Install went smoothly.  After contacting the local NAPA and being questioned as to what a “strap wrench” is, the decision was made to instead make a quick run to Sears for some trusty Craftsman Strap Wrenches.

Back at the shop the new plates were installed on the KW’s.  Torqued the plates down (26ft/lbs) and went to install.  Only at this point did I realize I was inadvertently holding the strut backwards when installing the plates and therefore they were on the wrong sides.  A quick disassembly/reassembly later they were all set to be put in.

From here on out it was a breeze, didn’t even need to detach the sways.  Got everything mounted back up, and was finally able to get rid of the Eibach camber bolts up front.

Note:  While the camber bolts worked great, and stood up to some pretty rough abuse (including some unnecessarily high curbing around Blackhawk Farms) without ever slipping on me, their interference with pulling off my front calipers is an issue I’ll be happy to not have to deal with again.

Now just waiting on the Alignment Guru to stop by and get us sorted!

The site is a little behind, but only because priority one is racing!  The site will be updated on a regular basis (as long as the car doesn’t take all our time)

Please stay tuned as we figure out this new fangled intranetz.  Thanks for stopping by, and we hope to see you again…soon!

~Foxey Bob

I love going to tracks where the GPS quits working miles away from the track!  That’s exactly what BHF was – about 3 miles off the beaten path, down in a converted swamp.  Other than the mutant mosquitoes, the facilities at the track were great!  Fuel always open on site, instead of having to wait for 10 min intervals ever hour like at some tracks, and brand new shower and restroom facilites.

This event was a little more challenging as I was all alone, with no support or crew.  Once again I pulled in after dark, got my waivers signed and started looking for a spot to park and unload.  Fortunately I found Jason B, Ryan and Peg already settled in for the night, and there was a spot right next to them.  So I unloaded quick, got things lined up for the morning, and promptly went to bed.

Saturday I woke up to great weather, and was ready to get to it for the day!  Had my drivers meeting first thing, and right after took a few slow (35mph) laps around the track just to get a feel for the layout, as it was my first time there. I really liked the layout of the track, and it was in pretty good shape – besides turn 1 and turn x.  Those two turns were terribly wash boarded, with the ruts right in the middle of the track, so they were more or less impossible to avoid.

The first few sessions were great, and I was getting faster and faster.  With the addition of the more aggressive new pads, I was hoping the rotors would essentially be resurfaced but unfortunately they didn’t change much, and I still had a pretty bad shimmy from the front right.  Other than that, everything else was working out quite well – until another gasket blew on me!  This time I was prepared, and had new gaskets available, as well as the (obviously completely under rated) ultra copper.  I got under the car and just assumed it was the passenger side manifold to head gasket (as it was the drivers side that had gone out last time) and quickly dropped the manifold, applied the ultra copper and thought I was ready to go.  At that point I saw it was actually the manifold to up pipe gasket, which thankfully I had a replacement for.  I got everything all back together, and while I was under I redid a little routing of the brake ducts, and was ready to be back in action.  I finished in enough time to enjoy a leisurely lunch and was back on track for the first afternoon session.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, thought I was still having some issue with turn XX.  I just couldn’t seem to get it quite right to get the best line through.

I really developed a rhythm through the carousel and the turns leading up to turn XX.  I liked going through the carousel because I could keep my steering input consistent and control turn XX entry completely with the throttle.  It was great feeling everything just sort of come together right there, then blasting through turn XX.

All in all, what  a great track, and I had a blast.  The weekend ended a little early for me, as we were met with torrential rain mid afternoon Sunday  With standing water on the track, the Sti was all over the place, and while I was getting the wet line down, the car just wasn’t set up for tsuch extreme wet.   So I packed her up, tried to dry myself off as best as possible, and it was back on the road to get home to Iowa.

Preparation for BIR was minimal.  New oil and a brake fluid flush were about all that was in order.  New tire’s were ordered and it was decided to go with the newer Bridgestone RE-11’s.  We can’t be any more positive about this tire – it worked flawlessly, keeping the Foxey Bob’s Sti on track with some cars running R-Comps.

BIR was about an eight hour drive from the Foxey Bob’s Garage in Coralville.  After a half day of work on Friday, the Foxey Bobs’ crew ducked their 9-5 and were on the road.  They pulled in around dusk, unloaded the trailer, and the decision was made to forgo the hotel room and camp in the trailer.  What seemed like a great money saving idea, turned into a bit of a nightmare as that warm day turned into a freezing night.  Well, it’s good the crew is a close and very secure bunch, as there was some close proximity sleeping done that night as no one thought it was going to get that cold!  Needless to say, Saturday night a trip to walmart was made for some new sleeping bags to better handle that extreme Minnesota summer cold.

