Nocones $2020 challenge build thread

I know still not car but I got my metal rack done and thought people might appreciate seeing it.  Each upright is made from 2 2*4s and it stores sheets on the bottom and sticks on the top.  I considered drilling holes in the 2*4 for rebar for racks but didn't want to get the drill press setup for putting an angled hole in so I reused some brackets I had built years ago.   It's stupid that with current wood prices this is a ~$100 rack..

The bottom plywood will extend all the way to the 3rd upright I just didn't have that piece cut yet.  

It's 20" deep and the sheets are at a 10* angle.  I will likely wall anchor it but not sure it's completely necessary.  

I've designed a short piece bin to be made out of 1 sheet of plywood and will post that when it's done.  I'm very hopeful that I will have the cars back in their homes this weekend which will get me back to the LMP360

Looks good! 

I like it

I have a really similar setup for lumber storage in my garage, minus the sheet storage down below.  I should probably incorporate that, though.  

I would absolutely wall anchor it.  I've got lag bolts into studs on mine. Easy and relatively quick.

And in car news, I'm sure you've all seen this but GRM dropped the video they shot of the car at the challenge.  

I love some of the shots they got and they somehow managed to edit my rambling into something resembling coherent thoughts.  I've spotted it linked on some non GRM media (Opposite-Lock) so it will be amusing seeing how it gets around.  

I'm just happy to be a part of generating buzz for the event and am proud of what was accomplished with the car.   I'm hopeful people take away from the car that you can build something pretty amazing for not a lot of $$ if you just try.  The car isn't perfect and some people really like to point that out but it's good where it count's and next year it's going to be better. 

I know how long editing videos takes  so I just wanted to say a big thanks to GRM staff and the Marketing team that was willing to put so much effort into a video about my strange car.  

I love cars that are built outside the 'box'.  This one is built outside of reality!  WOW!

Really cool build. I am only on page 10 so have a ways to catch up. In your new video you talk about having a tall CG and not needing sway bars. According to the video I would say you do or put wear plates under the pod area. 

Edit: Also, in the video, it looks like a lot of sidewall deflection. How much air pressure do you use?

In reply to nocones :

Thanks for working with Chris on the video. You all produced a tight, enjoyable video that, yeah, is inspiring. 

Eager to see you and the car again in Gainesville.

Thanks. 

The garage slog is almost finished.  I am done with sheeting and shelving and painting and now just have to move some stuff around.  It's taken way longer then it should have but I'm approaching the light.  

But things have been happening slowly on the LMP360.  Part of the long term plan is to eventually run UTCC and NASA Trackdays.  The NASA GCR is very strict about the types of Fuel tank you can run.  The only options are OEM in OEM location or FIA-FT3 only.    The 360 does not have a OEM fuel tank, and the location would not work anyway even if it did.  So that means FIA-FT3.   Which means spending half the challenge budget on a Cell.  A Fuel-Safe cell has been ordered that will go behind the seats.  It should arrive in a few weeks.  Behind the seats currently lives the radiator.  It can't stay there with the cell.  So that means I need a new radiator solution.  I had planned to use 2 Geo Metro Radiators that I have but they are a bit to large and I likely would have to buy new ones as they are really crusty and look ready to leak.  I did some research and found that an Austin Mini radiators is is little tiny thing (10.5"x10.5" core) and aluminum 2 core versions are available for $65 each.  I ordered two of these and when they arrived I was amazed by how small they are.   I mean I knew how big 10.5X10.5 is but until you have one in your hand it isn't readily apparent how small they are.  

These will get crammed into the sidepods.  They use some threaded bungs in the side to hold the radiator on which will be super easy to mount.  I will either cut off the caps and weld them up or run higher pressure caps like I have on the MG.  The fuel cell and radiators will be removed and the behind the seats radiator used for the challenge but the ducting and fans I install will still direct air behind the seats.   The 2 Mini radiators are about 70% or the surface area of the OEM Subaru radiator but it is only 1 core so I am hoping it will be okay.  

