The Ted Race Team: Because Racecar

DaleB said:
Dude, I spend all of my money just fine, and I have a wife to take care of the remainder. I'm just trying to lend you my expertise in the matter. :)
Click to expand...

Haven't you read any of my threads? I think I'm pretty set in expertise there. ;)
 
Margy won't let me to into that time sink again. I've got a close friend who runs enduros with his sons. I spent over ten years as a NASCAR official on a local Saturday night short track. Margy finally got tired of me gone every Saturday night form April to October.
 
flyingron said:
I spent over ten years as a NASCAR official on a local Saturday night short track.
Click to expand...

Do you still have all your teeth? :)

My dad raced at the local dirt track waaaay back when, and even after he stopped driving continued to go watch, or to help buddies in the pits, or do welding jobs on cars, etc. I spent most of my young Saturday nights at the track. Brawls were pretty common.
 
Ted said:
Haven't you read any of my threads? I think I'm pretty set in expertise there. ;)
Click to expand...
That’s why I was a little surprised that the pavement thing hadn’t already come up, to be honest.
 
Ted, I just chanced upon your thread and skimmed it. I’ve never done a Lemons race but after decades of karting, PCA club racing and some SCCA in open wheel, I’ve discovered Champcar in my old age. A huge amount of fun and amazingly economical (for racing). I did 4 events in ‘21 including the 24 hour race at VIR and two 7 hour races at Sebring just last month. Sebring was >100 car entries, with 3-4 RX7s on the grid. The team next to us on the paddock was doing their first event and had a blast. https://champcar.org/register/login.php
You need 3 other drivers for a team, but the rule book is pretty easy to follow and there are no license requirements. This is our car in FL last month; (flew into KSEB Friday, raced Sat/Sun, flew home to KORF Monday, kinda a perfect weekend!)
 

Attachments

  • 8108D155-B7DB-4337-9553-67CA18B63F54.jpeg
    8108D155-B7DB-4337-9553-67CA18B63F54.jpeg
    146.5 KB · Views: 25
  • 4A494A6E-E9EA-4414-807A-AF90F552E15E.jpeg
    4A494A6E-E9EA-4414-807A-AF90F552E15E.jpeg
    322.7 KB · Views: 26
Half Fast said:
Do you still have all your teeth? :)
Click to expand...

No, we didn't stand for that at our place and we had a bevy of off-duty cops to keep things in line. I spent most of my time in the tower anyhow. I did work the payout window a lot or watch the teardowns.
 
Yesterday was a wrenching day on the RX-7, and I made a lot of progress. Basically got the suspension torn apart and as far along back together as possible and put back together as much as was feasible. New bushings for the Watts link (still waiting on the new bushings for the rear control arms). Front control arms are out, new bushings in. One new ball joint in, the other box had an end link in it instead of a ball joint. Good quality control there.

Not surprisingly after it sat for as long as it did, basically every piece of rubber needed to be replaced so it's good that I'm going through and changing out all the bushings. I found a few other hoses and such to look at replacing, but really things are coming along nicely and this thing is very simple (aside from that Nikki carburetor). I'm getting ideas for things I could modify within the rules of Lemons, although that I don't think I'll do anything with to start.

It seems the big question is the Tokico front struts which are clearly dead. I want to see if there's a way to rebuild the things, but I may have to move on to KYBs or something much lower capability but available and within the Lemons rules. More stuff to consider, but not going to hold anything up. It's coming together nicely.
 
The front strut housings and coil-overs aren’t stock. Nor are the camber plates. Is that okay for Lemons? Do you have to count it toward the cost limit?
 
Half Fast said:
The front strut housings and coil-overs aren’t stock. Nor are the camber plates. Is that okay for Lemons? Do you have to count it toward the cost limit?
Click to expand...

I noticed those aren't stock. :)

Since they came with the car, I don't think those have to count beyond the car's purchase price. It's obvious that I didn't buy them and install them, so I don't think that will be a problem. The ideal situation is to get the struts rebuilt so I can keep the existing springs etc that you upgraded.

