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PowerMods911
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by PowerMods911 »

Kyalami raceday 10 May 2013

With 3 practice sessions scheduled for Friday, I arrived at 11am keen and eager to get to grips with the track. Session 1 was scary, had major front brake issues, the pedal was spongy, very little brakes and pedal disappeared at times. Had a big scare when I came off at the first bend (which to me is 3rd turn). Back in the pits and Dixie and I bled the brakes.

Session 2, brakes were still an issue and to add to it all I could hear the car pinging and had developed a misfire. If you can hear it with a helmet on you know you have major pinging. Came off at the first bend again. Back in the pits, by this time the BOSS (Domingo's) had arrived. When I mentioned the pinging he ONLY had 1 question. Are your actuator pipes on? Sheepishly I admitted I'd not fitted the left side pipe on after refitting the turbo. Problem resolved.

Back to the brakes, under the beady eye of the BOSS we bled the brakes...again and again and again......an hour later with some laughs and witty comments to keep our sanity as what was supposed to be a simple task was getting the better of us, we realised we'd gone through 1 litre of Ferodo fluid. Appears the BOSS didn't tighten one of the nipples properly. Finished too late and missed practice 3. Took car out onto service roads to check the brakes and it felt good, however the misfire was still there.

Arrived at the pits at 6:30am on Saturday, checked tyre pressures and topped up oil. Then I remembered we never got around to the misfire. Dixie found plug 3 gap was completely closed, opened it up and we were back in 6 cylinders.

Brakes were better during qualifying, but still not what it was with the praggia's. Roy qualified 1st in a time of 2:07.7 and I was second at 2:08.7 (very happy with my time) with Giuseppe a very close 3rd at 2:08.9

First race was marred with major drama with the starting procedures that saw Giuseppe, Adrian and Warren amongst others pulling off some serious evasive manoeuvres.

Although the brakes behaved, I had 2 incidents both at wesbank corner when I ran out of brakes, thankfully I was able to stay on the track. First 2 laps were great then I heard engine misfire again, shit was it plug 3 again who knows... the race must go on and Roy made his way through the back markers of the 111 saloon cars and pulled away, and pull away he did, only saw him again in the pits. At some point in fast sweep, just after the start finish line, a yellow Porsche closed the door on me, absolutely scary as I thought he was going to spin out as he tapped my front left bumper corner , but we both held our nerve and came out of it unscathed. In the pits he did come and apologise. No hard feelings...but it could as easily have been big tears.

We checked plug 3 and found all OK. Misfire was prominent, and we decide we couldn't risk going out into race 2 without knowing the cause. As luck had it Warren and Paul from POWERMODS were also at the track to support and help. We opened up the tappet cover and found the lock nut on the exhaust rocker setting screw was "missing" never found it. Under instructions from the BOSS, Dixie and I went home and got another nut, the excitement was on, as it was now a race against time to see if we could get the car ready before the 2nd race. On arrival at the track, it was all hands on deck working feverishly as I sat back and enjoyed my lunch......... everything back on and the car sounded better, but not 100%.

Went out for race 2, managed to hang in for 2 laps then Roy started pulling away. He then got caught up in traffic, then some yellow Golf lost it in the esses, didn't even make the first bend, went straight on the grass and sand and across the track again into the kitty litter pulling all the dirt onto the track. He shoot up a stone (Roy, must have looked like a rock) which shattered Roy's windscreen. The 2 cars between Roy and I slowed to get through the cloud of dust and when we emerged out of it we just saw glass flying off Roy's car, we hung back until he punched out the windscreen then it was racing again. Roy was visibly not 100%, but going balls to the wall, finally I got past the Porsche and Golf and was with Roy. Then he and I had a mighty scrap overtaking each other twice before the end of the race, we were on the edge... sliding and getting the back out at several tight bends. In particular at the end of the mine shaft, on the second last lap we were both sideways, must have been awesome for the crowd. Into the last lap and I almost lost it at wesbank again, saw Roy come up next to me, somehow I stayed on the track and managed just to stay ahead.

Not sure what it is with the yellow cars!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all a damn great week end.

Only bad thing is Domingo's says head must come off, looks like a valve seat is loose or I've burnt a valve on cylinder 6. Looking at the times of race 2 doesn't seem to be too big a problem.
Last edited by PowerMods911 on Wed May 15, 2013 3:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by kevin »

Those times are very impressive for first time out at kyalami . Looked like a demolition derby from the YouTube clip . From that report it feels like been at the track . How were those front spring rates ?
Are you down on compression on 6 . Just turn up boost and leave heads on :D
Now that you have completed first part of your safety program its time to weld up and add some extra bars to that flimsy roll cage . Also now that you have coil overs only and not torsion bars it would be right thing now to tie the front bars you added through firewall into roll cage which is then welded in . My car started showing cracks on the joint just below windscreen before I did that and you will also find the suspension will work much better as the body will stop flexing so much . From the pics your car looks much better through corners . Interested to know what you're tyre temps and wear were like .
Found this from Joemarts link .
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PowerMods911
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by PowerMods911 »

That's an awesome pic, looks like it's from the rolling start line up, Giuseppe is probably on my inside.

