A team with no name goes racing.

Why not ZRT?  Zonda Racing Team.

Or just team Zonda.

Or Datzonda.

Or Gallant Mystical Shi...  oh, wait.  That one's taken.  

We specifically didn't want to tie our team name to a specific car or manufacturer, in case we change cars in the future.

Justin and I have been discussing a second vehicle that is very different from this one. All theoretical at this point and very hush-hush but the zonda nameplate would not fit.

We picked a team name based on a lower performance fuel, and we couldn't be happier with the niche we have put ourselves in. Just the other night we discussed TDI swapping a GC8.

Trust me, there are dumber ways to name the team.

At the last event we attended there was an early crash. An over-eager front runner made a sketchy pass around an amateur team who wasn't paying much attention to what was behind them.  Blame can be thrown one way or the other but the fact is a car was totaled and a driver was hospitalized with minor, non-life threatening injuries. We don't want this to happen to us. we discussed the situation among ourselves, eager to glean whatever lessons we can from it.

Driven has spotted the anti-intrusion bars fitted in the car that he believes greatly reduced the injuries suffered by the driver. I think he is right.

We will most likely be incorporating these into our cage.

The second car involved was a very green team, a lot like us, and they sort of drifted into the side of the passing car as if they didn't know they were there.

I have picked up a wide angle mirror and modified it's mountings to work with our cage. We have not come up with a side mirror solution yet, although I did see a 4th gen trans am with fender mount mirrors that might just fit the bill.

Watching some of the in car vids of the different racers I noticed many cars run a rear view camera. After looking into it I discovered that they really aren't that expensive for a basic no frills setup. So... no real reason not to.

Another week and the kidless amongst us did get some work done on the car.

Ian has gotten the radiator plumbing figured out. Despite our best efforts, it did require some firewall cutting, although a lot less than would have been nessesary if we used rhe stock honda peice.

The engine came out again, so we could prep it to receive the trans permanently.

The starter has arrived and we test fit it. Much to our surprise, it looks like it will work, but along with everything else on this beautiful disaster, it will require custom bolts.

The Excedy clutch is aligned and the rear main seal was replaced, might as well do that while we're here.

Excitement grew as we readied to marry the engine and trans, and then we realized we would need to custom make a spacer for the clutch slave cylinder.

If we were running an auto we wouldn't have this problem... but I'll have to take some measurements and bribe my lathe guy with some booze and we'll be off.

Some over-zealous impact wrenching on what turned out to be a left hand thread meant we would be forced to replace the tensioner while we were at it we swapped the pulley for a 6 rib to facilitate the new belt routing.

It took several trips to the parts store to get what we needed. We dealt with one minimum wage counter-jockey who seemed willing to help but was hampered by the computer system, and another who seemed genuinely upset that we asked him to put forth a minimum amount of effort.

In the end we both forgot to get a belt.

When Brandon originally obtained this motor he did a few things to it, including some minor porting of the lower intake manifold, removing the flapper In the upper, and swapping the upper around do it would work in a RWD configuration.

Ian got to work attaching the wiring harness and found that the reversed manifold interfered with the harness in a few places, grinding commenced.

While he was doing that I climbed into the car to fit the new mirror. Adjustments will have to be made to driver's preference once the seat is installed, but I'm shocked by how much of the passenger side is visable here.

That was about as far as we could get with what we had on hand. I took measurements for window nets and I'm still looking for a viable side view mirror solution.

The cat herding continues.
 

The last thing preventing the engine and transmission from finally being mated together was an adapter spacer for the clutch slave. Thursday night a lathe opened up at work and I got on the horn with Ian. "Bring me the parts right now!"

A quick rummage through the offcut bin produced this good sized chunk of aluminum.

With the parts in hand and a rough spec we were able to make a plan.

CNC lathes are... just better.

having the mating parts on hand allowed us to adjust the dimensions for a guaranteed fit.

Thanks to a damn good machinist (not me... I don't do lathe work) we had a ready to deliver part in just a couple hours.

I wanted to mount it up on my mill and do the drilling, tapping and counterboring but Ian wasn't 100% on the final orientations, so he plans to finish the part on a drill press. but that should be ready to go.

We're looking at something like 65 days until the next event at the ridge. The checklist off the top of my head is as follows:
 

Car:

Engine and trans mating
Final engine mounting.
Run the fuel system.

Run the wiring.

cooling fan.

weld firewall.

install hood pins and brackets.

finish cage.

install nets.

