Romans 2005 Toyota Echo

[Roman]

So the stars aligned to get FOUR Echo/vitzes at Pukekohe trackday, haha! 

How good. 



All Vitz RS except for my poverty spec Echo. 

I've got a friend @GaR who I have been doing trackdays with, probably since... 2005 or something? Or earlier? 
I was at his house the other week, and noticed he had a car trailer 
Last time I came to Pukekohe I only did 3 out of 6 runs because I was worried about getting home. 
So I asked if he'd be happy to supply the trailer then we do 3 runs each in the car. Done deal!

So he took the car out on the orientation laps, since he'd not had any time driving it yet. Then I had the first proper run.  
Which unfortunately also ended up also being the last run. 
It was fine while out on the track, then when I got back to the pits and opened the bonnet, a few seconds later the bottom radiator hose popped off and it bled out in an exceptionally dramatic fashion with the red coolant. Crap.



So I figured maybe the bottom hose wasnt on tight enough, so got some more coolant, did it up extra tight, filled it up again. 
Even while idling motor got up over 100 degrees and temp wasnt coming down. Crap a crap. 
More troubleshooting, and found that yet again the electric waterpump had shit the bed. 
I had a spare waterpump with me, but here's the problem - I dont know how or why this issue happens, and I dont have many indicators inside the car to tell me that things are wrong. 
I decided to pull the pin on it as I didnt want to risk blowing a motor while I dont have particularly good indicators of the coolant temp situation. 
(My car doesnt even have a water temp gauge, just a light...)
As it turns out, another friend who'd come along just to spectate, also brought his mostly standard Vitz RS and it was sitting in the carpark. 

"Why dont you guys just take that out instead?" 
I was happy to have had a run in my car, so left it to Gar to take it from there. 
And he smashed out some absolutely top notch vitzing. 

This is friggen hilarious:
 

Also the other two cars were out there vitzing their god damn hearts out as well and it was glorious.







It was such a cool turn of events after some initial disappointment in the day. 
Especially since the other 3 cars were reasonably similarly specd. 

Adam managed to get this shot of my car while it was out, sweet pic.



And some doorts on the straight.

https://youtube.com/shorts/-vp50GU1XHQ?feature=share

[Roman]

So in terms of recent changes made. 

New wheel and tyre setup. 
Absolutely awesome! No rubbing anywhere, no damage to the tyres from scraping guards etc.
The tyres themselves were really interesting to drive on. 
When cornering hard, it didnt feel like the tyre folded over or whatever. 
But then if I cut near the ripple strips, it was like they just soaked up the bumps. 
The only run I got was cut in half because someone chooched their car. So I didnt really get the tyres up to full temp either. 
I suspect they would have been better and better as the day went on. 
A++ will hoon again! 

My graduated shifter light setup was inoperable this time so I only had a single shift light that was difficult to see. 
Since the gearing was effectively different I was sometimes changing into an inappropriate gear and blitzing the limiter a bit more than ideal.
But it was cool to notice that it got though the gears a bit quicker. 
The track was running the chicane so didnt get near 200kph. 

Fairly impossible to quantifiy any aero changes, when the car felt so different from the tyres. 

The radiator setup - Much better.
The engine temp was staying below 100, still a little hotter than I'd like but not worrying.



Definitely keen to get some more seat time once I've figured out a better solution for the waterpump.

[VitesseEFI]

Pity you didn’t get to do some full sessions. You are good at finding the positives though 

Seems like a coolant temperature gauge would be a good thing to have. Shouldn’t be hard to arrange?

When the pumps die, are they completely done? Cooked motor windings? Or is there some clever stuff in there too that gives up?

Edit: found this

Which answered some of my questions. Presumably as you have an aftermarket ECU your control methods are different?

[kws]

God damn that thing sounds glorious on the track. Shame about the water pump ending things early. 

Its probably been brought up before, but could you change to something like a Davies Craig EWP instead of the Toyota one?

[flyingbrick]

I asked chat gpt to write a story about your Prius engined eco and to base the story around the original fast and furious movie, but with sandwiches being stolen. Then told it to make it a rap. 

