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Snake Bite XLR-V

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RATTLER Snake Bite XLR-V

Well had a scare this weekend. Was on my way to autocross on Sunday, got behind a slower car on I-70, went to pass and as the passing gear kicked in the blower spun up super fast. There was a loud thud and then P0014/P0024 and the exhaust cams were out of sync with the Crank. The motor rattled and shook and sounded like a hoopty without a muffler. Power went way down and oil pressure dropped to 10PSI. I thought I blew the heads of the motor. Had it towed to the dealership, told them what I did, and what happen and left it to them.

Dealership said the crank bolt had backed out and caused the low oil pressure. The low oil pressure caused the cam position system to malfunction, etc, etc, etc. The MasterTech who works on my car there said this is also seen on the ZR1 Corvettes where the threads on the crankbolt get stretched so GM redesigned the bolt and that's what he put into my motor.

Moral of the story: I have renamed this mod from Snake Bite to Rattler (Must be a Diamondback cause this ain't been cheap
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). This is the third time I've had bolts walk out of their seats since I installed this supercharger. The SC and the gears rattle so much the car wants to disintegrate. I don't feel it from my seat of the pants meter, but I know its there. I will be checking the bolts everywhere on at least a monthly basis from now on.
 
Glad to hear all is good. had a similar experience on one of my Cobra's. Went to pass someone, floored it, and heard a loud thud and loss of power. Limped to the side of the road to find the blower belt shreded, hit the hood (thud) and loss of power from the blower not turning. Thought I had shot a rod out!
 
Appearance mods

Not specifically performance mods but I finally have my engine cover cut, glassed, and painted. Cheap cellphone pics:
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I wanted the covers to hide the sides of the motor but only extend up to the intake runners. Looks much better in person. Now I have to put about 10 coat of wax on them and then install the emblems. Whew, I think I'll take a break tomorrow and enjoy the Indy 500 (got paddock box seats this year).

Oh yeah, Bob, I also finished my rear chrome wire mesh grille. It turned out great. Just what I wanted to achieve. It, too, needs about 10 coats of wax, but it'll wait till next week.
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Just what crank bolt are you talking about ? Crankshaft main bearing cap bolt? Conecting rod bolt ? Harmonic ballencor bolt ? Thank you , TED
 
Just what crank bolt are you talking about ? Crankshaft main bearing cap bolt? Conecting rod bolt ? Harmonic ballencor bolt ? Thank you , TED

I believe its the one on the Harmonic Balancer.

As I got back into town returning from the Indy 500, I was passed by a brand new vette with an identical rear fascia as the one I just made. So much for originality.
 
Been a while since I last posted. Not much going into mods been traveling mostly. Tracked the car twice, so had to replace tires again. :rolleyes:

Computer is in, joystick is in. Data logging has begun (can't read IAT2, yet.:squint: ) Computer mod not done completely. I still have to add my HDRadio and get rid of a slight RFI problem. Didn't know there was so much heat transferred to the rollbars. Computer temp is too high so need to add some ventilation.

After another 4000 miles, I finally got around to gutting the cats. My local muffler shop opened the bottom half of the cats and pulled all the guts out, then welded the bottoms back on. Looks clean, no leaks, and breathes much better.

Sound is more hollow, not as deep like before - I can tell the exhaust flows faster (went from 60s muscle car to ferrari). Exhaust does smell, but I'm moving too fast to smell it most of the time. Downshifts are SICK - whole lotta rumble.:lildevil: Unfortunately, until I find out why my exhaust ports aren't closing it has a bad drone, pitch is a little higher, unnoticeable to casual bystander. So need Corsas now. Inside is pretty much the same, throttle's just more responsive (like I ever thought that could happen). Outside is definitely a different note. Startup is loud as hell, then 10 seconds to calm idle (sweet rumble), WOT is ridiculous - its louder on both ends, intake and exhaust! :cool:

As soon as someone figures out how to reduce IAT2 it'll be time for a retune.
 
Mod hell continues...

