GTA Camaro to NASA ST1

David S. Wallens said:

Congrats on the new car and, yes, jh36 is a good/bad influence. :)

I just want folks to enjoy life to the max!  Seriously, Jim...I am super happy for you and I am looking forward to being on the other end of the radio next weekend!  David, I have a solid new guitar recommendation for you!  

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Thanks, David. Can't wait to see what you guys do with the chassis you got from jh36.

In reply to jh36 :

Guitar? Hah! I can't even afford this race car!

Good Luck with the new car Jim. This is my ASA/GTA car that was rebodied last year. I also run in NASA ST1 class with her. Mine is a 5 Star North American Sportsman body. Let me know if you have any questions. I have a few resources and tips/tricks if you need them. 

In reply to Steven :

How do you like those Pirelli tires?   If they fit on my LM, I am thinking of going with them.  I hear they last 4-5 weekends..  Any truth to that? 

In reply to Steven :

Steven, thanks! Great looking car! I might have to look into cutting the door down like you did. That looks like it makes egress easier. And I have that same body.

   Locked ignition timing is fairly typical on a race car.  The engine will be at the upper RPM range all the time while on the track, so the max timing is ideal while on track.  Also it makes things a little simpler, you don't want the timing moving around.

      It was likely a simple modification, which could maybe be reversed, but not sure why you would want to.

Yesterday, I got the winch finished up and wired (incorrectly). I just reversed two leads on the solenoid so in is out and out is in. I'll switch them later.

Today, I finally got the car off the trailer. Took me about 45 minutes. It was just a logistical challenge this first time.

I got the right front fender hooked on the wheel well of the trailer. Thankfully there are adjustable struts that hold that body work in place so I got them tucked in a couple of inches.

Next, I forgot to remove the rear tie down straps. Ooops. Had to pull it forward again to get those off.

Once it was on the ramp, the front lip started to scrape. I got a 2 x 10 and cut it with the chainsaw to make some ramp extensions.

Then it took quite a bit of effort to pull the car onto the ramp extensions by myself as there is a bit of a step up.

Anyhoo...

I had wondered if there was a serial number on the cage and I found it today. Amazing what's easier to see in the light of day! It's right there behind the dry sump tank.

Here's the office. I'm not keen on the way the gauges are laid out. I can see the tach just fine but the smaller temp gauges are way far forward and the glare off the white dash makes it impossible to see them. I'm going to put some felt on that dash.

The plumbing is impeccable except for one thing that I didn't notice until today. There is a fuel line running through the cockpit (red line). I don't think this is going to pass NASA tech. I wasn't thrilled about all this stuff in the cockpit anyway but a fuel line? I don't think so.

In reply to TED_fiestaHP :

Thanks for the info. That's yet another new thing in my world.

Is the cooler for a cool seat? Just wondering as I didn't think that cars that run sprint races bothered with the extra weight, for such short of a race.

In reply to jimgood :

Running the fuel line through the cockpit is a stock car thing, it actually protects it more from a crash.  That said, it's "supposed" to be braided line, like the dry sump tank.  (I have all the AN tools BTW)

Ok, that SN, and you may already know, is a HOWE chassis.  Bet they can give you some info on it :) 

I invested in some race ramps to load my LMSC on a trailer.  They are stupid expensive for what they are, but are lighter, and just plain work.  

trigun7469 said:

Is the cooler for a cool seat? Just wondering as I didn't think that cars that run sprint races bothered with the extra weight, for such short of a race.

It's a heat exchanger that blows cool air out the top. The white cylinder on the front of it houses the fan. I believe the cool suit hoses run through it and I think it also has a hose to connect to a helmet.

The oil tank gets pretty hot and hot air off the exhaust can come up between the body panel and the cage. So I imagine it can get pretty hot in there even during a short race. And some of the NASA races are 40 minutes.

HalfFast said:

In reply to jimgood :

Running the fuel line through the cockpit is a stock car thing, it actually protects it more from a crash.  That said, it's "supposed" to be braided line, like the dry sump tank.  (I have all the AN tools BTW)

Ok, that SN, and you may already know, is a HOWE chassis.  Bet they can give you some info on it :) 

I invested in some race ramps to load my LMSC on a trailer.  They are stupid expensive for what they are, but are lighter, and just plain work.  

So I took another look at the "fuel line". It's a steel pipe that goes from the rear firewal through the front firewall. The fuel hose passes through it and it is braided stainless. So I think I'm good there.

