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This story is somewhat emblematic of what happens when working on a racing car. After the 2016 season, I knew the seat belts in my SCCA Touring 1-3 Z were due for replacement. Most racing organizations allow 5-7 point harnesses to be used for no more than five years before the belt material becomes susceptible to UV breakdown, as well as heat or water affecting the strength, so they mandate FIA/SFI stickers to show when the belts were made. I sent my HANS camlock belts back to Impact Racing last year to have them rewebbed and checked for a reduced fee.
A lot of you know the story of what happened at the end of the year: big shunt, life-threatening injuries, blah, blah. So my 2017 racing season took a big hit and I still don't have medical clearance to get on the track. Ah, but nobody said I couldn't go back to wrenching on the Z! So, last week I finally got the race Z out of the 24' trailer and into the garage to get it ready for its annual inspection. Top of the list was getting those belts replaced and ready. The new belts had been sitting on the shelf and my fractures have healed sufficiently to allow me to twist into the car and get the Momo SuperCup race seat out.
The seat has an FIA-compliant custom built base which uses the OEM mounting bolts, but is adjusted for my body build. With a TIG-welded six-point cage, it's well and truly wedged in there. Removing the four 15mm bolts and wrestling with the seat for an hour finally saw me get it out and onto the ground. Never have THAT kind of problem with an OEM seat (and it makes you wonder how safe our cars REALLY are with 8-14 year old seat belts)! But now I could access the submarine belt bolted to the base, unscrew the camlock belts and rethread the shoulder harnesses to the roll cage. My back was giving me fits, so I didn't want to squat down and put everything on until the seat was back in the car.
Putting a race seat back into a tight cage is no walk in the park. Luckily, my neighbor was available and helped me lift and twist it back into place. After bolting the whole thing back into place (needs a long extension on the 3/8" drive ratchet and 15mm socket), I finally was ready to get in and do some final adjustments. I left enough adjustments to allow me to snug up the sub and shoulder harness and went to plug them into the camlock itself. That's when I noticed I'd installed the left and right sides of the seatbelt on the WRONG SIDES and they'd never fit properly!!!
Took me a few minutes to laugh at myself! I've been racing for almost three freakin' decades and I couldn't get this right? Must have hit my head a lot harder than I thought. Got out of the car, turned off the lights and told my wife what a dumb *** I was that night. Later on, I thought about all the racing stories I've had over the years: lying on my back in the paddock at Mid-Ohio in the RAIN readjusting the swaybar before the NASA Nationals, working on the Z at Road America or Road Atlanta in the heat or at any of our tracks here in Colorado. One thing is sure: racing is the ultimate judge and lap times and finishing positions tell you if you got it right or wrong!
Tonight I went back out to the garage and pulled the seat again. Tried a few shortcuts that allowed me to pull both sides of the seatbelt and reverse them without pulling the seat completely out of the car. It's great to have the luxury of doing work without a practice, qualifying or race looming over your shoulder. It also made me feel good about my recovery, as the many days, weeks and months of PT have got me back to being able to do what the rest of you (probably younger than me as well) do with ease. Sorry there's no pics to show my dumb mistakes, I didn't want to waste any time documenting THAT. But it reminded me that small triumphs are what make motorsports such a satisfying endeavor and if you don't laugh at yourself from time-to-time, you're missing out.
Thanks guys, and especially Mic- it takes a one dumass to know another!
BTW- after I completed the seatbelt swap, I noticed several other things that needed repair as well. As with most racecars, it's a neverending job list...
This could be one of the chapters in my "Zen and the Art of Z Maintenance" book. It'll be part of the section on how to recover from stripped fasteners, incorrect tools and lost gumption.
You're an amateur - I've done much worse. During one Connecticut winter, when I was a wee lad of 18, I had an Alfa Romeo GTA, and it happened to have a leaky head gasket. Common problem, easy fix, but it was maybe 20-degrees F in my parents' garage. Got the head back on, jumped it with a fresh battery, and she started right up. So, I go into the house to warm my aching hands for 10 or 15 minutes. When I go back into the garage, the engine is still running, but when I peak my head in the window, both the oil pressure and oil temp gauges show no reading. That's because there was no oil in the engine. Funny thing is, after I put the oil in, all was fine, and I drove that car daily until July 4th weekend when I was coming back from Lime Rock Park after the Camel GT/IMSA races. Just as I pulled into the garage the engine seized solid. Wish I still had that car, maybe more than any other I've ever had.
