Team NAXJA/Petty Cash Racing stock class KOH XJ build

[markw]

It was a fairly short email list, I was just generating it off the top of my head. Didn't mean to miss anyone. Oh, and if you are looking for wrenches, these are NICE and the price is good.. http://www.tooltopia.com/gearwrench-81916p.aspx

 

[cal]

After King of the Hammers, I was pretty down on this car and racing in general. Just tired.

After losing my tools a few weeks ago, that got a lot worse. So much so that Richard and I decided to skip NorCal Stampede and see how we felt about things.

It was hard yesterday knowing the other teams were at qualifying, and I was sitting at home next to a hammered to dogshit car. This morning I walked out to look at it and ponder.

I stopped by my toolbox and glanced at it; and was overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends. I can't really demonstrate it in pictures, my toolbox isnt freaking big enough to hold the tools they sent my way. I have the sockets and about 2/3 of the wrenches in, and nothing else - and its packed solid.

Next month I'll buy myself a bigger toolbox.

Grabbed a couple of sockets and started to tear broken stuff off of the jeep.

Didnt take many mid day pictures, I was mostly working alone (Grimmjeeper stopped by for a while) and didn't want to touch my phone with dirty hands.


New garage art I think..

You get her stripped down and she looks like a wet cat. So much smaller..

Here's where she is now.

Tomorrow morning the motor comes out and I'll start hammering the body back into shape. Russ Pottenger has a new power plant for us, NAPA is throwing us some fresh paint and Hooker Harnesses just refreshed our seat belts. We should show up to Glen Helen sexy and ready to rock..

 

[Maxxrus08]

Thats awesome. Get back on the horse and ride again!!

 

[REVROK]

Cal-
I am glad you're encouraged, but really want to help you along that path! Thank you for representing us and for letting us "go along for the ride" as it were. A lot of us just quietly follow you... you may not know it, but we are out here. You have the appreciation and admiration of your club, as does Richard. Thanks for building and racing this truck and putting our name on it.

Peace, Tim

 

[scottmcneal]

Cal i have the front clip if needed.I may have passenger front and rear door, not sure on drivers side. I have A pillars but they're on a 2 door, don't know if they would work. Let me know if you want them and then we can plan on a day you can come out to help remove them..


Don't forget i live in the desert, today's high is going to be 111 if not higher.

 

[cal]

Our drivers doors are in pretty good shape, just need passenger, probably just the rear and I'll try to fix the front.

2 door A pillars would work, but I have those lined up already. I do need a front clip, but it might cost less to hit a junkyard than fuel out to your place We'll talk in a few days.

 

[cal]

Cal-
I am glad you're encouraged, but really want to help you along that path! Thank you for representing us and for letting us "go along for the ride" as it were. A lot of us just quietly follow you... you may not know it, but we are out here. You have the appreciation and admiration of your club, as does Richard. Thanks for building and racing this truck and putting our name on it.

Peace, Tim

Thanks for your very kind post. Its easy to get wrapped up in how much work and expense this is (it does outweigh the fun) and it is always nice to hear from others who enjoy watching it.

We haven't really had much 'fan energy' this year, which really is why I stopped updating the build thread as often and in much detail.

 

[cal]

Thoughts on trans coolers.

I have always run my coolers in the bottom and out the top, so that fluid doesn't 'fall' through it and maximizes cooling.

We had some heat issues at KOH, so I bough the best trans cooler I could find, the CBR-9836. 16"x14"x2" double pass with a 12" SPAL fan on it. I can tell you true that no matter how hard we push the car now, the fluid output is never hot.

But, the fan is very loud. Annoyingly loud. Richard drove the car once and then immediately ordered a thermal switch for the fan. I just installed the coupler for it here a few minutes go, and it got me thinking..

Are we pushing too much fluid uphill for the aw4 pump? Should I flip the lines around and go in the top, out the bottom? With the double pass cooler we should still get plenty of cooling out of it. I don't know if the pump thing is even an issue or not.

I'm also worried that if I did that, when we shut down we would end up with a couple of extra quarts of fluid in our pan. Would that introduce leaking if we submerge the pan gasket?

Just thinking out loud, but interested in other peoples thoughts.

The porn:

 

[RedHeep]

Richard can still hear?

 

[cal]

 

[AaronNW]

But, the fan is very loud. Annoyingly loud

Put a rheostat on your fan to make it variable speed, that is if your thermal switch doesn't already do so. That way you could run half speed (1/4 the noise) instead of just on and off.

Should I flip the lines around and go in the top, out the bottom?

