Team Stampie $50 Q45 Challenge build

We didn't know if the tires were gonna fit but they did and I think it actually has an aggressive stance 

Lil_Stampie said:

We didn't know if the tires were gonna fit but they did and I think it actually has an aggressive stance 

you, sir, are not wrong

I like that little stampie is using the term aggressive stance.  Stampie you should be proud...

Sweet. #stancelyfe

In reply to pimpm3 :

I am. Now if I could get him to do some of the heavy lifting.

We started out the morning with another coat of black on the wheels before heading to get donuts.

Here's our cadaver for the mornings experiment. I picked it up in the junkyard a few month back just for this.

Safety first.

I drilled first right under the spring perch.  I was disappointed by the lack of pressurized gas.

Next I drilled the bottom and was excited to see oil draining. We got about 100ml of oil.  Then I kinda wussed a little on drilling the struts on the car because I don't have any backups. 

So we moved onto the drag tires. Dropped them off before lunch and picked them up on the way back. As Lil Stampie pointed out they look nice. I was really worried about how tight they were until Lil Stampie opened the trunk.

That's two diffs, two RX7 trans, a RX8 trans, couple of Q45 rear springs, and two Q45 front hubs. So at least 500 lbs of junk in her trunk. That made clearance much better when we took it all out. Probably still going to roll the fenders. 

Stampie said:

Safety first.

I about woke the sleepykids laughing at that!  Thanks!

Got back on the battery box this evening.  First I drilled the four holes and taped the bottom holes.

Then I threaded 10/24 machine screws in.

Cut them off, tacked them in and ground them flush.  For some reason I still refuse to believe metal gets hot when you weld. This is what 10/24 threads look like melted into your fingers.

So cleaned it up on the bench grinder removing a little weight from the tip of my finger.

Then fit it all together.

Went over weight just a bit. I need to add one more piece but I have some areas I can remove weight from. 

Another day means work on Sleepyhead's battery box.

Punched two 1/2 inch holes in a piece of steel.

Into the Bindinator it goes.

Used free child labor to grind it down to size.

Weld onto top bracket and used the free child labor again to grind it smooth.

Bottom bracket into car.

Battery and top bracket in.

We punched two more 11/16ths holes in the top bracket to account for the extra 0.1 oz yesterday and the added tab today.  Hope the paint doesn't weigh much.

Gotta love that free child labor.

It's not going to help you though.

In reply to Indy-Guy :

You're right. We're so far ahead that little won't help much. If you want I'll let you borrow him. I'm sure he'd show you how to take several seconds off your dynamic. 

In reply to Stampie :

Your kids must eat less than mine, the "free" labor at my house adds up quick! Still worth every penny.

In reply to Fladiver64 :

You’re right about that. He’s a picky eater that wants NY Strip or Ribeye for dinner every night. 

It's paint night in the Stampie household!

We soaked it in vinegar overnight cause we could then hung them up.

Can you guess what color we painted them?  Yep you got it. Orange! First coat on.

Extra bonus Friday morning edition.

We have new and improved Stampie cooling!

Same fan as last year but instead of rigging up through jumped relays and horn wiring I ran a fuse wire directly off the battery. 

Today was do all the little things day. Took the rear autocross tires down to swap them out with another pair at $3.33 each. Left them there cause they were busy with an after lunch pickup time.

Then I drilled a hole in the bottom of the passenger strut.

Drained the fluid. Then welded the bottom.

Filled it with 30w motorcycle fork oil.  Then welded the top. 

Did the same in the drivers side.  Then after I put all the tools up I see this.

Berk me. Said berk it and drove down to the marina to get 10 gallons of gas.  We'll have to redo that side.

Meanwhile I had gone down to pick up my tires and they where slammed. Hasn't even gotten to them yet. Said I'd be back in two hours. After the strut fail I sent down to get them. Owner felt bad that I had to come back so he didn't charge me. Think I'll go get a bottle of whiskey to celebrate. 

Does the different shock oil make much of a difference for you? I remember reading that article back in the day. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

We're hoping it will. We had major damping issues last year. 

Depending on this weather, may still have dampening issues anyway.

In reply to maschinenbau :

Stampie is slightly understating the issue...

There’s a seam in the asphalt right at the crest of the lot, and one side is higher than the other by about 1.5”-2”. Now, there is a sloped transition between them, but last year the autox course transitioned from the high to low side. At speed, when I crested it on my first run, the front of the car started pogoing, and the tires lost contact with the pavement completely - while I was trying to countersteer. In a car without power steering. So the steering effort went from extreme to zero, and repeated with every bounce. The net effect was that I’d try to steer, loose grip completely, which caused me to go full-lock, then it landed, causing me to countersteer, before going airborne again, which caused me to go full-lock in the opposite direction...for about 3 complete cycles  

That was, uh, an experience...

In reply to Pete Gossett :

You just needed to get your timing better. Think of it as zero budget, zero weight power steering. Timing it is a bitch though. 

Oh the fun of Challenge week. Sunday we loaded up the Q45 on the trailer. Went to back it in the drive and heard a pop. One wheel now had extreme camber.  Yep axle broke. 

Pimpm3 is the man cause he let us borrow his trailer.

Monday got in the Miata to go pick up Lil Stampie from school. No start. Berk me.

Last night I try to fix the passenger strut.  I'm using a street light and a free harbor freight led light to work by.  Too tight to get a grinder in there. So try to weld on top of the leak. Oil catches on fire when you try to weld on it. Decide to call out of work today and do it in daylight. 

Dropped Lil Stampie at school and hit harbour freight. Picked up their diamond grinding wheel for my Dremel. Grind it down and you can see the tiny little crack.

Welded the hole up forgetting that I left the oily paper towel right under it. Did you know you can't really see fire until you take the welding mask off?  

Fire out.

Welded it up.

Discovered that my fork oil bottle had turned over on it's side and leaked most of it out. I have enough for about one and half tries so I put 30ml in and I'm doing a leak down test. 

Almost forgot redrilling the top hole kicked my ass. The bit kept wondering around and wouldn't start drilling. Finally I looked at it and I had put the bit backwards in the drill. I may need new glasses. 

Gotta install the battery box right?

Painted final weight exactly 1 lb.

Base in. That front bolt is a PITA. Have to rotate the base counter clockwise and get it mostly tight then get the base in position and tighten it the rest of the way.

Battery in top on.

I shimmed the hell out of it with some black plastic I found floating down the road in a storm one day.

Cause I'm a slow ass that took an hour. But guess what?  No leak!

Almost forgot, last night we had 3 of our autocross tires off so we doped then using the echoechoecho method. Lil Stampie found out that CRC belt dressing burns if you have a fresh cut on your hand. I took the last autocross tire off and doped it. 

They sure are sticky now. I touched them while wet and it took some effort to wash the black off my hands. Kinda wondering if I should do the drag tires also. 

In reply to Stampie :

I’m really glad you did this. I was just thinking earlier that these tires are a couple years old & had probably lost a bit of grip.