I also have been looking for some better rims for Track Work.  I obviously can use the outback wheels but I really wanted some nice looking 17×8+ wheels for track just because they look better.  On my Local FBM I saw an add for Blemished Blowout RFP1s for $500.  Being nearly the cheapest aftermarket 5×100 wheels on FBM I was sceptical it was a scam.  The address was the Corporate headquarters for SD Wheels whom I had never heard of but they have a website so I drove up to Chicago thinking I would get scammed.  I was wrong.  This place was huge and probably had ~2000 sets of blemished wheels spread out in a 3 story warehouse.  The rims were in great shape except 1 that has some paint chips and a small gouge.  Otherwise they where really nice.  I was looking at used wheels anyway so I was very happy with the condition.  Oh and the best part is they are the Gold ones.

RFP1 all the things!   

Uh.... do they have more of those blemished RPF1s?  Do they ship?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Uh.... do they have more of those blemished RPF1s?  Do they ship?

DITTO!!!

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Cash only, pickup only.  They list things on Facebook Marketplace in Batavia IL but it doesn't appear it's everything they have.  When I was there they had the ability to search all the inventory so potentially a call could get some info.  

Some car adjacent work.  When I rebuild the fenders and work on the underbody I will need the car suspended from it's wheels for ride height and open under the chassis.  That means I need Cribbing!

Step 1 cut up $100 worth of 2*4s.

I am making a set of 20" high and a set of ~10" high cribs.  The cribs are 12" Wide and 17" long.  These dimensions seemed "good".  The top and bottom are the same on both heights but for the shorter ones I used 2*6 on the side for the webbing and for the taller I used 2*4s vertically with plywood sheeting.  All joints are liquid nails and Screwed. 

I thought about making dozens of the stacked cribs I've seen people use but it took so many stacks to get to 20-30".  This saved about 1/3 of the 2*4s of what would be required for stacks and there is no chance the stacks slip or warp relative to each other.  

I haven't fully secured the plywood because I'm going to router in some oval handle holes and round over the edges for comfort.  

I've also only assembled 1 of each height.  Hopefully I will get the rest done tonight.  

They are not the lightest but they are pretty easy to move around.  I may attach some HF small Dolly's to the bottom depending on stability.  

Now caution time..   these are probably dangerous, the cars I will put on them a weigh less then 2000lbs.  

I like the sheer-plates on those tall ones.  I was wondering how you were going to stabilize the tall cribbing.

 

 

 

 The address was the Corporate headquarters for SD Wheels whom I had never heard of but they have a website so I drove up to Chicago thinking I would get scammed.  I was wrong.  This place was huge and probably had ~2000 sets of blemished wheels spread out in a 3 story warehouse.  The rims were in great shape except 1 that has some paint chips and a small gouge.  Otherwise they where really nice 

Steve Hamilton is the owner. Also owns Fitment Industries. This guys' story is incredible! Really heart-warming and the stuff he does for charity are unbelievable . For anyone interested, here's the link to the Hamilton collection...   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh3W1Y3gB0Y

In reply to 2GRX7 :

That's awesome I really had no Idea about SD wheels or their owner.  I'll have to send them some pictures of the LMP360 rocking it's SD wheels when it's done.  

Ok it's been a bit but I'm back on the 360.  

I did the final organizing of the garage and got the Autobianchi lifted onto pallet racks with the Panhard below it and the Miata next to it.  Beside the Miata is a rack of 6 engines that I need to do something with.  

So now the garage overall looks like this.

And the Subaru is ready for work which will start tomorrow.  

Also my very not cheap fuel cell showed up.  This thing is literally 1/2 the cost of the car but is required to run NASA events.  Getting it behind the seats will either require complete rework of the way the seats are mounted or taking the car apart at the middle.  And unfortunately because it's $900 it has to come out for the challenge.  I'm hopeful I can figure out how to get it in and out relatively painlessly.

