cautionary tale for the 914 racers here, vid gets a bit long waiting for the tow truck but worth a view Options

[byndbad914]

check out my channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/byndbad914?feature=mhee

The latest track day adventure. Had a couple friends out and was going to split the first session of the day giving them both a quick ride while I warmed up the tires... turns out to not be the case but also get to learn a new lesson.

[byndbad914]

naro - I have a Mendeola S5 (Sequential 5spd) transaxle with a simple cable shifter setup. I had a S4 (4 spd) before and it would miss shifts all the time, especially on downshifts, and I split the case nearly in half slamming 2nd on a downshift (the bellhousing and rear cover were holding it together) after only 15 hours on the track. I about died. I shipped it to Mendeola and then flew out there to watch it being rebuilt and they told me I had to swap to a 5spd which they assured me I didn't need when I bought the S4, but alas it has less dog teeth so it shifts better at high rpm. Now I have to admit it has never missed an upshift and shifts like butter, but I have had it miss downshifts a couple times still, so that is still a bit of a bummer. You have to just smash the shifter and go, but on downshifts, I am still a little gun shy given my previous issue when downshifting (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

When it is working tho' it is a thing of beauty!

mugs - yeah, the torque is way up there. My wrench will go over 150 ft-lbs but I just always make sure it clicks there. My 1/2" impact is pretty harsh on the highest setting and I have the line pressure at around 100 psi which is consistent since I am the only guy on the line. In 8 yrs of seriously messing with the car I have never had it loosen up. So I got used to not being worried to check them. Instead, I typically only mess with them when I pull the stub axles out when I go through and re-grease the CVs each year. Last year, early in the year, I put new bearings in there and re-greased the CVs and that would be the last time I torqued them or checked them.

So I put the video out there for others to see that the symptoms of that nut loosening up are like, because for me, it mimic'd the symptom of having too much rear brake bite. If anybody is tracking their car and the rear is skating under braking, it may not be the brakes! Just go in right away and verify the wheels are tight on the car first, then if they are, consider the brakes. Oh yeah, forgot, I had to pump the brakes a couple times to get pedal on the last lap and that was when I pointed I was going to go in - I was so baffled at that point as new pads wouldn't cause that problem of course. It was really because the pads were being knocked back by the flopping rotor.

And what seemed like a clutch slippage issue was really my LSD clutches freaking out when I stopped putting power to one wheel altogether because the stub was loose enough to back out the splines.