Car is ready for the race! Now to pack up the tools, clothes and drive down to the starting line!
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Monday, October 18, 2010
Race ready!
Car is ready for the race! Now to pack up the tools, clothes and drive down to the starting line!
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
One great kill switch!
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Pre-race - 6 days to race
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Thursday, October 14, 2010
Pre-race - 7 day to race!
Shorter exhaust is working wonders.
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Monday, October 4, 2010
Up and running!
This next week we need to finalize the exhaust and the fire extinguisher system and we are off to the race!
In the pic is the car at its first trip to the gas station.
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Sunday, September 12, 2010
Driving course at Bondurant
These have probably been 4 of the best spent days of our Panamericana preparation. My sister, dad and I all made huge improvements in our driving skill and had a great time. Anyone thinking about going should definitely go.
Next week we plan on finishing the car, starting the engine and getting all set for testing the week after.
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Sunday, August 1, 2010
Front struts and brakes!
The front strut and brake assembly look promising! And are ready to go on the car. As a last minute thing, we are sending back the big rear drum brakes and purchasing the new 13" wheel compatible rear disks.
Progress...?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Race ready Ground Control struts
After a bit of a wait, finally got the fully assembled struts! Hopefully these will be fully installed this weekend. Internal valving has been custom developed for this car! So we have high expectations.
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Monday, July 19, 2010
Suspension subframes
For the past 2 weeks we have been completing the subframe assemblies and are as of now finished with the front and 80% there with the rear. To build them up, all parts where sandblasted and then powder coated in black (primarily to keep stock apperance)
FRONT:
On the front, little modification was don to the original parts - although recent info suggests that re-inforcing the control arms and engine mount might be a good idea. Assembly of the front was pretty straight forward, the only detail being that the steering box should be the first thing to be installed. The new 22mm stabilizer bar from IE fit great and was a joy to see in place.
REAR:
The rear received quite a bit more work prior to assembly. First off, the arms were fully boxed to increase their torsional rigidity and then triangulated (the are originally a V shape and a cross member was added to creat an A shape). The new member had to be installed twice because during the first attempt (done by a shop) the arms ended up to narrow - back at home we remeassured carefully and replaced with an element that left the arms perfectly located on the subframe. The subframe itself was modified to incorporate adjustable toe and camber - a must for lowered suspensions on these cars (or so we were told and agree).
We have a multitude od pics and will post them soon.
Enviado a través de BlackBerry de movistar
FRONT:
On the front, little modification was don to the original parts - although recent info suggests that re-inforcing the control arms and engine mount might be a good idea. Assembly of the front was pretty straight forward, the only detail being that the steering box should be the first thing to be installed. The new 22mm stabilizer bar from IE fit great and was a joy to see in place.
REAR:
The rear received quite a bit more work prior to assembly. First off, the arms were fully boxed to increase their torsional rigidity and then triangulated (the are originally a V shape and a cross member was added to creat an A shape). The new member had to be installed twice because during the first attempt (done by a shop) the arms ended up to narrow - back at home we remeassured carefully and replaced with an element that left the arms perfectly located on the subframe. The subframe itself was modified to incorporate adjustable toe and camber - a must for lowered suspensions on these cars (or so we were told and agree).
We have a multitude od pics and will post them soon.
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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Status of build
And a pic of the car coming back after getting its roll cage!
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Saturday, May 29, 2010
Pictures of car as of 5/29 (no mods yet)
Just a couple of images of where we are today... no changes yet!
1) Engine compartment, pretty stock!
2) Overall car, in great shape
Intention is to have a race car that still looks as good as the starting point, but much faster and safer. Also a few minor body changes will be made, like pulling in the bumpers and adding a from air dam.
Lots of movement this week
This week has really kicked off our efforts to build the car and source all parts. We've made some key moves and are now on our way to getting most components in the next 2 or 3 weeks.
Seats:
Ended up with Sparco EVO 2 Plus seats. Right now we have purchased one seat and installation hardware so we can try it in the car and make sure everything goes smoothly. We ended buying everything off http://thmotorsports.com primarily due to ease of payment and that it was relatively easy to find all parts on the site. We couldn't use the Sparco site due to the billing address.