Took a quick vacation to Florida for the CTS-V Shootout at Palm Beach International Raceway. The group rented the track for the whole day 9-4. 20 Cadillacs showed up, 16 ready to race. One guy drove down from Milwaukee and took his snow tires off to put on his Drag Radials.:rocker: Watching the CTS-V guys drag race all day really got to me. Totally stock 2010 V2 sedan had the nerve to run a 12.07 on drag radials. Super modified 2009 V2 sedan ran 10.43 without using his 300 shot nitrous (just imagine what nitrous would do). By the afternoon, they goaded me into running Elwood. My best time after three runs was 12.873 @110.5 with a 2.134 60ft time. Road tires and gradual throttle input kept my 60ft times pretty high and I still lost traction in the first to second shift. But I digress....

The Florida trip was to drop off Elwood for cooling mods. A Super Chiller is being added to the supercharger intercooler line and meth injection is being added to the intakes. Hopefully, with these two mods IAT and IAT2 temps can be reduced enough to add more timing and finally achieve my goal RWHP.

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The Super Chiller is basically an interface between the AC and intercooler coolant that chills the intercooler coolant to ~50 degrees. The simplest description of a Super Chiller is that it makes cold water. There is no way a water to air heat exchanger is going to make 50 deg water when its 95 deg out. With coolant refrigerated to low 50s the intercooler will be as efficient as possible. The version being installed is competition style, i.e., comes with a switch that disables cockpit AC for max intercooler chilling. I figured this best because I rarely use the AC anyway, there's no reason for me to freeze just to get the blower chilled. Below is the freon/water heat exchanger. Mine is the bigger one on the left. The one on the right is for GTO and Camaro applications.
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Methanol is primarily for the increase in effective octane rating as well as cooling the air inlet charge. The Stage 3 Boost Cooler® chosen is one of the best for accuracy and adjustability in water-methanol injection systems. This system features an LCD display with on-the-fly adjustability. The software creates a delivery map based on boost or EFI signal from just a few easy to set points you punch in from the drivers seat. I like this one because the LCD Screen displays boost pressure, fuel injector duty cycle, as well as water-methanol injection percent. Since the XLR has no boost gauge, this alleviates my having to get a gauge stack like Bob's. Quick, easy, positive adjustments are made with 2 push buttons. Low profile design allows for easy-to-view and discrete mounting inside the instrument cluster just above the DIC.

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As usual, we already run into a few snags. Since there is no intercooler coolant tank, we've had to go with a larger freon/water heat exchanger. The larger exchanger barely fits in front of the wheel well after we had to move the transmission cooler to the front of the radiator. The Meth kit will use the windshield wiper fluid tank so the headlight washer pump and hoses had to be disabled/removed and that line out of the tank now feeds the injector pump.

In moving the transmission cooler, my mechanic found the transmission fluid was, well, lets just say drag racing burnt the life out it. Now I'm looking for a bigger trans cooler and the trans fluid needs to be flushed.

Once these mods are done, we'll dyno it against the current cruising tune to log ICWT, IAT, and IAT2 so I'm comfortable to drive it home. Then Wait4Me will dyno tune it again to dial in the meth and get all the horsepower available.

I just hope I'm lucky enough to get this accomplished in a couple weeks so I can join the MM gang at Sebring and then stay the next week to see the Team Cadillac racing in the Streets of St Pete.
 
Hello 2013!

Another year has come and gone and Elwood is still alive and kicking. Been a while since I updated this thread so let's recap 2012.

