You could also tag along with somebody that is making the trip from the West Coast to Pikes Peak. Might want to contact Millenworks (www.millenworks.com). They're in L.A. and take a car almost every year to Pikes Peak. They've also got a full truck transporter.

 

please please please please please please please please

Things are looking good Dave

 

Not a whole lot of progress to report on the Evo so far, but I am pleased to announce that ShepTrans.com is joining our team as a sponsor this year.

As some of you know, we ran a dog-box on the car last year, but due to budget constraints, I'm looking for ways to cut costs without sacrificing reliability. Even though dog-boxes are sweet, they require frequent maintenence that I simply don't have time for. At PPIHC our used Hollinger dogbox started acting up (3rd gear wouldn't stay in place), so when I got home, I sent out my stock IX gearbox to have Shep refurbish it and add a JDM 5th gear. Knowing that Shep's gearboxes stand up to the abuse of high HP drag cars, I had confidence that his parts woud work for us too.

So, we rocked the ShepTrans "street/strip" gearbox for the remainder of our hillclimb season and it stood up to all the abuse we could throw at it:

-extra hose clamps on IC piping & running full boost...check
-using all 5 gears on a rally course & hitting 148mph...check
-antilagged drag launches in the dirt...check

Thanks for the great parts and your support John!!!

Dave

 

I'm thinking about going to a rear mounted radiator setup on my Evo and am trying to do a bit of research on it before I make the jump. There are two primary reasons driving the project, and a third that's a side benefit.

1) Prevent radiator from getting caked with mud in wheel-to-wheel offroad racing
2) Can't seem to get enough cooling (rad too close to the turbo assembly?)
3) better weight distribution

One of the things I know I'll need to do is add another water pump to the system. I was looking for the flow rate of the OEM system to get an idea of how large a pump I should be thinking about adding.

Thank you,

Dave

 

Dave I am coming to the hill climb this year to support you. I will email when it gets closer.

Mitch

 

Very cool. Are you back on the Front Range at all these days? Any chance you'll be bringing the TWG guys back again? We need more Evo's up there.

Dave

 

Congrats on the Shep sponsorship Dave!

 

It changes with RPM.

Just get a big electric pump, then you can throttle it down by adjusting the voltage it sees.

This is a big effort though to fix a cooling issue. Are you using two fans on the current radiator? What coolant is in the system, and thermistat? You could add a duct to the turbo like the Cyber EVO to cool it down.

 

that car looks beat up...must be fun driving that

 

Agreed that this would be a huge undertaking. At the moment the only thing that will push my decision to rear mounted radiator setup is if we pick up some sponsors to help us run the Rally America RallyCross stadium series. Some of the Europeans will be coming over and rear mounted radiators are commonly seen on those high HP beasts.

For most of our races last year we ran with a puller shrouded flex-a-lite fan on the driver's side of the radiator. No room for a puller fan on the other side, and I'd bet at 80+ mph, a fan on the outside of the radiator probably becomes a restriction. Since temps can be variable where we're racing, we typically use a 75-90+% water, balancing the remainder off with coolant and a bottle of Water Wetter. I've always run the stock T-stat, and never had any issues till we were trying to push more than 25psi. The rest of the setup will handle 30-35psi, but the cooling system...not so much.

FWIW, the other option I'm considering is to custom fab up a replacement radiator support which might allow for side-by-side radiator and intercooler. With this format we could install a thicker radiator with a higher fin density. My experience at PPIHC has been that at elevated power levels, and IC blocking the radiator can cause overheating issues. We ran into it with our GTX, and had similar issues last year. This is not an issue that we've run into anywhere other than at hillclimbs, so track day junkies don't have anything to fear.

Dave

 

We should be all nice & cleaned up by the time the beginning of the season rolls around. More fixes on the car may begin this weekend. I'm going to look for a new radiator support to see if the "cheap" replacements actually work on an Evo.

Don't get involved in rally or hillclimb unless you're willing to abuse a car.

Dave

 

So what did the coolant temps get up to?

Using mostly water, with wetter is prefect. You should use a cooler thermostat for sure, I have heard of removing the thermostat as well. I know Chad's radiator is nice and thin, but it might be one of your issues - you could try a big Koyo or PWR EVO 6 radiator (input shifted over). I'd also put the stock fan back in position as a pusher on the passenger side with a duct.

 

You know, I just realized I never looked at a datalog. On the dashboard gauge, it was just about to cross over the tick mark at the top of the sweep. In prior years, I never saw the needle move past the 9 oclock position.


I've been using a Koyo since the car was built, but we found that the IC piping and Koyo were too close together so we had some rubbing issues. When I went to replace it, the only radiators in town (had a race the next day of course) were the Koyo or the CBRD. Since the Koyo was the same thickness, I figured the rubbing issue would still present itself.

I was also talking with Chad about having him make us a dual pass radiator like he uses on his time attack car. I'm also interested in doing something different on the IC to get the piping out of harms way. Sometimes I think I have too many ideas cooking at once.

Dave

 

I'd also be interested in a dual pass like he has on his TA car. With two fans and a manual switch in the cockpit. The other thing I'll need is for it to sit below the core support like his because i'm using a large carbon duct for the air intake that uses the oem one's position (which only michimoto? or stock has provisions I think?)

 

Rear Radiator setup have been known to work well, Ive seen it done, both wrong and right, but when right they work very well, Id probably look at going with an electric water pump at this point as well.

Our work has just begun on our car. the cams and intake go in this week, and that's about all.

Big Question! Who has or can do a run up PP and get datalogue for me, all I need is Barometric pressure reading. Dave do you have these?

The more evos competing the better. Gotta block out those Subarus..