Porsche Track Car Part 23 – So Far, So Good

In my previous post, I recounted getting the Porsche 944 engine rebuilt and installed in the car.  It is several months later and I am happy to report the engine rebuild is holding up and has engaged in some serious track use/abuse without any issues.  I had installed an hour meter in the car, since there is no speedometer and it is hard to keep track of actual usage.  I have used the car for 6 track days this spring and am up to close to 20 hours of time on the engine.  So I am feeling pretty good about the quality of the rebuild, so far, knock on wood!  Oil consumption has been modest, I seem to use about 1/2 quart per day of track use.  I am using Valvoline 20-50 Racing full synthetic.  The oil pressure gauge reads 5 cold and drops towards 4 towards the end of a session.  Coolant temps have been very solid, with the needing rarely moving past the midpoint of the gauge.  I am currently running a new stock aluminum radiator with water and water wetter in the system.

The 2 tracks that I have used are Carolina Motorsports Park and Virginia International Raceway.  Both are great tracks, in their own way.  I spend a lot of time watching my mirrors at VIR and giving passbys to much faster cars on the long straights, which is a little bit of a drag.  Not so such much at CMP due to shorter straights.  My driving skills are still improving and I am now starting to find other newer cars that I can hang with in the twisty sections so that is very satisfying.

My 2nd event at CMP ended early when the right rear halfshaft came disconnected at the hub end CV joint.  I am pretty sure I can blame that one squarely on myself as I am not sure I fully torqued the fasteners.  I went back with the Stage 8 fastener kit from Ideola Garage.  This seems to be a well engineered solution to this problem.  I also like the fact that I can get an immediate visual indication of pending problems while at the track by just looking at the keeper plates.

After my first and second runs I found a lot of suspension bolts that were coming loose.  I bought a full complement of nylon and metal locking nuts from McMaster Carr and went through everything in the area of suspension.  I also put white paint on every fastener.  This gives me a visual reference for checks at the track.  Since I have done this, loosening issues have virtually gone away.

I am by no means a suspension guru but I have done a lot of reading on the subject.  In future posts I want to get into some suspension issues that I have worked through.

Last, at my last track event I shared the car with my daughter Frances.  That was a great father/daughter experience for us both.