[OmniFocus]

Folks,

It has been too quiet in here for too long. The younguns are too busy going for form over function and need our help to bring them over to the dark side where we REALLY spend too much time, money, and sanity.

This thread is about what you've got going on. Building a new track car? Share. Fixing up your old canyon-carver? Share. Helping crew a big time race team? Share.

Let's do this.... for the ultimate good! arty:

-Lorin

 

[OmniFocus]

I'll go first.

I'm really into the whole 24 Hours of LeMons/Chumpcar deal. I was at the very first race at Altamont 2006 with a 1986 Tercel, and then followed up with an 1983 Celica the next year. As the series moved to real racetracks and moved away from excessive body contact, we built a 1991 Sentra SE-R that I believe was full of bad luck.

Anyway.... The best way to have fun in the series is to avoid building for competition and instead build for entertainment. In 2010 we built up a 1993 Dodge Caravan for track duty (factory five-speed). Five races later, and it is my favorite LeMons car ever.

It is light at 2660lbs, handles in the top 75% of the group using the magic of junkyard Chrysler legos. The biggest problem is a lack of forward thrust, as it retains the stock 2.5L TBI unit making 100hp/131ft/lbs through a five speed manual.

Well, since our sanity was too secure, we decided to add a second car to the team in the form of a 1983 Plymouth Scamp (The Dodge Rampage twin). We scored a pair of Scamp/Rampage twins for zero dollars and started to work. The plan was to use as many identical parts to the 1993 Caravan as possible in order to consolidate spares. To do this, we bought a 1994 Voyager factory five-speed and swapped the drivetrain into the Scamp.

The Scamp is truly a bastard of mixed parts... cut van springs on Acclaim shocks with van knuckles, Grand Caravan calipers and Daytona discs. The rear has Omni GLH 220mm five-lug drums. The rear axle has been converted to axle over with van shocks sticking through the bed. A custom sway-bar setup is made out of a Datsun 510 adjustable rear bar with Miata clamps and Focus endlinks. The entire wiring harness is a heavily modified van setup, inside and out. The cage is the first of my own with assistance from my team, though the fourth cage I've been involved with building. To top it all off, it started as a vehicle with serious front end collision damage, so I had to pick apart all the front end panels, straighten the right chassis leg and weld it all together. Somehow this project has consumed three full bottles of gas and two spools of wire!

Goal weight is around 2250, with a center of gravity far lower than the van. I'm hoping for some healthy inter-team on-track rivalry!

Starting condition:

Recent condition:

Here is a picture of how it sits. The first race is July 21st and it hasn't started yet. Wish me luck!

 

[Nickgt40]

Luck has been wished.


I started on my way to enjoying more windshield time on a closed course.

Picked up a G-Force SA2010 helmet and thanks to an online coupon got some Alpinestars balaclava for free.

Safety first, right?

 

[msperber]

Well while trying to diag a fuel delivery problem we went back to the dyno with my 05 2.3 in a scca race car. We put a tune on the car ran on the dyno and got 151hp. My tuner recommended tumble flap removal, Pcv delete, and egr plug. No other changes to the motor, while working to fix the problem we ran a pull for numbers. 154.6, yes all dynos are different, but what the most fun was the operator said that I shouldn't be disappointed, as his unit( mustang eddy current) we should see no more than 125. Sure surprised him and the crowd there. Problem not found yet but we are getting close and my tuner has been super helpful. Next race rd Atlanta in July, then Daytona and then Charlotte.

 

[lapp4sm]

We've been playing with our new toy. 2011 Fiesta, built for SEMA, now being raced. 172hp rotrex supercharged 1.6l. Gutted - Caged track only car.

 

[lapp4sm]

Lorin-
June 30, Lemons at Buttonwillow. Are you racing?

 

[teamDFL]

Great idea Lorin. Let's bring the light back in these dark times.

The details on my car can be found here: Rigz thread

Rather than bore you with repetition, I'll tell you guys what I have been doing. I was fortunate enough to be asked to be a classroom instructor for the Tarheel Sportscar Club (www.thscc.com) HPDE program. As a former high school teacher and lifelong car enthusiast, I find it incredibly satisfying and rewarding.

The time commitment is quite high, but I enjoy it. For each class, I do a complete lesson plan as I used to do when I was a teacher. I remember that when I was still a student there were qualities in each classroom instructor that enjoyed and I try to combine them within my lessons. Unfortunately, I don't have a recognizable name or competition pedigree to give weight to my words; I work harder and use my training as a teacher to compensate.

Here is the PowerPoint from the first class of the weekend: Session 1 PowerPoint

It is the most formulaic of the classes as a significant portion of the content is a restatement of the rules and regulations. While I dislike the repetition of the morning drivers meeting, I am also aware that this is the first time on track for many people. When it comes safety, erring on the side of caution is always best.