It shouldn't make any difference. Either way you have to push the fluid to the top or the cooler. And the height you push the fluid up is negligible because the power required to elevate it is regained when it falls back down. It is the added fluid line that is a killer.

I don't know if the pump thing is even an issue or not.

If you're staying cool I wouldn't worry about it. The aw4 uses a basic gerotor pump. When you add more resistance (more hose or tube to push fluid through) it simply takes more force to turn. You loose a little (very little) flow because the pumps efficiency goes down when pressure goes up. The best thing you could do is run bigger lines that give less resistance, but I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm also worried that if I did that, when we shut down we would end up with a couple of extra quarts of fluid in our pan.

I have never been inside an aw4, but f the return line is normally submerged in the fluid, it shouldn't matter because there is no place for air to enter the system and displace the fluid draining down. If it's not submerged and you swap the lines it may drain back.


I would slow down your fan, or getting a less powerful one and see if you start having temperature issues

 

[cal]

SPAL specifies that you should never slow the fan down, they are designed to operate at one speed and voltage. Given the need for reliability over comfort, I'm going to go with them on that.

I was less worried about the height of the fluid I was pushing, and more thinking that I'm pushing a quart up or I'm pushing a gallon up.. I can't see how that doesn't make a difference.

 

[cal]

New motor is in. That was a productive weekend. I'm beat.

 

[yossarian19]

Why the motor change? Did I miss something? Thought you guys were happy with the Pottenger stroker. Either way, good work this weekend. Get some rest & get ready for the next one

 

[cal]

We've been swapping back and forth between two Pottenger motors all along, as Russ tweaks things and refines the formula. Assuming this motor works like its supposed to, it will be the last change and the motor that just came out is going up for sale.

The original motor, the MK I, was an 11:1 big cam engine that went like hell, but there was a flaw in the block that eventually left us with a 15" long crack along a casting line.

We just removed the MK II, which was a 10:1 compression motor that runs on 91 octane and the top end off of the MK I, built in a hurry before King of the Hammers 2 years ago.

We just installed the MK III, which is like 11.7:1 and will run strait 100 octane. We actually had the motor for this last KOH, but one of the roller rockers came apart in testing and we couldn't get parts in time, so we rolled back to the MK II until Russ could get it where he was satisfied. They were Mopar rockers, now long gone, and Russ is freshly a Harland Sharp dealer. This motor was built under the premise of "lets see how far we can push this..." so I guess we'll all find out together if the mad scientist has gone too far yet.

Its interesting, the first 2 motors have been pretty identicle spec except for compression. Its amazing how much difference just compression makes....

 

[Boostwerks.com]

Cal, I would plumb the cooler with the inlet on the bottom to prevent any air bubbles getting trapped in the core. Probably not even an issue, but it's really the best way to plumb it. As for drain back, you could install an inline check valve at the bottom of the feed line to hold the fluid in the core after shutdown.

 

[cal]

Cal, I would plumb the cooler with the inlet on the bottom to prevent any air bubbles getting trapped in the core. Probably not even an issue, but it's really the best way to plumb it. As for drain back, you could install an inline check valve at the bottom of the feed line to hold the fluid in the core after shutdown.

That's how it has always been plumbed, and that is a solid point I hadn't considered right there. Will leave it as is!

 

[cal]

I'm missing some photos that I should have, but basically on our rocker arm failure, the pin that the roller tip rides on worked loose in the bore and was coming out on several rockers. On one of them it came apart and let the push rod jump out of its cup. Let me tell you that made a god awful noise. We were up around 6000 rpm's when it happened.

There arent parts available for these anymore. I'm guessing Russ is just tossing them in the trash..

 

[kastein]

I would agree. Also, your friends are awesome.

That motor sounds insane... any idea what power it's putting down?

To add to what someone said about the gerotor pump taking more power - this is true, but fortunately it is run off the two slots milled in the neck of the torque converter and therefore is directly linked to the engine. The power steering pump probably sucks more power than it, so I wouldn't really be concerned, the gerotor will get all the power it needs to pump the fluid no matter what. The only thing I would worry about is where the pressure regulator is in the circuit, if anywhere, and whether enough pressure remains after running through the cooler to actuate the servos and clutches. I don't have a hydro diagram of the AW4 handy to tell if this is even a concern, though, I can't remember if the cooler comes before all that stuff or not.

 

[Boostwerks.com]

That's how it has always been plumbed, and that is a solid point I hadn't considered right there. Will leave it as is!

:cheers:

PM inbound as well.