You're an amateur - I've done much worse. During one Connecticut winter, when I was a wee lad of 18, I had an Alfa Romeo GTA, and it happened to have a leaky head gasket. Common problem, easy fix, but it was maybe 20-degrees F in my parents' garage. Got the head back on, jumped it with a fresh battery, and she started right up. So, I go into the house to warm my aching hands for 10 or 15 minutes. When I go back into the garage, the engine is still running, but when I peak my head in the window, both the oil pressure and oil temp gauges show no reading. That's because there was no oil in the engine. Funny thing is, after I put the oil in, all was fine, and I drove that car daily until July 4th weekend when I was coming back from Lime Rock Park after the Camel GT/IMSA races. Just as I pulled into the garage the engine seized solid. Wish I still had that car, maybe more than any other I've ever had.
Maybe we can re-title this thread to "Dumass Maneuvers In The Garage". Hmmmm, no, not a good idea.... I'll hog too much space in it.
But nawww, when I think back, I really haven't had that many DA maneuvers; but at the time, I thought they were pretty lame. I remember one such maneuver similar to dcains'.....and it weren't me. Buddy was changing oil on the drive up rack (alignment? Can't recall) and he was already having a fit over something else going on with his hot rod. Watched him as he stood up on the ramp pouring oil into it.
As me and a couple other buddies stood off to the side watching the oil come out the bottom through the uncorked drain hole.
"Hey, uhhhh, Albert..."
"WHAT!?!?!"
"Hey, don't get all pissy at us, just trying to tell ya what a dumass you're being." [ The three of us just standing there pointing underneath. ] Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa......
Years ago i blew a lower rad hose in the Maverick on my signature. Long story short...I thought I'd flush the rad with some distilled water same time - ran out of light and left the prestone for the next day (that day never came) - fast forward a couple months and the frost plugs blew...
Uh oh, looks like this thread has become an automotive confessional of sorts. I was hoping for a more upbeat and redeeming tone! For all the first time Z owners and outright noobies, the point is, if you're wrenching on cars- your attitude DOES matter. If you start by thinking what a drudgery a DIY task is going to be, it'll not only be a self-fulfilling prophecy, that attitude can actually make the task harder or unachievable.
There have been way too many threads on this board that could have been answered if the OP had taken the time to simply jack up their cars, support it with jack stands and looked at the problem themselves. While some of this problem may be generational, there are others that simply don't want to get their hands dirty. Maybe they've only experienced abject failure when trying, or maybe no one has ever showed them the joy of doing a repair the right way. But we're losing something here, and judging from the pure volume of questions ("help me, my car is broken") we're losing it FAST.
The Z33 is an older design (my preorder '03 track was built almost 15 years ago), but it's still a vehicle that can be worked on, and even raced by privateers like me. Will the work be perfect? When it comes to safety, it damn well better be. But the point is, every repair has the potential to go south and you simply have to take the time to 1) recognize it; 2) laugh at it (very important step in my view) and 3) fix it the right way.
Wrenching is an imperfect art; practiced by imperfect beings. But a little bit of ourselves starts to seep into these once state-of-the-art machines and that makes the whole exercise worthwhile.
And that, David, is exactly why I call myself a dumass because after 40-some years of wrenchwork and having learned countless lessons from my own stupidity, plus my willingness to listen to both younger and older people for help and I'm still at it after all these years, well, that says it all.
One is NEVER too old to learn new tricks and who you learn it from makes no difference.
Latest new "trick" to learn is about the fire suppression system in the Z. We selected the FireCharger ATFF system rather than a Halon system b/c Halon is harder to refill and was getting harder to find. The water-based ATFF is easier on your lungs if it's deployed, but I last checked it four years ago. Well, apparently the latest recommendations for checking and refilling is now TWO years, as the ATFF solution can get gummy over time and not deploy cleanly if needed.
Breaking down the system and pulling the tank was a bit tricky- you certainly don't want to accidently trigger it! It sits next to the driver cooling ice chest on the passenger side of the car, so that has to be cleared before you can work on the fire system. And to make things even MORE interesting, the Z windshield (with a plastic outer liner) is pretty beat up and needs to be replaced. It's a busy weekend...
06-13-2017, 07:00 PM
Pitiful Racing/Wrenching Story
I've been racing for almost three freakin' decades and I couldn't get this right? Must have hit my head a lot harder than I thought. 
Got out of the car, turned off the lights and told my wife what a dumb *** I was that night. Later on, I thought about all the racing stories I've had over the years: lying on my back in the paddock at Mid-Ohio in the RAIN readjusting the swaybar before the NASA Nationals, working on the Z at Road America or Road Atlanta in the heat or at any of our tracks here in Colorado. One thing is sure: racing is the ultimate judge and lap times and finishing positions tell you if you got it right or wrong!
