carbonboy

Brave.....stupid, it's a fine line haha! Driving home from work on Saturday, I detected the smell of petrol in the cabin. On inspection, fuel was weeping from the gasket where the fuel pump assembly goes into the tank. So, drain & drop fuel tank, add some sealant & slap it all back together. Just in time to be a driver at the motorkhana demonstration in Toyota Altonas carpark for their Ekiden (Family) Day. This involved taking employees & their family members for 'hot laps', I must say it's terribly distracting having someone beside you screaming the whole test. But everyone who came for a ride with any of the drivers left with a massive smile on their face. I was just happy to be let loose in Blue Thing in Toyotas carpark, RWD cars aren't the only ones that can make a lot of tyre smoke. :D We also put on a static display, which I sadly didn't have the time to take photos of, aside from this whole lot of sexy. There's a Group 5 motorkhana on this Sunday, but not keen to push my luck by going for three consecutive events. I have a Failcan gearbox swap to finish.

Not quite...I'd pushed the other one (maroon colour) into the shed so each car could have two/three people working on them at once. They chose to ignore that option & drink JD cans. So I made them push it out & the white one in. Have nearly finished removing what we need/want from it, then the maroon one goes in. I'm doing it all in my (what little there is) off-time, mainly because I want the broken down Fords the fcuk out of my driveway.

I believe it was a guy in the car club doing it, but haven't gotten a confession. Got a laugh from me too, once I realised the first one wasn't legit. Regularity racing is awesome, it allows teams of Porsches to race against teams of Corollas on a somewhat level playing field. There is a cutoff as to how fast/slow a laptime you can do, 1:40.00 & 2:10.00 respectively. I had a 996 GT3 go past me at full noise on the outside of the sweeper (nearly shat my pants), so he would've been running low 1:40's. Funnily enough, the Porsche Club were "excluded from the results", that is all that was said. I checked out its times on Natsoft, it was running 1:50.00-ish laptimes & having been on track at the same time as it, very tidy through the corners. :) ***DING DING*** You Sir, are correct. I saw it out of the corner of my eye at first & thought four door Skyline. It's odd.....but, it kinda works.

*sigh*

In the days leading up to Winton, I had a mysterious prankster appear, leaving 'parking tickets' on my windshield to discover after work. The next day. On the Friday night, I was loading up the trailer when I had a thought, if something happened to my car, I could beg/borrow/steal a trailer ride home. But what would I do with the trailer? So it was unload trailer, strip interior & load up. By the time I got to the caravan park in Benalla, it was 1:30am. Upon awakening at 5:30am, it wasn't looking promising weather-wise. Thankfully it cleared up & four attempts later, I made it through scrutineering & became an actual race car. Little things like the fire extinguisher bracket not having a metal latch & they got grumpy about my towbar, despite there being no mention of them in the supp-regs. Completed the practice/qualifying session on the Saturday morning successfully & nominated a 1:55 as my laptime. The idea of the regularity race is to get as close to your nominated time as possible without going faster than it. Depending on how close you get, earns you bonus laps, going faster deducts laps. The team with the most laps at the end wins. Our team was called Team Celica, which was slightly ironic as by the end of the 4 hours on the Saturday, one Celica had sheared flywheel bolts, another dropped a valve or three & the third had popped an engine. Leaving myself & an SW20 MR2. Knowing that winning wasn't on the agenda, we just set out on the Sunday to rack up some laps, have fun & try not to come dead last. After two stints however, my clutch began to slip & still having to drive home, I pulled the pin at that point, leaving the MR2 to run until he ran out of brakes. Despite our team only completing ~7 out of the 10hrs, we finished 38th of 39 teams. Mission Accomplished. The event did have a bit of an incident (see link for footage), all drivers checked out okay but the race was red flagged while the safety crews did their thing. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153497478426943&id=643766942&fs=4 It was during this time that the driver of a red MX5 approached me & gave his opinion that I was a bit "vigorous" with my lines/turn in points for the corners. I told him that if I wanted his opinion, I'd ask for it, a RWD on semis & a FWD on street tyres are going to have two different lines through a corner. There was some more whinging from him, but after reminding him that if this was really a problem, it'd be a race official talking to me, not him, he buggered off. Good to know BT is faster in a straight line than an MX5 though, the supercharged ones, not so much. :) There were some awesome cars out there, but strangely, this was one of my favourites. Much faster than you would imagine. A fellow club member took my wheels/tyres for me to ease the load on my clutch & despite a few sketchy moments, made it home safely. The next day was spent swapping over to a second hand Exedy HD clutch I had on the shelf. Hindsight tells me that this should have gone in when I swapped engines, but the standard clutch I had had a lot less kms on it. On the bright side, the engine is still going hard, didn't miss a beat. Re: earlier conversation about the CAI, it seems Reed has a very valid point. Something for me to rectify. Annnd one final parking ticket. Considering I'd never driven the circuit, have drum brakes on the rear & was running street tyres, a best lap of 1:54.5503 ain't too bad I think.

