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My Archer Brothers Racing SCCA World Challenge Championship Winning Eagle Talons

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Keep the pics coming! I haven't looked at this thread for a few years, but I grew up in Duluth and used to visit Archers all the time in the 90's. Last time I was up there about five years ago, he still had TONS of DSM parts up in their storage area, I think that was all sold off shortly after that.

I remember seeing that 2G with the yellow graphics driving around all the time. I also drag raced their Jeep shop truck a few times since I went to high school with their parts guy. A good buddy of mine is still best friends with Tommy Archer.
 
Seeing this thread made my day! Congratulations to you and thanks so much for sharing all of this. I know I have some stuff in old magazines on these cars, I'll dig around and see what I can find.

Good luck to you and enjoy these historic cars!
 
Good thread!
I can contribute to this as I know alot of history of all the cars as they were recounted to me by Bruno and Anthony Buso.
Anthony and Bruno were racing a 1g that they bought alot of parts from the Archers, as far as I know it was everything from engines to transmissions. Their car was originally a 1993 Laser. Comptech was demanding that the motors run no longer than 6 hrs before they were rebuilt. The Buso's thought this was getting expensive, and seeing as their shop was literally across the river from me which was literally 400 ft north of me, I began helping them out with what I could and I suggested we keep the motors in the cars for longer as they could probably go for 3 times that life at their power level. Their showroom stock was not quite showroom stock, I still think I may have tucked away some secret parts they used to have an 'edge' over the competition.
I ended up updating the hell out of that 1993 Laser, and in the end it was given to me because they lost interest in it and nowhere to park it. I still have that car. THIS IS NOT AN ARCHER CAR it just at one point had alot of Archer parts on it.
As for the 2G's I heavily modified one of them, (Anthony's) there is not much left Archer on it, that one is fast as hell and is the car we prototyped the dry sump on (it would always kill the oilpump at Mosport). There are pics of it on my website somewhere.
As for Bruno's car it remains original and he called me a few months ago expressing interest to sell it and all his spares. I don't want it, but if anybody else does email me at the shop I will get you into that car. That one hasn't been used in about 8 years. Bruno also has a complete shell that was caged and never finished, he is selling that as well.

I'm glad to see there is some enthusiasm for these cars, It would be nice to see Bruno's car get out again, and people restore them like has been done with these. I've got world of more stories of these cars but Anthony and Bruno have even more. We spent many nights drinking beers and talking about it.

Wow, that's awesome stuff! Thanks for the info!

Keep the pics coming! I haven't looked at this thread for a few years, but I grew up in Duluth and used to visit Archers all the time in the 90's. Last time I was up there about five years ago, he still had TONS of DSM parts up in their storage area, I think that was all sold off shortly after that.

I remember seeing that 2G with the yellow graphics driving around all the time. I also drag raced their Jeep shop truck a few times since I went to high school with their parts guy. A good buddy of mine is still best friends with Tommy Archer.

Will do! That's awesome that you've experienced the environment first hand. Thanks for stopping through!

Seeing this thread made my day! Congratulations to you and thanks so much for sharing all of this. I know I have some stuff in old magazines on these cars, I'll dig around and see what I can find.

Good luck to you and enjoy these historic cars!

Glad to hear it! No prob! Sounds good and thanks!
 
Spent some time on #32 recently. Figured out why I couldn't get good brake pedal feel and actually needed to pump the pedal sometimes. Right front caliper had fluid leak at the pistons. Spent. I wasn't too confident out there on track as I knew something was not right.

The car also had a power steering fluid leak develop as well. Looks like a hose off the reservoir.

Anyway, once the braking issue is corrected, the car should be a bit quicker next time out.

For the near future, I'll toss another 2g caliper on as I have a few extras. I'll redo the brake cooling ducts which should help. The previous owner had redone them, however they were pinched between the control arms and axles, also contacting the tie rod ends, and on the.driver side even contacting the face of the crank damper/pulley. So, that looked like an accident waiting to happen, therefore I removed them.

