Mid- Engine Modified Sports

[tauruck]

I'm with Neil.

[manta22]

I ran into town to run a few errands, one being to take advantage of a heat gun on sale at HF for $8.99. My old Ideal heat gun finally burned out the heating element. It was a POS and not repairable so I junked it and, most conveniently, the HF sale came up at the right time for me. Out of desperation yesterday I tried my wife's hair dryer on the shrink tubing but it would barely affect it.

I finished wiring all the fans on my panel and they all work.   

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

The panel is mounted with the same 1/4"-28 bolts that fit through vibration mounts into nut plates on the underside of the radiator support tubing.

This shows how it is mounted.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[tauruck]

Neil. your car looks a lot like one that could do more than run in a straight line.

The workmanship is as expected from you.

[manta22]

Yes, that is the idea I have , Mike. I know that the SCTA rules are the rules and I don't have a problem with that.

It's just my own definition of a "modified sports" that I have-- "sports" to me is a car that can go road racing. I realize that giving away LSR advantages such as a greatly increased wheelbase, lots of added ballast weight, a stretched nose, etc., etc. is a handicap at Bonneville but I'll be happy with whatever speeds that I can run-- a record is not my goal. I just want to drive a car that I built by myself on the salt at Bonneville. As Anthony Hopkins said in the movie "TWFI", "It's hallowed ground, mate."

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[robfrey]

Hi Neil,  did you work out center of pressure vs center of gravity yet? If not, maybe we can print a 3d model of it to see what it needs for tail feathers.

[manta22]

Hi Rob;

I know where the CG is from lifting the chassis with my engine hoist. I know the engine & tranny weights so I can calculate the resulting CG. The fiberglass bodywork wouldn't add much so I could probably omit it without much error.

What would be needed to generate a 3D model? It sure would be great to know the CP location.

I've been estimating things based on old MIRA wind tunnel data supplied to me by a friend. The data covers the Ford GT40, Porsche 917, Gulf Mirage M4/500, and Ford F3L in various configurations. These are all sports racing cars with a similar size and configuration as mine.

Thanks for your interest.

Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ

[Milwaukee Midget]

It's just my own definition of a "modified sports" that I have-- "sports" to me is a car that can go road racing. I realize that giving away LSR advantages such as a greatly increased wheelbase, lots of added ballast weight, a stretched nose, etc., etc. is a handicap at Bonneville but I'll be happy with whatever speeds that I can run-- a record is not my goal. I just want to drive a car that I built by myself on the salt at Bonneville.

What I really think is great about this one is that while your focus is Bonneville, when you're done with this, you could wind up with a sports racer that will be as capable, likely the equal of, and certainly safer than just about anything in its class. 

Which, I guess, begs the question - Other than Bonneville, have you any other plans for this?  It might be a little heavy, but with a change of tires and unchoking the steering, this would be a riot as a track day car.

[manta22]

That is what I have in mind, Chris.

Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ

[DND]

Hi Neil

I still think you better stick some lead in that beauty to keep her planted

You remember the ' Road Atlanta Flying Club ' in the Can-Am days?

G Don

[manta22]

Yes, and Hugh Dibbly started it all...


Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ

[tauruck]

Road Atlanta is a roller coaster compared to the salt IMHO.

[Finallygotit]

You should try Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

[tauruck]

Dan, I have but only on the sim.

[manta22]

I replaced the 28V #327 lamps in my lighted indicators with 14V #382 lamps. The original legends were intended for who knows what... "FIL BYPASS" ?

I replaced the plastic inserts with new ones showing appropriate text. I printed the text on a transparent plastic sheet with my inkjet printer and baked it in an oven at 150F. It does curl the sheet a bit but this didn't cause problems. The instructions from Grafix simply says let the ink dry for 10 minutes or so before handling. In reality, allowing 30 hours still doesn't dry the ink. The key is to bake the ink on. This plastic has an adhesive backing so I covered the printed text with a piece of unprinted sheet to protect it. This was cut to size and slipped into the slot in the front of the Roto-Tellite indicator.

A small piece of green "gel" sheet was placed behind and a clear plastic piece about 1/16" behind that to fill the slot. Results were disappointing, the clear plastic allowed the lamps to be clearly visible so I removed the clear plastic insert and sanded it on both sides with 400 wet-or-dry to make it translucent-- that worked nicely. The photos do not show how green the background really is-- they look too white in the pictures.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