Wow, that show how flexable the fiero bumpers really are. Maybe its the black paint, but that bumper looks in real good shape considering that it was ripped off the car from a collision.
There's a small tear in the bumper skin in the far right side, kind of where that muddy smudge is. Other than that, the only damage to the skin is that the eyelets for the plastic attachment rivets are all torn open. We've got a fix in mind for that. The original bumper will be going back on soon.
Alright! The day many of you have been waiting for has arrived - we have in-race footage! The first video is a compilation of some of our most interesting moments in the car over the course of this last race weekend. The second video is what the camera got of my stint. Enjoy!
Great video, thanks for sharing! During those parts the track was wet and you guys kept sliding I kept thinking "..God I know the feeling". The Fiero can be a b*tch to reel back in after it kicks out.
Cool! Although, honestly, I a bit surprised that 2.8 has done so well in two races now. I noticed you were in 3rd most of the time, what RPM was the highest you sustained?
With the quickest drivers (Drew and I), we're up to 6k a couple times a lap. I'll run through a lap- you get hard on the brakes after the start-finish line, and rev match your downshift into third for the chicane (labeled turns 1+2). Sometimes, if you get a slow car or someone blocking, you'll grab 2nd through here. Otherwise, you take third gear from about 3000 RPM and run all the way towards turn 4, just hitting 6000 RPM before you brake. Keep it in third between about 3000-4000 RPM through turn 7. Again, slow down into second if there's traffic through turn 7. Otherwise, crank it up to 6k and shift up to fourth gear between turn 8 and 9. Up to about 105 MPH in 4th on the back straight, hard on the brakes for turn 10, rev match up to 6000 RPM, hold about 5000 RPM in third through to the braking zone between turn 11 and 12. Accelerate out of turn 12 onto the main straight in third, and shift into fourth gear at 6000 RPM near the start of the pits. Short answer- we're holding a lot of revs for a relatively low-revving V6.
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 04-05-2018).]
Wow. Hope that 2.8 holds up for you, it looks like its taking alot of abuse (fun abuse that is!). I have a brand new rebuilt 3.4 for sale if you ever have the need.
I am really impressed by the way this GM held up. This is two 7 hour days of brutal driving. Of course, the brakes sure were not designed for this kind duty.
Yep. The drivetrain is really the least of our worries... brakes still are. Car will stop just fine, the braking FORCE isn't the problem, the heat is. You can run a single flat-out full threshold braking lap before you start to cook the brakes. We brake a couple hundred feet sooner than everyone else, just to keep the brakes in a happy state. You can run about 85% as hard on the brakes, and maintain. Anything more, and they're just too hot.
That'll change though. We're always trying to improve the car between events. Just a switch to better pads got us close this time. With some cooling mods, we'll be right where we want to be with the performance of the brakes.
With all due respect, he has $53 and a couple days of work into the Fiero's paint. Compared to what has gone into the car, that's nothing, I don't think they would have done any better or worse if it was still faded black with only a couple sprayed on numbers.
Good luck to your son. I've seen you mention him in a few threads, I think what he's done is very cool as well. Out of curiosity, has he gotten any penalty laps? From what I gather, a Mk. II MR2 with an engine swap could be (subjectively) worth more than $500 easily. I know it's pretty common for people to get some laps, but they don't care because what they've done is worth it, heh.
LOl, yeah he's done penality laps; most for being too fast. He's also a very good driver as are the other drivers on his team. With about 5 races under their belts -including a few DNFs- they took 3rd -out of 48 cars- in their last race. BTW: I still think that Feiro looks damn good for a chump car. I wish I still a had an old prototype intake I could provide him with.
Someday maybe we'll buy one... but first I think it would benefit from much better exhaust manifolds. The stock "logs" with broken studs and half blown out gaskets need some attention.
Random question - when you make your intakes, what do you do to get the ports to match up, do you have pre-made flanges you weld to?
Great stuff, guys, from one chump to another I have to get around to finishing my thread, I've just been so busy I've only had time to pop in for a minute or two.
Okay, here's the update for the stuff we accomplished last weekend. The goals were to improve the brakes without breaking the bank just yet.
