Widebody LS6 rebuild., long time 914 world car desgned and built by B. massaged and refined by Paul, now entrusted to me to rebuild and repair the front end and make my own. Options

[dan10101]

Wow, 2 posts in 1 day..
So my next project is getting the steering better to my liking. It seems really light at higher speeds and not enough camber.

If you remember back a few pages I installed 40mm drop spindles. I think that and not enough bump steer correction is causing me some issues. 1st of all. I can’t drop the car anymore and it caused me to lose some camber. It’s almost like I raised my car up.

So I decided to experiment on my stock spindles and drop them 19mm (3/4”). Then lower the torsion bars a bit and gain some camber. Right or wrong here is my adventure in raising spindles on Bilstein struts.

Start by locating the ¾” weld hole on the back of the spindle/strut.
I drilled a small starter hole then the largest bit I had to remove as much metal as I could with a drill bit without going thru the strut housing.


Then I took a dremel and rasp bit and ground the rest of the ¾ inch hole. I’m sure there are easier ways, but this is what I came up with.


You can’t really get it all, so the next step is to cut a slot in the top and bottom, (see pict). Then tap a chisel or ground down screwdriver in there to separate it. It breaks the rest of the weld free. You may need to grind a bit more to break it all free.


After it starts to move you can see where the high spots are and grind them down until you can drive the spindle down to the bottom. It’s tapered slightly so it easier to go down first.


Then clean up the old weld spot and take the paint off the strut housing to make it easier to slide up however much you want to raise the spindle.
Now is the tricky part. Since I only wanted to raise it 19mm, it wasn’t a problem for me to tap a chisel in the slot and knock the spindle up 19mm higher than before. But going higher the taper becomes a problem. I imagine some heat or I think I read that others removed the spindle entirely and removed material from the inside would allow you to go higher. ( I’m speculating here, my 40mm were already done when I got them).
Once it’s at the height you want it, then it’s a matter of cleaning the paint off and welding it in place.


Note: I’ll be taking care to keeping my spindle to strut angle to 12degrees or less. One of mine was 9 degrees and the other 13 degrees. Moving it up the strut seems to have put them right at 11 or 12 degrees where I want.

[Krieger]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[dan10101]

"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough. "
Mario Andretti

What a great day on the autocross course with SSCC. Siskiyou Sports Car Club.
No, I wasn't anywhere near the experienced drivers, but I had a blast. The car worked great. No slipping clutch meant getting the power to the ground. And also meant that the old tires tried their best, but just not enough. Still thrilling moments will keep me coming back for more.

You probably can't see all the times where there are traction issues. But I'm using that as a learning experience before I get on the big track.

Take a ride with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbQlmIz4_do&t=103s

One more comparing my last 2 runs. Still not better than my run with Dillon. Funny how that is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tagV6tGYEt0

[dan10101]

Happy 918 Day!

Lot's been happening, Wow, it's been 2 months, sorry this will be a long post.

My last couple of weeks…
I spent some time getting back to the art of fiberglass work. My little experience with the trailer caused some damage and needed repair to the front splitter. I started by calicoing the pieces back together and determining a way to hold things together while things dried. I worked from the front first so I could make sure the 2 halves lined up. I used angle hair to glue them together, clamped them and let it get hard. Then applied some layers of matt to provide strength and to fill in the gaps. (yes, big gaps.) I worked the front a bit and then removed the front end, (hey, that’s kinda handy). Working from the back side I applied several layers to get the strength back where I wanted it. Then I moved back to the front where I could get it at least close.





Broke the shop laptop. Couldn’t get ancient laptop with broken monitor and broken keyboard to switch to the exterior monitor. So I ordered a new monitor cable, tore it all apart and managed to get it back together again… and bam, now I have 2 monitors and an external keyboard.

Swapped my Press’ 12 ton jack to my Affordable Tubing bender that came with an 8 ton jack. That took a bit of fab work, but it worked out fab! It is said to allow bending of .120 wall tubing.

I promptly used the new/downsized press to install some bearings for a friends rear end rebuild for his Jeep. Yay, it still works!

Finally back to the 914.. I’ve had problems from time to time with the fuel pump not working. I previously had wired in an alternate route so I wouldn’t be stranded. Well it came in handy the other day when my friend came by and wanted a ride. So this week I did some tracing and found a connection to the fuse block (aftermarket) had gotten hot and was crusty. I cleaned up the terminal, put some dialectic grease on it and the new fitting and I think that’s going to take care of that. I’ll leave my bypass in place, just in case.

