On our initial TSF run we had our transmission temperature warning light come on a few times. We moved the sensor from the inlet to the outlet of the cooler, feeling it was tripping prematurely. While testing at Sandlake, the light was on pretty much full time while running in the sand. The transmission seemed to still be shifting fine, but it was an issue we'd need to look into more closely.
That meant, out with the trans. Winton tore apart the transmission inspecting all the pieces as he went. Inside we found a sprag beginning to come apart, some worn clutches, and a few bad bearings. This was a newly assembled trans too, so it was pretty clear something wasn't right. Was it still working, yes. Would it have survived KOH, doubtful.
Winton took this time to rebuild the TH400, and also put together a spare using upgraded bearings, clutches, and shafts.
Transmission parts covered all flat surfaces of the shop for the past two weeks. :laugh:
Ryan took this time to get started on our final project for the car, the flat belly skid. Made from .156 Hardox plate. I'll get some better pictures when it's finalized, but he did a great job in getting it to fit.
Tig'd a bung into the pan, and we'll now be running a gauge for trans temp.
Once we had the transmission put back together, we hoisted it back into the car using another Winton creation. The crane made such easy work of fitting the trans and Atlas into place. We had the both bolted into place in a half hour. While sometimes it can be a pain to work on things on the car, it was built with serviceability in mind.
The four of us put in a lot of hours this weekend trying to button everything up. We finished the trans rebuild and install, down sized our brake master cylinder size, bleed the brakes, rebuilt our rear axle side bump stop pads, roughed in the belly pan, and tackled numerous small projects on the car.
With the weather cooperating, we headed to TSF for a few hours today for a final test day... in the rocks.
The car did great. The new transmission seemed to run fine. We never were able to get it above 180, which was reassuring to see. We'll definitely need some more seat time with the car in the rocks. It's a different animal in the rocks, especially from my jalopy where I'm use to 10.3:1 and crawling.
These Ultra4 cars just aren't built for technical crawling. Imagine 450hp, 14" of suspension with bypass shocks, high stall, running 20+psi in the tires, and you're strapped in with a HANS device and window nets. I found today that you definitely need to pick your lines ahead of time. Remember those lines when your on them, and keep your momentum through the rocks. The suspension will handle a faster pace. I'm excited to get the buggy out on the Hammer trails.
No major issues came up with today's run, which made all the work we put in this weekend really pay off. We got two weeks left, and it will be spent buttoning up the small projects, prepping the car, and packing.
