Race day results

Author: ViolentCrumble

Sep 1

I’ve wanted to put Violent Crumble down the track for a long time now, and after five attempts to go this year (all of which rained out), tonight was the night.

I’d bragged to my friends, I’d compared dyno figures on cars, weights and estimates, and I KNEW I would be the fastest of us. Hell, I had a feeling in the back of my mind, that I’d be one of the quicker street registered cars on the track tonight.

Unfortunately, that’s not the way things turned out.
According to my friends, I was still quicker than 75% of everything that raced, but I was certainly nowhere near as fast as I should have been.

The culprit? The gearbox. I’ve been warned over and over by pretty-much every workshop that has worked on the car that I shouldn’t race with the standard gearbox because I’ll break it, and so I did.

My run times in order:
13.369@92.44mph (148.77kph) Hit the brakes and slowed down at around 1000 foot.
13.139@96.11mph (154.67kph) Hit the brakes and slowed down at around 1000 foot.
13.131@108.46mph (174.56kph) Stayed on the accelerator the entire run.

I retired after the third run, as there was close to no acceleration in fourth gear, and there was a huge metallic rattling noise in both third and fourth gears.

Congratulations go to Pete who ran a 12.5, and Adam with a 12.8.
Thanks to all the friends who came out to see me race: Adam, Emily, Liam, Meredyth, Travis.
A special thanks to Shannon for being both my crew person, and the talent behind the video camera.

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: drag race, ford, gearbox, Performance and Mechanical, Turbo, XR6

New brakes for the beast

Author: Striker

Feb 16

Last weekend, Nick picked up the car from my work, and fitted the new brakes.

I now have RDA slotted rotors, and Bendix Ultimate brake pads fitted to the front. The brake fluid was flushed, too, as the old stuff was looking a bit murky.

Right from the get-go I noticed a little ‘bite’ when applying the brakes, as opposed to the dull results the previous set-up had. It’s now a couple of days later, and while I haven’t had the chance to test the brakes properly (it’s been pissing rain all week), they do seem a lot more responsive than previous.

I’m looking forward to being able to test them properly.

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: bendix, bendix ultimates, brakes, Turbo, ultimates, XR6

XR6 results

Author: Striker

Sep 3

I’ve had the car back for around two weeks now, so it’s probably time I did some out-loud thinking about it.

The initial issues had me pretty worried. The coolant leak was a complete non-event, thanks mainly to Mark sourcing and fitting a new thermostat housing for me while I was at work.

The flex plate was a slightly bigger problem, and involved a tow-truck. It was fixed same-day, and since the car has come back, it’s been great to drive.

I’m surprised that the fuel economy is so good. I’m well on track to getting 450k out of the tank. The best I’d got out of it previously is 420k. I figure that on the highways, the improvement would be more noticeable.

Performance seems to be as expected for what’s been done, but hasn’t really been tested. It has a wicked exhaust note, though.

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: economy, exhaust, exhaust note, flex plate, performance, tow-truck, Turbo, XR6

Another car breakdown

Author: Striker

Aug 18

Well, the XR6 had been gone for around four weeks when i picked it up on Friday just gone.

Ten minutes after I picked it up, I had a rupture in the cooling system, a problem that my friend Mark fixed for me on Sunday, while I was at work.

To be safe, I brought the car back to CV, to get them to check it out, and to finish the exhaust.
Car came back Tuesday afternoon, with a pass and a lovely exhaust note.
Tuesday evening, I broke it again. All reports currently point to a broken flex plate (kind of like a flywheel in an automatic).

How badly is it damaged? I’m not sure yet. The tow truck will be here at 10am tomorrow, to pick the car up.

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: broken, damaged, exhaust, flex plate, tow, tow-truck, truck, Turbo, XR6

XR6 – Progress?

Author: Striker

Aug 13

I phoned CV Performance again around midday Thursday, and my turbo had just arrived.

The plan was to put some of the guys on assembly for the car until late-night, and call in an extra guy for Today (being that it’s 1:30am Friday..).

With any luck, the car should be finished around 4pm. I’ve got my fingers crossed. I really don’t want another weekend without it.

It’s now been four weeks since I’ve seen my car, and the longer it goes on, the emptier I feel.
Not even the promise of good performance seems to be cheering me up at the moment, even though everyone says once I put the foot down on the accelerator, everything will just wash away, and I’ll be as happy as a pig in the proverbial.

Work tomorrow until 2pm, then I phone the workshop, see if the car will be done.

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: intercooler, performance, Turbo, work, workshop, XR6

Turbo problems – more delays

Author: Striker

Jul 28

The turbocharger arrived at CV Performance this morning, and I spoke to Con on the phone not long afterwards, but there was something wrong with it, so it has now been sent back.

I haven’t been informed of what the issue is exactly, but I’m assuming that the stuff-up was when it was sent for waste-gate porting. It makes the most sense to me.

