Porsche 944 spec racer

Rough idle, hard to rev = vacuum leak

I started my car today but it was very rough at idle and after revving, the RPMs would drop in to the 700s and it sounded like it would almost stall. There was a 'putting' at the exhaust also. It didn't really want to rev up either. The car shook more than normal when revving.

The problem appears to have been a vacuum leak. If you look at this shot of the engine bay (not my car).

My problem was the band for the point A was loose. I tightened it and then everything went back to normal. The band was actually very loose so it's something to check for from now on when prepping the engine.

The google search page that showed me what was wrong is here.

iRacing AMD x4 620 rig up and going

All the pieces came today so it's all working now.

• AMD x4 620 quad core CPU
• ASUS Motherboard
• Palit 1GB DDR5 GT240 graphics card
• 4 GB DDR2-1066 RAM
• 1TB SATA hard drive
• DVD Burner
• 500W Power supply
• Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
• Logitech G27 wheel/pedals
• Gamer Racer Pro seat
• 32" LCD 720p (1280x800) via HDMI

Excluding the display, it's 600 for the computer, 240 for the wheel and 400 for the cockpit. So, the whole thing was about 1300 which isn't bad. It's cheap track time compared with driving the race car.

I'm getting about 100fps driving the game so I'm happy with that. My iMac was about 80fps driving 1920x1200.

Just tried it with my 47" 1080p LCD set and I got around 70fps @ 1920x1080. I turned shadows off and it jumps to 130fps. Easy trade off for a much higher frame rate. I think at 1280x800, I'd get over 200fps now, enough for a triple monitor setup at that resolution.

Bought an iRacing dedicated PC for sim racing

I just ordered a PC from newegg in part form. It's an AMD x4 CPU, 4GB RAM, an NVIDIA GT240 graphics card, 500W power supply, case, 1Tb hard drive. Total cost less PSU and hard drive was 470 bucks. It'll arrive Monday maybe so I'll put it all together then. The plan is to use it with my 55" rear projection set which I bought 7 years ago. It should display 1280 x 720 and on a 55" wide screen that should pretty cool.

Game Racer Cockpit arrives for iRacing

My game racer pro arrived today by Fedex. It took about 30 minutes to put together, all the tools are provided with the box except for the 6mm wrench for the bolts for the pedal box. This is what it looks like assembled:

The Logitech G27 fits on pretty easily. The wheel attaches to a plate which I needed to reverse to be able to use the G27 desk clamps.

 

The G27 pedal box bolts to their plate which makes it very solid.

 The bolts also allow some sliding to the left or right so that you can left or right foot brake depending on your style. Once bolted on then the pedal box isn't going anywhere.

The shifter mounts on a sub frame but could be better. The subframe isn't tight in the seat sub frame (where it's pushed in to) so it does wiggle left and right.

The seat is fine and I don't think it's worth spending anything more on a better seat. I was thinking of mounting my Recaro racing seat on it but it's not worth it, the stock seat is fine.

It comes with two plastic cylinders to keep the pedal box from scratching the floor but they don't provide anything for the sub frame under the seat. I'm using an off cut square piece of wood laminate to stop if scratching the hardwood in the house.

Thats it for now, I'll post an update on playing with it once I get more seat time in it.

 

Practising using iRacing over the winter

Cheapest track time there is. Drive on a computer. I use iRacing for computer sims. I have a Logitech G27 and a 24" iMac that runs Windows XP in boot camp. I just ordered a gameracer.us cockpit which should help as racing in a normal chair/desk isn't ideal as the position is all wrong. I race a Pontiac Solstice mostly but am hoping to get a class C license at the end of Dec so I can start racing a formula car or something nicer than a solstice.

Replacing the crank pulse sensors (944 606 115 00)

My crank pulse sensors are cracking and rotten so it's time for new ones. I just ordered them from Lindsey Racing for 74 bucks each which is half the normal price. Their ones are not genuine Porsche but they will work just fine, I trust Lindsey. The part # is 944 606 115 00

Getting ready for the 2010 season, battery cables first

Now with the 2009 season over, I'm starting to prep the car for the 2010 season. First thing on the block is to replace the battery cables. The original cables are decayed and the insulation was rotting off. The cables go from the battery, through the firewall and then across to the driver side behind the engine. The negative cable is attached to the block along with another connection using a 6mm hex bolt. The positive cable continues on and then below the block to the starter solenoid.

Removing the positive cable is easy. Unbolt the connection on the solenoid and then pull the cable up. Next, pull it through the firewall and then remove from the car. The negative is harder. There isn't a lot of room where it's attached to the block. I used a 4 inch extension and a rachet to do it but be careful to tape the flywheel inspection hole first. If anything drops in to that then it's a ton of work (i.e. drop the tranny tunnel and the clutch etc to remove it).

I bought replacement cables at Advanced Auto parts. A 36 inch negative cable and a 78 inch positive cable. Installing the 35 inch cable is very difficult. The allen bolt to attach it to the block is in a very confined space. My wife ended up doing up, smaller hands helps. Again, BLOCK UP THE FLY WHEEL INSPECTION hole.

 

While doing this, I noticed my fly wheel sensor cables were starting to come apart also. The plastic was brittle and had broken so thats the next job.

Given the heat exposure on these cables, I used DEI heat shield tubing around the battery cables to help with this so the current cables last. I'm currently waiting for two more 3ft sections of heat shield for the positive cable to arrive and then I'll do the positive side, I'm expecting that to be a lot easier than the negative.

This is what the negative replacement looks like installed. You can see the heat shielding. The new positive cable (red) is installed but no heat shielding yet.