I should have let it burn

Unfortunately, where there was smoke there was fire.

No, that's not tire smoke. 

But before I go there, I'll recap my latest autocross. Which was on Sunday in this at the WDCR autocross on the crop-circle course at Summit Point:

Just driving a school teacher's daily driver.

I hoped to drive Sam Vassalo's Club Spec Mustang since he's been offering a seat in it every time we see each other. But Sam Strano and Kevin Henry took the Mustang to the Finger Lakes National Tour and broke it. At least that's what I read on the internet.

So Karen offered up her daily driver, a completely bone stock 2023 Subaru WRX.

Oh wait, it's not stock:

It's stock!

Otherwise, stock shocks, stock rimz, stock tires (actually 200 treadwear Dunlops), stock sway bars. The alignment hasn't even been touched.

Since it was on street-class index -- D Street -- I was shooting for top 25 in PAX.
[RonHowardNarratorVoice]He did not end up within the top 25 in PAX[/RonHowardNarratorVoice].
Karen has autocrossed the WRX a few times and reported it was "pushy." Figuring the only thing I could do was adjust tire pressures like it's a FWD car, I cranked the rear pressures to 45, and set the front at 40.

The car was definitely pushy, but it wasn't terrible. I hit two cones on my first run then ran clean on the next four runs slicing off time on each run. Eventually I got down to a 51.7.

Everything needed from the Camaro made it into the WRX -- helmet, driving shoes, annual waiver wristband -- except for the GPS that sends data to Solostorm. The third run felt like the fastest, but the fourth and fifth were just slightly quicker, so it would have been nice to see exactly where the extra/lost time came while reviewing data.

Despite all this, it was a win in D Street, but the PAX finish was a distant 52nd. After getting home, I looked up Solo Nationals results from last year, and there were two drivers sharing a WRX in D Street, and they finished 53rd and 54th. Everybody else was in a twin or a Civic Type R, so I think the WRX is not the car to have in D Street.

At this point, any of the tens of loyal readers might be wondering how the day ended up in the wife’s car.

Funny you should ask. ← Lyric from Bitchin’ Camaro.

The Camaro was trailered all the way up to UMI's Muscle on the Mountain on June 11. The car rolled off the trailer directly to the scale.

Was it underweight? Not even close -- it was wayyy overweight at 3,370 pounds with driver, against a 3,250-pound minimum for the event.

From the scales, it was a short trip to the grid spot… but without power steering. This had happened a couple times before, where the steering seemed to quit but later came back, chalked up to “LS Swap Things.” This time, it stayed gone. Removing the cap on the reservoir, it looked empty.

No power steering fluid had made the trip, so Google Maps was pulled up to find the nearest parts store. UMI Motorsports Park sits outside a small Pennsylvania town where everything is about 20 minutes away.

The drive to PepAdvancedZone produced a bottle of fluid, which went into the reservoir back at the track. The engine started, the wheel was turned to cycle fluid… and then I spotted fluid dumping from somewhere. Loose line? Cut in a hose? Nope—leak from the top seal of the power steering box. Loosening and retightening the four bolts on the box changed nothing.

No matter from which angle, the power steering box leaked.

Leaky steering box.

PepAdvancedZone had a steering box in stock, but removing the pitman arm is a massive pain. So, the car went back on the trailer and I drove home the next morning.

A few days later, the old box came out and was sent to TurnOne for a rebuild, and was returned fully rebuilt in under two weeks.

With the Camaro reassembled, the calendar revealed the next autocross: the Central Pennsylvania Region SCCA “Cone Killer Classic,” conveniently near the UMI track.

It was a two-day event, but Saturday alone seemed enough. Paul Pryzborski (pronounced “Polish Oborski”) was running his 1981 Camaro in CP there. He lives 20 minutes away and has helped wrench on my Camaro before, but somehow we had never gone head-to-head in CP.

The 17x11 CCWs with Hoosier A7s went on, and the nearly three-hour drive began to finally race someone who lives 20 minutes away from me. Paul headed up Friday; and I left at zero-dark-thirty Saturday, with a quick porch-pirate stop at his house to grab a go-fast part for his car that had been delivered after he left.

Tech went smoothly, I worked the first heat, then it was time to pull to grid for the second heat.

Last in line at grid meant a bit of waiting before being sent to the start. The car started up, everything seemed normal. Water temp climbed to 180 then hovered there as the fan kicked on. Oil pressure was normal, and off I went to the start.

A short straight kicked off the course, followed by a left-hander with a short-shift to second gear at the apex. A two-cone slalom fed into another left onto the connecting runway.

That’s when smoke started curling from the trans tunnel where the shifter mates to the transmission. I went through some offsets and into a 90-degree left to another runway, and glancing back revealed smoke hanging in the air. Not great. I basically drove straight to the finish and pulled into grid. 

Smoke seaped from the hood vents and under the hood, on the driver’s side of the firewall, there was FIRE. I dropped the hood and yelled, “FIRE!” A couple people ran over with water bottles to douse the flames. Small fire, yes, but still… fire = bad.

My suspicion was that reinstalling the steering shaft after the rebuild may have jostled or damaged a brake line, but those checked out fine. Maybe a valve cover leak? Removing the coil packs and valve cover revealed only the usual engine grime.

Jacking the car up showed oil coating the underside of the transmission, but no definitive cause for the leak. No smoking gun, haha.

A test start seemed reasonable because it wouldn’t catch fire again, right? Upon startup, oil dripped from the bell housing inspection hole.

Most likely culprit: the rear main seal. Nothing catastrophic -- if it were a hole in the block, the car would run like crap, but the car started and idled perfectly.

Discovering oil, but not in a good way.

The fix is “easy” but not easy: the transmission, clutch, and flywheel all have to come out to get to the rear main seal. That means clutch lines and bleeding, too.

A lift has been secured through an exclusive trade agreement with the fifth king of Portugal, and Paul is slated to help. At least, that’s what he said before becoming a rock star.

But wait, there's more!