Builds Canguro Racing's Monica (1 Viewer)

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dmc said:
We had another local race this week. The BOR Racing Knolls 200 "night race". Started at 5pm Saturday. We crossed the finish line about 1045. For the first time in about 4 years we had issues with Monica that we've concluded were caused by heat.

Race was an interesting one. They started the field based upon the last race finish with full size cars/truck going out first, then UTVs. Because of that we went off the line 3rd. Not present at the last race and thus right behind us were 2 Trophy Trucks, 2 6100 trucks (TT Spec) and a class 10. That's about 3000hp and a combined 15 feet of suspension travel starting 60 seconds apart after us. First lap went great with Ryan Nakaya driving and we managed to keep 3rd place. Smoky and dusty air was our friend. We did get passed by one truck but also passed the 6100 in front of us. Lap two went off without a hitch but Kurt got passed by 3 trucks on the dry lake bed. According to @cruiseroutfit hit was doing 95mph and they went past him like he was standing still. Lap 3 is where things started to fall apart. You'll see in the pics above a very stuck Monica. The Knolls race has lots of dunes. It's partly why we love the race so much. Marc pulled over to let a fast truck get by in a very wrong spot. In his attempt to power through the deep sand he only got more stuck. As mentioned earlier in this thread we don't have 4 low otherwise we probably would have gotten out. 30 mins of shoveling, maxtrax and tires spinning did nothing. They finally got tugged out by a 4400 (KoH truck) and got back moving. Temps were pushing 100 degrees and Marc and Bub had left the truck running the entire time. When they got to the pit we did our first full pit of the race (we'd done 2 driver swaps but that's it). We shut off the truck to do fuel and I hopped in to drive lap 4. A bit slower pit due to fuel, topping off camelbaks, checking over the truck and once ready I went to start it and nothing happened. That's when we started to diagnose gremlins

I started by resetting the power. Next up make sure the transmission was in P or N so it would turn over. Nothing. It appeared we had plenty of power from our lights, gps etc but whenever I pushed the start key nothing happened. We thought it was possible the starter was bad or clogged with sand. The crew broke out jumper cables and moved a chase truck in to place to try and start the truck with a jump and a long screw driver. I'd done this with Kurt a couple of years ago with his 200 so I was aware of what was going on. After a couple of attempts Monica attempted to turn over but would not start. I'm hoping @cruiseroutfit will chime in on this thread to confirm the following because at this point I just hung out in the driver's seat, melting, and pushing the start button when told but I think this is what happened. After a quick check of the scangauge we were not getting any unusual codes. It was not a security issue as when that happens the truck turns over once and stops. We'd had issues with it before. We have a spare immobilizer module in the glove box so we plugged into that. No luck. The truck would continually crank but not start so we were thinking any fuel or spark. Our crew hopped in the back and changed over to our redundant fuel pump. Wouldn't start. They went back under the hood and disconnected the ECU while one dug our spare out of the back of the truck. Kurt commented that the ECU was burning hot. Way overheated. Replacing the ECU is something we would do in a 1200 mile 32 hour Baja 1000 but in a 5 hour race 90 mins from home we weren't going to take on that challenge in the pit. After deciding that would not happen one of our guys climbed under the truck and was going to pop the hose off the fuel filter to see if it was clogged. That never happened as he could feel fuel flowing through it when I powered on Monica. He yelled at me 'try it again' and she started. We button everything back up and after about a 30 min pit I took off for my lap and had no issues. Last lap went the same and we finished the race about 45 mins later than we'd planned. We use to have a piece of ducting attached to the front bumper that directed air to the ECU. At some point it got ripped out and as we haven't race in tripled digit temps we haven't noticed any issues without it. We haven't done a full AAR to determine if that was the actual problem but it seems likely that it was. Sitting in the sand for 30 mins running was probably not the right move but after she had a chance to cool down there were no issues.

We'll start our Baja 1000 prep shortly and no doubt we'll replace the starter and the ducting to the ECU. We do have our spare ECU and may replace the one that gave us issues. Those decisions are above my pay grade.
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I wanted to do the "laughing eyes "like"" at the thought of you melting in the driver's seat hitting the big red button when told but figured given the circumstances I could look like quite the a$$! Haha... still sounds like you guys had a good time which is what counts.
 
