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Thread: GLHS #399's Midseason Rallycross Review

  1. #1
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    GLHS #399's Midseason Rallycross Review

    Hey everybody, I just thought I would updated everyone on whats been going on so far in this season of rallycross. The first event this year went flawlessly. On March 25th I took 1st in Modified 2wd and 8th overall in my GLHS. The car felt well balanced and the only little hiccups that I had was getting on two wheels.

    Link to the video:


    The next rallycross was a two day national event held on May 4th and 5th. The enviable finally happened. The diff pin sheered off in the 525 transmission and went off like a pipe bomb filled with little bits of gears! It happened on my first timed run about halfway thought the course. I floored it pulling out of a corner and the engine just free revved. I figured that it just popped out of gear (which sometimes happens while racing in the rough fields) but that wasn't the case. I could shift into the gears fine but I wasn't going anywhere. I get out and take a look underneath and all I see is a nice steady flow of oil coming down from the tranny. I popped the hood and saw a gaping hole in the case, and at that very moment I knew my weekend was over. I got towed off course and as we were pushing the paralyzed beast onto the trailer a couple of the diff gears dropped onto the deck, ha!

    Pictures of the blown 525








    I was all geared up for and overnight tranny swap so I could continue racing on Sunday to scrape up at least a few regional points but my luck had ran out. Once I got the fragged tranny out I noticed that the explosion of the diff gears and pin bent up the pressure plate so badly that I didn't want to put that back in. Since I didn't have a spare laying around and it was about 10:30 I threw in the towel. Luckily my buddy Blake let me drive Project: Left Turn Only and I had a blast. I was just out to have fun on Sunday flogging a light rwd stripped 82 Toyota Corolla pulling off some nice dirty drifts but not so quick times! So much fun that I placed second to last place in M2 (Thanks again Blake!)

    Pictures of Left Turn Only:



    With that ordeal behind me, I started to build up the original 525 transmission that I had for the GLHS. What little did I know, I was about to step right into another fiasco! So I swapped to the lower 3.87 F/D, added the transmission girdle, plus a chrome molly endplate, and also welded the differential (Thanks Perry, for the new diff.) As I had the thing apart I quickly discovered all of the differences between the early 525 transmissions and the the later ones. This was my first transmission apart and I had a few set backs along the way.

    I forgot to replace one of the lock rings, which caused me multiple days of trying to diagnose why I couldn't get my shift linkage adjusted properly. It appears that when I forgot one the lock ring, it let the whole intermediate shaft flex and get in a bind and break a shift fork. I fought with this for about a week trying to get the linkage right so I ended up just pulling all of the guts of the tranny out and then I finally discover the broken shift fork. I played around with using the early 525 shift linkage with the later 525 but it didn't seem like it wanted to shift right. So off to the junk yard I went looking for a shift fork. At every yard I came to I wound up empty handed. The closest I got was a Shelby Charger with a 525 but it had the early single rod shift rod design. Well I was SOL and discussing the problem with Steve from the world famous San Dragon who rents out half of my buddy's Kris's shop where my GLHS was taking up residency (Thanks again, Kris.) Steve suggested trying to weld it up but I was a little apprehensive due to the shift fork being cast. He gave it a try and it turned out damn good. Strong and it lined up nicely (Thanks Steve!) So I put the gearset back in the car and sealed it up. It took a little time to get the linkage right but I got finally got it adjusted right.

    So the next rallycross was June 24th, and I was ready. The car felt great with the newly welded diff and the lower f/d. It was my first run and I was taking it easy. I was trying to get use to all the additional grip that the welded differential gave me. I had a little trouble keeping it tight on the slaloms and the speeds were getting pretty fast. At the end of my first run I noticed some steam coming out of my hood and I rushed to the pits to check it out. I popped the hood and saw coolant leaking, so I grabbed some tools and pulled off the belt cover. I just thought that I pulled off a radiator hose but I had a bigger problem on my hands. The radiator was loosing coolant fast and I couldn't tell where. I decided to throw in the towel and throw out a few f-bombs. I could of limped it through the remainder of my three runs by filling the radiator up before each run but I didn't want to chance it. So here comes the trailer again(I owe Kris's dad at least 40 gallons of gallons of ice cream now for hauling around my broken --- car!) Got it back to Kris's and pulled out the radiator and it had four nice punctures where it appears that a rock flung into the engine compartment and played ping pong between the fan and radiator. I'm still not sure how this happened but for the five years I've been rallycrossing I've never seen or had a problem like this.

    Here are a few pictures of my one and only run:



    That next Monday I went to Mac's radiator in Beaverton and dropped off the GLHS radiator for a recore. They said that they'll give me a call when they have a price. Friday rolls around and I get a call that it is going to be $400+. I ---- my pants then I told them that there's no way I'm going to pay $400 just for a freaking recore. So I change my pants and check all the Turbo Dodge forums and one guy has one in AZ for $250. I kept that in mind and asked around to the local SDAC mailing list, and a few guys suggested Able Radiator. So I look them up and stopped by Monday. Able were really easy to deal with, they would replace the core with dimple tubes for $220 in a little over a week. I get a call that Thursday saying the my radiator is done, Nice! I pick it up and it looked good and was done in less than half the time. It bolted in perfectly and I am currently having no cooling issues with the car. It's seems to take a little longer to heat up but other than that it acts very similar. Thanks again Able for not making me your prison ----- and for doing superb work with a short turnaround.

    Well, now your up to date with the latest happenings from my rallycross season and all the troubles that I have had already! The next rallycross in on August 19th in Astoria. As of now I'm sitting in fifth place for modified 2wd. I should be able to make some points up during the next few events. The only plans with the GLHS are to replace my worn out/blown out Koni's with some new KYB GR-2, add in a few gauges and a manual fan switch. Hopefully this will be the end of my DNF streak and I plan on retiring the GLHS from rallycross duty after this season is over. By then I should have a garage of my own, and be able to finish up the work on my 85 GLH Turbo rally car. The next build on the list is to prepare the 88 CSX-T to RallyX specs. In the meantime I picked up a 89 Turbo 5-speed Voyager with 213K that I'm having trouble getting running! It seems to be a wiring issue that I still haven't tracked down. Thanks again Perry for the SMEC that your letting me borrow for the Minivan (No I haven't forgotten about you!)

  2. #2
    Authorized Vendor Turbo Mopar Vendor mario03SRT's Avatar
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    Re: GLHS #399's Midseason Rallycross Review

    Looks like great fun!

    Cept for the diff part..................

  3. #3
    Authorized Vendor Turbo Mopar Vendor mario03SRT's Avatar
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    Re: GLHS #399's Midseason Rallycross Review

    Oh,

    I wanted to add...........

    That back 30 years ago we called that "stump jumping" and I first learned to drive beating the sheite out of cars in pastures, hay and corn fields in a 63 Corvair Monza. Ahh raw air cooled HP

    Marion

  4. #4
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    Re: GLHS #399's Midseason Rallycross Review

    Nice!!!

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