Obligatory early-in-the-season update
During the last race weekend of 2007, I rolled my car. With the help of some great folks, I was able to get it fixed well enough to race the next day. I've spent a fair amount of time repairing the body as well as taking apart the entire top end of the engine to check things out and install a few needed parts. This year, my first race will be on Memorial Day at Grattan. Since Spec Neon is dead (except at Waterford Hills), I've made a few ITA-specific changes to the car. In total all of my changes are: 95 cam, underdriven accessory crank pulley, new water pump, new water pump inlet o-ring, new plugs, new plug wires, new timing belt, exhaust header, new o2 sensor, new brake compound, new head and head cover gaskets/seals, updated harness, and Hoosier R6 (14") tires. Without the guidance and support from Chris "Cat Killer" Childs, my father-in-law, Glenn and wife Gina, I would have never gotten the car running. Let's see how this car fares at Grattan with some real tires on it now...
Posted May 14, 2008, 06:40 PM ET
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Prepping for Grattan (Race 2)
In preparation for my first race at Grattan, I've replaced the calipers in all 4 corners of the race car as well as brand new pads up front. (The rears don't see much use.) Since I had some cooling problems during the first race, I replaced the radiator and radiator cap. I have a spare thermostat in case I need it, too. I'll get 4 new tires mounted for the car allowing 2 spare, 2 new on the front and move the previous front tires to the rear. I managed to replace the missing vinyl on the front end of the car, too.
Posted May 21, 2007, 03:01 PM ET
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WHRRI 2007 Race 1 complete
I picked up right where last season ended. I dropped a few tenths off of my best time last year, but I was hoping for even better improvements. There's a lot that my car needs, but I know there's a second to be lost by driving better. I'd rather drive better with less horsepower and handling... then add the power rather than learn to rely on it.
However, if anyone would like to donate a prepped IT motor, limited slip and new transmission, I would gladly accept it and plaster you name ALL OVER my car.
Posted May 07, 2007, 08:43 PM ET
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First Race of 2007 Season Next Weekend
The car isn't completely put together yet. The frontend is at Maaco for a budget paint job, but should be ready on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'll swap out the front calipers and pads and do a shakedown. The new rollcage looks great... I hope I never have to test how well it works.
Posted Apr 30, 2007, 05:19 PM ET
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Getting Into Race Mode
I removed the damaged body parts from the car and straightened out the front cross member. The results were better than I expected. Though I noticed that a small drip is coming from the hose on the power steering pump, everything else appears to be in good order. Now that the weather is warmer, I expect to make solid progress over the next month.
Posted Mar 11, 2007, 11:05 PM ET
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End of Season 1 - Race 6
I improved on my times a lot, but wrecked the car on Race 2 (Sunday). I got it reasonably sorted out and returned for the feature race, getting my best time of the season.
Posted Nov 16, 2006, 05:00 AM ET
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Race 5 complete.
During race weekend four we had a series of 95+ degree days. I decided that this would be my only chance to take a full practice day and combine it with some extra track time during a "high performance driving education" event. In total, I was on the track for 3 races, a qualifying session, 3 practice sessions, and 4 h.p.d.e. sessions. Some of the h.p.d.e. sessions were driven by Chris Childs and I rode shotgun to see his suggested line. I learned a ton.
Last weekend (race 5), I put the new line to the test and it turned out well. I'm still underpowered, but the new line helped make up the difference. Every time on the track we had slick conditions with a constant light rain. It wasn't wet enough to use the rain tires, but I did loosen the rebound on the suspension all of the way. I have some great video footage of the last race of the weekend.
Next: open up the exhaust and get a few more horsepower.
Posted Aug 28, 2006, 06:34 PM ET
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Into the wall, car setup changed
During Race 2, I ended up in the wall going about 30 mph. I went out on my dry tires, but it started to pour as the green flag dropped. I spun once in the fastest corner on the track and crunched my front-right fender. I was able to keep going, but I spun 2 more times in the swamp turn. The second of these spins landed me in the swamp where I stayed until the wrecker pulled me out.
Race 3 was tough. The car pushed a lot and my line was off. For the last race of the weekend, Chris added a couple more degrees of camber to the front end and I found myself bouncing off of curbs. I have to re-learn how to drive the car now that it actually turns!
The neon is in the capable hands of Chris at Sky-Tek. It's getting new rear lateral links as well as a full alignment. I'll pick it up this weekend.