The down side to all of this is that my car has now been gone for a week and a half, and I have no idea when it will be finished.

The up side? CV Performance discovered the issue with the turbo, and have sent it back to get resolved, and I’m not going to have a dodgy turbo fitted to my car.

CV Performance do take their time with their jobs, and honestly, I like it.
When the car has been there, they have always been very informative when I’ve shown up, or when I’ve phoned them about what stage the car is at, what the hold-ups are, and what needs to happen next.

Knowing that the car will be done right is very important to me, and CV Performance truly do leave me with the feeling that they are spending sufficient time checking that everything will be in good working order.

On another note, over the time I’ve been driving the Corolla that I’ve borrowed from Bas I’ve put more air in the tyres, topped up the oil slightly, and topped up the water in the radiator and reservoir.
It’s considerably less noisy now, and it feels much more stable at 100kph on the motorway.
At some point, I’m hoping to have a quick look at the power steering, it’s a bit on the noisy side.

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: Bas, Con, corolla, CV, CV Performance, oil, power steering, problems, Turbo, turbo delays

Hyundai i30

Author: Striker

Jun 29

For the last week I’ve been driving dad’s Hyundai i30 turbo diesel around, and while it’s pretty boring to drive, it’s a nice car.

The car feels solid and well constructed all round, no flappy plastic-ey bits.

Performance is as can be expected from a diesel, boring, but it’s very fuel efficient, and on a shade under three quarters of a tank, I drove more than 500 kilometres. Dad says he regularly gets around 650-750 kilometres around town.

The suspension was firm, but not sporty. Cornering did not feel at all boat-like.

All up, if you’re looking for a cheap runabout that’s fantastic on fuel, this is a good car to consider.

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Filed under: Driving Blog | Tagged as: cheap, common-rail, diesel, fuel economy, hyundai, i30, road-test, Turbo

XR6 Maintenance schedule

Author: Striker

Jun 7

Having just got the car through rego with nothing more than two rear tyres, I considered myself fairly lucky.

The car is developing a few nigglies, but nothing serious. Driver’s power window is slow. Bonnet release catch falls down. Warping of the material around the shifter.

It’s servicing time, and I’m not happy with the guy at the local service station who last serviced my car, so I’m going to somewhere that does it properly.

Today I stopped by CV Performance, and discussed a maintenance schedule with them.

First work is in two weeks, and consists mainly of a full service.
All filters (including fuel) will be replaced.
Also, the oil feed line to the turbo will be replaced. This is a very common problem in the BA XR6 Turbo, and if the car lives past 100,000 kilometres on the clock without the turbo self destructing, you’re a lucky man.
(I’m a lucky man.. Let’s hope the luck lasts another two weeks)

After the big service/maintenance stop, who knows where we’ll go next

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Filed under: Violent Crumble | Tagged as: CV Performance, falcon, ford, modification, service, Turbo, XR6

Car registration time

Author: Striker

Jun 3

For the last two days, I’d noticed that the car had started pulling to the left slightly. Very un-usual, given this car drives absolutely perfectly.

Last night, as I came out of Cats (the musical), I noticed that the left rear tyre was almost flat. I stopped in at a BP to fill it, and heard the distinct sound of an air leak.

This morning when I got up, I found the tyre flat again, so I drove to the nearest service station (200 metres or so?), filled it, and drove straight to Bridgestone.

I had a bit of a discussion with the Bridgestone guys about my enthusiastic driving style, and it was decided that they would fit their highest performance tyres, the Bridgestone Adrenaline.

My choices were:
235/45/17 – $249 each.
245/40/17 – $395 each.

I took the cheaper option.

The tyres that came off the car also Bridgestone Adrenalines (completely bald), and anyone that’s spoken to me about these tyres knows that I don’t think much of them in the wet, but I was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. They were on the car when I bought them, and I treated them with utter contempt.

After the tyres were fitted, the car passed it’s rego inspection with flying colours (I didn’t have any doubt that it would, I try to keep it in decent condition).

What do I make of Bridgestone’s top high-performance tyre so far?
In wet weather, it’s fucking useless.
The car does feel a little more stuck to the road around corners, but as soon as I hit the accelerator, it’s all over.

These tyres simply do not have the wet weather grip to put the power (or any power, really) to the ground.

If I drive like grandpa, they’re just like any other tyre, I guess, but that’s not exactly credit. From a standing start, if I try for anything more than light acceleration, they spin.
If I get rolling, and ease on the power, as soon as the boost comes on, they also start to spin.

I really hope that the dry weather performance makes up for what they lack in the wet.

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Filed under: Driving Blog, Violent Crumble | Tagged as: adrenaline, Bridgestone, car, registration, Turbo, tyres, wheels, XR6, XR6 Turbo