Getting Ready for the 2006 Race Season...................

[logic]

Ed, what else can I ask from you before you decide “That’s it! It’s time to get a gun!”?

The 2g chassis is off-limits, I don't care if it is just sitting in my driveway right now.

Slapnut, that is seriously crappy news. Had the same thing happen to me in high school with a blown knee; missed the entire curling season. (Hey, I grew up in Canada, eh.)

 

[Slow old poop]

I don't have any photos, but my lil blue 90 Eclipse GSX is coming along, too. It's about two orders of magnitude under Greg's -- almost amateurish in comparison --but here's where we are:

Had a 2.3 stroker short block built at AutoMotoSport in Chicago
Had a Stage 4 port & polish done at CFM in Indianapolis

We put it all together, and stuck the engine and trans back in the car last weekend.
Had to order a ton of dipshit little parts, but now we think we have everything we need to finish the install, fire it up this weekend and start putting 500 break-in street miles on it. As luck would have it, snow is expected here in Iowa.

Got the door bars from Kirk Racing so, as soon as the car is mobile, I'll get the bars welded to the cage.
Got a new set of StopTech rotors cryogenically treated, in hopes of preventing more cracks.

Next projects: corner weighting, seat back brace, master kill switch, gas tank fix (I lose fuel pickup in long lefts), brake ducts, window nets, and cut a slot in the hood.

I think I'll hold off on anything more serious until I get a reading from the NASA tech boys on my points total and car classification, so a lot of stuff I had planned (wickerbill, splitter, DSMLink, water/alcohol injection <7 points!>) will wait. My points calculations put me in TTB, and I don't want to go into TTA. Not yet, anyway.

There's no great rush, because my first NASA event isn't until April at Blackhawk Farms (I think).

We'll keep ya posted.

Rich

 

[drivemusicnow]

The 2g chassis is off-limits, I don't care if it is just sitting in my driveway right now.

Slapnut, that is seriously crappy news. Had the same thing happen to me in high school with a blown knee; missed the entire curling season. (Hey, I grew up in Canada, eh.)

Logic, as far as I'm concerned you deserve "DSMer of the Month" or something.

Greg, i missed this thread beore. Due to some lack of funding, I don't think I'll be racing until after graduation. However I think you picked the best engine builder in the business, and your build looks surprisingly like what I had talked to Mitch about for myself

All I have to say is you better be at nationals so i can see the beast and you're amazing driving skills in action. I know there are quite a few midwesterners looking to get a piece of the action and we would all love to see you take home a national trophy


Just a note to the sponsors.... You're all going to get money from me! I promise. This is what this community is all about, and those who support it will be supported by my business.

 

[Greg Collier]

Had to order a ton of dipshit little parts, but now we think we have everything we need to finish the install

Hey Rich, yes the ton of little parts takes so much time to accululate. San Diego isn't DSM friendly and it took me hours to track down a couple of 10mm exhaust manifold nuts. The Mitsubishi dealer in El Cajon (a twenty minute drive) had three in stock.

With the FP turbo arrival I discovered the rear water outlet needs custom plumbing. My buddy at a local "Earls" was able to make up adapters and hose with a $40.00 price tag.
With the actual turbo hanging from the e/manifold I now discovered I need a different routing on some of the I/C piping.

The PWR radiaitor was suppose to arrive yesterday but didn't. They're telling me next Tuesday at noon (the 21st). What has it been now... almost 6 weeks? I still won't know if the new fans will fit. I'll put the Fluidyne back in so I can at least start the engine.

Picked up the front valence (body kit) from the painters yesterday (a week later then they had originally said), so at least now I'll be able to check the new oil and power steering locations for fitment.

drivemusicnow
However I think you picked the best engine builder in the business, and your build looks surprisingly like what I had talked to Mitch about for myself

All I have to say is you better be at nationals so i can see the beast and you're amazing driving skills in action. I know there are quite a few midwesterners looking to get a piece of the action and we would all love to see you take home a national trophy

Greg,
I have to agree with you regarding Mitch. Having spent hours on the phone with him and then seeing the detailed work on the motor, Mitch is probably one of the best engine builders out there. His passion for what he does is what makes him so good. On top of all that he's a great person and now a great friend

We're trying to make plans for the nationals. It'll be a three week process between all the towing and the actual event, but right now the focus is on the first race. Like Mitch say's, "it's not a single race that wins a championship."

 

[Greg Collier]

And the assembly continues...

Put the transmission in without any problem.

When we dropped the engine in the car I forgot to attach the alternator adjusting swing arm to the water pump housing bolt. You can't get the bolt out without removing the water pump pulley and you can't get the water pump pulley off unless you raise the motor... ya da, ya da, the swing arm was on!