MODS:
Super Chiller and Meth injection - Both of these mods were done to add additional cooling to air intake charge. I knew it was needed, but until I tried tuning it didn't know exactly why, now I do. This was done not so much to add power, but to keep the HP consistent. Cooling didn't necessarily get me more power but kept the PCM from pulling timing at the top end when the heated SC air exceeded 125*. I like my meth system because it can be tuned for gas mileage, cooling, or power which makes it quite versatile. And even running it for mileage, I only burn a gallon of 50/50 water meth per tank - not a big deal. On previous dyno runs, the IAT2 often rose over 160*. Here is the reservoir we made before it was insulated and a good picture of Elwood without the bumper cover and trim.
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You can see the Super Chiller(red arrow), relocated Meziere Pump(blue arrow) and relocated stock transmission cooler (green arrow). With this setup all the hoses and lines laid out very well. I just silver soldered steel tubing to existing Trans cooler lines to extend them to new location. The Active InterChiller works as advertised, so far. 78* ambient cruised 20 miles at 70MPH -IC water temp was 127*. Turned chiller on same trip, same speed - IC water temp 44*. Can't wait to start adding timing back in! Did some data logging on the 1100mile trip home. Without the chiller cruising at 84 the modified pump and intercooler surprised me. With no chiller, IC water temp stayed right around 114* (lots of air coming in at that speed). Interestingly, the Active Interchiller at that speed only got the IC water temp down to around 69*. Hmmm. Maybe that was because it wasn't in competition mode (forgot to flip the switch). As soon as I slow down under 50MPH, ICW drops to 41-47* in traffic. When chiller has run for 30 minutes or so and turned off, temps rise back to normal about 30 minutes later. The extra tank makes a big difference. The water in it is cold, the tank is cold, the line to the SC is cold - so they all take a while to warm up. Works great, Dave. Good job on the storage tank.
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My Meth is triggered on by both EFI pulse and SC boost pressure. I buy the small bottles of "gas line antifreeze" at a discount (.49 cents for 10 oz) and mix with -20 wiper fluid to get 50/50. Ends up being cheaper than buying 5 gallon bottles, easier to transport, and allows me to change the mix at each fill-up. When running LSR, I run 110 Octane and 100% meth; meth comes in 100% at 6lbs of boost.
On the street, meth trickles in at 1800 RPM for cooling and increased mileage, increases to 50% at 6lbs of boost; and 100% at 3500RPM or 12lbs boost whichever comes first.

Other mods accomplished:
  • Gutted cats
  • Modified exhaust
  • 55w 8000K Fogs
  • Custom Hood liner
  • Updated engine covers
  • Added custom chrome cap covers
  • Install Z06 Wheels
  • Updated CarPC
  • HP Tuner Dyno Tune
 
2012 TRIPS:
New Years Eve - New Orleans. PJ wanted to go someplace new and there was a decent break in the weather so we took Elwood to the gulf for New Years.

CTS-V Shootout - PBIR Florida. Went down to Palm Beach the weekend of the CTS_V Shootout to watch the mayhem.
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Unfortunately, there was none. Manny called me the eternal optimist; many said I was waiting for a ghost; but patiently I waited. Then just as I was packing up my car to call it a night, Jesse had just enough time before the track closed for just one pass and my camera sucks at nitetime videos. Took ELWOOD to Tampa the next day to start on cooling mods (Super Chiller and Meth Injection). Looking to cool the motor by 40 degrees and adding in enough timing to hit 575RWHP. I did give in to the tempation and ran an unimpressive 12.872 @ 110.5MPH 2.134 60ft cause I refused to launch it hard. I need to get that 60ft down. I eased into it till 2nd, then floored it. Track prep was outstanding. 1st to 2nd chirped but dug in. My shift point are way off for drag racing and 255/18 street tires didn't help. The fastest CTS-V ran 10.4 @ 135. You knew it was a good run just watching him launch!

2/10-12 - Chicago Auto Show Meet — Snow, hell no! Elwood stayed home. Hitched a ride and was glad I did. First day we go straight to the Cadillac display... and I got kidnapped. Jenna from Marketing grabbed me and took me to a reception line of GM bigwigs cause I wanted them to get me in touch with their liscencing folks.
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Jenna was nice enough to introduce me to some marketing executives that were interested in CF and some events I'm involved in this year. Real nice, real personable, real knowledgeable. I just hope she wasn't annoyed that I was more interested in the car than her.

3/25-28 - Texas Mile. I like to look knowedgeable when I attend an event and the easiest way I know to do that is get a preview before you show up to the dance. I hopped a jet down to San Antonio to "preview" this event before taking Elwood down for the October event. These guys make it look easy. From the drivers and crews to the event staff, this was a well run machine. Over the three days Fri-Sun) most drivers got to run as many times as they wanted (11-15 passes, from the few I talked to). There was only two accidents all weekend (both Huyabusas, both at over 200MPH). Of course, a Huyabusu set the motorcycle track record, I believe it was 248. A lot of bikes broke 200, hell one was clocked at the half mile point at 202MPH. But, I wasn't here for bikes.