Restraints:
Selected Simpson '16.5 Platinum DSL L&L Pull Down b/i 6 pt. (29058SP)' primarily because I had used Simpson products in the past with no issues, they are easy to order and the price is right. Already ordered the 2 sets in platinum color. http://simpsonraceproducts.com
Ignition and Coil:
After talking to several people, quite a few recommend the simple / reliable HI6 from Crane Cams. Quickly found them on Summit Racing and purchased the HI-6 6000-6440 ignition box and the LX92 coil, and hardware for attaching to the car.
Brakes:
We found out that we need to use the 13" wheels for our BMW 2002 due to race rules, so this changed everything. We have now gone with the simpler Ireland Engineering setup that uses larger, vented front discs with Wilwood calipers and larger diameter rear drums with upgraded pistons. Per our discussions with the folks at IE this should be enough for a first go, and easy to get going.
Suspension:
We are working with Ground Control and have decided on Bilstein shocks for this application with some custom tuning. Based on what we've seen these should be an excellent setup. They have started modifying struts and preping the custom valved shocks. Hopefully we get parts in a week or so.
Fuel cell:
Will be using a 15 gallon cell from Fuel Safe http://www.fuelsafe.com of the Enduro Cell line up. These seem to have all the safety elements at a price that still makes sense (ED115 is the part we got). One thing we still need to figure out is the fuel gauge. ATL sells one that can be cut to a custom length and you can then cut the opening on the fuel cell cover - seems like the easiest path.
Engine:
Engine head has begun work over at IE, and we selected to start from a 1.8L E21 head for ease of availability and just in general better castings and starting point for the combustion chamber. For all other parts we have a comprehensive list and are working with Jeremy from IE to get through it and start getting parts.
Other than this, we need to get the car to the workshop to get that roll cage in. We are making some calls on Monday and hopefully by next week it is at the workshop getting the cage installed.
Seats:
Ended up with Sparco EVO 2 Plus seats. Right now we have purchased one seat and installation hardware so we can try it in the car and make sure everything goes smoothly. We ended buying everything off http://thmotorsports.com primarily due to ease of payment and that it was relatively easy to find all parts on the site. We couldn't use the Sparco site due to the billing address.
Restraints:
Selected Simpson '16.5 Platinum DSL L&L Pull Down b/i 6 pt. (29058SP)' primarily because I had used Simpson products in the past with no issues, they are easy to order and the price is right. Already ordered the 2 sets in platinum color. http://simpsonraceproducts.com
Ignition and Coil:
After talking to several people, quite a few recommend the simple / reliable HI6 from Crane Cams. Quickly found them on Summit Racing and purchased the HI-6 6000-6440 ignition box and the LX92 coil, and hardware for attaching to the car.
Brakes:
We found out that we need to use the 13" wheels for our BMW 2002 due to race rules, so this changed everything. We have now gone with the simpler Ireland Engineering setup that uses larger, vented front discs with Wilwood calipers and larger diameter rear drums with upgraded pistons. Per our discussions with the folks at IE this should be enough for a first go, and easy to get going.
Suspension:
We are working with Ground Control and have decided on Bilstein shocks for this application with some custom tuning. Based on what we've seen these should be an excellent setup. They have started modifying struts and preping the custom valved shocks. Hopefully we get parts in a week or so.
Fuel cell:
Will be using a 15 gallon cell from Fuel Safe http://www.fuelsafe.com of the Enduro Cell line up. These seem to have all the safety elements at a price that still makes sense (ED115 is the part we got). One thing we still need to figure out is the fuel gauge. ATL sells one that can be cut to a custom length and you can then cut the opening on the fuel cell cover - seems like the easiest path.
Engine:
Engine head has begun work over at IE, and we selected to start from a 1.8L E21 head for ease of availability and just in general better castings and starting point for the combustion chamber. For all other parts we have a comprehensive list and are working with Jeremy from IE to get through it and start getting parts.
