OMG...I feel so dumb. So, when I bought this car I was under the impression that the engine was a 383 stroker. I didn't pull that out of thin air. Either the previous owner told me that or the engine builder did (with whom I spoke a couple weeks after I bought the car). But after checking spark plug gap, I got concerned because the gap seemed to be smaller than references I was seeing for an engine with 10.5:1 compression. The gap was .029" and references were saying the gap should be around .050".
I called the engine builder this morning and left him a message telling him I have this 383 stroker, reminded him of the previous owner's name and asked what he recommended for spark plugs and gap. He called me back and said this engine is NOT a 383 but more like a 355. He recalled that he built the engine for the GTA class (which I know to be the case) and a 383 would have been illegal. I was too dumbfounded to ask what the compression ratio was but did get confirmation that the .029" gap is fine (recommended .030").
I know for sure that he was the one that told me the compression ratio was 10.5:1 when I talked to him last year. So maybe then he was confused about which engine we were discussing. He seemed at the time, as he did today, to remember the previous owner and what the engine was. It's possible it wasn't he that told me it was a 383 but rather the PO as I don't recall discussing the displacement. But I distinctly remember that he told me the compression ratio and he told me the power was between 520 and 525 hp.
In reply to jimgood :
What is the redline of your motor (I'm curious)
In reply to HalfFast :
PO had it set to 7000. I put in the 6500 RPM module.
In reply to jimgood :
Definitely not a 383. 6k is all they will do. Glad you figured it out.
In reply to HalfFast :
This reminds me that in my convo with the engine builder last year even he said the rev limit was 7k and the power band was between 3k and 6k.
Okay, back to projects!
So I teased a mirror build a few posts back. This is a side project that I'll mess with as I get time. The current side view mirrors on the car are not really cutting it for my eyesight. They're the small, round, convex kind. I ordered a pair of 4 x 5 convex mirrors and I like them much better (second pic below). The only problem is that they're stick-on and I have nothing to stick them on. So I have it in my head that I'm going to make something to stick them on. Something that's aerodynamic, adjustable and maybe even diverts air into the cockpit.
So there are 4 main parts to this:
- the mirror
- the backing plate on which to stick the mirror
- a ring around the mirror/backing plate assembly to which the backing plate will be riveted
- the outer, aero dynamic shell which will be riveted to the ring
The end result should look very roughly like this (except for the mounts):
So here we go again with Visio. This is not quite to scale but it conveys the idea. Dark gray is the backing plate. Light gray is the outer ring that bends around and down to become the bracket. Bushing between the two bent ends, bolt goes through that and the lower U bracket for up/down adjustment. U bracket gets a bolt down into the top of the door panel and does left/right adjustment. Since these are convex, adjustment shouldn't need to be made on the fly so can be done in the paddock with necessary tools and be close enough.
The outer shell would basically follow the outer ring. Blind rivets would go through the shell, the outer ring and tabs on the backing plate where it sits inside the ring. The backing plates are done and look like this:
I might redo them to make them slightly undersized so that I don't have a large (1/8") gap between the mirror and the shell. These things only took me about an hour to knock out.
I ordered some 1/8" x 1" aluminum flat bar for the outer rings. I have a combination of things I can use to bend it so I'm not worried about that. For the shells I have some 6 or 7 gauge aluminum sheet I can use. This is the most difficult part. I have no idea how to go about forming these. I'm thinking I should start with a wooden buck. Use some thick poster board to figure out a rough shape. I'm assuming I'll have to pie cut a single piece, bend it in and braze the cuts together with a propane torch and aluminum rod.
So I'll make a buck and then wrap a combination of duct tap and poster board around it. Then maybe I can cut it carefully into a flat(ish) template? Other ideas are welcome.
While I meditate on all that, I'll get back to the wiring job. 
Back to rewiring. Got the gauge box wired up and put all the sender-related wires (except for fuel) on one connector. May not look like the guys on T.V. do it but it makes me happy. Still need to run a ground wire from the bus bar to the chassis and lock down the bus bar and fuse block to the box. I may need to add one more grommet but I have to see what wires are left. Oh, and fuses might be a good idea.
Still waiting on rivets to assemble the box. I'll have to remove the gauges when I do that but that shouldn't be a big deal.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Thanks, Michael.
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After some experimenting with the Dzus fasteners I have, I found that it's going to be a lot more trouble than it's worth to use those to fasten the top on. The material is too thin for the fasteners I have so I'd have to space the springs about 3/16". I started looking at shorter fasteners but it's just not worth the time and money.
So, I'm punting and will be using nutserts instead. I'll cut off the flimsy tabs I was going to use and rivet on some aluminum angle in their place for the nutserts. This is all stuff I have on hand and can make it work today instead of spending more money and time.
