It is amazing how much better a car drives when it's ring gear is firmly attached to the carrier!!
YUGE difference... Guess i hadn't realized just how sloppy the drive train had gotten over time. It's been bad for a while now. Can't believe all of the races I've run with it like that as well.
Also spent some quality time given so love to a few other things back there while it was on the rack. Felt some looseness in the lower control arm joints so I pulled them all and gave them a refresh. Beautiful thing about UMI Roto-Joints, 100% servicable... Each one was a 1/4 - 1/2 turn loose on the adjuster but each delrin piece looked perfect so I cleaned them up, put a layer of grease on the center piece and put them back in the arms. Pretty sure the looseness I felt was the actual control arms bolts themselves backing out just a bit. I haven't touched ANY of that stuff since I put them in almost 5 years ago now...they should be good to go for another 5 years of abuse now.
The parking brake setup needed a bit of love as well. The Stoptech setup uses an internal parking brake shoe (C6 I believe with some other GM parts thrown in) and when I put it all in I just set them up super loose. They worked but at some point one of the cables came out of the connector and a clip that holds the top of one of the shoes in place also broke. Since I was in there anyway and had a bit more time I replaced the broken clip and made sure it all went together properly. I then spent a bunch of time adjusting them and making sure each side rotated freely and tightened up with the same amount of pull on the cables. They should be good to go now as well.
Lastly, the last time I raced the car, when I put it on the trailer to bring it home, I wrapped the tie down strap around the RR flex line to the caliper. When I got home I noticed brake fluid everywhere... **eek** Thankfully, all it did was loosen the banjo bolt up when it pulled the cable back and I was able to snug the bolt back up and stop the leak. The Master cylinder was very close to being out of fluid but I put more in before ever pressing the pedal so I didn't need to bleed it again...but we did re-bleed the rear calipers to make sure all of the air was out and checked all the lines and fittings one more time for leaks. That's all good now too...
Lastly was a road trip around town in the 110 degree afternoon heat with the AC on to see how the cooling system would handle it. After figuring out the diff was MUCH better I rolled the windows up, cranked the AC and cruised around for a bit. It stayed near 180 where the stat opens up for a while but several waits at stop lights in a row got it to creeping up. A little break in traffic stopped it from climbing but the next set of stop lights had it creeping up again so I turned the AC off to see if that helped. It leveled off about 210-215 degrees, warmer than I like but not bad really...then I noticed that I hadn't turned the fans on high with my manual switch. Pretty sure the auto switch turns them on high at 215 degrees. So I hit the switch then turned the AC back on and cruised around a bit some more. It dropped back down to around 200 and stayed there...stoplights, slow speed cruising, even idling around the neighborhood a few times. I think that'll do...
The AC cooled the car right down and worked like a champ. It's had a slow oil leak for over 4 years now, every now and then I'll find green fluid under the hose where it comes out of the accumulator...I have NO IDEA how it keeps running and cooling like it does. The fan switch only works on high though... Isn't there a fix for that? Seems like I've seen others with that issue. High is fine but frankly, it could use to run a speed or two lower once the car is cooled down, even when it's 110 degrees outside.
Anyway, good to get a bunch of little things down to it, maybe now I can drive it a bit more regularly and who knows...maybe even hit a track day or two soon...
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Hybrid Mode
