boodlefoof

viiper, I have an engine from AR Racing in my '68 Camaro. I decided to buy locally (Northern VA) and purchased from Mark (owner of AR). I went and toured the shop and Mark seemed knowledgeable. The shop is just a big 40x30 steel building out in rural Virginia farm country. Thus far I have been pleased with my engine. I never put it on the dyno, but it runs well and I have had no problems with it. However, I frequent another website (http://www.camaros.net for old Camaros) and several people have reported negatively about engines from AR - usually complaining about machine work quality. I am not trying to point you away from AR, just suggesting that you do plenty of research before making a big purchase.

This reminds me of a time when I worked for a moving company. This was a few years back... I was talking to a coworker about the problem he was having with his car. It was a diesel something or another. I asked what he thought was wrong with it and he replied "I think there is something wrong with the distributor or spark plugs..." This sets the stage for our story... (as if that weren't funny enough right?) So we get to talking about cars in general and told him about my '68 Camaro project. He asked "what does it run in the quarter?" I told him that I hadn't had a chance to get it out yet, but that I hoped for low-mid 12s in the 110mph range. To this he replied, "Man, I could smoke you." I asked what he drove... The answer: an early 90s Geo Storm. I asked how fast it ran... he said 11.7. I asked if that was in the 1/8 or the quarter... he said quarter. I said, "well, you must have done quite a bit of work to it." The response: "Yeah, I have. I put on 18s all around, a (brand name here) wing and body kit, a (brand name here) exhaust kit, two (yes... he said two) chips and a double clutch." I pondered for a moment... thinking to myself, "whoever sold you that 'double clutch' must have made a killing..." but I decided just to smile and nod. I said, "I'll tell you what. Why don't we take the cars out to the closest 1/4 mile track. Loser pays the winner's entry fee. Response: "Uhhh, I don't have the car anymore. I had to sell it... I needed the money."

Aren't tight spaces fun?! I guess I should say be glad you aren't working on a Z32. Man is that engine bay cramped!

Thanks Kenny!

Dave, While considering front diffusers more, an idea occurred to me that I hadn't thought about before. Maybe this isn't such an epiphany (obviously somebody thought of it before as you'll see below), but I hadn't considered it before. It wouldn't work directly in front of the wheel well, but between the them. So here it is... Rather than simply having the front diffuser smoothly transition up to the rear underpan (this limits the angle you can realistically create without raising the floor)... why not have the diffuser actually pass through the underpan and vent upwards? I envisioned the air flowing through the diffuser then connecting to a hood nostril vent, but it could also split to the sides and actually provide the brake ducting with cool air. The latter idea (splitting and exiting out the sides) is what I found while I was poking around at Mullane's myself. The Toyota GT-One used such a system. See http://www.mulsannescorner.com/gtone-1.html I'll have to take some measurements on my frame, but if I can fit it I think I might give this a try on my Z project.

If you would rather see a nice smooth lap, I'd recommend taking a look at the video of Hans Stuck piloting the BMW M3 GTR around Nuremberg. It is spectacular! I have the video (8 minutes) on my computer, but it is too big to host on my website. I've been looking for it online... This guy seems to have it on his myspace page, but I can only get audio, not the video... see if you can get it working. Enjoy: http://videos.streetfire.net/Player.aspx?fileid=C1AC8EBC-1001-4FC2-A537-A0F446272FE7&p=9

The crossmember itself looks pretty stout. It is solid aluminum, not boxed correct? The way it is mounted to the floor does look a little shaky though in my opinion. Without seeing how much you've reinforced the floor, I couldn't really comment... but I would personally want the crossmember tied directly into the rocker panels. However, the majority of your rotational forces are going to be controlled by the motor mounts. The tranny mount just needs to keep the tailshaft from moving up or down or trying to go side to side. Best solution would be to have a rear motor plate tied into the frame rails on either side.

Congrats! Sounds like a good wifey there!

Have you considered law school? It is another good option and gives you lots of earning potential after only 3 years, plus law schools offer MBA classes that you can take towards your law degree as well (or get a JD/MBA in 4 years).

I think I understand the question now. You want to know whether your front splitter should smoothly transition into the belly pan or whether it should simply be a strip hanging down below the belly pan, right? If so, from what I've read on the subject (who knows how good that info is!) I don't think that transitioning the splitter should really matter directly in front of the wheels. The primary splitter action will be to minimize air going into the wheel area (divert it around the side of the car). Either way though, some air is going to hit the wheel. At the angle you would need to channel the air to pull it up and over the wheel (rather than hitting it head-on) the air would not follow the splitter anyway. From what I've read, at any angle over 10-15 degrees the air will detach rather than following the curve. However, inboard of the wheel, making a gradual transition might help to pull under-car airflow closer to the belly pan and thus might be beneficial if you have a 2/3 or 3/4 length diffuser. It might increase the venturii effect. Again, I'm not an expert in this area though. Just thinking out loud.

