When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After 7 years of fierce competition and more second place finishes than I'd like to admit, it's time to rebuild the NASA NE ST-2 #38 car that I've been campaigning since 2011 in the Northeast Region. Over those years the car has survived three major crashes, a clutch explosion and two engine fires along with the general wear and tear that any race car experiences.
While myself and my team did a fairly good job of prep, maintenance and repairs over the years, we lacked the support of a well seasoned race shop to achieve the setup and reliability needed to stay competitive and most importantly- finish a full season.
After my latest fiasco (blown engine and resulting fire at Lime Rock this past August), I've decided to hand the car over to Adrian and his team at F.A.S.T Auto in Maspeth, NY and perform a complete rebuild. To give you an idea of what we are undertaking, I've included a picture of the car from the 2016 NASA East Coast Nationals at Watkins Glen. I'll add that the only parts that will be on the new build will be the transmission (a T-6060 Transzilla in a T-56 case) and diff (an OZ Giken with 3.91 gears) which all have low hours. We are reusing the frame rails and firewall but just about everything else will be new.
The build is going to include new body work from Kerry Hitt at ACP (a combination of different body kits) plus incorporating some of our own pieces (such as a lightweight marine grade plywood undertray with carbon fiber tunnels) and a custom diffuser inspired by (stolen from?) the C7-R Corvette. The engine is going to be an off the shelf, LS-3 480HP crate motor using a few upgrades such as a custom Evans Racing Water Pump and ARE 3 stage dry sump with engine management performed by the matching GM ECU. Previously I've run the same motor but controlled it via the C5 ECU which had limitations and other challenges. The Stoptech ST-60 fronts and ST-40 rears will be now managed by a Bosch M4 ABS unit. These two units will pass data into an Aim MXG via CAN bus and simply the wiring tremendously while providing tons of critical data.
Were also going to be using a ton of parts from forum supporting vendors like Mark from AMT Motorsports (his new motor mounts and seat mount) and few others who we will be sure to point out along the way.
To give you an idea of why we decided to perform a complete rebuild, I'll include some pics. Here's the car AFTER the Championship race at the Glen in 2016.
While the rear tub was repaired last winter, it was the second such time and was badly beaten. After discussing it with Adrian, we made the decision to purchase a rear clip and graft onto the existing frame. We located a Millinium Yellow rear clip in Wisconsin and had it shipped to us.
In the meantime, Adrian and crew began to strip the car down.
Eric, Adrian and Kuba take a minute to pose after a long night of work. I swear these guys never sleep (as evidenced by these pictures being texted to me after midnight on random weeknights).
Last edited by Hi Volts Z06; 01-01-2018 at 01:26 PM.
Reason: Fixed titles on pics
The rear bumper had been straightened so many times (a broken rear spindle introduced me to the pit wall at NJMP- Thunderbolt in 2015) that the wing mounts weren't sitting the way I liked so we used the donor from the new rear clip.
Adrian decided he wanted to install the entire clip with the roof still attached in order to get the best possible alignment. It was a good call (and the roof just happened to be the only body panel from the original car).
It's starting to look like a car again!
With everything lined up the rear quarters will be removed in favor of the ACP wide fenders that allow a 13" rim and LG dropped spindles to clear perfectly with 345/35/18 Hoosier A7's. (If anyone needs two nice Mil Yel rear quarters, they are listed CHEAP in the C5 section!)
Last edited by Hi Volts Z06; 01-01-2018 at 01:35 PM.
The new engine and computer has arrived and as soon as the engine bay is painted and prepped- it will be going in.
That's pretty much where we are now. I'll continue to post progress photos as we move forward. We're hoping to have everything done and ready for some testing (somewhere warm preferably) before the 2018 NASA Northeast season kicks off.
Questions are always welcome and I'm sure Adrian will have plenty to add.
Awesome! I love to do the builds as much as I love the racing. My wallet loves neither.
Classic case of "Play to Pay". I will admit that over the years, I tried to reinvent the wheel with "solutions" to problems that already had been solved and probably would have spent less to do some thing differently the first time. Most of this was based on budget but some things I still believe are more cost effective with budget solutions. Case in point.... splitters. I still believe that unless someone with VERY deep pockets is paying for your expendibles, you can do just as good with marine grade plywood as opposed to carbon fiber.
