SiRMarlon

Got the interior completely painted...







And we even got some sweet parts for free thanks to my good friends over at Trail-Gear Off-Road! Steering wheel quick release...

cheseroo

iTrader: (2)

A couple of observations -
1. I love the patina on the car, don't paint it.
2. There will be a Lemons rule change for 2013 in regards to cages. The rear backstays cannot terminate behind the rear of the rear tires. I think you are ok with yours but it's hard to tell from the pictures.
3. I would email pictures of the cage to John Pagel, the head of tech for Lemons john@evilgeniusracing.com I find that Lemons tech is harder to pass than Chump. If there's a question about anything, it's easier to get it fixed now than at the race. This cage looks ok to my untrained eye. But at our last race earlier this month a team ignored everyone's advice to email pix and spent all day and night friday and saturday morning past the race start time cutting out their old cage and starting over. This is the 3rd time I've seen this. Then again, the rest of us usually have time to kill on Friday nights before the race so watching rookie teams thrash all night gives us something to do while we are drinking beer.
4. Mount the temp gauge up high on the dash in the driver's line of sight. Rotate it so that the needle is straight up and down at the desired operating temp. See if you can get one with the face the same size as a grandfather clock. If you keep the engine cool or can catch it before it overheats, you'll be golden.
5. If you want someone to look things over and do a dry run of tech inspection, PM me. I live in OC and while I am not the expert on all things Lemons/Chump, I've got our cars through tech more than a half dozen times now so I kinda have a feel for what they are after.

SiRMarlon

Thanks for the Advice Cheseroo! I might have to hit you up...the only thing I don't plan on running Lemons anymore. Just the Chump Series, the Chump guys gave me the OK on the cage. And I know about the little gauge trick of pointing them all due north so that way when you see one go south on you, you know you have a problem!

I plan on going out to Sevenstock/Mazdafest and I am hoping a few more chumpers are out there so I can ask some questions and take a look of a few other RX7s...but if anything I appreciate that help and will def PM you if I have any questions!

cheseroo

iTrader: (2)

I don't mean to turn this into a Chump/Lemons discussion (I run both) but I wouldn't turn my back on Lemons. Chump is having a lot of trouble getting enough entries in the SoCal races. They just cancelled next month's Streets of Willow race because of lack of entries. I've got two cars entered at Fontana and I'm really hoping that they don't cancel that race too. If Fontana gets cancelled, Chump will run exactly 1 race in SoCal for 2012. For whatever reason, Lemons draws a lot more cars in SoCal. Within the last month Chump and Lemons both ran Buttonwillow. Chump had 25? cars and Lemons had 140? The Lemons race was a true 24 which normally keeps the car count down as it's a lot more work to do a 24. I don't know about you but when I go racing, I like to actually race against other cars. I did a Chump race earlier in the year where I had to radio the pits and actually ask if there was anyone else out on track because I hadn't seen a car anywhere in so long. I will continue to run both but I'd be forced to travel stupid long distances if I limited myself to Chump. Both series have evolved and I find that a lot of the reputations that both series have gained is exaggerated or no longer true. My point is that I wouldn't limit myself so much before you've actually run one or both series. Once you run one of these races, you'll want to do more and you'll have an awful long wait or drive if you are Chump only.

SiRMarlon

Well what's this whole thing I keep hearing with Lemons that they have to "pick" you to compete and that you have to have a theme to your team? I like the idea of paying my registration fee showing up, passing tech and being able to drive...

I hear the Lemons races are more strict on track and that they tend to slow down the race a lot of times. One of my buddies tried it last season and he didn't get "Accepted" to the race up in buttonwillow because he didn't have a dumb theme to his team or car...lol I just want some seat time to work on my driving

Though my competitive nature will probably come out once I am at the track, we are looking at this as a challenge to build the car to last for 2 days...we just want to finish the race we have no illusions of winning, especially as a rookie team.

Plus not sure if my cage will pass tech with the lemons techs because I believe my rear bars go past the rear diff and I can't bring myself to hackup a cage I just paid to have built and that I know got the green light from the Chump People only to satisfy the Lemons folks where it's a 50/50 chance I might get picked. I don't know maybe I have it all wrong...hahaha

cheseroo

iTrader: (2)

If you were farther east or in the upper Northwest, you could substitute "Chump" for "Lemons" in the first part of that statement and it would be true as Chump turns away people too. But not out here. If you don't want to theme your car, then yes, stay away from Lemons. Even though Chump has a section in the rules about theme and how it counts for something, it doesn't. They don't give a crap.

Even though you have safety equipment in your car, you can get hurt doing this. Yes Lemons is stricter about the driving and contact. Chump's rookie handbook expressly points out that contact is allowed. I put my friends in these cars. I know their wives and kids. I have concerns that Chump allows contact. Having said that, a lot of the guys who run the local Chump races also run Lemons. The driving is pretty clean and similar between the two series. Both series will black flag you for driving, it's just more strict in Lemons and I've come to appreciate that. This is endurance racing for worn out street cars, there's no need to drive 110% for 24 hours. Unless you bring 27 drivers to the race with you, you'll get waay more seat time in these series than you will in any other.