Posted Jul 18, 2006, 06:54 PM ET
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Driver's School, Race 1, prep for Race 2
During driver's school, I managed to pull the rear sway bar mount bushing right out. I also blew up the power steering pump. Both of those were reparied for race 1. However, I noticed that my seat moved a good bit laterally under high load. Greg Krom told me about Riv-Nuts, a rivet-like fastener that's threaded in the center. It lets you add a nut to any "blind" location. A few Riv-Nuts and Bolts and I'm all good. The brakes are due to be bled and I need to give it a good shake down, but I'm ready for race 2 at Waterford Hills.
Posted Jun 01, 2006, 06:36 PM ET
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Car up and running. Driver's School.
Well, the neon is up and running. I drove it to Sky-Tek in Rochester Hills a few weeks ago and they took care of a few issues (mounting the window net, extracting a broken bolt, alignment, etc.). They found that the frame is a little tweaked and weren't able to get the perfect amount of castor in the front.
I got it back and drove it to the in-class day of driver's school last weekend so it could get tech-ed. It passed with flying colors and I'll be driving the piss out of it during the on-track sessions next weekend.
Posted Apr 26, 2006, 04:56 PM ET
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Even closer...
Everything is assembled on the car... minus the sway bars. The regular maintenance stuff (brake bleeding, oil change, trans fluid, coolant, etc.) should take all of 30 minutes this weekend. Discount Tire mounted the rain tires, next week I'll get the shaved tires mounted. The final step is to get a plate on the car and drive it to SkyTek to be set up by the pros there.
Posted Mar 29, 2006, 03:56 AM ET
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So close...
The car is assembled, minus front hubs. The final bit of aluminum tube for the cold air intake arrived yesterday. I'll trim and install that tonight. I'll be getting the bearing pressed in and tires mounted early next week. After that, I'll flush the fluids, bleed the brakes, re-torque everything and prep it for SkyTek to finalize. Once SkyTek is done, I just have to register for driver's school.
Posted Mar 24, 2006, 10:57 PM ET
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Brake and Suspension Assembly Complete...
... as long as you're not counting sway bars. Today went more smoothly than any other I can recall. The struts, control arms, steering knuckle and brakes went in without a hitch. I think I spent more time lubing the caliper sliders and slathering anti-seize than assembling the parts! I still have to either confirm that the front hubs and bearings are ACR or get my spares pressed together and install them. Technically, the race car is once again roll-able. Next on the list is a seat back brace and ordering tires!
Posted Mar 12, 2006, 08:27 PM ET
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Seat, Harness, Intake... done.
M&M Welding in Redford took care of lowering my seat bracket by a full inch and a half. After a little adjustment with a die grinder and hammer, the bracket is installed... as is the seat. The adjustment actually allows me to fit into the car!
With the seat in place, installing the harness (seat belts) was a matter of using the existing bolt locations for the seat and factory belt as well as looping the shoulder straps around the roll cage.
Finally, I found a great supplier (http://stores.channeladvisor.com/verociousmotorsports/) for fair-priced 3-ply silicone hose</a> which allowed me to install the seriously hacked-up cold air intake I bought from a swindler on neons.org. I must say that this set up will allow me to adjust the length of the intake for wet track days.
Chris (from Sky Tek) and a very good friend of mine (damn good bass player and otherwise sexy, sexy man) has hooked me up with a great deal on ACR steering knuckles, bearings, brake pads, and a ton of other parts that had been keeping me from finishing the car! He's the man! With those parts in hand the front suspension should be 90% done this weekend.
Posted Mar 05, 2006, 03:38 AM ET
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Bolt still stuck... waiting...
The rear sway bar bolt has consumed 2 more titanium drill bits. It laughs at broken bolt extractor bits. I swear this thing is a grade 10 bolt!
In other news, all of the front suspension has been disassembled and is waiting for parts to arrive. I hope to have the complete front suspension and brakes done next weekend.
Posted Feb 26, 2006, 08:57 PM ET
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Front Suspension Dis-assembled
I finally got the rest of the front suspension off tonight. The last stuck bolt (front left lower control arm) took 2.5 hours of melting bushings and die-grinding to remove. Once my new hardware arrives from the dealer, I'll start re-assembling.
Posted Feb 26, 2006, 01:37 AM ET
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