SOLD-GT-1/GTA/Vintage Tube Frame Race Car For Sale In Michigan

Howe Center Section/Port City Racing Chassis

Former ASA Pro Series Racing Car Driven By Joe Nott

SCCA Log Book Identity # 06-625

Midwest Council Of Sports Car Clubs Log Book

Most Recently Competed In SVRA Events At Indy, & Road America

Ford Thunderbird Five Star Fiberglass Body

Strut Front End Front Steer Set Up

Howe TA2 Three Piece Splined Front Sway Bar Set Up

New Schroder Sway Bar

New Kirkey (PN # 71700) Full Containment Road Race Seat & Cover

New Simpson Five Point Belts (Expire XX/XX) & Window Net

Safety Systems Five Pound On Board Fire Bottle With Remote Button

Sweet Rack And Pinion Steering

Peterson Dry Sump Tank With Steel Braided Lines

Ohlin Canister Coil Over Shocks With Proper Canister Mounts

Newer Fuel Safe 15 Gallon Fuel Cell

Autometer Gauges & Memory Tach

C&R Aluminum Radiator With Built In Oil Cooler

Allstar Performance Brake Bias Gauges

Front/Rear Brake Bias Adjuster

Road Racing Brake Lights

Dual MSD 6AN Ignition Boxes

New Allstar Performance Roll Bar Mounted Drink Bottle

Tilton Pedals & Remote Mount Master Cylinders

UB Machine Upper Control Arms

Winters Quick Change Rear Axle/Detroit Locker Assembly & New Gears

Three Link Rear Suspension & Watts Linkage Set Up

Two Into One /Exhaust/Muffer System

Steel Branded Fuel Line With Filter And Regulator

Four (4) Piston Wilwood Calipers At Each Corner

Allstar Performace Forced Air Brake Cooling Fans @ For All Four Wheels

Allstar Performance Helmet Cooling Fan

Longacre Racing Rear View Mirror

Remote Mount Wix Oil Filter

Wired In Permanent Mylaps Sports Timing Transponder # 08368

Drive Shaft And Yoke

This is a great starting package for someone wanting an inexpensive, tube frame race car, for SCCA, or vintage sanctioned events.  All parts are all oval track, stock car based, and very easy to come by, with reasonable prices for both new, or used.  Just add a motor and transmission of your choice, to be ready to go racing.

Complete Roller Pricing Options (no engine, transmission, or battery):

1.  With Ohlin Canister Coil Over Shocks:  $7,995.00

2.  Without Ohlin Coil Over Shocks:  $6,595.00

Includes Four (4) Extra (Used) Bassett Wheels

Located In The Grand Rapids, MI area

Phone/Text Gary:  616-366-3973

E Mail:  gearheadzmail@aol.com

Danger Signs We Found On Our Vintage Road Race Thunderbird

We brought this car into our shop, as kind of a side job, work on it when there is time, sort of project.  It is a former Howe/Port City ASA chassis, which like so many others, has been converted to road race configuration.  These cars are known for being well built, and safe, given the speeds and facilities that they ran on.  It had last been run at two of the very best know race tracks in the U.S.  The sanctioning body for the events is very well established, in vintage racing.  The car had also been raced with a well know national road race group, in non-vintage, "GT" type car configuration.  And that's where the story starts to get scary.  Real scary.

There were a few safety related concerns, which we are working to correct, as time allows.  For starters, the car is equipped with an electrical fuel pump, as are so many road race cars.  The master kill switch was located in the rearward, passenger side corner of the car.  It was no where within reach of the the previous driver, or any driver, unless he has five foot long arms.  If you have ever been in a real bad wreck, you know seconds can seem like minutes, while you try to figure out just what to do next.  Corner workers do not always arrive, in a hurry.

Think about what could happen, if there was a broken fuel line, sparks, and that electric fuel pump is continuing to do it's job.  As a driver, you might be disoriented, and not able to kill the power to the pump, in the few seconds necessary.  All the switches can look the same, and you could even hit the wrong one.  By placing the master switch in direct reach of the driver, there is only one movement necessary, with one arm, in the vital moments, after a big one.  Why not mount the master kill switch, in very close proximity, to the fire bottle switch?  We relocated the previously installed kill switch, which was actually a really easy job.

