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Yo Ron!
I don't blame the driver for applauding himself... That was a fast, smooth run. Looked good. Engine has a heckuva mid-range, pulls strong exiting corners.

Well done, Sir! (Not April Foolin' you, neither!)


JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

As many of you are aware from activity on the Yahoo D/E Mod group, I've submitted a proposal (#26883) to the Solo Events Board to allow an XP spec rear wing on the car in place of the allowed rear spoiler.

Last weekend at our local AutoX, I ran the car on Saturday with the spoiler and on Sunday with an 8 square foot, dual element wing mounted in the XP specified location.
The car felt more planted with the wing. Here's some comparative data:

Sat afternoon in a sweeper for 2.5 seconds with g's above 1.0, average lateral g = 1.15, average speed = 58 mph
Sunday afternoon in a sweeper for 2.5 seconds with g's above 1.0, average lateral g = 1.24, average speed = 53 mph

The wing is the same one that I ran on my DMod Caterham at the Solo Nationals in 1990. It was fabricated relatively easily using aluminum. The ribs were shaped around a mandrel cut from a 2 x 4 using zero-heat treated 0.80 aluminum, riveted to two aluminum tubes for spars (for the main element), covered with 0.040 T6 skin.

So, if the SEB posts a request for member input on the proposal, please provide some support (if you are so inclined). However, they may just continue the absurd restriction they've been holding onto for the last three decades and tell us that the current aero rules are fine.

E85 would love that combo

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AWD Exotruck 525hp Subaru EJ22 http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19011

Thanks for the suggestion Terry. That might be high on the list of possibilities if I also found that the cooling system isn't adequate. The other possibility is to just spike my current pump gas with a bit more Sunoco Standard (110).

Recently, some of the designers of the days autoX course have been making them on the slow side (avg 40 mph). The Duratec 2.0 is great when the avg speed is 50 mph and above. So that I can enjoy any course that get's thrown at us, I've been working on a turbo 1.4 liter Ecotec (from a 2016 Buick Encore). After the event this weekend, the 2.0 is coming out and the turbo 1.4 is going in.

So, won't switching from the Ford product to GM engine require some significant changes? Things like bellhousing, motor mounts, etc., will need to change, right? I'm 100% confident you'll get it done, but it won't be like a weekend swap or anything, right?

Is that cylinder on the front of the Ecotech the oil filter (3rd photo in your post) housing?

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Hi Lonnie,
You are correct. It'll take more than one weekend to address the items you mentioned plus intercooler (air to water) location and plumbing. New driveshaft, exhaust system, wiring and a new tune in the ECU. Thanks to others that have used this Ecotec already (Locofinn on here and other D Mod guys), it is known that GM used the block bolt pattern on some Isuzu engines and made a bellhousing to mate the Borg-Warner T5. I found one from an '89 Amigo.
Maybe three weekends (and all the days in between). Ha Ha
The component in question is indeed the oil filter/cooler housing, but on the back of the engine.

Ron

Arrghhh! I see the flywheel now - yes on the back. I don't think I had enough coffee when I wrote that.

Good luck with the change over.

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

One of the local car enthusiast photogs took some neat shots at the last event. His ground view head-on pic of my car came out great.

Progress report:
The engine and trans mounts have been made. A remote shift lever/mount was has been fabricated as well as mount tabs for the intercooler and the gas pedal linkage. The exhaust system has been tacked together. A new line was made to operate the clutch slave cylinder that's on the other side of the car now.
Next will be removal of everything for finish welding/paint before final install.

Yes it did! What a cool picture! And... I was wondering, what is the static height (ground clearance) of your splitter?


JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

Hi JD,
The splitter static ground clearance is 1.5 inches. The black paint on the bottom surface indicates that in the four months that it's been on this car, only the left side edge has made contact on the outer 1/4 inch. The hex heads on the bolts holding the oak to the structure indicate minimal contact also.

Ron

Almost have enough of it installed to start it up. It just needs fluids, one more wire and the program downloaded from my laptop to the TEC-S.
I will be adding more heat insulation wraps and barrier panels, as well as more louvres to the left side panel and maybe more for the hood.

Wow, that's pretty fast work. I'll look forward to your first video posting.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

It idles, revs and runs good enough to load test it now. Only problem is that the driveshaft isn't done yet (supposed to have been done last week).
More heat shielding has been added.

Got the driveshaft installed Wednesday and did some low speed load testing on Friday. Took it to an AutoX today to get some seat time and better load data. The course had some very slow corners (20 mph) It bogged below 2500 rpm, so need more tuning effort here, but really I need to downshift for these conditions. Only had two runs in the morning and skipped the afternoon because it was too hot for the driver. Video of the second run:

https://youtu.be/5uJPYUSj9AY

Happy with the change though. Acceleration at 0.8 g is a bunch more fun than at 0.4 g.