Rusty bucket into Solo toy, Some highlights of my budget autocross build from rust to rocket Options

[Han Solo]

2015 SCCA Solo Nationals. The best of the best competing for class championships. No stupid PAX to worry about. Pure autocross on the tarmac of Lincoln Airport. There's two courses in use and a test n tune course. We arrived on labor day and I had registered for the Evo school on the test n tune course. Not that I needed an instructor in this car but more for ease of getting many runs in an hour. I ended doing only six to save the Hoosiers for the main event. After the test n tune I noticed some fuel dripping from the drivers side Weber air cleaner. I took off the filter and there's fuel collecting on the butterflies. At idle, fuel is dripping very steadily from the two jets. When I turn the fuel pump off, that stops however. Not wanting to disassemble the carb before the first day competition, I decide to run the car by turning the fuel pump off at idle. Just before launching switch it on. Not the best situation, but a temporary fix. I also changed motor oil that afternoon to get the gas tainted oil out.

My class ran 4th heat on the west course on Tuesday. A tight, technical course that made you really look ahead and stay on line. The car ran good but I couldn't get a clean run in. My best time on the third run was with one cone. After my heat, a mechanic named James Bricken with Gruppe 9 Autowerks in San Antonio had heard about my carb problems. Offering to help, he opened up the offending carb, inspected the floats, made a little tweek to the needle trigger and the problem was solved. Autocross is so great in that others are always willing to help.

Wednesday we're on the east course and it's a different animal. Long, flowing with big sweepers. The speeds are much higher than the west course and I know I'm going to be spending time in 3rd gear. My second run on that course was my best and it just seemed that everything went right. All the up-shifts, down-shifts, throttle inputs and steering were spot on. I was really racing and felt as one with the 914!

In grid, the XP class was a bunch of great guys. A diverse set of highly prepared cars like 240Z, Lotus Elise, MR2, etc. All of those had extensive wings and spoilers. A lot of the drivers were curious why I had such a under-prepared and under-powered car in class. Of course I explained my problems with DP weight and why I thought it would just be fun to compete at 1653 lbs. XP weight. My goal for the event was to not be last in class. I finished 14 of 19 competitors and was pleased. I think I also surprised the other competitors on that finish. James watched my runs on Wednesday and said the car could be two seconds faster if "I would get serious". He said he thought the engine was very strong for a 2056 build.

We've got one more event before end of season and that will probably toast the tires. I'm not making any major changes to the 914 before next year as I've got an on-going 931 restoration in progress. I guess I'll just keep having fun (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


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SCCA Solo National Championship 2015 run3

SCCA Solo National Championship 2015 run5

[ge9146]

Thanks for the great update from the Solo Nationals. Great pictures and videos.
It sounds like you had a blast! Great Job!

[Mike T]

Hi Han Solo

When you said that “James watched my runs on Wednesday and said the car could be two seconds faster if "I would get serious". Was he meaning more preparation or more seat time?
I love the fact that your 914 is a track only car. And that you compete in SCCA solo events is great. I am a 30+ year solo veteran with 9 Solo Nationals under my belt. I look forward to further exploits.

Mike T

[Han Solo]

Hi Han Solo

When you said that “James watched my runs on Wednesday and said the car could be two seconds faster if "I would get serious". Was he meaning more preparation or more seat time?
I love the fact that your 914 is a track only car. And that you compete in SCCA solo events is great. I am a 30+ year solo veteran with 9 Solo Nationals under my belt. I look forward to further exploits.

Mike T

James being a Porsche mechanic, I suspect he meant greater car preperation. Although my drivers skills probably don't come near your abilities. Thanks for following this thread and please do comment with notes or recommendations. XP certainly isn't the best class for this 914 unless I spend some REAL money on engine, body, transmission, suspension, etc. The regional events can be very fun and the local SCCA members get a kick out seeing this car run. I'm usually in the top five raw time and that does give some satisfaction after a lot of time and effort.

[Han Solo]

End of year update - I ran the Hairy Ant Nest Racing 914 a couple more regional events and the car did really well. The last event in Huntsville I had a really good TRSCCA driver co-drive and we had a blast. That site has really reflective noise issues and the club is under pressure to keep within SCCA regulations. Anyway, we got warnings on our first couple of runs but figured out that if we up-shifted to 3rd near the sound meter, we were good. We ended up 3rd & 4th raw time out of about 75 entries so that was great. Here's Geoff launching...

Huntsville autocross

Part of the noise issue was some back-firing that I'll have to look into. I think a close carb adjustment and timing check is in order. I'm also taking apart the two spare transmissions and will hopefully have enough good parts to make one solid transmission with autocross gear set. I've started a thread on that process here...

trans gear swop

I'll have to keep the 914 racing mods and fixes costs low as I've also got this 931 restoration going on and that CIS stuff is crazy!

