The Tangerine crew pulled in to the shop at around 1Am this morning....

Chris has come down to install his new F Production RAT engine with HAm heads that are VERY insane! We are finishing up the engine today and it should be on the dyno tonight and tested tomorrow. We plan on doing some extensive testing with this engine to scrounge every bit of power it possibly has out of it. I plan on doing some carb and velocity stack swaps, venturi swaps and we are even going to do some DTM testing with it Vs Chris' modified corvair fan arrangement both for power as well as running temp comparisons.

This is actually the least developed engine that we will be building Chris as it is the "Regular Season engine". It is still a very nasty animal that will make gobs of power, but since it's a regular season engine it also has to be much more longevity filled and therfore not as many risks can be taken with its tolerances.

The "Runoffs engine" is a different story. It only has to live for two hours for one weekend of racing so it will have every trick known to man and even crazier HAM heads.

With Chris' excellent driving skills and a pair of RAT engines with Len doing things to the heads that have never been done before to this level it is our goal to get a 914 on the podium at the runoffs and thats something that hasn't happened in about 20 years!

If anyone wants to come out to Atlanta this weekend send me an email to boss@aircooledtechnology.com and I'll tell you where we are going to be so we can meet.

Looks like you'll be havin fun this weekend if you need any special stacks this week let me know and I'll see what I can do . Paul

Yep, we may need some "Stacks" made up.... Definately I will need a huge variety of them for the Run Offs engines that we'll be doing over the summer.

OK then just fax me the sizes and I'll see what I can pull off.Ya gotta love racin

Jake, Chris

We want updates over the weekend, quailfing times, etc. And you MUST post the in car camera of the race!!!

Has Chris ever run Road Atlanta before?

We will all be watching.

URY, you need a RAT motor in your gokart....

QUOTE (Aaron Cox @ Mar 23 2005, 07:48 AM)

URY, you need a RAT motor in your gokart....

shhhhhh, i'm working on it.

Yeah,

I kept giving Chris a wake call every hour or so, thought it might help. Nice adrenal rush when the phone rings and you are just about ready to nod off behind the wheel, But with Pete along, I doubt any sleeping behind the wheel was going on. When you meet Pete you'll understand, good thing he's talented. Please lets see some in car camera shots of the race. And when we get to Loudon make sure you have the camera on so I can see how much my chassis rolls or does'nt.

Erik Madsen

Yep, met Pete and Chris in the dark... I was working around 1:30 when I heard a truck- ended up it was Chris and Pete entering the realm of Aircooled Heaven...

Chris has never ran at Road Atlanta so I am sure this will be interesting to see how he does with new power at a track he has never experienced before. He plans on practicing on Friday with the old engine in the car now to atleast have something that he is used to with the many changes he made to the car in the off season....

I will take my wireless laptop to the track all 3 days to keep you guys up to date... The track should have a decent signal.... I could upload live pics if someone would post them for me. Pics email OK through the wireless set up but posting them to a server would probably take a while... any volunteers??

BTW- URY is gonna have a real beast of an engine for his ride if it doesn't blow apart before he gets it. (long and interesting inside story)

I'll post 'em if you send 'em.

Will do!

I also plan on getting some video of Chris on the track so we have some more spice for the MassIVe videos upcoming... Chris also has in car video that will be sweet as well for our future "plans"

Sean, I'll email you pics from the track.....

I've been waiting for this. Jake openly involved , at the track, with a real racing effort. I think you guy's are going to send some boys to school! This should be good no matter what the outcome.


914's rule!

We need to get a Blogger at the track to keep us all up to date. Someone that can report on everything. Like Chris Economacie.

keep Chris away from sharp objects or have a bunch of band-aids around

QUOTE (Mueller @ Mar 23 2005, 10:03 AM)

keep Chris away from sharp objects or have a bunch of band-aids around

That's right. Will he be driving one-handed?

I stayed away from Race engines for a very long time because they just don't pay the bills at all... The time that it takes to build and design an engine like this could be spent to satisfy 3-4 street customers.

With the shop and business in general growing to the point that I wanted I decided that I could dedicate some of my extra time not needed to further the business every day to a race engine program..

So I found a few good drivers that believe in our theory and way of doing things and have been working with them. In F Production I have sponsored Chris (because he is a hell of a guy and an excellent driver). I also have two other engines running in FP, neither of which I sponsor as heavily as Chris. One of those doesn't run national so he is more of a guinea pig that gets results more than anything else.

In EP Kevin Groot will be MassIVe powered later in 2005 campaigning our 2 liter engine in a heavily competitive class- That engine HAS to make 210HP legally to stand a chance! He will be running my DTM cooling system with full data logging to monitor things.

