No more hot feet, no more seeping valve covers!

[Cobra4B]

I learned my lesson having a bare floorpan at VIR a few weeks back... very very hot feet. Also, we had a hell of a time with our composite valve covers seeping. No matter what I did I couldn't make them stop. I ended up cracking on and had to epoxy it. One of the real PITA things was that the bolt holes run the length of the valve cover necessitating long bolts and making installation w/ gasket and not crossthreading tedious.

The hot feet fix: Got a few sheets of DEI reflective stuff and lined the floor pan under the driver. On our car everything else allready has some heat reflective stuff allthogh not as fancy as the DEI stuff I put on today. Also made a new floor pan insert. Being 6'4" I took the one that came w/ the car out becuase it took up valuable leg room. I had a rubber mat in but it came loose last time out so I removed it and went bare floor... bad idea... hot heels. Floor pan consists of 1/4" piece of plywood w/ the DEI stuff stick to the bottom and spray on truck bedliner on top. The part I took out when we first got the car in 2007 used thick plywood and had an air gap of about 1/2" underneath.






New tall Ford valve covers: Got these from a local guy for $40 (they could use some polishing but who cares) went with new Fel-Pro rubber gaskets and an ARP stud kit. Wow the head studs make things 1000x easier. I had to grind more off of my alternator to make it fit, but all is well now. Just need to get the right fittings to plum them to my catch can and punch an oil fill hole. No more leaks or BS at all. Going to get a proper wire loom setup to keep the wires off the covers as they get way hotter than the composite ones. Plus I've noticed the aluminum heads turn the heat up vs. the stock iron ones. Oh, also put a K&N in becaues we found the wix paper one burnt to shit from a few months back when the car war back firing and dieseling.

[Blue Streak 21]

Nice! You're making great additions to the car. It's always the details that makes any car racer friendly.

I like the coated headers. I can see from the pics that they short tube. My short tube headers are the orignal mild steel set. With all the mods you've done to the car what improvements in your times at VIR have you seen?

Jerry

[Cobra4B]

We found that our original FMS shorties had a hole in each collector spike so given their age we decided to go with new ones. They came coated from Summit, but they were much shinier when new. They've quickly dulled from use. We have the side pipes coated black and header wrapped.

As for times... well the only timing I had was during Viperdays summer 2008. With the car stock as purchased from Wirewheel but w/ Nitto R2 tires I was able to run a 2:19 on VIR full.

A few weeks back running w/ NASA I got the car to a 2:11. Car has 314 rwhp vs. 196 rwhp as purchased, stiffer springs, fresh shocks, all new heim-joints, rear swaybar, and running on Hoosier R6s.

[NZGTRA17]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

We found that our original FMS shorties had a hole in each collector spike so given their age we decided to go with new ones. They came coated from Summit, but they were much shinier when new. They've quickly dulled from use. We have the side pipes coated black and header wrapped.

As for times... well the only timing I had was during Viperdays summer 2008. With the car stock as purchased from Wirewheel but w/ Nitto R2 tires I was able to run a 2:19 on VIR full.

A few weeks back running w/ NASA I got the car to a 2:11. Car has 314 rwhp vs. 196 rwhp as purchased, stiffer springs, fresh shocks, all new heim-joints, rear swaybar, and running on Hoosier R6s.

Brian, what sort of times did you get your Mums Mercedes down to..........!?

Kel.

[Cobra4B]

Haha.... there was no lap timing at the event we had the benz out at... so no clue. For reference the NASA ST2 winner at the last event was running 2:07s. This is the class we built the car around. Those guys all run on fresh Hoosier A6s when racing. Not sure how many more seconds I could scrub by replacing the scrub R6s for new A6s though.

[eric1h]

Brian 2:11's is respectable, I was able to run 2:10's in my car with the new aero and stock motor, cant wait to get some times with the new motor/setup!

I am sure as you learn the car more and more that youre times will go down further, these cars IMHO are capable of low 2:0x's

[Cobra4B]

^ Yeah more seat time will yield better times. Eventually I'm going to do the front splitter and raise wing up. Also want to get a lower gear in the rear and a new 5th gear in the trans.

[eric1h]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

^ Yeah more seat time will yield better times. Eventually I'm going to do the front splitter and raise wing up. Also want to get a lower gear in the rear and a new 5th gear in the trans.

I have an extra set of the risers sitting right here! ;-)

[NZGTRA17]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

^ Yeah more seat time will yield better times. Eventually I'm going to do the front splitter and raise wing up. Also want to get a lower gear in the rear and a new 5th gear in the trans.

Brian, have you checked to see what rear end and gearbox ratios you have? It is not a cheap exercise to change 5th over to a non custom ratio for these boxes (may be less expensive in the US though). I looked at this leading up to the 6 hour race.

Mine has the .82 5th which I have decided actually works quite well as long as you have the right rear end ratio and you are hitting peak power at the end of the longest straight on your chosen track.

For the 6 hour we used a 5800 rpm limit but normally shortshifted. Exception to this was on the back straight we would use 5800 rpm in 4th to give better drive on the change to 5th where it would drop down to around 4500. Would then pull through to 5400 in 5th so was still a little conservative on running the engine.

I have run a car where I was using 7200 rpm shift point in each gear and maxing out to this on the straights in top. You soon get sick of the maintenance that is required in this sort highly stressed set up. I think that its best to be conservative and reduce lap times through getting more track time.

Kel.

[Cobra4B]

I have no idea what gearing we have in the trans... I assume standard T-3550 ratios. My rear end howls and will eventually need a new ring/pinion. I'll probably step up the gear ratio to a 3.73ish or whatever's next.

[eric1h]

AFAIK, all the cars had the tremec 3550 with the .82 overdrive, and should all have a 3.50 rear end.

[panozracing]

all u need to do is change to a 3.89 rear and your done. Dont mess with 5th it works great with the 3.89 (that is if you have the .82 5th).

[eric1h]

Originally Posted by panozracing

all u need to do is change to a 3.89 rear and your done. Dont mess with 5th it works great with the 3.89 (that is if you have the .82 5th).

^ what he said, besides, if youre never using 5th gear then 5th gear isnt your issue, bump up the rear end and it will makea world of difference. I am planning to do the same.

[Cobra4B]

Thanks guys... yeah I agree that if you're never getting to 5th changing that gear won't do jack.

So what's the next step up from 3.50s? Or do you guys recommend 2 steps up?

EDIT: 3.89s not too steep? Looing here: http://www.rocky-road.com/calculator.html


6300 rpms w/ .82 gear w/ a 3.89 rear end and a 25" tire gets you 149 mph. My Corvette would do low 150s at VIR, but a stock one will do low 140s. So that should be about right.

[PanozDuke]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

Thanks guys... yeah I agree that if you're never getting to 5th changing that gear won't do jack.

So what's the next step up from 3.50s? Or do you guys recommend 2 steps up?

3.89

You can get 3.70's, but that isn't going to be enough difference to get you a gear where you want it.

3.89

Mike