Race Cars and Motorsports

That would be great. I would much prefer not to run the stock engine. :)

ChumpCar Forum

[forum.chumpcar.com]

Thanks Carl. I've browsed over there and have looked at it a bit, lots of info to digest. Good find.

Jim

So, I know I've been lax about reporting back on last weekend's Chump Car activity, a week late and whatnot, but it's been an extremely busy and hectic week so I feel I can be excused. I intend to give a pretty full report, along with some good pictures. That may take me several posts over the next couple of days so bear with me on this if you will.

Steve DeGroat (now our official Crew Chief), Carl Floyd (hot shoe extraordinaire) and Dave Blackwood came and worked on the car, along with a guest appearance by Matt Blackwood (who is currently dedicating his life to college studies and online gaming). We got some good work done.

To hit the highlights, prior to the weekend I was running a thread on the Chump Cars forum to get some insight into the rules and regs and raised a few questions that we will continue to seek answers on. Then Steve showed up and we de-arched the rear springs, installed the front brakes and made a junkyard run. Then Carl and Dave arrived and we tore into the doors and the rest of the braking system as well as refining our planned configuration of the car, things like selecting a swaybar, deciding on suspension bushings, and so forth.

Here is Steve in his now official role as Crew Chief:


Carl and Steve bleeding the brakes:




And Dave removing the skins from the doors:


More photos to follow. Dave removed the frame and sideguard beams from the doors and then he and Carl tacked them into place on the body. This will give us some elbow room for when we build the roll cage. We also made some close fitting patches from the left over door frames to plug the speaker cutout holes in the rear bulkhead and those came out nice. We now have both exhaust manifolds in place and one down tube, with the second ready to be fitted. Both manifolds had the outlet cut off, rotated and welded back on to reposition the down tube. We used nickel stick electrode for the first one but then just used the MIG welder on the second and had no trouble with cracking the second time around. It seems a viable approach, we will see how well it stands up to heat cycling. Unfortunately the master cylinder turned out to be defective and will have to be replaced before we have brakes.

On the rear springs we used a novel approach. After disassembly we re-stacked the leafs with the main leaf upside down. This meant we had to cut about 1-1/2" off each end of the second leaf to clear the eyes but with the main leaf essentially cancelling out the arch of the second leaf this brought the car down considerably. Looks like it should work out. I thought I had some shots of our removal of the extra metal in the frame rails above the axle but I'll have to look for those.

Then we assigned tasks for acquiring some parts and such that we'll need next time around. That should be sometime soon after the fall Townsend get together.

Jim

Been reading up on expanding foam to make a custom moulded insert for the race seat ran across this. :)

Quote:

Well, it *must* be time for this again: A friend of mine once built a canoe. He spent a long time on it and it was a work of art. Almost the final phase was to fill both ends with polyurethane expanding foam. He duly ordered the bits from Mr Glasplies (an excellent purveyor of all things fibreglass) and it arrived in two packs covered with appropriately dire warnings about expansion ratios and some very good notes on how to use it. Unfortunately he had a degree, worse still two of them. One was in Chemistry, so the instructions got thrown away and the other in something mathematical because in a few minutes he was merrily calculating the volume of his craft to many decimal places and the guidelines got binned as well. He propped the canoe up on one end, got a huge tin, carefully measured the calculated amounts of glop, mixed them and quickly poured the mixture in the end of the canoe (The two pack expands very rapidly). I arrived as he was completing this and I looked in to see the end chamber over half full of something Cawdors Witches would have been proud of. Two thing occurred to me, one was the label which said in big letters "Caution - expansion ration 50:1" (or something similar) and the other that the now empty tins said "approximately enough for 20 small craft" Any comment was drowned out by a sea of yellow brown foam suddenly pouring out of the middle of the canoe and the end of the canoe bursting open. My friend screamed and leapt at his pride and joy which was knocked to the ground as he started trying to bale handfuls of this stuff out with his hands. Knocking the craft over allowed the still liquid and not yet fully expanded foam to flow to the other end of the canoe where it expanded and shattered that end as well. A few seconds later and we had a canoe with two exploded ends, a mountain of solid foam about 4ft high growing out of the middle, and a chemist firmly embedded up to his armpits in it. At this stage he discovered the reaction was exothermic and his hands and arms were getting very hot indeed. Running about in small circles in a confined space while glued to the remains of a fairly large canoe proved ineffective so he resorted to screaming a bit instead. Fortunately a Kukri was to hand so I attacked the foam around his hands with some enthusiasm. The process was hindered by the noise he was making and the fact he was trying to escape while still attached to the canoe. Eventually I managed to hack out a lump of foam still including most of his arms and hands. Unfortunately my tears of laughter were not helping as they accelerated the foam setting. Seeking medical help was obviously out of the question, the embarrassment of having to explain his occupation (Chief Research Chemist at a major petrochemical organisation) would simply never have been lived down. Several hours and much acrimony later we had removed sufficient foam (and much hair) to allow him to move again. However he still looked something like a failed audition for Quasimodo with red burns on his arms and expanded blobs of foam sticking everywhere. My comment that the scalding simply made the hairs the foam was sticking to come out easier was not met with the enthusiasm I felt it deserved. I forgot to add that in retrospect rather unwisely he had set out to do this deed in the hallway of his house (the only place he later explained with sufficient headroom for the canoe - achieved by poking it up the stairwell) . Having extricated him we now were faced with the problem of a canoe construction kit embedded in a still gurgling block of foam which was now irrevocably bonded to the hall and stairs carpet as well as several banister rails and quite a lot of wallpaper. At this point his wife and her mother came back from shopping...... Oh yes - and he had been wearing the pullover Mum in law had knitted him for his birthday the week before. - See more at: [www.lotus7.club]

