It may be clean now, but no...
It may be clean now, but no dirt car will make it through an entire night of racing looking this pristine. Getting dirty is part of the game, and that’s OK, but bringing a dirty car back to the track the next week means you may be overlooking problems that can cut your night of racing short.
Cleaning the race car is one of those tasks that is almost universally despised by racers. And we've even heard more than a few dedicated dirt track racers contemplate making the switch to asphalt while trying to complete the drudgery of getting all the clay off their car and out of their race hauler. But no matter whether you're racing on dirt or asphalt, if you are going to have the fun on Friday or Saturday night, you will need to pay the price on Monday or Tuesday. Or, at least you should. That's because there's a lot more to it than simply throwing on some dish soap and washing it back off. There's no doubt that you can sometimes get away without cleaning your car between races--heck, racers all over the country prove that fact to be true by showing up to the racetrack with dirty cars every week--but it's also true that a rigorous maintenance routine, which includes cleaning, can help improve practically any racing program.
Keeping a clean and shiny race car has benefits beyond making your mother proud. Cleaning components can help reduce wear and ensure everything is moving as smoothly as possible. Plus, the act of thoroughly cleaning your race car means you're also putting your hands on everything, which helps you spot problems and inspect areas you might otherwise miss. And we all know that finding that component on your race car that's in the process of failing before it actually breaks can prevent not only a poor finish but also an expensive (and bruising) crash.
Of course, simply wiping down your car isn't going to have the effect we're talking about. Instead, what we're suggesting is a maintenance cleaning program. And whether you're racing dirt or asphalt, if you aren't already using your wash and wipe-down time as an opportunity to inspect your race car part-by-part, there's a benefit here for you. Hopefully, you'll be able to keep parts functioning properly longer, spot problems that may be adversely affecting the car's handling, and discover components that need repair or replacing before they cause a DNF or wreck. Overall, the results of your time and attention should be better finishes over the long term. In other words, you may not win next week because you spent an extra hour or two cleaning your car, but it can be a huge help for that track championship you've been gunning for.
To give you an idea how you can make such a maintenance cleaning program work for you, we spent several hours in the race shops of Hargett Racing while the team went through the car after a hard weekend of racing on dirt. There are also several important precautions you should take to make sure your cleaning program doesn't do more harm than good--water and electricity don't work so well together, after all. Some of these steps you may find unnecessary or too time-consuming to do every week. Or you may think of areas of your race car that require attention that we missed. That's fine, the idea is to give you an outline of a maintenance cleaning program that you can customize and make your own.
1 Your sponsor may like clean...
1 Your sponsor may like clean sheetmetal, but the critical part of your car for a maintenance cleaning program is all those moving pieces underneath.
2 Before you can start blasting...
2 Before you can start blasting water, you need to take a few precautions to protect your car. Here, Cameron Lowman pulls the air filter and airbox off the top of the engine before installing a carburetor cover to keep the water from making its way down the intake.
3 It’s also a good idea...
3 It’s also a good idea to remove the air breathers off the valve cover as well as any others (such as a breather for the rearend) and either plug them or tape them off.
4 If you’re using a pressure...
4 If you’re using a pressure washer, you should also take the time to tape over the end of the exhausts. You might be surprised by how far moisture from a direct blast by a high pressure washer can make its way up the exhaust pipes.
5 You can’t completely avoid...
5 You can’t completely avoid sensitive areas, but try not to hit the carburetor, distributor, coil, or the ignition boxes with a direct stream of high-pressure water. Many radiator manufacturers will also tell you that you should avoid hitting the delicate radiator fins with a direct blast of water. If they get bent it will reduce the radiator’s efficiency.
6 As soon as he finishes...
6 As soon as he finishes washing the race car, Chris Hargett begins drying off the carburetor and other water-sensitive components with clean shop air. A light squirt of WD-40 or some other water dispersing lubricant is also helpful.
7 After the carb, turn your...
7 After the carb, turn your attention to the distributor. After the outside of the cap is nice and dry, pull it to make sure the interior is also free of moisture. Don’t forget to check underneath the rotor.
