|LeMons| Pujo! is Less Smokey, More Steery

Here is a quick update on the Perils of Pujo!. Of large importance to a race car is keeping oil on the inside of the engine. Pujo!, as you saw in our last installment, had become quite adept at converting the oil inside the engine into smoke outside the engine. To determine the source of the oil, we consumed some beer, grabbed some hammers and took apart the turbo.

We saw a very oily exhaust side of the turbo. We also saw some scoring on the turbo shaft.

This turbo has been in Pujo! for all of his previous races. We declared the turbo “worn out”. Fortunately, we had a spare turbo of questionable quality which we installed. Pujo! is now smoke free. Let’s hope he stays that way. Click the gallery for some shots of the exploded turbo and what didn’t seem at the time like a lot of beer cans.

Next up: Finishing the steering repair.

Thanks to a couple junkyard Peugeots, we have the keeper deal in the picture above. This will keep the tie rod from unthreading itself from the rack and allow us to control where Pujo! goes. We’re very happy to have a car we can steer.

Lastly: cleaning the exterior.

Pujo! looked like a moldy drive heave. This was before Alan took a scrub brush and did a masterful job of removing two years of grime, sap, and slug trails. We can now proudly drive through the paddock and onto the track.