Home built,bike engined autox toy

Sir Kevlar, I applaud both your fabrication and your driving skills. Watching you herd that beast through the cones sideways was a thing of beauty.

kevlarcorolla wrote: I'm not sure how well the offroad parts would work,nor how light they are compared to the miata stuff.Looks like lots of room for 13" wheels though.

ATV stuff has horridly close connection points and it flexes.
You did an Awesome Job KevlarCorolla! I want to drive it.

If anyone else is looking for a nice spindle before you build take a good look at theses. http://www.predatorraceproducts.com/servlet/the-288/spindle-hub-cnc-billet/Detail Each section is bolt one and at the track replaceable. This would also make it easy to modify for changes to bump steer ect.

44Dwarf wrote: If anyone else is looking for a nice spindle before you build take a good look at theses. http://www.predatorraceproducts.com/servlet/the-288/spindle-hub-cnc-billet/Detail Each section is bolt one and at the track replaceable. This would also make it easy to modify for changes to bump steer ect.

http://www.predatorraceproducts.com/servlet/the-665/2023ST-2023-TFI-dsh-2023ST-2054ST/Detail

$230 for a PnP EFI system??? That just seems to cheap to believe... what am I missing?

What are the side panels made of? It looks like some sort of plastic. Looks perfect for my locost.

Ian F wrote:

44Dwarf wrote: If anyone else is looking for a nice spindle before you build take a good look at theses. http://www.predatorraceproducts.com/servlet/the-288/spindle-hub-cnc-billet/Detail Each section is bolt one and at the track replaceable. This would also make it easy to modify for changes to bump steer ect.

http://www.predatorraceproducts.com/servlet/the-665/2023ST-2023-TFI-dsh-2023ST-2054ST/Detail $230 for a PnP EFI system??? That just seems to cheap to believe... what am I missing?

It's an add on box only for that one kawi motor. not whole controler

I'm jealous of your fabrication skills, your car and your driving. Consider a trade + cash?

Armitage wrote: I'm jealous of your fabrication skills, your car and your driving. Consider a trade + cash?

:P for the fab skills, driving skills, or car?

imirk wrote: :P for the fab skills, driving skills, or car?

Yes :)

The panels are simply aluminum that I formed and installed then removed and spray bombed with kylon-guess thats why they look plasticy. Thanks for the kind words,even about the driving-shows that even aging,balding and overweight dudes can still be fast.

The truth is the only reason I build this stuff myself is I can't afford to pay someone else to build it and I've been challenging myself to continually go faster. I've played driving instructor for autox,drifting and ice racing so if you want to either come up here or pay me to come there I can play instructor again if you'd like.

Kevlar how loaded is your shop? how much fab stuff do you have?

I am very impressed with your build and just curious to see what your working with tool/shop etc

Thanks

kevlarcorolla wrote: The panels are simply aluminum that I formed and installed then removed and spray bombed with kylon-guess thats why they look plasticy. Thanks for the kind words,even about the driving-shows that even aging,balding and overweight dudes can still be fast. The truth is the only reason I build this stuff myself is I can't afford to pay someone else to build it and I've been challenging myself to continually go faster. I've played driving instructor for autox,drifting and ice racing so if you want to either come up here or pay me to come there I can play instructor again if you'd like.

What did you use as primer if anything? I like the look so I think I'll be giving my car the Krylon touch. Is it just spray paint?

I forget which primer,nothing special for sure and then the krylon,its a paint intended to bond to plastics and should be very flexible.Its also quick drying and you can get multiple coats on quick,no waiting overnight like tremclad. My shop isn't that well equiped,a lincoln mig, a hand grinder,bench grinder,tube notcher and a digital carpenters level were the main tools used.I did most of the tube fitting by hand since alot of the angles were sharper than the tube notcher worked with.The rest is just basic hand tools,I do pretty much everything by hand. For the brackets etc I had a local sheet metal shop shear them to width and I did the final fitting,they did the sheet metal bending for the engine surround as well.

Very cool---similar to an idea I had for a 'spec' sports racer. Looking at the video, it appears as though the car has some a fair amount of understeer---hard to tell if it's throttle/driver induced, but what spring rates/motion ratios does the car have?

Hi Per,yes too much understeer.Been fighting that since day one but the trouble with sorting it has been when on cold tires/dirty lot 1st runs of the day the car is very loose.As the tire temps come up and the course clears the car transitions to understeer. The wings made a major improvement in that it changed FAR less thru the day and stabilized the car.Now that the car is better on cold tires I can work on the balance without going in circles early in the day. The 2nd event with the areo is this weekend,hopefully the rear springs I ordered right after the last event come in before sunday.I've also made some small changes to the front alignment and rear wing angle. Fingers crossed its a move the right direction.

Would you be willing to post some measurements? I have an R1 engine sitting here looking lonely.

Sure,what measurments are you looking for?.

Suspension arm lengths and the width of the front section of frame would be incredibly helpful.

Ok no problem,I'll remeasure them tomorrow night for you.Probably easier than tracking down my drawings.

This is coolest thing on here in a while!

You might want to check out John Block's Auto-Ware.com and the weekend auto racer forum. John's software is great and the man himself will answer question when you run in to I can't move this but can put it here type things.

For side panels on your next project.. Head down to your local sign shop they'll have .040 painted Alum with plastic overlay on the painted side. You can form the panel then pull off the overlay and BAM nice pre-painted panel but then you've got to decide on the color ahead of time..

The measurments are,the bottom frame rails are 14" from outside to outside and the upper frame rails are 24 3/4" outside to outside.The upper arms are 14" from inner pivot to upper ball joint,the lower arm is 18" from inner pivot to lower balljoint.

Thanks!

No problem,not that I'm an expert but if your going to start building something and hit a snag go ahead and ask.I might be able to help with a suggustion or two.

New autox class - Spec GRM!

kevlarcorolla wrote: No problem,not that I'm an expert but if your going to start building something and hit a snag go ahead and ask.I might be able to help with a suggustion or two.

I'm likely going to go with slightly scaled down Miata geometry just for ease of measuring (I can just go outside and measure my car).

I've already nailed down the drivetrain though, got an entire 2001 Yamaha R1 setup for a steal.Now I just need to order some steel.

Whats the goals/use for the car?.Are you going to use round tube? I hate the look of a sqaure tube chassis but they are much easier to fab,locostusa.com is full of differing ways to build.If I was to build an autox only car I'd consider an aluminum monoque with mid engine chain drive,possible to get that into the 600lb range. My car is to be for track days as well so the the roll over/side impact protection is overkill for autox.

Btw I don't think I'd scale down the miata suspension,keep the track width but increase the lenght of the arms.The are short in the miata for packaging,no need for that foolishness in a home built imo. The R1 is a great choice for BEC due to the minimal oiling problems,I run a simple baffle plate and about an additional cup of oil without any problems.Don't try that with a 'busa.....busa go boom right away. If you want more power the R1 loves boost,you can boost the stock carbs with great success,I built a carb'd and turbo'd 4ag using the yamaha carbs for the corolla and it worked great.Go to turbo-bike.net or google R1 turbo for the MXC site in sweden along with the turbo trhead on the r1 forums for info. A run in the corolla,1st event of the year and friggin cold on R888's(which suck btw) http://youtu.be/HjdvM3aS0TM