Formula Ford - Page 6 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #76 04-01-2011, 05:26 PM

heh! It is just another way to try to recapture some of that feeling of youth.

I never could waste money like this when the kids were growing up and I don't know how much longer I can justify it now.

As Hemmingway said "if it feels good it must be moral"!

So I guess I do it because it is so moral.

SwampYankee · #77 04-01-2011, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Why you interested in sponsoring it?

Hey, does sending you a couple stickers constitute "sponsoring"?

layback40 · #78 04-01-2011, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

heh! It is just another way to try to recapture some of that feeling of youth.

I never could waste money like this when the kids were growing up and I don't know how much longer I can justify it now.

As Hemmingway said "if it feels good it must be moral"!

So I guess I do it because it is so moral.

I thought the saying was "everything fun is either illegal, immoral or fattening"

t walgamuth · #79 04-01-2011, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

Hey, does sending you a couple stickers constitute "sponsoring"?

What do the stickers say?

t walgamuth · #80 04-17-2011, 04:57 PM

So today jimmy (my co-driver) and I took the ff over to Grissom, the cold war AFB and ran our first autocross of the season. We were the slowest of three FF's that showed up. Two of the fellows shared a tip top nationally competitive car (both of them finished in the top twelve in the nation last year in C mod). The second car was driven by the fellow who took top PAX time for the season last year in the INdy region. He is new to C mod this year and was a bit faster than us.

We had a great time and the only part that fell off was not unexpected!

The oil leak seems to be cured.

Although it was 60 degrees or so and sunny there was about a 30 mph wind and it was enough to knock you off balance. I was staggering around at the start line (my work station) like a drunken sailor. (Can I still say that?)

t walgamuth · #81 04-17-2011, 10:59 PM

The car has tires which do not have a lot of raw grip. The engine has enough torque to bring out the tail at any time if the power is applied too abruptly. The steering is lightning quick but not quick enough to correct if you lose it too far.

you can induce power oversteer by breathing on the throttle. The tail sliding is not as readily detected in this car with the engine behind the driver and the driver more forward, as with a conventional rear drive car so I found myself sliding at times belatedly.

To apply the power carefully it is ridiculously easy to induce oversteer and just hold it there in a controlled slide. To catch the rear you have to move the steering wheel quickly in 1/8 turn segments and you may have to move it around three or four times in a second to keep the car on the path you desire.

While we were competing I did nothing to the car except vent air out of the tires.....starting at 18# front and rear and ending up at 13# rear and 15# front. The tires would warm enough to pick up pebbles but never got as sticky as a proper sticky tire designed for autocrossing. (I bought some inappropriately hard compound tires to start on so we would not ruin the rather pricey Hoosiers that are proper for this application).

Now I want to try it with the sway bars disconnected and see if I can generate a bit more mechanical grip.

What a gas. It is truely like a large kart with a transmission.

t walgamuth · #82 04-25-2011, 05:05 AM

Over the weekend I did odds and ends...
1. I changed the fuel filter. I discovered the one in the car had come apart inside and was not filtering at all.

Now I will need to look in the carb bowl to see how much junk is in there waiting to plug my jets and needle valves!
2. I rigged shoe laces to the ends of the seat belts so I can fasten them myself.
3. I centered the steering on the rack and removed a spacer so I will have a shorter turning radius than a semi.
4. I adapted a small resonator from my Miata to reduce my noise a bit. I was under the requirements at the first event but barely. Hopefullly this way I will not risk a DQ for it later. It seems to take the edge off the unmuffled sound coming off the header.
5. I decided which body panels to run in order to reduce weight. I am hopefully now near the limit for driver plus car. I am leaving off the side panels. This makes a total of about 20# I have reduced in weight to get it down where it needs to be. I plan to also get a lighter battery and save another 5 to 10#.

Next event is next sunday.

t walgamuth · #83 05-08-2011, 10:10 AM

So this week I had the FF weighed. It is about 944 wo me. It needs to get down to less than 900 or I have to lose some weight to be competitive.

First order of business is to try to find some lighter wheels. Mine are heavier than the little 240d wheels at 12#, so we will have to do a lot better than that. Any body got any light wheels that fit a FF or triumph spitfire? They need to be 13 x 5.5 and weigh 6 to 8#. Lug pattern is 4 x 100mm I beilieve.

Here are some things I can to to lose weight on the car:
1. Light calipers, about 8 to 10#...cost about a thousand new.
2. Light rotors, about the same savings.....cost about a grand.
3. Light starter....save ? minimum cost about $300.
4. Aluminum head....save about 17#...cost about $2000.
5. I can get some new wheels at about 8# for ONLY 225 ea plus shipping.

Notice how about everything costs a grand or more?