We bolted up the FP turbo to the exhaust manifold again and discovered the water return line was short. Another trip to "Earls" and had a custom one fabricated to make the job that much easier. The Tial wastegate showed up so I bolted it up to the turbo to discover the placement of the (side) vacuum line banjo fitting hit the bottom of the exhaust manifold with the dump tube pointing down. I ended up dismantling the Tial, diaphragm included, and was able to rotate the bell housing, moving the banjo-fitting opening towards the front of the car. Then I noticed the (top) banjo fitting was going to be real close to the power steering pump bracket so I held my breath. IT WORKED... within millimeters! (the dip stick was fun too... a few mild bends and wa-la!)
I attached the down pipe, turbo water lines, and the FP supplied oil filter. I made sure (per FP instructions) to drill out the top of the filter housing with a 1/8-inch drill bit for better oil flow.

Lots of details and so little time...

It's on to the turbo and intake I/C pipe routing fabrication.

Greg

 

[Zero Bar]

That is a close fit!!! I'm surprised you've opted to keep the power steering, without it you'd save a little weight and some free up some nice space under the hood.

 

[mavisky]

That is a close fit!!! I'm surprised you've opted to keep the power steering, without it you'd save a little weight and some free up some nice space under the hood.

I'm guessing that 275 wide Hoosiers can be a tad hard to turn.

 

[Greg Collier]

That is a close fit!!! I'm surprised you've opted to keep the power steering, without it you'd save a little weight and some free up some nice space under the hood.

For that little weight the pro's definitely out weigh the con's...

 

[Zero Bar]

I guess so, I wanted to ditch mine because of the dreaded power steering cut. I'll have to wait it out this year and see what happens.

 

[mavisky]

I guess so, I wanted to ditch mine because of the dreaded power steering cut. I'll have to wait it out this year and see what happens.

Worse case scenario you do the ps mod to it. I've yet to ever hit it in my car. The bummer is that I have a spare ps pump but its from a 1990 and the o-ring is different from mine and I don't have a spare o-ring.

 

[Slow old poop]

When we dropped the engine in the car I forgot to attach the alternator adjusting swing arm to the water pump housing bolt. You can’t get the bolt out without removing the water pump pulley and you can’t get the water pump pulley off unless you raise the motor… ya da, ya da, the swing arm was on!
Greg

I looked in the parts box, and there was my alternator bracket arm. And the engine is in. Arghhh!

So, what's involved in getting the mutha on there? How high do you have to raise the motor? Does this require a cherry picker or just a jack under the motor? Will it go high enough if I just take off the driver side and front engine mounts and let it pivot on the rear and passenger side mounts? Fortunately, it's so f***ing cold here (10 below) that we decided not to do any more work until it warms up, so the engine and tranny are just barely in there. We could probably pull it out again in about an hour if we had to.

Rich

 

[Greg Collier]

I looked in the parts box, and there was my alternator bracket arm. And the engine is in. Arghhh!

So, what's involved in getting the mutha on there? How high do you have to raise the motor? Does this require a cherry picker or just a jack under the motor? Will it go high enough if I just take off the driver side and front engine mounts and let it pivot on the rear and passenger side mounts? Fortunately, it's so f***ing cold here (10 below) that we decided not to do any more work until it warms up, so the engine and tranny are just barely in there. We could probably pull it out again in about an hour if we had to.

Rich

Is that a pain in the butt or what. I have the new Moroso oil pan or I would have just put a block of wood under the oil pan to raise the motor. Just undo the front motor mount pin (the power steering line runs over it) and raise the motor high enough that you can twist the water-pump pulley to pull the bolt out, (you don't have to pull the pulley all the way off). Put the swing arm in and bolt and reconnect the pulley before you lower the motor (much easier access to the 4-bolts that hold the pulley on)

Greg

 

[logic]

Hey Greg, I just noticed your letter and car in Grassroots Motorsports again! Congratulations! (In case anyone missed it, he was in GRM last year about this time too.)

That's practically the only magazine I bother subscribing to anymore. Racecar Engineering is pretty good, but the cost of getting it shipped to the US is ridiculous.

 

[Greg Collier]

Hey Greg, I just noticed your letter and car in Grassroots Motorsports again! Congratulations! (In case anyone missed it, he was in GRM last year about this time too.)

That's practically the only magazine I bother subscribing to anymore. Racecar Engineering is pretty good, but the cost of getting it shipped to the US is ridiculous.

Hey Ed,

I just got my copy of GRM in the mail and hadn't looked at it. How cool is that !! The picture was taken by a GRM photographer at the beginning of last year at Cal Speedway. Just as long as the DSM'ers continue to get noticed makes it worth while...

