My left front ball joint sheered off today under braking. Sent my wheel into my fender ending my day. Other than that the car ran well. Quick and stuck like glue even though it took 5 laps to get heat in the tires. 32-36 at Summit Point today. I did get to drive several hours before the failure. Now I need a left front cf 3R fender. Is there a upgrade for these ball joint shafts?

 

What is with the dark cloud hanging over your head Bill???

 

Geoffrey,

Huge dark cloud but not over me its this great car! Raced 60 starts in ole yeller with almost zero car issues. This car has NEVER raced and has had more issues than most vintage race cars. Too bad she is a wonderful car to drive judging from my few hours in the cockpit today. I am dedicating my life to making this a dependable front runner. She will get the best. Time to turn her life around. Anyone have a rabbits foot?

 

I was thinking perhaps a Saint Christopher.....

Bill if you posted a story about the engine I missed it. What happened when you tore it open? And let me repeat what Ive said since the beginning...this is going to be a great car for you. I can feel it....

 

Bill;

The teams that ran these buggers in pro racing got real used to changing out EVERYTHING like that after every race. Control arms, joints... any critical part. Not that they fail all the time, but failures of such things were not uncommon, hence their proactive stance. Expensive, but cheaper than a write-off!

Get used to working your warm up laps extra heavy. Those slicks need a LOT of warm up. It takes a real pro to go fast in one of these at the drop of the green, and a lot of amateurs have wadded them driving like they were still on DOTs.

Also, just be aware that the limits are really high in these babies, but at the limit they can be a handful. I'm sure you will be prudent, but I just wanted to throw that out there. Now that it's Christened, you're good to go!

I'm sure I speak for all when I say you have our best wishes!

 

Thanks John, Yes I have a lot of respect for this car. Much easier to drive fast than ole yeller. You feel every small suspension adjustment.

JR, somewhere along the line the heads were replaced with built up heads. The right side was a cup car head and the left side a 996 street car head. The street car side has freeze plugs. We could not get them to stay in so we threaded the head and epoxied the plugs in place. No other engine damage.

I drove the car for a 30 minute session before I realized the red power steering "on" switch on the dash.

 

Pank had a ball joint fail while rounding the kink in the chute. He was able to keep the car out of the tire walls and intact and after changing the joint and dialing the susp back in ran the race.

Glad to hear that the motor is back to running. You need to exorsize the bad voodoo out of this car.

 

I vaguely remember that in the PNS receipts there were new heads listed, or perhaps it was only 1 head.... That's too weird though as they wouldn't put an engine back together that way( I don't think). I'd call Henry Choo (sp) and ask him about that. Are there any other differences between the heads?

Really glad to hear it ran well though. I think the exorism is starting to work...

 

Hi Bill,

That sure is a rough start for your car....The only time I have seen those ball joints fail is when they are put on with an air gun and not torqued properly....the torque value is surprisingly low. Tom's car at Summit Point was a victim of that..ask him...

Fab car makes a replacement arm with stronger ball joint at $1000 each...WOW thats a lot of cash for an arm that costs $175 from Porsche....

I have a left fender if you need..as well as suspension parts...

Very strange about the different heads...I don't think the street head is the same at all....I know for sure the Cup and 3R heads are not the same...Wasn't your engine supposed to be a 3R rebuild?

 

Rick,
I am glad to hear that there is a explanation for the failure. Are the Fabcar arms solid steel, very heavy? If so I think a set came with the car.

The paperwork from Porsche Motorsport and conversation with them confirmed a 3R rebuild/conversion.

The gears are very short. 6th gear about 20 yards past start/finish at Summit. 240KPH (148ish) on the front straight. The only 2nd gear turn was T5. T10 was downshift to 4th. Does not sound like a good gear mix for Sebring. The ABS is felt in the brake pedal all the time. Very different than my yellow car although the abs did not work all the time.

 

 

Hi Bill,

Yes, the fabcar arms are heavy...but if you have them use them..! Your picture is exactly what it looks like from over torqeing....

Your gears sound too short...look into getting a gear chart done for what's in there and lay out a new one for the Eastern tracks you will be running...

Try to find out if the front or rears are locking and setting off the ABS and then try a lesser compound of brake pad....they should only be kicking in when you hit them really hard... But remember you tires were probably pretty cold so it's probably not a good test...

 

Bill,

It also looks like you busted up the Carbon rad supports....if you need them I have them in usable condition...

 

Thanks Rick.

What is a rad support?

 

radiator support maybe?