Long distance race prep.

[chile]

So I plan on going to the Ohio mile in 2014. I know it about a year away till I race but I wanna start prepping early. So Im thinking of what spare parts or anything extra that might help while Im away from home.

I already have on my list: Opti, water pump, water pump gasket, PCM, plugs, wires


Thanks for any input!

[Fastbird]

engine. Just sayin'. I may have to meet you in Ohio to watch.

[94Blackbird]

So I plan on going to the Ohio mile in 2014. I know it about a year away till I race but I wanna start prepping early. So Im thinking of what spare parts or anything extra that might help while Im away from home.

I already have on my list: Opti, water pump, water pump gasket, PCM, plugs, wires


Thanks for any input!

I would keep spare brake pads and rotors (brake pads can get fucked up quick, especially if you wind up having to make an emergency stop). Maybe a spare serpentine belt. Maybe a couple spare injectors incase one goes down. IF you can swing it I would have a spare set of wheels and tires just incase. Maybe a spare head gasket kit incase you blow one and everything looks good enough that you want to try it again (which would also mean coolant and oil and filter as well.) Maybe a spare clutch disc incase you smoke the one you have. Beyond that I think you are starting to get into complete teardown and rebuild territory.

[94Blackbird]

Something else you might consider keeping on hand is spare wheel bearing/hub assemblies. Maybe some ball joints. I would say tie rods and ends as well, but unless you have toe plates to do the alignment afterwards it would not be a good idea to try and run on new parts that aren't properly adjusted.

[chile]

Fastbird If I had a spare race engine my name would be John Force. lol. Ill let you know when Im going
@94Blackbird (http://ltxtech.com/forums/member.php?u=1623) I plan on doing new brakes soon and Ill do new bearings. I didnt think about the serp belt, but wheels are hard to come by. I plan on checking all suspension before I go.

[94Blackbird]

Even if everything is brand new its still a good idea to have spares. One of the racecars we take care of at school likes to eat front brake pads like a fat kid eats twinkies. Literally within one session this car will destroy a brand new set of high dollar racing compound brake pads. The other car was destroying left front wheel bearing assemblies within a session or two for awhile. If there is anything that I've learned about doing any kind of racing, it's that having spares is a good thing. Then if something happens, depending on what happens, you can be back up and running in no time instead of coming down to the wire because you had to wait 2 hours for the parts store delivery dickhead to get to the track with the parts you need, if they even have the parts in stock.

[chile]

I bring another set of pads and bring the old bearings just in case. But I only plan on going to this one race.

[1SlowFormula]

Are you driving the car there and back or trailering it? if trailering it and it's only a single race thing (sorry don't know anything about the race) then your spares would be limited to getting it back on the trailer. If you driving the car there then take what you might need to get you home. Things I have found that I needed in drag racing without a huge budget, and trailering the car include the following:


All fluids + extra brake fluid (you'de be suprised how quickly you burn brake fluid, esecially if you don't have a linelock and hold the brakes while doing your burnout)
Brake pads
Brake lines (I've had one colapse by getting on the brakes hard once and ruined my day at the track because the car fell of quite a bit with a sticking brake caliper)
Oil filter
Spare tires and wheels for the rear
Any tool I might need, plus blocks of wood and lengths of pipe
Tons of duck tape, zip ties, baling wire, aluminum strips and angle for quick repairs between rounds
Assortment of nuts and bolts and other hardware in case something breaks during pit repairs (I can't count how many times I was trying to rush through a repair and either stripped a bolt or broke the head off of one and had to drill it out)


In the early years I kept a spare 10 bolt with me too, just in case, but it took up way too much room and realized actually swapping the rear in the pits whouldn't be worth while unless I kept up on gear changes and so forth on each (3.73's in my rear and stock 2.73's in the spare wouldn't be worth swapping between rounds, lol.).