chuntington101

The intake setup looks really good! Have you boxes in the intercoolers so the air has to go through them? Has this removed the brake ducts or not?

turbrorx7

ratt_finkle, any chance you could measure how far out the front and rear wheel rims protrude past the fenders? (preferably in mm)

Diggin' the stance, wheel size specs?

ratt_finkel

We will eventually have dedicated ducting.

I can take a measurement. However, these are not ideal sizes. I have two sets of wheels and neither are going to be the final specs. The CCW's don't clear the stock brakes very well. Part of the issue is the LG Drop spindles. Which create clearance problems. I didn't suspect I would be running stock brakes at this point. So I have to run spacers in the rear to clear the brakes.

I also have a set of Finspeed wheels. While these easily clear the rear brakes. Have lots of inboard room that I want to take advantage of. So the offset on those is not proper.

Lastly in the front, the charge pipes from the turbo run on the inside of the wheel wheels. Creating clearance issues with both sets of wheels. No amount of offset or width changes will resolve that. For now, my steering angle is limited.

Long term plan is to reroute those pipes. But that is going to take some significant redesign.

CCW's are 18x12 front, 18x13 rear. Finspeed are 18x11 front, 18x13 rear. Can't remember the offset at the moment.

ratt_finkel

Thought everyone might want to know what's been going on. I dropped the car off at a local shop to work on wrapping the car up. And getting it prepared for shake down testing. They had the car from 2/16 to 4/5. They got a lot done.

I had back surgery on 13th. And my recovery has been going well. So I should be cleared for driving this week. I've been doing what I can to get the car ready. But has been tough. So far, this is what's left.

Install Accusump, manual oil pressure gauge, drill lifter buckets, install restricted pushrods
Corner Balance
Alignment
Wing hardware needs to be replaced
Fab Radiator shrouding
Fire system lines loose
Turbo oil pump line worn into by damper - Needs Further Attention
Possibly incorrect map sensor setup in config - MAP sensor not setup correct
Idling at 12.7 afr. Closed loop trim at limits. - Needs Further Attention
Fuel rail mounts
Fuel lines running unprotected thru fiberglass in rear - needs lines removed and bulkhead seals installed
Turbo scavenge pump mounting -Needs Further Attention - should have FAB mount
Front arb appears to be binding on lower control arm - ARB is instaled corectly but still rubs
Starter should have heat shielding to prevent failure

The below are optional and not required for initial testing. But are on the list.
Front Splitter
Front Air Dam
Fender Modification

Now in reality. I am very close. Just trying to find a shop that can manage these projects. I have of course reached out to my partners on this project and am waiting to hear from them.

It's nice to have the car back in my garage. But I am beyond eager to get it on the track and starting the development of this monster!

ratt_finkel

As seen on my facebook fan page.

Yesterday marked one of the happiest days of my life. Project Phoenix Lives! Having been delayed more than 2 years. The car is operational! Yesterday, I attended a local autocross. Just a simple stress test to see if everything was working well. And oh my god did it! I enlisted the services of my good friend and former co-driver Jon Wagner to help with the testing.
In total, we ran the car 12 times at the event. The car ran FLAWLESSLY! Our goal of course was to test for weakness. But there were none! Temps, pressures and general viability were graded excellent! It was high 80's/low 90's temp ambient with moderate to high humidity. The car did wonderful!

Being a road race/time attack/hill climb build. I never intended this car to used in the autocross format. Both Jon and I expected the car to be lackluster on an autocross style course. Especially the small size and slick nature of this particular lot. Not to mention, hard compound road racing slicks that were fresh several years ago. None of this was pointing to a fun or enjoyable experience.
Despite these shortcomings. The car was VERY enjoyable! And actually did very well even with the handicaps for this site and sport. I've posted a short clip of one of my runs yesterday. it wasn't the fastest. But we all know fast autocross runs look boring. It's the "others" that are more entertaining!

Thank you so much to DuSold Designs who, while not a formal partner in this program. Spent nearly a year rebuilding this car to be operational and reliable.
And thank you to my partners who have been so patient with me in getting this thing going. This is just the start! Greatness is coming!

LG Motorsports - RECARO - APR Performance - ESS Fire - Aldowelds - Aldo Welds - Fuel Injector Connection - Racepak Data - Team Racepak - Thompson Motorsports of TEXAS - Liberty's Gears - OS Giken - Brian Tooley Racing - Pyrotect Safety Gear - Holley Performance Products - Apex Auto Works

0CK@UPPCOS

Does this mean we should be expecting to see you out here this year then? Only a week away!!!!

chuntington101

Cracking work! Well done! Has there been any changes to the car since you last posted?...

ratt_finkel

Sadly I will not be making it to the hill this year.

Yes, there have been some minor tweaks and revisions. There is SO much more that needs to be done. This is really just the beginning for the car.

I'll be running it at the CAM Challenge here in Texas this weekend. It's a large format autocross. With at least 9 runs over the weekend. Plus I'll have a co-driver. So 18 runs on the car. I figure if it can make it through that. Then I'll put it on the track and start figuring out where the weak points are.

0CK@UPPCOS

Damn

opel

You can always bring it out to the east coast . We have hillclimbs all summer long.

BrianCunningham

thought you were this guy

http://jalopnik.com/turning-a-salvag...pai-1796069041

chuntington101

I think there is a point of diminishing returns on using a production chassis for a race car appocation. Tube chassis seem to be so much lighter and you can add strength where needed.

I know some of the single seater hilclimb stuff in Europe are crazy light, as in around 700lbs! But it's the whole ethos of designing a chassis, brakes, suspension to cope with a 700lbs car not a 2200lbs one. So disks are supper light and brakes often of bikes. The chassis can be lighter as it's taking less loads. The engines are. Ike engines and therefore lighter still. All this added lightness reduces weight further and means you can make all the above smaller / lighter again. Lol

I would love to see someone build a true "Corvette" tube chassis that would take stock suspension etc (maybe with some nicer push rod stuff as an upgrade) with a good quality carbon Kevlar body. Someone could make a killing as it would make a great starting point for an amazing track car. People are already starting to do it by taking a corvette and stripping them to nothing and installing a cage.

NSFW

One year later... dare I ask what's new?

heavyzee

car is sold, and now being run in big bend open road race by Bob Bartley

NSFW

I'm pretty sure I've seen some of his Facebook posts, just didn't realize it was the same car.

That's a shame the Pikes Peak plan didn't work out. I hope the OP is still in the game somehow.

rgregory

They will be strong enough, supporting the weight of the car is much less of a force than than transmitted through the shock when hitting a bump. At very high rates of movement a shock essentially goes to lock, or infinite ratio, that harsh jolt you feel when hitting a bump. Thus when designing suspension mounts for shocks they have to be modeled like it was a solid piece and be able to handle the full weight of the car at the wheel.