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06-17-2021, 01:57 AM | #2664 |
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Thanks! I get the question all the time—-“why build a sedan into a race car instead of the coupe version?” Because it’s the car I had! Ironically, I now have an E92 M3, and it’s my street car……when it has an engine in it…….still waiting on parts to rebuild the E90 engine so I can put it in the E92 and get it back up and running. Post-pandemic supply chains are just broken……
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06-17-2021, 02:52 AM | #2665 |
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I sent the two AIM Solo 2 DL units that I have to AIM. One of the units is mine and the other belongs to a friend. My unit needed the main logic board replaced. I suspected something was wrong with my unit when my car revved funny at HPR a few months ago. I sent my friend’s unit in because predictive lap timing doesn’t work sometimes. (My unit also struggles with this.) AIM said that if I sent them a unit with a session where predictive didn’t work, they could analyze it somehow. So I did. His unit checked out 100% healthy. They downloaded the session with the non-working predictive timing and lights. We’ll see if they come back with anything.
I’ve been prepping for NASA TT at High Plains Raceway this weekend. This week, we got 5 cars signed up in TT1, so there is a possibility to win Hoosier contingency tires. I have NO idea what lap times the competition can put down, so I have no idea what my chances are. I’m just glad that the car is feeling good these days, so I’m eager to throw down some laps and see how everything stacks up. Weather will be reasonable in the AM with highs going to 90°F. Not great for personal bests. We’ll just have to get things done in AM. I find it a bit annoying that NASA doesn’t count the first session on Saturday. I think if you run a good lap in the coolest air of the day, the darn thing should count……. I have a simple tire strategy that should be workable. I purposefully didn’t run my A7 scrubs into the ground at Pueblo, so they should be in good enough condition to be effective in the practice/qualifying session. And then I have new A7 if things look good and I want to run them in the first session that counts. If the scrub A7 are good enough in qualifying, I could also just run them all day Saturday and then save the new tires for first session Sunday……we’ll see. I have one small non-performance mod for the car this weekend——I finally got vinyl decals cut with my name and USA Flag. I’m actually quite excited about it! hahaha I know…..so sad. I learned something interesting about putting an American Flag on a moving vehicle: On the passenger (right) side of a car, boat or aircraft, proper etiquette for a USA Flag is to mirror-image the flag on that side so that the stars are in the right side. It’s the only flag in the world where you do that. I’ll post some pix once the decals are on. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting my head back into High Plains Raceway during the Friday practice day. And then putting some hot laps down on the weekend.
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06-19-2021, 11:28 AM | #2666 | |
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06-19-2021, 08:11 PM | #2667 |
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06-21-2021, 06:59 AM | #2669 | |
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I just disconnect the CAN bus wire to the AIM at the end of every session and then re-attach it at the beginning of the next session. And I have the 12v volt wires connected to the AIM harness. With that combo, the battery is usually above 90% at the end of the day. It's a dumb work around that actually bit me over the weekend, but....whatever. (I'll explain in my weekend write up.)
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06-21-2021, 09:46 AM | #2670 |
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Let's file this one under......You know....I walked away from this weekend not knowing what to think. It was crazy. I just want to start out by thanking Cory Rowan from Honest Assembly Garage for his unbelievable passion and dedication to motorsport. You cannot expect someone to help you through crazy shit like this. All you can do is be thankful that someone like him is willing to do ANYTHING to get back on track. It's done out of passion, not for money.