4/14 - Jesse retune - made more HP up thru 5000RPM then everything went haywire. Two or three culprits identified. Tires slipping on the rollers also possible. Tune not updated.

4/21 - Checked off another track today - Gateway MotorSports Complex. Porsche club has their HPDE this weekend, so I took ELWOOD for a some laps around the track. GMP allows road racers on turns 3 and 4 of the NASCAR oval then it ducks down inside the oval for some S-curves and a couple late axis turns and a hairpin. Elwood did great, really like all the torque available almost instantly coming out of the corners.

4/27 - Arrived safely and in one piece for the inaugural ECTA Wilmington Mile event. A little cool in Wilmington Ohio. Forecast call for some showers. Prelim tech inspection = 135MPH . Full tech inspection for 150MPH was supposed to be next morning but no joy. For this trip to the ECTA Wilmington Mile I got screwed. I was shocked at how much the nose lifts at full throttle. Note to self: mount the camera higher. For one pass, I rolled into the accelerator slowly. 50% at the 1/2 shift, 75% at the 2/3 shift, then mashed it. I got out of it at the 1/2 mile point, started braking and at 3/4 mile set the cruise control at 135. I think my speedo is off a little or the cruise control isn't so steady at 135.
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5/12 - Indy "V" Meet. Great meet. PJ loved it, didn't buy more than the trunk can hold, and enjoyed the weather. A special thanks to Chad for helping me out with replacing my engine emblems.


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5/17 - Elwood passed emission test today, time for more mods! MOAR Powr!



5/17, 6/16 - St. Louis Area Cars and Coffee Meet



5/20 - AutoCross - STLSCCA had a hard time determining what class my car should run with. I have to run in SSM with the modded Vettes and Lotus. Thank God this isn't a competition otherwise I'd have to buy lighter wheels, Hoosier tires, and huge swaybars. We (STLSolo.org) only got 6 runs today and the last was a bonus run no one expected. My times sucked, but I beat my Corvette rival a few times just cause he was collecting cones in the slow slalom. Fun time, I just gotta get more aggressive with the throttle and brake.

5/28 - 2012 Gumball 3000 Rally NYC-LA. No I was not a participant, they just passed through St Louis with a checkpoint at the Gateway Arch. They were supposed to start arriving at 2PM so I decided to get there early and get a good parking spot. WRONG! They were already there when I pulled in at 1230PM.
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6/1 - Detroit Grand Prix - The Detroit race is just the first one close to many Midwesterners. I haven't been to the Belle Ilse racing circuit in a decade (I think it was at a Formula One race) so I wouldn't know how it compares to Mid-Ohio. First day had to drive through the mud to the Cadillac Corral. I'm on the Power Tour, too, but was there to see the races on Friday (with the HRPT corral) and Saturday (with the Caddy V corral). Wasn't around for the races on Sunday.
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We were treated like royalty by the Cadillac personnel. We were greeted when we exited our car in the corral, then escorted to the registration tent where a beautiful continental breakfast awaited, then led to the Cadillac display with several new models and racing simulators were placed, and finally given a tour of the paddock where the two cars of Pilgrim's and O'Connell's were being readied to race and Don (the Cadillac "tour guide") showed us the two cars and answered our questions. I got to drive a parade lap in company car! Then Gordy handed me the keys and said, "You drive, you're dressed for it." I was elated! The car had 12 miles on it, even Gordy commented on the new car smell.One of these days the kind and freindly folks at Cadillac Racing and Cadillac Performance driving are going to figure out I'm a performance addict and cut me off cold turkey. But until then, I'm gonna drive the tires off their cars.
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For those that were there, everyone saw me in my fire suit (a close replica of last year's Team Cadillac design). I usually only wear it when racing ELWOOD, but took this advantage to get it signed by Andy and Johnny. True to form, neither even flinched and just signed it. Thanks guys, I'll wear it proudly.
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6/2 - Hot Rod Power Tour - Drove a few miles of the tracks at GM Proving grounds.
Where else can you cruise 1000 miles of backroads across the country with 3000 of your closest friends ready to help you with any problems you may encounter along the way. A car show in a different city every afternoon for a week. Some venues have drag racing or autocross or road courses, etc. And gearheads everywhere you turn!
Well, now that all the venues have been announced, I'm not that enthusiastic as I was last year. Last year, many stops had some sort of racing thrill - from driving your personal car a lap around Indy, to drag racing, to track runs, to autocross. This year the only track is Gateway and that's right here 10 miles from me. I'm kinda stuck. One Cadillac incident to report - a CTS-V wagon was autocrossing in Muskegon and blew his side curtain airbags. Luckily, it was covered by his warranty. The three long haul XLRs only got together once or twice on the trip so this is the best I could do to capture the moment.
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My traveling caravan consisted of 4 vettes, 4 mustangs, one firebird, and two black XLR-Vs.
I begged off drag racing in St Louis, but did road course it at Hallett Motor Speedway in OK.
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I had three different reps from Optima pleading with me to compete in the Optima Challenge in Arlington, TX. I had to pass. I was just too tired from the Hot Rod Power Tour to be able to concentrate enough to be competitive. I had to replace my intercooler pump on Friday after racing Thursday on the Hallett Motor Speedway in Oklahoma. My rear tires are shot and I still had 600+ miles to get home. I stayed in Dallas a couple extra days to take care of some personal business. I didn't know till I got home that I had just escaped the massive hailstorm there by only a few hours. Phew! That was close. On the way home I crossed another milestone of sorts, 80,000 on the odometer.