I also have a driver running a 2739cc MassIVe Super Hero in SCCA Pro Rally in a 912E. He has a car that is set up amazingly and it will really get us some good data from large race engines with modern advancements. He is slated to run my Billet heads in 2006! This car runs a DTM and will have data logging capabilities to further prove the DTM design.

I also found a good team to run our engine in a Class 10 Off-Road car. This class is pretty much ruled by watercooled engines, but we feel that the little 2 liter DTM cooled beast will do very well. That engine is being finished this week.

Randal Barrick will be running an engine based on a custom kit of ours in Auto X this season, and next year we have things in the works that will REALLY give him some power- Billet equipped!


I have plenty of race projects going on now- It is the best way to prove that we can build powerful engines that last, but like I said it doesn't pay the bills so it has taken me more than a few years to build things up to the point that I can dedicate most of my wrench time to these projects. Brent has the assembly of all street engines as his soul responsibility and now that we have over 220 combinations to choose from there is literally one for every street application..... The design time on street engines just isn't needed as much anymore, but we will continue to apply advancements to that side of the engine shop as well, of course those will be proven in the race applications as well as the "Test" engines that will always be a part of "Aircooled Technology"

And That is why you GOTTA LOVE RACING there aint no money in it for sure just the thrill .and maybe some hot chicks at the track lol

As the old saying goes the BS stops when the green flag drops.


Good Luck!

QUOTE (Jake Raby @ Mar 23 2005, 07:25 AM)

... it is our goal to get a 914 on the podium at the runoffs and thats something that hasn't happened in about 20 years!

Now, that would be truly awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in action!!

(Damn, gotta find a way to watch Speed Channel during the Runoffs, now!)

--DD

Heh Jake anything I can make you for your racing R&D is on me .Just hope it aint to big shipping will kill me LOL.Have a great weekend

Spunone, I'll give you my Fed Ex #!

We are finishing Chris' engine as we speak... Looking good! If he is enough of a night owl we might fire it up tonight..

Give him some coffee. ! He'll be awake. And if Brent W gets 210 and it lives, I might be a customer and sell the six. but I'll have to see it to believe it. Not saying you can't Jake, Cuse I think you can (kind of like the little engine that could). But, just want to see it last. My concern and why I built the six. Hmm 210 and 1860 is the weight?? that should lead the class in HP. Even the best miatas don't have that hp to weight ratio and they are the HP class of the EP field. Thanks for your interest in racing and your right, it does'nt pay the bills, you should try Motorcycles, those guys don't normally have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of. But whos counting.

Hey Chris, it's snowing, hope you showed Mary how to operate the snowblower.

Erik Madsen EP 914-6

Yeah... It'll last...

The ONLY thing that we have any issues with is rod bearings for the 2 liter stock journal.. BUT I have found a Mfr. that is willing to make us some VERY nice 2 liter rod bearings...
Much better than the old Bimetal factory stuff that limits longevity.

With better processes and much better parts than we have ever had before for the TIV I think we can see plenty of longevity... But heck you have to remember that you can tear down and refresh a TIV in one day if you try hard enough.... Simplicity really pays.

someone had to say it ...
Andy

Couldn't find anything on SPEED Channel for SCCA other than Sebring (Mar. 27). Anyone know if and when the Road Atlanta races will be aired?

No Speed coverage for SCCA Nationals except the Runoffs, and they delay coverage for up to 2 months for that.
You'll have to settle for some in-car clips from me.
Chris Foley

QUOTE (Jake Raby @ Mar 23 2005, 07:19 PM)

You'll have to settle for some in-car clips from me. Chris Foley

Even better! Don't have to listen to dumb-ass commentators stating the obvious!

QUOTE (Special_K @ Mar 23 2005, 07:23 PM)

QUOTE (Jake Raby @ Mar 23 2005, 07:19 PM) You'll have to settle for some in-car clips from me. Chris Foley Even better! Don't have to listen to dumb-ass commentators stating the obvious!

Ya! all 914 All of the time!

Hell we have that already!

Ok... Going to crash a bit early tonight.... Have a stressful yet fun day ahead tomorrow as the Tangerine/ RAT powerplant screams to infinity on the dyno.....

Damn those MassIVe logos look good on Chris' car........

Jake,


Yeah, I always thought the bi-metal stuff was not up to racing, even coated the bearing just did not seem up the the forces involved. and technology HAS come a long way since the mid 80's when SCCA was filled with our 914's. Especially in the area of valve springs and materials for bearings and pushrods. Do you like the new bee hive stuff?


Erik

Len and I have worked with two different valvetrain manufacturers and have created an engineered hi rev kit that kicks absolute ass. We have one of these for stainless 7mm valves and another for 6mm Titanium valves. None of these parts are off of any shelf and quite a bit of it comes from IRL parts that are modified from the mfr. The valvetrain parts are what has limited our power because we could not launch valves hard enough to really make power at super RPM because the valves and etc could not take it for long periods of time.....

