SCCA EMod MGB GT V12 Build

stroker wrote: I will never be able to Autocross. It's incomprehensible to be how you guys know whether to go right or left at the cones.

The key is walking the course over and over again, watching the course when you're not running and use an instructor whenever possible. Do this consistently and you'll get it figured out.

Some clubs will use chalk to between cones to help with the course route, most use "pointer" cones that are laid over next to other cones to help identify either side of a gate or which direction to go.

Today the car came loose in the trailer when a strap snapped and did a number on the the front spoiler and rear end when the car pinballed inside. I did some quick bodywork and paint and fixed it but was too traumatized to take any pictures. I doubled up on the strap strength, added some tie down locations in the trailer and am having a friend fab up some aluminum pieces that will make fastening the car down much easier. I also weighed the whole truck, trailer and car at the truck scales then went back with just the truck and trailer and weighed again. I was pretty worried when the numbers showed that the car is hundreds of pounds over weight but then I went back with the truck,trailer and car again and the numbers were nearly 400 lbs different than the first time, so the scales just aren't accurate. I also put the car on the dyno again to do some final tuning and checks before going to Lincoln and it's running pretty healthy. Check out how flat that powerband is: [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5445_zpspwprzxv1.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5443_zpspnuokkbn.jpg.html][/URL]

https://youtu.be/y8cVFl-1tjk

Ugh. Towing drama sucks. Glad it wasn't worse.

Lots has happened in 2 days. We headed for Lincoln, Nebraska for the Spring Nationals. There are 350 competitors and it takes place at the same location as Nationals and is a good test. I ordered Keizer wheels A1 model of spun aluminum wheel. It's the cheapest wheel that Keizer makes and I can't afford their Verbrand or Full House 3 piece wheels. I arranged to pick them up on the way to Lincoln and Wade, the owner of Keizer wheels called me and said that they were putting the finishing touches on the wheels when he saw something on them that he didn't like. Since he couldn't re-manufacture a new set in time, he was going to assemble a set of their Full House model 3 piece wheels at no extra cost. I was pretty excited because these were the wheels I really wanted. Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjUgSN68tJY

I also took a tour of the Keizer factory, video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PouGHQu1G4

We got to Lincoln and since nobody was on the the Test course, we took full advantage and made 21 runs with no troubles at all. Briget made 9 runs back to back just to get familiar with the car and it didn't overheat or miss a beat, it just roasted tires run after run. Then I went out and made a run, came back, made one suspension adjustment then went out again. I landed up stiffening all the shock settings (hi and lo compression and rebound) and raising the roll centers front and rear and in the end was 3 seconds quicker (36 seconds vs 39 seconds) on the course. Then I handed it back to Briget and she immediately chopped 1.5 seconds off her best and reported that it handles a lot better. We logged some runs and sent the data off to Jerry at Bad News Racing to see if anything can be improved. Oh yeh, we finally got an official weight on the car and it's too heavy. Fortunately, once I replace the heavy steel floor I made with an aluminum one, the car should be at the minimum weight for the class. https://youtu.be/QO43nF8f7UA

Man, that is one heck of an update! I'm so excited to hear about your experience with Keizer wheels - nothing makes me happier than hearing about excellent customer experiences.

The suspension changes had an impressive result. Good luck racing!

Kiesel is thee this weekend too, correct?

Good luck!

Truly amazing work on this one. It's like you replaced the whole car one molecule at a time to make it better, stronger, faster

So much has happened. Jeff Kiesel was running the test course and he was many seconds quicker than we were, so I did the logical thing and asked him to drive my car. He has 9 National Championships in EMod and I expected that there would be some constructive feedback and he had some. Peppered in with comments like "Something is broken" and "Your car scares me" were things like "The inside rear tire is coming off the ground, that needs to be fixed" and "change your pinion angle". We studied the rear suspension and pondered solutions and it was decided that I should try to reduce spring pre-load to hopefully increase droop. I wish I took video of what I had to do but I disassembled the rear shocks using ratchet straps and eliminated an adjuster ring to remove the considerable amount of spring pre-load. Once assembled and back on the car, rear suspension droop went from 3/4" to 2"-victory! There was no time to test last night so Briget went out on her run with all these changes and not having any idea what the car would do. She came back and said the car was better and I felt it was better, too but we are way off the pace of the leaders and are holding the final two positions in the class.

