Eagle Race Car! 81 SX4 Project

[blk-majik]

Long time no see, fellow nesters  I posted an intro last Winter, but I can't find the posts, so I'll start again. If anyone gets a feeling of deja-vu, that would be why

I'm a motor sports enthusiast from the DC/MD/VA metro area. While I'm only 30, my family has owned AMCs and Jeeps as long as I can remember. The first car I was ever in was an 1978 Spirit AMC was long gone by the time I was able to drive, so I missed the fun for the most part.

I'm an amateur racing driver and auto mechanic hobbiest. I compete in drag racing, road course racing, auto cross and karting. My daily driver and track car is a 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X GSR. It's an AWD turbo 4cyl with about 345whp, 7500 RPM redline, and weighing in around 3600lbs. While its a blast to drive, it's not quite the world's most affordable racing platform, especially when things go wrong. Here's an example of what I mean 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFF8kPAn-eI

Anyway, about the Eagle... There's a couple nation-wide racing series that exist solely to let people have fun competing on the track without the richest guy always winning. One is called Chump Car (a word-play on the Champ Car (now Indy Car) racing series). The other is The 24 Hours of Lemons. No, not LeMans, the racing series for posh rich french turds... Lemons. It's a joke, so please don't get your panties in a bunch about the name. The cars might be cheap, but they're anything but lemons! They're legit race-prepped production cars that just happen to be cheap.

In both series, the basic rules go like this:
Cars must be worth less than $500 PERIOD - excluding cost of safety-related stuff for obvious reasons.
 - if a car is valued over $500, the team gets 1 penalty lap for every $1 over budget... all based off judges estimates
Races are held on paved race tracks, like VIR, NJMSP, Leguna Seca, CMP, Infineon, and Eagles Canyon 
Races last anywhere from 16 - 24 hours
Teams can have 3 to 6 drivers
The team who's car finishes the most laps wins - promotes good racing
The team who the judge's expected to do horribly, but actually does relatively well, also wins - promotes innovation and creativity
The team who just brings the coolest car also wins - promotes some pretty crazy themed cars 

So this winter I got a half dozen friends interested in starting a team to participate in low-buck racing. The obvious boring car choices were thrown around -- Miatas, Civics, 325i's, Mustangs, etc. Boring, done, and frowned upon due to their over-use and lack of creativity. I REALLY wanted something made by AMC, and when I found a SX4 on craigslist just a few hours away, everyone was in love with the idea! Even though the seller was asking double our budget, and it had some obvious problems, we figured we could negotiate the price and deal with the Gremlins (hehe)

The car wasn't in as good of shape as the seller suggested. The body and frame were great for our needs, and that's whats really important. It took about 10 minutes to get the thing to start up. None of the accessories really worked other than the heat and mirror adjusters. For a 30 year old car, I can't really complain, but a heads up with some of the bugs would have been nice, especially on a test drive in the rain at night. Things like windshield wipers would have been nice. And headlights. And brakes No wonder the seller just tossed us the keys and didn't want to ride along! Either way, it was enough for us to easily get the car for $700. Score!

It's a 3-speed automatic with the 258 motor. I think its all pretty much stock. The engine would sputter around the middle of the power band for a sec, then pick back up again. The trans would hardly shift. We got some work to do!

Here's some pictures of the car as it was when we picked it up









We trailered the car to Chadd's house, mainly because he had a garage, and got to work. We had a buddy who used to be an SAE-certified mechanic back when this car was new come over and take a look at the engine. It was only running on 5 cylinders and the vacuum line mess was... a mess A few hours later he cut out most of the emissions junk, got the 6th cyl back up, and tuned the carb to smooth out the revs! so far so good!

I got to work gutting the interior to prep for the roll cage. Here's the results:





Anyway, real-life hit and the project got delayed. Chadd got married... and tore his ACL. And his MCL. Kris got deployed to Afghanistan again. Jeremy was just too busy with the racing season. I was tied up buying a house. Long story short, nothing got done during the Spring/Summer.

To be continued...

[blk-majik]

As I mentioned, the car ended up sitting about all Spring/Summer. And I ended up buying a house... with a big garage This weekend, I took over the responsibility of housing the car. Between late Winter and now, the engine stopped firing   I can't guarantee that no one's messed with it, but supposedly it hasn't been touched. Last work done on it: trans and rear diff fluid changes (which both failed... don't use the rubber pre-made gaskets! RTV ftw)

A bit of background: the battery died and needed trickled-charged to recover. With a jump, at first the car would try to crank, but would never turn over. I thought maybe it was a frozen accessory, but after about at least a dozen short attempts (<30 sec), it finally started trying to crank and the belt was spinning freely. However, it still never fired up!

I've tested the plugs with my handy spark tester and all signs indicate that it's not an ignition problem. I haven't pulled the plugs yet, but since they were working fine before, I doubt they got fouled or gapped just sitting there.

I then disconnected the fuel return line from the fuel filter, cranked it while giving a bit of gas. I ended up with a bottle full of gas. It's not a fuel supply issue.

It's getting fuel. It's getting spark. It's cranking. But it's not firing. Carb cleaner didn't help. I have no idea how to adjust the carb to play with the choke. This is my first project with a carburetor Any suggestions on what to try next?

[shaggimo]

Welcome back! First off, have you tried dumping a little gas down its throat to see if it will fire? When you rotate the throttle, does fuel spray into the carb? If not, disconnect the fuel line where it screws into the the fitting on the carb, then remove that fitting, that is where your needle is, it may be stuck closed (assuming you already have tried the fuel filter).

[blk-majik]

Thanks shaggimo! I poured maybe a tablespoon of fuel down the throat as you suggested, and it fired right up... but only for a couple seconds I'll take the needle out and check it out this afternoon. Wish me luck!