With these new components and materials with DLC coating it will really increase our capabilities..

FUI- when you do the math on a Titanium based valvetrain Vs. stainless the cost is 16 TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE! The Titanium has 1/4 the lifespan and cost 4 TIMES MORE. We hope that the DLC will increase the lifespand by another 15-25% like it has with NASCAR engines..

Jake,

I am having excellent luck with TiO2 or titanium oxide coating as well as Titanium carbon nitriding, and then there is always Titanium nitriding which everyone puts on tools these days. Most of our motorcycles use TiO2 on the entire valves for wear and durability.

Erik

Some of those caotings can't take heavy impacts due to being so hard that they are brittle...

I have found very few coatings that actually work on these engines, BUT the ones that do, really do and are worth their weight in Diamonds to longevity..

I will be at Road A this weekend racing as well. However I will not be in a 914. It does have torsion bars in the front and is painted L21E. I wish I never sold my EP 914 now that it is in F prod. See y'all up there. I will stop by and say Hey.

Blake Meredith
71 914 2.5L six
85 CRX Gprod

Chris and Pete, glad to hear you guy's made it. Was a little concerned about the tow rig. Jake I'm sure you and Chris will get Tangerine Racing where it deserves to be. Chris good luck at the track, we are all rooting for you .Can't wait to see the in car cam shots. Chris don't worry it snowed about 5" but it was melting by early morning, if Mary got out of the driveway by the time she got home it shouldn't have been to bad to get back in. Good luck!!!!

we will be there staurday after our Lacrosse game, can't wait to see a real 914 race team!!

We have been fighting quite a few issues getting Chris' engine mated to the dyno, mostly some oil system challenges..... We have overcame them now and it should be fired up bright and early in the morning...

Chris has decided to skip practice tomorrow so we can get more dyno time on the new engine and try some different carbs, exhaust and mufflers trying to squeeze everything out of that we can in one day...

The rest of the plan is to qualify as early as possible on Saturday come back and swap engine at the shop that night and get ready for the race on Sunday... Atleast if some snags are hit we'll have time to work them out because the race is in the afternoon..

Should be interesting........ Looking forward to meeting you guys..

If it doesn't rain I'll drive the 914 and you guys can see the first 914 DTM in person..... Monday Chris is installing a totally Bitchin roll cage in my car!

Jake and Chris: All I can say is some people have all the fun. Rock and Roll guys!!!

It looks like we will miss the test day Friday.
There is so much to do still to get the new engine hooked up on the dyno. Pete and I have worked very long hours (10am - midnight) for two days already.
We've had car prep tasks, graphics work, final engine assembly, dyno hookups, etc. to keep us busy. There were a bunch of surprises along the way, but nothing we couldn't overcome with Jake's facilities at our disposal.
Not to mention the work we haven't even started on Jake's 914. The interior is Line-Xed just to make the cage install challenging. I want to work on his suspension on my portable alignment platform. Something is f-ed up and the rear is jacked up because the tires don't fit under the fenders right now.
It looks like the weather will be very wet Saturday and Sunday just to keep it challenging. I can't say yet whether the new engine will be in the car or not for the race.
We just stopped for a quick dinner before going back to the dyno room to hook up the carbs and wiring. With a little luck it will be running by lunchtime Friday.

Hey William,
I haven't forgotten about your parts order from the Type 4 store. I gave the list to Jake and they started picking things out already. I might get a chance to listen to your phone message before I go to bed tonight, after midnight.

We just got a weather update and it looks like there will be some dry track time Saturday. I spent several mornings before we left CT running on my treadmill watching in-car race videos at RA sent to me from a friend who lives down here. I have a good sense of what the track will be like but it's nothing like the real thing.
Well, back to the dyno room...

Yep... The weather is gonna suck...

I hate rain.

When you hit the dip at the bottom of turn 12 you should be at WOT and when you go into turn 1 you should be able to almost take it flat out.

You need to hook up with Blake as RA is his home track and he has run the track many times in a teener, set up sorta like yours.

Jake, Chris, Pete and all others,


Stop emailing , Back to work Beotches.
More workie less typee. Good luck guys.

Don't forget the stupid shit, air in the tires, torque the wheels, and don't forget the friggin gas Chris.


Erik

Chris is installing all of his "Chris only" stuff on the engine now... My part is over except being a dyno operator and tuning bitch.. I'm busy doing payroll and all the boss bullshit tonight so I won't have to do it tomorrow.... That way I can tune all day long.

Jake, Chris
We need our moring update, please

Paul

I hope you guys kick %^& this weekend.

GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!!!1

QUOTE (sjhowitson @ Mar 25 2005, 10:33 AM)

I hope you guys kick %^& this weekend. GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!!!1

OK then, here is Jake at tech inspection this morning.