Still haven’t found wheels that I like and can afford. So I decided to take a chance at straightening the 8” wheels. A visual inspection would have said they were fine. I could still feel they were off just driving on the driveway. Note: This work is minus the tires of course. This way I can have a race tire set and street tire set. Currently only 6 wheels are straight. 4 – 18x11” and 2 of the 18x8”. I was successful in straightening one of the wheels before my setup bent on the 2nd. I'll send it to a pro but in the meantime I picked up another 8" wheel and that makes 2 full sets. Then I started searching for affordable tires.

I've been working on the ECU trying to get something I could tune. The existing one is tunerlocked by a shop in NJ that is now closed. I picked up a couple spare ECUs at the wrecking yard and started learning. Decided to purchase HPTuners. It's a learning curve, but I think it will work to get my redline back where it should be.

Lately the project is installing a wide band to help with tuning. I'll be setting it up to log data with the laptop using the scanner app in HpTuners.

2 days of autocross earlier this month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFXOVJmNi3k

Another comparison run of the 2nd day. Exciting day for me as my normally dominate competition had a backup car they were going to do a champ style endurance race so it wasn't quite up to the horsepower and suspension tuning of their normal LS powered RX7. So I actually had a chance. I was behind them on Saturday, but managed a class win on Sunday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m08hQtTxWs

These will help get a bit closer to the competition. I found the Hoosiers I was looking for at John Burget Tire out of the east coast. 580 for all 4 shipped to my door. Not new, but close enough for me.


Well, if you've read this far. Thanks for listening to my dribble..

[tygaboy]

Dan - Congrats on the class win! Nice repair on the fiberglass, too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[dan10101]

3 weeks later and the last event of the season is in the books. No records were threatened but lots of fun was had. I fixed an oil leak last week, but developed a lifter tick during the run. Yeah, I sent it anyway. Made it home just fine. I have 5 months to fix it.

The Hoosiers started to hook up on the 2nd lap. Fun, but I was disappointed that I didn't adjust my driving to take advantage of the traction. Lots to learn. I'll be looking for some AX tires...

Here's my get to the track solution. It works for short excursions.


Here the long video if you're interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcBzrdm7ANc

[sb914]

I’d love to see your car on a “big track” to awaken the beast !

[dan10101]

I’d love to see your car on a “big track” to awaken the beast !

I have that same yearning...
Things happen so fast on the short track, I just react most of the time. At least on the big track you have a few seconds to collect your thoughts for the next series of turns.

Have you taken your car out on the big track?

[JRust]

I’d love to see your car on a “big track” to awaken the beast !

I have that same yearning...
Things happen so fast on the short track, I just react most of the time. At least on the big track you have a few seconds to collect your thoughts for the next series of turns.

Have you taken your car out on the big track?

We did streets of willow one year for WCR. We had 20 minute runs on the track & could do 3. It was 100 plus out there. It was awesome for about 10 minutes. The second 10 kicked my ass. I got done with that first one & took about 2 seconds to decide I was skipping my second session. By the time I had lunch I had decided I was just going to load my car up & be glad I made it through WCR without my car breaking down. That heat just takes it out of you man. I was also amazed at how much energy 20 minutes on the track took. Granted a lot was the heat but there is something about being in track shape (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) .

[andys]

I’d love to see your car on a “big track” to awaken the beast !

I have that same yearning...
Things happen so fast on the short track, I just react most of the time. At least on the big track you have a few seconds to collect your thoughts for the next series of turns.

Have you taken your car out on the big track?

Please keep in mind that you will carry a lot of speed at Big Willow (914 LS6), and if something goes wrong, or you miss-judge, you can get seriously hurt. The Streets, OTOH, is relatively safe because of the lower speeds. Cage, fire system, gear, and ambulance/EMT for the big track. IMHO.

Andys

[dan10101]

We did streets of willow one year for WCR. We had 20 minute runs on the track & could do 3. It was 100 plus out there. It was awesome for about 10 minutes. The second 10 kicked my ass. I got done with that first one & took about 2 seconds to decide I was skipping my second session. By the time I had lunch I had decided I was just going to load my car up & be glad I made it through WCR without my car breaking down. That heat just takes it out of you man. I was also amazed at how much energy 20 minutes on the track took. Granted a lot was the heat but there is something about being in track shape (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) .

Andrew and I co-drove his V8 914 at that WCR. Streets of Willow is a great track for a "middle size" track. Thunderhill West is another. Top speeds of around 100 vs 140+ make it likely the place I start. We've done several tracks and look forward to getting out there again soon. Top speed at the kart track is about 75 for me, (unless I drive it deeper...) It feels good at that speed, so I'm ready for the next step.

