yes, it’s been WAY too long since the last update. Shit happens. Anyway, finally was able to take some time off work. So, we brought the car to Joe’s shop on Tuesday and spent the next 4 days thrashing on it trying to tie up all the remaining loose ends. With the two of us on it, tons got done, here’s the run down.
– purchased and installed a mini 1-wire race alternator (with the help of Joe’s custom machined/fabricated mounts!). Here’s the alternator I got.
– installed rear window straps (which Joe bent up for me)
– installed a drive shaft safety loop
– put the rest of the roll bar padding on
– spent DAYS fixing brake leaks due to my knowing jack shit about brake fittings (and I actually thought I knew a little).
– RE-mounted the windshield. Brutal. I originally tried to install it using “windshield” adhesive (same as I used for the rear window). This stuff is REALLY hard to work with. It takes a lot of force to push it out of the caulk gun and by the time you’ve got a bead around the window it’s already starting to cure. I got the window sort of in but ran out of 10-32 allen heads/nuts and couldn’t finish the job. Joe said just use 100% silicone. So, we undid all the screws and I scraped all the crap out of the window channel to get ready for round two. Man, the silicone was so easy to lay down a nice bead. It still was a lot of work but we got the window in and got enough screws in it. Hopefully I won’t have to change the window for a long time.
– installed a front sway bar. Al from Control Freak sent me one of their sway bar kits that goes with the IFS I bought from them. After looking at options Joe suggested we use the control freak mounts (that bolt to the frame) with a straight, nascar style splined bar he had. He fabbed some extenders for the mounts and welded some shock mounts to the lower control arms and got the bar installed.
– we installed the hood and drilled the holes for the hood pins.
– I installed the taillight lenses.
– Joe modified my accelerator pedal and accelerator cable and I put on lighter throttle return springs.
– we bled the brakes and clutch and Joe hooked up the brake balance knob.
– filled the radiator with water.
– there was something else… what was it… oh yeah. we FIRED THE ENGINE! 🙂 yeah the engine has already been dyno’d but this was the first attempt at starting it in the car. Pretty much fired right up. Sounds AWESOME!
– Joe scaled the car and is doing an alignment today. The car weighs 2916 lbs w/o driver. I’m guessing about 3190 lbs with driver and 15 gallons of fuel. I’m guessing I’m going to have too much power for the 9.5:1 HP and 9.0:1 TQ ratios. I’ll be taking it to Evil Genius over the winter and getting it chassis dyno’d too see how much of the 456 hp is getting to the wheels!
So, that brings us up to date. I’m trying to see if I can get registered for a track day mid-November to shake down the car and find out what still needs tweaking/fixing. Then I’ll get it painted over the winter. Still not sure what I’m going to do with it when I’m done. No one raced American Iron in norcal this season. A handful of people are running AIX Outlaw but I don’t think I’d be remotely competitive with those guys. Right now I just want to get it on track and then see where things take me. Stay tuned.
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