Would have been the best use of everyones time that's for sure. I did also mention (many, many times) prior to parts car acquisition that for the money spent on all this & other repairs, he could buy a Corolla, roadworthy & register it. When someone has the criteria for a car of "cheap to run" & "reliable" & ignores a standard Corolla as an option...I give up.

This isn't so much a WMMH post as a What Makes Me Laugh post. My housemate has an E-series (EF I think) Falcon with a good engine but the auto box is shagged. He recently acquired another complete car, engine's dead but the gearbox was rebuilt less than a year ago. A simple matter of swapping the two over. I neglected to volunteer to help as a) helping tends to very quickly turn into doing all the work, b) his mates have done this before (apparently), c) I have my own $h1t to do & d) I'm an engine-over-drive kinda guy. Despite me having spent the week cleaning up the shed so they have a sheltered place with a concrete floor to work on, they jacked the car up in our dirt driveway with storm clouds looming on the horizon. He & his four mates started on the parts car gearbox removal at about 2pm on Saturday, I got home from my parents at about 7:30pm, the tailshaft was out but the gearbox was still in the car & the buggered one hadn't been touched.....five grown men.....five hours..... I made the observation that this was a bit of a poor effort & was told that things are "in control", a forklift is coming tomorrow..... I made the point that if a forklift is involved in removing a gearbox, things are not in control..... The next morning, I was working on BT while they slept off the effects of the three bottles of booze consumed the previous evening when at about 9:30am, bugger me if a forklift didn't show up on the back of a tilt tray. Not that this really mattered, by the end of Sunday, both gearboxes were STILL in their respective ORIGINAL positions. I make no claims to be a mechanic, but JFC, some people should be called spanners, not let near them. I'm getting the feeling that I may just end up doing the job for him, so that he can see how helpful his 'mates' really are & so I can have shed space back.

The 400R is a limited edition Nismo-tuned version packing (wait for it...) 400hp & some rather nice (IMHO) bodywork. Another car I have only heard of due to Gran Turismo.

I run a MAP sensor, so no worries about the AFM getting damaged. ;) This does end up tucked above the wheel-arch plastic & engine bay plastics, behind the lower part of the front bumper. Chances of water getting up there are minimal, turning it 180° would point it directly towards the front tyre. But...I am thinking a deflection shield of some kind for the air filter where the pipe enters the airbox. That way, anything that does get sucked up (dirt, bugs, water etc) isn't sent straight onto the filter. A u-bend would be.....difficult to fit in.

Been a while between posts again, my bad. Not a lot has been happening, I washed the dirt off... I used BT as a tow-car to prep the TCCAV grounds for a Group 5 motorkhana. Have laughed at the size of modern day 'small' cars. Two Nissan Micras & a Toyota Yaris. Dummy-fitted BMW M4 19" wheels for giggles. Borrowed a trailer to haul several sets of wheels/fuel cans etc to Winton this coming weekend for the 10hr event. Needs a paint job IMHO. Have also done a heap of preventative maintenance in advance of said 10hr event, like replace the clutch slave cylinder, oil/filter, spark plugs etc. Cold air intake for the airbox is in also, as well as the tow strap etc. Should *hopefully* be a good event, not racing for sheep stations & emu farms, just out to not screw up & to have fun.

Made a short video to show the LED 'flash' modes. Had some more duels with the Magpies, so put together a compilation of the highlights. And just for shiz 'n giggles, made a Top Gun-version.

Email MSD, include wiring diagrams for your engine & they should be able to tell you.

I didn't know pizza places made motors... Put it on some scales, full flight weight comes in at 642 grams, 199 of which is the 2200mah battery. The 1500's are 129 grams, not much but noticable when flying, about 7-8 minutes flight time from them & 10-11 minutes from the 2200's.

