Sneak peak at: The New Danger
 

My goal with this car is to set the 12a All Motor Stock Chassis record. From what I could find, the record

is 10.5x something... There isnt much real info, video, or records of it. But it was suppposedly done at my

home track Orlando Speed World in the mid 90's. I was told the name but cannot remember. But the car was an

Rx3 with a bridgeport and Holley carb. I am not sure if this information is credible, so if anyone else has

more accurate information on the 12a record, please let me know... So for now, my goal is to beat 10.50.

The car started out a non-running project I picked up for $500. It had some old cool Toyota wheels and a

Holley 600 with RB manifold and decent exhaust. A few other things as well like a GSLSE rear, Ported motor,

gauges, Holley fuel pump, regulator, blah blah blah... Well worth the 500 bucks. Towed it home and had it

running the next day. Made a few parts trades, sold a few things, made some deals and had the car on Enkei

92's and running on a nice 51ida Webers. Threw on some louvers to complete the car. Ran hard and looked

great...



I dont have any photos before I did the wheels and louvers, but trust me... It made a HUGE difference!




http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0277.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0268.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0274.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0273.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0474.jpg

Old Holley set up:



http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k.../enginebay.jpg



And the Webers I was running it on shortly after:


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0467.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/SAM_0470.jpg

This soon enough was not enough for me as I have been wanting to build an all out drag car for a while. I

was planning to do this with my 72 Rx2 but decided that car was for to gone and would be a 10 year build

easily. I wanted to be racing much sooner than that, so I sold that chassis and replaced it with my street

car 73 Rx2. (search "my new 73 Rx2")

So looking at my massive parts storage and noticing I had plenty of hard to find 1st gen drag racing

parts, I decided the silver bullet would become an all out Drag Car never to see the street again. 1st

order of business, Go on a diet!

I had a set of fiberglass doors, fenders, front bumper, hood, and valance for over 3 years. I bought it

origanlly because I had never seen these parts before and figured I would use them in the future. I didnt

even own a 1st gen at the time. and paid $300 bucks for all of it!!!


None of these parts are bolt on. Nothing had hinges, holes, markings, ect. to install these parts. These

are drag race specific parts made in PR to be as light as possible. just the door weighed in at around

5lbs! Now thats without the lexan glass it will have and the frame to fit it, but that will barely add a

1lb or 1.5lbs. Maybe 2lbs depending on how I finish up the door handles. These also took a lot of trimming

ans massaging to get them to fit. I'm no body man so they arnt perfect, but I'm not goin for show here...

Function is key and form takes a back seat. I also threw on some draglites and did some trading to get.

These are just for the time being until I build my front end and install the new 9' rear...


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/IMAG0024.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/IMAG0026.jpg

I spent about 6 months deciding on wether to use the stock looking fiberglass front or go with something

different. I decided to ditch the stock looking set up for a full front end. I spent another 6 months

deciding on what front end to use. I needed something that was one piece because I didnt have a stock front

bumper for a half bumper/splitter to bolt to. I also was sticking to finding one used since I would be

modifying it for drag applications and im cheap... I finally came across an old thread I seen a while back

on someone making a FD style one piece front out of fiberglass. I shot him a PM and we worked out a deal.

This front end looked to have everything I was looking for in weight, aero, look, ect. and he agreed to

fill some of the stock holes for me as these holes just would slow me down.

To be honest, when I recieved it i was really unhappy. It looked like someone made this after only one day

of fiberglass experience. There are cracks everywhere. nothing is strait nor smooth. Obvious mistakes were

made eveywhere with little attempt to fix/hide whatever... But, I knew I could make it work. I never

complained to the maker since I should have knew better. But pics over the internet can be decieving... But

again, I'm not going for show here, just speed.

Also, I got creative when taking these photos myself. I shot them as to hide the horrible condition of the

bumper. The slope in the front looks like a choppy lake with all the lumps and divits. It also not a good

smooth curve either. These will be things I will have to fix at a later date...


Pics he sent me:


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...lassfrontb.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...lassfrontc.jpg

Now that I semi-installed the doors and everything else. It's time to fit the front end. I still need to

come up with a way to bolt down the hood, make window frames with lexan for the doors, and finish off the

door handles. I'll update with that later...


