An accusump is not the 'ANSWER' ???
An accusump is not the 'ANSWER' ???
In reply to 759NRNG :
It might be. I need to do some more reading about using them. From what I can tell the biggest concern is with release of oil at idle pressures. You can't add a lot of oil to the crank case before you get things like oil climbing the timing chain.
In other research news, my car has power windows/locks/mirrors. It looks like they made sedans with manual mirrors which may shed a few pounds when I get to that point. Something to look for when parts hunting any way.
I actually like having power mirrors for track day cars. If someone in the paddock bumps into your mirror and you don't notice it until you're strapped in, you're screwed if you don't have them. And they probably don't weigh a whole lot more.
Of course, if you really want to go light, I have a pair of vintage Vitalonis that you could mount to the front fenders.
mazdeuce - Seth said:In reply to 759NRNG :
In other research news, my car has power windows/locks/mirrors. It looks like they made sedans with manual mirrors which may shed a few pounds when I get to that point. Something to look for when parts hunting any way.
If this is going to be a OneLap car, I suggest contemplating this change on the passenger's door only... of pick up a second set of doors, so you can swap back and forth.
In reply to Woody :
Part of what I want to do is have the ability to move all the door wiring/controls off the doors themselves and run switches for the windows elsewhere if I decide to run different door panels. My hunch is that there is more to be saved in wiring/switches than the mirrors themselves, but I need a scale to be sure. The good thing is that manual mirrors are only $11 at the junkyard so it's cheap to bring one home to check if I can find one. Would it be weird to start carrying a kitchen scale in my junkyard bag?
mazdeuce - Seth said:In reply to Woody :
Would it be weird to start carrying a kitchen scale in my junkyard bag?
please search for "digital fish scale". more compact and inconspicuous. (I used to use a Chantillon at work... but anything that reads up to 100#s with 0.1lb resolution/accuracy should be good for your purposes).
edit: something like this would probably work... with the benefit of not having to find a flat/dry piece of ground
What are you building the car for? To be a gutted track car and compete in "xxx" class? If so, then prep to the extent of those rules.
If you're building a general track car that you want to drive to the track AND drive on One Lap, I suggest you don't remove any of the niceties like power windows/locks etc. The weight loss from them is negligible compared to the ass pain gained from having manual things.
docwyte said:What are you building the car for? To be a gutted track car and compete in "xxx" class? If so, then prep to the extent of those rules.
If you're building a general track car that you want to drive to the track AND drive on One Lap, I suggest you don't remove any of the niceties like power windows/locks etc. The weight loss from them is negligible compared to the ass pain gained from having manual things.
Remember: Even Lotus Europas had power windows.
(Yes, yes I know...not the S1s.)
Ultimately this is a One Lap car because One Lap is my jam. Previous experience has shown me that as soon as I don't want to drive something to the store then I start to hate it. Too loud, too stiff, too race car, whatever it is. The long term goal is to flirt with that ragged edge of prep that makes me not quite hate the car. In the mean time I'm going to stay mostly within STS rules for local autocross. That is to say, STS limits me to a 7.5 inch wheel. I can run an 8 locally as long as I'm not running bigger rubber than legal or actually beating someone. I'll let everyone in the class know and I can run in the X class locally (which is a PAX class) and no one there will care at all because I'm glacially slow compared to those guys. Once I start doing stupid things like head or transmission swaps I'll move myself to whatever Prepared category I land in. I'm going to go back to running 2-4 NASA weekends a year and may run them in TT when I get back up to speed depending on who's running and whether I can get fast enough to stay out of the way for three laps. We'll see about that, but I'm not at all worried about what class I land in just so long as I stay legal for wherever I end up so that we can all be happy.
So I'm going to play. Things that I can reverse I'll be more likely to experiment with. Swapping out mirrors is easy and as long as I don't cut wires it's easy to swap back. Same with building door panels, swapping seat, a whole bunch of stuff. If the Nelsons have taught me anything it's that 16oz make a pound and the long term goal is to have 10lbs off the car equal 1 hp. I'm not pulling heat and AC because I already know that lack of AC is one of the things that I hated about the black Civic. I don't want a full cage because that made the RX7 undriveable on the street, at least with my kids in the car. What I found with previous cars is that I can't quite stomach lowering the performance of a car by adding back in comforts. I just end up selling it to someone who can deal with it. I'm much more comfortable making a car less comfortable until I hit my limit, and then backing off.
