First DE @ TWS + corner balance #'s, finally getting on the big track! Options

[cha914]

Hey guys,

So, finally signed up for my first big track DE with the PCA out at Texas World Speedway this weekend - anyone from here going to be there?

Finally got my car corner balanced after getting all of the rubber out of the suspension (elephant poly bronze up front, mueller bearings in the rear, koni sports all around, 21mm welt up front, five lug conversion with M calipers, and re-drilled hubs in the rear, running 15x6 cookies and falken azenis)

The car came out at 2154 lbs with a little over a half tank of gas and a 170lb driver. Not bad for an all steel '74 body that still has the crash bars in the doors. And we got her to balance at 50.2% - Thought you guys would be interested in those numbers.

I am pretty excited about this event, and curious to see how I match up with these newer porsches. I think my car is a good 10 yrs older than the oldest car out there, but I do have some Mr. Raby magic to help level the field (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Anyway, I will post the results after I get back...and any comments, suggestions are welcome.

Tony

[Borderline]

50.2% sounds good. What kind of Raby Magic do you have? What are you doing for oil cooler?? I'm curious to hear how the Azenis hold up on the track.

Good luck, and report back!!

[cha914]

Bill,

I have a Raby 2056 that he built for me back in 02. It put out 130hp and 131tq on his dyno, so its a fun little motor, and has never let me down.

I am running the chepo oil cooler setup, which consists of an 8x11in Thru Cooler and aeroquip socketless blue hose, and a mocal sandwich adapter with built in thermostat. I am running the cooler in the front trunk, and so far the hottest I have seen the oil after installing it was ~220 on a 100* day while flogging it on a autox course, most days it barely gets to 180*. So I am curious to see if I have enough cooling for a 20min session, I guess I will find out this weekend.

I have heard the falkens do well on the track but tend to get a little slick after 20min, I will report back how they do for me.

Tony

[Borderline]

Tony:

Wow, 130 hp from a 2056! I guess Jake knows what he's doing! I would think your oil temps should be OK at the track then. Higher speed= more air flow to the cooler.

Have fun!

[race914]

Tony,

Go get'em with your four!

I'm sure you'll suprise alot of the newer Porsche owners. They seem to forget it's HP/Weight, not just HP!

Let us know how you do & post some pics!

Greg

[Joe Ricard]

Corner balance values usually are displayed is other formats like cross weight. lbs on each corner.

When my car went up on the scales at Houston NT I was within a few pounds on all 4 corners. just by sheer dumb luck.

[cha914]

Joe, here are the full #'s with 170lbs in the drivers seat

LF 491 RF 479

LR 603 RR 582

1082 and 1073 for cross weights...

Hopefully I will get a few pics at the event that I can post...

[cha914]

Well guys, the car did awesome. In the green group I really only had a couple of people pass me and that was on the long front straight where they had the power advantage, but for the most part I was running people down left and right.

I got promoted to the Blue group on the second day, and the cars got
alot faster, but outside of getting passed on the big straight I was
able to hold my own quite well. I supprised both of my instructors,
and when I was "tested" for blue, my instructor commented that "you
have this car setup beautifully" which really made my day (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

So I can't wait to go back, however, I am going to have to get a bigger oil
cooler and installing my accusump will definitely be needed, because as I started getting faster, on the second day, I caused the oil light to come on in a couple of the turns, and I am sure the heat didn't help
anything either (it was close to 100* and humid both days).

Overall I was very impressed with how well the Loanstar PCA ran this event, the instructors were awesome, the runs were always on schedule, and everyone seemed to be playing nice for the most part.

I really had no problems getting pointed by much newer / faster cars. Some of the highlights were a new M5 that I was able to pass a few times, a couple of C5 Z06's, and later in the blue group I was able to run down and pass a 997S :-D

Oh and almost everyone that came up and said hello on sunday was asking me "is this a six?"

[Borderline]

Tony!! Way to go! sounds like you got the car setup gud. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif) What were your oil temps??

