A couple hours shoveling still isn't over. Water main broke, and work is good to have, but this isn't how I wanted to spend my day. Not sure I'll have the energy to do racecar things when we're all finished.
*edit. New page needs to start with pictures
That's radiator hoses finished and fitted. Just need to find clamps.
Wires are hooked up. Radiator is holding fluid. All the hoses are clamped. Just waiting on a second pair of hands before I apply fuel and electricity. T-minus any minute now.
It's alive! Video pending.
I applied 12v to the distributor and fuel pump. The pump was sucking from a 5 gallon can sitting by the rf wheel. Hit the button, spark, nothing. Battery clamps were left loose so I could pull the power if something bad happened. So I gave the terminals a little wiggle and tried again. It started right away. I guessed the timing pretty good.
It's late. The wiring is just hacked in and not at all permanent. And I'm still waiting on my fuel line. But this was a very successful day.
Heck yeah!
I usually don't work on projects on Sunday, but while showing off the car to my wife, "see, I can fix stuff! Is it too loud?"
Not that I did much, but it idles now.
I checked the oil yesterday because I was curious. There was a hint of milkshake at the bottom of the dipstick. Not sure if it means anything, since this engine sat for many years, over a year in my possession, and most of that year was outside, with loosely bolted on headers and no spark plugs. I spritzed some wd40 in the holes a few weeks before starting it up. And I've not taken it up to operating temp yet. Maybe something is borked, maybe not. Unless it's a cracked block I'm not concerned anyway, as the heads are going to be replaced once I can verify the car drives ok.
Starting to think about tires. I plan to run the $90 set of sn95 17" wheels that are on the car. 17s make for a good selection of cheap rubber.
I plan to buy one set of tires to do everything. 4 are budget exempt, so it works out great. But I still have to actually buy them, and my personal budget for this endeavor is tight. Really tight, like camping on the way out and back tight. So I'm having to debate on being faster vs. having money left for whatever. If I'm lucky and have room in the challenge budget left, I may try to borrow a set of slicks for the drags, hoping that my ample wheel wells and 5x4.5 bolt pattern makes things easier.
Factory size is 245/45r17 which I like and have pretty much narrowed down to two contenders.
I liked the raptors I had on my s10. Cheap, pretty sticky for daily use, and cheap. I put 10k on them and they took it fine with plenty tread left when I sold the truck. They would be easily able to make the trip, compete, and drive home, and I'm sure they would still have life. They would not put me in contention to be super competitive, but I'm not anticipating a high finish Autocross anyway.
the other contender:
much stickier. Still cheap, just not as cheap. And I'm not entirely sure I'd want to do 2200 miles out, race, and 2200 back. I have no experience with 200tw tires.
What say ye? Would 4400 miles kill a set of 200tw tires? Would they make a huge difference if I've only ever raced 1 event before and have no racing ability? The car should be pretty well balanced and roughly 3000lbs. And I'm hoping to juice 350 wheezing ponies out of this lump with the 062 heads and a silly cam. Traction will be hilarious.
In reply to barefootskater :
Many of the newer 200TW tires might not survive that, but the RT615K+ probably will- it's an older design/compound and not nearly as cheaty as the newer stuff. I've got more miles than that on the set on my MR2, but then again it's a 2000lb car.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Hmmm. I'd love to get this car down to mr2 weight, but it's not in the cards.
Worth noting as well that the traction device I plan to use starts with an "s" and rhymes with spool. Gonna spin or I'm not trying hard enough.
Even the stickiest of 200TWs are generally good for at least 10k highway miles. The falkens should last at least a bit longer than that while also being noticeably better for autocross than all seasons, more or less regardless of driver skill level. In my experience they're very well suited to cars that like slip angle, so they seem like a good match based on your last comment about traction devices.
I second that, nice breakaway characteristics are a big part of what I like about the Falkens and it sounds like you're gonna have your work cut out for you managing slides.
So, tomorrow I have a few things to grab, then Saturday could possibly see a test drive. Still needs rear brake line, fuel line, and ujoint installed. Passenger seat. I thought, "Man, I'm so close, guaranteed it drives this weekend." Then I realized a big thing I haven't done yet.
Hobiercr, you'll never guess what I haven't figured out yet.
still a possibility, but I've got a big day of work first. The good news is that once I can confirm everything works, it's time for speed parts.
I went back and looked at your action list on pg 10. I can't think of what you might have forgotten? Gas pedal?
In reply to hobiercr (FS) :
Yup! Which means I have to add clutch/brake pedal surgery to the list before any driving. And I suppose I should actually do the wiring.
For a sticky inexpensive tire, a lot of folks like the Federal RS-rr. I may be off a letter or 2 in the name
I declare this heap able to move under its own power. Stopping is a different issue.
In reply to barefootskater :
Did someone say "smoke show " ?
Not running is an inconvenience. Not stopping will kill you.
In reply to Indy "Nub" Guy :
Funny enough, I'm sure I could. The front brakes work, at least in theory since I never touched them or the lines. I'm curious what the 2.47 open rear would act like, and these tires are junk... but I'd rather not brake anything. Not yet anyway.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
Nah. Nobody ever died from not stopping. It is precisely stopping (too fast, unexpectedly) that will kill you. Besides, gotta die somehow.
Check it out. Metal fuel line. Fed from the free clickety clack pump back by the tank
And no, the wires won't be there when I'm done.
I was hoping to get the pedals altered today, but I don't have rear brakes yet, something something chop the car something. The current flaring tool is garbage so I was hoping to get away with premade lengths and a coupling or two. But I'm short by about 5' so I couldn't drive it yet anyway. Passenger seat is almost in, driveline is in, more seam sealer is removed, and the car was vacuumed out for the first time since we picked it up. So that's progress.
This is my reality and the price for awesome winters. Trouble is, it's extremely difficult to get motivated to work in the shop/outside. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the pedals figured out. That's job 1. Then if I can find enough brake line at the parts house, that's job 2. Then it's real actual wiring, provided I'm not dead from heat exhaustion. If by some miracle all that gets finished, it's drive thirty. crossing my fingers, not holding my breath. Gotta stay hydrated either way.
Then I've come to two hard realizations. The first of which is money. When I began this endeavor I was making considerably more money. My awesome wife who is great at money: "how much is this gonna cost?"
well, the car is $2000, and probably another $2000 for the trip what with fuel and hotel and food and entry fees. Splitting costs 50/50 with teammate, so $2000, final answer.
"ok, I'll set aside $2000 for you, just don't spend it on anything that's not for your racecar."
Shes awesome. Trouble is the car costs more than the budget, tires and safety and fluids and all. I really need to sit down and add up what I've spent, too. The short version is I may have to choose between speed parts and actually making the trip. That's not a hard choice, half the fun is just getting there. Just a little disappointing.
The second realization is time. Mid august now, and the car still doesn't drive. I'm an honest two or three weeks from being able to really drive it on the roads and we REALLY want to put more than a few test miles down before attempting to drive to Gainesville. So how much time does that really leave for big jobs like cam and head swaps? Not much.
TL;DR: when we get to challenge, we may be extra slow.
Very traditional
battery strap is done, pedals are done. Just need a cable nut and a rear brake line to drive it. Loud pedal is from an old Astro iirc. Had to alter it a bit, but it'll work. I hate making brackets.
If it makes you feel better, most challenge cars are slow and just making it there is more than 99.999% of the forum members have ever done
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