Friday: Test day. Was curious what the softer 515 lbs rear springs would feel like at High Plains. These coilover rears would equate to around 1050-1100 divorced. At Pueblo, a track I was new at, I had been happy with the feel. At High Plains, I wasn't as happy. The car felt quite understeery. I wasn't too thrilled with it. But I know how to deal with a car that understeers, so I pushed on. (get it?.....pushed on....ah ok it was stupid.) They ran the day as open track with 90 cars signed up. Didn't get one single clean lap all day. That's ok. I was there to feel the new springs at this particular track and get my head back in the game. Mission accomplished. Saturday: NASA TT competition Day 1. First session of the day was the practice/qualifying session. It combined all 31 cars into one group. (For sessions 2 and 3, they would split the cars into two groups.) Results don't count toward the competition but they put everyone in order based on their times, so I ran my scrub A7. Gridded early and put myself first in grid so I had a chance at an open lap. They said they would try to gap the cars a bit to give some room. I was concerned that you can't really gap 31 cars on a 2.5 mile track. I expressed my concerns, telling them that I've done a lot of TT at Buttonwillow which is 2.7 miles, and the math just doesn't add up trying to gap 31 cars. They still gapped everyone. I caught the last car put on track by turn 5 of the first hot lap, and I kept catching people through the rest of the lap. Whatever, the lap I put down was fast enough to grid me first in TT. Fine. Session 2: I put on my new A7 tires. I was ready to go. The weather was over 80ºF, so I wasn't expecting anything super great. But I go out and the first half of the lap is going pretty darn good. Looking at the data, I was on on a high 1:49 pace. I come to Turn 8 and stomp on the brake pedal------and while I'm braking, I feel something crack underneath my foot in the brake pedal and the pedal softened a bit in a weird way. It was definitely not boiled fluid. Something else had happened, but I had no idea what it was in that moment. The car did slow down so I could get around the corner. I decided to keep driving the lap and see what happens because the next braking zone for Turn 10 was not a big braking zone. If you don't go hard at it, you could actually get around it without braking at all. So I came at it at a modest tempo, knowing that if I had any brakes at all, it would be fine, and if I had no brakes at all, the run off was safe and I would only go one car width off track (because I've been off there before.) So, I go into Turn 10 and press the brake gently, and----the car slowed! The pedal felt weird but the brakes worked. In that moment, I decided that the car was still working even though something was wrong with it. I made the decision to finish the lap because I knew I would not get another lap and the last two braking zones had safe runoff if there was no brakes. I braked early and gently for Turn 11, the car slowed. The last braking zone for Turn 13, I braked early and gently, the car slowed. I finished the lap and salvaged a 1:52.6. It was good enough to win TT1 that day. Phew. Someone else in TTU ran 0.3 sec faster. But c’mon, I coasted the last three braking zones……hahaha Brought the car in and looked at the brake pedal assembly. To an untrained eye, nothing looked broken. It was still attached to the firewall. And I don't know enough to look for anything else. I was pushing on the pedal with my hand and it seemed to flex more than it should, but I didn't know what to look for. Cory Rowan (who did my insane engine swap in March) was instructing at an All-Women's Autocross event about 40 minutes away from High Plains on Saturday. Prior to the TT event, he said he was planning to come to High Plains to hang out for a bit on Saturday. I called him and told him what was up. He came straight out to HPR to check it out. He pops his head under the dash and quickly comes back up and said that I had pulled the brake assembly away from the plastic crown that supports it at the top. That was the cracking sensation I felt. Car was done for the day. The question was: could the car be fixed to get back out on Sunday. He immediately starts searching local junkyards for an E9x platform car. He finds one at a junkyard near his shop. He said he would go to the junkyard and cut out what he needed from the junked car and he would fix it overnight at his shop and get me back on track Sunday. It sounded like a wild plan to me, but I was trying to win tires via the Hoosier tire contingency. If he was willing to do that, I was on board. Let’s pause for a moment and talk about the tire contingency. We had 5 drivers signed up in TT1. TT1 was good for winning tires. On Saturday, I heard that one of the TT1 competitors had blown up either his engine or trans on the Friday practice day. But, a TTU competitor who can run in TT1 was going to move down to TT1, so we should