Mogwai said:
I wanted to do the "laughing eyes "like"" at the thought of you melting in the driver's seat hitting the big red button when told but figured given the circumstances I could look like quite the a$$! Haha... still sounds like you guys had a good time which is what counts.
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It probably would have been appropriate. 'try it!!!' push the button and nothing. We had to turn off the Parker pumper motors while we swapped fuel pumps because we had fumes all over the truck. At that point the sweat really started to flow. Helmets with dust skirts are by design not conducive to airflow
 
I’m convinced our Knolls no start issue was two separate issues.

The no spin out of the starter was solved by jumping the starter with a set of jumper cables, a jump pack and a long screw driver, exact same method we used at Jackpot? and my personal 200. I’m going to insist we swap the starter for B1K prep. It was on our list already in fact.

Once we jumped that and got it spinning off the button, it was either not getting fuel or not getting spado. Brian and I swapped out the factory pumps and simultaneously tinkered with the ECU. It’s entirely possible it was a pump and the new one needed to build pressure (though that seems like a lot of cranking) or it was an ECU related issue? TBD
 
Prep is well underway for the 2020 Baja 1000 in November. We spend a couple nights a week wrenching. We just about have it as torn apart as it gets and stating to go back together. This prep includes shock & coilover rebuids, new UCA's, LCA's (front and rear), diffs torn down and inspected, new wheel bearings and axle bearings, new rack and ends, frame repairs, everything refreshed on the front of the motor, belts, pulleys, fan clutch, fan bracket, PS pump, etc.

We had some special visitors this week, Rachelle and Taylor from Xelles Racing. They are driving the new Lexus J201 concept. We (Cruiser Outfitters) worked with XOverland and Lexus to build this neat LX570 and they are starting Day 1 of the Rally now. We sent them with some of the Canguro race spares just in case they run into trouble with wheel hubs, joints, etc. Go Xelles!

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Sorry if this has been covered already, but this thread is quite long. Do you guys run camber/caster-adjuster-reinforcement on the front subframe? Seems like I’ve heard these can be an issue on tundras and other Toyota’s that are driven hard.
 
bloc said:
Sorry if this has been covered already, but this thread is quite long. Do you guys run camber/caster-adjuster-reinforcement on the front subframe? Seems like I’ve heard these can be an issue on tundras and other Toyota’s that are driven hard.
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No, but we have to repair/weld the cam tabs regularly. If they are considered a reinforcement to the frame, they can't be used per stock rules. If they are considered a repair to the frame, they are OK. Our subframe is beat, we've repaired many cracks at the LCA mounts and steering rack mount over the years. Eventually we'll need do a completely new subframes.

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Thanks for keeping this updated
 
cruiseroutfit said:
No, but we have to repair/weld the cam tabs regularly. If they are considered a reinforcement to the frame, they can't be used per stock rules. If they are considered a repair to the frame, they are OK. Our subframe is beat, we've repaired many cracks at the LCA mounts and steering rack mount over the years. Eventually we'll need do a completely new subframes.

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Ah, yeah, I figured it might be against the rules but thought I’d ask.

Do the adjusters typically stay put for the duration of a race (barring any tears of cracks) or will your alignment be completely wrecked by the end?
 
bloc said:
Ah, yeah, I figured it might be against the rules but thought I’d ask.

Do the adjusters typically stay put for the duration of a race (barring any tears of cracks) or will your alignment be completely wrecked by the end?
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We've had a couple of races where the alignment got out of whack. Usually after hitting a big rock.
 
we've been getting a lot of work done lately. Pretty much new everything underneath the truck will be new when we get to Mexico next month. Not to mention a new radiator, idler pulley, belt and throttle body
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Monica pr0n. I feel naughty looking at her bits.
 
Do you have 2 Monica's ?

Do you guys do the cage work yourselves?
 
Fisher23 said:
Do you have 2 Monica's ?

Do you guys do the cage work yourselves?
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All the cage work was done by Geiser Brothers during the initial build. We weld up cracks every now and then but didn't do any of the original fab work. Why do you ask if we have 2 Monica's? There is only one. Two would be waaaaay too much work.
 
Love the Macho man banner.
 
New rubber for the B1K

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gungriffin said:
Looks cheap! :p

Will these last for multiple races through the season or is new rubber preferable for each race?
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BFG gets $500/each :eek:

We go into longer races (i.e. Vegas to Reno, Baja 1000) with fresh tires. We'll do the shorter races on good used sets.
 
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