stinkfist

Ok, what are some of the tricks you guys have come up with. Things that give you and advantage or just make something eisier to work on.

Here are a couple of mine.

In IT you are required to retain the stock wireing harness in the car. It doesn't specify where though. We completely removed our whole harness and wraped it up. We put it up front in the passenger side floor pan where we needed some extra wheight. It probably wheighs around 25 lbs.
We rewired the car and now the electrical problems are MUCH eisier to diognose and work on. And a side benifit is that our engine bay looks SO much cleaner.



This one will only work on first gens. The hood hinges use a big Rivit as the pivot point. You can drill that rivit out and replace it with a metal dowel pin from Lowes. The pin has a hole in the end so that you can put a cotter pin through it to keep it in place. When you need to remove the hood you just take the pins out and the hood comes right off. No tools needed.


I probably have some more. What do you guys have?

I'm not asking for your secrets. Just handy tips.


MIke

Silkworm

I wish I had a few

Gimme a season, I'm sure I'll come up with something

PaulC

Scott 89t2

LOL, that's so funny. taking the rules to the extreame is always fun

it's like for auto x. a fire extinguisher can offset points for I think removing parts etc. but there is nothing saying it has to be full or accessable. so you get an empty one (lighter) and mount it in the spare tire place (lowest place)

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

thats a good one i may have to do that to mine =).
i remember one of the rules was something like you had to keep the stock door glass but you ran with the windows down (pro7 i think?) so you break the glass and glue it to the bottom of the door.

mike

TeamWireRacing

Sorry, but that makes you illegal. Using the premise that "if it doesn't say you can, then you can't", just because you can install auxilliary gauges and switches, does not mean you are allowed to pull the harness and put it anywhere you like. Since it doesn't say that you CAN relocate the harness, then you can't.

See above. The rule reads,"Hood and trunk pins, clips, or positive action external latches are permitted. Stock hood and trunk latches may be disabled or removed; if so, some positive action external fastening method shall be used." Where in there does it say you can replace the hinges? The hood and trunk pins are for racing pins used in addition to, or in place of, the stock hood latch. You could argue that your use of a "pin" meets the letter of the rule, but since it doesn't say you can modify the existing hinge, I'd say you're still in the wrong.

All in my opinion, of course. And I know it doesn't make you faster per se, but the harness problem could be an advantage if the rest of your competitors are not doing the same thing. Maybe no one would protest you, and maybe all of the other guys are doing it, but that still doesn't make it legal.

peejay

Protest yourself - if they accept it, then you can't be re-protested because it was deemed legal.

macrod01

I've seen a few people placing the harness in the passenger floor throughout the different IT classes. It would actually add weight to your car by doing this since you have to add wire to replace what's on the floor. Any performace gain by shifting a few pounds approximately nine inches lower would be close to zero IMO.

stinkfist

There are several people doing this in our region Including the 4 fastest cars on the track (wich does include us ).
That and the fact that when we went to our yearly inspection, tech said that it was a good idea and pointed out to a friend how several of the IT guys have been doing this lately. He didn't have a problem with it.


Yes this could be protested technicaly. But if anyone where to be so petty they wold only be making things much harder on themselves.

People in our region tend not to protest petty little crap like this. I'm glad it's that way. When someone gets protested it's almost always legit.

I've never seen a race car that was 100% legal. If people want to get petty They better make damn sure their car is 100%. It's not as easy as it sounds.

Nethier of the mods above would let us win a race if it where down to the wire.

MIke

TeamWireRacing

All that is simply rationalization, and would never be considered as a valid arguement in front of the SOMs. I agree that it may be petty and probably won't show up on the stopwatch, but if the fast guys are doing these obviously illegal mods, who is to say that they aren't doing things that aren't so obvious?

"Oh, let's see, just a half pound off the flywheel and the lighter rotors won't really matter much. While we're at it, let's through some buckshot in the right rear quarter so we don't have any more trouble making weight. It can't be illegal to make the car HEAVIER, can it? At the same time, that nozzle pointed at my air cleaner isn't really ram air because it isn't sealed to the air cleaner housing. Yeah, that's good, ain't it?"

And just to be sure, just because something passes annual tech, doesn't mean it's legit, it just means one guy thought it was okay, or wasn't worth making you change it.

Case in point, my first event with my brand new car back in '87, I showed up with my newly signed off log book w/ annual tech stamp, only to have Tech tell me my cage was illegal. "What?", I say.

"Yes, you only have 1 continuous door bar on the driver's side and the rule clearly states you must have 2.

"But I have an X-bar and the Chief of Tech recently gave me my annual stamp.", I plead.

"Well, sorry, but the rule states you must have 2 continuous bars, and an X only has 1 continuous bar. You will need to have it made legal before the next event, thank you. Next."

I don't mean any ill will here, just pointing out the facts. I'm all for creative rules interpretation, but when something is illegal, I will point it out. And the "everybody's doing it" and "well, it won't make us faster" arguements don't cut it.

I had a pretty lively discussion a year or so ago w/ an ITB driver who had a hood scoop that was not a legal update/backdate. He said he didn't care if it was illegal, because his sponsors liked it, and it probably hurt his aerodynamics anyway. But I ask you, if he is so blatant about a hood scoop, what's to say he would stop there? What if his sponsor wanted him to have the newest, raciest cam? It has possibilities.

peejay

I dunno, I'd be more cautious around the teams that appear to be 100.000% in meeting the letter and spirit of the rules. That means that they are VERY GOOD at cheating

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

my thoughts exactly, if your car is 100% legal its one of three things
1. its an older car, the rules evolve over time. in pro 7 you didn't used to be able to take the harness out either, now you can
2. you are better at hiding stuff
3. if you arent trying new stuff with the car and pushing the rules, how can you be a front runner?

mike