After competition was over, I took the sway bar arms off the rear bar and put them on the front bar because they had a lot more adjustment in them and increased roll stiffness in the front. I took the car on the test course and immediately took a whole second off my best time because I could actually accelerate around turns, and felt far more stable. The reason is that by stiffening the front, it plants the back tires better and keeps them on the ground. Briget took it out and took 1.5 seconds off her previous best. We are hoping for better results tomorrow. Obviously, last place and second last place are not what we wanted or expected but on the plus side, the car now has 56 runs on it without anything breaking, coming loose or acting weird. Here is a video: https://youtu.be/ccKzRd4P2ZE

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5483_zpse6azl8tf.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5480_zpsgtuwo4qx.jpg.html][/URL]

Honestly being where you are in the rankings, given that you are facing some of the toughest competition in the nation, for your debut event doesn't much surprise me. There is so much talent at Nats and even the best builds need some tuning time. As long as you continue to make progress and can put it back in the trailer in roughly the same number of pieces as it rolled out, that's your win. New builds are ass kickers.

Dude, this is awesome. Who gives a berkeley if you're last. You're at the Nats with an unsorted car, knocking huge amounts of time off, and competing against the best of the best with well sorted cars. In time, with tuning and seat time in the current version of the car, you will be a force to be reckoned with.

Listen...when this thing completed a lap without going up in a ball of flames and killing anyone, I pushed the "BIG berkeleyING WIN" button on my internet.

Maybe showing up on the first outing and expecting to beat Kiesel was a tad ambitious?

NOHOME wrote: Listen...when this thing completed a lap without going up in a ball of flames and killing anyone, I pushed the "BIG berkeleyING WIN" button on my internet. Maybe showing up on the first outing and expecting to beat Kiesel was a tad ambitious?

I had no thoughts of beating Jeff. Jeff himself said to me (I'm paraphrasing) that the car is like a baby that has just been born. It's cute and has all its fingers and toes but I can't expect it to speak or play the guitar just yet. On day 1 I was 5 seconds slower than Jeff Kiesel and I have already described the changes I made after my poor showing. Today we ran the exact same course as Day 1 but it was in the opposite direction and I could tell right away that this was not the same car I drove yesterday. I was able to accelerate around turns and the car felt very stable, but was still plagued with the rear tires locking up under braking. I had to do all my heavy braking in a straight line and you can hear the tires locking up in the video. I cut the gap to Jeff's lap time to 2.6 seconds and moved up 2 places to 5th in class. I couldn't be happier. The car has done 60 runs (many of them back to back) without a blip and is genuinely fast and fun to drive. I still have plenty of sorting to do and came across the scales at 2100 lbs when the class minimum is 1750 lbs and have to sort out the braking. I think I will be in the trophies at some point. Many people who have been following the build online came and talked to me and I really appreciated it. If you see me at an event, please come and say hello and ask all the questions you want. If I'm not in the middle of wrenching on something, I'll talk your ear off about the car. Watch the video: https://youtu.be/xvM13IwRg0M

In reply to loosecannon: You might find this helpful. I've tried variations of this setup on my cars and I really, really liked the results.

http://www.mr2oc.com/45-auto-x/298272-sts2-mk1-suspension-setup-w-host-xhead.html

http://www.mr2oc.com/45-auto-x/313691-sts2-mk1-suspension-setup-w-host-xhead-part-2-0-a.html

After the car broke loose in the trailer, I had a buddy take a wheel spacer and weld a tube to it. They bolt onto the car and I hook ratchet straps going forward and back from them, holding the car solidly in place. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5490_zpswsxyrdkl.jpg.html][/URL]

And here are the Keizer Full House wheels I picked up at the factory. They weigh nothing and are beautifully machined. I can't wait to put them on the car but their debut will be later in the season. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5481_zpsponl1mya.jpg.html][/URL]

Seeing under Jeff's skirt (so to speak) on FB was interesting. Your cars look very similar under the skin.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Seeing under Jeff's skirt (so to speak) on FB was interesting. Your cars look very similar under the skin.