Here I am going out in the run group of my students: YouTube of Green Session - FWIW, I was still searching for the line in some of the corners as the track had been reconfigured since the last time I ran there. Plus, I was a wuss in three.

I like to go out in their sessions to ensure that the lessons I am teaching are sinking in and get a better sense of what is going on during their runs. Plus, it always give me some good content to color the discussion.

So far the reviews of my efforts have been good. As I said before, I find teaching class very rewarding. While being an in-car instructor was fun, classroom instructor combines a lot of things that I am passionate about and I am truly enjoying the experience.

 

[ecugrad]

Looking for a ZX3 to build for STF with the help of this^ guy. Who is as crazy as he sounds in his posts and was my in car instructor many, many moons ago....

Also I am one of those crazy Lemons/Chump racers.

The 2010 Southern region champions!

 

[teamDFL]

FWIW, Ryan (ecugrad) is the future home of the once famous but likely forgotten Bilkenstein conversion parts.

 

[norcalfocus01]

I'm going to enjoy following this thread.

 

[OmniFocus]

Lorin-
June 30, Lemons at Buttonwillow. Are you racing?

Unfortunately, no.

I'm Going to The Ridge in July, and Thunderhill in September.

 

[GtnMaZumOn]

I’ve been fortunate and truly blessed to be involved with Omni in his LeMons/Chump efforts. My teammates are some of the best people around and -- truth be told -- that’s a lot of the “juice” for me. I don’t think I would race at all if I had to do it with dicky people. The fact that my teammates are also great engineers and wicked quick behind the wheel doesn’t hurt either.

When I’m not spending all my money on “affordable” crapcan racing, I campaign a ’95 Miata in CSP class with my local SCCA chapter. The car is vastly underprepared but I’m not too worried because the driver is way less competitive than the car. :lol:

I was also able to get the Miata on track this year. Might try to schedule another track day, time and $$ permitting.

 

[Queen Jade]

Ryan and I are hoping to have our 1990 RX7 out and auto-xing before the end of the year. I won't be driving for a while, but I still think he should go and enjoy himself. No power 13B and all, its still a RWD kick in the pants to rev to 8k.

 

[teamDFL]

Damn Jade, cool car. Very clean.

 

[GreenZX4]

Well for my part i have several projects going. Building two WRC Focus YC Zetec engines. One using the Mountune 99 CGI block and the other using a 2001 Cosworth CGI block.

Also working on my Focus SE to SVT conversion.

And last but not least working on my 00 ZX2 S/R. Complete restoration and modification. SVT engine block, 4340 Rods, JE 10.5:1 forged pistons. PNP head with high lift cams, stainless header, 2.25 exhaust, Fidanza aluminum flywheel the works.

 

[teamDFL]

What are you (or the owners) going to be doing with these cars?

 

[Queen Jade]

Damn Jade, cool car. Very clean.

Thank you, its actually quite fun to drive. Definitely a reminder that great handling and a crap load of revs can be just as fun as raw power. After the baby is born and I'm settled, I'm really looking forward to getting out and auto-xing again. The SVT is gone and this is the replacement for Ryan and I since the Datsun is now painted and not really suitable for auto-x anymore.

Currently, it has Tanabe springs for a nice drop and stability and a decent exhaust. We haven't done much with it recently, but we will buy some r-comps for it and put a fixed back seat with a harness just for the driver seat.

 

[lowlifestyle]

I've decided that i really want to spend more time on the track so the RX7 is gonna get a little more built than I originally planned, nothing crazy, just a little more serious than I planned for autocross. The quick list is: coilovers so I can fit wider tires, the stock diameter springs rub on the tires right now and they're only 205's, that won't do. New tires, fixed driver bucket, build a 4 point, harnesses, LSD, and cooling and instrument upgrade. Long term will be engine swap and aero, that'll come further down the road, gonna stay rotary but will probably end up with a mildly built renesis for reliability with standalone management, that's when it's roadgoing duties will be done. Oh yeah, and brakes, it has the factory 4 pot fronts so I think a pad swap is all that'll be needed.

I'm going to try to keep this as low budget as possible so I'll be shopping used where I can. Coilovers will definitely be used, a lot of nice sets pop up on eBay all the time for half the price of new. I'd like to get a used LSD but most that I find are JDM takeoffs and those won't fit my car since Japan didn't get na FC's and I haven't done the research to see if a turbo rear end swap is worth the trouble.

 

[bri]

Last weekend was the 3 day instructing for the year I had two students and I got 5 of my own sessions in, all and all it was a good day but exhausting.

As for the car this year the inner door panels have been removed, shifter base raised 2” and a new exhaust in preparation of the new motor. The motor is still over at Quicksilver Race Engines (check them out if you’re in need of motor ) hopefully I’ll be getting it back in the next week or so, then I have to decide to take the car off the track in hopes of finishing it in time for September.

 

[teamDFL]

bri,
Can you take some pics of the raised shifter and post them please. Thanks.