This weekend we finally got out to the runway up in Devens, MA for a weekend of autocrossing. Saturday started out great, with the car running strong all the way up to the event (2 hour drive). Got into paddock with a spot reserved for red cars with Hankooks on flat black wheels (the other car is a STR MX-5).
Over by itself was a lonely Panda, waiting to stretch its legs and get back into shape:
After a few runs the ST car developed a leak around the oil drain fitting (car used to be turbo and was reverted back). Easily plugged up, but that didn't stop crank case pressure from blowing a half quart all over the driver's side of the engine bay. I'll have to plug and weld it for now, and I've got a fresh pan for the new motor.
During the final runs of the day, the ST car developed a stutter, which we traced to be a dirty fuel filter and sock. The fuel sloshing around looked to have loosened up more rust/ varnish from the sides of the tank that we couldn't see. Figuring it was no big deal, we carb cleaned the sock a few times and kept going.
That night we sidetracked a bit as we put some work into the MX-5:
Swedish instructions absolutely suck. Despite having the wrong tool sizes called out (among other things), we got everything together. We also had tons of help:
Sunday came along and I decided to run the ST car instead of Panda, while Dave would take sole control of Street Mod duties to keep wear and tear down (still on a stock KA tranny while the new tranny gets fabb'ed up). Morning runs started off well enough, with me being about 2 seconds off pace and feeling I had driven poorly enough to reflect that (my driving style is geared more towards having power). Unfortunately, the car started bogging before we could really figure the course out, and we were back at square one.
We ended up buying a new fuel pump and filter at a nearby Autozone, and cleaned out the fuel sock with carb cleaner, but the car would just not hold fuel pressure. For some reason, it would start fine, and slowly get worse until it would nearly stall out. Shutting the car off and turning it back on seemed to reset it, and it would run for another short burst before doing the same thing. I have a sneaking suspicion that there's a clog in the fuel line itself, or the breathers aren't letting the tank suck air in fast enough to keep up with fuel being injected (causing the pump to have to fight in-tank vacuum). Regardless, I'm going to replace the fuel tank and soft lines, and clean out the hard lines as best as I can. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm more than welcome to them!
Luckily, I get to do the work in style, as we've found a new location for car storage while we look for a new house:
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