Hilarious!
I've seen what this stuff can do first hand, and what most people never consider is that it generally does continue to grow beyond the first day after mixing and molding. Allowances need to be made.

Jim

I looked into your Tin Can racers. Don't think you will fit in the cockpit. ;)

************What a great read!..This may be a little easier on the eyes. *********************************

Well, it *must* be time for this again: A friend of mine once built a canoe. He spent a long time on it and it was a work of art. Almost the final phase was to fill both ends with polyurethane expanding foam.

He duly ordered the bits from Mr Glasplies (an excellent purveyor of all things fibreglass) and it arrived in two packs covered with appropriately dire warnings about expansion ratios and some very good notes on how to use it. Unfortunately he had a degree, worse still two of them. One was in Chemistry, so the instructions got thrown away and the other in something mathematical because in a few minutes he was merrily calculating the volume of his craft to many decimal places and the guidelines got binned as well.

He propped the canoe up on one end, got a huge tin, carefully measured the calculated amounts of glop, mixed them and quickly poured the mixture in the end of the canoe (The two pack expands very rapidly). I arrived as he was completing this and I looked in to see the end chamber over half full of something Cawdors Witches would have been proud of. Two thing occurred to me, one was the label which said in big letters "Caution - expansion ration 50:1" (or something similar) and the other that the now empty tins said "approximately enough for 20 small craft"

Any comment was drowned out by a sea of yellow brown foam suddenly pouring out of the middle of the canoe and the end of the canoe bursting open. My friend screamed and leapt at his pride and joy which was knocked to the ground as he started trying to bale handfuls of this stuff out with his hands. Knocking the craft over allowed the still liquid and not yet fully expanded foam to flow to the other end of the canoe where it expanded and shattered that end as well. A few seconds later and we had a canoe with two exploded ends, a mountain of solid foam about 4ft high growing out of the middle, and a chemist firmly embedded up to his armpits in it.

At this stage he discovered the reaction was exothermic and his hands and arms were getting very hot indeed. Running about in small circles in a confined space while glued to the remains of a fairly large canoe proved ineffective so he resorted to screaming a bit instead. Fortunately a Kukri was to hand so I attacked the foam around his hands with some enthusiasm. The process was hindered by the noise he was making and the fact he was trying to escape while still attached to the canoe.

Eventually I managed to hack out a lump of foam still including most of his arms and hands. Unfortunately my tears of laughter were not helping as they accelerated the foam setting. Seeking medical help was obviously out of the question, the embarrassment of having to explain his occupation (Chief Research Chemist at a major petrochemical organisation) would simply never have been lived down. Several hours and much acrimony later we had removed sufficient foam (and much hair) to allow him to move again.

However he still looked something like a failed audition for Quasimodo with red burns on his arms and expanded blobs of foam sticking everywhere. My comment that the scalding simply made the hairs the foam was sticking to come out easier was not met with the enthusiasm I felt it deserved. I forgot to add that in retrospect rather unwisely he had set out to do this deed in the hallway of his house (the only place he later explained with sufficient headroom for the canoe - achieved by poking it up the stairwell)

Having extricated him we now were faced with the problem of a canoe construction kit embedded in a still gurgling block of foam which was now irrevocably bonded to the hall and stairs carpet as well as several banister rails and quite a lot of wallpaper. At this point his wife and her mother came back from shopping......

Oh yes - and he had been wearing the pullover Mum in law had knitted him for his birthday the week before. - See more at: [www.lotus7.club]

We now have a new master cylinder so we can finish the brakes. Steve found us "The last new brass Mustang radiator in the country" and so we promptly corrupted it by cutting away parts of the mounting flanges. I guess those Mustang purists are just out of luck. We cut back and bent over the panel in front of the radiator (Radiator Duct I think it is called) so it and the Caravan fan would fit in front of the swaybar, and for mounts we cut the ends off the original radiator mounting panel and welded them to the inner wings and radiator duct. Then we worked up an alternator mount and adjuster and fitted a new Delcotron I had left over. They found a handy spot for the Volvo dual fan relay and wired that in so all we need is a thermostatic switch or two that will screw into the intake.