8/2 - Camaro5 Meet - Indy
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Three days work the week prior. Washed, Stripped wax, claybar whole car, polish and polish again, then wax, wait, and buff; next day cleaned, polished and treated the interior. I was whipped! Too damn tired to take pics. Thank God I only do this once a year. Getting ready for Camaro5 in Indy on Friday and Mid-Ohio Saturday and Sunday.

8/4 - Mid-Ohio - This is a really fun race weekend. Plenty of racing & great friends to hang out with. There were 3 Cadillacs racing @ Mid-Ohio this weekend, Jordan Taylor was driving the 3rd car!
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Once again we had our own infield parking corral for the XLRs, "Camp Toffolo". 7 XLRs in all. And believe it or not Johnny OConnell, lead CTS-VR driver, parked his personal CTS-V with us instead of the Cadillac Corral. He was back and forth to our area from the pits when not racing for autograph sessions and interviews, etc. Our spot was perfect for him so he parked there everyday and then joined us at the end of the day to chat and hang out.
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I got my Cadillac Corral invitation. Pricing was great and they made a special effort to include CTS-V, XLR-V, and XLR. Some of the benefits of this package include water, juice and softdrinks all weekend; the hospitality suite is equipped with TV coverage of the track all day; and the drivers will be available for Q&A/autographs. (they also had both a breakfast and lunch buffet for us at Detroit) What A Great Location! Best setup all year! The Cadillac VIP pavilion is an elevated deck with covering. Great food, great view, and the even brought us Track Radios so we can listen to the team. Even better day today! Got to drive a parade lap before the race. If the weekend of racing wasn't enough, we got to see the debut of the new SRT Viper in the ALMS GT class. Can't wait to see how the new Viper does against Corvette, BMW & Porsche.
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8/14 - I don't know what it is with bearings and pumps this year. I've had to replace 6 wheel bearings this year and both my intercooler pump and my meth injection pump. I'm not racing that much or that hard, so what's up with that! Thank God they're all under warranty or this would be getting expensive.
Getting my meth pump out was a pain in the ass today. I still don't know why it quit. I didn't think I let it run dry and now I know I didn't because I have two low fluid warning sensors and they're both working - annoying as hell, there's no way I would have missed either. The pump is tucked just far enough into the fender, I thought I might have to remove the whole fender to get to all four mounting bolts. Alas, it didn't come to that...1/8 turn at a time with a tiny 8mm open-end wrench - it only took two hours.
I always wondered how much fluid the wiper reservoir held. Once the pump was out, I drained it into a bowl for reclamation (Meth ain't cheap!) Question answered - 2 gallons. Is it just me or is that a LARGE reservoir for windshield wiper fluid? I had to empty my bowl four times and wasted half a bowl during the transitions.