[Chris Pincetich]

I will have a very similar set-up in about a month, if all goes well, but dealing with about 50 less HP and hopefully 200-300 lbs less. So far the KONIs are on, and they made a big difference compared to the tired shocks that I had. Next will be non-rubber bushings, alignment, and balance.

Can you comment on the ride quality and handling before vs. after the bushing switch??

I'm psyched to go from AX to DE this year. Almost ready! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[cha914]

Bill - The oil temps got hot ... after about half way through the sessions I was hovering around 230-240 ... and a couple of times I spiked it at 260 right near the end. Then I figured out I could drop the oil about 10+ degrees by going into 5th on the back straight and not pushing too hard, that helped alot. But I expected I might need a bigger cooler, and the lines are already there, so it won't be a big issue, this setup has lasted me 3+ yrs and many autox's, just not good enough for the track.

Chris - I highly recommend going to the elephant bushings and koni's - the car actually rides ALOT smoother than it did with either stock rubber and tons better than the weltmeister poly bushings that I had in there before. I can go over bumps now and it doesn't upset the chassis at all, in fact on turn 12 at TWS I was consistently clipping the edge of the curb at 70+ mph and it didn't phase the car at all, you will really like the setup.

How do you plan to get 200-300lbs less? Going with all fiberglass panels?

Tony

[Chris Pincetich]

Sweet. I'm gettin more psyched to hurry up and put those bushings on.
My '72 has the lighter doors, stripped interior, used carbon fiber lids front and rear, floor tar gone (half now, still need to do passenger side), no back pad door panels or lower dash, and gonna buy a race battery (20-25 lbs less than normal), and I think the '72 is a bit lighter than the '74 to start with. I'm just guessing and dreamin, because I've never had my 914 weighed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[cha914]

Yeah, my car is all steel, but I have removed the tar, removed the back pad, no engine pad, no dash pads, and removed the entire fresh air system. I still have door pannels and the heavy doors, and I also have a steel roll bar with cross brace, and the corbeu seats I have are prob a few lbs heavier than the stockers, but not by much. So I was pretty supprised how light it actually is.

Good luck with the project!

Tony

[Borderline]

For now I'm concentrating on AX'ing and keeping the car lite! I'm running just the stock cooler. Every once in a while I get the idea to do a DE event, but sounds like I shouldn't go near a track until I get a good oil cooler and maybe a rollbar. Thanks for the info.

[cha914]

Bill,

My motor is far from stock, and spins very high (I make power until 6300) and was shifting at around 6500 for most of the event, so my oil temps get ALOT hotter than a stock motor would shifting around 4500.

In fact, one of the instructors had a stock 2.0L without a front cooler and ran out there just fine.

I was pushing the motor pretty hard (Jake told me the motor could take it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)) so that is why my oil temps were so high.

As far as the roll bar, 914's have a pretty good built in one, I only have one because the car came with it. Don't be scared to go the track, even after 4-5 yrs of autoxing, I learned a great deal about driving at speed.

Tony

[Borderline]

Tony:

My engine is a 1911 with 9.6:1 CR and a mild cam. Len Hoffman did the heads and it pulls pretty well up around 6k. I'm still working on getting the carbs tuned. The only instrumentation I have at the moment is head temp and oil pressure. The head temps are a little high just cruising on the highway. Not sure what would happen on the track. I'm in no hurry to get on the track. AX'ing is fine for now.

[cha914]

Bill,

Sounds like a fun motor, and Len knows what he is doing. I would definitely add a oil temp sensor the first chance you get, especially with a higher revving motor. I was able to hit 240+ oil temps in an autox before I added my front cooler.

Tony

[woobn8r]

looks like she's a hummin'....

What spring rates do you have in the rear?

Torsion bar size is in the front ? (to go with your 21mmARB)
Do you have an ARB in the rear?

[cha914]

running 175lbs in the rear with the adj collar kit.

running stock 911 torsions up front, so they are 19mm I think.

The front bar is set about half stiff, and no rear bar. The car really feels great with this setup, we will see when I get some real rubber on the car.