Car modifications

Car Updates              

Last weekend (Nov 11-13) I went out to Summit Point to the new FormulaHaus where my car lives most of the time.  I told AJ that I wanted the opportunity to work on the car some in the off-season and to get grease under my nails.  I think he was pleased to have a driver who also wants to do some of the work and he definitely fulfilled my desire to get dirty.

Pretty much all season I struggled with the brakes.  I had what’s called a “long pedal” – a very long stroke of the brake pedal to reach maximum braking.  I also noted that even when I was at max braking I could never lock up the wheels.  AJ told me that the brakes were off of a VW Jetta and in the road car they benefit from a vacuum brake assist – no such assist in the race car.  He recommended some racing brakes and I decided to go with them.  With a shorter pedal I’ll be able to do my heel and toe down-shift more accurately, and with more braking power I’ll be able to brake later going into the turns – a definite advantage when you’re racing.  The new brakes are not a plug-and-play replacement.  We had to make several modifications to the suspension uprights to make them fit, make a few new parts to get them positioned correctly, and take a bit of stock off the inside of the road wheels so the new calipers wouldn’t rub.  Bobby did most of the real work – what I did was help to remove the old ones and then do lots of cleaning of the suspension parts to get the car ready to receive the new brakes.  While I was there Bobby got most of the templates made for the new brake parts and made the modifications to the uprights.  Apparently the old Jetta brakes also created some drag on the road wheels.  With the new brakes installed we get rid of that drag and that’s just like getting additional horsepower for the car.  We didn’t finish getting them installed while I was there – I can’t wait to try them out.

By the end of the season I was also experiencing some clutch issues, so we pulled the transmission and pulled out the clutch – sure enough – it was worn out.  So a new one is on order.  The old one was mechanical; the new one will be hydraulic.  So I got to do a lot more cleaning of the very dirty and greasy transmission and I put on the new master cylinder and routed the hydraulic tubing for the new clutch.  We’re really careful about routing the tubing.  It needs to get from the front of the car to the back going through the frame members, through the cockpit, and into the engine /transmission compartment.  It has to be secured at about 10 different places and routed so that it doesn’t chafe on anything.  There was quite a bit of trial and error but I did get it done before quitting time on Saturday.

When the new brakes are in and the new clutch is installed I’ll need to go back out and test everything.  We’ll also pour me a new seat.  I’ll report on that when it happens, but it’s a pretty interesting process.  Basically, you put a garbage bag (not really, but that’s what it looks like) in the seat shell, mix up a couple of chemicals and the whole thing starts to swell up.  Then I get in the car and let it swell up around me.  I stay in position for about 30 minutes while it hardens.  We peel the bag off and use a surform tool to shape the edges.  Then, AJ says we “upholster” the seat with gaffer’s tape.  It adds almost no weight and it should help to hold me more securely in position.

Another mod he wants to make is to put a very small Plexiglas spoiler /windshield just in front of the cockpit to try to route air up and over my head.  From watching the videos it was obvious that, particularly at the higher speeds (on straight-aways), my head was being buffeted around a lot by the wind.  A small spoiner should help me to be able to keep my head still when driving at high speeds and may actually improve the aerodynamics of the car as the air gets routed up and over the cockpit.

The only other changes we’re looking at are purely cosmetic.  There’s some minor body damage to be repaired with fiberglass and then he will do some paint touching up.  We may do some minor changes to the paint scheme as well.  It’ll still be recognizable but may be a little more swoopy.

Now I’m looking forward to the awards banquet in February.  It’ll be a chance to get together with this new group of friends, congratulate others on their accomplishments, and receive my trophy for winning the East Coast Championship.