have been good. And the timing system had several entries without names or class, so no one really knew what the contingency situation was. But we were all running under the assumption that we were still good for contingency. I had won the day in TT1 with my salvaged lap, so I was hopeful. Cory told me to trailer my car to his shop in the afternoon. So, I left the track and went to his shop. Once I arrived, he ran to the junkyard. I was sitting there staring at my car in the shop and decided that this was a good opportunity to swap rear springs. The current spring on there was 515 lbs. The previous spring was 620 lbs. When I bought the 515 lbs springs, I also purchased the in-between 570 spring just in case, and they were sitting in the trailer. So, while Cory was tearing the junkyard car apart, I was swapping my springs. His trip was a success! He came back with all the parts he needed. He tore that car down in a hurry because the junkyard was closing at 5PM. He walked out of there at 4:58PM. He had a family commitment, so he wasn’t working on the car until later that night. So, I left the shop with the plan that I would return at 6AM to pick it up. Sunday: NASA TT Day 2. I arrive at the shop at 6AM. Walk in to pick up the car, and the brake assembly is still sitting on the floor. I’m like uh oh. Our first session of the day was at 8AM. The shop is 65 miles from the track. The car needed tires to be swapped. I’m doing the math in my head, and I’m not sure I can make the first session. Cory had retuned to the shop in the middle of the night to work on the car, and it was going fine, but to reassemble everything, he needed another guy to help hold stuff in place and he was struggling. So, I jump in to help, and the car started coming together. But time is ticking away, so I decided to fully prep the car for the track in his shop, so that I could just pull the car out of the trailer, jump in it and run out on track if I got there in time. So, while he was doing final assembly, I swapped wheels, I adjusted tire pressures, I put gas, I put all the electronics on board----the car was fully prepped to go on track. He finished the assembly, drove it around the industrial park quickly. Said it was fine and we immediately slammed the car into the trailer and I ran out of there. Cory said the reason the assembly broke was because after 10 years of doing leg presses on the brake pedal, the metal of the firewall was bowing out and stressing the top plastic assembly. He said we will have to weld something in to brace the assembly or it will break again. Waze was telling me that I would arrive at the track exactly at 8AM. But I had one other problem, the truck was going to need fuel. I neglected to get diesel because I thought I’d have time to stop. Now, a diesel stop was a strategic game. It was still early in the morning and the freeways were open, and Colorado doesn’t have those silly towing limits of 55MPH like in CA, so——let’s just say this drive was a good test of how efficiently the diesel can move a 10000 lbs trailer……I’m happy to report the diesel can move 10000 lbs quite nicely. I stopped for fuel 20 miles from the track, put only a few gallons in and got back to it. It was starting to look like I had a chance to make the grid. I arrive at the track at 7:53. Park in the first open area big enough for my trailer (which was right in front of the trash dumpsters…….stinky). I jump out of the truck, open the trailer, unstrap the car, drive the car out. I had already decided I had no time to put on my racing suit or racing shoes. While I’m driving to the grid, I’m strapping my harness. I actually get to the grid while they are blowing the 1-minute-to-go whistle. I fricking made it. I’m sitting there. The directors walk up to my car and said, “wow you made it! Hey, uh, where’s your door?” Door? Shit!!!!!!!!! I forgot to put the door on my car. They got on the radio to the race officials to ask if I could run without the door. Hahahaha The first problem was that my car number is on the driver door. They were willing to wave that. Since I had a full cage, they were willing to let the car run without a door. The problem was they would then require me to use arm restraints. I didn’t have those. So, I said I’ll go back and get the door. So, I leave grid and drive back to the trailer, grab the door, slam it on and run out back to grid. But they were already letting cars out on the track. I missed the start. I come back to grid and decide I’ll just wait a bit and make a gap while I run at the back. I’ve done stuff like that before and it works to get a couple open laps. The TT director was thinking the same thing. While sitting there waiting, a TT director walked up and told me not to drive through the grid so fast. I apologized and told him about my morning. I promised I would never do that again. He was cool. Was laughing at the craziness of my last 24 hours. I go out on track and my first lap I ran a 1:51.6—good enough for fastest