Texas A&M $2012 Build Thread

As the title suggests, this is the build thread for Texas A&M's $2012 challenge car. We've created a new account to handle all official business and hopefully it will make it a little easier to follow our progress.

We decided to go light and nimble for this years challenge, and as such, we decided to do a spitfire. The plan is to replace the original ~ 40 hp straight 4 with something that has a little more pep. The engine is being donated from a CBR 1000 which will be riding shotgun next to the driver. Right now the plan is to run a chain drive to a yet undecided rear setup. We do know that the original suspension (transverse leaf spring) will be scraped, and we've tossed around the idea of swapping in a miata sub-frame but that will require a lot of work.

This is what we got for ~$700 IIRC

We're loving all the chrome and the slick wood dash (hopefully it will stay)

The original power plant

The hourglass frame with a bit of damage, but it should do nicely.

We started to strip the paint and prime the whole car. You can also see some pretty sever floorboard damage.

In the spirit of GRM we've scavenged some old appliance for their sheet metal, which will be used mostly for the floorboards.

This thread is a little late in getting up. In actuality we started this build about 4 weeks after we got back from the $2011 challenge, and since we got the car before the $2011 we've got a bit done. The floorboards have been replaced and the whole car is primed. I'll try and get some more photos up of the new engine and progress as soon as possible.

I've always thought that you could add another stock spring mount/diff hanger assembly in front of the stock location for upper A-arm mounts. Then mount a couple of appropriately located brackets down on the frame for your lower a-arms and you are set for a nice double a-arm setup with the diff and hubs of your choice.

I know it may be lambasted by many, but don't discount a live rear axle. IIRC, the early RX7's had one that was already fitted with a panhard rod set up, and going with a 3 link- you can almost eliminate torque wedge.

May be a WHOLE lot more straight forward than the Miata subframe. And cheaper.

(a local guy here did a rotary spit, like GRM did, but with a live axle- that thing was so fast. And recall that the 7's mostly have well located live axles)

'bout time you guys made an account! (Jake here.)

If it had an OD transmission, you could recoup the purchase price at the get go.

Good luck on the build. I love to see schools (Texas A&M and GA Tech) get involved in the Challenge. As a graduate of Clemson, I would like to use this as a means to get autocrossing back on the Clemson campus. Odd that a "motorsports school" would banish the one motosport thing that any student get involved in.

all V8supercars run live axles and along with man many other classes do very well with them. IRS is more of an advantage on rough surfaces.

spitfirebill wrote: If it had an OD transmission, you could recoup the purchase price at the get go. Good luck on the build. I love to see schools (Texas A&M and GA Tech) get involved in the Challenge. As a graduate of Clemson, I would like to use this as a means to get autocrossing back on the Clemson campus. Odd that a "motorsports school" would banish the one motosport thing that any student get involved in.

Clemson has a pretty ballin' FSAE team.

Wicked! Good luck, guys.

Cool stuff, interested to see how this turns out.

Howdy, fellow ag here.

Wish this was around when I was in school (way back old army days) all I got to build was a solar powered race car. 40 hp would have been amazing!

alfadriver wrote: I know it may be lambasted by many, but don't discount a live rear axle. IIRC, the early RX7's had one that was already fitted with a panhard rod set up, and going with a 3 link- you can almost eliminate torque wedge. May be a WHOLE lot more straight forward than the Miata subframe. And cheaper. (a local guy here did a rotary spit, like GRM did, but with a live axle- that thing was so fast. And recall that the 7's mostly have well located live axles)

The live rear axle is on the table. The pure simplicity of it is attractive and the fact that we'll be using a chain drive means we can just swap sprockets for the autox and drag and not have to reengineer a diff.

spitfirebillwrote: If it had an OD transmission, you could recoup the purchase price at the get go.

We're in touch with a sptifire club up in Austin trying to see if we can't sell most of our parts back.

icaneat50eggs wrote: Wish this was around when I was in school (way back old army days) all I got to build was a solar powered race car. 40 hp would have been amazing!

The solar team is dead now. We actually have their car in our shed, which we've cannibalized parts from and are about to sell the rest for scrap. I don't remember the year of the CBR but the power output ranges from 150 - 180 hp. Our goal weight is about 1300# down from the stock 1700# so she should scream along pretty quick.

I ran bikes for years and years at TWS. Can you test there? Good luck to ye!

What year is that Spitty?

If you are sticking with the original front suspension, GT6 brakes and uprights are a nice upgrade.

chuckles wrote: I ran bikes for years and years at TWS. Can you test there? Good luck to ye!