You can see the new switch location, in the photo below.  Note the LED "power on" indicator light. We included an easy to read, Allstar Performance, "On/Off" decal ( ALL99045).  Also added were some Allstar Performance red terminal covers (ALL76152).  The "shelf" was bent up from sheet steel, and welded in place.  The Sherwin Williams grey spray paint, matches perfect, and looks great.  Anyone can know at a glance, if the car is hot, or hot so not.  Notice those nice welds, from Howe Racing Enterprises.  These cars have good bones.  Maybe it will take a very bad vintage crash, for the vintage organizers to wake up, put down the tea, and  hot buttered croissants, and get serious about car inspections.  There are some pretty quick cars that run vintage, and not all the drivers have had a lot of experience racing.  With enough $$, you can buy yourself something that was a handful, for even Mark, or Parnelli, back in the day.  We are not sure what more to say about this, but of course, there is more.

The next subject is bolt on ballast, which in this case, gave us nightmares.  Same car, same tech inspection crews, same organization, big name tracks, and the potential for horrible results, in a roll over shunt.  Loose ballast flying through your windshield can be a very serious problem, trust on this.  Notice the size of the weight.  Over 100 lbs., for sure. The number "48" is from the cars ASA racing days, so it's hard to say when the install work was done.  Two half inch bolts, were all that was holding this massive chunk of weight, to the car.  The holes are easy to see, in the two photos.  The weight was actually bolted to an 1/8" strip of steel, that runs down the frame rail, put there to hold the fiberglass body door panel, in place.  You can literally lean on it with your big tow, and get it to flex.

We have had some surprising experiences, on the track, and off track, with race organizers, as well.  Once our cars clutch caught on fire, as we sat helpless, waving our arms, at the (regional race) corner workers.  Smoke was literally pouring out from under the front wheel wells, and no one even came over to check it out, despite frantic window waving.

Another time, we watched in amusement, as our car received it's annual tech inspection, very much outside, on a Friday night, and in the dark.  Flashlight, and all.  Seems crazy.  Safety starts with the driver, and car owner.  Don't count on others, even though you should be able to.  Bad things  can happen fast on a race track, don't make things worse.

www.gearheadzproducts.com

ARP Dampner Bolt For The LS-1 ASA Motor

This is the ARP harmonic balancer bolt to use, when replacing the one on your LS-1 ASA race motor.  

ARP Balancer Bolt Kits Feature Heavy duty balancer bolts that are rated to 200,000 PSI. Choose from bolts that accept a traditional 12-point socket or a 1/2" square drive, eliminating the need for a socket. Sold complete with large diameter, 1/4" thick washer.

http://www.gearheadzproducts.com

Some Basic Chassis Repair Work On Our Road Race Thunderbird

When the T Bird arrived in our shop, we knew she was in need of a little special attention.  The wounded chiicken was fresth from a "slide and bounce", off one of the Road America guard rails, which drove the right rear tire into the frame.  This former ASA race car is well built, but there was no choice except to replace the section of damaged frame that had been bent.  In the photo below, you can see where we took a Sazall, and a set of torches, to remove the bent  piece of 2" x 3" mild steel.  There are also a couple of welds that cracked in the crash, and we will deal with them at the tail end of the process.  Right now, our job is to set about fabricated a direct replacement frame unit, based on some simple measurements that were taken in the shop.  The right side mounted remote oil tank had to be removed, for the work to start, and is not present in the photos. 

 Old Frame Section Removed From The Right Hand Side

 

Old Frame Section On The Floor After Being Cut Out.

