Late Model Stock roadracer

So the weekend was a bust.  The car developed some clutch slip issues as I was moving it around the property in order to first put it on the lift to check it out and then position it to load it into the trailer on Thursday.  The clutch slip seemed to get worse the more I moved it.  But I pushed on and got it winched into the trailer.  Friday morning I made the 3.5 hour trip to VIR in the blowing cold rain and managed to rip the front right corner support on the trailer's guide wire pulling it out of the trailer.  So I winched it back INTO the trailer, fixed the issues (6 rivets) and then off to tech inspection.  After Tech inspection, which it passed, I went off to a buddie's house to warm up and drink coffee while the dyno dried out.  My hope was that the clutch issues would magically fix themselves or atleast the hold enough for me to do the compliance runs.  But allas, while on the dyno it slipped so bad we couldn't even pull RPM and I almost didn't even get the thing OFF the dyno.  

So no laps in and still no compliance HP runs.  I will still have to complete that before I can race.  So this coming week I'm hoping to take the car to Torp Chassis in Richmond Va and have them address the clutch issue and a host of other checks I feel should have been done sooner.  I'll also get them to set the car up on their scales and get it "square" for me.  Time will tell.  

That is a bummer, but you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. (I fired a guy for saying that to me once, but that's another story)

Good visuals thought...the car looks the part!  I'm so amazed you will be in ST3.  I wish i could make that happen, but I just don't see it with this engine.  But we shall see.

I'm hoping to catch up with you and get to Summit Point in April.  I need to get a move on.

Got the transmission back in the car with a new clutch this weekend.  I'm addressing a "tight" issue with the forward Ujoint on the driveshaft and then I'll have the car back together. One issue I still am not happy with is the shifter on the Muncie 4speed transmission.  It's a Hurst shifter doesn't "naturally" fall into neutral on the forward gear side.  It sits more neutral on the reverse side of the "gate".  Thinking this could be the beginning of a spectacular money shift.  More research to come.  

So we got the parts in for the front of the driveshaft.  2-3050 was the ticket.  I need to get a spare just incase.  I still need to pull the shifter apart and figure out the internal bits of the Hurst comp Plus and sort out the bits.  Right now it doesn't go into reverse now that it's properly oriented.  

Hey Mike! Any updates on this?

I'm an instructor with NASA MA and for a couple years I've considered selling my E46 and getting a late model to race / instruct with. I was also thinking I'd aim for racing in ST3! I was wondering why you went with a 350 over the LQ9 or another LS based engine? My "plan" was to use an LM7. It looks like you haven't really run it yet (I've only seen you running the 944) so you probably wouldn't have an answer for me, but I was wondering what your running costs per weekend might look like? I'm guessing it wouldn't be too far off what I spend with my E46 ($400ish). I know you can pretty reliably get takeoff tires in the range of $25-50 which would work great while Instructing. Especially since I'm guessing I'll flat spot a few tires while adjusting to the lack of ABS haha

Another question in terms of cost if you don't mind... Do you think it would be reasonable to expect to get something like you have up and running for $10k or less? Much more than that and I may as well continue ahead with my E46. I've seen good roller options for $5500 and under which makes me think $10k (or less) all in is achievable. Heck I've even seen some pretty decent looking complete cars for less than $8k.