Couple laps in my stock (minus studs and gas pedal) from High Plains Raceway today. Still need to gain some confidence in the car and more in the driver ;) Can't wait to be done with my build... you guys are having too much fun without me.

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Nice job Eric and Tom! I'm glad we have you guys looking out for us.

Lots of variables between motors, Dynos, weather etc. that said, 203rwhp smells like fish. Car in question may have had a very valid reason for refusing inspection. #2.7L??
:matchup:

Careful Scrutiny of the podium cars is wise in Spec racing.

Great stuff Tom! I'm continuing on my build and your videos are always good inspiration.

How about wheel bearings. Do you have a routine for changing those out? From what I've read, it sounds like yearly replacement independent of what condition they may be in.

Nice plug for the junk yard :-)

What is allowed in an engine rebuild? Can you custom make the rings?
What limits are there on the valve job.

IMS retrofit isn't going to get you anything.

Anything else would seem to be illegal.

What weight oil do you guys run?

Could you alter the cam to exhaust timing on the vario-cam by displacing a tooth and still not have interference but gain anything?

Note I don't race spec boxster -- but I've been involved in a few M96 rebuilds and its not hard to accidentally alter the vari-cam timing during install (but I've always caught it :-).

Mike

Yeah, some of the high mile motors run good after being loosened up!

There aren't very clear/good/complete rules when it comes to the rebuilds like you would find in Spec Miata or a class run by a more professional organization, unfortunately. So the term "stock spec" really covers most of your questions. At the least, we're trying to make sure everyone is using stock components.

We're supposed to be using stock Porsche pistons and rings. No aftermarket pistons/rings built to same size or anything like that. I have not seen limitations on valve jobs, other than the valves need to be stock.

Oil weight is up to the competitor/engine builder, there is no stock spec. I use 0w-50 Mobil 1 Racing oil.

You cannot legally alter the cam timing. However, I'm sure there are some that do. It is not something I've done or experimented with so I can't speak to the specific advantages.

It was questionable to some competitors as to why someone would rebuild a motor that didn't have any apparent issues. Once new motor was in, car set the track record and pole at the next two attended events. There was a competitive field full of multiple race winners all within a few tenths of each other and then one car a full second ahead. Then it popped high on the dyno, 5% higher than the rest. Then declined inspection and went home instead. Maybe he was frustrated and felt unfairly criticized, but some will draw their own conclusions.

It has come to my attention that my statement above has been cherry picked to support ones own personal thoughts and I just want to clarify...
A gentleman asked specifically about valve job rules and I replied above, that there are no specific rules in the rule book other than ''stock'', unfortunately. Some that wish to read into that assume that meant I would manipulate a valve job... that's not the case, just you hearing what you want to hear. It was a reply to a question specifically about valve job specifications.
As referenced just beforehand, a rule set like spec Miata actually has several pages about engine internal specifics, like posted below.
I did not say ''I have not seen limitations'' because I have exploited them, I said that because there are no posted values of limitations...

Short of buying new cylinder heads for every rebuild, there are modifications that need to be completed on any regular standard engine build. This is supposed to be cost controlled spec racing and engine rebuilding is part of it. There should be rules with values about plunge cutting and valve jobs and decking heads like any other reasonable spec but BSR is not at that level of precision, yet.

People will believe what they want... even with several independent dyno runs at several tracks back to back against other cars right out of qualifying. We know what the cars are running HP wise across the field because they have ramped up dyno testing and that is a big step forward.

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Eric,

Never thought otherwise -- basically having a beer discussion over the net :-)

I'm building a pair of SP-1s, so arguably my question is mute to me. However I do track a Boxster S and I have either rebuilt or been a part of about a dozen rebuilds of these engines and I was trying to envision how the HPs could vary.

Note I'm a EE and shade tree mechanic hack not a professional engine builder -- so this is more of a thought exercise for me.

Mike

I was reading up on the VarioCam -- as I understand it, the solenoid opens up from about 3K-5K, and is shut off above and below. If it wasn't working "properly", you would have different engine behavior. I'm not sure if that would be better or worse overall. I have to think there would be a tradeoff if it was to be engaged all the time as an example.

Mike

Thanks, I wasn't referring to you at all. It's a good question and anyone that has built an engine would know that cylinder head servicing is part of it. You can't rebuild a head to exact stock originally delivered specs and still successfully service it. Replacing cylinder heads with new every time adds another $8k to an engine rebuild and a terrible idea for cost controlled spec racing. Porsche dealership service departments and factory re manufactured engine program all service heads in similar ways within certain tolerances. Even if you ordered a rebuilt crate 2.5L engine from Porsche, the cylinder head has been serviced. Order up a rebuilt cylinder head from Porsche and that has also been serviced. Unfortunately, those tolerances are not really public info or written in our rule books so there is no guidance as to what acceptable "stock" range actually is. So when I said, "I have not seen limitations", that's what I meant. Not "there are none so it's wide open for porting and polishing and ceramic coatings and flow bench testing." As you can see, some spec classes do have a handle on such things, and Boxster Spec is not one of them.

