Indy-T, Nocones 2026 Challenge Build

I am in full support of this nuttiness and I actually love the drivetrain idea for mostly the same reasons you give.

Years ago I helped a lemons team mate land a lightly wrecked 1998 gs400. It had the 3uzfe with vvti and had transmission shift buttons on the steering wheel. We paid $800 for the car and it was complete and drove on the trailer. I sold enough off the car to zero out the donor and it was still a driveable car just with no doors. That's 300hp and a 5 speed manually controllable auto transmission in the same form factor as the 1uzfe. Might be worth a look although obviously the computer is more complicated.
 

The car ran and drove and did donuts when coming back off the trailer, missing doors and bumpers and lights and and and ...

nocones said:

In reply to DrMikeCSI :

Probably something like that.  I'm going to look at Honda center steer racks, or if I can just use one end of a normal rack and have a nice bracket.   There are many center steer kart type racks for cheap on the jungle site..  but I'm not sure those are better then a backyard modified OEM rack would be.    I also may look at a VW beetle steering gear like what is used on Formula Vees

Not sure what rack DrMike posted,  but plenty of wrecked ATVs out there these days?  OEM quality,  light weight, etc

Nocones, if you do go down the toyota 1uz  path or similar architecture (2uz and 3uz) i have a set of equal length headers i built for my spitfire when I thought it could get them to run down the trans tunnel. They are tight to the block and bell housing.

I can send pictures. They are collecting dust right now. If you don't need them, I do have another zero mile engine tucked away for something similar to your build.

In reply to stafford1500 :

I NEED them!  We will talk.  PM me please 

A quick shot of the headers from back in California, before finish welding. Note the collectors are offset for the cylinder bore offsets, so the collector exits should be on the same plane. The collectors end about where the bell housing ends.. Looking at my sharpie marks I have a 2" range on equal lengths. I will get out to the garage this morning an get pics of the current state.

In reply to stafford1500 :

Those are hawt

In reply to stafford1500 :

Yeah those need to find a home on this thing. .  I can make the chassis look like whatever it needs to in the back for clearance.

gumby said:

In reply to stafford1500 :

Those are hawt

QFT!

If I ever get remembered for anything, my exhaust is one place I would like to be considered. The spitfire has a nice mellow idle but once the throttle is cracked the whole world gets rowdy. The c4 corvette diffuser dumped exhaust is a great amplifier.

In reply to stafford1500 :

I will honor your legacy with this build.   We need to make some stickers that say "Sound by Stafford1500"

I have a deal to pick up a pair of Model T frames on Saturday, then next week I aquire the Drivetrain Donor.  So I guess the build really is starting.  Parts collection is occuring.  

Now that I know what Chassis I am using I was able to find a good 2d drawing of a 1926-1927 Model T frame.  I'm not 100% sure the T's I get will be that but they look very close and it seems dimensions were largely identical over the production run with some changes to material thickness, body mount holes, and outrigger lengths but not huge structural changes.

I originally thought I was going to build on the Model T chassis as the base, however it actually makes more sense to use 2x2 NHRA compliant steel as the base of the 1-3/4 - .120 wall 6 point rollbar and use the frame as the upper rail on the new chassis.   Ironically enough this will have the chassis relative to the ground closer to the normal location for a model T.  

There will be some additional triangles in the rear, and It is yet to be determined exactly what height the rails will wind up at.  They are drawn at an unmodified width apart.  They may have to be widened and tapered depending on what is requried to allow clearance for the engine and the Stafford1500 headers.   The engine will likely bolt in from underneath with the lowest tubes behind the main roll hoop base being a "subframe" that holds the engine and transmission from underneath.  I just want to ensure I have clearance to replace coils and spark plugs without pulling the engine.  

The a-arms are just from a Random Indycar I pulled off the sketchup Library to have wheels and such adjusted for the wheelbase I need for the Drivetrain.  Final chassis dimensions will vary to accomodate the geometry.  The front A-arms will hit the front foot bulkhead with their trailing links going near the knee hoop.  Shocks will be vertical in front of the knee hoop likely with pull rod actuation.  The rears will go wherever they fit.  I may try to use the LS400 subframe unmodified depending on how wide and heavy it is and how bad the geometry is.

The goal is to use the Frame Rails as unmodified as possible.  I am hopeful I will be able to leave the rear crossmember in place,  The front will have to be removed since I will sit there.  Either way they will get utilized on the car so the entire frame (Minus unecessary brackets and outriggers) will be included.  

Oh this is gonna be something.

stafford1500 said:

A quick shot of the headers from back in California, before finish welding. Note the collectors are offset for the cylinder bore offsets, so the collector exits should be on the same plane. The collectors end about where the bell housing ends.. Looking at my sharpie marks I have a 2" range on equal lengths. I will get out to the garage this morning an get pics of the current state.

Those headers are cool and all, but look at those vintage cans of Diet Pepsi!!!  

That is brilliant. I love the out of the box thinking!

Nocones, pictures of the headers on my spare engine this week. The garage is still a mess from challenge prep and I did not have the motivation to clean up much this past weekend.

Those vintage diet pepsis are nearly 20 years old, when I lived in CA. That picture would be from about 2006 or 2007.

In reply to nocones :

I'm pretty sure I offered Indy-Guy my 25 Model T rails before.  I could have brought them to the Challenge for you.

Indy - Guy said:

In reply to nocones :

What's going to happen when Stampie pops into this thread and discovers you're going to beat him to the finish line with this idea ?

Stampie, I don't remember the rails offer, or I may have taken you up on it.

In reply to Stampie :

Talk about a missed connection.  To be fair I didn't have this idea until the lonely drive home

Oh, I am so in for this one...

I dug the spare engine out and got pics of the headers...

Like all my projects lately this one has started with a trip to the steel yard.

But that means this one has actually started.  

It's interesting comparing the prices paid to the LMP360 from 5 years ago.  

2×2-16ga is 2.20/ft vs 1.68 then 

But 1/8 plate is only 6.40/sq ft vs $6.05 then.  

1"x.120 DOM is the big looser @ $3.14 a foot vs $1.35 in 2020.   Good thing I still have about 12' left from the LMP360.  

Oh my! This should be fun

Stop one of the day done.  

Man these things are comically large. 

And now done with stop 2.  

2 frames for $75.  

The guy who has them is pretty sure they are 1926 frames.  They means that my challenge car will in a way be 100 years old at the challenge.   

Who wants to come lose to a centenarian?