Carmel Artomobilia - 25 Aug 2012
Artomobilia is an invitation only event hosted by their Arts and Design District to celebrate automotive art & design. And I was invited as part of the Midwest Marauders XLR Club. Our club tour director has been working for two years to get us into this event. And in his words, "two years to get invited and just 5 hrs. to get us asked not to come back."
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We had the largest car corral @ the show & I know we had the most fun. I won the "People's Choice" award, but Marc & Cubby sure worked hard for every vote (including giving a beer or CR shots for each vote for #8 ).
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It was a great weekend! Old friends, new friends, good times. I got to meet some new (to me) folks that were great to hang out with, too. From what I could tell PJ and the Birthday girls had a blast.
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9/13-16 - Corvette FunFest a.k.a. Bobfest 2012
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MidAmerica Motorworks (a large Corvette/VW aftermarket parts dealer) puts on a large (hundreds of Corvettes) show every September in Central Illinois (Effingham). Bob (one of the famous MM's - Midwest Marauders) lives just north (Mattoon) and has worked very hard to get the XLR's accepted at Funfest. Years of work and persistance has paid off and for the last several years, the XLR's have been nicely represented at Funfest (about a dozen the last couple of years now). After a fun day at Funfest, showing off our beautiful cars, Bob has had us over to his place for some partying - complete with fireworks, cannon demonstrations, etc... It is THE party of parties and Bob and Paula are wonderful hosts. We use Bob's place as a staging area before caravaning down to Effingham and show up in force. I know we're a rowdy bunch, but Bob and Paula put on such a great party - you can't help but have an Fun time. 5AM said hopefully next year she won't have a cold and will sing more. She's looking forward to singing a few duets with Dave. Cubby may have to bring the handcuffs to get her to share the mike. I had a ball! And even found time to get Will Cooksey to sign my hat, book, racing suit, and re-sign my engine cover. He didn't know we came out again this year and couldn't get a kart to come visit with us like last year, but wanted everyone to know he said hi.


10/10 - Ran ELWOOD to 160+ on the Dyno to blow out all the carbon. 3 Pulls: first was super dirty, second brought the white smoke, third was clean with no meth left over and 19lbs of boost (Gotta get a Gates SC belt). Full race tune's gonna take a week, can't wait. NEW SHOES on ELWOOD. Also finished Fire Extinguisher mount fabrication.

10/25-28 - October Texas Mile - we had 3 XLRs (only 2 racing) and an RV and rental car. We had 7 cars in our pit area surrounding the Caddy Shack RV. Then there were three other groups of Caddys spread out throughout the paddock. Steve and I made our final runs Saturday afternoon. Steve's best time was 154.6 My best time was 159.5 Then on my 160+ run I spun the supercharger pulley off the snout at 18lbs of boost. The CTS-V crews had 2 cars over 190. The bulk of them were between 178 and 189. Did I mention, the worlds fastest street legal XLR-V in the standing mile was Elwood. (let's see if D3 shows up next time Sorry couldn't resist it. Set the Texas Mile Record for street legal XLR at 159.5. Got the Race Director to sign off my log book to document the record. Paperwork will be forwarded to ECTA and SCTA for certification and the world records updated.
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The aftermath of my last run of the weekend. Notice I set the supercharger pulley on top of the supercharger. The Gates belt lived up to its reputation - it never broke. I had to cut it to get it from behind the supercharger pulley.Then the pulley came off. Unfortunately, it WAS a 7-rib belt - by the time I got it back to the pits all the ribs had melted off and were embedded in the power steering and tensioner pulleys.
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11/28 - Thanksgiving on the Ponderosa (Bee Bayou) I'll be "driving miss daisy" (read: Mom) to our homestead in Louisiana so she can visit with 4 of her sisters. Elwood is already in winter storage and I have to rent a full-size car to carry all her luggage, gifts, supplies, etc., etc., etc., kitchen sink, etc.
 
WOW!!! What a year! Looking back at it now I can't believe I did all that. Man I had a great time. Too bad this year will be an off year for me, my racing, and tours. I'll probably not do any LSR racing unless one of my records is broken. The long trips and long distance events are out for now. Gonna stay close to home, probably concentrate on Autocross and Track days at Gateway Motorsports Park. Hopefully, by fall I'll go ahead and attend a couple Car Shows.