Any solvants or cleaners that should be safe to help in cleaning up the pin the carb assembly?

[shaggimo]

Carb cleaner is best, needle sounds like your problem though if the fuel down the throat worked to fire it. Best bet pick up a rebuild kit for the carb at napa, they're less than $20, or better still find an upgraded carb to get rid of that carter.

[GRONK]

blk-majik - email me: [email protected] and maybe we can work something out as far as the upgraded carb/ignition is concerned.  I'm a bartering fool and have the turn-key kits that will drop on and run awesome. 

[shaggimo]

  There ya go blkmajik, that's your man to talk to, lol.

[MudPuppy]

Not to sound like a Negative Nancy or anything... but out of curiosity, what did you do with all of the interior?
Anything (interior, exterior or what-ever) that you don't need you could post on here and possibly sell. It could help out at least a few people. 

[jim]

Is this the event where entrants can vote to have a car crushed?

[Sunny]

What is your plans for the motor? Just out of curiosity. Maybe total lap wise, but an Eagle won't come close to winning a speed race without any serious modifications.

[eaglefreek]

What is your plans for the motor? Just out of curiosity. Maybe total lap wise, but an Eagle won't come close to winning a speed race without any serious modifications.

Actually, alot of guys run stock 4 cyl vehicles. It's more of an endurance race.



Man, I wish I would have seen this when you originally got the SX4. I would have traded you a running 90 Mustang LX 5.0. Good luck with the project.

[blk-majik]

Not to sound like a Negative Nancy or anything... but out of curiosity, what did you do with all of the interior?
Anything (interior, exterior or what-ever) that you don't need you could post on here and possibly sell. It could help out at least a few people.  

I still have it all. I'll put it up for sale sometime later. I'm still using the seats and dash, but the rest is just taking up space. If anyone wants it and can pick it up near DC, let me know. Otherwise, I don't have the time to package it for shipping atm.

Is this the event where entrants can vote to have a car crushed?

No, not at all in Chump Car. In Lemons, teams can vote for the "People's Curse" award winner, which goes to the team they most dislike. The award is only actually ever given if over 50% of the teams ALL voted for the same 'winner'. IE, one team was so horrible that everyone hates them more than anyone else. Even then, it's still very rare for their 'prize' to seriously damage the car. That's only reserved for situations where the team is made of up huge jerks (ie, getting into a physical altercation in the pits), overly aggressive such that they've  caused other cars to be damaged, or unsafe to the point where they have caused someone to get injured. In those cases.. yea, screw those guys! But usually when it get awarded at all, its because the team is a bunch of noobs who never raced and just cause all sorts of innocent problems. They usually get a dump truck full of manure on their cabin or something, then are forced to continue racing like that

It's more a self-regulating mechanism to make sure racers are safe and use proper race craft than anything else. Anything damaging has only been given to over-used cars that everyone's sick of seeing people bring (E30's, Miatas, Mustangs, etc). Everyone there's a car lover and would be sick to see a rare car get damaged just for show. Hardly anyone ever brings anything made by AMC to these races, and when they do, they're usually treated like heros Even if they're HORRIBLE drivers (we're not), their car won't be destroyed.

What is your plans for the motor? Just out of curiosity. Maybe total lap wise, but an Eagle won't come close to winning a speed race without any serious modifications.

For now, the plan is as such:
1. Get the motor running
2. Head out on the highway
3. Look for adventure (or whatever comes my way)
4. Be wild

Seriously, all the cars are worth $500 or less. The ones that are competitive are usually given so many penalty laps for being over budget that they can't possibly win. One of the most successful teams this season is Team Petty Cash, who've been racing a Petty-Blue #43 Jeep Cherokee XJ with a 4.0.  They recently dyno'd and put down 123hp in a huge Jeep and are still kicking butt! I think we stand a good chance if we can keep the car on track. Here's a video of them doing their thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr-VDLY7P4U

If we kill the engine, we're allowed to spend some more cash getting it running again. Depending on how things play out, I'd either like to do a 4.0 head swap with a Motorcraft 2050 carb. Or maybe just a full EFI 4.0 engine swap. That's a long way off, so we'll see For now, I'm more worried about the auto trans holding up for 24 hours

[blk-majik]

I'm still having a hard time getting this thing to start.

I've removed the hardline that goes between the carb and the fuel filter. I've run the line to a bottle and cranked it, and the bottle filled up with fuel. So there's defiantly fuel getting to the carb.

I put a plug tester on all the plugs and they're all getting power. They worked before, so I have no reason to think they've fowled while sitting for a few months.

I then removed the insert that the fuel hard-line screws into. It had a small pin, which didn't appear to be stuck. I think that's what shaggimo was referring to. It didn't seem to be stuck, but I took it out and clean the needle and fitting anyway. Still no luck

What should I try next?

[Eagleearl]

Is the choke butterfly,on top of the carb, closing all the way when the engine is cold and the accelerator pushed? If not the choke control is not working properly.  Have someone hold the choke shut with a screwdriver or some thing and try starting. If it fires and makes vaccum the choke pulloff should open the choke 3/16" to 1/4" and then the choke control should slowly open the choke as the engine warms up. Check for vaccum hoses that are disconnected or cracked causing a vaccum leak. Pumping the accelerator petal should pump gas into the intake and get the engine to fire even with a vaccum leak.

[shaggimo]

Sounds like you need to pull the carb and rebuild, it's probably gummed up. Especially since if you dump a little fuel down it's throat it fires, but wont when it's line fed. When you rotate the throttle, look down into the carb (don't try to start), do you see fuel spray from the nozzles as you rotate the throttle lever? If not you may have a bad or weak accelerator pump, a rebuild kit supplies a new one, or at least new seals and spring for the current.