That's what it's like to be on the track again! Finally got the RX7 out there again for the GIR Test & Tune before this past weekends SCCA Club Race.
I dropped the car off on Thursday night and unloaded everything so I could get a good start in the morning. Besides, I had an entire load of Timing & Scoring equipment to bring over to set up during the open wheel sessions.
First session out I could tell that both the car & the driver had a few cobwebs that needed blown out. The car was smoking pretty bad when I would lift. Could have been due to excessive pre-mix or side seals. It went a way a little as the day went on, but a bottle of "Smoke-B-Gone" might be on order. Fuel pressure was way off at about 1 psi and would basically fall on its face in the short shoot and about half way through the oval. I was a moving chicane anyplace where full throttle was required, so the first session was pretty short, maybe about 4 or 5 laps.
During the second session, I'd upped the fuel pressure to about 2.5 psi and it definitely made a big difference. I could keep my foot in it without any cutting out or bogging, but was getting a pretty good pull to the right at the end of the straight under braking and the tranny felt a little "crunchy". Came in and topped off the tranny and it turned out to be a little low. Checked the brakes and nothing seemed amiss. One more session out and was having a blast but screwed up in 5 and sent the car through the grass on drivers right. Seeing as I was offroad throughout the 5 & 6 complex and halfway up to 7, I thought it a good idea to pit.
Pulled in to the paddock and noticed a puddle forming under the car. A rubber blockoff on the radiator had developed a hole and was shooting a nice stream of water out. A quick once over of the rest of the rubber on the car showed a need to replace most of the vacuum plugs and a couple of rubber lines.
After a few more sessions, I had a real scare. The car was running really well but I noticed that a couple of times on the 3/4 shift in between T2 & T3, the motor would rev slightly. I didn't really think much of it other than my foot timing must have been off until a few laps later. I was going through 4 flat out when I had a flashback of the last time the RX7 was on the track. Same turn, same situation, without all the Spec Miatas breathing down my neck. I went to downshift to 3rd when the motor zinged into oblivion... I couldn't believe it. WTF!!!! Luckily I knew from experiance what had just happened and shut it down (rather than releasing the clutch and sending me into a spin like last time). I coasted around 6 and headed towards T7. I got as far off the track as possible praying that the motor didn't just blow. I tried in vain to start the car as it rolled toward Mike at station 7. I waited with Mike the rotary guru as he assured me that he'd spun them up to 10K+ unloaded and they lived. I was sure I had once again ended my season early with a blown motor.
One flat tow later, a battery recharge (when left running for half of a session, the Carter fuel pump can drain a battery), and an audio check of the compression (pish, pish, pish, pish.....) and the car fired back off AND we found the culprit... something's binding in the throttle linkage. So... the carb will come off and we'll see what we find.