The wheels are looking like a bargain at less than a grand.

suginami · #84 05-08-2011, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

So this week I had the FF weighed. It is about 944 wo me. It needs to get down to less than 900 or I have to lose some weight to be competitive.

First order of business is to try to find some lighter wheels. Mine are heavier than the little 240d wheels at 12#, so we will have to do a lot better than that. Any body got any light wheels that fit a FF or triumph spitfire? They need to be 13 x 5.5 and weigh 6 to 8#. Lug pattern is 4 x 100mm I beilieve.

Here are some things I can to to lose weight on the car:
1. Light calipers, about 8 to 10#...cost about a thousand new.
2. Light rotors, about the same savings.....cost about a grand.
3. Light starter....save ? minimum cost about $300.
4. Aluminum head....save about 17#...cost about $2000.
5. I can get some new wheels at about 8# for ONLY 225 ea plus shipping.

Notice how about everything costs a grand or more?

The wheels are looking like a bargain at less than a grand.

Why don't you just keep the $1,000 in your pocket and drop the 44 lbs.

cscmc1 · #85 05-08-2011, 10:52 AM

Tom -- I don't think Spit wheels were 4x100. If you need the same pattern as Spits, check out this page:

http://www.triumphspitfire.com/wheels.html

If you need 4x100, there are scads of cars that use that pattern, but offset might be goofy, as they are almost all FWD, I think. Good luck!

t walgamuth · #86 05-08-2011, 11:29 AM

They must not be 4 x 100 that must be a miata wheel

The spitfire pattern is correct.

Thanks! that table gave me some ideas to chase down.

layback40 · #87 05-09-2011, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suginami

Why don't you just keep the $1,000 in your pocket and drop the 44 lbs.

Maybe my comment in the other thread was closer to the mark than I realized !!

13" wheels are very common, especially 100 X4 . I think nissan used them on some of their cars.

Chas H · #88 05-09-2011, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

They must not be 4 x 100 that must be a miata wheel

The spitfire pattern is correct.

Thanks! that table gave me some ideas to chase down.

Miata, and a bunch of other cars use 4 x 100mm. I doubt the Spit hubs are a metric size. When adding lightness, anything cheaper than $100/lb is a bargain.
After a quick check, it appears the bolt pattern is metric-4x 95.25mm.

t walgamuth · #89 05-09-2011, 11:52 AM

I think it is 4 x 3.75".

t walgamuth · #90 06-19-2011, 10:40 PM

Today at Connersville I had a breakthrough day in my FF.

Yesterday I took it down to INdy for an alignment by our local Godfather of the C mod ranks, who is an extremely skilled craftsman in metal. He has been racing and rebuilding FFords for over 20 years and knows them inside and out. He also is a very generous man and is willing to help novices like myself.

As we examined the car prior to doing the alignment we first weighed it on all corners. He put jigs on the car and checked for a twisted chassis (it does not appear to be). He did find my rr wheel sits out about 1/4" further than the left but we decided not to worry about that.

Much more important he discovered that my lr suspension was binding and when loaded would not move at all. several key components were bent and or cracked too.

After an hour or so of examining the situation we found that the inboard sping was fouling on the clutch bell crank lever and binding up under load.

We eventually decided (he actually) that if we substituted a shorter spring it would not foul on the clutch lever. Then we aligned it and set it so it would be level with 1.5" of clearance front and rear. (this also would tend to increase grip at the rear).

So today we ran at Connersville at a large asphalt parking lot alongside the (hopefully) future site of Carbon motors.

We had three mod cars show up with six drivers. Mark (our godfather of C mod) who finished third at nationals last year and at least one other time, and a co driver, Nick and a co driver. Nick finished in the top ten at nationals last year and has on occasion beaten Mark on a given day. I had my co-driver Jimmy.

Jimmy went out first in my car and made two runs. He had a massive push and couldn't get the car to turn. I dropped some air pressure in the front tires looking for some grip. Then when he got out I dialed in some more rear sway bar and removed the rear engine cover which weighs about 30# and went out. I had too much push too and coned. I had Jimmy dial in some more rear bar and went out again. Both these first two runs I had trouble shifting from first to second at the start line. My foot was getting caught in an inexplicable way on the brake pedal I think.

Jimmy went out for two more runs and improved.

I went out for my last two runs. The third run I decided $%&*# it and took off in second gear. My third run (though I did not know it at the time was good for second place). on my fourth run Nick went out right before me and knocked himself out beating my third run for second place. I then went out for my last run and even though I lost it three times and should have had a bad time missed nipping Nick by .06 seconds.

Heh!

Theses Formula fords are fun!

I did not get a trophy but never expected to get so close to Nick this year. With the rear suspension fixed the car is much more predictable. Neither Jimmy or I spun today.