Andy Hollis said:I'm getting a Billy Idol vibe from this...
Tell Tom it needs more red. Red cars tend to be both smart and spicy. 😁😎
Andy Hollis said:I'm getting a Billy Idol vibe from this...
Tell Tom it needs more red. Red cars tend to be both smart and spicy. 😁😎
So we're out at Harris Hill testing the new aero setup. Ran two sessions with just the wing, adjusted to level, to get a baseline.
Edited==> Baseline was a half-second quicker than previous quick laps. We initially thought it might be the stiffer springs. Data says it was all in accel from 60-100. Which means we either magically picked up power, or we have less drag with this wing vs the 9LR. At some future point, I'll A/B them to find out.
Speaking of this new wing -- it was definitely producing more downforce than our old, smaller 9LR wing. High speed understeer was very pronounced.
Then we bolted on our fancy new splitter and dropped two full seconds in our first couple of laps. And there's more, once we build our confidence.
It...feels...amazing.
Andy Hollis said:Harvey said:I've always loved reading about this car. I'm sure it's quite an ordeal doing One-Lap in it.
Tom has no idea what he's getting into...it's basically a race car with a license plate.
Here's a quick vid from the last time we ran it back in 2014...Michigan interstate.
Pretty sure I have a sense of it having had to drive an STR prepped S2000 from Toledo to CT from a Pro-Solo after our trailer was needed to help bring a breakdown home. But that car had AC!
16k front springs. Wow.
So where'd that 2 seconds come from? Pretty much what you'd expect. The biggies are about 5 mph gain in each of the high speed sweepers -- T8 and T11. (Note that CCW turns begin at T11 and descend)
The latter is especially cool, since normally we'd be slowly pedaling the speed at the top of 4th gear to keep the car on line as the radius decreased.
With the splitter fitted, instead we shifted to 5th and kept it hammered much deeper into the turn. Upshifting into a turn feels all kinds of wrong...but it's awesome when it works.
Braking was also far better, as you might expect -- netting gains at each use of the middle pedal.
Suprise of the day - aero works.
Its great and you can rely on it until stuff breaks.
stafford1500 said:Its great and you can rely on it until stuff breaks.
Yeah, more on that in a bit. Everything wasn't rosy. Had a couple of ground impacts and found some collateral damage.
...
Here it is...cross bar that connects the two LCA pivot points to relieve stress on the crossmember ears. Splitter mounts in a C shape around this at the rear. Ground impact squished it so it bent the vertical part. Oof.
Well I guess this explains the gas smell and residual slime on the outside of the tank.
Old cars are soooo much fun.
So that evap/fuel hose is 5.5mm id...not gonna find it at any auto parts stores. Old Honda cars and motorcycles use it.
Honda still sells it, but only in bulk. But a couple of enterprising folks on eBay have done so and will sell you smaller pieces for not too much outlay.
I have 2' on the way from this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/124021161887
But I need the car running by Thursday am for a recon trip this weekend, so if it doesn't arrive in time, I'm just gonna clamp a 1/4" id line in place until the correct hose comes in. And yes, I'm also gonna replace the other 30-year old hose on the output side.
Time for a frame off restoration! Wait... it's actually the completely wrong time for that.
The CRX currently identifies as an LBC...
What oil pan is that? Ground clearance is tough on these.
This is from a couple of days of sitting.
There appears to be a hairline crack in the cast aluminum oil pan which came from a trailer unloading incident awhile back.
it was just a weep at first but has been steadily getting worse. We could run OLOA this way, but I want to put a fresh clutch in anyway, so we'll be pulling the motor soon.
Sonic said:What oil pan is that? Ground clearance is tough on these.
Old-school Mugen modified RSX-S pan. Has the area around the chain case opening filled in to keep the oil in the pan.
I have a couple of spare RSX-S pans, plus a couple of Clockwise Motion baffle inserts. They work better than the Mugen part anyway.
But I also have something else up my sleeve, motor-wise...more on that later.
On the road this weekend for some recon. Tomorrow we're at Hastings and Saturday is Hedge Hollow.
Looks like a great day for testing in Hastings and KC. Holler if you have any issues. I'm just a couple hours away.
Andy Hollis said:So where'd that 2 seconds come from? Pretty much what you'd expect. The biggies are about 5 mph gain in each of the high speed sweepers -- T8 and T11. (Note that CCW turns begin at T11 and descend)
The latter is especially cool, since normally we'd be slowly pedaling the speed at the top of 4th gear to keep the car on line as the radius decreased.
With the splitter fitted, instead we shifted to 5th and kept it hammered much deeper into the turn. Upshifting into a turn feels all kinds of wrong...but it's awesome when it works.
Braking was also far better, as you might expect -- netting gains at each use of the middle pedal.
Where on the trace is T8? And I'm guessing that's a graph of speed and distance - is that the most useful one? Any others that you'd find very helpful?
Am I reading this right: At the 3700/3800 mark, looks like before you would slow down quite a bit earlier and be accelerating much sooner but after, you'd brake much later and not slow down as much.
jfryjfry said:
Where on the trace is T8? And I'm guessing that's a graph of speed and distance - is that the most useful one? Any others that you'd find very helpful?
Am I reading this right: At the 3700/3800 mark, looks like before you would slow down quite a bit earlier and be accelerating much sooner but after, you'd brake much later and not slow down as much.
Yes, speed vs distance/position. It's what I use the most.
T8 is at the 2750 mark where that vertical cursor is.
The braking into T9, which starts at 3400, happens sooner with the splitter (blue line) because the entry speed is higher. Decel rate (slope of line) is the same, so you end up at about the same terminal velocity.
T9 has a bump and camber change which causes that little graph hiccup, but the splitter allows earlier throttle up (blue line).
As the saying goes...
We have arrived.
Successful day. Went quicker in the CRX than we did last time here in the McLaren. 1:35.3
Then stopped at one of the two CRX-specific dismantlers in the country...this one being Jeremiah Freeman. Traded some of our take-off bits for some things we needed. He has about 100 cars there, just outside of Topeka.
pic for attention but darkness clouds the scope.
Hedge Hollow Raceway is wild. It's a new private track south of Kansas City in the farmlands of MO.
You drive for many miles of fields and fields and fields...then suddenly you see a tall green fenceline that appears to be some sort of secret government installation. Nope..inside is.a very modern and expensive ($30M is the price we heard) road course with amazing amenities. A dozen two-story condo/garages line the front straight. Track control is done via F1-style lights with cameras showing the entire track to the control folks.
Lots of rolling hills elevation changes, flowing esses and switchbacks, and some good high speed sections.
Here's a peak...
Remember this guy? 300hp built motor that was pushing water so we pulled it? Time to see if we can fix it quickly. It's the last piece of low hanging performance fruit...power.
Pulled the head and can see some soot around the top deck of cylinder #2.
A closer look shows more evidence...
Given the time crunch, the plan is to just replace the head gasket with a newer style and see if that fixes it.
This K25 is a bored out K24, so factory gaskets don't work. The previous gasket was made by Golden Eagle by machining an OE gasket to fit the larger bore. Now they sell a bespoke aftermarket gasket made in the factory style but with the bigger bore. Fingers crossed.
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