 

Listen up y'all, it's a story of a man named David,

An undercover cop with a mission, to save the sandwiches,

He needed a ride, something fast and reliable,

So he took a Toyota Eco, and made it truly versatile,

 

He swapped out the engine for a Prius, for efficiency,

And 3D printed some parts, for added creativity,

He painted it blue, the color of the ocean,

It may not be aerodynamic, but it's got smooth motion,

He entered the race scene, and made a name for himself,

Beating all the competition, and putting them on the shelf,

He infiltrated the crew, behind the thefts galore,

But little did he know, his friend Dominic's at the core,

The final race came, stakes high, tuna sandwiches on the line,

David and his trusty ride, beat the criminals, it was a shine,

He caught the bad guys, and saved the day,

A true hero, in his own unique way.

 

So remember, always trust your instincts and be aware,

And never judge a car by its aerodynamics, but by its power to dare.

[Roman]

Dumb fuck AI doesnt know that echo has a good drag coefficient! 

[Roman]

13 hours ago, VitesseEFI said:

Pity you didn’t get to do some full sessions. You are good at finding the positives though 

Seems like a coolant temperature gauge would be a good thing to have. Shouldn’t be hard to arrange?

When the pumps die, are they completely done? Cooked motor windings? Or is there some clever stuff in there too that gives up?

Edit: found this

Which answered some of my questions. Presumably as you have an aftermarket ECU your control methods are different?

Yeah i was working to have my digidash finished before trackday but ran out of time. This will give me good visibility of things as well as flash big warnings or whatever.

Its always just a capacitor which blows up in the pump. Rest is fine. Have repaired one already.

Ive given my Dad my spare pump, and hes going to look at moving the circuitry off the pump itself, so it can be mounted away from the heat and vibrations.

This last pump has gone for ages without problems, ever since I left it disconnected from ECU with no speed control. Just running full time.

Fitting an aftermarket pump is possible but not preferable, as this is reasonably compact and has the thermostat integrated nicely.

[ajg193]

I have full access to a state of the art electronics factory and could have a crack at making external pump control for you if you send one down.

[Roman]

Thanks! That's an awesome offer. 
I'll see how my Dad goes for the moment - He's pretty handy with electronics.

It's always just that same capacitor that poos itself, even if just making it hot swappable it would 90% fix the problem haha.

[VitesseEFI]

22 hours ago, Roman said:

Its always just a capacitor which blows up in the pump. Rest is fine. Have repaired one already.

Ive given my Dad my spare pump, and hes going to look at moving the circuitry off the pump itself, so it can be mounted away from the heat and vibrations.

Way ahead of me then(unsurprising!).

Putting the electronics somewhere less hostile sounds like a good plan.  If you just run it at full chat does it even need any electronics?

(it's always a bloody capacitor.....)

[flyingbrick]

22 hours ago, Roman said:

Dumb fuck AI doesnt know that echo has a good drag coefficient! 

Thats my fault. The story lacked depth so I said it was not aerodynamic LOL

[Roman]

10 hours ago, VitesseEFI said:

 If you just run it at full chat does it even need any electronics?

(it's always a bloody capacitor.....)

Yes because its a 3 phase motor in it, cant just smoosh voltage into it unfortunately.

[Yowzer]

Chuck an AliExpress Hobbywings ESC on it 

[flyingbrick]

thats a great idea, my first thought was "nah the factory ECU wont be able to send a compatible signal......WAIT A MINUTE"

 

 

[Nominal]

What is really needed is a small auxiliary engine to power the water pump. 

Something like this

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/3947997315

[Truenotch]

Hopefully you get the bugs ironed out and make it to the final Pukekohe playday soon! Have you done 10 or more playdays to get into this event? 

I have space in my driveway and a spot to sleep in when you decide to come to Manfeild btw. There will be a bunch of opportunities coming up.

[Roman]

Nah I havent done 10 yet. 

However there's another one on 28th January. Hoping to get to that. 

There should be some others before April as well! 

[GARDRB]

3 hours ago, Roman said:

However there's another one on 28th January. Hoping to get to that. 

Looks to be sold out??

[Roman]

Craaappp, and the next one! 

Bought a ticket to the March event. 

Might go to 4&rotor day at Hampton. 

[jakesae101]

22 hours ago, Nominal said:

What is really needed is a small auxiliary engine to power the water pump. 

Something like this

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/3947997315

Those tohatsu pumps were great but jesus they were the loudest thing ever during training we had to wait to fire them up until mid morning as not to wake the neighbors. This is a racecar tho it needs a wajax pump….