Race Car Maintenance

[slyphen]

I'm looking for some advice and suggestions on race car maintenance, things to look out for and to inspect periodically.

I've been autocrossing and tracking my BRZ for over 2 years now, all while it being my daily driver for just over 45k miles. The car is STX prepped with the only mechanical stock component being the diff(Within STX Rules).

Luckily, the only failure so far is a driver side rear cv joint, which i took the opportunity to replace both, with a pair of salvaged axles that had about 14k miles(previous owner had stock suspension, he had a blown engine and totaled it). I've been routinely changing oil at 5000 miles with AMSoil (have not had a chance to send a sample to BSL, probably should...), and changed tranny and diff fluid at 15k and 30k(planning on leaving that alone till 60k now). Brake fluid has also been changed at 40k miles when i installed SS lines/rotor and pads.

Other than the above, i haven't really done all that much to keep her in shape. Just feel i could do more to keep her healthy as long as possible.

[Tcoat]

Sounds like you are doing about all that is truly required. You may want to look at changing the brake fluid a bit more often if you are running them up in temperature on a regular basis. An oil test wouldn't hurt and give you some peace of mind if nothing else. Not a whole lot of other preventative stuff you can do really. Just keep some cash in reserve incase you break something.

[slyphen]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Sounds like you are doing about all that is truly required. You may want to look at changing the brake fluid a bit more often if you are running them up in temperature on a regular basis. An oil test wouldn't hurt and give you some peace of mind if nothing else. Not a whole lot of other preventative stuff you can do really. Just keep some cash in reserve incase you break something.

Anything you think I should inspect periodically? previously i noticed some oil residue on the axle boots, which i was kinda expecting they would fail, and they did... do you know if there are any other component i can/should keep an eye on?

[venturaII]

Clutch fluid should be treated the same as brake fluid, and changed at the same interval, which on a tracked DD vehicle should probably be yearly, and be sure to use a high quality DOT4 or 5.1. The only other maintenance item I didn't see was coolant, which I usually dump and refill every 3-5 years. Periodic checks of ball joints/bushings/tierod ends isn't a bad idea either.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by slyphen

Anything you think I should inspect periodically? previously i noticed some oil residue on the axle boots, which i was kinda expecting they would fail, and they did... do you know if there are any other component i can/should keep an eye on?

All of them! Not being dramatic or joking. Check your suspension for leaks, loose parts. Check your belts and wire connections. Watch you clutch/tranny for slipping or odd behaivour. Keep an eye on your tires for odd wear. And so on and so on. About 98% of the things that you could wear will give you some sort of warning be it a smell, noise or feel well before they fail. The parts that will suddenly and catastrophically fail (i.e. inside the engine) are not something you can really inspect anyway.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by venturaII

Clutch fluid should be treated the same as brake fluid, and changed at the same interval, which on a tracked DD vehicle should probably be yearly, and be sure to use a high quality DOT4 or 5.1. The only other maintenance item I didn't see was coolant, which I usually dump and refill every 3-5 years. Periodic checks of ball joints/bushings/tierod ends isn't a bad idea either.

Oh I forgot coolant!

[Code Monkey]

In addition to all the above, wash your wheels often and check for cracks.

[finch1750]

Coolant doesn't need to be changed for 135k miles, then every 30 or 60k miles after that (I cant recall off the top of my head). But in 135k miles I almost dumped a whole other bottle into the overflow from it emptying/evaporationg/whatever.


And check your wheel bearings regularly too

[slyphen]

Originally Posted by venturaII

Clutch fluid should be treated the same as brake fluid, and changed at the same interval, which on a tracked DD vehicle should probably be yearly, and be sure to use a high quality DOT4 or 5.1. The only other maintenance item I didn't see was coolant, which I usually dump and refill every 3-5 years. Periodic checks of ball joints/bushings/tierod ends isn't a bad idea either.

yep, changed clutch fluid as well, same time i did the brakes. didn't know i should do it yearly though... good to know! and noted on the coolants and joints.

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by finch1750

Coolant doesn't need to be changed for 135k miles, then every 30 or 60k miles after that (I cant recall off the top of my head). But in 135k miles I almost dumped a whole other bottle into the overflow from it emptying/evaporationg/whatever.


And check your wheel bearings regularly too

I typically hang on to vehicles for a long time, so whatever I can do to extend service life, I'll do, such as fluid/filter changes on 'sealed for life' transmissions, and changing other fluids a bit sooner than normal intervals. For the relatively low cost of a coolant dump/refill, I'll pay for the peace of mind of a few extra changes.

[finch1750]

Originally Posted by venturaII

I typically hang on to vehicles for a long time, so whatever I can do to extend service life, I'll do, such as fluid/filter changes on 'sealed for life' transmissions, and changing other fluids a bit sooner than normal intervals. For the relatively low cost of a coolant dump/refill, I'll pay for the peace of mind of a few extra changes.

I figure since I dump so much fresh in that's like a change in itself lol. I probably dumped .9gal just refilling over time. Then the drain and fill only took like 1.2gal of the ~2gal capacity.


Granted I also avg 20-30k a year on the car so it only took me 5 years to hit the first change and will be 2-3 years to hit every one after this haha


Only thing I change early is ATF, but that's because heat kills it so any track time/canyon runs and it starts shifting rough after 30k miles (half the normal interval). Will likely change it more often since I track more now at like 25k to avoid any issues.