I guess (for me) its not worth pulling out the power windows/mirrors/locks. The weight loss isn't all that much compared to manual and the convenience for a car that's still driven on the street far outweighs it.
Heck, my M3, which I hardly drive on the street still has all the power stuff, plus heat/AC, cruise control, stereo etc. It does have race seats, rollbar and a pretty darn stiff suspension tho...
Windows are staying. Not sure if there is even a manual option for this generation accord. Locks and mirrors need to be weighed and measured to see if it's at all worth it. Just spitballing ideas here. The biggest reason to keep power mirrors is probably swapping drivers on One Lap.
For reasons that are best left back in my dirtbag climber days, the ability to sleep comfortably in a car is still important to me. I've laid down in more than a few cars at the Houston Auto Show and on dealer lots. Surprisingly, I can stretch out comfortably in the back of the Accord. Proper testing to come this weekend. 
That sleeping bag looks familiar
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Nope. The other thing left over from my dirtbag climber days is a veritible quiver of sleeping bags. You saw my worn out warm weather/hotel room bag. This orange one is my holy crap is says it's supposed to be cold and I don't want to be cold bag.
I would throw out that a "wink" style mirror nearly renders side view mirrors much less of a requirement, at least enough so that if a co-driver heads out for their 3 laps at OLOA it won't be a major issue. In an open passing track day scenario it may be more bothersome but still manageable if you forget to adjust before getting all strapped in.
Although I guess the weight of a wink mirror probably adds back in the same weight as you save by switching to manual mirrors.
klodkrawler05 said:Although I guess the weight of a wink mirror probably adds back in the same weight as you save by switching to manual mirrors.
only if you buy the steel ones? I mean, this is racing... there's got to be a carbon fiber version out there... somewhere, right?
In reply to klodkrawler05 :
The idea of no side mirrors at all for the aero benefits on One Lap has also crossed my mind.
You have a sleeping bag for use in a hotel room?
In reply to mikeatrpi :
Back in the good old days the idea was to know someone with a real job who had the same hobbies as you. Then you set up a trip with them but say that you'll just sleep in your car. Inevitably they get a hotel room and offer to let you sleep on the floor. By "the good old days" I mean anywhere from 25 years ago to this year at the Challenge. As time goes on I'm more often the guy with the room who gets the bed, but old habits die hard.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
this concept, and the tools ("hotel sleeping bag and air pad") came in handy a year ago when sleepykid#2 was born. I was much more comfortable on the hospital floor this second time around... compared to stretching out across two wooden chairs with the arrival of sleepykid#1. ymmv
Just found out that there are functionally no TSX Bilsteins in the country. Grrrrrrrrr..........
That is to say there is one here and one there and piecing together a set would be $$ vs. just waiting for them to ship.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Mazdeuce one thing to note with these cars is that the keyless entry receiver is the driver's side power window switch.
In reply to driver95 :
That's good to know. I assume the security interlock stuff is still in the main computer? And is there a key available for the 7th gen cars that doesn't have buttons? I need to get a second key made and would prefer a simple one.
My 2004 came with a buttonless valet key when it was new.
Bring a copy of your registration to a Honda dealer. Maybe they can cut you an all access key from a cheap valet blank.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Just found out that there are functionally no TSX Bilsteins in the country. Grrrrrrrrr..........
That is to say there is one here and one there and piecing together a set would be $$ vs. just waiting for them to ship.
Seth,
When I was looking for Bilstein struts for my Subaru Legacy specB(ilstein) a few years ago I couldn't them anywhere. I stumbled across eshocks.com (not a canoe-just a recommendation!) and they had them in stock an hour from my home. I looked up 2004 TSX a moment ago and they had part numbers for HD Bilstein. Might want to give them a look.
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