Tag: Vtak

Eyesore Racing's Ghettocharged Miata for 24 Hours of LeMons.

Sure you got Supercharging and Turbocharging and hell, even Twincharging but what about Ghettocharging?

Alright, maybe it’s not a new form of forced induction, but damn is it Ghetto! I thought I’d seen it all with budget builds, but this is a TRUE budget build. Electrical conduit from Home Depot for Coolant Lines, Sheet metal from a Heater shed? Dear God.

This car was built by Eyesore Racing for the 2009 24 Hours of LeMons(A play on Lemans obviously) and the goal is to build a car for under $500 (including the cost of the car) and send them through a proverbial gauntlet with events such as “The Personal-Injury-Lawyer Anti-Slalom”, “The Marxist-Valet Parking Challenge” and the “Wide Open Throttle Rodthrowapalooza” and that’s BEFORE you get to the starting grid. Twelve hours into the race, the car voted People’s Choice is called in and awarded a cash prize, the car voted People’s Curse is called in and destroyed. At the end of the 24 hours, an awards ceremony showers the survivors with trophies, plaques, and a Four-figure winnings in bags filled full of nickels. It’s always sure to be fun, that’s for sure.

Anyhow, back to the car. Eyesore Racing bought this piece for $17.99 in God knows where and went to work. They found two more Miata wrecks plus enough worn-out engine parts to assemble a possibly serviceable powerplant, and a turbo from a MDM (Mexican Domestic Market) Dodge Stratus. With the remaining money they went to work and fabbed up this ridiculous conglomeration of pipes you see above. I guess you could call this a top-mount turbo manifold…considering it sticks about a foot out of the hood. On 4.5 pounds of boost it made 140whp, which is ~50hp over stock. Not bad for some ghetto fabbing.

I wish those guys over at Eyesore Racing good luck in the 24 hours of LeMons and major kudos to them for having the Gonads and ingenuity to fab up something like that!

Here’s a video of the “Beast” on track:

December 22, 2008
No Pistons, All Rotor: Brandon Wiggins FC RX7

Poise and Balance is something we forget about every now and again. When building a car, a lot of people overlook balance and attack everything with brute power. Brandon’s FC RX7 is the underpowered underdog nipping at the heels of cars with over twice the horsepower.

After having a mildly built ’67 Camaro, Brandon already had his fun in a straight line…but something was lacking, you can’t exactly attack corners in a steel bodied beast like the Camaro. While a performance minded RX7 without a TII motor sounds pretty crazy, this surely isn’t the fact with his FC. Trying to avoid the whole turbo rotary stigma of “Working 100% of the time, 60% of the time“, this rotard purchased the N/A FC with reliability in mind. (Haha…reliability..)

While not gleaming with parts in the engine compartment, it has the necessary mods such as a custom intake setup, and Borla exhaust. ALL the power that this twin rotor produced almost broke our dyno from sheer energy. It put down a whopping 136hp and 116ft/lbs. All of that earth shattering power is sent through a Stage 2 Competition Clutch paired up with a Fidanza aluminum flywheel and Short Shifter. This car was always meant for Autocross and Roadcourse, so the FC didn’t need a lot of power to do what it was intended to.

The motor wasn’t focused on as much as the most important aspect of this car, The Suspension. Lots of time and thought were put into the suspension setup and stance of the car before purchasing, naturally, Stance coilovers. Rota D2’s mounted on 235/17 Falken Ziex’s. All of this was put on the car at the same time and WOW did it make a difference. Many a highway onramp and offramp have been assaulted while tweaking the 32 way adjustable coilovers to Brandon’s exacting standards. Further suspension components include a Racing Beat front sway bar, Rear steer eliminator, and front and rear strut tower bars.

Another modification important to a low horsepower car is weight. While not weighing much to begin with, in order to extract every bit of available power, there was some things scrapped to reduce unnecessary load. First off all of the carpet was ripped up and all of the sound deadening tar was painstakingly removed (Believe me, it wasn’t fun) and all of the “undercarpet” as well. After all the now lightened carpet was thrown back in, the Spare tire, Jack and AC compressor were removed. While it doesn’t sound like much, you can tell a weight difference when you only have 136 Wheel Horsepower.

I can tell you first hand that this will warp your understanding of physics in a corner of any kind. The first time you go into a corner and Brandon smoothly heel-toes and throws you into a bend, it will surely send a shock to your system. Believe me when I say, This thing handles. My car only has ~230whp, but I can pull away from the FC hard. In the same familiar corner however, when following the FC in my car, I have to half throttle it while Brandon can absolutely keep it to the floor. It really is all about balance. This car is truly an enthusiasts vehicle and goes to show you don’t have to have massive power to keep up with the big boys. It’s far from done, and at the going rate will be a full time attack car before too long. Not only that, but rotaries always have a habit of blowing huge flames at the top of every gear. Below is Brandon’s ’67 Camaro.