Briget and I got to hang out with Jeff and Shawn a bit and they are very nice anf fun people. And Jeff is knowledgeable and helpful, even though I'm a competitor. His car is amazing, no doubt about that. Everything is where it needs to be with nothing extra or out of place, just like a real race car should be. I'm flattered to have my car compared to his

I got the car back into Speedworld and began doing all the little things that it needed. I started converting the rear brakes from the Strange Engineering 4 piston calipers to the Wilwood 2 piston calipers. The Keizer wheels fit over the Strange calipers (because they were heavily trimmed) but don't fit over the Wilwood calipers so instead of trimming them, I am having a little bit trimmed off the rotors. I have to make new caliper brackets anyways so it was the better option. The Keizer wheels clear the front brakes but not the balljoints so watch the video and see how I fixed that problem. https://youtu.be/NypmBideC8w

More work happened today. I riveted (yes, riveted) the new aluminum floor in and hope the rivets will prove durable enough. I also built steering stops because when I changed the alignment, suddenly the wheels were contacting the lower control arms. I expect the 13" wheels will also have this problem so I made the stops adjustable. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/RIMG0090_zpshf6nylhf.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/RIMG0091_zpsb7nzdzzl.jpg.html][/URL]

https://youtu.be/3kta6P4oFfc

Awesome as always.

Have you considered testing that floor in pieces or making in such a way that, in event of failure, the giant chunks don't land under several tires at once?

DaewooOfDeath wrote: Awesome as always. Have you considered testing that floor in pieces or making in such a way that, in event of failure, the giant chunks don't land under several tires at once?

The original (and too flimsy) aluminum floor was in 5 pieces but I'm just going to have to make inspections of the floor a regular part of servicing the car. Throwback Thursday, look where the car started: [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/Picture1423.jpg.html][/URL]

My rear calipers were too big and even moderate pedal application resulted in locked up rear tires, so I changed the rear calipers to exactly the same Wilwood Dynalite calipers I have in front. Watch the video to see how I did that. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5586_zpshobpf8vr.jpg.html][/URL]

https://youtu.be/m6jyuL9Ed0w

It may be a weird choice in posts to compliment in the midst of this awesome thread, but I REALLY enjoy solutions like this. This is brilliant.

loosecannon wrote: After the car broke loose in the trailer, I had a buddy take a wheel spacer and weld a tube to it. They bolt onto the car and I hook ratchet straps going forward and back from them, holding the car solidly in place. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_5490_zpswsxyrdkl.jpg.html][/URL]

In reply to Ed Higginbotham:

I thought that was cool, too however they do not work with the Keizer wheels so I will have to find another solution. At SpringNationals the car kept getting better as I stiffened front sway bar but I quickly ran out of adjustment. According to the online sway bar effectiveness calculator, the stiffness of my bar ranged from 200 lb/in to 1600 lb/in depending on which hole the link was bolted to. This didn't make sense to me, 1600 lb/in seemed wildly too stiff and the car was still quite compliant. Then it occurred to me that the link bolted to the lower control arm only about 1/3 of the way out so 1" of wheel travel resulted in only 1/3" of sway bar movement. So, today I moved the mounting point almost to the ball joint and this will result in a much stiffer sway bar (but still not 1600 in/lb). Attached are pictures of the original and updated mount [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/RIMG0100_zpsxllpo2ir.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/RIMG0101_zpsj3odg86r.jpg.html][/URL]

Watched the video.
Interesting solution to the wheel fitment. Thoughts on the resultant different arm angles??

Did you run the suspension up and down as well as turning the wheel to check for interference?

Lastly, not familiar with those wheels but if the clearance is tight, wheel deflection could result in some contact. Maybe enough meat on the bj to clearance it a bit??

jfryjfry wrote: Watched the video. Interesting solution to the wheel fitment. Thoughts on the resultant different arm angles?? Did you run the suspension up and down as well as turning the wheel to check for interference? Lastly, not familiar with those wheels but if the clearance is tight, wheel deflection could result in some contact. Maybe enough meat on the bj to clearance it a bit??

I have the same concerns. The change in arm angles does change the roll center, camber gain, etc but that can all be compensated for with changes to the inner mount heights. I still have to put wheels through full range of motion tests and I have no idea how much they could deflect, hopefully very little.