There are a lot of RX7's in Lemons out west. If a race is filling up, they cut the teams that look the weakest or look like they don't have their **** together (app halfway filled out, only 1 driver, etc). To them, those are the teams that are going to drop out a week before the race and cause wasted effort on everyone's part. The theme thing does come into play if the car is an RX7 that has had the same theme for the last 3 years. If you want to run Lemons with a standard RX7, you will need to theme it. Same with an E30 BMW. If you bring something odd, you don't have to theme it.


Good, because you won't win your first time. We had a "rookie" team pitted across from us at the last race running a 510. The 4 drivers had a combined 100 years of datsun racing including Trans Am. The team included a guy who designed the Indy IRL engine and has authored several books on building Datsun race engines. I don't think they made the top 10. Winning these races has gotten a lot tougher.

The rule is they can't extend past the rear wheels. It sounds like you are close enough to be ok. My main point here is that if you want seat time, the way things have been lately, you won't get it by limiting yourself to running only Chumpcar. I'm not saying don't run Chump because we absolutely need more entries so that they stop canceling races. I'm telling you not to hitch yourself to a single pony because that pony might just pull up stakes and go somewhere else.

dmedz8

iTrader: (2)

any updates?

SiRMarlon

No, not this weekend...I didn't get a chance to work on it. I'm still waiting on a parts car to come through...had something come up last week so the deal could not get finalized but I am hoping to have everything I need for the car by the weekend of August 3rd.

I am purchasing an 82 GSL with a blown engine...it's really complete and cherry so I will most likely be parting it out when I am done taking everything I need for the chump car.

So far my list of things I need that will come off of THAT car is:

Limited Slip Disc Brake rear end
front suspension
Clutch Pedal/Brake pedal
Clutch Master Cylinder
Clutch Slave cylinder
Headlight motors
Distributor/Ignition
Tranmission

And that's probably all I am taking from that car...the rest will go on sale as a roller or part out.

Danker06

iTrader: (2)

mmmmm hmmmmm

SiRMarlon

Got the parts car today...100% complete 1982 GSL just has a bad motor I kinda feel bad parting the sucker out because it's so clean. Taking the Chumpcar to the shop this weekend so we can start working on it!

But I do need the parts for the RaceKor!!

oldschool_fb

vary awesome man!

SiRMarlon

I dropped the car off this morning at the shop and the guys are going to handle the big stuff for me since I am really busy at work. So pretty much the list of stuff they are taking from the green RX7 and swapping over is as follows:

Complete Rear End (LSD, Rrear Disc Brakes, Rear brake lines) with Suspension components
Gas Tank
Drive shaft
Transmission
Pedals (Gas, Brake, Clutch)
Brake Booster / Master Cylinder
Clutch Cylinder / Clutch Slave Cylinder and Associated lines
Distributor, Coils, and associated ignition wiring (we are only wiring what we need, just like the crawler)
Front headlights and motors
Radiator and mounts
The whole front suspension including all the brake lines and stuff.

And I am also taking the feners, hood, front bumper and front fascia since the green ones are in better shape. Still gotta look good you know! Hahaha...they guys at the shop are also going to paint the car for me!

So the only thing I really need right now is a Battery, a Taurus electric fan and GSLSE flywheel. The motor I already have and it just needs little things like replacing the water pumps and any seals. New front cover, and water pump.

And I also just got confirmation that we are indeed getting some free AUTOMETER Gauges from another local sponsor!

parid

Sorry, I just want to clarify this so you don't get surprised when you show up at your first race. You can't buy back penalty laps with ChumpCar. If you don't want penalty laps, bring a $500 car like everyone else should be doing.

ChumpCar rarely turns people away, and when they do, its the procrastinators that get turned away. It's first come first serve. If you really want to get into a race, you can register and pay a deposit 6 months in advance. At that point, you set for that spot in that race. Register on time and make prompt payments, and you won't ever have an issue.

You can always add another bar (instead of cutting things up). That's what we did to get our cage to pass tech with Lemons. It was relatively straight forward.

SiRMarlon

Though the heat in SoCal is still unbearable I said **** it and went to the shop to work on the car...


I've pillaged the 82 for most of the stuff I need...there is still some stuff that I need to take from it.

before...



after...







Swapping over the rear end and front suspension...





Pulled the front end off the old car...







Swapping everything over...

SiRMarlon

pulled the tranny down but I need to find the GSLSE 13B flywheel and buy the clutch kit before I attach it to the motor...



Thatttsss Right!!!



Rear Disc Brakes!





Just about done...



Got the front end done...gotta get it ready for some paint!

SiRMarlon

Finally picked up the GSL-SE flywheel! The clutch was ordered and should be at the shop tomorrow or Saturday. But motor should be going in this weekend. I also received a little something from Auto Meter today! They hooked it up with some free Gauges and sensors!!!



NV Style Oil Temp!



NV Style Water Temp!

SiRMarlon

C2 Fully programmable Fuel Gauge!! I don't need to install a universal one or replace my stock one which is pretty cool!!! This will do the entire range! Just have to program it which is pretty simple!