This pic shows just about everything we did. First, installed some brake ducts to get more air to the calipers, rotors, and pads. Second, we installed fresh Carbomet pads to replace the cheap pads we've been running between races. Third, took off the dust shields to naturally bring more air to the brakes. Fourth, we drained and rebled the brakes with Wilwood EXP high-temp racing fluid. Last, and not least, we installed new stainless brake hoses.
We made "scoops" for the ducts out of 4" to 3" adapters for the dryer duct hose we used.
Showing the routing of the ducts.
Now that we've got at least a little bit better braking available to us, and since we have the best lights you can put on a Fiero, I think we're really well prepared for the likely rainy, partial night race in October.
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 04-05-2018).]
Someday maybe we'll buy one... but first I think it would benefit from much better exhaust manifolds. The stock "logs" with broken studs and half blown out gaskets need some attention.
Random question - when you make your intakes, what do you do to get the ports to match up, do you have pre-made flanges you weld to?
Yes, we had a batch of special base flanges CNCed that match the lower intake perfectly. They're so damn complicated they cost us a lot and we had to order about 150 just to keep them within reach dallor-wise. I should lay out and take a photo all of the custom CNC and other items that go into making one of our intakes and put it up on out site. Some things you can see, but things like the velocity stacks you cannot.
BTW: by all means ditch those stock headers. You don't have to go equal lenght headers like ours. Just weld up some headers with nicer bends that merge in collectors and then mate them to a 2" Y pipe. That should give you about 10-15 more HP and a few more useable RPM. Too bad you race on the West Coast, I'd like to see your car on person.
A friend of mine made these for his car. Maybe I can butter him up and get him to make me a set for the race car. Don't know how ChumpCar would feel about having stainless shorty headers with v-band flanges on a "$500" car.
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 04-05-2018).]
I Took the car in for a proper performance alignment today. Front and rear toe are now set better, and rear camber is set back to nominal.
Front camber is apparently only adjustable +1° with stock ball joints, so we'll either live with 0° as it is now, or spring for adjustable front upper ball joints to set it how we want. Front camber is OK the way it is, as our tire wear looks good. Just a bit of overall cornering force might be possible with another degree or so of camber.
LF caster is dead on what we want, but RF caster is +1.2° more than we would like. Because caster is adjusted via shims, we have some experimenting to do to get it where we want.
The drive home from the shop showed a few things - first, the car tracks more straight than it ever did, and the steering wheel seems straighter than it did. I fund these points kind of amusing, since the performance alignment specs are supposedly not favorable for street-type driving. Second, the car has much crisper and more responsive turn-in.
These changes, in combination with the brake modifications, and the new Projector Retrofit headlights make me think that we should have a really good time at Portland in October. We always have a ton of fun, but these steps may make us a little more competitive. For the first time, we'll have a team with no first timers. That should help a lot, too.
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 04-05-2018).]
Race weekend coming up on the 29th and 30th! I'll be sure to update this thread with the info both for the live scoring feed when the track goes hot, but also a link to status updates throughout the weekend. We've got the camera setup refined better, so we'll have every minute of action on track in High Def quality.
Looking forward to it immensely!
[This message has been edited by ManMadeChickens (edited 10-20-2011).]
Are you going to be in the November and December races at the Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca?
If so, my wife and I will come out and cheer you on. We live near the track and go anytime we can.
I had no idea about these races, they don't advertise these races locally, just the big name (and big money) races. I think the ChumpCar race is a great idea.
------------------ Jim Martin White '86 GT Monterey, California
No, we're not racing in the Laguna Seca events. Monterey county restricts the number of cars on track at any given time to 30 cars, so the events filled up quick. It was a bit of a tow for us as well, probably about 12 hours. Someday I would really like to race there. Bay Area/Northern California has many gorgeous racetracks.
Oh man, that mirror was a PITA. I was faster than that herd of RX7's, and could get that Civic out of a few of the corners... I was working on getting by them when the damn mirror came off. For as many times as I've put a Fiero mirror on that slide-on mount, I couldn't seem to get the hang of it while going 90 MPH and through Nomex gloves.
I have to get around to finishing my thread, I've just been so busy I've only had time to pop in for a minute or two.