Harness install.

Install fire supression.

windshield install.

bend up and install front bumper.

build a splitter/ air dam.

headlight and rain lights.

paint car?

Buy spec tires and maybe new wheels.

at least three of the drivers need gear.

I need a few more things for pits.

It's a lot to do in a short amount of time. Stay tuned for the low key drama.

Change of plans. Rather than the Ranger parts we have decided to go with an LS slave cylinder. Why? I don't know, that's above my pay grade. but that means a new adapter will need to be machined. A bit more planning went into V2. Rather than a napkin with some scribbled dimensions we took careful measurements and even printed a prototype for test fitting.

Unfortunatly I wasn't able to find any scrap so I had to buy a few slugs to make this work. Since I was buying I opted to make 2. Why build one when you can have two for twice the price? I figure anything that isn't an off-the-shelf part should have a spare.

Tale as old as time, the engineers and the machinists butted heads. the full tapered edges looked great but presented difficulties with workholding. Since nothing actually interfaced with the edges we called an audible and redesigned it.

The lathe did the heavy lifting.

the flat sides allowed for both sides to be properly turned and enabled me to hold the part with some custom soft-jaws.

and hour of programming and 10 minutes of spindle time later we had parts. Well, parts of parts. The bottom was tougher as there wasn't any way to hold the top, as there was a taper. I used the existing holes to bolt it to a plate and mounted that into a standard vise.

fun and exciting...

This little part has been keeping us from marrying the engine and trans and hopfuly now we can make some progress.

Hi. It's the team member who isn't one of the three that still haven't bought race gear. I just used my HANs and fire suit a week ago. I got a new SA2020 helmet this year. Also broke down and got a hybrid HANs which any of you are welcome to borrow for track days if you want.

After reading this thread I'm starting to understand why I still haven't been behind the wheel of this ghetto supercar. 

It's too nice! It's all too nice! Where are the booger welds and crooked hose clamps? I want to see mounts being fashioned from scrap metal and curse words. Numbers painted on raw metal with lipstick. Instead we have what looks like a master class in engineering. Is this a piece of artwork or a race car?

Ian, your work is beautiful, ngl. Jay your attention to detail is outstanding. 

Now, what corners can we cut? What can we half-ass to get this at least to an autocross event?

In the time since I drove to Reno to pick up the donor carcass for this build, I have bought two other race cars myself. One has been on track at the ridge, to multiple hill climbs and more autocross events than I can count. The other, well, I've only had it a month or so, but I'm pretty sure I'll get it to pass tech at Bremerton by bribes or begging and once I run it at autocross I'll be inspired to develop it further as it will undoubtedly be a hot mess.

That's what we need, just to get it running enough to pass tech at autocross. Once we get it that far we will be inspired to finish it. I mean, this strategy worked for my Miata. When I started autocrossing it in 2016 it was naturally aspirated, on stock suspension and brakes, and rolling on daisies with four different brands of all seasons. It was glorious. I didn't win, but I was racing. Now, the car is actually competitive, but I've been racing the entire time. I've been through three motors, two suspensions, more drivetrain configurations than I care to recall.

If I waited until the Miata was 'finished' to race I would probably not have raced it yet. It's still not finished, there is an entire box of pistons/rods/bearings that need to go inside the block that's on the shelf, after it's machined. The exhaust leaks and needs to be replaced with a 3" unit. The front splitter has been gone for a year but I don't care, I'm still competitive. 

We need to look at our laundry list of things to do and finish the ones that get us to a car that runs and can pass tech at a regional like NWAA, which is pretty lenient, just need to have working brakes and tires that aren't dry rotted. Then run the damn thing. I guarantee we will learn a bunch that will save us so much time later.

I just moved to Tacoma so I'm a few minutes from the car now. I can do the wiring harness. Do we need to pick up wire, or do we have the wire we are going to use? I feel like this is one of the major missing pieces.

I'm not mad, I feel like there's been great progress on this car. I want to drive it more than ever. Also would like to help build it since it's getting to the point where my skills (wiring) might be actually useful.

Progress is glacial, but it is progressing. four of us showed up in order to watch/force Ian do some work.  The fire wall is all finished up except for the yet to be drilled holes for the heater core and throttle cable.

the heater core is mounted on some custom brackets in the position that allows the best access for all attachments while remaining out of the way of the driver's feet.

The first and last races of the season often take place during rain, so a defroster is a must have.

