Mike – Page 23 – The Jeep Guru

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016

Porsche 944 Rod Bearings

At our last race at Road Atlanta the driver in the final stint mentioned he saw a red light flash on the dash occasionally but did not know what it was. A routine oil level check showed the oil level had gotten very low by the end of the race. Therefore I decided we needed to inspect the rod bearings. And I am glad we did.

I used info from Clark’s Garage to establish a procedure. I began by purchasing an engine support from Harbor Freight. Then with the car on the lift, I removed the rear control arm bolts, the ball joint pinch bolts, the front sway bar and then lowered the cross member out of the car. It turned out to be much easier than it sounded form reading the instructions.

With the engine supported form above and the cross member out of the way, the 22 bolts holding the pan in place were easy to access. The pan separated easily but it would not drop down. The internal plastic baffle hung on the oil pickup. I ended up breaking the baffle before I figured out he right twist to get the pickup to come out the hole.

With the pan down, I had full access to the rod ends. Knowing number two to be a problem I started with that one. The Babbitt was gone as well as much of the copper. There was copper embedded in the crank throw as well. I thought we were looking at a complete rebuild. However the other three bearings looked fine.

So I decided to try polishing number two in place. I watched several you tube videos on crank polishing before I chose a method. I ended up wrapping a strip of 600 grit sandpaper around the journal and used a string to spin it back and forth. I lubricated it all with WD 40 during the process. In no time at all I had a shiny smooth journal that measured in the middle of the range.

I then installed new bearing in all four positions using new rod nuts as recommended. on reassembly, I notice the strap that holds the two sump tubes together was broken so I took time to weld it back together.

I was not able to source a used baffle in time so I decide to just glue together the crack I caused in the existing one. With it out of the oil pan, I made several practice runs to get the twist right on re installation.

Putting the oil pan back in place was the most challenging part of the whole process. The gasket is very thick and needs to be compressed just to get the bolts to start. I used wire ties threaded through the holes to keep it lined up while I made the twists to get the pan in place. Then I used my under lift support to lightly press the pan up while I started the bolts. I then used my inch pound torque wrench to set all the bolts to 36 inch pounds. This took forever to get the m all down as the gasket continued to compress causing the bolts to loosen as the one next to it was tightened. I hope I figure out a better method next time I do this job. Once they we all at 36 I then put them all to 72 inch pounds. This step went much quicker.

Once the pan was back on, I lifted the cross member back up and reattached all the under car stuff. I installed a new oil filter and refilled with fresh oil.

We are now ready to race at NCM. I will do this all over again after that race to see how much wear is on a fresh bearing set. Since these bearings were in place when we bough the car, I have no idea of their age or history.

March 9, 2016March 9, 2016

20R – no oil pressure

We have been rebuilding our first ChumpCar. It is a 1975 Toyota Celica. The car belongs to our team mechanic. He has found he has cancer so we have all pitched in to build it for him to race at Daytona.

When we got the freshly rebuilt engine in the car, we found it would not make any oil pressure. We tried priming the oil pump and every other thing we could think of. It simply would not build oil pressure.

After studying the oil flow diagrams, I noticed there was a galley plug in the bottom of the engine. I had noticed that the front and rear plugs were pulled by the machine shop. Of course the builder had replaced those. I called him and asked about the lower one. No one could remember putting that one back.

I really did not want to pull the engine back out just to check to see if the plug was missing.

My first check was to run a wire down the passage from the oil filter to the bottom of the engine on a spare block. I then did the same on the engine in the car. The one in the car would go an extra inch or so.

My next step was to see if I could get the oil pan off with the engine still in the car. There is very little clearance between the oil pan and the cross member.

I began by seeing if I could access all the bolts. I got most by using a short 12mm socket on a wobble extension.
The two right above the cross member I got using a wobble socket.

I had to remove the two engine to transmission braces to get to the back four bolts.

Next, I disconnected the steering rod from the pitman arm and the idler allowing it to drop. I then removed the four bolts holding the motor mounts in place.

I set a jack under the front pulley and began to slowly lift the engine. I had to raise it a couple of inches to get the pan to clear the oil pick up.

With the pan off I could easily see that the lower galley plug was missing.

I pulled the one from the spare block and transferred it to the engine in the car. Then I had to figure out how to get the pan and gasket back on.

It would have been easier to just glue the gasket to the pan but I used a trick I have learned on the Jeeps. I threaded long wire ties through the pan holes into the gasket. I put one on each of the four sides. I then lifted the pan into place and put on the two nuts for the two studs. I then carefully slid the wire ties out while inserting bolts into the holes that were opened up.

Once the pan bolts were snug, I set the engine back in place and reattached the motor mounts. I then reinstalled the engine to transmission braces and the steering rod.