We need to fit the exhaust from the manifolds back, probably a set of plug wires, and I think we can fire it up and drive it around.

So now we need a seat so we can get started on the roll cage. Carl's working on that but if anyone has a line on a cheap used racing seat we'd be grateful since this is such a low budget build.

Anyway once we get the cage done we can paint it and start planning for fire suppression and safety.

Oh, and we decided to eliminate the stock hood latch and use hood pins instead. What are the best options there these days?

Jim

Did you check with Terry or Junior Senneker about the seat..??...They have a LOT of contacts in the racing world.

Jim,

For the rad fan switch, check out the VW 191 959 481C temp switch.
It is a dual temp assy. On off @ 102/91'c and 95/84'c
I use them lots and they work out well.
You need to mount it on your radiator on the outlet tank.It uses a 22mm x 1.5 nut that gets soldered onto your (thankfully) brass rad.
They are simple, cheap and easy to find.

Cheers
Fred

If that's the same thread as the Volvo switch I think I have the tap for it... if there's enough meat around the manifold switch bosses it could possibly go there. I used one of the Volvo (or was it Saab?) switches on the Clair's Buick V6 TR7 when I had it, but made an external fitting for it from a chunk of aluminum. I'll have to look.

Rick, that sounds like a good lead. Maybe Carl should follow up on it, I think he knows those guys better than I do.

Jim

Hey Jim,

Forgot to mention, they also sell the proper pigtail and rubber boot for that switch as well. Made by Delco of all people.

Jim.....have Carrick ask......he works with the Sennekers.

Maybe you can ask today, Rick, since y'all will be at Steve's "Not so surprise Party". :)

I would if I was going to be in Grand Rapids.....but I'm home.

Good LBC weekend here. Carl took some pictures. We installed the new M/C and bled the brakes, installed the catch can for the coolant, made bumpers and tow loops, installed a coil, blocked off holes in the firewall and a few other things.

Jim

Chumpcar type race ... only less safe?

[baerfieldmotorpark.com]

No cages, stock gas tank, basically a stripped car + whatever goofiness you want to add.

I dunno about this. I've been in a 12hr endurance race at Ocala Speedway but they used the lower half of the figure 8 to bypass a majority of the front stretch. 24hrs on a 1/2 mile track sounds god awful boring. I don't care how many cars they start with, they'll be lucky to have 50 finish. Winner could be +10 laps ahead of second.

On the plus side, you could conceivably win money on this deal.

And it's only 3 1/2 hours from Jim's place.

*wink*

Thanks. That might actually be achievable.

Jim

I have some progress to report on this car. First the T5 is back in and looks like it'll work just the same as before. Came up with a gas cap so no more rag in the filler neck. Made a small aluminum panel for the center of the dash which has an ignition switch and two safety toggle switches, I figure we can use one for lights and the other for radiator fan override. Not sure what else is really needed. The ignition switch is wired, as is the starter and fuel pump, with another lead up to the coil. The fuel pump runs, the starter cranks. The ignition is another matter. So, instead of being able to fire it up today and drive it out to the shed as I intended, I towed it.

Currently we have to hit a moving target with this car. Chump car rules are changing and other options are appearing so the best approach I think is to proceed with what we know will be needed, since the past suggests it may be awhile before we ever hit the track.

So here is the projected list of things we will need to take care of:
-Wire up or replace ignition
-Wire up radiator fan, sensor, relay and override switch
-Wire up alternator, and Ign light or ammeter/voltmeter
-Oil pressure gage
-Tachomenter
-Fuel gage
-Battery cutoff switch
-Inertia switch if required or deemed desirable
-Tail lights?
-tidy up and secure wiring
-Air cleaner
-Hose from surge tank to catch can
-antifreeze
-Hood latch
-Hood strut or prop rod
-cheap paint job (acrylic enamel probably)

Those are the small items. Once we can drive it around the yard a bit we can maybe justify the rest of the list.

-A racing seat of some sort is the next most important item. Once we have figured out the best way to deal with that we can move on. Probably a good idea to talk to Terry S. at Dayton. Then:
-Roll cage
-Seat belts
-Install rearview mirror
-Finish welding door skins to body if allowed by rules
-Fire suppression system

At that point we should be ready to address any specific details that remain, and that may or may not happen by the end of the summer.

I've briefly looked at this latest new entry into the cheap racer concept. Looked a little Iffy but may be OK. Unless I'm mistaken I saw things like "no roll cages" and "stock bumpers" so we'll just have to see how it evolves. I don't think we could even consider running this car without at the very least a rollbar and considering we cut the structure out of the doors to build a cage we'd have to get replacement doors. I still think a full cage is the best option.

Jim

Jim