Nathan!, couple of pics from today. Options

[Trekkor]

He can drive it!

He took second overall today, just about 1 second behind Steve Nieslony.


KT


( Andy where were you? )

[McMark]

Way to go Nathan, you looked great in the morning sessions.

How was the mid-day course change?

[Aaron Cox]

"Bitch was movin!"

way to go!

[Dr Evil]

Probably would have finished better if he put the right head light all of the way down. Drag, ya know.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Trekkor]

mid-day course change?

Everybody liked it. Most people improved by 3-5 seconds from the a.m.

There were 6 914's out of about 50 cars.

4 of which were in the top 5! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mueba.gif)

KT

[nebreitling]

thanks guys. i had a blast on those last runs, trying to squeeze out every last ounce of speed out of the car. the new set-up felt pretty good today -- better than 2 weeks ago. i can't believe some of the corner-entry speeds i was getting out of the car. it was fun to approach steve's times, but i'm not within striking distance. (prolly need about 20 more hp, 200 less lbs, and some slicks!)

trek omits that he kicked some butt in the pm -- doing extremely well considering his tires seem to be heat-cycled out. bill dally was out on falkens, and generally driving over the top (nice spin, bill). a couple other teeners whom i didn't meet were also out there.

mark, nice seeing you today. i'll send you an email about that vinyl with some photos of what i'm thinking.

missed you other regulars.

[Trekkor]

I was doing my post A/X tire inspection.
They are starting to chunk (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Are new tires worth two seconds...who knows? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)


KT

[Trekkor]

What's up with the head light covers?

[nebreitling]

long story. i'll fix it... meanwhile, the car enjoys winking at the other cars.

thanks for the pics trek, it confirms my notions about the car's setup.

[grantsfo]

Great job! Its still amazing at how much you are getting from the current setup. Its a true testimate to budget AX car development.

Trekkor, Sounds like the bar held up. My car will be ready to go for next Alameda and Marina events.

[Brad Roberts]

What shocks Nathan?

I'm finding out the Bilsteins need to be pulled apart and the internal bump stop removed when we have the cars down that low. The Koni's dont have that issue (external bump stop that you can easiy trim)

Looks good. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)


B

[J P Stein]

Don't remove the bump stop, just cut one segment off and/or go to raised
spindles.

[Randal]

thanks guys. i had a blast on those last runs, trying to squeeze out every last ounce of speed out of the car. the new set-up felt pretty good today -- better than 2 weeks ago. i can't believe some of the corner-entry speeds i was getting out of the car. it was fun to approach steve's times, but i'm not within striking distance. (prolly need about 20 more hp, 200 less lbs, and some slicks!)

trek omits that he kicked some butt in the pm -- doing extremely well considering his tires seem to be heat-cycled out. bill dally was out on falkens, and generally driving over the top (nice spin, bill). a couple other teeners whom i didn't meet were also out there.

mark, nice seeing you today. i'll send you an email about that vinyl with some photos of what i'm thinking.

missed you other regulars.

Nice driving Nathan. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

FYI slicks at Santa Rosa (soft compound) would be worth a full second. Money wise slicks//wheels/spacers and flares are a lot cheaper to go than 20HP or 200lbs.

[nebreitling]

What shocks Nathan?

I'm finding out the Bilsteins need to be pulled apart and the internal bump stop removed when we have the cars down that low. The Koni's dont have that issue (external bump stop that you can easiy trim)

Looks good. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

konis up front, and randal's old bilsteins in back. i've got the front bump stops trimmed down as low as i dare after calling koni and getting a few specs. don't even run bump stops in the rear. i figure the muffler will be on the ground before the shocks bottom out.

i'd love to have the spindles raised, but time, money, and the "someday-5-lug-conversion" are holding me back for now...

[DanT]

That is the same shock set up I have. New Koni yellow adjustables up front and Bil sports I got from Jeff Reitmeir (off of one of his old 914 projects)

This set up seems to work nicely on the track so I am anxious for a chance to try it at the AX.

21mm torsion bars, stock sway, 180s in the rear.

I know, where is the adjustable front bar? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Some day...but with our new points system I am trying to get the car competitive with as few points as possible. I will get enough points when I do a motor.

[nebreitling]

21mm torsion bars, stock sway, 180s in the rear.

that actually (and surprisingly) sounds fairly balanced to me. very economical use of the points (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) !

what's this motor you got planned?

[DanT]

Still considering.....

I would like to stay with the stock FI so I guess that means a slightly warmed over 2.0L or a mild 2056 like Demick's.

If not then a hotter 2056 with carbs and higher compression, and hotter cam.

Still doing some research. Any comments on your combination Nathan? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Trekkor]

Any comments on your combination Nathan?

I'm not Nathan...I can tell you that his motor screams and he has about $2500 in it.


KT

[DanT]

sounds like I need some serious details about Nathans motor combination. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

[nebreitling]

it ain't magic... i built the damn thing in the kitchen of my old stanford-apartment. people seem surprised by it, but i still consider it a momentum car. it's not as fast in a straight line as, for example, trekkor's six, but has great torque (and is lighter than a six) so it's probably a better AX engine. estimate 110hp at the wheels, 125 or so at the crank. it has good acceleration, but i think that's more from me gutting the car than from the engine. great torque; pulls hard from 3.5k.

built mostly from used parts, got an $1000 2.0 recently-rebuilt core and an older 2056 that i used for some parts, sold others to recoup my costs. reconditioned elgin cam (fairly mild, actually) and lifters. new kb 96's in bored german cylinders. elgin told me the cam wanted about 9:1 compression, so i decked it to 9.5:1. runs on 91 pump gas. stock 2.0 heads; no porting or polishing. HD single valve springs. balanced everything i could. in any case, the only new parts were the pistons/rings, and the only non stock parts are the cam/pistons/valve springs. 44 idf's. i keep the shift light at 5.9k rpm, but don't have a rev-limiter on it. i've looked down to see 6400 rpm (sometimes it's just not worth the shift!). i'm hoping to get another 4 years of sheer, total abuse out of it. which would be less than 4k miles. any more life than that i consider to be bonus time.

these engines are not difficult unless you go extreme, or are trying to extract every last bit of power out of a given displacement. i know i left power on the table, and i'm fine with that. for example, i'm running the dizzy off a 75 2.0, with the vacuum advance disconnected. that's okay, the engine usually stays above 3k anyway.

as trekkor noted, i've got about 2500 in it. that's including about $800 in recouped costs from selling old parts, but also including $800 of brand-new carbs.