The rear shocks I'm planning on just doing KYBs for now.
 
Half Fast said:
Yay! Why different widths?
Click to expand...

It's an artifact of the photo and the angle. They're all the same size you had on there before, just new. :)
 
Today I got a bit of time in the shop and made some minor progress. New windshield wipers are on (I might race in the rain!), new rear brake rotors are on (calipers still need rebuilding at all 4 corners) and I changed the transmission and differential fluids with fresh. The magnets on both the transmission and differential had some fuzz, but nothing abnormal. New fluids pumped in. The old ones came our pretty clean, unlike when I changed the BMW's transmission and final drive fluids last weekend. :eek:

I also changed the brake master cylinder with new, everything came apart easily so that was pretty quick. It looks like the clutch master has bolts on the inside that I'll have to take off, so that seems like it'll probably be more annoying to do, but I'll get it done, that'll probably be one of the tasks this weekend.

And I finally got tracking information for my rear control arm bushings I ordered - I guess those were backordered. So once those are in, I'll be able to finish up the rear suspension and get it torqued back down. I haven't gotten the front struts sent out to get rebuilt, and that's probably going to be my longest-lead item to take care of so I should probably get on getting those sent out. But, I should make good progress on it this weekend.
 
BTW - check with your sanctioning body about safety equipment. Obviously the fire extinguisher needs to be replaced, the belts need to be re-webbed, roll cage padding should probably be replaced, etc. Be sure you don’t waste money on stuff that’s not approved.

Also, you know where the master switch is located. That was legal for SCCA (“accessible from outside the vehicle” was the rule) but other organizations might require it to be on the exterior.
 
Half Fast said:
BTW - check with your sanctioning body about safety equipment. Obviously the fire extinguisher needs to be replaced, the belts need to be re-webbed, roll cage padding should probably be replaced, etc. Be sure you don’t waste money on stuff that’s not approved.

Also, you know where the master switch is located. That was legal for SCCA (“accessible from outside the vehicle” was the rule) but other organizations might require it to be on the exterior.
Click to expand...

Safety equipment is all on the list as well, and I'll probably start getting going on that later this month. Right now the goal is still getting it together and driving first. Although if I want to get a race in April or May, I suppose I better get some of the safety and other stuff coming too. :)
 
I didn't get as much work done on the RX-7 as I wanted to, but I have made some minor progress. Clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, and flex line have been changed. This took longer than it should have because one of the slave cylinder holes in the bellhousing stripped out. Conveniently I happened to have the correct M8-1.25 helicoil set handy and 21/64 drill bit from when I was working on the RV's oil pan before the last trip. I also got the new KYB rear shocks in. While they won't be ideal, they'll be better than the old dead shocks that were in there.

Also I hadn't gotten the driver's side front lower control arm back in when I did the bushing change since I hadn't gotten a ball joint the first time from Rock Auto, the box had an end link in it instead. That came a while back and I got it pressed in with a couple of tack welds to hold it in place, but now the lower control arm is in on that side. Also I bolted the front radius arms to the control arms, which can be done now without impacting anything. I need to look at it closer but I suppose I actually could bolt up the sway bar as well to those control arms with how the suspension is put together. While that's out of order some from normal operations, it would let me clean up the area a bit and progress is progress.

What's motivating with the current state is that the only parts I'm missing to get it driving are replacement or rebuilt front coil-over inserts. Other work is left, sure, but it's not a huge amount relatively speaking. Depending on how time goes, I'll either do the cooling system next or the rear control arm bushings. Either one is progress, it just depends on what sort of chunks of time I have to work with. And of course there's rebuilding the brake calipers.

I tend to figure that the carburetor is something I'll need to do when I can really dedicate a day to focus on just it, or else get one of my friends who actually likes carbs to do similar. :) But meanwhile I can get the thing in a state where it's otherwise ready to drive, and I think that's the best course of action. It's really coming along, which is nice.
 