After refilling with oil, I tentatively turned the engine over. I was very happy to see the oil pressure gauge start to move. We were back on schedule with our Daytona Build.

February 17, 2016

Racing at Road Atlanta

2016 ChumpCar race at Road Atlanta

We ran our 1986 Porsche 944 at Road Atlanta.

The car ran flawlessly all day. We got a couple of new battle scars but still drove it on the trailer after the checker flag.

Our pits stops went well and even though our laps times were not as fast as we would have liked, we finished 32nd out of 110 cars. We found that there car can go over three hours on fuel so we skipped fuel on two of our driver swap pit stops. That gained us a lap or two. We completed 338 laps this year in the 14 hour race.

November 22, 2015

Harlan 2015 more pictures

November 15, 2015November 16, 2015

2015 XJ List Fall Crawl

Harlan, KY

Once again, the XJ list met for its semi annual outing in the Harlan, Ky. We had to change campsite this time due to Rock Buggy race scheduled at the new race track in our normal camping spot. We stayed in spot 4 instead of 3 at Harlan County Campground. This might have been a nice spot out of the wind but recent logging had made it a muddy mess with barely enough room for tents and tow rigs.

We made the best of it with big fires each night made with scrap left from the loggers. As usual, the stars were amazing under the dark night sky of the back country. While the view was not great, being in the cove blocked the worst of the wind.

On Thursday, we had a small group and took a run at Mason Jar. We made an interesting observation that this group had only manual transmissions. Normally we have about an even mix of autos and stick shifts. However, in this group, everyone got to exercise their left leg.

The Toyotas played on the big rocks at the entrance while the XJs took the scary and still challenging left line. Took us about an hour to get the first fifty feet into the trail. We soon picked up the pace and noticed the trail has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Places that were hard are near impossible but there are new passages that have their own challenges. We all took various lines just to see what they were like.

Neal had a break in his air system so he had to run most of the trail with open diffs since his ARBs require pressure to lock. I got hung on a rock and needed a short tug with my winch. However when I got the cable good and tight the winch failed. Would not go in or out. I was seriously stuck until Frosty turned around and gave me enough of a tug to release the clutch and free the winch.

We made it back to camp just after dark. We built a huge fire to ward off the cold and clean up some of the logs.

Friday we had a few more rigs. We headed up trail 15 and had lunch at the helicopter pad. We played on the White Tail climb until Brian broke his rear yoke and had to be rescued. He drove back to camp in front wheel drive via the paved road stopping at a junk yard to get parts along the way.

The rest of us headed to lower rock garden and made a few passes on the beginning. Frosty and Dean played on the waterfall near rail bed and Frosty ended up breaking an axle shaft.

We then hit Fish Fossil. I had to back out of this trail last year so I was excited to lead the group in this time. Still with no winch, I was determined to make it. Neal’s expert spotting helped me get over the little water fall in the middle. However the long climb at the end was rutted too deep for my 33″s. I had to try to straddle the ruts. My first three attempts had me sliding into the ruts and having to back down. We finally sent a winched jeep up to give me a tug.

I hit it again and this time held on almost to the top. Just a few feet from the top I slipped into the rut again. More throttle from my 4.7 storker motor was probably not the best choice but I was giving it a go. Then there was a snap and the left front wheel stopped turning. Thinking it was just a U joint, I tried again. Then the front wheel gained LOTS of camber.

I accepted the cable and as I was drug to the top the wheel was separating more and more from the Jeep. The lower ball joint was gone. Is was nearing dark so while the other made their way up the hill, Evan made a rally racer run taking me back to camp to get the trailer. We made the long drive around the mountain to come in form Evarts.
With lots of help and some ratchet straps I got it on the trailer and made the long run back around to camp.

I figured I was done for the weekend and even wondered how I would get it off the trailer when I got back to the shop. In the daylight I saw it was just a ball joint and not the axle C. Scott had his ball joint press and as a group we had all the tools I needed. I picked up some ball joints from the parts store in Harlan and an hour later I was back on my wheels ready to ride. Thanks to all who helped me wrench, hammer and press the new parts into the damaged axle end.

We headed up the trail 45 which has become quite a challenge in its self. It took awhile to get every one to middle fork. We then decided to take the easy way (20) to lower rock garden. Along the way one jeep took a bad line through a wash and ended up on its roof down an embankment.

We spent the rest of the day recovering the Jeep and getting it back to camp. This extraction was an amazing feat of team work and recovery skills. No one was injured and the XJ made it way back to camp on it wheels. It ran most of the way but having lost most of its vital fluids during its long time upside down it suffered some drivability issues. We got back to camp just after dark again.

We made our usual delicious steak and potato boats. After that there was wood chopping demonstrations and other “manly” games.

Once again the events of the weekend showed me the benefits of good friends and working as a team. These are the reasons I enjoy wheeling with this particular group.