 

End View Of The New Frame Section Tack Welded Together

 

Side View Of The New Frame Section With Watts Linkage Mounting Holes

 

 http://www.gearheadzproducts.com

A Thunderbird Road Race GTA Car Joins Our Blog

Like many of you, we are always scouting E Bay, and Racing Junk, looking for that next exciting project.  Our gang has become big fans of former ASA cars, because there are a number of them floating around, they sure don't cost much, and make great road racers.   We have had a Baker Motor setting in our shop for a while, from the days of sportsman short track fender banging, and looking for a chassis to drop it into.  A couple months ago, a Johnny Benson car came up locally, for $4,000, but it had been sitting in "as raced" condition for many years.  Overall in good condition, but not yet converted over to left hand/right hand operation.  Then we discovered this Former Joe Nott V6 ASA race car, just a little bit further from home.  It had the switch done by Howe, but was in need of some work, due to a "smack job" with one of the guard rails, over at Road America.  Besides our Camaro  GT-2 car, we will start documenting the modifications, and upgrades, to this race machine.  Stay "tuned", for further developments.

http://www.gearheadzproducts.com



A New V8 Road Racing Series For 2016

Below is an overview of a new series, for those who run classes such as GT1, GT2, GTA, etc.  Look it over, and check the schedule, to see if there is a race at a track near you.  Tube frames, and small block V8 engines, are a great way to go racing on a budget.

Announcing the V8 Road Racing Series!

Continuing in 2016 there’s a program for those that want to compete using big American V8’s in road racing events.  This program builds upon the very successful V8 Stock Car series that targeted specific events to provide enhanced competition in the Big Bore classes, but V8RRS expands the concept even further.

 

To encourage participation by a maximum number of drivers, series events will be held at major tracks covering the eastern half of the country and most participants are within an 8-hour drive of at least three locations.  While running as many weekends as possible certainly improves one’s chance of doing well, it is entirely possible to contend for a championship by racing three weekends plus the season-ending Championship Event held at a relatively central location. 

 

V8RRS – Where America’s V8 Road Racers Come to Play!

 

The program details:

• Seven eligible classes – AS, GT1, GT2, GTA, GTSC, SPO, T1

• GTSC is a series-defined class for high hp stock cars while all other classes are per SCCA’s current General Competition Rules (GCR).

• Points will be awarded to series registrants in each class as follows:

1-25	2-21	3-18	4-17	5-16	6-15	7-14	8-13	9-12	10-11
11-10	12-9	13-8	14-7	15-6	16-5	17-4	18-3	19-2	20-1

• In addition, each driver receives a bonus point for every competitor s/he finishes ahead of up to a maximum of ten (10) bonus points.

• All weekends will be double race events.  The weekend format might vary but typically there will be a single qualifying session, a shorter “sprint” race of approximately 25 minutes, then a longer (50 miles) “feature” race to conclude our weekend.
• Series members will count their best five (5) race points finishes during the 24-race season, then add the results from both races in the season-ending event at VIR.
• Any ties will be broken by each driver’s finishing position in the last race of the year.
• The series will collect a separate V8RRS event fee of $100 that’s in addition to the weekend entry fee collected by the host organization.
• There is also the option of a season series registration fee of $150 that entitles each member to the following:

• A $50 discount on each V8RRS event fee
• Merchandise discounts from series sponsors

• Each V8RRS event fee includes:

• Identifying decals & patches
• Eligibility for earning series points
• Individual race awards
• Season-ending class awards & prizes
• As possible, at-track paddock coordination & socials
• Eligibility for a chance in the $100 Early-Bird Entry drawing
• Other benefits as the series grows

• ALL monies collected in excess of series expenses will be returned to the racers via season-ending awards!

 

For additional information visit our website: http://www.v8roadracingseries.com/

Following is the 2016 V8RRS schedule:

 

No.	Date	Track	Location	In Conjunction With:
1	Jan 15-17	Sebring	Sebring FL	Central Florida Region SCCA Majors
2	Feb 27-28	NOLA	Avondale LA	SOWDiv SCCA Majors
3	Mar 18-20	Road Atlanta	Braselton GA	Atlanta Region SCCA Majors
4	Apr tbd	tbd	tbd	tbd
5	May 7-8	Daytona	Daytona Beach FL	Central Florida Region SCCA Regional
6	May 20-22	NJMP	Millville NJ	Champ Truck (Fri-Sat event)
7	Jun 3-5 (T)	Mid-Ohio	Lexington OH	Ohio Valley Region SCCA Majors
8	Jul 8-10	PittRace	Wampum PA	Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
9	Jul 30-31	Road America	Elkhart Lake WI	Milwaukee Region SCCA
10	Aug 13-14	Charlotte	Concord NC	Central Carolinas Region SCCA Regional
11	Sep 17-18	Watkins Glen	Watkins Glen NY	Finger Lakes Region SCCA Regional
12	Oct 1-2	Summit Point	Summit Point WV	Washington DC Region SCCA Regional
*	Oct 15-16	VIR (Finale)	Alton VA	North Carolina Region SCCA Regional

