Setup Pads

So as a substitute to buying a $1000 set of setup pads, I decided to start building my own.

Pure welding pleasure. No porosity, minimal splatter, flowing smoothly.

They are starting to take shape, all four of them are at this stage. I am going to weld in what is essentially a cross in the middle to provide support in the center of the pad. The more rigid I can make these the better.

The couplers were zinc coated. Which I am now feeling the effects of. Just a headache. I will have some oreos and milk and that usually takes care of it

Basically setup pads allow you to align the car so that all 4 tires are sitting on a single level and even plane. The feet are adjustable so that you can level them. Astoundingly garage floors (especially my shop floor) are not level or even. One quarter of an inch across the distance of a car can yield .5 degrees of variance in the camber settings.

Here is the commercially available product. http://www.racingplus.com/scale-accessories/intercomp/4-scale-pad-leveler-w-roll-off-pad/1361p11832

Re-Aligned

Taking a much needed break from work, I had a couple friends over to re-align the car.

Few things I noticed, its pretty evident that work surface was not as level as expected. We were able to compensate for the found difference.

This raises another interesting thing. I need a better way of leveling the car. I see some angle iron in my near future to build some roll of scale stands/pads. I do not yet have a set of scales so they will really just be setup pads for now. It should be a fun project.

So I also have done a quick assessment of what I need to go racing.

- Drivers Gear
- Fluid changes
- Remove Passenger seat (only there for a track day)
- Install fire extinguisher

Still aiming for at least a track day this year before the racing season is over.

Another leak update

After a couple quick conversations with people, I was talked into trying a couple things.

Since the transmission is leaking at the case seams its not an easy fix. Since the transmission is not pressurized, I was talked into trying to neatly seal it from the outside. All I really have to lose is about 3 dollars of Permatex ultra black. I partially applied some last night. Surprisingly today there appeared to only be a little oil and it actually made it much easier to see where it was leaking. Passenger side probably close to the height where the top of the oil sits. I had not applied any sealant to this area yet. I applied sealant to this area today. We will see tomorrow.

Leak update

After cleaning, running, etc. It has become apparent that the leaks are from the seams of the case on the transmission. I do not see any oil coming from the engine which is reassuring. The leak location on the transmission is strange from everything I have read. However, I am 95% certain that this is where it is leaking from.

I have a few things to try on the transmission before writing it off. First, I am going to re-torque the case through bolts. Before doing that, I am also going to remove them one at a time and reapply the sealant which is supposed to be on the bolts.

The nice thing is the oil in the transmission is not under much pressure. Its simply being flung around by the spinning internal parts. This may be the transmissions saving grace.

Leaks

So, when I purchased the car I knew it had at least one leak. I recently changed the CAS o-ring. I noticed after my drive last weekend that it appeared that is still some oil underneath. Not being sure if this was residual or new, I decided that I needed to do a thorough cleaning underneath. This morning I spend a decent amount of time cleaning the back of the engine, the oil pan, the transmission. There was nothing very notable after running it for a little while. I am leaving it up on jack stands for a while to check again tomorrow. While I have it up I have a few other things I would like to do.

- Quickly check the wheel bearings
- Re-bleed the brakes.
- Address the leaks I find
- Seal/Paint the opposite sides of the roll cage mounts.
- Fix the opposite adjusters on the passenger side rear.

Before and after

BeforeHood peeling in the passenger side corner of the hood by the windshield. Door peeling on the passenger side.
Chips along the edge of the hard top.
Hood peeling all over the place.

After

Hard top and mirrors are done

I took some time to do a quick wet sand, cut and polish.

It looks pretty good. I have some scratches from the edge of the wet sand paper. Regardless, its shiny and will pass the 50/50 rule with ease. Heck it would pass a 5 foot/ 5 miles per hour rule.

Some photos from my phone. Sorry if they are a little blurry.

Hard top polished and ready to go. Considering what it looked like, it looks pretty good. The gel coat along the bottom edge was all chipped and tore up.The pillar in this photo looks messed up. I assure you it isn't.
The mirrors, polisher, compount, and the hard top in the background.
More shine.
Some precautions for that which has already been painted.