NV Style Voltmeter



and a Phantom II Oil Pressure gauge! These were all free so I doesn't bother me that they all don't match!! You can not be free 99!!!

cheseroo

iTrader: (2)

From personal experience - mount the water temp gauge somewhere on top of the dash near the driver's line of sight. Consider plumbing a cheap oil pressure idiot light sender in the cooling system so if the cooling system pressure drops below 5lbs or so (i.e. broken water hose), it turns on an idiot light. As the guy who built the thing, I can assure you that your diligence in making sure it doesn't blow up will be much greater that the other guys who drive it and this stuff is for them.

SiRMarlon

There is no Dash in this car... I am going to mount the gauges and switches right where the center console use to sit. And that is a pretty good idea...I'll look into it.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i think the reason they are doing that is because they have 140 cars on track, which is about double what NASA does, and NASA is considered crowded!

also with Lemons, we've learned that it costs exactly the same as NASA does, the only part where you save money running Lemons is not spending money on mods to the car, which is the cheap part. the expensive part of racing is the gas, tires, hotel, etc etc.

or if you want to look at it the positive way you could run chumpcar/lemons AND NASA. @NASA your car would fit into one of the PT or TT classes. the SCCA doesn't have a point based system like NASA does, and its not a free for all like Lemons/chumpcar, so you'd be at the mercy of the concours judges, who would probably put you in grand am, because the steering wheel is too small in diameter (its a real rule!).

other than that the car looks great! 1st gens are really fun on the track

SiRMarlon

You know I've thought about trying out some of the other series...I won't be traveling, just doing the local stuff. I know Chumps goes to Baja so that is on my bucket list as well as racing the Laguna Well see what races I do next season! This year it's all about getting one race under our belts to see what we have in store for us...that way we are prepared for the start of next season. Once the car is done I will see if one of the local Lemons guy can give me a Tech and see what if anything would need to be changed to pass tech at a Lemons event.

cheseroo

iTrader: (2)

FWIW, while I haven't run NASA, all the NASA people I've talked to say that you get way more track time in Chump/Lemons than NASA/SCCA unless they deem you worthy enough to compete in the Thunderhill 25. They say the track time per dollar is greater in Chump/Lemons. Also, I'm pretty certain that Chump will be instituting rule changes for next year that will call for more car/car incident black flagging. 2 weeks ago Chump had to yet again stop the race so they could have another driver's meeting in order to yell at everyone to stop crashing each other. That's what really bothers me about Chump, their allowance for contact. Not taps but significant contact. It's a lot of work to build these things and you can lose it all in an instant because of some jackass who takes advantage of the allowable contact rule. Here's an exerpt from their Intro to Chump driving handbook

"Contact: Contact, rubbing, leaning… any way you want to call it, it’s inevitable in racing. If you don’t want your car to get damaged, take it to a car show. Performing
tight maneuvers at the limit of the vehicle inclose range of other vehicles doing similar will result in some mistakes, and cars will come in contact with each other. However, in ChumpCar, we have standard which we use tojudge most contacts: if the contact is made behind the centerline of the rear axle or in front of the centerline of the front axle, that’s racing. If the contactis made anywhere in between, that’s a deliberate hit. Copyright 2009 – ChumpCar World Series, Inc. Driver’s Handbook / Ground School"

It seems that moreso in the east that people have taken this to mean that punting or PITing is acceptable and some pretty bent cars have resulted. Not to say that Lemons hasn't had races with contact but I don't believe they have had to red flag a race to yell at the drivers to knock it off over it. Fortunately, most of the people here in So Cal also run Lemons where running into each other is penalized so the Chump races are pretty clean. Again, I'm not trying to run you off the Chump idea, just pointing out that Lemons isn't entirely evil. We do need more entries in the SoCal chump races. I'm entering two cars at Chump/Fontana and hope to see your car there as well. Remember the deadline for entry/payment to the Fontana race to avoid paying late entry fees is next monday (60 days before the race) You also need to get all your drivers signed up and paid by then or they individually have to pay the late fees as well. The car entry thing is regional and there are parts of the country like Texas where you can get waitlisted for a Chump race and it's no issue to get into a Lemons race.

BTW, running Laguna Seca was very cool. I didn't find it a hugely technical track to run but you need to have good sized walnuts to go fast there. I highly recommend everyone take the opportunity to run that track. Chump dropped the (IMHO - stupid) tag team idea for the New Years race there so that might be your opportunity to get that track in. I still want to do the Ensenada or Mexicali race but I need better paperwork on the cars to get them back into the country. Something to work on for next year.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i'm not knocking lemons, or chumpcar, really, but i am saying that lemons and chumpcar aren't any cheaper than NASA. so you could run all three, with the same car

and just to be clear, the 25 IS awesome (we've run it 3 times), and its NASA, they deem you worthy when the check clears. the average turnout for the 25 is about 65 cars, which is about half what lemons does, and its the most NASA does all year.

SiRMarlon

Regardless of what series it is... I am in to have fun and to get some seat time! I can not wait to get my car done and get behind the Wheel!!!

83FB

cool build... youre not gonna put a dash in at all?