TT lap of the weekend and won TT1 on Sunday. I liked the 570 lbs springs. I still need to get an alignment. But I’ll stick with those for now. The weather wasn’t too bad for the second session, but I couldn’t get any faster. I was annoyed with the AIM because on my first hot lap, the device was off. I’m like, you turn on all the damn time by yourself, and NOW you don’t turn on??? Turns out the cable was attached but not screwed in……come on AIM just get this stuff sorted out so we don’t have to unscrew the CAN cable all the time. Prior to the second session, a TT director told me we were good for contingency on both days. I was super excited that all the effort had a nice payoff of winning tires for the first time……this excitement lasted for several hours…..then, later in the day, we really dug into the contingency situation………and it turns out, we actually only had 4 competitors in TT1 on both days. Not enough people to activate the contingency……..oh man……I was so bummed. One person that had signed up never registered any laps on the weekend. To go from being told I had won 4 tires to getting nothing was just a bummer. Ah well……I never won much before. It’s not the reason I’m out there. But……it was still annoying. I ran the 3rd session for fun on my scrubs (and to keep getting a sense of the new springs) and then I left to celebrate Father’s Day with my family. I was laughing at myself at all the insanity——everything Cory did to get me back out there, winning TT1 on Saturday with basically no brakes for half the track, the forgotten door, the rush across Denver to get to the track and getting in grid one minute before the start, the quick diesel stop, being told I won 4 tires, being told I won no tires, driving in running shoes without my race suit. I haven’t driven the car without a race suit in years. What a weekend----crazy, but I walked away with some stories to tell. Now I need to get a permanent fix for the pedal. NASA TT returns to Pueblo in July. I think I‘ll try to get there. Maybe we can get enough guys for contingency there. Oh and I’m really happy with how the vinyl of my name turned out! A few pix: Vinyl name! Junkyard car: Starting point: 1.5 hours later (!!):
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06-21-2021, 10:29 AM | #2671 | |
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I really like AIM, but am infuriated by several stupid decisions they made with the Solo2 -Stupid battery life. Dammit, give it hours and hours of battery life. When I download my laps I can see it going down, it's like 1% every 30 seconds -Give it a USB charging port. As we're going to have to charge it nonstop, at least make it convenient -While you give it a USB charging port, also allow wired connection to the laptop. -The little bastard wakes up constantly even though you tell it not to -The only option we have left is to turn it off and unplug it every damn time we get out of the car, but they managed to mess that up as well. The 'on/off' button doesn't work like an on/off button. You have to scroll through several menus until the on/off button does what you'd think it should and turn the little bastard off. I like the lights on the Solo2DL, but am thinking of going back to the v1. In the V1, the battery lasts a lifetime, the on/off button does exactly what you'd think it does and it doesn't turn itself on whenever it wants |
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06-22-2021, 09:28 PM | #2672 | |
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I contacted John from BW and he is looking into my post and I have linked yours as well. Though its one of those fluke things both cars lost power steering after installing this reservoir, me with in minutes and never leaving the garage. Suspected that the BW reservoir was contaminated from manufacture. Again thanks for taking time out of your day to tell me your story. |
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06-22-2021, 10:09 PM | #2673 |
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the pedal assembly reinforcement is an interesting talking point. when i have my cage done, i'll have to get that addressed as well. if you still have it, could you post a pic of the damaged part?
i'm also curious when you get it reinforced if you're going to notice a difference with the restoration of rigidity to the area and if you can feel that through the pedal.
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06-22-2021, 10:32 PM | #2674 | |
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If you don’t mind, please report back here if you hear anything from BW. |
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06-22-2021, 10:34 PM | #2675 | |
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Someone mentioned to me it should feel more solid. We’ll see. |
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06-23-2021, 02:13 PM | #2676 |
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I'm digging the new tan interior!!!
