Getting the One Lap VR-4 ready for Watkins Glen
Now that One Lap is over and I am back to reality, its time to fix the VR-4 and get her ready for a couple of days at my home track, Watkins Glen. If you’ve followed us along our journey you know the VR-4 had some issues. We popped a head gasket right off the bat, tossed a rocker arm at Hallet, the radiator was oozing in a couple of spots, we had brake issues, front wheel bearing issues, broken wheel studs, and one really cool off road excursion.
The first thing I did when I got home is re-installed my Baer track brake kit. That didn’t take much time and like an old friend, it was nice to have them back. Then I got on the ball and started ordering parts. Brakes, rotors, a new radiator, and material to build brake cooling ducts and a bigger radiator catch can were all desperately needed. After putting it off as long as I could I finally dug into the head gasket. The first thing I found was a 2″ split in the intercooler pipe coupler that connects to the throttle body. The amazing thing is I think its been split since mid week during One Lap. Another testament to ECMlink and its V3 speed density. The car didn’t miss a beat even with the huge leak.
I knew the radiator had issues. It may have been damaged due to the bad head gasket or it could have just failed because it couldn’t take the abuse. Either way I have a new one ready to go and after a little welding it should slip right in. Inspecting the old radiator I found at least three areas that were leaking where the core connects to the end tanks.
I could tell just by looking at the car that I “tweaked” the front end when I went off at Hallet. The evidence was hard to miss as one of the front wheels has about a degree more camber then the other and that tire also shows some wear on the inside indicating a toe issue as well. Something caught my eye while working on the head gasket…I think something moved on one of the RRE caster/camber plates
Once I got the head off the car and inspected things I was happy to find that the rocker which had fallen out actually stayed put. There is a noticeable grove in the cam lobe which means it will have to be replaced but there isn’t enough time before the Glen so I am just going to leave it as is.
At first glance the head gasket surface between the head/block looked good but once I pealed the gasket from the head I found three areas where not only had the gasket leaked but big chunks of it were missing. That’s some real gasket carnage!
A new head gasket is on and my fingers are crossed that it will hold. This time I’ll keep the boost to 25psi or less and not attempt any more of those 33psi dyno runs.
Its also time to say good-bye to a good friend. The Forced Performance FP3052 that Art Hoffman loaned us for the race is off the car and ready to be shipped back. With all the problems we had this year that turbo was flawless. It pulled like a freight train in every gear and with the tuning we did this year lag was not an issue. A big thanks to Art Hoffman for lending his support again this year and for Forced Performance for making sure it gets back to Art in perfect shape.