Elwood started 2013 at Steigemeier Porting getting a new supercharger snout with a "Venom Cooler", and of all things a pinned Jaguar pulley to reduce the boost. The supercharger shell was rebuffed to a brighter finish. And the engine compartment cleaned up a little more.

Since I said I'd be running the full SCCA Solo (autocross) season, my mods this year are clearly different. Picked up a set of OEM C5 5poke wheels (18x9.5), a set of 265/35/18 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires, ZR1 front sway, Z51 rear sway, and am looking for a set of Z06 springs. I'm hoping this combination will let me be competitive with the (2) C6 Z06s, RX-8, Turbo S2000, and Turbo Miata in my class. Having installed the above parts in various times during the season, I am currently the Championship points leader for my Class. Hopefully with the springs and a little suspension tuning I can stay there for the next 6 races.

But then there's always a wrench thrown into my plans. A set of headers came up for sale on eBay at a ridiculously low price that I couldn't pass up. So I'm in the process of ceramic coating them and will install next month.

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WOW!!! What a year! Looking back at it now I can't believe I did all that. Man I had a great time. Too bad this year will be an off year for me, my racing, and tours. I'll probably not do any LSR racing unless one of my records is broken. The long trips and long distance events are out for now. Gonna stay close to home, probably concentrate on Autocross and Track days at Gateway Motorsports Park. Hopefully, by fall I'll go ahead and attend a couple Car Shows.

Elwood started 2013 at Steigemeier Porting getting a new supercharger snout with a "Venom Cooler", and of all things a pinned Jaguar pulley to reduce the boost. The supercharger shell was rebuffed to a brighter finish. And the engine compartment cleaned up a little more.

Since I said I'd be running the full SCCA Solo (autocross) season, my mods this year are clearly different. Picked up a set of OEM C5 5poke wheels (18x9.5), a set of 265/35/18 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires, ZR1 front sway, Z51 rear sway, and am looking for a set of Z06 springs. I'm hoping this combination will let me be competitive with the (2) C6 Z06s, RX-8, Turbo S2000, and Turbo Miata in my class. Having installed the above parts in various times during the season, I am currently the Championship points leader for my Class. Hopefully with the springs and a little suspension tuning I can stay there for the next 6 races.

But then there's always a wrench thrown into my plans. A set of headers came up for sale on eBay at a ridiculously low price that I couldn't pass up. So I'm in the process of ceramic coating them and will install next month.

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Holy crap, Giz...when did you have time to relax!! I got tired just reading about your past year...
 
SAME HERE!:wave:
 
Enjoyed reading your thread. You must be the eternal optimist with unlimited energy! Hat is off to you, Sir.
 
Suspension mods almost complete. Installed the ZR1/Z51 sways two weeks ago and today installed the Z06 front spring and HardBar lowering bolts I got at Bloomington Gold. Now I just need to get back under there and lower the rear.

Before:


After:
 
And no that spot on the street is not from ELWOOD. It came from my 96 Eldorado blowing out a brake line. I knew I shouldn't have parked it on a hill in Crestwood. As soon as I shifted from Park to Drive, the pedal went to the floor. 35 tense miles later, I slid it into that spot till I could get the parts to replace the brake line. All good now, but the spot remains as a reminder to me that older cars wear stuff out.( Or is it just me :confused:)
 
Tweaked the suspension some more this week. Yesterday, I put the race tires on and did a little testing on the road course at Gateway Motorsports Park. All I can say is WOW! The difference is night and day. Once the tires warmed up, I gained 15-20 MPH in the corners before the front tires started squealing and the rear was firmly planted on the pavement. I need to relearn my transitions because the steering is so tight, just thinking about turning and I'm half way there. I haven't posted pics of the race setup because I think it look like crap (tiny tires on wide wheels, no chrome, no dressing) - it just looks odd, but it works.


To recap, all this was done because my rear tires were breaking loose when autocross racing. The primary fix for this was to add more balance to the suspension components and add sticky tires. We'll see this weekend if the human side of this equation can keep up with the car mods. Unfortunately, the weather forecast this weekend calls for spot showers all weekend.
 
Did ya get the headers on yet?
 

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