Green '79 900 EMS

[Geoff]

Drew, Thats a REALLY NICE CAR. I've owned a few of these early cars, but had forgotten some of the neat car dvd players details. I really like the hood release lever and I forgot all about the bracing pieces in the front fenders. Were they pop riveted in?

That looks like a fascinating car. I would love to have one soon

[firedome]

PMs sent... she'd look good in VT!

[DrewP]

Took the EMS to another Rallycross in San Bernardino this weekend. It was run at Glen Helen Raceway which is a big motocross track that's on the national circuit I believe.

The RX was actually run on the trophy truck track in the stadium, so there were LOTS of crazy elevation changes and small jumps, two decent size tabletops.

I was catching some air at least on the front wheels going over two of them and was setting decent times. I didn't get a good photo of the track, because I suffered the high-RPM-induced jackshaft failure on my 5th run of 6 and waited around 2 run groups to get towed off till I could even look at it, then a few more hours waiting for a tow truck.

All in all a very fun weekend. I'll throw up links to my GoPro videos once I get them processed. I can honestly say I think this was the most fun I have ever had in a car, and that's saying something....

There were two guys there with me from the LA Saab club in 9-3 Sport Sedans. One guy previously owned an STi and knew how to drive, and ended up 3rd in the Stock 2wd class, very fun weekend.

[SwedeSport]

Sux that you broke it.

They must run their rules a little looser out there. I was at RX Safety Steward training on Saturday and they stressed how they do not want cars to be airborne or to exceed 60 in a straight. They told us at the first airborne incident, you get warned, and the second time you get asked to leave.

I personally like the airtime, but rules are rules.

[DrewP]

This event is always run in the dirt parking lot outside the stadium. The organizers said they were notified by the track that they'd be on the trophy truck course on Friday morning before the event. They tried to place slalom and chicane turns right before or on top of the elevated areas to slow things as much as possible, but there was only so much to be done.

I did the whole thing in 1st (except for a short section of the first run I shifted to 2nd, but getting back into 1st is such a bear that I didn't do that again) so was topping out at like... 36 or 38mph....



Exterior shot: http://youtu.be/k3JwBnOIThs

Hood shot: http://youtu.be/kCNWYsB7P8M

Rear hatch: http://youtu.be/ewJkVWQNZPE (airborne slightly at 0:18 and 0:23 and 0:29)

Inside: http://youtu.be/h9-mlD3kUMQ

Inside, and jackshaft breaks and engine shuts off: http://youtu.be/1Dk23ONpKzI

[RadioFlyer]

You broke it? Awwwww man! I've got that '79 parts car down at the junkyard still if you need anything. Might not be able to go down for a couple more weeks tho.

[SwedeSport]

The chicanes do seem to be working well to control the speed over the jumps. The bigger issue I see in the video is the few spots where if you plow off the corner, you could go off the side of the tabletops.

[DrewP]

It's possible it's there for the same reason as mine, broken jackshaft / water pump shaft, etc.

If it's still there, in order to get the jackshaft out you have to pull the engine to get the timing cover off, and it slides out towards the back of the car. Pull intake, distributor, water pump and pull pump shaft out, crank pulley, timing cover, then pull the jackshaft out.

I wouldn't impose that kind of work on you unless you, especially since someone else might be interested in the whole powertrain assembly.

If you didn't already grab the gearbox (and you can spin the wheels freely and it shifts into all the gears OK) you should do that. It'll be one of the last 4-speeds with the strong chillcast main case.

[DrewP]

The chicanes do seem to be working well to control the speed over the jumps. The bigger issue I see in the video is the few spots where if you plow off the corner, you could go off the side of the tabletops.

And into the concrete barriers....

Nobody did, but there were definitely a few spots that could have been trouble because you couldn't see what was over the crest until you were already at it.

Was fun as hell though.

[SwedeSport]

Im only picking on the course because of the Safety Steward training course.

They set up a poorly designed course with lots of dangerous situations, and made us point out the safety issues.

We discussed ways to rearrange the course to make it safer.

[DrewP]

Totally get it. I'm nutty about that stuff too. This was actually an SCCA event, so I was a little surprised myself.

[SwedeSport]

Considering Im gonna be trying to lure people that I consider friends to events with my name on them, I certainly want them to all walk away having had a good time, and driving home in an undamaged vehicle.

Even though the SCCA provides me with legal counsel in the event of a mishap, I still would not want it on my conscience.

Most of the unsafe scenarios can be remediated by some careful thought and simply moving around some orange cones.

[Jordan]

That looks like a hell of a lot more fun than the crap they have around here.

[DrewP]

Got a present from the postal service today - box full of jackshaft / water pump / dizzy gears!

[SwedeSport]

Nice.

Greasy gold!