The RX7 returned to hillclimbing this weekend, competing at Okemo. The car needed some adjustments, mainly from the driver, but confidence quickly grew and times dropped. By the end of the weekend we had earned a P3 class victory by a margin of three seconds.
I'm sure there's more time in the car, but it takes time to find the limits of a car. This weekend I'm running a 2-day track event in Canaan NH, which should help us further dial things in.
Congrats! Was the glare inside the windshield as distracting to you live as it appeared in the camera?
Is the headlight possessed?? 
Looks like a ton of fun.
Big bump must have lifted it enough that air got under it to hold it
Took the car to a 2-day autocross event at Canaan Motorsports Club in Canaan, NH. The course took place on the track with some cones to create a little extra drama and drop speeds to "reasonable" levels. Still, I was at 8k rpm in 3rd, which is over 80mph.
On Saturday my setup guy was also racing, so I made full use of his spare time and we took tire temps. Rears looked awesome with a 7 degree difference across the two and both around 150 degrees. The fronts were also close to eachother, but only 110 degrees - not good and explains the car's push.
Sunday I kept taking air out of the fronts until I got down to 15psi - and that's when the push stopped and when the end started getting rowdy again. Sadly I ran out of runs to keep tuning things, but I think a couple clicks less compression in the rear will stabilize things and we'll be golden.
In the end I took two podiums in my class over the weekend, with a 2nd and a 3rd. That made me 2nd in class for the weekend. I'm not mad with that result.
Back when I was racing SCCA/ITC, I ran 205 section tires front and rear on an old RWD Corolla. Never could get that size front tire warm enough to stick like it should. Dropped down to a 185 section tire on the front and things got MUCH quicker. Also provided the benefit of buying used Spec Racer tires (205 rear/185 front) from the fast guys who'd put new tires on for every race....
Seemed appropriate here --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pjVufQXxXE
where are the updates? Pictures? The burst ear drums?
In reply to dextervw :
The car has been chilling in my trailer while I was funemployed for the summer. I got restructured out of my very lucrative position June 16th and didn't go back to full-time employment until October. Teaching cops advanced driving techniques only paid the bills.
She'll be back in action in 2018
Just glad to see you back!
To be honest the new forum layout has been keeping me off.
But this is the only place I update the process of blowing money on this thing so I feel tied to it!
DaveEstey said:To be honest the new forum layout has been keeping me off.
But this is the only place I update the process of blowing money on this thing so I feel tied to it!
I hear you! I feel much the same way. Being this far in I am now wondering if I should have just hosted my own blog like I ended up hosting my own photos after the Photo Bucket disaster. I'm sure I could setup something on my domain but I don't really want to start over or recreate everything.
It's the offseason, I don't have a shop space and I need a project.
Introducing the Loose Dzus Racing Kartacular
It's mean. It's kinda green. It's a flathead Briggs engine running on methanol and it is a bit crusty. However, the price of $300 with a pile of spares means it's a sore dick deal - you can't beat it!
Step one: Say I'm only going to clean it up a little and then run it.
Step two:
This.
Tear down reveals that it's mostly good and the bad parts are easily remedied. Since I can't leave well enough alone though out comes the degreaser and the paint cabinet gets thrown wide open.
Primed.
First coat
And back inside where it belongs
The exhaust was barely bolted to the engine, so I decided to check out why. Turns out the bolt holes are a little wallered out and will need to be cleaned up and tap'd.
But while I have it off why not...
This thing is really eating into my "spare things I own, but didn't have a purpose," collection.
This wheel was previously in the Hillclimb RX7.
The suede is going to get gross really quickly.
Thus ends my first day of kart ownership.
What's next? Different clutch, knobby tires with kold kutters and some ICE RACING.
Oh yeah, I'll also be making some carbon fiber parts for it.
Quick build. It should be done in time for Ascutney. Wouldn't that be a scary ride!
Awesome, I have been looking for a cheap kart.....
I may actually have a 'standard kart' clutch for that sitting in another box. I'll have a look after work today.
Get a rebuild kit for the carb and replace the fuel pump diaphragm. Methanol eats those things up pretty quickly. When you run it, make sure you flush the tank with straight gas and run the engine a bit, then dump some marvel mystery oil down the intake and pull the plug wire when it starts to smoke pretty well. Drain the gas and she is good for storage.
Also, you are going to want to get a chain guard to keep the seat from coming over into the clutch. Never had one get me, but I've had clutches eat up the seat pretty well.
I can't remember the carb jets to get it to run methanol, but they are larger than the prescribed gasoline jet. That pipe will be pretty good for lower end power too. When we first started, we ran a 98-3 cam in the engines, which was decent on the bottom end but kinda weak up top. We finally ended up with a 7X cam and that thing would rev as high as you would want it to. Running the stock class with one of the older cams, you should be able to get 10hp out of the engine with methanol. You may have to run it up to 6k to get it.
In reply to KevinGale :
I'll have it at Ascutney, but only for Pit duty.
In reply to jmabarone :
Is it really just the carb jetting that lets these things run on Meth? I was curious about that and know nothing about flathead briggs other than lawn mower duty.
DaveEstey said:In reply to jmabarone :
Is it really just the carb jetting that lets these things run on Meth? I was curious about that and know nothing about flathead briggs other than lawn mower duty.
We ran different spark plugs, but I don't recall them being anything crazy. IIRC, we ran NGK plugs that didn't have an electrode because the hot cam would throw the valve up and hit the plug. That was how those engines would make power in the "stock" rules class.
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