Thursday, June 30, 2016

ASA LS1 Race Car Won't Start Is Not Always The ECU


We recently drove up to the grid and parked, to go out for the first race of the new SCCA year.  At two minutes, they blew the whistle, and the same car that we just drove up to our spot, would not start.  No way, no how.  The tendency is to blame the ECU right away, especially with these cars.  But the folks up a Schwanke say they rarely if ever see one go bad.  At lease not with out a good reason (attaching a welder ground for instance)  It's real simple, you have to have spark, compression, and gas.  In our case, the fuel pump was not priming the system, and there was no go juice, up at the inspection port we installed, on the engine fuel rail.  After tracing the  dual fuel pump circuit back, we found a slightly unexpected burnt (to a chrisp) four prong wire connector, which kind of ruined the day, and the weekend.  Allstar makes a replacement OEM style four prong unit, PN # ALL76269, rated at 20 amps.  Our very small packet arrived in a very large box, with a couple of air bags, to reduce the chance of damage (?). 






At any rate, we were glad to pay the $13.50 in shipping for this $3.75 shipment, to get after fixing the problem.  Make sure you order extra individual male and female connectors, because there is a reason they sell them seperately.  We ended up building a whole new harness, on the switch side of the system.  There was very little extra wire to work with anyway, so we made sure it will be easier to deal with, in the future.  The LS-1 burped to life at the frst spin of the Tilton, and we are back in business.  See the seperate blog, about the time the pump connection vibrated loose.  These cars are fun, cheap, but somedays, an electrical challenge.




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Thursday, June 2, 2016

Taylor Switches Have A Great Reputation Because They Work

We have a cool suit panel in our race car, that has switches that look like tooth picks.  Obviously they break, and usually at the worst time ever, on race day.  They are part of an expensive cooling system for the driver, and they might be good for use by a doctor doing heart surgery, but they have no business, anywhere beyond the people who make you sign the race track waivers.



We like Taylor all the way, for serious electrical work.  They are big, well built, and made for racing.
With all the things coming out of China now days, it's great to have a key component that you can rely on, to keep your speed buggy going.
We stock what we use, and use what we sell.  Take a look, you will be glad you did.
 
 
 

Taylor Switches Are  The Only Way To Go On Race Day 

 
http://gearheadzproducts.com/search.aspx?find=taylor&log=false&category=88
 
http://gearheadzproducts.com/search.aspx?find=taylor&log=false&category=88http://gearheadzproducts.com/search.aspx?find=taylor&log=false&category=88
 

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Saturday, May 7, 2016

Dude Is That Your Jerico Transmission Over There In The Weeds???

Our team purchased one of the many used Howe ASA cars that had been raced down in Florida a few years ago.  It had already been converted from roundy round to both way action.  Overall, the car was in good shape, had a few leaks, but could be made race ready for much less money than a new one.  During the intial inspection of the underside, we noticed a loose 3/4"  bolt, where transmission bolted up to the aluminum (standard issue) Quartermaster clutch housing.  As it turned out, three of the bolts were stripped out.   It would take a lot more that a strong arm to destroy the threads on one of these bolts, so we suspected that there were other issues at play here.  A plan was implemented to develop a "root cause analysis" investgation.  In words, we decided to try and figure out what was really going on.  There is a lot of vibration going on at full speed with one of these cars, so we fabbed up a simple support bracket, for the back part of the transmission.  A "used" transmission bracket from a NASCAR team was found for sale on the internet, and we tacked together the rest with our wender, laying underneath the car.  Simple, effective, cheap, and we still have our transmission, in the vehicle, and not somewhere else.  The bolt on brackets that attached to the car frame are Allstar units, and come "ready made" with mounting holes drilled and tapped in them, from the good folks over in Coloma.  From there, it was just a matter of stitching everything together.  Helicoils were sunk in at all four corners of the clutch housing, and the box of gears was once again ready fer beating.








 
 
We talk cars, especially GT-2, GTA, TA-2.  If you have a question, feel free to give us a call.  Our garage is always open, even if we can't get to the phone.  Stop by over on the new cyber highway at:

http://www.gearheadzproducts.com

Sunday, February 7, 2016

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
 

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Sunday, December 20, 2015

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.




Sunday, December 6, 2015

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

 

Monday, October 5, 2015

Race Car Or Track Day Car Storage In Grandville, MI


We have limited spaces available, for storage of your special interest, track day car, or race car.  Move in on November 1st.  Month to month.  Close to downtown Grandville, MI area, and local freeways.  Very clean, dry, and secure building.  Call:  616-366-3973, for further information.


Visit us on the web at:  http://www.gearheadzproducts.com