Race car build tips
 

Ive decided to take this build slow. By this I mean over the next 4 years. I dont have all the money to go out and buy the items I want right away, and I feel I will be able to build a better quality machine with the time. I just recently sold all my turbo items, hoping to build a PP motor and toss it right now. Well since my plans of changed Id like some advice.

As the car sits now it has zero interior, I am currently working on removing the remaining sound material which i failed to get before. The motor is almost out. I already have wheels, and a decent coilover setup (which I might get rid of when the time comes for something better) At this point Im looking for advice concerning custom cages and should I keep the stock pedals? I will not be running a dash any longer, so getting to these items should be easy.

Suspension work will come eventually which i choose to run full AWR parts, and a decent diff. Transmission might be a t5 dog box, and engine will be a 13b NA PP. I am looking to keep the stock FC brake calipers, just run a proportion valve and race pads (to help keep the cost down alittle)

My goal is to really have a reliable race car. To build it to the best I can and be able to drive more later then race now and break more. Any advice would be great on parts, etc. Or your input on what I should be looking to accomplish.

Just to add a quick note. The reason the the time other then being money is appearance. Ive been to a couple pro races, and cars and equipment are top notch, clean, and done right. I feel If I build the car with these thoughts in mind, when racing comes, my time and effort might pay off in some sort of small sponsorship, or job offerings.

Consider buying someone else's half done/fully done race car, you'll probably spend less that way :p

Ive thought about it, but with the time in invested into the car, I think it would be more rewarding to finish with this one

Yeah, that's the path I've been following with mine too... $$$

Ya but I figure if I do it right, it hopefully will save me headaces and money in the long run. Alot of the work Ill be able to do myself, such as engine porting, building, and making suspension parts (almost a machinist)

As far as the brake pedals go, since you are keeping the stock calipers, I would probably just keep the stock pedal assembly and hydraulics. Just inspect the pedal assembly and make sure that there is minimal play (esp around the pivots for the arms.

For thoughts on cages, I'd go over to the "show me pictures of your cages" thread that's in this forum.

What class are you thinking about racing in this car? I assume NASA? are you going to use this for track days and HPDE? These things will affect your cage design. Some rulesets allow you to tie into the suspension members, or extend through the firewall, others do not. If you are planning on having a passenger at some piont, then NASCAR door bars on both sides are recommended.

Good luck.

-bill

Unfortunately no, it will not save you money. I started down the same route (although a little less dramatic a build compared to what your designing). I had the shell stripped, had collected the engine parts but I still ended up buying a already completed car in the end (and still got our cheaper).

If you are building your car for the enjoyment of the process, then that in itself can be plenty of reward. For me, since this was my first dedicated track car, it made more sense to get a running, working car and get out on the track to drive, rather than spend all my time wrenching.

The car I bought still needs a lot of work and improvements (eg. swap out the open diff with an LSD, install full cage, remove sunroof, etc.) but I can do these over time and still enjoy driving the car in the process.

Buy the first one, build the second one. :)

Good luck with everything. Keep us up to date on your progress.

-bill

To echo the sentiments above and from my own first-hand experience. Buy someone's project that they've run out of money on! It's taken me ten years of moving the car from shops to friends homes to storage, ten years of purchasing the parts I wanted/needed at prices I thought was fair, ebay'd, etc. to get close, that's right CLOSE! I've fallen on hard times once or twice and the project stalled but I've always said I would finish it. Now looking at the $10K to 15K I've sunk in in labour, parts, this and that I could have bought a completed one years ago if not twice over!!! If you want to spend more money then you want to and be the target of all your friends jokes "Is that thing ever going to run?" then go right ahead!

Check out my thread on this same forum as I complete my car over the winter.

Good luck!

I am building the car for enjoyment factor. But even considering that, I dont think Ive seen a built FC I would buy. I think any car I would buy would bug me too much, knowing I want to do things my way. In a way Im alittle bit of a perfectionist when it comes to what I want in a car (to some extent) I think Ill keep the stock pedal setup, Ive looked for decent larger brake conversions for FC, but I dont think ive seen anything yet im satisfied with. As for saving money, Ive also heard from numerous people that its cheaper to buy, but I think Ill do that for the next car....maybe:)

What class are you building the car for? What Sanctioning body?