I'm having trouble envisioning the front diffuser you're describing. Could you draw a sketch of what you're talking about?

After chopping mine it came out even (within 1/16'' from side to side). With the method I used to chop the top, the only way it could really come out uneven is if you don't section the B-pillars/quarter panels evenly. If you cut these sections identically, the only way to line up the car is to pull back the roof evenly on both sides. I just used a tape measure and measured from the rearmost point on the car to the sectioned piece on the B-pillar. I then used masking tape to mark where to make the cuts. To actually make the cuts, I used an electric reciprocating saw. Then I cut the pie-shaped piece down the top of the quarter from the rear of the car to the window. The metal here is much thinner and the reciprocating saw probably would have chewed it up a bit, so I used a hand held jig saw. As you pull back the roof to meet up to the quarter, the roof should line up smoothly, but there will be some misalignment in the window channel and along the pie-shaped cut. You will have to weld in some patch panels at these areas. There is a full writeup on my website at http://www.geocities.com/boodlefoof/Project_Racer-Zroof2.html There are also some more pics and info on this site at http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=101672&highlight=chopped

There is a product called "Speed Glass" which is a Lexan type of stuff. It is pretty affordable (about $250 would get you a big enough piece) and claims to be very scratch resistant. I'll probably end up going this route with my chopped top Z. I looked into having a custom glass windshield made, but that is really pricey! Edit: Here is their website. They also sell their product through Summit Racing. http://www.percyshp.com/speedglass_pages/speedglass_home.html

This website might be helpful to you. List of approximate external dimensions and weights of popular American V8 engines. http://www.carnut.com/specs/fengdim.html

I'm behind you Silicone Boy. I've been speading the word of ethanol for years and am glad to see that the idea has made its way back into the news. I hope that the alternative fuels catch on. Whatever they may be, some choice is better than no choice.

Yeah, if you want some comparable thickness of metal to test on, just grab a few soda cans. Yes, joking...

Welcome aboard!

I wonder if the reduction in fuel economy with the E85 would be countered if the engine were actually designed to take advantage of its higher octane rating. Thoughts? At 105 octane, you could do quite a bit differently with the compression, ignition timing, cam timing, boost... Also, as I understand it ethanol burns more cleanly than does gasoline. If that is the case, we should all be happy to lose a little fuel economy.

No such thing. Looks great!

Cool! Great looking car!

Most cars are glued together nowadays. Look at structural adhesives. That might be your best bet. Edit: Just remembered that I didn't suggest any such adhesives... 3M's 5200 is pretty good from what I hear. I plan to use it to bond aluminum to mild steel and to fiberglass with my Z project (in conjunction with rivets). This stuff is pretty popular with the kit car builders crowd and can be bought in lots of boating supply stores.

Dave wins the prize! With the Ti though, I've read some snippets in welding books that say you can MIG weld (pure argon shielding gas). They didn't mention anything about special booths or anything... just that you will need to set your welder to a hotter setting than for comparable gauge mild steel... and of course use matched welding wire. As for the wing again, the frame design meets the rear hatch right at the point I would mount the wing. I'll probably rig it with provisions for the wing so that I don't have to do further modifications if I decide to experiment with one. Bob, thanks for the invite! I've recently moved up to the DC area from Charlottesville earlier this summer. Unfortunately, I'm starting a new job in just a few days here and probably won't be able to make it down, but I'd still love to see any pics or hear any tips you might have. Were you a TZCC member by chance? I made it down to the Z show a couple of times, but never entered a car. I was a ZCAR member before moving up here.

Olderthanme, In the end the spaceframe will come out to about 300 pounds. This puts me on track for a total car weight of 2000 pounds or less, which is my goal. If I could of afforded it, I would have made the frame out of titanium or AlBeMet instead. Same design, half the weight, stronger than aluminum. I really don't know how much weight would be saved by using thinner wall tubing, because you would have to use so much more of it. I didn't model out any designs with such small tubing. On the rear wing... I've been toying with the idea. Not sure if I'm going to use one or not. If I do use one, it will be an adjustable... it is always a tradeoff of downforce v. drag. It would probably end up being something like the wing on the GT cars like the C5R. And as for the windshield. I'm still not worried about it. If I can't build one out of actual glass, I'm not opposed to going lexan if I have to.

Unless you want one that bolts right in, a generic fit aluminum radiator can be had fairly inexpensively and will do the job nicely. Check out www.summitracing.com. The "Be Cool" brand radiators are supposed to be very good quality. I'm running a generic fit Summit brand radiator on my '68 Camaro and it has worked fine for a couple of years now.

Silicone Boy, I hope you can aim higher than that!