"Well, there's your problem."

[Jenn]

We were having a little "smoke screen" problem at the last race weekend - transmission fluid leaking on the hot exhaust.

Pics for reference

So we took it all apart and what do we find? A tail shaft cracked 3/4 of the way around and nearly broken in two.

 

[Lt. Dan]

How the hell did you manage that?

 

[Antoine]

How the hell did you manage that?

(ohsnap!) OUCH!

Details on what caused it?

 

[Shadow102]

(ohsnap!) OUCH!

Details on what caused it?

Its a na rx7 trans...pretty much the reasoning right there.

 

[Jenn]

Its a na rx7 trans...pretty much the reasoning right there.

Pretty much.

It just kinda....broke. No advance warning, no reason. And it was a fresh rebuilt transmission that looked fine when it was assembled. Oh well! No biggie, took a tail shaft off one of the 5 transmissions we have in stock and put it on there. haha

Stupid NA tranny.

 

[Auto-Xer]

The upside was that there were far fewer mosquitos at the race this weekend.

 

[Jenn]

The upside was that there were far fewer mosquitos at the race this weekend.

(lol)

Man transmission fluid stinks. And burnt transmission fluid stinks 1000 times worse.

 

[EvilJen]

Wow! Good thing you had some spares, Jenn.

 

[Jenn]

I'm just thankful it didn't break completely in two while I was driving.

 

[GoFast]

holy cow! talk about lucky! imagine if some of that got under your tires mid corner....eeek! I remember from my motorcycle racing days a lapped rider was droping oil for some reason and as I came up behind him on turn one in fontana I hit that oil ad down i went!

 

[Blendercloud]

holy cow! talk about lucky! imagine if some of that got under your tires mid corner....eeek! I remember from my motorcycle racing days a lapped rider was droping oil for some reason and as I came up behind him on turn one in fontana I hit that oil ad down i went!

There's no greater feeling of "oh s***" then the feeling right as you break traction and begin to slide sideways on a bike.

Your RX-7 looks good. Better luck at the next event!

 

[GoFast]

There's no greater feeling of "oh s***" then the feeling right as you break traction and begin to slide sideways on a bike.

the worst feeling is that "oh s***" moment when you lose traction and then regain it almost instantly....and then high-side

 

[Blendercloud]

the worst feeling is that "oh s***" moment when you lose traction and then regain it almost instantly....and then high-side

Haha, I broke my wrist in a similar instance. I went from no traction to all traction on my Duc and the handgrip whipped me like a toddler.

 

[Jenn]

We run slicks on the race car, so when they break traction, they go quick, then they grip just as quick unpredictably. But when they work (most of the time), god are they sticky! They are actually tearing the car apart. Most cars that run slicks where we race have cracks all over their floors. We constantly need to weld up the cracks.

But yeah, lucky I didn't get that fluid under the tires, and lucky the transmission didn't break in two while I was driving. That would have been catastrophic!

Should be all fixed now. I'll likely do a double regional slalom event next weekend to test it and make sure it's not going to break before the next race weekend (July 19).

 

[Jenn]

Your RX-7 looks good. Better luck at the next event!

Thanks! I think it's a pretty decent knock-off of the old speedsource RX8 look. haha

 

[Blendercloud]

We run slicks on the race car, so when they break traction, they go quick, then they grip just as quick unpredictably. But when they work (most of the time), god are they sticky! They are actually tearing the car apart. Most cars that run slicks where we race have cracks all over their floors. We constantly need to weld up the cracks.

But yeah, lucky I didn't get that fluid under the tires, and lucky the transmission didn't break in two while I was driving. That would have been catastrophic!

Should be all fixed now. I'll likely do a double regional slalom event next weekend to test it and make sure it's not going to break before the next race weekend (July 19).

Still the original floorpan? I had to cut out and replace the floor in my drag car for similar reasons.

 

[Jenn]

Still the original floorpan? I had to cut out and replace the floor in my drag car for similar reasons.

Yep original floor pan, only slightly modified to fit a flat-floor mounted seat on the driver's side. We just keep welding it.

We race with a number of '70's era cars (Datsuns, Ford Cortina) and their floors are WAY worse.

 

[starscream2k1]

Curious, why wouldnt you run a RX7-T2 tranny? Should be way more bulked up then the N/A counterpart no?

 

[Shadow102]

Curious, why wouldnt you run a RX7-T2 tranny? Should be way more bulked up then the N/A counterpart no?

Probably because it doesn't have the interchangability of the type-II trans (turbo has a type-III trans) and because she would have to change the flywheel,clutch,slave cylinder, and driveshaft at the least. Rear end and cv axles as well if she didn't use a custom driveshaft.

 

[Jenn]

Probably because it doesn't have the interchangability of the type-II trans (turbo has a type-III trans) and because she would have to change the flywheel,clutch,slave cylinder, and driveshaft at the least. Rear end and cv axles as well if she didn't use a custom driveshaft.

You're right.

And we have a nice lightweight alum. flywheel and nearly brand new racing clutch. Those are the main reasons why -- I have a turbo II tranny and the other stuff to do it, I believe (on a parts car), but yeah....pain in the ass, and would have to buy a new clutch and flywheel.