I knew I would need to trim the fenders for this front end to fit, and here I am trying to do that. I made

a few mistakes but that will all be taken care of at a later date. My first order of business in all the

lightweight work is to get everything somehwat fit and bolted down. Then shaping, smoothing, and making

everything look a little better will come...




Getting ready to fit the front end:


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ssFrontend.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendd.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontende.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendf.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendg.jpg

Here you can finally see what it might look like in the future. You will also notice I do not plan on

running front headlights as it will never be driven anywhere but the trac. While it will still be a TRUE

stock chassis car with NO mini tubs or cut from the front towers. Yes, a True stock chassis...





http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendh.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendi.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendj.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendk.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendl.jpg

Now trimming the fenders. I was in a rush this day and dint cut to well, ehh... No big deal. It will get

bandaged up later as the entire front end needs to be gone over anyways.



http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendm.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendn.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...sFrontendo.jpg

I was trying to come up with a light weight way to mount this front end while making everything

functional. I am very much OCD and in my mind every ounce counts. I even choose things like lighter weight

bolts when designing something. To me, it all adds up in the end...

So I came up with this. Or rather borrowed it a little from the road race guys and made it my own. I

decided I wanted to make a splitter that wasnt really a splitter. But rather a flat bottom belly that also

acted as the lower mounting point for the front end. I did a lot of research and cheacked out a bunch of

different material and finally setlled on 1/4" plywood. It was light than the aluminum I was planning to

use and MUCH less exspansive than all the other ideas. Here is how I went about doing it...







8'x4'x 1/4" plywood for $21... Cant beat it and it weight less than 1/16 aluminum sheet!


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/Splitter.jpg


Trace your front bumper and cut to the line:


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k.../Splitterb.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k.../Splitterc.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k.../Splitterd.jpg

Next cut out the areas where your wheels, suspension, ect. will be. You can also see here how far I have

this under belly (splitter) going back.




http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k.../Splittere.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...tertestfit.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ertestfitb.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ertestfitc.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ertestfitd.jpg





Then make some light weight mounts with light weight bolts! Don't forget to cut out the area for the

suspension travel when you wheel stand!!!





http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...tterMounts.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...terMountsb.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...terMountsc.jpg

Next I had to come up with a way to mount the rear of the under belly. Since I had it going back 4 feet

which ended up at about the tranny/engine mating area. I decided to use the stock subframe mounting bolts

as there where plenty of threads sticking out past the bolt for something to grad onto. So i used some

delrin rid and threaded one end to fit the stock subframe bolts. and threaded the other end to bolt the

underbelly to. No need to weld anything or add any brackets increasing weight instead of loosing it. I

chose delrin rod over anthing else because of its weight of course! and I got the material for free at

work...


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...untsDelrin.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ntsDelrinb.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ntsDelrinc.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ntsDelrind.jpg






I couldnt believe it work out so well! I will be switching to butthead bolts on the bottom as well to keep

in theme with reducing drag. No, I am not joking... Did I mention I have OCD!


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ntsDelrine.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ntsDelrinf.jpg

I will up date again when I have more work done. This has taken far to long to get to this point. But hopefully putting it up makes me get more work done to update with new photos and news.. I have been splitting time between work, attempting to run a business, getting my fighting career going (just for fun, but could be something), working on my Rx2, F150 lightning conversion, building bicycles/trikes, doing triathalons, ect... lol, I need more than 24 hours a day!

But this is the official unveil, you seen it here first!

I'd be concerned about the wood tray. It will absorb fuel and oil and eventually be a fire
hazard and the heat from the headers may be too much as well. Woods flash point is
around 500 F so you maybe should sheath that wood in thick foil or something. I think
the AL would have been better and almost as light with not issues with the heat.

Cool project, keep us updated.

Many road race style cars use wood. Even high dollar pro teams. And they are running lap after lap at high RPM. My car shouldn't run any longer than 1 minute at idle, and a few seconds at full throttle. No need to worry about fire.

Also, if your car is leaking fuel or oil, you are not allowed to be on a track anyways. Most tracks make rotary cars run a diaper too. And all cars at the times I plan to run. So no need to worry about that either.

looking good... i would ditch the wood tho...

I would at least coat the wood with something.