Is the new brake pedal one of the wider ones? If so makes for a perfect time to start working on left foot braking - definitely more feasible with the wider pedal. |
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06-23-2021, 02:55 PM | #2677 | |
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The actual pedal assembly in the car now is still my original one. The support stuff above it was what we pulled form the other car. (we actually took the brake pedal too from the junkyard car, just in case it was needed.).
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06-23-2021, 03:40 PM | #2678 |
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Not a BMW but I'm aware of a local driver with a GT3rs who has broken his brake pedal off the car not once, but twice... So probably good you kept the spare part! You just never know lol
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06-24-2021, 01:46 AM | #2679 |
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"Cory said the reason the assembly broke was because after 10 years of doing leg presses on the brake pedal, the metal of the firewall was bowing out and stressing the top plastic assembly. He said we will have to weld something in to brace the assembly or it will break again."
Good lord, lmao - wow. Another stress point to take a look at in this car haha.
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06-24-2021, 01:49 AM | #2680 | |
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Every time I've forgotten to unplug it from the car I lose like 30% of battery life by the time I notice it didn't shut off. Since they didn't bother to bring a USB charger, if I don't have a garage with 110V socket I'm SOL to recharge it. So annoyed with it. Wouldn't have bought it if my OG DL battery wasn't caput.
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06-24-2021, 03:59 AM | #2681 | |
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I delivered the car to Cory on Monday. They are in the midst of sorting it out. If I understand correctly, they are going to fab something that connects to the cage for support.
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06-24-2021, 04:22 AM | #2682 | |
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After a session is done and it reports lap times, yeah---you cannot directly power off the unit. You need to hit the right-most button 3 times to get it out of those menus. Then you can press the power button to turn it off. I have that down to a reflex now-----press the right button 3 times and then the power button. My friend is an electrical engineer. He created a wiring setup for me that allows me to charge a Solo 2 DL with a USB battery pack. You need an AIM CAN harness and then there's some adapter he bought from Amazon that solders to the harness's 12v charging wires that allows you to connect to USB. So, I can charge my AIM with a USB charging pack. You could also buy a simple power inverter that plugs into a 12v port in your car or tow vehicle which gives you a standard wall plug so you can just plug in the standard wall charger. Of course, the car would have to be on for awhile in some capacity so it's not exactly ideal. But if you're totally stuck with a dead unit, you at least have a way to get the unit charged. I think the best solution is to have the 12v wires of the AIM CAN harness hooked up in the car so the unit charges while you're driving. If show up to the track with a fully charged unit, unplug the unit between drive sessions, and the unit charges while driving, at the end of the day, you'll leave with a unit that still has over 90% charge. And if you forget to unplug it, it's no big deal.
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06-24-2021, 03:24 PM | #2683 |
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Does the standard CAN harness charges the unit like the OBDII harness does?
Edit It says the can harness has also 12v input: The cable also includes power and ground leads to provide constant power to the SOLO (tip: find a 12v power source activated by your ignition switch, not constant 12v). So why is there a battery issue? |
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06-24-2021, 03:52 PM | #2684 |
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It's not a battery issue exactly. The battery is generically fine. The problem is that the AIM Solo 2 DL turns on ANY TIME it sniffs any CAN activity----even when the engine is off. So, you could return from a session, turn the engine off, turn off the unit, and then a couple minutes later, the unit will sniff some CAN activity and then turn itself on while you are away from the car. The unit will stay on for long periods of time which blasts the battery. You return to the car to drive 1-2 hours later and the unit has been on for most of that time......the battery is mostly drained at that point.
There is a feature/setting option on the AIM labeled "Wake from ECU". You'd think if you choose Disabled, that the unit would not turn on by itself.......but it does.....Maybe I should try Enabled......would be ridiculous if it didn't turn on then.....
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