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GRM report...additional comments



Yep, Brian and I got the race car out and made it run again.   He also
helped me by lending an extra set of hands in pulling my transmission
from my regular street car to find out what had happened to make the
clutch go "away" (interesting broken parts story there).

The VEMS unit finally looks about 80-90% ready for prime time, and
appears to finally be compatible with megatune 12x12 maps.  It will
also accomodate tuning with a WB02, I'm in a cautious "wait-and-see"
state at this point with it now.  If it were purely up to me and the  
budget
was wide open, I'd probably use something a bit more "solid" and / or
polished.

However, we're dealing with a constraint more reasonable people
don't give a second thought to...we can only spend $2006 on
the whole race car and try to compete with other people that
can field an 11 second V8 powered Honda CRX.  Because Brian is
involved in the ongoing development of the VEMS, he gets these
units for little $ and we don't add much to budget as a result.

Oh believe me, I have to sit on Brian all the time keep him focused on
stuff that might work... :-)  Ask him, he'll probably even admit it.

I won't speak for Brian, but I think you guys might have gotten the
wrong impression...the current car is not "pretty" because it's designed
to be functional and inexpensive (see above constraint).  Anyone that
thinks this automatically makes this endevour "junk" is seriously
underestimating what ingenuity and hard work it takes to try and
effectively complete in several motorsports events with a cap of
$2000...using a VW Scirocco as a base especially.  If we just wanted
to win (or place well), we'd take the easy route and stuff a V8 into  
an old
Porsche.   But we are Scirocco head-cases through and through, I've
personally been at "it" for 20 years now.  Believe me, I'm perfectly
capable of buying, building, and supporting an award winning
showcar.   It's only the lack of time resources that has prevented
me from putting more of that effort into making our racecar more
visuallly appealing.

Also, please note that Brian has already stated that he intends to keep
this new Mk1 a "looker" as it's too nice a car to strip down to an
effective race car...as far as I know, it's a $1,000 car.  For that  
price,
it's obviously tempting to throw some wide tires on it, better shocks,
and compete at the Grassroots event...as it will obviously score better
then our current ride on the concours portion. :-)   Not to mention,
we're way more likely to get magazine coverage if the car looks good...

Dan, I'll send you a separate email to address some of your special
concerns.  :-)  (BTW, just want to go on public record that Dan has  
been a
background supporter of the current GRM car for some time now,  
thankfully
helping  us with transmissions and the like.)

==Brett


On May 23, 2006, at 9:36 PM, julie@menloparkrandd.com wrote:

> Big Mac. I agree with Dan. Play boy racers with a MKII, not a MKI.  
> They are far too rare to turn into junk.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dan Bubb [mailto:jdbubb@verizon.net]
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 09:09 PM
>> To: 'Brian McGarvey', 'Scirocco List'
>> Subject: Re: GRM report...was:Re: Mixture question
>>
>> Goddammit! Why turn a perfectly good MK I into one of you POC GRM  
>> cars??
>> Bring the goddamn thing over here for a place to park and I'll see  
>> if I
>> can't find a decent home for it.
>> Maybe, just maybe, if you're nice to this car, let me have a  
>> chance at
>> finding it a good home, I'll help you tune your fucking VEMS GRM car.
>> Probably spend six months trying to figure out the hyroglyphics of  
>> tuning
>> your fucking VEMS to try to save this one car.
>> I'm serious!
>> Dan
>>
>>
>> From: "Brian McGarvey" <bmcgarvey@gmail.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 8:41 PM
>> Subject: GRM report...was:Re: Mixture question
>>
>>
>> Cathy, et al..
>> Well after much handwringing after the winter and realizing there  
>> was a
>> puddle of frozen water under the car.. we let it sit for a long  
>> time, but in
>> hopes I took the ECU with me...
>>
>> I worked on the ECU alot..
>>
>> My brother "fixed" our sunroof issue..
>>
>> Brett provided it a place to be worked on and live..
>>
>> So Brett and I worked on the two white cars last weekend.
>>
>> The GRM car now starts and runs. problem from before was extremely  
>> fouled
>> plugs.. It now has toolbox barrel specials.. We'll take more if  
>> you have
>> em..
>>
>> So the GRM car now has all new engine management, EFI running lowZ
>> injectors, trigger from the dizzy, and ignition via dizzy.
>>
>> Repairs to be performed next.. Radiator replacement (not as simple  
>> as it
>> sounds ITBs are in the way). whoo hoo found out its for a 6pack of  
>> beer..
>> thanks Brett!! and .. fill your name here.
>>
>> Now we have to get the master tuner down to Bretts to give it some  
>> magic..
>> Bubb.. Bubb.... Bubb.. free beer.. Bubb.. Free Beer.. Bubb... and  
>> a ride
>> down and home if you want it..
>>
>>
>> Now for the NEW news..
>> The GRM team just acquired a sweet MK1 for the GRM race.. were  
>> going for
>> concourse points with this baby..
>> 81, white 2.0L aba, with Zender kit... More to come soon.. BTW if  
>> your in
>> the Balt., DC area I need a place to park it..
>>
>> BigMac, Brett(Frank on good days), Bubb (some days), BrianH,  
>> BradM, ByronM
>> and the other B's involved/implicated..
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/23/06, C Boyko <roccit_53@scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 9:43:31 pm 05/22/06 "Brian McGarvey" <bmcgarvey@gmail.com >  
>>> wrote:
>>>> Because I didnt know all the facts.. You said 8v @ 10.1:1  
>>>> compression
>>>> I immedialty assumed non-stock or 2.0l aba. I can confirm the  
>>>> small 8v
>>>> (1.7EN) CIS-Lambda will run an 11:1
>>>> 2.0L aba -- although not well the JH CIS fuel dizzy and armature
>>>> works much better doesnt knock at WOT... or hot days.
>>>>
>>>> But the basic thought was VW in the 70's and 80's was worried about
>>>> long lasting cars and pretty good fuel mileage. so running lean at
>>>> load would be seemingly a bad idea. I was assuming you were not
>>>> getting enough fuel at load...
>>>>
>>>> and since your running CIS ( no lambda correction ) and knock box (
>>>> ign retard on knock) you are running a non-factory option setup.
>>>> IIRC...
>>>> Rich at idle + stoich else is ok. afaik...
>>>>
>>>> see you in a couple days..
>>>> Bigmac
>>>
>>> Yeah, I went digging into my Bosch stuff and it suggests rich at  
>>> idle and
>>> WOT, stoich the rest, but I may try a bit rich provided it will  
>>> idle,
>>> since
>>> it's an ethanol blend I'm most likely to burn and it has extra OH  
>>> groups,
>>> so more O, less HC as it were, so needs to be a bit richer than  
>>> 14.7:1
>>> most
>>> likely. (thanks Timbo for reminding me of that). The Bosch manual  
>>> suggests
>>>
>>> 13.1-15.1 as the range, and I'm lean of that now for sure.  
>>> (15.9:1) It's
>>> straight CIS, as you said, and a JH with RD pistons and solid lifter
>>> head/G
>>> grind. A nice quick engine, not a monster, but that will come  
>>> with time,
>>> and this one is bags of fun as it stands. :D
>>>
>>> See you soon, bringing the GRM project? Oh, and thanks, seems  
>>> you're the
>>> only one who replied.
>>> Cathy
>>>
>>>
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