Annual Tech
Annual Tech on Saturday was relatively painless.
Speedware Motorsports hosted the event in their parking lot. I pulled up, took the bodywork off the car and got out my safety gear and logbook. I pointed out the chassis stamp and then we chatted about racecars, life and the universe while the paperwork was taken care of. So now when I go to a Northwest Region race I need to show my helmet and logbook at registration and I get my tech sticker. Time and hassle savings! The "traveling tech show" is supported by donations, so I threw in my cash and headed home.
On Sunday I put a linkage I designed on the trailer that allows me to pivot the tailgate/ramp up so it's parallel to the air flow instead of nearly perpedicular. Then I tested it with the scan tool on the highway. With the ramp level the engine load was reduced from 15% to 13-14% at 60 mph and from 22% to 17-18% at 70. That's 6.5-13% reduction at 60 and 18-23% saving at 70. Better yet, on level ground the PCM doesn't put the engine into enrichening mode with the ramp flat, so the mixture stays at 14.7:1 instead of 12.2:1. I should save some gas on the long tows. I'll post photos when I take some.
