Hackster's Need for Swede 😁

[hackster]

Well I drug this old turd all the way from Portland to Fontana to run in the Optima event.

It was a haul, 1006 miles one way and we did it in one shot down and back. Drove down there on Thursday and home on Monday.

I first ran an Optima event in 2016 at Thunderhill and boy have things changed since then.

My buddy Kevin and I decided months ago that we wanted to hit it up so we made plans way back then. I havent follow the series much at all but had a great time a few years ago.

We got through Tech on Friday and got our run groups and the stickers installed.



This is his s10 and its a bad ass machine.



We opted for garage spots with the weather forecast. It was well over 100 on Friday and Saturday and 98 on Sunday, we were very glad we got them.

A few of the cars in my GTV Class











I was seriously outgunned.....

I had a great time, the car did great on Saturday but I was off the pace of the slow cars and way off with the fast cars. I had a tough time getting over the nerves and the car was loose all over the track. Saturday was just autocross and D&E. Sunday was speed stop and road course.

I was much more on my game on the speed stop and had a great time running it.





Road course not so much. It was so hot, I was hot but the car was really hot. I could only get in a lap or 2 before the coolant temps were too high. I saw 235 on the first session and 240 on the second session and called it quits for the day.

Clearly I need to do some cooling upgrades.

We did the road rally Saturday night about 30 miles in LA Rushour traffic. It was 104 degrees out. It was less than pleasant but got some cool pics.



Kevin was awarded the fast first timer award and got his $$ refunded for the event. He is a killer driver and the truck just flat works. its 2900 lbs, about 400 wheel hp and has 315's squared setup.

I got the participants choice award from Anderson Composites and a super cool plaque from Optima for it.

I had a blast, disspointed with my driving and the results but I had fun.

The Fuel system modifications worked like a champ, zero fuel slosh or fuel smell in or around the car.

I did develop a small fuel leak at the fuel rail from a loose fitting, snugged it up and seems to be all good now.

Car is going to just hang out for a little bit. Going to figure out my next steps from here. Its been a great summer, the car has been all over the west coast and I think most of the bugs have been worked out.

[SSLance]

Optima is a big boys game now for sure. Glad to hear the fuel issues are fixed. I heard several good drivers were really struggling on the autocross Saturday, wasn't just you. How'd you do in D&E?

[glassman]

You drove it there and back. That is an ultimate street car IMO. I think the events should have NO trailers allowed LOL. I haven't ran an event since '15 with them, not because of the competition and race cars, as I think the event is a lot of fun for the money spent.
my cars been down quite a bit and I do not have much time on my hands....Love watching your builds

[hackster]

Originally Posted by glassman

You drove it there and back. That is an ultimate street car IMO. I think the events should have NO trailers allowed LOL. I haven't ran an event since '15 with them, not because of the competition and race cars, as I think the event is a lot of fun for the money spent.
my cars been down quite a bit and I do not have much time on my hands....Love watching your builds

Unfortunately I cannot take that credit, we towed the car there and back. Although with most of the bugs worked out I would like to try to drive it to some bigger events and see how it does. I have only driven it an hour or so from home, but it does great on the freeway, would need some cupholders and cruise control for sure.

Man this thread really died off as did my motivation for working on the car. Up until this week it had not moved since I unloaded it off the trailer.

My work load over the summer and what seemed like a year and a half of steady work to build the car then beat on it most of the summer led to 100% burnout mode on the car.

Been back biking, commuting to work some after work rides and mountain biking, that has been great.

Finally figured I needed to deal with the looming overheating issues the car has had. They got really bad in Fontana with the car seeing temps above 230 cutting my track sessions short by 2.

I have felt that the car doesnt flow coolant well for months now. So after a ton of research on the internet I spent a little time messing with the car.

Comments on the internet recommended running the car with the rad cap off and squeezing the upper and lower radiator hoses to help push air out of the system.

I did this with no luck. The engine gets up to 190 and just hangs out there while idling in the garage, 192, 194. This is with a 165 degree thermostat in it.

I had the fans setup for the cooler stat with the fan on temps at 168 and 174 or right around there. I believed that the problem I was having was this was subcooling the water in the radiator, the lower hose was never getting hot even when the temp was above 190. When that stat would open, the cold water would hit it and it would close again.

So I disconnected the fans, ran the car with the rad cap off and a funnel tight in the filler. I ran the car like this until the thermostat finally opened and got lots of flow through the system. Lower radiator hose actually got hot and by squeezing the upper and lower radiator hoses I got a ton of air out of the system. I did this a few times, cycling the fans on and off making sure that I got all of the air out of the system for possibly the first time ever.....I hope this solves my problems.

So hook fans back up , get the car up to temp, same issue, fans cool the coolant down, car gets up to 190+ and sits there.

So I manually jumper the fans on, watch the coolant get up to 185, fans on, coolant drops to 175, fans off, stat opens, up to 185, fans on over and over again. So I have my culprit.

I get into HP Tuners and adjust the fan temps up to on at 180 first fan, then 185 for second fan and that is still too cool. Raise the fan temps up to 185 and 190 and for the first time this thing is working. Coolant temps are running 172 to 185 with the fan cycling on and off while cruising around town, fans off on the freeway.

I am really hoping that I had two things fighting me, air in the cooling system and fans that were setup wrong and that I don't have a drastically undersized radiator.

Other than needing a new set of tires from flat spots my list of things to fix from Fontana is small.

I need to fix my overflow hose and fittings as they leak.

Car needs an oil cooler too, but that will likely be mid winter upgrades.

Other than that not much to report. After not driving it for a month it fired right up, didnt do anything weird and I forgot how rowdy it was after not driving it for that long.

I like keeping the build thread going even though I know the forums are dying but in hopes that I might help someone along the way.

Cheers.

Sean

[ScotI]

I hope everyone keeps updating their current projects & any new ones started. There is so much to learn from others & forums are great for allowing that info to be spread.

IG cannot touch on what forums can provide & the worse one (FB) is so bad many (like myself) stepped away years ago because of the stupidity.

I always have enjoyed a glimpse into others activities. Yours is better solely on the shear variance of your projects & passions!

[SSLance]

Hope the fixes help the cooling woes Sean, sounds like there is hope. Please do keep your thread updated as you change and improve or just drive the car...I enjoy reading about your progress.

[Ketzer]

Reading about your issues and how you work through them is priceless. Maybe I dont have the same issue, but your steps, your solutions, really help others to understand and fix their own headaches....

Dont look at your reply count, look at your read count! You are helping the community a ton!


Jeff-

[DBasher]

Sounds like you need 315’s squared...I’m willing to bet that’ll put a hitch in yer giddy up! I think, if you put your mind to it, you can have it done by Vegas, Yaaas!

And the bicycle thing, I can’t even picture it....tell me you’re not a spando camando, better yet, don’t ever mention it. Ever in the history of ever.

#makebuildthreadsgreatagain

[SSLance]

Leave the 275s on there!!

Make small tire cars great again!!!

[rixtrix1]

Sean, I hope you get your cooling issues sorted out. Glad you could get out on the bike and decompress a bit. You've been powering through projects like Ron Schwarz, so a bit of burnout is understandable. It's threads like yours that keep me interested in keeping my lifelong 66 Malibu project going. I have so little time and energy to devote to it, but it's posts like your's that keep me interested and motivated. Thanks for sharing the ride.