pavement, wouldn't turn at all (he tried it just to see what would happen, but it is an off-road-only car that he trailers to races). I watched him in the dirt, and it definitely turned. The FWD cars use the e-brake a lot in turning. (But has this Sub been converted to rear-wheel parking brake?) He said he had to re-learn how to drive it, but it was working. We'll see how he does in the FWD class at the next race in March... Is this Sub an oval track car? If so, they are set up way differently, with tire stagger, so that they always want to turn left (taller tire on right-side). I used to help a friend campaign a VERY successful 4-cyl Fox Mustang at several different tracks. When set up right, the car would turn itself - you had to work to hold it straight when you were on the straights. I would imagine with staggered front tires and on dirt, it would turn left well with the welded front diff. I'm interested to hear what happens.

Anyone know how to print that without the text getting chopped off on the right side of the page? (Landscaped was not wide enough - I guess I could use Legal paper...)

I'm not the original poster, but I plan to relocate my battery for better weight distribution at rallycross. So I'm following this thread.

The Haynes manual says I need to pull the starter off of my EA82T before pulling the engine. Is that correct? I thought since the starter is bolted to the trans, and not contacting the flywheel when not in the process of starting, I could just leave it on there. Do I really need to pull it? Thanks! Richard

VERY funny - my roomate in college had both headlight bulbs blow at the same time on an 87 GL-10. Is yours a white 5-speed 4WD wagon? I had never seen this happen before - both at same time, so we assumed it couldn't be just bulbs, so didn't even check. He took it to a shop and was not happy he had to pay just to have the bulbs replaced.

Could there be something between the air filter and the MAF, blocking the flow? One time I left a paper towel in the tube leading to the MAF when I had the air filter off, and it sucked up flat against the MAF and would only let the engine idle, and not rev any higher. Was really glad it was on that side of the MAF, and not the other side, where it could have gotten sucked into the turbo.

Only RallyX during the day, so no worry about lights. This is not full rally like thru the woods, but is rally-cross (X=cross) like short course, 1 car at a time. Maybe takes 1-1.5 minutes to run the course. (You do multiple runs per day) Pics of our local RallyX club stuff can be seen at http://thscc.com/rallycross/photos/index.php Ours is the only older Subaru that competes here. There is one 92 Legacy, and everything else AWD is Imprezas, WRXs, and one Eclipse.

Thanks! Wish I would have had more time to play - the snow is already gone. The passenger headlight is removed, and in its place is a K&N cone filter. (This car does not see any street duty, it is RallyX only)

We got some snow Tuesday in central NC. 6-7 inches, which is rare for us. We're lucky if we get any snow at all each year. Had to work from home, but couldn't keep myself from going out between teleconference meetings to do some donuts in the field behind our house in my EA82T RallyX wagon. http://www.triadfoundry.com/richards_pictures/subaru/SnowJan2009.html My wife got some video too, so will see if I can get it uploaded...

We had a really good run with our EA82T RallyX wagon yesterday. I finished 1st in class and 2nd overall (look for Richard Nuss in the results), which was a big improvement over past races. I beat several newer cars that had race tires. And my co-driver Marek was 2nd in class and 10th overall. Classes: http://thscc.com/rallycross/events/2008/2008-0928class.pdf Overall: http://thscc.com/rallycross/events/2008/2008-0928overall.pdf After the morning runs, we realized that the car's power delivery had felt different all morning - it was much smoother. In the past, this car had a definite boost "hit" that was dramatic and would shoot the car into oversteer. This was with a manual boost controller (TurboXS) set to 5psi (our engine is hurt, so we turned the boost down). I took the stock exhaust off the car just before this RallyX, although it was already missing the muffler (fell off in first race of the year). It now only has the downpipe and the first cat. The car still makes 5psi boost, but seems much more linear, more controllable. For instance, the car used to bog down in second gear if we had slowed down for a corner, then all of a sudden it would spool up and take off in an uncontrollable way. But at this past race, we could leave it in 2nd almost the whole track, and it never bogged - was just smooth. Is the turbo just spooling sooner because of the decreased exhaust backpressure? How does the boost act on your cars? Does it "hit", or is it smooth like this? Could just pulling off the exhaust make the difference we're seeing? I knew it might make a difference, but didn't expect to notice much. The reason I ask - we also just started venting the crankcase pressure to atmosphere. PCV and breathers are plugged. Had to do this because one cylinder is real low on compression is pressurizing the crankcase, and would cause oil to be sucked thru breathers. I realize this is not the optimal configuration for this car, but it's keeping it running until we can work on the engine this winter. So I was wondering if our newly "smooth" car is a freak thing that will go away once we get a good engine in there, or is it normal for a properly running EA82T? For fun, here's passenger-hand-held in-car video of some of our runs. You can play it at that site, but it runs better if you download to your PC and play via Quicktime. http://drop.io/thsccrallyx20080928 . The smoke out the hood is a tube from the center crankcase vent. The valve-cover vents are running down under the car.