Onward with grinder!

Can I ask how you got the car onto the pallet racking? I have a 6'2" floor I'm trying to get a couple cars onto

In reply to twentyover :

I lifted the car on Atlas Mid rise lift under the Subaru then built the pallet rack under it.  I then used the smaller set of cribs I built to lift it another 10" and adjust the racking to just clear the Panhard.   It's stable but I'm not sure I'd put much more on this consumer grade shelving.  I'd probably want real industrial pallet racking for a heavier car.  

So step 1 of "El Plan" is to fix the ride height.  The car ran at the challenge with the pullrods as short as they could go and still only had about 1.75" of ground clearance.  The intention was 2.25-2.5" but I ran out of time to shorten the pullrods.  

The goal is to get the Outback wheels and RFP1s with tires mounted at the correct ride height to final mount the fenders.  

So last night I removed the wheels and before I started taking the pullrods appart I thought I'd do a full inspection to see how things looked.  In the front everything was fine.  In the rear things where not as fine.  

I had noticed at the last Autox I ran that the car seemed to be loosing ground clearance based on the amount of scrapery that occured.  

I found the cause. 

This was a pretty big ask for .125 thick mild steel.  Both sides look similar.  I will just pound this back flat and add a vertical rib.  I may make the rib wrap the part and go back to the bushing.  But either way it's an easy repair, and the welds on the pullrod tab held with no cracks.

At the Bellcrank I had ran out of time and added these plates to put the Bellcrank in "double shear".  I knew the solution was marginal at best as a triangulation part was always planned.  They worked until they didn't.  

This weld cracked along it's length.   It clearly was overloaded due to the short width of the plate.  Again this is an easy repair to bend back, grind out, weld back up, and then add the reinforcement I needed to have in the first place.   The reinforcement will remove the bending on this vertical weld and load it in more even tension which should lower the stress at the bottom of the weld.  Again I will probably add a return flange along the bottom of this plate just to stiffen it and increase the section at the root where the weld began to fail.  The other side is the same here as well.  

Together these things resulted in about a half inch of droop at the chassis.  That explains the low ground clearance.  

Stripped the fenders, sidepods, exhaust and rear brakes off for access to work on the suspension.

The RFP1S require spacers and longer studs, and I have new brake components all around.  The lift really works great for this kind of work.  

But this means I really really am back working on the car rather then just moving it around.  +2 hrs for disassembly.  

I am envious of your ability to make pushrod suspension work the first time, even though it kinda broke itself.

maschinenbau said:

I am envious of your ability to make pushrod suspension work the first time, even though it kinda broke itself.

Colin Chapman would be proud.

In reply to maschinenbau :

I'm not fully sure I got it exactly right, the rear is a bit stiffer then planned and the front seems a little soft but I'm in the right ballpark and it did function well enough to drive.  You'll get yours figured out. 

It's wierd how simple the math is but because of the fact that you are dealing with both spring rates, spring work, and actuation geometry it just seems harder then it has to be.  I've often thought we should develop a simple "spring ratio" that gets rid of the complicated ride frequency math and represents your springs as a function of 2 ratios.  Wheel rate to sprung mass and Spring Travel to Wheel travel.  The Squared and Square root terms don't really help in the understanding because CPM/HZ are themselves arbitrary.  They mean something but that something is not any easier to inherently understand then just the ratio alone.  

I got the rear suspension pulled down to fix the bent parts of the Belcrank system.  

This was an opportunity to disassemble and inspect the bushings.  All of the ones I inspected still had good grease coverage with minimal wear.  There was a black tint to the grease indicating some metal on metal wear but nothing extreme.  The Belcrank bushings showed some potential galling so I will try a paste lube on them and plan to inspect them again after a little more use.  

I also got the extended wheel studs installed.  Now the car looks racecar.