I've looked at those foam race ramps. Yeah. Stupid expensive. I have to stop bleeding money for a few days so I can afford the fuel at the track.

In reply to jimgood :

You can always jack the front of the trailer up to decrease the load angle.  :) 

In reply to HalfFast :

I want to REDUCE my work load!

In reply to jimgood :

Lol.. Instead of adding ramps to the trailer like you did, stack a few 2x12 chunks under the rear tires of the tow vehicle, and drive up on them.  

As I posted above, I got the winch going and let the car out of the trailer for some fresh air and sunshine. I went through the start procedure. As HalfFast advised me via email, the warm up procedure on the oil took about an hour and it still wasn't above 100 deg. Not sure it I was doin' it right. I kept the tank plugged in and ran the pump manually about every 15 minutes.

Edit: one issue might have been that I was running the tank heater from a 150 of extension cord; heavy duty but might have had an effect.

Got it fired up and let it run for a while to get the oil warmed up more. Scared the horses. I stalled it about 10 times trying to move it around the other side of the barn to hose the dust off.

I had a good deal of trouble trying to winch it back in. My attachment point was on the left end of the torsion tube (I think that's what it is). Because of the offset angle, once the cable was under tension, it all wound up on the left side of the winch and bound up. I didn't see this happening so my only clue was that the winch stopped working. The cable was basically rooned.

Picked up a synthetic replacement rope and rigged a centered attachment by using my wheel straps over both ends of the torsion tube and connecting a length of chain between. The attached the winch cable to the middle of the chain. Now she's back in the trailer safe and sound, ready for the trip to VIR on Thursday.

Open Track on Friday and HPDE3 on Sat/Sun.

One thing I found when running it was that the ignition wire that appears to run from the MSD to the ignition power switch (not the starter switch) was very hot. I only noticed it because it's on the dash tube where I grab to pull myself forward out of the seat. I'll keep an eye on that.

In reply to trigun7469 :

Many guys run cool suits in sprint races in much cooler cars. I have a rebodied  ASA stock car and it gets significantly hotter than anything I have ever driven. I have gone without a cool suit in my Porsche 944 for many years, but I may use one with higher cockpit temps this year. 

jh36 said:

In reply to trigun7469 :

Many guys run cool suits in sprint races in much cooler cars. I have a rebodied  ASA stock car and it gets significantly hotter than anything I have ever driven. I have gone without a cool suit in my Porsche 944 for many years, but I may use one with higher cockpit temps this year. 

I hit the panel between me and the exhaust after coming off track the first weekend I owned it with an IR temp gun, and it was reading 185 degrees.  My feet were cooking, I was hot... 

I added a lot of insulation material to the panels, and a tube stuck out the window to bring in outside air to my face and chest and it's better, but I still want the coolshirt.  
I am even looking at the Chillout system as it doesn't require ice.  Spendy though... 

Run a larger wire to your MSD box. They draw a lot of current.

TurnerX19 said:

Run a larger wire to your MSD box. They draw a lot of current.

Thanks. I will look into that.

HalfFast said:

jh36 said:

In reply to trigun7469 :

Many guys run cool suits in sprint races in much cooler cars. I have a rebodied  ASA stock car and it gets significantly hotter than anything I have ever driven. I have gone without a cool suit in my Porsche 944 for many years, but I may use one with higher cockpit temps this year. 

I hit the panel between me and the exhaust after coming off track the first weekend I owned it with an IR temp gun, and it was reading 185 degrees.  My feet were cooking, I was hot... 

I added a lot of insulation material to the panels, and a tube stuck out the window to bring in outside air to my face and chest and it's better, but I still want the coolshirt.  
I am even looking at the Chillout system as it doesn't require ice.  Spendy though... 

Care to detail the insulation and other methods you used to bring ambient temps down i  the cabin? Ive got one that will murder me in the summer here in the south. Looking for what others have done to implement ahead of time on the new build. 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Care to detail the insulation and other methods you used to bring ambient temps down i  the cabin? Ive got one that will murder me in the summer here in the south. Looking for what others have done to implement ahead of time on the new build. 

I will add some pictures later, but it was pretty straight forward. 

I bought a roll of the silver faced fiberglass insulation, and some 1" aluminum band metal.  I cut the insulation to fit, and used wide head pop rivets though the bands into the sheet metal.  I placed it in all the critical places near the exhaust routing, and footwell.  Made a huge difference.. 

I also pop riveted a short piece of brake cooling duct to the A-piller which really brings some fresh air in