Author Topic: "E" Gas Coupe Build  (Read 184126 times)

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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #135 on: March 28, 2012, 11:05:19 PM »
Jon, I don’t have any hard data, but when we were racing in IMSA the factory paid a lot of attention to it.  The Ford engineers always told us to run 3” of clearance around the tire to minimize tire shearing.

 A rotating wheel is a big pump and if the tire is too close to the side, then you have still air against the tire tub and the tire sliding by that air. If the gap were more instead of less, it seems to me there would be less "shearing" of the air and less drag. This is true in incompressible fluids and I don't see why it wouldn't hold true in air. 

In our case one side of the tub was partially open to the air stream ad in your case you would have a fully enclosed tub, which might make a difference.   It would be interesting if some of the stream liner or aero guys would chime in.  Tony
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Offline Jon

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #136 on: March 29, 2012, 10:39:19 PM »
Thanks Tony, good info.

I dont have room to run 3" of clearance + both tyres will have yokes running quite close.

thanks
jon
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Offline jl222

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #137 on: March 30, 2012, 08:38:49 PM »
After contemplating building our own wheel tubs or using a modified trailer fenders, I was able to find a shop that could build us a wheel tub in 16 gauge.  He was a little concerned about running it on his Pittsburgh and said he has done it before and the machine didn’t like him but he would get them done somehow by next week.  They will be 18” tall and 17” wide; this should also let us run the Dunlop’s at Elmo without issues.   Tony

  18'' tall and 17'' wide that's the same size tubs as our 222 Camaro, but we have a little less air space  :-D

          JL222 :cheers:

Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #138 on: April 03, 2012, 11:14:17 PM »
Finally had  the chance to cut the rear wheel housing and get it ready for the new wheel tubs.  Its amazing how quickly you run out of room  once we started laying out everything inside the back half of the car.  Tony


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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #139 on: April 12, 2012, 01:12:29 PM »
After I posted about the gas cooler tank I built another thread I had a few PM's on it.  The one I built uses parts I gathered at the local Hayward swap meet and was originally built for the REMR, but we are going to use it on the Firebird for now.

To get the cooling area, I modified a dry sump tank from a midget racer (its 8" round) and a topped it off with a fuel cell top.  There is over 12 feet of tubing in the tank, and get it in and correct was the worst part of the whole thing.  It took a few sticks of tubing before getting it correct. Tony


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Offline Kiwi Paul

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #140 on: April 13, 2012, 01:49:33 AM »
Tony---Have you thought about taking this kind of Fabricating up for a career? :-D Just Saying...... :cheers:

Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #141 on: April 14, 2012, 01:19:19 AM »
I did it for a long time and stepped away from it when I got married.  I  have a great wife and it wasn't fair to her me being on the road all the time.  I did get to work with some of the best teams in professional auto racing and made some life long friends and have no regrets. Whats funny is I see some of the same cats (but older) on the salt.    Tony
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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #142 on: April 18, 2012, 01:03:04 PM »
Started working on getting the rear tubs in yesterday but it  still needs some more trimming to raise it up to the correct spot. The angle iron in the picture is to make sure the tub is square to chassis, it will be removed once everything is welded in place.  Next is cutting the firewall out and setting it back. Tony

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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #143 on: April 22, 2012, 11:31:16 PM »
It was a scorcher this weekend, despite that I managed to get some work done. After starting on the modifications to the rear/trans dry sump breather tank and almost dying of heat, I went over to my buddy's place to finish it (he has AC). Tony

This is the tank I started with, its an ex IRL breather tank I had lying around.


Old tubes cut and the top modified.


New 12AN bungs, breather tubes and site tube fittings welded in (I should have cleaned and polished it better before welding)


Finally its finished with the breathers added.
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Offline 38flattie

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #144 on: April 23, 2012, 06:38:25 AM »
AC? Hell, we had a foot of snow last night, here in Blossburg, PA!

Tony, first class work, as we've come to expect from you! :cheers:
« Last Edit: April 23, 2012, 08:56:01 AM by 38flattie »
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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #145 on: April 23, 2012, 04:24:06 PM »
Thanks Buddy,  What I really like about working on the coupe over the REMR is the amount of space you have to  work with. I started on the driver vents yesterday and it was a lot easier not to shrink them down to fit in a small space. Tony
« Last Edit: April 23, 2012, 04:50:02 PM by maguromic »
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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #146 on: April 23, 2012, 04:46:18 PM »
Yesterday I also started working on the vent filters for the drivers compartment.  This was brought upon by sticker shock of what driver compartment filters are going for.  One of the things we looked at was building some pressure inside the drivers compartment form the driver vents to keep the dust out at Elmo. To get enough air we have two big openings at the base of the windshield to pick up the air and funnel it inside.  To filter the dust and other debris that might come in I am using a Briggs and Stratton air filter (they are about $3 each and the rite size). The whole system is connected with 3" hose and will also have screens on the ends.

Its done like a clam shell for maintenance ease and I was able to finish the first half yesterday.  I will try to finish in the next few weeks and post the finished part. Tony





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Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #147 on: April 26, 2012, 10:33:35 PM »
Today I had a chance to head up to the track and help work on cutting the firewall out of the Firebird.  What I thought was a simple job became a chore as I had to take it apart in layers to keep it clean looking.  We will set the firewall bake about one foot to accommodate all the engines.  At the same time one of the suspects worked on fitting the new rear hatch to the car.  It seems to fit fine, but we still need to tighten and optimize  the tolerances.




I will use the back glass as a template to build the Lexan replacement.


Hopefully in the next few weeks we plan on getting the car on the chassis table and then the real fun will begin. I have some ideas on the cage design that I want to try out and will also include a driver seat box like the DTM cars.  This should add a new dimension to driver safety. Tony
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Offline Kiwi Paul

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #148 on: April 27, 2012, 12:29:39 AM »
Sorry Tony....What are DTM Cars? Am I missing something? I presume your Engine Setback will still make you Gas Coupe legal....I`m sure you already have some sort of Computer Program to optimise firwall design based on Aero....... :evil: :evil:

Offline maguromic

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Re: "E" Gas Coupe Build
« Reply #149 on: April 27, 2012, 01:07:29 AM »
DTM cars are German touring cars  (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) and in my opinion when it comes to sedans they are on the cutting edge.  The new rules package requires them to run a driver seat box to protect the driver in a bad crash. The best way to describe is its a tub that the seat sits in for driver safety. Those tubs are done in carbon fiber and they have a lot of engineering behind them, but there is no reason that something similar cant be done in aluminum that can also come apart for cleaning.  We were always going to finish the interior, its just a a little more work to do it this way. Tony

This was one of the first cars to have the tub http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YelodRFABH0

This is an Audi DTM car and the driver tub taken from the net.

« Last Edit: April 27, 2012, 01:10:26 AM by maguromic »
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