Better to be working as designed, for sure. These solenoids and tensioners fail from time to time and there is an overall performance loss.

With all of the engine discussion(!!), I wanted to reply to this by saying that I replace the wheel bearings very two years. Some do it more often, some less and some only when they start to fail. There doesn't seem to be a full consensus that I am aware but most people racing multiple years do get into some type of routine.

Let me start this post by saying that taking your car to the track can be a humbling experience. It is still one area where personal performance is easily measured and easily compared with others. And sometimes, whether you like it or not, the truth just stares back and gives you the middle finger.

Yesterday was one of those days for me.

Well, let's talk about the positive things first; the San Diego region PCA hosted an excellent event at Buttonwillow raceway with both racing and time trials on a beautiful 70F sunny day in middle of Central California farmland.

I also had to opportunity to meet fellow Forum member JayG and his son who were there for the time trial and I got a personal and upclose look at Topless' shiny white Cayman. That Cayman is a beautiful car!

Now, the reality check: I was S-L-O-W. As in 12 seconds off the pace in the first practice session. 12 seconds!!

I got better during the second practice session and took off 5 seconds. Then took another 5 seconds off in the third/qualifying session.

So I was only a few seconds behind the leaders pace right? Unfortunately, no. By the time that I caught up those 10 seconds, the leaders had taken 3 more seconds off of their times. And it wasn't just one or two drivers, 9 of the 13 cars in the Spec Boxster field were 3-5 seconds per lap faster than me!

During the race, I started well and kept up with the race pace (which is almost always slower than qualifying) until the halfway point when I started to fade rearwards. I think that I finished 12th or 13th. I say 12th or 13th because if I actually look it up, then I would know for sure and would have to say that I finished last. Ouch. That hurt.

To sum it up; I sucked and got my assed kicked.

The video should be pretty good since there was a lot of close racing in the first half of the race. I'll edit it quickly and get it posted.

P.S. I did not race today due to the rain that rolled in this morning.

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Good to see you out there Tom, sorry it wasn't a better day for you. We all have a few bad days at the track but the good ones keep sucking us back in. :) Racing ALWAYS beats sitting at home watching Oprah reruns.

Dan and I managed to have a pretty good weekend. We both posted personal best times as the track seemed to get faster all weekend. The Cayman works better at BW than Chuckie because there are more long straights so she can stretch her legs a bit. Still way too softly sprung so I have some work to do over this end of season break. Looking forward to 2016 with fresh tires, suspension, and weight loss.

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. It was your day to be the bug. Sorry to hear you had a less than stellar day.

Go get the next one. :cheers:

Great meeting you finally as well. Sorry you had a bad day. I enjoyed watching all you guys with the running start. Real racing!

It was my first time at Buttonwillow. Its a challenging and fast with the long straights. Got into the low triple digits in 4th. Especially fun is the 4th to 2nd downshift at Star Mazda and then fast into the esses Sunset and the front straight. woohoo!

The rain came in the beginning of my 2nd session on Sunday. Got a good lap in and then started a bit of sliding in the corners as the rain started coming down faster. Brought it in, there is always another day...

All in all a great fun weekend.

THStone, you running an external oil cooler or Accusump?

Currently, I am not using either of those. I do plan to install the TechnoSump (2 qt deep sump with horizontal tray) over Thanksgiving.

Thanks. If you don't mind, let me know how it goes. I've been evaluating the engine cooling options out there and have not been able to find a definitive answer ... probably user dependent ;)

• I've heard the S cooler only provides marginal cooling improvements
• With an accusump type setup, I've heard that an oil leak will result in the entire system purging itself
• External setups can be complicated and expensive, and cooler location can expose it to damage

Wish there was just an easy, straight-forward, proven solution :)

I can add a data point - in October I was at Roebling and my oil pressure was dropping in the sweepers. I added the LN Engineering 2 QT Deep Sump with X-51 baffle, and this past weekend at Road Atlanta my oil pressure did not drop. There are some possible "catches" however:

Catch 1 - I did not data log or have a camera - the oil pressure drops were "recorded" by the instructors riding with me watching the gauge at my request, and by me (foolishly) quickly peeking down during a steady state portion of a sweeper.

Catch 2 - RRR is my home track. While I am not in the fastest drivers there, it is the fastest for me and the car is cornering harder there for me.