During the past month or so we've been running around trying to find front end parts. The car had one excessively wrinkled fender and one excessively rusty fender. a few weeks back he managed to find a set.

The buckets are mounted and lights are installed. the rest of the plan for the front end is to make a semirigid air dam that connects between the existing fenders and the forthcoming splitter similar to te one installed on this bar of soap.

The current plan is to mount a tubular bumper similar to the one on the rear  ahead of the air damn. Given the tight quarters of the bumper mounts around the hood hinges the mount designs are pretty limited. The current discussion is about how strong to make these mounts. if they are too weak they'll offer no protection, if they are too strong they will only transfer any potential impact forces into the less easily replaceable internal structure. Stay tuned for those answers.

One of the last few things that need to be addressed before the engine can settle in permanently is the fueling system. We had purchased an inline electric fuel pump and a corvette derived filter/regulator combo. the real estate between the fuel cell and the rear suspension is pretty limited so packaging both of these components is going to be pretty tight. during this discussion we discovered that the fuel cell has a pump in it. I don't know how many times we looked at it before it registered to us that there were wires going into it.

The foam looks pretty good though, so that's nice.

These pumps still need to be tested but their existence does free up some space underneath for the regulator.

With the last race of the season a mere week away it is pretty unlikely we will be ready in time (fingers crossed anyway) so we will be gearing up for the winter push. 4-5 months until the season opener next year.

The 2024 LDRL schedule and ruleset should be released on the 4th of November so we'll know how long we actually have before we need to start making excueses again.

As always Jay, I appreciate the cataloging of our work. If you weren't keeping the build thread alive I don't think any of the rest of us would! But next time, let's not use the potato-cam?

The more I think about the bumper and the fact that newer cars just have a straight crash beam behind plastic, why don't we just make a curved bar and mount it behind the airdam? Sunken in below the buckets?

In reply to dr_strangeland :

Thank you. Beautifully said. Perfect has gotten in the way of good enough.

iansane said:

But next time, let's not use the potato-cam?

I don't think my pictures are that bad but you wanna buy me an EOS DSLR I'll learn to use it. Until then though, we're all Mark Watney.

iansane said:

The more I think about the bumper and the fact that newer cars just have a straight crash beam behind plastic, why don't we just make a curved bar and mount it behind the airdam? Sunken in below the buckets?

That is certainly an option. It would be more aerodynamic and it would look oh-so-good

The counterpoint comes from our friends over at General Lief Racing.

"Maybe we should start running a bumper again."

Without an extended bumper we would be leading with our nose, and the Z-Car sheet metal has proven difficult to find.

I slapped on the new tbelt and waterpump over the weekend. I'm not good with pictures so there's just a before shot.

The honda crank bolt setup is a bear. Made a bolt on flywheel holding tool and had to use a 5' pipe on the breaker bar to get it loose. 

Also, I'm noticing some things from previous photos.

Well, we're here again. It's been a year and while we haven't competed as a team, we did attend some events. I don't think that we have failed.

We are 6 idiots who met on the Internet and are feeling our way through a complicated process. Mistakes are going to be made along the way. There's no avoiding that. But we can learn from that.

As Henry pointed out, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough. A racing car is an iterative process.

So we have 166 days, 24 weekends to get this car ready to go wheel to wheel, and I still think we can do it.

My plan is going to be a mix of milestone goals, parallel goals and pretty constant nagging.

I'm going to try and put together a list of what needs doing, and in what order we need to do it in. What jobs can be done when so that when we do actually get together for a wrench day, it can be more productive than just watching Ian work.

As of now the LDRL PNW championship has become the Pacific championship, trading out its Pacific Raceways event (our home track) for Sonoma California. I'd love to race there, but it is unclear if that one is feasible for us. 

That leaves us with 2 trips to the ridge, one in the rain, and one road trip down to portland.

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In reply to AClockworkGarage :

Am I still not a part of the group? based on your count of 6

birdmayne said:

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

Am I still not a part of the group? based on your count of 6

 

Hey, just because you found the car. And the engine. And pulled the engine. And drove the engine across the state. And have specific knowledge of the chassis you think you're part of the team?

Of course you are. We talked about it though, and we're going to need you to Zoom in on WIW days. Can you operate a torque wrench from a laptop?

I took some progress pics this past weekend.

