Wrecked the car
Re: Wrecked the car
It's not serious in the least, just sad. Apart from the fascia I have a long scratch down the length of the passenger door, roughed up rocker panel, broken wheel liners on both sides. The belly pan is still on but broken / missing some pieces of plastic at the front. I'm taking this as a sign that the time has come to use the fog light openings for brake ducts. My reasons for leaving the front fascia stock have left so .... I'm making plans for changing it up a bit. I may even try to fit wider tires on the front and pull the front fenders. We'll see where I go from here. I'll most likely pass my car off to a shop called the Race Factory and let them run with it.
Les
Les
Re: Wrecked the car
Best of luck, let us know how it turns out. I have thought about brake ducts on mine for a while too, mostly because I am cheap and the passenger fog light is broken
Re: Wrecked the car
The belly pan and wheel well liners (towards the front) have to be replaced. My idea is use my front fascia, build a splitter/undertray to replace the broken stock parts. Open some rectangles in the bumper ala Hustler for better radiator cooling, perhaps some dive planes, brake ducts. May turn out to be cheaper than finding the stock parts! Yeah right. Today I made a closer careful inspection. The passenger front wheel was definitely wedged against the inner fender. Melted rubber all up inside. Which also explains why I saw no smoke. My camera was mounted on the drivers side rear window.
Les
Les
Re: Wrecked the car
Smart man, I hope to be in that position some day as well
Re: Wrecked the car
I think I have the front too low and the tires interfered with the top bulges of the fenders. It wasn't a problem until the race rubber went on because: race rubber allows more G-forces under braking and the race tires are a little taller than the streets. I have 3 options now, hammer the bulges, raise the front, or both.
Les
Les
Re: Wrecked the car
I have the ride heights, as usual, I measure and record just about everything. I take my measurements on the rocker at the lowest point just behind the wheels. DF 4 3/4" DR 5 1/2" PF 4 1/2" PR 5" (without driver). The cross weight was 50/50 with driver before lifting the rear of the car. I had obvious interference on the drivers rear so I raised it. I'm guessing I also had some on the front but didn't notice. I have the video but it's embarrassing. My normal procedure is to spend 2 laps warming up the tires and brakes. Then I test the grip of the track. This particular day I decided the grip was poor. So I was careful and braking early. On the corner that bit me, I managed to get a great drive off the previous corner, hit the brakes where I believed I had lots of room and just didn't have the grip I expected. Not even close. Looking at the video, no smoke I can see. Looking at the fender wells, the passenger front reached an interference fit. Lots of molten rubber. Drivers front looks more or less normal. If you need to see it, I'll post it. It's funny what you do when things go wrong. Moving forward, with the fascia fugged up, I have no puritan excuses. Let the cutting and improvements begin!
Les
Les
Re: Wrecked the car
One of the fears of these cars, as I have stated before, is driving the front end into the ground, thus my interest in the new suspension kits. I got to run on a banked track in St Louis and the load on the front right was tremendous to the point of rubbing. And, that kind of makes turning a problem. Glad you are ok Les. A tire barrier is certainly better than a wall or guard rail...
Re: Wrecked the car
Thanks for the good wishes and concern for my health. What's really driving me crazy is I WANTED TO GET STARTED FIXING THE CAR LAST WEEK, and the world is on vacation for the holidays. I've had the car in the air a few times now and ALL the damage is cosmetic. I raised the ride height of the car myself, easy peasy with the G/C system. Next is a general refresh of wear items and some Aero upgrades and brake ducts. Next year I want to get back on top of the competition.
Les
Les
Re: Wrecked the car
The shop I wanted to use is busy. I got pissed off from waiting and I'm fixing what needs fixing myself. I got off my @ss and have the car apart. The heat exchanger that was in the car is an oval. Replaced it with a spare I had in the closet. Lots of slightly bent metal parts that some large channel locks straightened. The belly pan is toast. Perhaps I'll patch it if I can't find a replacement. I purchased the inner fender liners but guess what I forgot all about. The N/A is different from the SRT-6 liner on the passenger side. So I'm going to cut and past the remains of mine with parts of the new N/A liner. I.E. a real hack job. I'll be using a heat gun to try and reform the front fascia where it was turned inside out. I removed the remains of the fog lights. I'm thinking the best course of action is to plasti-dip the fascia once i have it straight-ish. I don't know if it's been said before so I'll say it now. What an easy car to work on. The hardest thing I did all day was get the car on jack stands. No pictures taken yet. BTW. it's 77º here so suffer suckers!
Les
Les
Re: Wrecked the car
Supercooler is in and the circuit bled. Front fascia is repaired enough to stay in one piece. The driver side inner liner/splash shield fit perfectly. After pulling the remains of the passenger side part and comparing it to what I purchased, heck, a little trimming with some tin snips and …. perfect fit. Tomorrow I'll play with the ride height and rig the belly pan to stay put until I can get a new one. No pictures were taken of the process but eventually some will get snapped
Les
Les
Les
Les