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love the updates! i think part of the frame is galvanized so be cautious with the fumes brother!
the mountain tops i can see from my home are still covered in snow up here! maybe winter is coming. oh wait. they killed the show with the worst writing ever.
Just thought I would throw a couple pictures up of the car in my garage, just because I like the way it looks. You'll note that I didn't waste any time building Pine Box wheelstands! Ha ha ha....
Man....my phone does a freakin' HORRIBLE job of taking pictures. Geezus.
Tom, we haven't talked in awhile, but I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say how I thoroughly enjoy seeing and reading the updates on the Kart! Keep sending those progress pics and remember, it is most important that you are enjoying it!! It looks like you're having a blast with it! - Mark
Awesome! Totally impressed. Looks like a ton of fun. With the amount of these I see started the last few years it would awesome to see a bunch of these together.
With the amount of these I see started the last few years it would awesome to see a bunch of these together.
I agree! That would be wicked fun, IMO. It would be awesome to look at all the little details that people have done differently. See others' ideas and so on. I love that stuff.
I ran out of C25 this morning so that ended progress for the weekend, plus I had to do some yard work. I got ALL the holes (including the door vent/exhaust below the door striker) filled and smoothed from the rear of the frame rails to the door post. All I have left are the door harness holes. Then I need to plate the top of the rocker rail, grind all the spot welds flush....then start the arduous looking task of cutting and welding all the lip seams. Or at least...all the ones that you can see. I'm sure I'll leave the ones on the bottom of the frame rails.
Still working on smoothing the frame, but I drove the car to work today. Damn....what at freakin' riot that thing is to drive! MAN, it's so fun! People either love it or hate it though. It's interesting, the varied reactions I get.
I got a couple things going on in addition to the frame smoothing. I started making a dash template a while back. I finally took it to a sheet metal place and had them cut me out a piece of aluminum and bend it in a brake.
I need to make mounting tabs, weld sides onto it, then I want to either paint it flat black, or have it covered in black vinyl...haven't decided that one yet. Then install it and get my gauges/switches installed.
While running around picking that up, I was right by a metal recycling place that has a pretty accurate scale. So, I put the car on a scale...finally! I drove the front wheels on, stopped, got a front weight...then drove to the center of the scale, getting me the entire weight of the car (w/me in it) and then rolled the front wheels off the scale and stopped, getting the the rear axle weight....and thus a front/rear weight bias. The weights were all done w/me (170 lbs) in the car, and a full (8 gal -48 lbs) tank of gas. Here are the results:
Wow. So right around 2280, empty and it's pretty front heavy. 57/43, front/rear.
Overall weight is a bit higher than I had expected. I was hoping to see ~2k lbs. Roadkill said that their Kart was 2100 lbs. Compared to them, I have aluminum heads and the aluminum steering shaft. They have smaller front brakes and the 4+3 trans is likely lighter than the ZF6+DMF combo. A T5 trans and aluminum flywheel could get me down to very close to 2200 lbs. Not sure what else I can ditch/lose from the car...especially the front of the car. I wonder if there are lighter steering column options?
Anyway, there it is. ~2300 lbs and a 57/43 front/rear, at the moment.
Wow. So right around 2280, empty and it's pretty front heavy. 57/43, front/rear.
Overall weight is a bit higher than I had expected. I was hoping to see ~2k lbs. Roadkill said that their Kart was 2100 lbs. Compared to them, I have aluminum heads and the aluminum steering shaft. They have smaller front brakes and the 4+3 trans is likely lighter than the ZF6+DMF combo. A T5 trans and aluminum flywheel could get me down to very close to 2200 lbs. Not sure what else I can ditch/lose from the car...especially the front of the car. I wonder if there are lighter steering column options?
You could probably lose 50lbs with expensive forged wheels, but that's outside the spirit and budget of your project. The real kicker is that weight distribution. You can of course juggle lateral grip between the two ends with spring or swaybar changes, but it's not ideal. This probably where a C5 kart would have an inherent advantage.
I agree. Aluminum engine, trans in the rear. Still doubt it would be 50/50...but I agree that it would be better than this car. Would be interesting to see what some of the C5 karts weigh out at.
Fortunately, I have that sick-bastard wing on the back so once I'm going above about 40 mph, I have about 50/50 down force on the tires. J/K.
No real progress on the dash or frame smoothing since my last posts...but I did take it to the dyno yesterday to establish a baseline before I start all my sick mods! Now, since I have 20 other interest that consume money, it may take decade for the "sick mods" to happen...but I tell ya...they're coming!
For context here are the engine's mods/stats at this point:
*Sludged up, oil burning, neglected, 125k mile 1989 L98.
*No air filter
*Dual exhaust from down pipes back, no cats, straight through mufflers
* Frisbee, smog pump and AC removed (BIG power here, folks!)
*Advanced timing (turned the distributor)
*5 junk yard Buick 3800 injectors and 3 original injectors
With those wicked bad assed mods done to the engine, it put down some BIG numbers! Joe Nova had better look out!
I remember when the 'Vette went from 240 to 245, thinking, "Well...at least it's still climbing".
In the back of my "rooting for the Corvette" mind, I knew that it wasn't improving fast enough. The Supra Turbo was at 232, Mustang at 225 in potentially a 2-300 lb lighter car, we knew there were a bunch of 300 hp cars coming (300ZX Turbo, Stealth/300GT, Supra)...it wasn't looking good for the base 'Vette and the old wheezy L98.
Motor would have been perfect in the late '80's, in a Silverado.
This is true. The 89 cam is a bit of an oddball in that is more aggressive than the cams before and after it... maybe it just responds to simple stuff more because of how it is or maybe the dyno was just a little forgiving on its readout... I have seen guys mess with the corrections some to give their customers closer to what they dream of... either way, pretty strong.
This is true. The 89 cam is a bit of an oddball in that is more aggressive than the cams before and after it... maybe it just responds to simple stuff more because of how it is or maybe the dyno was just a little forgiving on its readout... I have seen guys mess with the corrections some to give their customers closer to what they dream of... either way, pretty strong.
Hard to say w/o drag track numbers and our shitty track.....**** the bed. I told the dyno operators that it was a baseline before mods and I wasn't expecting squat. They (two guys) both seemed shocked that it made 240. That it made that MUCH!
Hard to say w/o drag track numbers and our shitty track.....**** the bed. I told the dyno operators that it was a baseline before mods and I wasn't expecting squat. They (two guys) both seemed shocked that it made 240. That it made that MUCH!
Their calibration is probably pretty good then. Especially if that shocked them.
05-26-2019, 12:12 AM
J/K.