I made a new shifter hole.

dr_strangeland said:

This is a perfect shot of what the guys fixed last wrench day. I built these big burly mounts and then anchored them to the stock frame rails with rivnuts. Seemed okay at the time but I didn't pay attention to the fact that rivnuts sit higher than the surrounding metal. So even cranked all the way down tight they were placing the entire engines weight on a very small area and tweaking the sheet metal frame rails. Short sighted on my part. I had considered welding nuts inside the frame rail or even drilling all the way through and using a tube to prevent compression but in the end I got lazy and did the rivnuts. While I was messing with other stuff like filling in the giant hole in the firewall I cut for starter clearance the guys cut small plates as close to the thickness of the top of the rivnut as they could with the materials I had on hand. I think they did a pretty sweet job. So now the engine mounts actually sit against the frame rails and not a tiny section of rivnut. Doing this also raised the engine back up to the "engineered" install height.

Seeing these shots just makes me aware of how cluttered my shop is.

What size rivnuts?

I haven't had great luck supporting anything of substance with rivnuts.

M10 or M12, I can't remember exactly. I also welded them to the frame rail.

Another garage day has come and gone. Either all of the team, some of the team, or potentially none of the team gathered at the swap shop to do... something.

While Ian was expanding the transmission tunnel he noticed that a not insignificant portion of the floor actually wasn't. So his homework was to replace the bondo with metal. Which he did.

With the floors finished up and the shift opening fabbed we threw the seat in.

During test fitting the containment seat was so wide that the top of it stuck out rhe window. A problem we decided at the time to kick down the road, a problem for future us.

"Thanks a lot past us" -Present us.

Ian approached the team chat, beard in hand, Big man, strong man, tears streaming down his cheeks. He said "Sir... I don't whow what happened, but the seat fits now."

Sure enough it fits. What happened?

I dunno.

Did we do something wrong the first time? Did all the cutting and welding twist the car enough to solve this problem? Am I just a brain in a vat imagining all of this?

Each is an equally valid and likely hypothesis.

The seat position was a roadblock tlot of things like net and belt installation, pedal placement and other interior seasonings.

I arrived at the garage determined to get the net situation settled. We went with a buckle top, strap bottom setup. 

The problem we came across was having near perfect tension, releasing the net, then having it be super tight when reinstalling.

After some troubleshooting we found that the straps were sliding downwards on the angled bar, effectively increasing their distance from the top. This would be a headache during a pit stop.

This rubber spacer was clamped in place to prove the theory. and it did.

The current thought is to weld on some small loops to the outside of the roll bar to prevent the sliding. The brackets for third gen t-top bags should work perfectly.

While I was yutzing around with the net, Ian, Jeremy and Henry were battling snakes.

Doing a lot of rerouting, lengthening, pruning and identifying wires and plugs. A difficult and important task that I am glad someone else is doing.

While the important wiring work was going on Justin was researching and ordering parts for our air dam. No cool pictures unfortunately but it was valuable work indeed.

We also took some time to look at mirror placement. With the seat in place and the mirror just thrown in there was a pretty commanding view of the area around the car. The longacre rear view would shiw a car passing on the passenger side until it was beyong the door. A pass side wing mirror is virtually unnecessary.

We have a 4 inch convex mirror and did some checking and found that a mud fender mount would give us almost no blind spots without even turning your head. The on fender mounting would also protect the mirror in the event of a sideswipe incident.

Pretty good, and we haven't even mounted the camera yet. I set off to make that happen.

A super simple install even a moron like me couldn't mess up. The cables were routed through an existing hole and loosly thrown along the side of the chassis harness to be bundled into it when we eventually get to that.

I really should have mounted it into my personal vehicle to test it first but eh... we're here now.

All in all a productive day. We did not however, pick a team name yet. I threw a couple suggestions into the ring that were slightly humourous, slightly self depreciating, non-vehicle specific and not offensive to potential sponsors.

Being: Not last racing owjng to our continuous joke of wanting to finish at least not last.

The second suggestion was "Penultimate Motorsports" which is just a $3 word that means Not-last.

As i left for the day, Ian asked "but what if we finish last?"

Well that, Mrs Morresette, would be ironic.

There has been some progress on the car. like necromancy, it is not sexy work but it is important. We've been plugging away on the engine wiring. Using our wit, our whimsy, and Honda's absolutely piss-poor wiring diagrams to try and convince this engine that it's still inside a drug dealer's sedan and not the sleek rocketship from Hiraysuka we've wedged it into.

Important work, but not photogenic work.

To reward your patience I do have one photo for you.

Nice.