Catch 3 - I have only ever been to Road Atlanta once before and that was 18 months ago. While RRR is pretty flat (as are all the other tracks I have gone to) and it is wide open with lots of runoff room, Road Atlanta has lots of elevation, and also lots of walls. 2 cars were heavily damaged when I was there last June, and this past weekend 2 more were heavily damaged (1 still drivable) and 2 others damaged but drivable due to a tailgating type collision. I bought the track insurance, and took it easy. And the corners are different. For me turn 1, 4, and 6 were the ones that I had my passenger watch the oil gauge on, and they reported no drops - the needle stayed steady at around 60'ish. Turn 4, a left hand sweeper before the esses is probably the one most like some of the turns at RRR.

The real test will be next time I go to RRR so it can be an apples to apples comparison, and maybe I can have a go pro setup to record the oil pressure gauge.

But I feel pretty confident that the issue is greatly mitigated. Also one difference was that the oil temp barely ever went above 200 F, where at RRR on my fastest laps it got over 200 but less than 220, maybe 215'ish? That may be due to the extra 2 quarts of oil I was running or that is was cold as $%^& this past weekend, water temp only ever briefly moved above the 180 hash mark.

I got a good deal on the LN Skid Plate so I put that on too. Probably not necessary since my car is not lowered. Charles N of LN engineering has an early Boxster with a 911 engine (so the engine is 1 inch lower) and he is lowered suspension too I believe. He said he ran without the plate for a while and was fine, but recently he went to pass a car on the highway and ran over some roadkill that lifted the whole back of the car up, and he said he was glad of the skid plate then. The front part mounts on the two lower bolts that hold the engine mount to the engine. The back part mounts on the two forward bolts of the diamond sheet metal brace. In my opinion this ties the engine to the rear frame and makes some interesting sounds. I kind of isolated it in the back with some rubber and fiber washers and I am trying to think up a solution to put some bushings or something back there, I can definitely tell the plate is on and while you don't hear or feel it at the track, at street speeds/noise there is some kind of unpleasant noises/rattling going on. Maybe the skis plate is rattling my rear trailing arms which are probably shot...

It took 11 quarts to fill it up the middle segment between the high and low mark on the dash gauge which is where I like to run it to avoid smoke bombs.

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I am looking forward to reading more about Tom's install and experiences. I will say I love Reinzosil, it is 10,000,000,000 times easier than Loctite 5800 (or 5900 or whichever the one it is) to apply.

Steve

PS My oil temp sender is in the unused port on the driver side cover (where DOF oil feed would go), Chris Zang has a guide on here somewhere, and for oil pressure I replaced the oil pressure switch with a VDO oil pressure sender with warning terminal, not the Porsche part but the regular VDO part. I used part number VDO 360009 with an adapter (I should have gotten 360028 which had the right size with no adapter needed), and VDO 323055 oil temp sender.

Thanks for the contribution! I did forget to include the feedback on the deep sump pans being a risk, especially for folks that like to hop curbs, in an off situation where the ground is a bit uneven (we see that at a few of the tracks out here in CO). ;)

I feel the need, the need for ....

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Practice at Willow Springs today. Two races tomorrow, one race on Sunday.

Good luck! :cheers:

Post up some video afterwords.

"SPEED"

Cool.... can't wait for the videos.

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Ok, been busy lately at work and at the racetrack!

Turns out that I don't have any video from Buttonwillow and I don't have any video from the races at Willow Springs! Damn!

I am not sure what the problem is but video recording is intermittent - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (with more doesn't than does).

I am digging into my TraqMate data system to figure out what is going on there.

Regardless, racing at Willow Springs two weeks ago with the POC was great but the competition was brutal. I qualified 4th with a 1:34.7 but the current points leader, Alex Bermudez, went out and set a new BSR/SPB track record at 1:32.0! That is blazing fast for a 200hp car with no aero and DOT legal tires.

For the record;

Race 1: Started 4th, finished 5th of 8 cars
Race 2: Started 4th, finished 6th of 10 cars

Overall, I raced well but I just don't have the speed of the front runners. To address this, first, I plan to spend time practicing at WSIR to work on my times. While I may not have the skill to get into the 1:32's, I should be able to get into the low 1:33's which would make me much more competitive.

Second, I plan to drop as much weight out of the car as I can over the holidays since I am still 40-50 lbs heavy and that is like towing an anchor.

On the good side, there is a lot of very close, competitive, wheel to wheel racing to be had in the middle of the pack! In the second race, I did almost a half lap side-by-side another car the entire time - neither of us was willing to give up the spot without a battle! In terms of racing, this type of experience is much more rewarding then time trialling at the front of the field all by yourself (boring!).