Other than this, we need to get the car to the workshop to get that roll cage in. We are making some calls on Monday and hopefully by next week it is at the workshop getting the cage installed.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Project is now moving, and some technical details
So after some time with little movements part orders for the car are now on their way and hopefully we'll have a running car in the next 2 months. One of the key things has been getting a good hold on what the car is actually going to be and putting it together. Because it has taken quite a bit of energy, the following are our final selections and some rational:
- Suspension. We looked at the upgrade systems from several companies and read through a ton of blogs, and determined that at a high level we are going to need a car that is about 1 to 1.5in lower than standard (adjustable for hight front and rear), keep the original locations for rear shocks and springs, slightly stiffer springs and shocks, upgraded stabilizer bars, adjustable camber plates for the front. And some other minor bits and pieces.
After some research, we hit upon ground control (www.ground-control.com) and really liked the options they had available. Some of the details that made a big difference over other suppliers was the type of design for the adjustable camber plates and the great customer service. Also the fact that they provide Eibach springs in their kit is a major plus.
Right now we are making the final decisions on Koni vs Bilstien, and will hopefully be able to have a suspension ready to bolt on in a couple of weeks!
- Brakes. Massive brakes (http://www.massivebrakes.com/) seems the way to go here for racing... however, we are having some last minute setbacks due to a race rule that requires us to use the original size wheel on the car. As such, the big brake kit from massive would not fit. We need to sort this out this week and order the brakes ASAP. If not, the 13in big brake kit from Ireland Engineering (http://www.iemotorsport.com/) should do the trick.
- Engine. Most of the components are going to be sourced through Ireland Engineering and include a fully race preped engine head (with a 306 cam, forged rockers, ported, double springs), forged pistons, alloy rods, dual webers, headers, better radiator, oil cooler and a lot of other bits and pieces. At this point the engine head is in theory being built and hopefully will be delivered in 2 weeks and we are ordering all other parts so we can build the engine in around 4 weeks time.
- Seats. Had some major back and forth on what seats to use, but have ended up with Sparco as our selection. We want to run a HANS compatible seat, but are still verifying that this will fit inside the car. If so, we'll probably end up getting the Pro ADV seat. Seems safe enough.
- Roll cage. Found 2 people that do this near home, and price is reasonable. Plan is to have the car out to get it in the next 1.5weeks. This is one of the critical items to get to this project done in time!
After this update, I hope we get progress soon and pictures of how it comes together. Time is tight!
- Suspension. We looked at the upgrade systems from several companies and read through a ton of blogs, and determined that at a high level we are going to need a car that is about 1 to 1.5in lower than standard (adjustable for hight front and rear), keep the original locations for rear shocks and springs, slightly stiffer springs and shocks, upgraded stabilizer bars, adjustable camber plates for the front. And some other minor bits and pieces.
After some research, we hit upon ground control (www.ground-control.com) and really liked the options they had available. Some of the details that made a big difference over other suppliers was the type of design for the adjustable camber plates and the great customer service. Also the fact that they provide Eibach springs in their kit is a major plus.
Right now we are making the final decisions on Koni vs Bilstien, and will hopefully be able to have a suspension ready to bolt on in a couple of weeks!
- Brakes. Massive brakes (http://www.massivebrakes.com/) seems the way to go here for racing... however, we are having some last minute setbacks due to a race rule that requires us to use the original size wheel on the car. As such, the big brake kit from massive would not fit. We need to sort this out this week and order the brakes ASAP. If not, the 13in big brake kit from Ireland Engineering (http://www.iemotorsport.com/) should do the trick.
- Engine. Most of the components are going to be sourced through Ireland Engineering and include a fully race preped engine head (with a 306 cam, forged rockers, ported, double springs), forged pistons, alloy rods, dual webers, headers, better radiator, oil cooler and a lot of other bits and pieces. At this point the engine head is in theory being built and hopefully will be delivered in 2 weeks and we are ordering all other parts so we can build the engine in around 4 weeks time.
- Seats. Had some major back and forth on what seats to use, but have ended up with Sparco as our selection. We want to run a HANS compatible seat, but are still verifying that this will fit inside the car. If so, we'll probably end up getting the Pro ADV seat. Seems safe enough.
- Roll cage. Found 2 people that do this near home, and price is reasonable. Plan is to have the car out to get it in the next 1.5weeks. This is one of the critical items to get to this project done in time!
After this update, I hope we get progress soon and pictures of how it comes together. Time is tight!
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