8 A light coat of WD-40...
8 A light coat of WD-40 will also help dirt and track grime from sticking to your ignition boxes and other delicate components.
9 If you use a cleanable...
9 If you use a cleanable air filter like a K&N, go ahead and wash it early. K&N also manufactures and sells a cleaning solution that works a lot better than simply trying to rinse all the dirt out of your filter with water. Set it aside in a dry area of your shop where it won’t get smashed or dirty and give it plenty of time to completely dry before re-oiling and installing in your car.
10 Although you may have...
10 Although you may have already hosed the worst of the dirt off, it’s always a good idea to pay special attention to the suspension components on the race car, especially the ball joints and rod ends.
11 Here’s a great example....
11 Here’s a great example. This is the ball end connecting the spindle to the steering rack. Even after the car has been thoroughly washed, look at all the dirt and crud that are trapped in the grease. Left alone, this grit increases the wear on the rod end and, over time, can significantly reduce the smoothness with which the ball rotates.
12 The same thing goes with...
12 The same thing goes with the ball joints. Wear here can create slop in the suspension that you’ve worked so hard to precisely set.
13 Lowman wipes down as...
13 Lowman wipes down as much of the ball joint as he can reach (you may need to remove the shock and move the suspension up and down to get to it all). Before re-greasing the joint, he also cleans the dirt from around the fitting. After all, you don’t want to inject dirt into the ball joint socket right along with the fresh grease.
14 You may not want to do...
14 You may not want to do this every week if you have more pressing needs, but Hargett makes it a habit to remove the trailing arms and other suspension linkages with rod ends to thoroughly clean and inspect each one. A quick blast with some brake cleaner over a trash can is usually good enough to get the grit out. Just make sure to spin the ball in the rod end to get all the surfaces.
15 Afterward, Hargett wipes...
15 Afterward, Hargett wipes down the rod end and the trailing arm to make sure the ball turns smoothly in its housing and checks everything out for any signs of damage.
16 If Hargett suspects a...
16 If Hargett suspects a rod end is bent (or if lots of setup changes were made at the track and he wants to make sure everything is returned correctly to his base setup) he uses this gauge from BSB Manufacturing that allows quick and accurate measurements from the center of each eye of a trailing arm link. A tool like this can be invaluable for precise chassis setups because it is much more accurate than the old tape-measure-and-squint-one-eye method of measurement.
17 Hargett prefers greasable...
17 Hargett prefers greasable fittings, so after each component has been cleaned and passed inspection, it is given a fresh shot of grease. These trailing arms are made by Out-Pace and besides being beefy and strong, they feature a unique built-in greasing system. The rod ends don’t have to be removed from the linkage to be greased. And by greasing the rod end this way, the fresh grease helps flush the older grease and any contaminants that remain away from the spherical rod end.
18 Afterward, rotate the...
18 Afterward, rotate the spherical ball so that fresh grease completely covers it then wipe off the excess.
19 Now all the trailing...
19 Now all the trailing arms are ready to be reinstalled.
20 Shocks are a critical...
20 Shocks are a critical component of any well-handling race car. Remove them from the car so you can inspect each shock from all angles. Look for dents or dings in the body of the shock, broken or cracked spring cups (if you’re running coilovers), and leaking fluid. Here, Hargett is disassembling one of his shocks for inspection and cleaning.
21 Repeat the cleaning process...
21 Repeat the cleaning process with the spherical ball joints on the shocks as well.
22 Shocks don’t have grease...
22 Shocks don’t have grease fittings, so give the ends a shot of WD-40 or some other water repelling lubricant instead.
23 Before reinstalling the...
23 Before reinstalling the shocks and springs, run the front suspension through its movement to make sure there is no binding or slop.
24 Lowman finishes up underneath...
24 Lowman finishes up underneath the car. Now that the car is clean, it’s not only a lot more pleasant to work on during the week as you prepare for your next race but it’s also easier to spot the source of any fluid leaks or a broken component at the racetrack because they won’t be camouflaged by a layer of grime.