I'm working with TCE to get a set of Wilwoods crammed under the 16 x 7 American Racing wheels.
 
Phil, I have a set of wilwood gran national calipers from a long time ago and they are the 6 piston, all same size pistons, since the Wilwoods have a lower profile than the Brembos and other brands, they may fit in the 16 inch wheel as I am trying to see if they fit a 15, since that is where they where in before.

They may be a little overkill, but as you know you dont ever have too much brakes.

The bolt spread is pretty close where a simple adapter may work, another benefit is that they are very light.

Would be very interesting to see what you come up with.
 
Glad to hear your working out the issues in the cars.

Thanks! It's ongoing! As time goes by I'll weed them all out I hope!

The #32 Turbo has needed much work. However, in all honesty, all problems aside, it's just been amazing to be able to pilot the same car that Bobby Archer drove to the championship. I can't describe the feeling, but, everyone gets it when they're experiencing something that they are passionate about.

My next update I'm going to give a brief list of the tracks/venues that each of the cars raced at and how they placed. And, I'll get more pics up soon as well.

Phil, I have a set of wilwood gran national calipers from a long time ago and they are the 6 piston, all same size pistons, since the Wilwoods have a lower profile than the Brembos and other brands, they may fit in the 16 inch wheel as I am trying to see if they fit a 15, since that is where they where in before.

They may be a little overkill, but as you know you dont ever have too much brakes.

The bolt spread is pretty close where a simple adapter may work, another benefit is that they are very light.

Would be very interesting to see what you come up with.

Very cool indeed. I've taken some measurements and it appears that there will be proper room to run the 12.2'' rotors, but I'm not certain on the thickness and the caliper choice. The American Racing 225 wheel appears to be designed in a way that it will accomodate the setup well. Hope to finalize soon and will report back. Possible I may need to run a 10mm spacer. And, I agree, never too much brake, and the #32 is definitely underbraked with the 2g calipers.
 
Today just some tidbits on each car:

#32 - is an original 'Pewter Mist Metallic' car that was painted red. Interior and undercarriage still have that original color as it came from the factory.

Driven by Bobby Archer in the 1990 season, this car had 4 wins and 6 podiums in the 8 race season.

#34 - is a Canada car I'm assuming as it's guage cluster is in km/h

Driven by Mitch Wright(Archer Bros. Team Manager) in the 1991 season, this car had 2 wins and 3 podiums in the 8 race season.
 
Thanks for posting! I hadn't seen it up there as I'm not on eBay as much anymore. I was guessing it had to be somewhat close to my area as it was at the Lime Rock Historics on display. So, anyway, after seeing the location listed on eBay, it's only 17 miles away:D

I took a drive over to see it with a friend. It's so cool. I actually got to drive it! Also there, was Tommy Archer's 1985-86 IMSA Chevy Cavalier!

It was one of the coolest days I've had in a while! Thanks again for the tipoff.

As far as owning it, it's a long shot. My garage is basically, "full." It would be such a welcome addition to my Jeep/Eagle theme. However, never say never!
 
This is awesome. I'm going to have lots of questions for you in the near future :)

I'm the proud owner of a couple former archer racing components... always fun to find them.
 
I'll start with this: what was done on these cars to liven up the rear end? Active toe elim? big rear bar? trick rear/center diff? camber decrease?
 
I'll start with this: what was done on these cars to liven up the rear end? Active toe elim? big rear bar? trick rear/center diff? camber decrease?

Ok. These are both FWD cars so no active toe like the AWD. In 1989, the first year they ran, and only year they ran AWD in 1G cars, I'm fairly certain things like active toe eliminators were disallowed. They were allowed to change the Shocks(still standard style MacPherson) but even the springs were supposed to have remained stock. However I've heard from several sources that claim that rule was "manipulated."