Saturday started very well, the track was quick, and mostly uneventful.  Then the rain came, and it was bad, bad.  The winds were up enough that a grandstand blew over onto the pace car (which was a rental vehicle to boot)!  At this point I don’t know if it was the mix of being hot, and getting wet, but another exhaust gasket blew out.  This time it was the drivers side manifold to head.  It was lucky we stopped as it was blowing hot gases all over the place, and even melted a hole in our timing belt cover.  With only a NAPA available, a trip was made for some gasket material, and once again they were less than friendly and helpful. They sold us a sheet of gasket maker, which was a steel impregnated cork or something – with their only help being “it says in the description that’s what to use it for.”  With such overwhelming confidence, a tube of Permatex Ultra Copper was also purchased, and it was back to the track.

The gasket material was ruled out, and the ultra copper was used instead. The manifold was put back on, and it was back to the track after missing only one session.

The rest of the day was wet, but the Bridgestone’s performed up to expectations, and the lines of the sti were getting better and better.  Brian reported that he was still having a few driving issues he needed to improve on.  One of them being drifting away from the outside of the track in the brake zones, and the other big one was being able to look ahead.  While he knows he needs to be looking toward the next obstacle, instead of the immediate one – he feels he needs to pay attention to what is at hand to make sure he is hitting his proper marks – such as the proper turn in point, apex, etc.  When looking ahead, issues such as drifting away from the turn in point and not hitting the correct apex begins.  He realizes his errors, and looks forward to improving upon them over the year.

Unfortunately it almost wasn’t, but as it turns out a few strokes of bad luck may have really been the saving grace of the Foxey Bobs Sti.

Final prep started at the beginning of the week prior to the event.  While most was going smoothly, by the end of the week things were just getting back  together.  Thursday night before the event it was someone’s bright idea to test fit some different wheels.  Well the now five year old wheel studs in the rear decided to fail, and the late night frantics began.  Of course it was about nine that evening, so there wasn’t much to be done.  With the Foxey Bob’s crew still needing to put in a day of work at their daily 9-5 on Friday, things got TIGHT after the 3:30 clock out.  Needless to say, workable studs were found and promptly multiple installed in the rear.  With the rear wheels back on, attention was turned to the fronts and as the last lug goes on – it strips!  Of course all the extras studs had been used up.  This could have been the final nail in the “this isn’t going to happen this weekend coffin” but a delivery driver was commissioned, and with new studs on the way the crew was playing the waiting game.  While waiting for new studs, it was discovered the clips for the brake pad retaining rods were left off the front!  What surely would never have been found without the stud failures, was quickly resolved.  A few more new studs later, and the STi was loaded up, and it was off to get to St. Louis before the sun came up.  Oh, and of course the brakes were bedded on the way down!

Rolling off about 4 hours of sleep and a rockstar or two Brian took the ten minute journey  from the hotel in Illinois,  to the track in St. Louis.  With the sun coming up on a beautiful Saturday morning, He found himself at the track, teched, and ready to run.

While the day got off slow start, things got up to speed quickly.

For those that have never been, Gateway was run as a roval, using half the nascar track, and then the infield.

Gateway Satellite Image

As this was Brians first time back on track in a few years, Saturday was a day taken a little slowly (there’s a lot of concrete around this track!) But things were going well, and He was getting faster by the end of the day, but how long could all this last?  The answer was until the last run of the day.  The Sti  was low on fuel, with no full fuel cans left – but it was thought he should have enough to finish off the event.  Well, he did, but unfortunately had a backfire blow out an exhaust gasket.  He spent the rest of that Saturday evening hunting through the local parts store’s gasket bins.  The STi was fixed in the Hampton Inn parking lot , and things were good to go, at least for another day.

Sunday was another good day.  Brian was pushing the STi harder, but was really over working the poor tires.  The STi was sporting older Azeni 615′s and while they were holding up better than expected, they were a little on the unpredictable side.  The brakes held up well, with no issues on track, though Brian managed to turn the right front caliper into the classic “brown-bo.”

Other than that, Brian was impressed with the feel of the car, as the suspension was pretty close to stock, only running some springs, and anti-roll bars.  Otherwise, he didn’t have much else to say stating that he’d tell us more, when there was more to tell.