[Wichita-SCCA] Winter projects

[Brian Meyer]

Looks like quite a project!  I'm in the middle of significant wrenching
session on the bumblebee CRX as well.  Right now I'm waiting for the
delivery of a fresh engine block bored .040 over with matching oversized
pistons, a new camshaft and valve springs.  I'm also expecting a new
10,000 RPM lightweight flywheel and dual-disk clutch to show up any day
now, along with a Bisimoto adjustable cam gear (just looks soo pimpy).
I bought an Unorthodox Racing lightweight underdrive crank pulley (no
damper) and machined it to fit a lightened crank trigger wheel for the
ECU.  Last weekend I finished machining a set of new aluminum wheel
centers for my racing wheels.  They're lighter than the standard Keizer
drilled disk centers and they are more open which should help with
cooling the rotors down after a run on hot days, but mostly they just
look bad-a$$.  :-)
 
The to-do list includes the engine reassembly (if the parts EVER show up
- it's been a month...) fabrication of a cold air intake system,
hopefully using carbon fiber if time allows, re-locating the battery
back to the front and changing it out for an ultra-lightweight
motorcycle battery, fabricate a new exhaust system, re-design and build
a new crankcase evacuation system and change the Electromotive engine
management computer out for DIY Megasquirt system.  The ECU change will
have to wait until after the new engine is running and hopefully not
blown up during the break-in.  I also wanted to repaint the car but I
think that will just have to wait for next year.
 
Oh yeah, I still need to overhaul the trailer too.  I keep forgetting
about that.  Maybe because it's still buried under 6" of snow...
 
-Brian Meyer
...should be done sometime in July.
 
 
Greg wrote: 
 Therefore, and strictly as a public service to all bored soloists on
the list, I'll update you on the Phrog.  Last fall I looked underneath
it because I started to wonder why it was tending to slip off the jack
at different times.  It had actually pulled off twice over the season,
damaging the cladding and denting the driver's door under the cladding.
The first time was entirely my fault due to inattention -- well, okay,
the 2nd one was too.  Anyway, I took a more careful look and discovered
that my habit of jacking the car from the side using the rocker panel as
my lift point had resulted in the rocker panel being crushed.  Not only
that but the floor had separated from the rocker due to rust (never buy
a salt-country car to be your race car body!).  The bottom of the rocker
panels were crushed into a sloping area that didn't provide grip for the
jack so of course the jack would pull off.  The worst part about it, of
course, was that the rocker panel provides the bulk of the strength for
the unibody structure.  My negligence was turning the Phrog into a
flexi-flyer!
 
Okay then.  It is time to install an SCCA-legal cage to restore
structural integrity.  I'm in process of rebuilding the floor and rocker
panels to bring the unibody back to something like original strength.
Then a cage will be manufactured and installed.  Should be done in a
week or three.  We'll add a couple of genuine jack pads to lift the car
by the cage rather than the car body sheet metal.  Of course I'll have a
professional cut, bend, and weld it together since my skills and
equipment in that area are lacking.  Fortunately for me there is a
fellow working at the same local body shop that I am now (I retired from
insurance adjusting last December) who can easily cope with the problem.
My skills were required only for deciphering the scattered, almost
incomprehensible SCCA rules and regulations pertaining to what are the
design & material standards for installing a legal roll cage into a
Street Prepared solo car.  One has to check on different sections of the
Solo regs and also the GCR regs.  At least all of the above is available
online now.  
 
Is it March yet?
 
Enjoy, 
Greg Laws
 
 
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