As far as my two cars, both run full coilovers and large rear adjustable sway bars. I haven't confirmed if the rear arms have poly bushings yet, but, most likely not. So, there is no camber adjustment in the rear. Up front on the #32 Turbo there are eccentrics at the knuckle mounts and the actual strut towers have oblonged holes for more adjustment. The #34 non-turbo has only eccentrics at the knuckle mounts.

I have some free time today. I will gather some pics today and have them up asap following. I also have some previously taken that I'll browse through.

Thanks for the interest...
 
Here's a few to kick it off...
 

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Looks like maybe they are using an aftermarket Eprom chip and fine tuning with the F-con??

Negative, just the FCON. Both cars are non-eprom ecus. The #32 is surprisingly unmodified engine wise but the car is very quick relative to what I'm out on track with. V8 M3's have trouble pulling away on the straights. I'm gonna post some pics of the engine relative mods.
 
Does that back cover over the rear seat need to be that high, the fuel cell seems to be in a normal position,

Could you get abetter shot of where the main hoop rests at the bottom of the B pillar?

What did you decide on the brake set up?
 
Does that back cover over the rear seat need to be that high, the fuel cell seems to be in a normal position,

Could you get abetter shot of where the main hoop rests at the bottom of the B pillar?

What did you decide on the brake set up?

Hi, glad to see you back here! I'm not certain why that is in fact so high up. I think the covers may be lower in the #34 car. I'll compare asap. I will get some photos of where the main hoop is welded in as well.

As far as the brakes go, I'm going to be running Wilwood Calipers and 12.2" rotors with an .810 thickness. This set up will tuck behind the American Racing 225 wheels that these cars have.
 
I'm definitely following along on this one and being the owner of a 1g fwd I really curious on the suspension setup they used. If you get a chance can you post up more pics and info on the suspension please? Also good decision on restoring these 2. They are definitely important pieces of DSM history and should be preserved.
 
I'm definitely following along on this one and being the owner of a 1g fwd I really curious on the suspension setup they used. If you get a chance can you post up more pics and info on the suspension please? Also good decision on restoring these 2. They are definitely important pieces of DSM history and should be preserved.

I can try to get some other pics for you, no problem. I'm not certain of the manufacturers on these parts though, however, I can most likely find out for you. Thanks for the interest.
 
Brrrrrrrrr. I don't like winter:D

Just a quick update on the cars:

#34's final pieces of livery are being worked on currently...

... and I found out that the normally aspirated cars did compete with the Borla 4 into 1 longtube headers installed. Currently the car has the stock cast iron manifold and downpipe. So, somewhere along the line, or more likely before it left the Archers', the header was removed and stock parts installed. It appears untouched actually with heatshields and all brakets/bolts in place. Luckily, about 7 years ago I wanted to build an NA car and had bought one of the Borla headers. Needless to say, that will make it's way onto the car this year. As I've stated elsewhere, the car doesn't seem to pull like a 160-180 HP car that weighs 2250 or so lbs. I'm sure this will help in the upper revs. I also found out that they did run several different cam profiles in these cars, also helping to generate the HP figures the were publicized...however the highest I've ever read was 160. But, if your competition reads magazines, I don't think you'd be 100% honest either.....ha, I know I wouldn't. More on the cams later. Anyway, the end result is that the SCCA forced the Archers' to remove the cams. I'm not sure which Round during the season that happend, however what it means is that most likely #34 has stock cams back in. The first time I ever started the car, it seemed like it might have had a mild set of cams, however I think it was purely me not being used to the burble of an NA fourbanger.

#32 Thrifty Rental got a 12.2" Wilwood front brake set up installed for 2014. It's all in place, just needs to be bled. I will try to reinstall the cooling ducts with new material as that can only help. The only other thing on the plate for this car is a full race slick.

I've taken some pictures and will upload soon.
 
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