I ran the back tyres at 1.6 cold for quilifying and then 1.5 for first race , they were 2 bar when i came into the pits.

Front tyres I ran ay 1.5 bar cold and they were 1.85 bar when I came in so they weren't building up enough heat, even though i had 1mm toe in.

Ran a best time of 2:05.7 for the day in race 1 and then a 2:06.9 in race 2, but was running consistantly in the 2:10's which was my target.

Nelson came the closest as he predicted I'd run a best of 2:05 which I did, albeit only for 1 lap.

Yes, now it's onto strengthening the roll cage.

Not too sure about just turning up the boost, I thought I could do that easily, but I'm told I need different actuartors :roll: WTF. What's the use of having turbo's if you can't turn up the boost by adjusting it.......

There is a very prominant tappet noise on cylinder 6. We'll first check if the tappet is OK and in place, try and adjust it if possible.
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by Joemart »

911..... just remove the bypass valve....though, I must say, even though u were running on 5 cylionders, u still pulled away from me....u sure u didn't turn up the wick? :?: :wink:
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by PowerMods911 »

Joe, would love to turn it up. I'm told POWER compensates for a lack of driving talent :lol:

By the way did you get a pic of the spectators you were watching on the rolling start :wall:
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by Joemart »

:lol: ..... waiting for the pics to be developed...
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by PowerMods911 »

Long story short, there was terminal damage to the engine. Broken ring landings and one of the exhaust valve cotter came undone, Fortuneately the valve stem was jammed between the cotter and valve spring retaining cap.

I had a 2.5 sub assembly and a set of 2.5 reconditioned heads laying around gathering dust. The guys at POWERMODS were absolutely phenomenal, they had the engine out on Friday. On Saturday, with help from Boetie and guidance from the BOSS, we put the 2.5 engine together. On Monday POWERMODS installed the engine in the car and had it running.

Finally we put it on the Dyno. To our surprise, after a couple of runs all the smoke, huffing and puffing cleared up and the motor seems to have settled and bedded in. Once again the BOSS has worked his magic and brought life back into an old motor.

As things stand we'll be racing at Midvaal this week end. Only time will tell...............
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Last edited by PowerMods911 on Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by kevin »

Well done , your hardwork and the BOSS's supervision sure keeps that car on the track and at the same time keeping costs to a minimum . Out of interest how close did your max power on this 2.5 compare with the 2.8 .
Maybe its time to put a 24v 3.2 or 3.0 in with a 2.5 crank on the TT . That motor will make so much more power with the flow in those heads even with your low boost . You would probably see easy 350 hp on wheels at 0.5 bar .
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by powermods69 »

Kevin I like that idea now to convince Jose
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by PowerMods911 »

Somehow I managed to break the newly built motor in 10 laps. Not sure what's wrong will look at it this week end. Kevin, that 24v motor could be a reality rather sooner than later.
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by powermods69 »

Viva 24V viva
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by Joemart »

24v heh???.... 8)
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.8 TT - Race Car

Post by PowerMods911 »

Mr G, the guys are on my case to fit in a 24 valve motor, so when I trashed the 2.5 they saw it as an opportunity and were on my case again.

Kevin we were making 155kw on the wheels consistantly on each run.

Opened up the motor and found I'd dropped the exhaust valve on cylinder 2. You hear the horror stories of people walking into hospital with an axe or panga lodged in their heads. Well the valve was lodged into the piston. only the top half visible, so I take it part of it is protruding at the bottom of the piston.

As I heard the thud I hit the kill switch and I'm convinced that saved the motor. The sleeve is still in perfect condition and the head we can save. There are 100's of 2.5 heads around so I'll keep it and only repair it if required.

I'm doing the repair with the motor in position, taking off the sump and replacing piston 2 and then slap on another 2.5 head and we should be good to go in 2 - 3 weeks time.
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Last edited by PowerMods911 on Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.5 TT - Race Car

Post by kevin »

I would also change the bearings on number 2 as on quite a few occasions when valves have been hit and the just the heads are changed you get a bearing failure about 300km later . The impact effects the the bearing . Having said that I have always taken a chance ad not changed bearings and been ok . Both my mom and dads 24v motors belts snapped long before service dates but due to high costs I just put new heads on as pistons were still ok . Still no failures but those are not race cars .
Clean the oil pump and check for any other pieces of foreign material in engine .
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Re: PowerMods911 - GTV6 2.5 TT - Race Car

Post by Joemart »

that looks ouch...... So much for keeping a secret :roll:
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