At least, that I what I like to tell myself! :)

I also have a fairly long list of season end maintenance, repairs, and upgrades to do;

1. New brake pads and rotors
2. Tranmission fluid change
3. Oil and filter change
4. 2-qt deep sump and horizontal baffle install (Pedro's Technosump)
5. Fix intermittent video camera operation
6. Add engine compartment fan manual switch
7. Reduce weight of car by 40 lbs
8. Reduce weight of driver by 10 lbs (trying to be realistic!)
9. Replace safety harness (5-yr replacement due)
10. Upgrade to a full containment racing seat (safer)
11. Upgrade center dash panel with carbon fiber wrap and aerospace grade switches/controls
12. Fill in car numbers to be solid (the outline numbers can be hard for corner workers to read)
13. New racing gloves (worn out)
14. New helmet (over 100 track days and the inside is pretty gross)

This should keep me busy!

That's a good list. You going to go with red or white number fill? My opinion, since you're not asking ;), would be red.

Would love to see what you end up with the switches. I've been evaluating options on that front.

Two weekends ago I was at a track day and a gentleman had two of the "Bimarco Grip" FIA Halo seat installed in his Subie.

He had the version with the leather wear patch on the bolsters:
Bimarco Grip Racing Rally Bucket Seat FIA NASA Approved Leather Enhancements | eBay

There is a slightly less expensive version without the wear patch:
Bimarco Grip Racing Rally Bucket Seat FIA NASA Approved WRC | eBay

I am 6'2" with a tallish torso and 36" waist, 230# and I fit this seat perfectly. I have also sat in their Bimarco Futura and it was just a tiny bit tighter in the waist, but then I think I lost about 10# since then. My understanding is that if a person buys two they can put it in one box and save on shipping, but that may be just the non-halo seats which can be flipped and nested together.

If I ever go to a full containment seat, and I can't find a smoking deal on the Recaro XL Halo seat (another one that fits me perfectly) I will probably get this one.

Sparco also makes what I believe is called an "Ergo" - it is a halo seat with removable halo wings for street driving. I have seen several sets of these and they look very sharp.

Looking forward to the next write-up, should be a big one with all your upcoming projects :)

Steve

Selecting a new racing seat was a lot more complex than I had originally imagined!

Steve, thanks for all of the suggestions; I took at look at each seat that you mentioned and found many, many more on my own. Sheesh, there are a lot of seats out there.

In the end, I bought a Sparco Ergo halo seat with the removable wings in case they need to be removed for the drive to/from the track. I got a good deal on it at $695 with free shipping.

One reason for staying with Sparco is that I am hoping to be able to re-use the existing mount/slider from my Sparco Pro2000 Plus seat.

Looking at new harnesses next...

Install pic's coming over the holidays!

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Merry Christmas to me :)

Getting ready to order solid numbers - what color do you like best; Gold, Yellow, or Red?

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I like the Gold, it seems to flow better with the rest of the lettering. The red gets lost and the yellow just doesn't match the as well as the gold does. Just one man's opinion.

Gold looks good!

Yeah, I have to go with gold too. Is there a significance to your numbers "254"? Or, are you assigned the numbers?

I like Gold, the red is hard to read.

Generally, POC and PCA let you pick the number of your choice out of the numbers that are not already in use. Each club has guidelines pertaining to maintaining your number and changing numbers.

Of course, 001 is in high demand and 666 is not. :)

In my case, 54 is a number that I have used in various ways over the many years, but 054 was already in use as well as 154. So, 254 was the next logical choice.

413 is my wife's birthday and also her favorite scripture, Philippians 4:13. I use that number in an attempt to take some of the heat off when I go to a track event :)

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While no video was recored during the last races at Willow Springs, I did get a few nice photos;


A pack of snarling Boxster's coming up the omega into Turn 4...
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Close competition is the name of the game in Spec Boxster racing...
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Nice side shot ...
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On the grid, waiting to go out...
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Back to oil starvation.... I decided to go with a 2 qt deep sump and the EBS X-51 style baffle to reduce the risk of oil starvation. I looked at the Accusump kits and I am still not convinced that they address the oil starvation issue any better than a deep sump while the cost and installation effort for the Accusump system is quite a bit higher.

I started with Pedro's TechnoSump kit which includes everything needed except the EBS baffle; sump extension, oil pickup extension, oil return extensions, horizontal baffle, vertical baffle spacers, longer sump bolts, sump sealant, and MOST IMPORTANT, a sealant tube winder/key so I can get the dang sealant out of the tube! :)

Thanks to Steve (steved0x) for the EBS baffle. Even though I already have an EBS baffle in my car, having having another one let me build up the entire assy prior to dropping my sump.

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As you can see, the horizontal baffle is pre-cut for the factory sump baffle not the EBS unit. Thus, I will have to do a little modding of the horizontal baffle (see pen lines in last photo) so the EBS unit mounts flush on top of the horizontal baffle. This means enlargement of the pickup/return area and cut outs for the orange rubber coated oil dams.

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