LocostUSA.com

Yo Kristian!
Way to go, racing the new car already! Very cool, congrats on a successful "first race". (I don't know if you won anything, but it didn't catch fire and nothing fell off. Successful race!)

That first vid looks like you got a bit of oversteer to work on. Sway bar(s) in your future? Second one had me runnin' for the Drammamine , can't say how the car handled...


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

No prizes for anything here, even once I get it figured out. Autocross here is pretty laid back, a bunch of us go to the airport on Wednesday nights and set up some cones for fun. Stop watch for timing, go get your own cones with the car after your run.
Pretty sure I need to work on the driving before the handling. I spun it a bunch of times because I wasn't driving smooth enough. And even with runs almost 2 and a half minutes, I couldn't get any heat in the tires. My biggest challenge was keeping steady throttle through the corners instead of chopping it, then it would spin. It's pretty unforgiving of mistakes, and fast. Everybody I took for a ride was seriously impressed, as was I. It's way beyond anything I've ever driven, reminds me of watching Top Gear when Hammond got to drive the F1 car. I can't think fast enough yet. I finally weighed it yesterday too, 1290 pounds with about 3 or 4 gallons of fuel. Better than my original (hopeful) 1300 dry. Hopefully the rest of the bodywork and lights don't weigh it down.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

So I got to autocross my car again on Wednesday night. I'm starting to get a handle on driving it. Pretty much cleaned house this time, was running for top time with a guy that had a gokart with a Polaris 700cc liquid cooled snowmobile engine. Pretty sure I beat him by about 3 seconds with a best for me of 2:21. The guy that runs the autocross decided that they were going to call my car a gokart too. I got the car up to probably about 85 or 90 mph on the airstrip we use and it felt good, tracked straight but a little fidgety. The pavement is getting pretty rough in spots, but the car rides decent for being as stiffly sprung as it is, firm but not too harsh. I am going to apply for the VIN pretty soon and when that shows up at my buddy's shop, I will have 30 days to pass inspection. I don't really want to work on it and possibly miss a weekly autocross, so that should get my butt in gear.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

So I've got some panels on the car now, what a transformation. It looks way more complete with only a few days of work. Got to another autocross and did good too, FTD against some pretty decent cars and drivers, but the gokart wasn't there. Here's what the car looks like now.



Here's a video from the last autocross, after the first two runs I added about 3 psi to the rear tires, that made the car way more drivable. Of course I don't have video of my one good run. One of my buddies has a proper camera with a suction cup mount, so this video is way easier to watch than the first one was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T53tcRoTwCs

Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Wow, it's been a while since I posted any updates. Been busy with work and stuff, so not a whole lot to report here. But I did score some free seat building materials this weekend in the form of a leather rear seat from a Taurus SHO. I didn't take any before pictures and I haven't got it put together yet, but I will be using the foam and leather attached to some 1/4" plywood. I got one rear cushion cut down enough to stuff it in and sit in the car, way comfy now. Just need an electric knife to take out about an inch of thickness and a staplegun to put it back together now. Will post pics when I get a bit further. I also got a free lesson in how not to use an angle grinder by way of 3 stitches on my thumb while cutting down the seatback.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

So here are a couple pics of the seats I scored last weekend. The bottom didn't turn out quite as nice as I would have liked due to seams in odd places. Can't believe Ford didn't think of that when they built them 20 years ago, very inconsiderate.
Before


After


Overall, I like them though, and way more comfy than my camping pads were.

And now to suspension redesign. I was reading another post and it made me realize that my oversteer problems were probably due to binding of my rear suspension because I have rod ends for all my pivots. So I am thinking of changing the rear into a 3 link instead of the 4 I have now. Either that or put a couple rubber bushings in the rear suspension so it won't bind. The 3 link would probably end up with a lower roll centre, not sure what that means for handling though. Any schools of thought on this? Thanks again to the collective wisdom of LocostUSA.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Those new seats look alot better than the camping pads as well, Good work.

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Trochu Motor League

Hey Kristian ,
Tell me about your headers...did you make them yourself? How about that collector-is it a standard part or did you fab it up? Nice looking headers, the collector is something that I've not found for a 3 into 1 if I use my vulcan.

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Thanks for the compliment. Headers and collectors are completely homemade. I bought 1.5" mandrel J bends and a couple 2.5" turndowns, the rest is just straight exhaust tubing. I couldn't find anything commercially available either. So someone else is considering using a vulcan 3.0? Right on, they are a good little motor.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Try this source for header materials. http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/co ... ctors-101/

JMR

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When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting -- Steve McQueen from LeMans

My build log viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10658&start=0 NOW NAMED =The Wycked 7

My other build log viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15162 The Skayt'R6

So it's been a while since I've done anything to the car, and this isn't much of a car update either, more of a life update. My wife and I just had our first baby on Feb. 24. Hopefully she will be daddy's little gearhead. She doesn't have a racecar bed, but this will do for now.

Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

WOW-that's great-congrats

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Ray +402 chassis, 2.8 v6

Kristian,

Oh how life is fixing to change for you. I can't tell you how much fun you can have with one of these. My son is six now and we are building him a Go kart, his moma is furious with me. I bought nine loads of dirt last year for his track we are building. He likes going fast up and over things and says it makes his tummy feel good with butterflies. It's funny because when he sees a rail road track sign he says "Daddy go faster". He almost got Daddy in trouble with that a while back but luckily the nice policeman understood. Congrats on the addition to the family!!!!!!!


Mark....

Ya I can't wait to start building go karts and doing stuff like that. I'm already thinking I should build a tiny go kart with a weedeater engine and some scrap 1/2" tubing I have.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Congradulations. Did you name her "Holly"?