That’s just badass…Silly Rotard.

December 18, 2008
What's power without control? – FWD Traction

All too often people seem to forget that having lots of Horsepower is absolutely useless if you can’t put it to the ground. Unless you’re building a show car or a dyno queen, if you can’t get the power down, what’s the point?

While all of this is generally up for debate, I believe you have to achieve some sort of balance. Why do you think you see 800hp Supras running 12’s? (Not all of them, mind you.) I have a friend with a supercharged Miata that can absolutely pull higher horsepower cars in 1st and 2nd just due to the fact that he can put all of the power down.

Most RWD applications don’t have a traction problem due to weight transferring automatically to the rear wheels which need traction. FWD guys don’t have this luxury, so some things need to be put in place to make up for this shortcoming.

Here’s some good ways to eliminate most of your FWD traction problems:

One of the most overlooked items is Tires. These are your only contact to the ground, and is no doubt the most important thing to consider. Generally, the bigger your contact patch, the more traction you’ll get.

Another thing to address is Spring Rates. Most FWD drag racers run higher spring rates in the rear and lower in the front. This is due to the fact that when launching a car, all of the force is carried backwards. When all the weight shifts backwards, the load is placed over your rear tires. The stiffer the rear springs, the more load is pushed back over the front wheels, thus causing less spin.

A common mod for FWD guys also is Traction Bars. Anytime you move a FWD car forcibly in any direction, the front control arms and bushings flex due to load, decreasing traction and stability. Traction bars hold it all together, keeping everything from flexing, and thus losing traction.

Another thing to consider is Solid Motor Mounts. A common problem with some FWD applications is the dreaded wheel hop. Not only is it jarring and bad for traction, but it can also destroy drivetrain components. By solidifying your motor in place, you can greatly reduce this problem.

All in all, the FWD platform is not bad for racing, it’s just the fact of putting power down. With these minimal mods, you’ll be hooking up with no problem.

November 21, 2008
World's Fastest Honda Civic for Sale on eBay

How many of you Honda guys WOULDN’T like to have the world’s fastest Honda Civic?

What if I also asked how much you would be willing to pay to HAVE that title.

That’s right folks, out of all the places in the world it could be, it’s for sale on eBay.

Officially the World’s Fastest Honda Civic, having run at over 225 miles per hour on the Bonneville salt flats, has now been offered up for sale. It’s your chance to own a piece of history. Whether you want the car for the ultra hardparking status, want to be super mad JDM Tyte, or actually want to use the vehicle for Bonneville Speed Week 2009, all of the status and glory can be yours for $22,000 USD (Currently).

The motor used to power the Civic is a 84mm Dart B18c Head and Block with a plethora of high quality parts. Highlights include a massive Turbonetics T72 turbo, 720cc RC Injectors, and a Hondata S300. In all honesty, the motor doesn’t appear to be too incredibly extreme when considering a title such as World’s Fastest Honda Civic.

I know you’re looking for the Power numbers, so I won’t disappoint. This motor produced an astounding 728HP and 503ft/lbs of torque at 29lbs. For reference, that is a ridiculous 369 Horsepower per liter and 182 Horsepower per cylinder. The salt flat records were run at 14lbs, which produces close to 517HP and 351ft/lbs to the WHEELS. I can only imagine the lag on a huge snail like a T72 must be ridiculous and when boost hits…better hold on to something.

Appearance-wise the exterior of the ’99 Si is fairly extreme. Built completely for the lowest drag coefficient possible, the front spoiler, belly pan, parachute mount, aluminum work, roll cage and rear wing have all been custom fabricated. The front-end is reminiscent of a snowplow rather than a sleek speed machine, but it apparently does the job.

Simply lowered on Eibach coilovers, it isn’t slammed to the ground like most would imagine it would be. Slowing this salt rocket down is a massive set of 13″ inch Baer Brakes in the rear, and STOCK brakes in the front. I imagine this is for weight transfer on slow down — wouldn’t want the rear end to come around on you at those speeds, would you?

All in all, for all the work and press, $20,000 dollars doesn’t sound that bad. It’s an easy way to own a piece of history that won’t be forgotten any time soon. Plus…who doesn’t want to say they own the fastest civic in the world?

November 10, 2008