Yep!

93EXCivic wrote: What year is that Spitty? If you are sticking with the original front suspension, GT6 brakes and uprights are a nice upgrade.

The spit is mid to late 70's, pretty sure it's a 1500. The front suspension setup is going to depend on the rear set up. If we end up grafting on miata bits in the rear the front will need some sort of expansion. The miata is about 8" wider than the stock, on each side. We've though about replacing the front with miata as well, or since everything just bolts on, we might add spacers. The front architecture is actually pretty good so the less modification the better. The car should be light enough that stock disks on the front and possibly a single disk rear (if we go with a live axle) will suffice, but that of course is all theory based on almost no calculations.

Can't wait to see how it goes!

The GT6 uprights have bigger bearings IIRC. If it is the first couple years of the 1500, the engine will worth a little more since that 1500 has bigger values.

Texas A&M Racing wrote: I don't remember the year of the CBR but the power output ranges from 150 - 180 hp. Our goal weight is about 1300# down from the stock 1700# so she should scream along pretty quick.

Where'd you guys pick up such a cheap CBR1000 powertrain? I wanted to use that for my N600 build, but after watching for used powertrains for a few months I didn't think I'd be able to get the whole drivetrain into the budget. Of course, you see guys with modern injected CBR600 engines in "$500" crapcan racers, but I'm way too honest for shenanigans like that.

Bryce

Nashco wrote:

Texas A&M Racing wrote: I don't remember the year of the CBR but the power output ranges from 150 - 180 hp. Our goal weight is about 1300# down from the stock 1700# so she should scream along pretty quick.

Where'd you guys pick up such a cheap CBR1000 powertrain? I wanted to use that for my N600 build, but after watching for used powertrains for a few months I didn't think I'd be able to get the whole drivetrain into the budget. Of course, you see guys with modern injected CBR600 engines in "$500" crapcan racers, but I'm way too honest for shenanigans like that. Bryce

I'm not sure where we got the power train from or how much we paid, unevolved knows a little more about that, but we got essentially the whole bike minus the wheels in pieces. We should be able to sell or use everything we got.

Nashco wrote:

Texas A&M Racing wrote: I don't remember the year of the CBR but the power output ranges from 150 - 180 hp. Our goal weight is about 1300# down from the stock 1700# so she should scream along pretty quick.

Where'd you guys pick up such a cheap CBR1000 powertrain? I wanted to use that for my N600 build, but after watching for used powertrains for a few months I didn't think I'd be able to get the whole drivetrain into the budget. Of course, you see guys with modern injected CBR600 engines in "$500" crapcan racers, but I'm way too honest for shenanigans like that. Bryce

We found a guy selling a "wrecked bike" (read: bucket of parts that used to be a CBR) for $900. No radiator, wheels, fairings, and the stator cover is cracked and held together with JB Weld. It was a good deal, but there were no shenanigans that I was aware of. We've got paperwork to back it up somewhere.

The stock swing axles are definitely going, there are some concerns about Jacking. (Chris here)

For future reference, you should be able to go to a Hollow Metal Door company and scavenge the dumpster for "cut outs", where they cut out the metal for windows. 18 & 20 gauge were the norm. You have 2 pieces of steel, glued together with a cardboard honeycomb in the middle. Sizes depend, and we used to throw away a lot.

In reply to Shiner:

The jacking is not a concern by the time that Spitfire came out. The late Spitfires had what was called a swing spring which effectively solved the problem.

Here's another workday update. We had a huge turnout today so there were a lot of hands to do a lot of busy work. First of all who can tell what's wrong with this picture? It's the original drive shaft for the spit.

Here's the CBR we got. The wiring is a nightmare, but at least it's almost all there.

We've got the floor pans welded in and started on some body work. We're leaving the passenger side open because the motor will end up there anyway.

And here's the aforementioned damage to the starter cover. Gotta love JB weld.

We cleaned up the frame so it will be weldable. The plan now is to steal some miata suspension parts and fabricate a sub-frame which will fit our needs.

And the nismospeed miata makes an appearance. She's still not running very well/ at all. We changed the gaps on the plug and we found them covered in oil. Bad turbo? We still need to get the tuning software to talk before we can diagnose.

There has been some concerns raised about the CBR being able to support all that weight. Specifically the clutch was designed for about 400# and now it will have to support 1300#. The fear is that we'll eat through clutches and the power won't be properly put onto the ground.