But this was another good learning experience.
Who's you're uncle? That's right! It's Bob!
I had to do the glamour shot here because...
...my workbench gets like this in the middle of a project.
While I'm waiting on some hardware, I decided to tackle my harness replacement and fire system inspection and upgrades.
My previous harness expired in Dec so I took advantage of a sale from Lifeline to get a 2027 harness set. Their's only comes with the clip-on hardware so I had to swap that out. So if anyone wants my harness clip-on ends, DM me and I'll send them to you.
The sub belt bolts aren't tightened yet. I want to make sure I can adjust them before I tighten these down.
Next, I need to do some upgrades to my fire "system." The PO only had one nozzle and it was routed next to the seat and directed at the back of the driver's legs. So I guess the prevailing sentiment there is, damn the car, just keep the fire off of me! There was also only one pull cable and it has been shortened so it limits where it can be located. When I bought the car, it was in a terrible spot and I kept hooking the pocket of my driving suit on it as I was getting out.
I'd love to just buy a new system but that's out of budget for now. I want to see if I can make this one better. So more nozzles and one more pull cable.
I know this car passed an SCCA annual tech as recently as 2019. The expiration date on the extinguisher is 2017. So either they didn't care or didn't check. The way bottle was mounted, the label would have been hard to see behind the seat but the gauge was plainly visible.
Regardless, I need to know the following:
- Do I need to get this recertified or something?
- How do I add another pull cable? I can't tell how the existing cable is secured in the bottle head. Is that a set screw in the hole (see pics below)?
She cleaned up nice enough.
UPDATE: I tried a bunch of different allen wrenches and finally found one that fits the set screw in the extinguisher head. The problem is that it looks to me like this thing was designed for exactly one pull cable and it has to be a solid cable. It's a tight squeeze to get this one cable in there so I doubt it's going to take a second one. The only solution I can come up with, short of a new system, is maybe drilling the keeper on my new cable to be large enough so that I can run both cables through it and clamp them together and then run the solid cable into the extinguisher head.
UPDATE 2: I checked the website of the manufacturer and they won't recertify a bottle that is more than 6 years old. Mine is 7 years old. So they're not going to recertify it.
Couple things.
The head on that is a spring release head where the pin and/or the cable holds back the plunger that will pierce the bottle if both are removed. The "set screw" is supposed to secure the cable housing to the bottle, the cable is a friction fit once the safety pin is removed as it's now retaining the plunger.
Here is the install instructions
One way to make a second pull is to actually have 3. Put one close to the bottle, then connect the other two via cables to that T handle so when either are pulled, it will activate the bottle.
Pardon the crude drawing, but you get the idea
OG racing does bottle recerts, check with them on the possibility of them doing the recert.
In reply to HalfFast :
Thanks, Bill. Drawing is perfect! Totally get it.
Is there any reason my cockpit fire nozzle can't be overhead so that it is directed down, across my body and the adjoining area where the oil tank is? Obviously, I'd want to keep it within the protection of the cage, not on the outside of a cage bar.
SPA suggests the cockpit nozzle be placed near the "B" pillar directing the nozzle at the opposite foot so it sprays over your shoulder from behind. Optionally, down low pointed up at your midriff.
The key is to not point it at your face... Nothing like being blinded by foam when you're trying to figure out how to GTFO...
In reply to HalfFast :
Thanks. I was thinking the overhead position because it would be closer to potential fuel sources like the oil and fuel lines running through the cockpit, plus giving coverage for me without hitting me directly in the face while I'm trying to GTFO. I'll have a nozzle in the engine bay and one over the fuel cell as well.
Wiring is all done except for zip tying the extra wire length around the MSD. That can wait. I didn't bother to wire the light for the oil temp gauge (left most), the volt meter doesn't have a light and the fuel gauge has a hole for a bulb socket but it's missing. So this will have to do. I verified that all the gauges and switches work. Start button works (just bumped it). Starting it up will have to wait a few weeks. Fingers crossed on that.
I started a discussion about brake line routing that has morphed into diagnosing my braking issues here. While I was look at them this evening, I noticed serveral things. First, the piston boot is cooked on the LF caliper. So that will need to get rebuilt. NO! I'm not getting new ones!
Second, the right front spindle might be bent. I don't even know what these spindles are or how to look them up. I do know they're one piece, very heavy looking, with the caliper mount welded or cast in place. It's hard to understand how this could get bent like this from an off road excursion without damage elsewhere. But I don't know.
Third, I have no idea whether this is normal or not. The distance between the ball joints and the tops of the spindles is different on each side.
