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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:45 pm Post subject: 911 Carrera RallyCross Project |
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We finally sourced a donor for our RallyCross project car, a nice 84 911 Carrera with 100K on the clock. Though we haven't receievd the car yet it is supposedly in great mechanical condition with just a few minor cosmetic defects. Sounds perfect.
The plan is to campaign the car in Detroit SCCA Rallycross program while slowly developing it into a dirt monster. The Detroit program runs yea-round so this car is going to see plenty of snow and ice as well as dirt. To help with development we'll also throw the car at some local autocrosses and track days but the main focus is RallyCross. We have been competing with our Subaru Ouback since the program began some six years ago so it's time for a new challenge. As we are fairly new to the marque we will be asking lots of questions on this forum to aid in the development so brace yourself for some pretty dumb ones.
Here's some pictures of the car from the eBay ad:
and what inspires us:
and one of the car it is replacing:
The first event is December 8th so, assuming the thing runs when it gets here we will have a bit of mad prep to do. Because of the specs of the BRAID rally wheels we will but running it is already out of Stock class and into Prepared where, coincidentally, it will be up against a couple of 944s. Top of the list is to get some snow tires mounted to the wheels and slap those on, then some number panels and hopefull try to lift it. Stupid question #1: can one easily lift a 911 by indexing the torsion bars? An inch would be nice but anything would help as we are afarid of ripping the front spoiler off at stock ride height. We may get away with removing the lip spoiler beforehand though that is technically illegal. I dont think the competiton will mind unless we beat them.
We also have to add an AC compressor to be within the Prepared rules. Apparantly one of the previous owners removed the AC from the car so we might be looking for a used broken unit if anyone has one. Of course, if we can prove it was a factory delete then we can run without it.
Bookmark this thread for more stupid questions and a blizzard of updates. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:13 am Post subject: |
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Woke up to a nice shiny (not) new car in my drive. Time to check it over and take it for a test drive.
Uh oh! Everything was looking good till we took a 90 right at a light. There was a loud BANG from the rear. We pulled over and found the rear suspension collapsed! The left a little more than the right. Great. Now I have another broken car.
We only put 3 miles on it before this happened and were going really slow the whole way .
What do you think, broke a torsion bar? |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:49 am Post subject: |
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Could this have been a contributing factor?
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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Didn't expect to be doing this today
Disconnected the rear anti roll bar and I can move the left rear wheel up with little resistance. Can't move the right side so left torsion bar must be broken or out of its socket.
Left side is green end. Right side has a cap on it. Does this look right?
I guess it's still safe to drive till September 13th, at least in Virginia.
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Success! My car no longer has a broken rear torsion bar (in it).
That torsion bar be broken. It broke at the inner splines. You can see where the crack began and propagated out in a spiral. Very impressive.
That's the broken end still in the torsion tube. I guess I'm supposed to bash it out from the other side once I remove the other bar. No rust or anything. I would even say "pristine"
Used my fancy iPhone angle find app to determine the inclination of the non broken torsion plate. 34.8*. Is that correct?
The good torsion bar. Ready to be pulled. I think I am now one with this car Green on the left, blue on the right. Is this significant?
Lets twist again, like we did last...........oh, never mind.
Couple of zip ties, JB Weld and some duct tape and it'll be good as new. (Its'a rally thing)
Now I'm off to Dearborn to pick up some used torsion bars in case the rally-fix doesn't work. Ford ones will work right? But first I think I've earned a nice cup of tea.
Tomorrow we slap it back together. Saturday we figure out how to work the radio. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:08 am Post subject: |
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I picked up some local used torsion bars and slapped the thing back together yesterday. I also took the opportunity to lift it a bit, maybe a bit too much. Ended up with 28" to top of fender in the rear. 27.7 in the front. That's about 2-3 inch lift. God knows what my alignment numbers are but it drives OK.
I made a funky tool for the camber and caster adjusters. One ratcheting wrench, one bolt and two nuts. Worked great.
Reversing lights work. Car settled 1/2" after a few test miles. I think I want to raise the front a little more yet.
I didn't get a baseline height for the rear as it collapsed but in this picture it looks quite high already. Stock height do you think?
We also removed the front chin spoiler before it gets torn off. It's for sale
Found these on the door step when I got home.
Oh my. Maybe these and some rally tires will make the lift seem less silly.
And 12mm spacers for the rear. This way we can run the same spec wheels all round.
Now I can get back to the important stuff like the radio. |
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midman914 Samba Member
Joined: May 29, 2007 Posts: 185 Location: Sacramento
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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Looks like a lot of fun. Sorry to hear about your torsion bar break, but glad to hear you weren't going too fast at the time and walked away unscathed. I can't wait to see some of your rally pics. Didn't even know they did that type of racing around these parts. |
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Bulli Klinik Samba Member
Joined: January 16, 2005 Posts: 2134 Location: Bulli Klinik, Colorado Springs
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 7:51 am Post subject: |
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Looks like a cool project! I-phone inclinometers....I feel so analog.
By the way, what is Braid? Never heard of it. _________________ I've never met a Bus I didn't like.
Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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midman914 wrote: |
Looks like a lot of fun. Sorry to hear about your torsion bar break, but glad to hear you weren't going too fast at the time and walked away unscathed. I can't wait to see some of your rally pics. Didn't even know they did that type of racing around these parts. |
Thanks.
next event is this saturday in South Lyon. Thta's really close to you. You should come out and watch. You may even get a ride along in the Porsche.
http://www.myautoevents.com/pls/mae/frmEventDetail.Show?psevent_id=13407 |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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Bulli Klinik wrote: |
By the way, what is Braid? Never heard of it. |
BRAID is a line of wheels we import from Europe. www.braidusa.com
We do a lovely Fuchs replica that will find its way onto this car once the autocross season starts up again. For now its sporting rally wheels. Tomorrow hopefully. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:40 am Post subject: |
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New boots going on last night.
We lifted the front another 1/2" yesterday so now we are are at 27.5" front and rear. I measured available suspension droop at 2-3 inches.
We also replaced a sealed beam headlight and the wipers and put the rockers back on.
Next we'll try and get baseline weight and dyno pull and find some longer wheel studs so we can run the 12mm spacers in the rear. It really needs them.
I drove it home from the shop last night. Handling with the 195/65 Winterforce snow tires is, er, interesting to say the least. Maybe an alignment will help. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:43 am Post subject: |
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Not much action yesterday though the State of Michigan fully endorses the project now.
Sorry about the untidy rear. The car was backed into a trailer at some point resulting the the above damage. It got a new engine cover as a result. The remaining damage is not visible with the Porsche plate on but, because of the distortion it wont stay on so I took it till I can devise a fix.
These showed up yesterday. They're not for me but I sure am tempted. We still have to figure out our autocross and track day setup but are leaning to these BRAID replicas in 16x7 and 16x8 shod with Dunlop Direzzas 205 and 225. Of course, ours might be white!
We scored some proper rally snow tires; Yokohama A034. Can you imagine how squirmy these would be on tarmac?
What's this for? One on the left and one on the right, just behind the front wheels.
No windshield washers! I added washer fluid and it poured straight onto the floor! Found the pump and bottle but the pipe from the filler is missing. Sorta strange. Pump works though. Today I'll investigate the bottle which is sort of loose.
Apart from the above major triumphs we did suffer one setback yesterday: I was adjusting the engine cover latch as it wasn't quite latching. Now it wont unlatch. DOH! Any suggestions how to get it open? I'm sure I'll have to get in there sooner or later. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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My car came with a carbon fiber duck tail in the back seat. As far as I can tell it has never been installed though it is not in pristine condition as it has two scratches in the jell coat. I think I'll sell it but I don't know what it's worth. It only weighs 11lbs!
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Cousin of a Porsche Samba Member
Joined: May 17, 2007 Posts: 813 Location: Royal Palm Beach
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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Might want to try pelican for pricing. Cool project. _________________ 67 Bug w/2110
1980 911sc looks faster than it is!
I can't help it I am what I am.
Alte Schule Vintage and Performance VW club
BKC #022 (Well at least that is what the jacket says) |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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Cousin of a Porsche wrote: |
Might want to try pelican for pricing. Cool project. |
Thanks, i'll try that. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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All loaded up for the RallyCross tomorrow. I hope we get to run. Because the car was in pieces last week I didn't preregister so I am 2nd and my co-driver 4th on the wait list. Hopefully four people have too much to drink tonight and can't get out of bed in the morning.
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:53 am Post subject: |
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Sorry about taking a while to get back to everyone about the duck tail. I was out all day Saturday racing our car and when I got home, late, I was overwhelmed by requests for more information, pictures and shipping quotes. As I can't respond to everyone I've posted the duck tail on eBay as they are good at this stuff and I'm not so. Here's the link:
Porsche 911 Carbon Fiber Duck Tail Getty | eBay
if you have any questiuons let me know. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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OK, time for a race report. Literally, I finally have time for a race report.
So the car performed flawlessly. Better than that it won it's class! Proof of concept-check.
It was a bit touch and go wether we'd get in but the poor weather kept a few preregisterds away so we were OK. I say we as I shared the car with 9Magazine's Brad Brownell. He knows 911s better than me and needed a ride so we both drove it.
The weather really was appalling, cold and wet. The two thngs I left England because of. I think it worked in our favor though as some of the other rear wheel drive cars couldn't even get off the line without a push. The rear engine in our 911 was just the ticket though the steering was a bit light in some of the soupy bits. Speaking of which I didn't notice any of the understeer people had warned me about. Once moving the car would only really over steer, throtle on and throttle off. Kind of fun. As always in these conditions slow is fast so I just took my time, especially as I had no idea what the car was going to do as I've only really driven it up a down a main road a few times. Got my first ever cone-free event too. This car is going to be great.
So the car works and people love it too. It could use a limited slip diff and those Yokohamas would have been better than the snow tires we had on but we can't complain. Now I have to clean the thing though It's not that dirty on the outside but the wheel wells are full of thick goopy mud. I bet it weighs 2-300 lbs more right now.
Heres some pictures:
Look, I'm not the only crazy fool RallyCrossing a Porsche.
3-2-1-GO, er go, go on then, go.
Look for a story about the event at 9 Magazine - The Porsche Enthusiasts Magazine soon
All dirtied up (underneath)
and some video
More rallycross action - YouTube
First rallycross for 911 - YouTube
next event is January 5th. Fingers crossed for snow. |
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BRAID Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2012 Posts: 183 Location: USA
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:26 am Post subject: |
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Another picture from the weekend's RallyCross. This is what it's all about.
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themetalsurgeon Samba Member
Joined: April 11, 2008 Posts: 425 Location: Denver
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