931 restore thread

[Han Solo]

Our 2016 Solo season is off to a good start. I ran the car several weeks ago at a Test N Tune and was pleased. But last weekend we ran at the Dixie Championship Tour 2016 in HCR class. It was a blast but no competition in class unfortunately. I found that the car had better times at the Test N Tune with a passenger (less push) so I added 160 lbs. ballast to the passenger side floor pan. I'm still under HCR weight (2056 lbs.) but that does help understeer; coupled with loosening a half turn on the front Konis.

My times at Dixie were good in comparison to other classes. Good grip from the A7s with temps being mild both days. What does need to be addressed is rev limit and gearing. I just spoke to Greg at FAT Performance and we're going to switch to a 7100 rpm rotor. That's going to help get 2nd gear top speeds up and make that transition from 2nd to 3rd more in the power band. He's given me some notes on carb and valve adjustments. So I'll need to do those along with the rotor change.

And... to make the car HCR legal, I'm switching to 8" wide rear wheels. the folks at Bogart Racing Wheels say they can replicate the outer rings on my 8" fronts and all I'll have to do is put the narrow outer rings on the rears. After that, I'll need to add more weight and part of that will be a race cage. Time to speed some $$$ on the race car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
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6th run Dixie 2016

[ge9146]

Great update. Good video too. I hope the new higher rpm limit will do the trick. Keep up the good work and have fun!

[Han Solo]

Caged! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

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[2mAn]

so glad that the last post here was of the roll cage! I just went through the whole thread. the rustoration was painful to see, but thats history now. seeing the car in action I kept thinking, "he needs to get a cage in there" and here we are. excited to see what the 2nd half of 2016 brings.

keep it up!

[Han Solo]

Yesterday was the first event after installing the cage. I also had most of the ballast needed to be DP or HCR weight compliant. I had a very accomplished co-driver but he struggled with the 914 shifting. We both landed in the top 10 RAW time and PAX time out of a field of 150 drivers. Randall lead me by .15 to win the HCR class. The extra weight definitely affects acceleration but handling was good. As long as I can maintain momentum, I'll be okay. I think the cage is helping the chassis rigidity but that NCM autocross pad is super flat and without any bumps.

When the car came off the trailer, the right rear caliper parking brake locked on because the caliper bolts were falling out! I'm very thankful that didn't happen on course! That caused the parking brake arm on the caliper to get bent so about an hour and half wrestling all that back into shape. It was super hot at NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green KY and I was a ball of sweat by 7:30 AM. We drove second heat so it was probably already over 90 degrees and brutal. The only relief was on course with the breeze coming through the non-wind shield. Really good grip from the Hoosier A7s and we were spaying water on them after two runs. Again, I'm not missing the 10" wide rears at all. The 8" square set-up is fine. After eight runs oil pressure at idle was only 20 PSI which was a bit concerning but otherwise the engine ran well.

Before the next event I'll pull that caliper and properly straighten the arm out. Hopefully I'll also get some loaner scales and set the car at 2056 lbs. as well.

NCM KYSCCA 6-26-16

[Alphaogre]

Did you notice a large rigidity difference with the cage in?

[Han Solo]

Did you notice a large rigidity difference with the cage in?

It was hard to tell with that site being so smooth and having the 400 lbs. of ballast in. The car definitely felt planted and was hooking up really well. It does make getting in and out of the drivers and passenger seat more difficult. The big plus is it should prevent structural failure of the longs or at least postpone that.

[Woody]

I'm kinda partial to your paint scheme. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Han Solo]

I'm kinda partial to your paint scheme. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

They do look alike don't they (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

If you're running XP you must have a conversion. Chevy 350 or a Subie?

[Woody]

I'm kinda partial to your paint scheme. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

They do look alike don't they (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

If you're running XP you must have a conversion. Chevy 350 or a Subie?

Nope just big 4. Its a 80x98 which brings it to 2414. I am in XP primarily for weight reasons. I'm not too far off the pace right now. Maybe a second or so from TTOD and I'm in some fast company. I'm still in the shake down phase with the new engine.

[Han Solo]

Here's what I thought was my best run at Wilmington Champ Tour last weekend. It was followed by a faster re-run (after a red flag) but I missed several shifts and coasted a lot. This 5th run felt the best and salvaged what was a trying event. The Hairy Ant Nest 914 was throwing it's belt regularly. In fact, it threw right at 45 sec. on this video. The new rev limiter 7200 rpm is helping the 2nd to 3rd transitions and I'm achieving 54 mph in 2nd gear. Note that I was up to 60 mph in the first slalom and that was quite fun!

Wilmington 2016 5th run

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[914forme]

I looked for you early Friday, but did not see your car in the paddock yet.

I happen to have a work site right off that tarmac.



Came out and heard the music, and saw the cars on course, and was deeply saddened I was not out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Han Solo]

I looked for you early Friday, but did not see your car in the paddock yet.

I happen to have a work site right off that tarmac.



Came out and heard the music, and saw the cars on course, and was deeply saddened I was not out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Sorry I missed you. I didn't arrive on site till about 1 pm. It was raining and I missed test and tune. Probably would have thrown that belt every run during that anyway.