Well... it's the day after, and the car is still alive... no wheels fell off and nothing caught on fire!
Friday evening was hectic to say the least... Finally got to drive it for the first time at 11.30pm! Clutch and brakes were spot on right from the get-go. Drove it around the parking lot a bit... Noticed a sharp clunking sound in the rear end which turned out to be the subframe mounts being completely loose! Doh! Back on the hoist to finish it up... Do a nut and bolt check, a quick eyeball alignment, pitched that garbage Fram oil filter and drained the oil. At this point its about Midnight, and knowing the car drove without any major issue, I wasn't going to give up making it to the track in the morning so a quick phone call later, I had Richard and Don drive up to the shop to give me a hand with finishing the car. They helped with all the little things like the seatbelt, trunk latches, and other odds and ends while I focused on changing my brake system hardware I bought earlier in the day, getting the the hubs tightened to the correct values, etc etc. Ended up staying up until 3am to finish it!
When I finally got to drive it Saturday morning, I drove it up and down the length of the skidpad a few times, to test the brakes out and feel the car out. I noticed a few of the brake line fittings (mostly the T connections) seeping a bit, so I gave them a snug and all was well. I finally got enough confidence after lunch to take it on track. That lasted about a lap and a half before it started to sputter and eventually die (on track to make matters worse). Turns out it ran out of gas.
So much for that full tank of fuel that was in it before winter! Back in the paddock I filled it up to the brim and waited for the next session. With the car running okay for 2 laps I started to rev it higher and go a bit faster, when within half a lap something started to get loud like a gear noise... so I figured something in the driveline was seizing up so I parked it immediately and waited for the session to finish so I could drive it off slowly.
So all in all, a few teething problems, but overall I'd say it was successful. Not sure what the gear noise problem is yet, especially since it only is making the noise when at speed... sounds fine at parking lot speeds. It should be easier to pinpoint when I drain the oils out of the driveline components and take a look on the hoist.
Thanks to Richard and Don for coming by to help me cobble the car together the night before, also to my buddy Desmond for letting me borrow his X5 on such short notice (BTW, that 4.6IS is badass
) and obviously I can't forget my Dad who helped so much the few days before to get this car rolling for Saturday!
Totally forgot to take pics from Friday/Saturday at the track, so here's two pics from when I got home after the DDT. Still in one piece, and able to move under it's own power
1989 325 IX Touring 
Linear Mode
