Mud Slinging

OK, today was the fourth ever Hawaii SCCA Rallycross, and like usual it was a blast! None of the forecast showers reached us at Kalaeloa. I made it to the event with the rally FX after a midnight wrench session, actually I beat midnight by 15 minutes, but had to wait for battery to charge. On the drive out, the car seemed to be running well. No warning lamps, alternator & battery seem ok, the engine hesitation & missfire seems to have gone away after driving the week & dumping some fuel injector cleaning stuff in.

Sun was already up by the time I made it there. The air was nice and cool, but windless, and not a cloud in the sky. Helped with some setup. We pretty much had the usual suspects, gaggle of Subarus, a Miata, Civic, Jetta, Toyota longtravel pickup, and myself. Ground looks to be shaping up decent, the recent rains looks to have stiffened up the dirt some, and there’s grass/weeds growing all over! I run second heat, and it is slick from the water truck wetting down the track. Super slide-o uncontrol-o action! I get through the first half of the course and then hear a real ugly flappy thunky sound. WTH? I slow down wondering if I’d snapped a drive shaft, but the car still drives. Huh? I finish out my run cautiously slow. I examine the car, but see nothing obviously wrong. Weird. My suspicion is the right CV shaft, I’ve noticed earlier clicking noises from it in turns. I go for my next run and give-um! It drives fine, if it breaks it breaks, I need to change it anyway. This FX actually drives great even with it all stock, great fun! A few runs in I catch a wiff of something burning, and pop the hood. Nothing unusual, battery is coming loose so tighten it up. We break for lunch, the water truck runs through again, but we take a leisurely time and it dries up nicely by the time we run. Total blast!

It pretty far into afternoon when all the official runs are done. I’m getting pretty toasted from the sun, but its too much fun and I have to do some fun runs. After my second one, which I really went for it and kept the revs pegged at rev limit for most of the course, I really smelled funkyness from the engine. Took a look and this time I could see oil from the bellhousing seam. Darn, looks like engine rear seal is leaking. Oh well, I do one last run and call it a day. After cleaning up, I head home and make it fine, a good day!