b series sedan track setup

[trist4nn]

So I'm back with version 2 of tracking the b series.
wodonga is quite a demanding track on cars (so im told) and we mostly ran 10 minutes on track then 30 minutes rest all day.

added a few things:
- project mu type HC front pads with 600 series racing fluid
- advan ad08r semi slicks
- whiteline adjustible swaybars (whiteline links, soft front hard rear)
- factory plastic undertray (best 50$ I ever spent)
- vented bonnet

overall, we knocked about 2.3 or so seconds of the previous best, even taking a 1s off the pb in the warmup session.
I'd say I expected a bit more from the tyres. I know its a heavy car, but the other people I was lapping with commented that it looked like a handful.
I ran them at about 35psi hot which is what I'd gathered from others using this tyre.
I think at this point its my bad driving technique holding the tyre back, I had quite a lot of trouble being brave enough to carry enough speed into the corners.

coolant and intake temperatures were better (mostly due to the undertray) but I still struggled with coolant going above the half way point on the gauge unless I ran the car with the heaters and fans on.
intake temperatures stayed between 30 and 35, which given it was about 25c and mad sunny maybe isnt too awful.

sway bars I am a *big* fan of. running hard rear has kept it from introducing any understeer, but the whole car feels a lot tighter and able to change direction in S bends.

now onto the problems, some new some old.
- diff overheating
- power steering boiled, pump possibly hurt, reservoir leaking fluid
- coolant header tank must have cracked, spraying small amounts of coolant around the engine bay and underside of the bonnet.
- at least one (probably more) turbo or manifold bolt has shot out. I can hear a gigantic exhaust leak on spool, or my brand new turbo is cooked.

 

diff overheating I expected, it happened last time and I didnt get the time to do anything but replace the oil with syntrax.
from reading nelsonians threads, all I can think is running a better diff oil and adding a catch can.

power steering is a totally new problem, I've never had that issue before. it appeared towards the end of the day as my ps reservoir having pissed fluid out from the cap.
opened it up, and the fluid has expanded right up to the top of the reservoir and is thin as water.
pump has started whining *badly* a lot but ive still got steering assist for now, was able to drive it home.
unsure what to do for this, I can try to find a higher temperature ps fluid and maybe a cooler?
Also I cant be sure, but I'm slightly suspicious that adding venting to my bonnet may have removed some airflow from the power steering reservoir.

coolant header tank, I'm guessing that its just a heat problem and I should replace it with something made of metal.

turbo I'd pull heat shields off and try to find whats missing. this car has had a habit of losing turbo to manifold studs very regularly, but all I can say with the heat shield on is that its not the front 2 studs.

vids probably arent much interest to anyone but me, but this is a low 1:02 compared to the previous best of a mid 1:04

 

a little more on the bonnet.

I did some pressure testing on my stock bonnet with stock undertray fitted.

 

so the above is showing a positive pressure zone of 5mmHg at that front-most redmark.
from this I concluded that I would benefit from a vented bonnet, as reducing pressure there would allow more air to be drawn through the radiator and intercooler
I also measured a positive pressure zone of 1.9 mmHg in front of the upper grille (near ford badge) compared to behind the fan shroud.

this is the final vented bonnet. I did a bit of a hack job on it, hopefully a mate from a panel shop with clean it up and hide my crimes.

 

does it work?

well it definitely lets out a lot of heat, but I've yet to perform the pressure tests again.
in a perfect world I'd hope to see lower under bonnet pressure at the front and mid area, and a larger pressure difference between the front and rear of the vent and fan shroud.

just need to get the car running nicely again to test it.

Edited 28/11/21 11:27 PM by trist4nn

[k31th]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun... power steering cooler has to be mounted in the airflow at the front to prevent boiling like you had, but it shouldn't have boiled too easily based on your current setup; might be another issue there

 

Advice is to get nordloc washers for your turbo-to-manifold and exhaust-manifold-to-head studs/nuts/bolts so you don't have leaks. Even the dump-pipe-to-turbo can use 'em if you're getting heavy vibrations through it.

[trist4nn]

honestly I have no idea what ps fluid was even in it. it looks brown an old, I never changed it because im a moron.
I might just do a full flush with some better fluid (recommendations welcome) and see if that's enough by itself.

[k31th]

hmm... just get whatever fluid and flush the entire power steering system, I think... you might have a different problem in the system as power steering fluid shouldn't boil as it has a fairly high boiling point (normally 600+degC)

[trist4nn]

Maybe it wasn't truly boiling, I'll just say what I saw without trying to be smart. 

 

Mid session I developed a new supercharger whine, at the end I inspected the reservoir and found it to be leaking a decent amount of fluid. Inside the reservoir was full to the brim of brown oil, it wasn't bubbling or anything but I touched some and it was hottttt.

 

So maybe it didn't boil, it just got hot enough that it expanded beyond the reservoir size, then sucked air back in...

[k31th]

yeah, sounds more realistic... just flush & bleed the power steering. Probably repair the relevant leak, too.

[trist4nn]

Fortunately the leak is just the cap. I imagine theyre not truly oil tight since you're never meant to let the fluid that high. Probably better it leaked rather than over pressurized haha. 

Edited 29/11/21 12:11 AM by trist4nn