I actually like the larger tracks. 20 min sessions is just about right. But the best part is you can pull off and take another session later. After about 4 sessions a lot will skip the last session. 5 12 min sessions would still be a lot of track time vs AX.

[dan10101]

I’d love to see your car on a “big track” to awaken the beast !

I have that same yearning...
Things happen so fast on the short track, I just react most of the time. At least on the big track you have a few seconds to collect your thoughts for the next series of turns.

Have you taken your car out on the big track?

Please keep in mind that you will carry a lot of speed at Big Willow (914 LS6), and if something goes wrong, or you miss-judge, you can get seriously hurt. The Streets, OTOH, is relatively safe because of the lower speeds. Cage, fire system, gear, and ambulance/EMT for the big track. IMHO.

Andys

Andys, I fully agree, I was writing my last post as you sent this one. I've done several track days at Thunderhill east with my 944T. I do like that run but I'll start with the smaller west track then if everything feels good I'll do east again. Big Willow will probably down the bottom of the bucket list.

[dan10101]

Fun Dyno Day!

Ok, I just saw this last minute. $100 for several pulls.
So after Cars and Coffee this morning I headed over to a dyno day.

Not the HP number I was looking for, but close to what I expected. 362 at the rear wheels. Anyway it's not about the number (so they say...) So more tuning needed. Plus I don't know if the computer is pulling timing. A/F look pretty good.

I ran the first several pulls in 3rd, because his dyno maxed out at 154mph. The last pull was in 4th to see what difference it would make. It stopped at 5500rpm.

enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XOZfDj5FEI...a-g--VPR14eLhK4

[Andyrew]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Juuust keep it at 360whp. No need to have any more than that.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[dan10101]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Juuust keep it at 360whp. No need to have any more than that.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Sorry, no can do. I need NOZ, 2 bottles, big ones!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[Zippy69]

3 weeks later and the last event of the season is in the books. No records were threatened but lots of fun was had. I fixed an oil leak last week, but developed a lifter tick during the run. Yeah, I sent it anyway. Made it home just fine. I have 5 months to fix it.

The Hoosiers started to hook up on the 2nd lap. Fun, but I was disappointed that I didn't adjust my driving to take advantage of the traction. Lots to learn. I'll be looking for some AX tires...

Here's my get to the track solution. It works for short excursions.


Here the long video if you're interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcBzrdm7ANc

Time to build a tire trailer?

[Zippy69]

Fun Dyno Day!

Ok, I just saw this last minute. $100 for several pulls.
So after Cars and Coffee this morning I headed over to a dyno day.

Not the HP number I was looking for, but close to what I expected. 362 at the rear wheels. Anyway it's not about the number (so they say...) So more tuning needed. Plus I don't know if the computer is pulling timing. A/F look pretty good.

I ran the first several pulls in 3rd, because his dyno maxed out at 154mph. The last pull was in 4th to see what difference it would make. It stopped at 5500rpm.

enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XOZfDj5FEI...a-g--VPR14eLhK4

Dyno figures that you are getting seem kind of low? Last time I had the motor tuned and dynoed on a Dynojet I got 430 WHP

[dan10101]

3 weeks later and the last event of the season is in the books. No records were threatened but lots of fun was had. I fixed an oil leak last week, but developed a lifter tick during the run. Yeah, I sent it anyway. Made it home just fine. I have 5 months to fix it.

The Hoosiers started to hook up on the 2nd lap. Fun, but I was disappointed that I didn't adjust my driving to take advantage of the traction. Lots to learn. I'll be looking for some AX tires...

Here's my get to the track solution. It works for short excursions.


Here the long video if you're interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcBzrdm7ANc

Time to build a tire trailer?

It's in the works!

[Charles Freeborn]

Wow. Just Wow... From you part of the state our tracks are a bit of a haul, but would be worth it. Check out ORP. Very technical - well suited to a nimble car with some hp. Can run either clockwise or counter. Big fun. I instruct with HOD out there.
Then there's PIR. Flat & fast. I instruct there with a couple of different clubs, including HOD.
Even more of a haul, up in Shelton WA is The Ridge. Another technical track with elevation changes and a bit of everything.
And lastly, east of Seattle is Pacific Raceways. Old school. Kind of scary with not much run off and things to hit if you do go off... maybe get some seat time at the others before you try that one.

[dan10101]

Thanks for the invite, I typically go south to Thunderhill to hook up with my son and his outlaw 914, but he's not always available so a trip north is a big possibility. And 2 of my bucket list items is PRi and ORP.
AND and instructor would definitely reduce the learning curve!