The remaining items on the punch list are:
- Brakes - rebuild front calipers, replace pads, vacuum bleed system
- Spindles?
- Nut and bolt everything
- Fire bottle re-cert, run lines/fittings
- Re-install seat
- Install muffler
- Change numbers (225 is not legal in SCCA. All 3-digit numbers have to start with 1)
- Whatever I forgot to do.
- Start and road test, bed brakes
Looks loke maybe one side has longer balljoints. It may also have different height spindles, and an altered shape to accommodate circle track positive/negative camber setup built in. Ive noticed the major side to side differences in used spindles at the swap meets.
Dusterbd13-michael said:
Looks loke maybe one side has longer balljoints. It may also have different height spindles, and an altered shape to accommodate circle track positive/negative camber setup built in. Ive noticed the major side to side differences in used spindles at the swap meets.
Looks like I need to get some measurements.
In reply to jimgood :
That right spindle could have been bent like that to adjust bump steer. There is a chance that spindle did get bent in a wreck.
Those are welded spindles so it is OK to heat that up and bend it back down more like the other one, if you want. If you determine those spindles are circle track type and you are going to replace them then don't bother with it.
If you want to still use them you could take it to a welding shop and ask them to heat it and bend it back down for you. I doubt that bend is the result of difference between left and right due to it being setup to turn left as in circle track.
The top of the spindle having longer ball joints Im not sure. Could even be as simple as that was the ball joints the guy had so he put them on. I doubt that longer ball joint is a left hand circle track thing. The left/right difference for circle track vs road race is usually caster/camber. I think it is also called kingpin inclination.
I have been looking around at different spindles lately. I have to rebuild my entire front end from cross member out to make it a road race car.
I see Howe and lefthander both carry spindles designed for road racing. Im going to talk to them about what type of caliper mounts I might want.
Maybe if you call them and describe what you have they could advise you.
That is absolutely a longer ball joint on one side. I run longer "tall" ball joints on my car in order to increase the spindle height and by affect, increase the upper control arm angle which increases camber gain.
Wouldn't be surprised if the right vs left on the steering arm is for bump steer and/or joint alignment when the car is loaded up in a corner on banking while the wheel is turned. Typically it would be shimmed up or down for bump steer with spacers, but being as its bent for an angle there could be a position that the geometry was ending up in that was bottoming the shank of the joint if it was flat like the left side.
The spindles are pretty cheap considering. I would look into getting at matched set if your goal is to get everything symmetrical side to side.
In reply to robert777 :
You're probably right about all of that.
This car is a 2012 Howe chassis. I really need to get the hubs off this thing and get some measurements and pics of everything then call them.
Asphalt_Gundam said:
That is absolutely a longer ball joint on one side. I run longer "tall" ball joints on my car in order to increase the spindle height and by affect, increase the upper control arm angle which increases camber gain.
Wouldn't be surprised if the right vs left on the steering arm is for bump steer and/or joint alignment when the car is loaded up in a corner on banking while the wheel is turned. Typically it would be shimmed up or down for bump steer with spacers, but being as its bent for an angle there could be a position that the geometry was ending up in that was bottoming the shank of the joint if it was flat like the left side.
The spindles are pretty cheap considering. I would look into getting at matched set if your goal is to get everything symmetrical side to side.
I was going to say I thought maybe the longer ball joint is for camber gain but decided I really had no idea. 
I wish I had been astute enough to see that when I bought the car so I could ask the PO about the reasoning behind the differences.
Maybe someday I can take this thing to HalfFast's shop so we can get all this figured out. 
Been making slow but steady progress. I took the old muffler out to see if I could make the new, hopefully quieter, muffler work but it was no dice. I measured my exhaust before the 2-into-1 "Y" pipe, which was 3" so that's what I ordered. But after the "Y" it's 3.5". Time is getting short so I'm just going to stick with the loud muffler for now. I need to re-wrap it and put it back in.
Caliper rebuild parts came in this afternoon but I'm still waiting on brake fluid and pads. I think those are coming in the middle of the week.
This morning I started back on running the fire system lines. I got the engine bay nozzles done. I found it easiest to work my way backwards. I put one nozzle at the end of a line on the passenger side ran it across to a "T". Made a little short piece from the "T" to a nozzle for the driver side then ran a line from the "T" through the firewall and into the cockpit with a straight union. From the union it runs down the front leg of the cage and along the floor then back up to where the bottle will be. I still need to get the fire bottle re-certified. I'm trying to see if my neighbor will do it as he has a fire extinguisher business. We played phone tag all day on Friday. Going to try again Monday. If he can't do it I'll have to schlepp it up to OG Racing.
I'm kind of wiped out from doing fence repairs all afternoon so I don't know if I'll get any more done today.
