Well, good news and not so good news coming out of the PCA race at Willow Springs last weekend.
The Good News: I qualified 2nd and finished 2nd in Saturday's race! I did a good job defending against 3rd place for several laps and then slowly pulled away and created a nice gap. I was very pleased with my performance and had high hopes for Sunday.
The Not So Good News: Qualified 3rd for Sunday's race and the driver in P1 decided to start at the back and race his way through the group so I started P2 (in BSR/SPB).
Got a good start and moved up to P1. Then got held up by slower traffic and moved back to P2. Then the P1 driver finally caught up to us and passed us both so I was in P3.
Then I didn't hold the car down tight on the inside line in Turn 8 (125mph) and it pushed up into the marbles and off I went into the desert!
The car was mostly ok but the power steering low pressure return line was pulled loose and broken (nearly ripped off of the bottom of the car is another way to say it) so I came home on the tow truck.
Race - Repair - Repeat.
HD and sound is the best way to watch - its pretty crazy when I go off track!
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
At the PCA Willow Springs races last weekend, I received a voucher for 5L of Millers Performance Racing Oil and 1L of racing brake fluid. Retail value about $100.
I want to say thanks to PCA, Racers Edge, and Millers Performance Oils! A free oil change and a brake flush is a nice way to recognize the huge effort that goes into Porsche club racing.
Look what came in the mail today! (ok, to be honest it was UPS Freight)
Its a used 2.5L Boxster engine with only 75K miles. Paid $2850 including shipping. This will be my spare engine so I can swap it in quickly when my existing engine fails. It's a fully complete engine with intake and all accessories (some of which I will have to remove to put it into racing configuration). If I was still running a street car, it would be a straight swap.
After having two professionally rebuilt Boxster engines fail dramatically and losing big money on the investment, I am committed to running only used factory (salvage) engines.
DIY swap would only cost the price of a set of new plugs and an oil change. Even if I paid to have the engines swapped at a shop, I'd be back on the road for a little over $4K.
My existing used engine was bought with 92K miles and now has an additional 40 hours of racing on it. Hard to know how long it might last (still has original IMS bearing) but I'm starting to get that feeling in my gut that its time might be running out. And while it doesn't have any problems that I am aware, I'd like to be ahead of the curve when that time comes.
You can imagine the look on my wife's face when I mentioned that I wanted to buy a spare engine. I explained that every time that my engine fails, I re-evaluate my racing goals and if I was to do that now, I'd be very tempted/motivated to move up to racing a GT-4 class air-cooled 911.
When I told her what that might cost, she was immediately on board with spending less than $3K for a spare engine.
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
Very cool on the millers and I think.if you put their stickers on your car you qualify for a discounted rate on their products. They have a case study on their site about a 996 that was raced using tgeir 5W40 with favorable results.
Did I mention that the windshield got cracked AGAIN last weekend?
Thanks to Forum members Greg Holberg and rastta along with fellow Spec Boxster racer Branimir Kovac for great advice about going to a Lexan windshield with protective film. I just ordered both.
When I do the swap, I'll weigh them and post the weight savings.
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
Threw the car up on the lift and inspected the underside. Found that the high pressure power steering line was broken in two in the middle of the lower hard line. Originally, I thought that the low pressure line was the damaged hose but the low pressure line was only pulled loose and slightly scraped up but looked ok.
Removed the top, upper engine cover, racing seat, and front engine panel to get as much access as possible to the power steering pump.
To get to the power steering high pressure line, I also had to remove the serpentine belt and the power steering pump pulley.
The high pressure line connection is right up front as indicated by #1 in the photo. There is also a bracket on the side of the engine holding the line in place that needs to be removed (right under the #2 in the photo). Then it simply took a little bit of jiggling and jostling to get it out the bottom.
The job was made much easier since the A/C unit was already removed creating a big empty area next to the power steering pump (#2). For reference, the low pressure return line (#3) connects to the PS pump in the rear of the unit. This hose might be a bit harder to get to the connection on the rear of the pump so I was glad that I didn't have to replace it.
The remaining portion of the high pressure hard line was under the car still connected to the line that runs to the front of the car.
The high pressure hose runs about $125. I'll order it today along with a liter of CH-11S power steering fluid and install next weekend.
Onward!
Everything removed;
Front engine view of power steering pump, high pressure line (#1), space where A/C compressor was removed (#2), and low pressure line (#3);
High pressure line removed;
Remaining portion of high pressure line under car;
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
Unknown as far as I know. It is not specifically mentioned in the rules (that I could find) and thus, would seem to be technically illegal. However, there are a lot of things not in the rules that are in a lot of SPB cars.
If I were to seriously contemplate this mod, I'd request a ruling from the scruts to be sure that it would be allowed when I showed up to the track. However, I have seen so much cheating in SPB that I wouldn't be surprised at all if some cars already had this mod regardless of what the rules might say/imply or what the scruts might think or how they might rule on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Holmberg
By removing that pump from the belt driven by the engine, would you net more power to the wheels?
Yes, by eliminating the power loss from the power steering pump the car should see an increase power to the rear wheels (by a small amount). Similar in function to removing A/C and/or installing an under drive pulley at the crank.
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
It's a but of work sometimes but worth it for the "feel".
Probabally not recommend for a track car, but I've never driven it on track so what do I know?
Did I mention that the windshield got cracked AGAIN last weekend?
Thanks to Forum members Greg Holberg and rastta along with fellow Spec Boxster racer Branimir Kovac for great advice about going to a Lexan windshield with protective film. I just ordered both.
Are you having to cut your own, or is their a supplier out there providing pre-cut ones? If you know a supplier, can you provide?
2004 Porsche Boxster S
2004 Porsche 996 Targa
Linear Mode