By the way the Tial looks gorgeous! When I unscrewed the spring housing the screws shot out all over the garage. It took me twenty minutes to recover the last one... my wife thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen in her life.

Greg

 

[TSIfreek]

Hey greg just wanted to stop buy and support your post.
Sounds and looks like you have your hands full trying to get everything in line. Its to bad everything doesnt fall in to place but thats the fun of building a car and the more you know about the car as well. That car will be bad ass to drive on the tracks this spring!!! Thanks for posting picks while going along keep us updated for all of us who have or cars done and running!!!

 

[Zero Bar]

Greg, I just got back from the Oh/In NASA meeting. I got to meet Dave Royce, hes a nice guy and knows his stuff. He mentioned something about him driving your car, especially with the new engine!! I now have a clear picture of the HPDE program and what it will take to get into competition racing, it was a very informative meet. I really like how they openly take suggestions from everyone and will be implementing a lot of them, its a great way to approach concerns and make a better organization.
I can't wait for the weekend of April 22!!

 

[Greg Collier]

Hey greg just wanted to stop buy and support your post.
Sounds and looks like you have your hands full trying to get everything in line. Its to bad everything doesnt fall in to place but thats the fun of building a car and the more you know about the car as well. That car will be bad ass to drive on the tracks this spring!!! Thanks for posting picks while going along keep us updated for all of us who have or cars done and running!!!

I'm glad you're checking it out! This is definitely a DSMTuner build with all the help from the great people on this site

Greg

 

[Greg Collier]

Greg, I just got back from the Oh/In NASA meeting. I got to meet Dave Royce, hes a nice guy and knows his stuff. He mentioned something about him driving your car, especially with the new engine!! I now have a clear picture of the HPDE program and what it will take to get into competition racing, it was a very informative meet. I really like how they openly take suggestions from everyone and will be implementing a lot of them, its a great way to approach concerns and make a better organization.
I can't wait for the weekend of April 22!!

This is so cool Dave Royce is a really good guy and an incredible driver (very aggressive). Yeah we talked about him being the driver of the "flying banana" for the 2006 season before he got the offer to be the midwest director. I guess I'll just have to stay behind the steering wheel and see what I can do.

All the people with NASA are really cool. In all the years that I've been with the organization it just seems to get better and better...

Greg

 

[Zero Bar]

I guess I'll just have to stay behind the steering wheel and see what I can do.


Greg

It seems to me you've been doing just fine as the driver, you did win back to back championships!!
BTW, if you make it to nationals this year and need a volunteer in the pits or something let me know, I'll gladly come help anytime!

 

[Greg Collier]

It seems to me you've been doing just fine as the driver, you did win back to back championships!!
BTW, if you make it to nationals this year and need a volunteer in the pits or something let me know, I'll gladly come help anytime!

That would be GREAT! I'll need all the help I can get

 

[mavisky]

That would be GREAT! I'll need all the help I can get

Consider that offer doubled.

 

[Greg Collier]

Consider that offer doubled.

Sweet I new I could count on my Fort Wayne connection

 

[mavisky]

Sweet I new I could count on my Fort Wayne connection

Bad news buddy, moved back to Auburn, home of the Kruse Auction and Auburn Cord Deusenberg Museum / NATMUS. You can still count on the help though

 

[Slow old poop]

We may have a bunch of DSMs at the nationals, enough to form a DSM Dugout. We had plenty of DSMs (5-6) at Road America last October, and that was before NASA became DSM-friendly. A couple of years ago, we organized a 3000GT gathering at Road America during SpeedSeekers, and got about 25 cars to show up, mostly specatators. Mid Ohio is a bit of a trek for some, but the prospect of seeing Greg at speed and enjoying the company of other DSMers in sort of a mini-national gathering might be enough to lure competitors and spectators out of the woodwork. It'd be a hoot to see 25+ DSM racers and spectators, all gathered in one area of the paddock.

If I don't break my car during the season, I'll be there, along with at least one other DSM from Cedar Rapids. With Greg, that makes three racers.
Anybody else?

Rich

 

[logic]

Looks like we might be able to make it for the Saturday qualifying and Sunday races. I'd only be a spectator, though...something tells me I won't make the five-race minimum requirement to participate, and besides, my car (assuming it runs by then) would almost definitely be classed in Super Unlimited, which means Greg would just bump me off the road.

Anyone from the area: what's a decent place for an out-of-towner to stay? I know the Norwalk area fairly well, but this is a good bit farther south than I've been. It looks like the track is right next door to Lexington and just down the road from Bellville and Mansfield; any places you'd recommend?

Also, for folks thinking of going, it looks like you can pre-order tickets to the event through Mid-Ohio's website, just FYI. And, it looks like they have motorhome and tent camping available at the track.