Spent some time installing some Need For Speed Underground type upgrades. Not exactly performance based, but they do make it easier to see & doesn't drain too much power in the process.

I'm quite glad that you didn't do this, it would have been slightly premature, although I can relate to this feeling. Enjoy the fruits of your labour, they certainly sound good.

After multiple rounds of combat, it seems the magpie scored a few points. Took out the flight controller power supply & it was a straight drop to the ground from there. PDB is damaged beyond repair, now that they are available again, I have some coming from the states.

A quiet afternoon flight in FPV turned into aerial combat when a territorial magpie decided to attack, so I decided to film it from the ground with my phone.

Checking for fuel/air/spark has always served me well, the diagnostic ability just helps point you in the right direction a little faster. Went to TCCAV's CC&D on the weekend, props to the person who takes a photo of an old, slightly beat-up Corolla covered in mud, as well as the shiny machinery in attendance. Hadn't been rally-driving, just hadn't washed BT in a few weeks. Some cool photos from todays TCCAV CC&D can be found here: http://www.notraction.com.au/#/cars-coffee-donuts-august/

I have that pdf on my PC, laptop & now phone, yet I have been unable to get the time to sit down & go through it all methodically. I have CV-joint boot replacement works going on at the moment, so that's occupying my work-on-car time. +1. All good, banter is good, banter can be useful. People like that make me not want to live on this planet anymore. The night I had the TPS dramas, I tried to start it without the TPS plugged in & it still wouldn't start. I presume that when it will run without it connected, it would also start? The thought of just swapping ECU's (I have a spare one somewhere) crossed my mind to see what, if anything, happens. Has been running well without dramas since the last update though, fuel economy is hovering around 7.7L/100km. Which is good, but I had high expectations of EFI over my carburettors, so am a little let down. But, those cold-starts do make up for things...

Gave FPV flight a go solo (without someone else as a spotter) for the first time on the weekend, didn't crash despite going through three battery packs (approx 7 - 9min flight time each). Then went back to free-flying & promptly launched it into my back fence. Smashed it up a bit, so while I was fixing it, I swapped some bits I prepared earlier.

All I can contribute is the one I used on my carb setup was rather noisy when first used, settled down a bit once fuel was going through it. Was much quieter when mounted on rubber bushes (old swaybar bushes) but still audible when the car was running. Handy to know it was still working, got kind of used to it.

To buy all the bits I used for V2, it'll set you back around AU$700 (inc transmitter & headset setups), with around AU$150 for shipping (multiple packages) & another AU$300 for the tracking device. Which sounds like a lot for a tracker, but when V1 disappeared it was worth about AU$500, so a bargain as far as I'm concerned. I also have a spares kit & extra batteries etc that adds up to about AU$350, crashing is inevitable. To go 'all out' on a setup this size (250mm from motor centre to motor centre), you can easily go past AU$2,000. Which is a lot of money to potentially plough into the ground at 60+km/h. o_O

