The Hudson Project

March 8, 2010: Randy's Update from the Mojave Mile

For a full image gallery of this day, and other Project Hudson pictures, visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acureiscoming/.

Wednesday evening I picked up the mouth piece controller around 11pm from the programmer and took off half day of work to install it all day Thursday, Everything seemed to work great on the bench and after I got the system installed in the truck I could not get the PCM to pick up the throttle signal, my original thought was the Throttle Petal Positioning Sensor I was using was bad so I ordered a new one. Around 5PM Thursday I picked up the new sensor and could not get it to work either, I tried to plug it into my wire harness for my throttle and still could not get it to work, so now I thought it was just a faulty sensor that the parts store sold me (this would not be the first time this type of thing had happened). So I ordered another one and told them this part they sold me is no good, but they had to order the new one and it would not be in till Friday morning at 9am. While all this was going on DJ Safety called and said the driving suit will not be ready till 1PM on Friday to pick up.

Friday Morning I got up early and picked up the new sensor rushed to the shop to install it and still not working I tested the leads back to the PCM and the signal was getting there but the PCM would not relay the info to the engine. After pulling what’s left of my hair out I found that there is a micro switch on the petal as well that needs to be activated at a precise movement in relation to the rotation of the TPPS sensor. After a half hour of trying to find out the correct timing I only was able to do it one time.

That's when I found out that MR was not going to be able to control the throttle.

I loaded up the truck and left for Mojave a 2.5 hour drive to get there for tech inspection at 2pm and sent MR out to pick up the driving suit on his way up. I arrived at 2:30ish and took the truck through tech inspection and passed with flying colors. MR arrived around 4ish and teched his driving suit and we went to the driving meeting. Every one was great with MKM Racing Productions and was excited about what we are doing with the Hudson Project.

Saturday morning I got up early and took the truck to the track and took a test run before MR arrived to make sure every thing was working good, I made the first pass at 3/4 throttle to see how the track is and feel for the handling of the truck. When MR showed up we I pulled the truck to the pits and we put him into the truck, we found the driving suit that was made for him was way too big and made it hard to get him in the seat correctly because of the extra material on the suit was building up on the sides and under his butt so we were not able to get him down into the seat deep enough. After 30 minutes of shoe horning we finally were able to get him into the seat and strapped in.

We made the first pass and in high gear it fell on its face only letting us go 119mph, we circled around and the officials and other racers just let us cut to the front of the line and make a second pass again no power on he top end 118mph pass. We came back to the pits and pulled MR out and I looked over the truck trying to figure out the problem, one of the other racers suggested the turbo was not getting enough air through the scoop so I tried to removing the air intake tube and run the turbo intake wide open. I made this pass alone and if it worked better we would get MR back in the truck for the next pass.

I made a run which was a bit better but still fell on its face in high gear. I pulled it back to the pits and loaded it on the trailer. I noticed the Gear Vendor overdrive unit was leaking fluid, and thought it might have some problems that needs to be looked at, also all the time I spent messing with the throttle Positioning sensor wiring could have done some damage to the engine performance program on the computer.

This week I will figure it out and let every one know what was causing it to have problems in high gear.

Overall I think it was a good trip; we found out that the suit needs work (I will send it back to DJ Safety and get the correct measurements and have them remake it). We also found we need to get the carbon Fiber seat that I plan to make going because MR will get placed in it out side the truck and we will lift him in the seat and slide him into a receptacle in the truck to pin in place. This needs to get started now to have it ready for the next race and some time before the race I need MR back down here for at least 3 days to get any issues worked out if any.

Randy