If you are even thinking about SCCA the PP will put you in GT. There you will run with full tube frame cars and they will eat your lunch every time you're on the track, no fun.

I don't know what NASA will do with the dream combo you have, I'd check that before I went very far with the build. If you go with a street port you will still fit in SCCA E Production, thats enough to get you up to 150mph on some tracks. Pocono comes to mind in your neighborhood, Daytona for me down here.

As for your brakes, I use a dual master cylinder set up the uses the stock pedals. I think there are some pictures in this thread of my car.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=eprod+born

I also have some newer shots if you want to see more by email, PM me.

I dont think the car will ever be something competitive. Meaning, I will basically only be doing time trials, and fun track days and such. Maybe some time attack stuff. Future down the road plans are a 20b NA. But Id like to get some experience with 13b PP motors first. So I guess Im not really building the car for any specific class.

and jgrewe, looking at your pics is very close to what Im looking for as far as interior. Cage wise, etc.

I'd second the push t0 build an E-production car. You can build towards the E-prod rules and go as far as you want with it. In Canada I'm running what is basically an E-production car with a gt35R turbo and 400 rwhp. The E-prod build seems to go about as far as you can with the tub car berfore you start chopping it up to drop more weight or modify suspension mounting points. You also have a good vendor in AWR racing for parts. For under 250hp the stock brakes with a good pad should be ok on many tracks. If you get a really brake heavy track, some fading is possible. With 400 rwhp I'm well past the stock brake system's capabilities so this winter, the wilwood setup is going on.

enjoy, take your time and steal every good idea you run across. The cage building thread is a good one to troll through for ideas.

cheers,
-Trent
www.rxracing.com

I didn't realize how close to my base of operations you are. (buddy's house in Malvern) I'm in NYC myself. I know a guy in the area that makes awesome cages and other fabrication, he did the cage in a Spec E30 we're building, as well as my buddy's 944 and Integra. Have you been to anything at the new tracks in Millville? (New Jersey Motorsports Park)

I went down to the rolex GT race about a month ago. Its about a 3hr ride for me. The track is going to be nice, however its still a work in progress. I might take my daily speed3 out for a EMRA event next year for fun.

Yeah, they don't even have curbing in all the places yet. They also need to work on water management. I was there a couple weeks ago for a redline time attack that was being shoehorned in between Star Mazda and Formula Atlantic, and walked the track the night before after it rained. There were rivers and mud flows across it in a lot of places. It's a blast to drive though, and 3 hours is a far cry from the 5+ to Summit and the eleventy billion to VIR. What are EMRA's prices like for DE and TT races? NASA northeast's prices are crazy compared to NASA mid-atlantic events at Summit.

The hospitality rooms over the pit garages are also pretty sweet if you're feeling spendy and don't mind being woken by the dulcet tones of unmuffled RX-8 motors at 7AM.

Consider painting the underside of the car white. It's cheap, any spray paint will do and it will help you spot fluid leaks.

Or you could buy my car ... Spare engine ... trailer ... Race ready ... $4,700!

<------------ Thats it!

look into Nasa's PT rules, im building a turbo II for pta, and its a long process, as many have stated

spec E30 is a blast. cars are reliable, and simple. in the scheme of things they are really slow, but since they all are it makes for exciting racing.

all of the serious time trial cars are legal in a real racing class. which is to say, they are in time trials because its fun, and its not wheel to wheel, so the cars dont get banged up.

make sure your car is legal for some real race class, particularly the cage. engine's not a big deal, those unbolt

Well, even if they're legal in "a" racing class, a lot of them are built by crazy people and are classed in unlimited.

Turbo23 I would love to come down and see your build. I am in the process of building a IT7 car too. I am building it because I love to turn wrenches and I already have a great car to build from. I might dabble in TT before I go into club racing because of the money factor. I also have friends that live in Lititz PA so I am a little familiar with the area. If not then my GPS will rescue me. Hahaha!

out of the fast 5 cars, 3 of em are american iron legal, 1 is a 65 mustang, so i think it would be unlimited, and the 5th is an ex M2 FD world challenge car, which is really nice to see, M2 was local. car is straight up badass too.