And it looks like the weather is going to be nice enough to work on it with the shop doors open.
 
Matthew said:
And it looks like the weather is going to be nice enough to work on it with the shop doors open.
Click to expand...

I actually avoid that a good bit. Cats walk in and getting them out is hard.
 
Bill said:
Sounds like you need a dog.
Click to expand...

We have one. He's pretty useless as a guard dog or anything involving attacking/scaring.
 
Bill said:
Opposite of our dog, he wants to eat everyone.
Click to expand...

We definitely don't have much of a country dog. Honestly, my preference when this one dies is to not get another one anytime soon. He turns 10 this year, so he's got more years behind him than in front of him. We have a lot of pets, and the dog is really the highest maintenance. Maybe we need a better farm dog.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
You can get them out!?
Click to expand...

It's all a matter of being more stubborn and more of a jerk than the cats are. My German heritage helps with the former, and my New York upbringing helps with the latter. :D
 
Yesterday while my friend visiting on a road trip to Alaska was changing his oil and rotating tires in my shop, I got a chance to get a few bits together on the RX-7.

The front coil-overs I'd ordered new KYB inserts for. With the old Tokicos being completely dead and not rebuildable, plus the rules for Lemons (and having put new KYBs in the rear), it just made sense to do KYBs in all four corners for the time being. Great shocks? No, not even close. But they're new and not 100% dead, so they'll be a good place to start.

That let me get the struts back in the car and start torqueing some things down. The tie rod ends for the driver side still need to get redone (which includes hammering the old inner tie rod out) but now the struts are in, tie rods hooked up on the passenger side. I also got the old radiator out. The new cheap eBay one I bought will fit, but looks like it's not designed for the factory oil cooler that's there. I'm going to have to look at that some more, and probably do some form of relocation. Not worried about it and the hoses are old so I was going to replace them anyway, but I'll need to get that figured out.

Next will be putting the new brake rotors on, greasing up the wheel bearings (and double checking to make sure they're ok, they seemed fine when I checked them before), and putting the hubs back on the spindles. I haven't started rebuilding the brake calipers yet, and my intention is to do all four of those at once when everything else on the wheels is back together and ready for them, and then have the carb be essentially the last thing to do and then I can drive it.
 
I found an old OEM Ford cooling fan, which work really well. That will be an electric fan upgrade for the RX7 and complies with the Lemons rules.

upload_2022-2-21_16-31-5.png
 
BDDD6BC7-6036-45C9-A051-EAA0DE994C0F.jpeg
 
Half Fast said:
But I will say that sometimes passing a competitor requires using the grass when the track just isn’t quite wide enough....
Click to expand...
So then you were actually faster than you had previously led on... ;)
 
Half Fast said:
Often. Usually in the top third, quite a few top 5 finishes. Best was a 2nd at Sebring.
Click to expand...

I doubt we will bring it to a first place finish at Lemons. But, to me just finishing the race will be a win. Easiest way to lose is not to finish.
 
BTW, Ted - if you'll look in the area under and forward of the RF fender you'll see where the transponder is mounted. I'm sure it's obsolete by now, but your sanctioning body will probably specify a type for you to use. There's no independent switch; it turns on with the master. I picked that mounting spot because (1) it's at the front of the car and (2) it's fairly well protected. Mine needed to have an unobstructed path to the pavement to talk to an embedded wire.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ted
Half Fast said:
BTW, Ted - if you'll look in the area under and forward of the RF fender you'll see where the transponder is mounted. I'm sure it's obsolete by now, but your sanctioning body will probably specify a type for you to use. There's no independent switch; it turns on with the master. I picked that mounting spot because (1) it's at the front of the car and (2) it's fairly well protected. Mine needed to have an unobstructed path to the pavement to talk to an embedded wire.
Click to expand...

Ahh, that's good to know! I didn't even know it had one in it currently. I'll check tomorrow.

Managed to get one of the rear control arms done with new bushings, need to get the other three done and then the rear suspension is done other than torquing things down and rebuilding the calipers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top