Looking real good. In for updates. Are you going to re-use the wing?
Yes... the wing is only about a season old. It was a custom AJ Hartman piece he made for me to work with the exisiting uprights I had on the car. We'll be tweaking the mounting system slightly. Were most likely going to create some welded on steel brackets that will adapt to the aluminum uprights. Those were actually just fabricated last year after the incident at the Glen.
[QUOTE=Hi Volts Z06;1596292580. Case in point.... splitters. I still believe that unless someone with VERY deep pockets is paying for your expendibles, you can do just as good with marine grade plywood as opposed to carbon fiber.[/QUOTE]
LOL! yeah and the wood's heavier weight is low in the chassis...win...win.
I have resisted moving up in class with all of my friends but 1. Having to fix the ripped off splitters when going off track is just a pain I don't want. I get a chuckle that spares in their trailers also include a 4x8 sheet of plywood and a jigsaw.
Oh...I think the other cool thing is you are investing in the old C5 chassis. A C5 just won the SCCA Runoffs at Indy in my class too. The old C5 is a great chassis and still winning!
LOL! yeah and the wood's heavier weight is low in the chassis...win...win.
I have resisted moving up in class with all of my friends but 1. Having to fix the ripped off splitters when going off track is just a pain I don't want. I get a chuckle that spares in their trailers also include a 4x8 sheet of plywood and a jigsaw.
I agree, but I had to go aero back in 2013 to stay competitive. In the last four years, I have built five splitters and three right side skirts. Damage from scales at the track, off-track excursions, and car-car contact.
Looking good Doug. ST2 NE is gonna be fast this season. Hope I can keep up/my car actually runs!
It's going to be a great season Mark. I'm sure you'll have it all figured out and will all be checking your car out for your next AMT part that's being R&D'ed!
I agree, but I had to go aero back in 2013 to stay competitive. In the last four years, I have built five splitters and three right side skirts. Damage from scales at the track, off-track excursions, and car-car contact.
I've tried every material known to man for splitters & undertrays. Alumalite (too flimsy), Tegris (expensive but strong and not so lightweight), Aluminum (just as heavy as plywood and very unforgiving in a bad off) and found that the best material for splitters is a marine grade plywood called "Okume". I actually had ordered 5/16" which I normally give a layer of fiberglass top and bottom and an overall coating of resin to strengthen and protect BUT when my delivery arrived I found I had 3/4". I didn't have time to return it so I ended up fabricating it out of the 3/4". After I cut it up and added the carbon fiber tunnels, it ended up weighing only 21lbs which was heavier than I wanted BUT not a hell of a lot heavier than the 5/16" with all the resin and fiber. It's strong as hell and because of the extra material- allowed me to use a belt sander to relieve some of the sharp edges feeding the tunnels. I'd probably use it again just for that reason.
I'll post up some pics once we start re-assembly of that portion of the car.
Oh...I think the other cool thing is you are investing in the old C5 chassis. A C5 just won the SCCA Runoffs at Indy in my class too. The old C5 is a great chassis and still winning!
I always loved the C5 chassis and while I think there is an aero advantage over the C6, it probably gets lost being a Z06 as the coupe is less aerodynamic than the hatch. Only the skin is going to be a C5, everything else is going to be C6. While the Lingenfelter box worked for me for years, I always carried a spare with me due to all the horror stories I heard. When I switched to my spare unit I ended up blowing the motor. When I studied data, I found that my RPM's were significantly higher with the new box (in excess of what my rev limiter was set for). It seems there was some calibration difference between the old box and the spare box which obviously contributed to the demise of my engine. I should note that I was sensing tech signal from the white wire of the ECU (not across the OBD II which is slow and inaccurate) but never hit the rev limiter which was set at 7000 rpm (but meanwhile I saw revs peaking on my data at 7300 rpm just before the motor let go). That was the deciding factor to go to the complete GMPP ECU and harness (which by the way was very reasonable at a little over $1100 for everything).
What's left of my ARE dry sump pan after the motor let go at Lime Rock.
01-01-2018, 12:57 PM
NASA NE ST-2 (Re-)Build Thread
