The Batmobile_Engage Member Journal

[Batmobile_Engage]

In case you guys missed it, (because in my haste and rage, I couldn't find the Urgent Help thread via Tapatalk and just posted it in Post Whore) I fried my throwout bearing today.

Let me rephrase that... I'm 95% sure that it's my throwout bearing. After my first and only run, I ended up having to call AAA and flat bed the Batmobile to a shop near my house....72 frigging miles away (not cheap). Thanks again to [MENTION=1]IGOTASTi.COM[/MENTION] for taking my phone call on such short notice and offering some advice.

I'll post a pic or two later on. Enjoy the video!

 

[IGOTASTi]

Nice video, and we help each other out anytime.

You know that.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

^ I love this place.

Anyway, looking on the bright side, a couple people touched the wall today or did damage in other ways. Even though I had issues, at least it's not because I put it into the wall. This was my first track run in quite a while and the first one after all the suspension work I did. I LOVED how it handled. I might tighten up the front end just a touch, but that's it. To the guys still on the fence about RCE Yellows, I must reiterate how much I like them. The engine ran great and this synapse engineering synchronic bov does a great job dumping no more boost than necessary allowing me to get back on boost quickly even though my intercooler system is quite large and I'm running a GT3071.

My launch was pretty hardcore. Probably too hardcore. Probably just hardcore enough to make my throwout bearing eat itself. :fuji: :banghead:

 

[black bandit]

What struts are you running?

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Tokico D-spec 6-way adjustable gas shocks.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Well, the flat bed trip, about 70 miles back down to a shop about a mile from home cost me $300.
The shop is taking everything apart right now to be absolutely certain of the problem, but their labor
charge is going to be $750. If it is in fact the throwout bearing, that'll be about $100.

Sooo....the cost of yesterday's autocross event: $1,150.

Shit like this makes me not want to track the car ever again.

 

[IGOTASTi]

Holy crap!

 

[Alin]

Wow. Quite a heavy hit. How unfortunate.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Terrible... :bang:

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Ugh, sorry bro. Hopefully it is just the throw-out at this point, certainly hope you don't have to dump money on a new clutch as well.

As far as not tracking the car, this has certainly made ME not want to track mine. Just like you, mine is my DD as well and while I'd love to take it to road course and have some fun I think I'll just wait until this is my toy and something else is my DD so I can afford it if it goes down or I crash it. Not trying to deter you, just telling you how I feel and how your experience really solidified to me that it's just not a good idea for me to track my DD right now. Hell, my wife would KILL me if I tracked my car and wrecked it or tore something up...lol.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Though I don't want you to screw anything up on your ride, I also feel kind of bad if I turned you off to racing it right now. Lots of people autocross their DD with no problems, but then again, you have my situation.

For now though, I feel that I'm in the same boat as you. I will wait until I get my next build done, have some minor body work and paint done, and it becomes a garage queen/track car. I just can't afford (time or money) to continue breaking and replacing stuff.

(If I win that lawsuit against the Department of the Navy, then noooo problem...the Batmobile will be on the track in a month. I'm not optimistic though.)

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Bad News Update:

Well, it just keeps getting worse. I just got a call from the shop. Now they want $980 in labor, though idk wtf for?
It's 3:30 and they didn't start tearing it apart until mid morning, so it hasn't been anywhere near 8 hours of labor yet.

Apparently, they say my throwout bearing looks okay, but the pilot bearing probably needs replaced. They had to pry
my clutch and flywheel apart. I guess it was fuzed together...when the clutch came off, the flywheel had pieces of clutch
stuck to it.

My flywheel has already been resurfaced twice so I'm sure I'll need a new one. Any advice? My stomach is in a knot in my
throat after that phone call....thinking about the time it's going to take but mostly the money. This could easily turn into a
$2,000 job that I really can't afford right now.

 

[Alin]

Ffs.... Make sure you dont get scammed. Another grand out of nowhere... Cmon now.

 

[black bandit]

Did all of this happen right after the run in the video?

It definitely sounds like you are going to have to get a new clutch and flywheel which sucks. I know how expensive that can be as I just replaced mine. However their labor rate is stupid expensive. Mine was 600 for labor.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

I'm just saying... I figured all I would need in parts is a throwout bearing...$100 in parts.
Now, it's looking like I'll need a clutch, flywheel, throwout bearing and pilot bearing. I'm guessing probably a @#$%ing $1,000.

......and a prescription for a strong cocktail of anti-depressant and anti-anxiety drugs.

...and a second job.

 

[Alin]

The parts are costly. Dont you have any hook ups with a friend to lower the cost of labor?

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Nope.

 

[Alin]

Aww damnit. That wouldve alleviated a lot!

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Damn this sucks...I was afraid that there was going to be a lot more work with the way you described things. Do you trust the shop doing the work? If you do then I'd hope that they wouldn't steer you wrong, if not, you can try and take it somewhere else but I don't think that would be cost effective at this point since you already owe this shop labor and such for what they've done thus far. Man I wish there was some magic answer to all this but it just sucks is all I can say. Hoping for better days for you bud, keep your chin up.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

I just ordered a new clutch and flywheel from Jordan at Defined.