 

 

(T) – indicates final dates still to be confirmed by track

 

Gear Headz Products GT-2 Camaro Race Car At Grattan Raceway

Scaling The Camaro SCCA GT-2 Road Race Car

When scaling any race car, there are a few simple but important steps to follow.  We use Longacre electronic scales, with each load cell marked for the the corner of the car it goes to. 

The first step is to level the scales.  We purchased an extendable bubble level from Menards, that works great for the job.  Each scale should be leveled, and then the four load cells checked against each other.  Without doing this, you will never get an accurate reading of your cars corner weights.  We have seen guys scales cars in the dirt at the track, on race day.  The shop floor is the best place to do this, and most floors are not all that level either. 

   

The car should be placed in gear so it will not roll.  In addition, we put some pieces of steel against the tires, to keep the race car firmly in place.  Tire pressures should be set as they are for race day.  Hoosier recomends 23 to 26 lbs. cold for our compound, so we have been using 24 pounds as our starting point.  After that, we add bags of salt to the drivers seat.  The salt bags are each weighed, to insure that we get the same weight as the driver will bring to the seat.  This makes it easier for your "hot shoe" to participate in the scaling process as well.  Before adding the salt, we set the corner heights to the rules, to get close to our starting point, the work to be done.

 

 

Our experience from the circle track days has been that adding a driver to the vehicle takes wedge (LR/RF) percentages from the static settings.  With the road race car, we prefer to have the LF/RF weights a close to equal as we can get.  If you are scaling a roundy roundy racer, make sure the sway bar is not preloaded, which will throw off your readings.  The bar should be fully backed off for scaling.  Due to our heavy driver, all the balast has been removed from our Howe Port City vehicle (former ASA racer).  You may need to add some, to bring the car up to minimum which in our case is 2830 lbs, for GT-2.

You will need to make corner corrections, to get the car where you want it.  With coil over shocks, this is really easy.  Make adjustments at all four corners.  For example if you need a little more LR/RF, then put a turn in the LR/RF, and take a turn out of the RR/LF.  We run Pro Shocks, with double adjustables on the front, and rebound adjustables on the rear.  Find someone to dyno your shocks, and make sure that there is no abnormalities in the curve, which can be seen in a computer print out from the dyno run.
Our car has gotten a little loose a couple time, in tight right hand turn situtations.  We went a little softer on the front springs, that what was in the car when we received it.  This is really the fun part of the whole thing, making small adjustments, and seeing how they affect the feel of the vehicle.

 

 

http://www.gearheadzproducts.com

 

A Look Under The Hood Of Our GT2 SCCA Road Race Camaro

This car is a GT-2 legal SCCA race car, that can also be entered  as a TA-2 car, in the professional Trans Am series.  Our Howe/Port City car is an ex-ASA perimeter chassis, circle track race car.  It has  an actual series LS1 motor, that runs factory ignition coils, 10.5 compression ratio, dry sump oil pan, 180 headers, and a GM factory ECU. The sealed engines that were supplied for the ASA series went from Chevrolet, to Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE), in Decatur, IN.  You will not find that they have much interest in them now days, but we have received good support from Schwanke Engines, in Springfield, MN.  They are doing a number of motors for the professional Trans Am Series (both LS-1, and LS-3), and offer packages that include everything from short blocks, up to complete, ready to race motors.  Visit them at:

 

  http://www.schwankeshortblocks.com/

 

Our own shop offers a lot of automotive related accessories, as well.  We are stocking more race related items every day, and have just finished redoing a nearby industrial building, for our mail order business.  We have a lot of used parts that are very useable, as well  If you are new to track days, or SCCA racing, we will be glad to answer any questions, and assist you however we can.  Our toll free number is:  866-229-7939.  You can visit us on the web at:

 

http://www.gearheadzproducts.com