This all started one day when I pulled the RC truck out, had a play & it just didn't satisfy me any more. Having seen a few videos of this sort of thing on the YouTubes, I eventually caved in & started looking around at pre-built, ready to fly units. Being friends on FB with a guy who has been doing this for a little while, I kinda bugged him a few times with questions & he pointed out that for the money I'd spend on a pre-built unit (some with some serious downsides/flaws), I could build one. So, I did. Twice actually. Version 1 was my learner, aka Crash Bunny. Broke a lot of propellers & guards, nothing major. Flew line of sight only as I did not have the FPV setup at that stage. This still didn't prevent me from losing the thing completely over another property near me. Spent the next week combing three farm paddocks & climbed twenty-something pine trees in search of it, didn't find a single trace of it. Expensive lesson learnt, Version 2 was built. Incorporating a front-mounted camera, video transmitter & a radio tracking device with a 3km range. All components were removed from cases etc & hard-wired to save weight by eliminating as much wire & plugs as possible. Also makes the setup much cleaner, no rats nest of wires going everywhere. Frame - ZMR250, carbon fibre 3mm upper/lower plates, 5mm arms & 3mm landing ‘legs’. Aluminium stand-off posts with metal M3 fasteners. Power Distribution Board - Team Legit Overcraft V1.2 PDB, with built in LED’s (white – front, red – rear), 100A power wires with XT60 connector. Allows for a very neat, minimal wires setup. Flight Controller - Afroflight Naze32 ‘Full’, 32 bit processor, built-in gyro/accelerometer/compass/barometer. Mounted on nylon stand-offs, more features than I’ll ever use. Electronic Speed Controllers - SimonK firmware, 12A x4, modified wiring & heatshrink. Motors - RC Timer 2204-2300KV x4. Receiver - OrangeRX RX615X, 2.4GHZ 8 channel. Removed from plastic case & heat-shrinked. Transmitter/Transmitter Module - Turnigy 9X with 9XR firmware, 9 channel, modified battery housing. - Orange RX DSM2/DSMX, 2.4GHZ. Propellers - Gemfan ABS-plastic 5030 x4 or Gemfan CRP 5030 x4. - Diatone carbon fibre propeller guards x4. Also shown here with foam landing pads to assist me in learning the art of landing, as opposed to semi-controlled crashing. On Version 2, I added: Camera - Runcam 600TVL (Sony copy), 3.6mm lens. Video Transmitter/Receiver - Foxtech TS58500 5.8GHZ 500mw AV Transmitter. - Foxtech RC832 5.8GHZ 32 channel VRX. - Dual-band RPSMA mushroom antenna x2. Headset - Quanum FPV Goggles V2, 5” LCD monitor, affectionately known as a “Face Esky”. Batteries - Turnigy NanoTech 3S 11.1V 1500 & 2200mah LiPo, 35-70C discharge flight batteries. - Turnigy 9XR 3S 11.1V 2200mah LiPo, 1.5C discharge transmitter pack. - Quanum FPV 2S 7.4V 1500mah LiPo, 3C discharge headset batteries. With Version 2 before I added the FPV setup, I strapped my mobile phone (Samsung Galaxy S5) to it & captured some great footage/photos just buzzing around. Things didn't always go to plan though. Samsung Galaxy S5: 10/10 for durability. Quadcopter: 8/10 for durability. Cauliflower: 2/10 for durability. Haven't flown in FPV mode yet, as I have just gotten it working, the weather has been $h1t & flying indoors can end very quickly & catastrophically. The video receiver on the headset has a secondary output, so I can connect it to another monitor or recording device. So stay tuned & hopefully I'll get some decent footage of places I plan to go exploring & the inevitable crashes that will happen. I have a decent arsenal of spares (these things eat propellers I swear), so fingers crossed it goes well.

If the speed sensor is in the back of a Twin Cam instrument cluster, then yes. Although it wouldn't have been wired to anything. Yes, I have replaced all of the wiring looms, except for the small part that goes from the passenger kick panel, to the front passenger door switch & handbrake. That's the only part of the wiring loom that is the same between carb/EFI models. I do have a TC instrument cluster, it was actually installed & working fine off the carby loom prior to this. The only modifications that I have done are the revised air filter/housing & the addition of the the O2 wideband as well as the factory O2 sensor. Everything else is as per Toyota. I'm glad it's only sensors cracking the sads so far, it did sit around for 5 odd years. Could have been some crud inside the TPS causing a short, has been fine since.

Some updates: Reliabilty-wise, EFI isn't as angelic as people will have you believe. On a Wednesday night after work, the engine leaned out & died, I knew I was low on fuel so I walked over an hour round-trip for a jerry cans worth. Still wouldn't start. Put into diagnostic mode, TPS code. Much swearing. Catch train home, grab spare TPS's & get a lift back to car. TPS's are either a different plug or 90° wrong orientation. Cracked the $h1ts, reinstalled original TPS, still no start. Pushed car uphill to be legally parked overnight. Attempted one more start just for the hell of it.....she started..... Had a decent photo-bomb a couple of days later parked at work. A few days after that, starts running warm, then throws up a CEL with Coolant Temp Sensor (Code 4) & Speed Sensor (Code 9) error codes, Code 9 supposedly not used on 1987 & earlier models. Swapped sensors, reset ECU, still Code 4. Swapped sensor back, reset ECU, Code 4 gone, Code 9 still there. Wonder what Code 9 is meant to be as I consume a beer. Reset ECU again. She started & ran fine... FFS. The next day, CEL, Code 5: Oxygen Sensor. Thankfully, has been hassle free since. Even got to meet another Blue Thing, kinda-sorta.