Bunny Rabbit Racing (working title)

equiraptor said:
EyeMWing, it's been two years in a row that there's been a Gator-O-Rama at MSR-H in late Feb, bleeding into the first day of March. While that doesn't mean there will be one in 2011, it means there's a decent likelihood. The MSR-H LeMons tend to pull in over 120 entries, and the guys running the track really enjoy the LeMons races, indicating a high likelihood of future races. :)
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Ah. Makes sense, since the 'homes' of the series are MSRH, CMP and Thunderhill, and Feb is in the offseason for 'sane' series. Carry on with the borderline insanity.
 
EyeMWing said:
If I'm not there with FGR (or hell, if I am and I'm not otherwise busy), I'll drag my ass there and wrench on the summbitch. I won't have the slightest fucking clue what I'm doing on a rear engined aircooled carbed monstrosity, but whatthehell.
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I just discovered that I have a copy of " How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, A Manual of Step By Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot" complete with dirt and grease stains. Maybe that would help?
I am wondering if the "type IV" engine that was put in is fuel injected which could be interesting....
 
It is unlikely the gtp would be ready to hit MSR in February. Need to rebuild our motor+transmission+power steering this winter..
 
equiraptor said:
Ooooh, no, no, no. Not fuel injected. Carb. Webbers. With different jets. A few random 911 parts are thrown in, too.
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Whew. My car had the fuel injection and it was not horrible but more complicated which is not good. And this sounds a little more advanced than my manual will cover, sorry EyeMWing.

A general question- when you talk about build costs, I'm a little confused. Aren't the cars themselves supposed to be "worth" or have less than 500 bucks worth of work done on them excluding the safety equip or you get bs laps? I know that knowledge and hard work can be used to prep the car, but doesn't buying parts raise the cost of the car over 500? How does this work?
 
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The costs include things like transporting the vehicle to/from the event, consumables (which aren't part of the $500), brakes (which include consumable parts and are safety so aren't part of the $500), entry fees, etc.

Remember, for a four-driver car, the entry fees are $1100 plus transponder costs and potentially plus a few other costs. On a 6 driver car that jumps to $1400. IIRC, the transponder rental is something like $50. Driving the car in the test-n-tune the day before costs $100 (I think, maybe $150). These little incidentals that don't contribute to car value add up quickly. :)
 
pink piranhas said:
Whew. My car had the fuel injection and it was not horrible but more complicated which is not good. And this sounds a little more advanced than my manual will cover, sorry EyeMWing.

A general question- when you talk about build costs, I'm a little confused. Aren't the cars themselves supposed to be "worth" or have less than 500 bucks worth of work done on them excluding the safety equip or you get bs laps? I know that knowledge and hard work can be used to prep the car, but doesn't buying parts raise the cost of the car over 500? How does this work?
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The purchase price/performance add-ons cannot exceed $500. However the safety items are excluded (and expensive). Roll cage, Seat, Harness, Fire extinguishers, kill switch, battery relocation, window nets, rollcage padding(SFI), brakes, tires, wheels.. it all adds up.
 
Quiky said:
The purchase price/performance add-ons cannot exceed $500.
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Service items also theoretically count, but I don't think anyone in the history of the series has been dinged for changing a gasket or spark plugs or whatnot outside of budget.
 
Quiky said:
It is unlikely the gtp would be ready to hit MSR in February. Need to rebuild our motor+transmission+power steering this winter..
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That's not the spirit :no:
 
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Quiky said:
I would rather have the car finish the race than run for an hour and seize.
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It's a 3.8 - the engine doesn't know the meaning of 'seize'. It does, however, know the meaning of 'abject transmission failure', 'black flag for fluids' and 'self immolation'.
 
I tried driving it!

...and flooded it before it could start.

{ smacks

head

against

desk }

Also, this "driving like a grandma" and "not knowing where the line is" thing needs to be properly beaten out of me by the time LeMons rolls around. :(
 
equiraptor said:
I'm not sure what kind of costs Team FG faced. I've run in two LeMons races, both of which used cars that had already run (I drove a TR7 that had already won the Index of Effluencey, and then this VW, which had already run as the 'Dillo). Both cars were registered as 4 driver teams. The total cost for the TR7 was $3200 and the VW was $4500. Obviously, the total cost would go up a bit with additional drivers, but the cost per driver would be lower. Before anyone panics over the costs of these builds: The TR7 needed repairs and got multiple upgrades between the races, and the VW was a high-budget build ("if the car could use it, do it, don't worry about cost" appeared to be the attitude of the team). It's possible this car could be significantly cheaper than the others. It's possible it could be in the cost of the Triumph or a bit more. I don't expect it to approach the cost of the VW's previous run, as we'll be doing a money-saving build.



And Coco can sorta drive stick. We just have to get her used to "crappy old VW transmission where finding gears is umfun". We have many months for that. She'll be fine!
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I think I had a massive reading comprehension fail here- I looked at the numbers and then immediately went to "build" and forgot that you were talking about things like registration and consumables and transport and such as well as fixing the car. Thanks to everyone who set me straight.

I'm pretty sure any syncromesh that came with the tranny is long departed. It'll be "find a gear, any gear" which will just add to the fun.
 
Oh, the gear finding will be fun! Bo decided the shifter feel was unacceptable and something was wrong, so started rebuilding and replacing parts. I informed him it was fine - vague, sure, but it'd never be anything like my Miata anyway, and it works. Well, apparently, I threw down the gauntlet and he's convinced he can make that shifter as good as my Miata's.

It's not going to happen, but the shifter feel will be vastly improved. :)
 
ninjacoco said:
I tried driving it!

...and flooded it before it could start.

{ smacks

head

against

desk }

Also, this "driving like a grandma" and "not knowing where the line is" thing needs to be properly beaten out of me by the time LeMons rolls around. :(
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When you flooded it, what were you doing with the accelerator? The reason I ask is that I can't really remember when I had my version of this whether I had to start it with no throttle or full throttle because of the fuel injection. If it was full throttle, I'll have to remember not to do that with this carb engine or you won't be the only one causing engine flooding when starting.
I'm sure equiraptor is up to the task of helping you solve the grandma and line issues. I could use some help on those issues too. :)
 
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Coco floored it and held it there. The Weber carb in use has an accelerator pump, and an aggressive one, so going to full throttle dumps a significant amount of fuel. The car wasn't starting with the accelerator at idle, but generally when that happens we give the car just a bit of throttle, and briefly. The carbs also have more aggressive jets, so it'll give a lot of fuel pretty easily - it's a very easy engine to flood trying to start.
 
TO start a cold carbed engine normally requires pushing the throttle down once. if it is warm, it maybe running rich.
 
What's needed in a street car and what's needed in this car are a bit different. This car has a Frankenstein of parts from various VWs and even some 911 parts. It doesn't run rich on track, however, it does have an aggressive fuel delivery system. That's kindof needed with the way the car is driven, now that it's tracked.

You're right that something is generally needed to start a carb engine when cold, be it choke or a bit of throttle. However, there's a big difference between full throttle and a partial press. This engine responds better to a few partial presses, as that's far less likely to flood it than going to WOT and getting the accelerator pump dumping fuel in.
 
So, any news on the Frankenstein VW? Is it going to Chumpcar? How's the tranny?
 
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