My RF-94 F1000 Project

[RussMcB]

I've just removed the 2005 engine and will be installing a 2007 in its place.

The 2005 engine is on ebay. It can be purchased with or without the dry sump system.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=290319864690

[Gwidich]

Russ

Fascinating project. I am new here and am intriged by the f1000 class. Did you notice any change in the handling characteristics after you lengthened the wheel base?

George

[RussMcB]

Russ

Fascinating project. I am new here and am intriged by the f1000 class. Did you notice any change in the handling characteristics after you lengthened the wheel base?

George

Thanks, George.

No, I haven't. I only drove the car briefly as an FC two years ago, and I still haven't had a chance to get a lot of miles on the car as an FB. I'm not a very sensitive driver, so I don't expect to ever know if it's better. The engine/transmission/weight/HP is so very different, it would be too hard for me to notice a subtle handling fifference. One of the main reasons for the increased WB was to give me more room for the jackshaft and chains.

[Gwidich]

It looks good with the longer wheelbase I must say. I assume that it meets the rules as you got it homologated. Did you work out some way to adjust the two different chains? I know you were talking about an adjustable idler a while back.

George

[Mike B]

Russ

Fascinating project. I am new here and am intriged by the f1000 class. Did you notice any change in the handling characteristics after you lengthened the wheel base?

George

My old RF95 in FC trim had a 6" spacer between the gearbox and bellhousing, effectively lengthening the wheelbase by 6" and putting more weight on the front tires. I drove it for several years in both configurations and the difference was very noticeable. Turn-in was better and the inherent Van Diemen push was easier to dial out. I won a regional championship in the extended version against newer cars. Search "Frankendiemen" on this forum for more info & pics.

[RussMcB]

Ah, there's a great answer regarding wheel base. Good before and after comparison.

My chains are adjusted via shims. I adjust the front one first by shimming the jackshaft mounts, then the rear one by shimming the diff mounts. It's a pain but not too bad. Someday I'll add an idler sprocket on the front chain to make it a lot easier/quicker.

[Gwidich]

Great info Mike. Please let me know if this is not the thread to address this in but I wonder how the durability of these F1000's are with the added load from the weight and dynamics of the vehicle? I am guessing that using the jackshaft method may reduce the loading of the gearbox by adding the means of another ratio. Offset by a bit more drag and loss of HP. Is the ratio from the gearbox to the jackshaft 1to1?

George

[RussMcB]

Great info Mike. Please let me know if this is not the thread to address this in but I wonder how the durability of these F1000's are with the added load from the weight and dynamics of the vehicle? I am guessing that using the jackshaft method may reduce the loading of the gearbox by adding the means of another ratio. Offset by a bit more drag and loss of HP. Is the ratio from the gearbox to the jackshaft 1to1?

George

I'm not sure if the front sprocket sees any different forces if a jackshaft is used or not. Ditto about the jackshaft using up HP (it spins pretty freely).

IIRC, my front chain uses 20/30 sprockets and the rear chain is 31/40.

It's not hard to imaging these 1,000cc engines are more stressed in our 850 lb. cars with four sticky tires and downforce compared to bikes and small tire contact patches. But, they are designed for many tens of thousands of miles.

[RussMcB]

Just a quick update to say there's a new(er) engine in my car and it runs!

I changed from a 2005 to 2007 ZX-10R. Before the swap I was pretty sure the differences were minor, but found out they were bigger than I thought. The engine needed to be repositioned to fit, so all six engine mounts needed to be changed. It was surprising how many other things had to be changed to go along with that: oil tank, fuel pump, header, ... I've also moved my oil pressure relief valve to outside the engine, so the dry sump's scavenge pump has less volume to deal with.

Still lots to do before it's track ready, but it was great to hear the unknown Craigslist engine fire up tonight. If things go smoothly I'll take the car to the Barber double regional next month, and then you guys can start nagging me about why I'm not going to all the national races within 1,000 miles so FB can go to the Runoffs.

PS. A couple of public thank you's to George Dean for the modified harness and advice via phone calls, and to Larry Kropp for the new dry sump system. Both those guys are a real pleasure to deal with.

[Northwind]

That's great news Russ. It's funny how motivating the sound of an engine is when it is fired up for the first time. I hope the rest goes well for you. Keep us informed.

[Mike B]

Good news, Russ!

You know, there's a national at Road America at the end of August...

[formulasuper]

Good news, Russ!

You know, there's a national at Road America at the end of August...

Ya Russ, it's just a quick 14 hr drive!

[RussMcB]

I started typing, "Only an idiot would drive ..." and then I realized I'd be offending a lot of people reading this. :-).

There are some brave souls who might (and have!) shake down a car zillions of miles from home. Not me. :-).

[Richard Dziak]

Russ.....take it out to an empty parking lot on a Sunday or find a housing development with streets and no houses and have some fun. That's the way we do it down here in New Mexico.

[RussMcB]

Russ.....take it out to an empty parking lot on a Sunday or find a housing development with streets and no houses and have some fun. That's the way we do it down here in New Mexico.

Yea, I typically drive on my street to make sure it goes and shifts. I did an autocross earlier this year to make sure the last engine was healthy. I'm just saying I'm not towing for hours on end to a far away place for the first stress test of these latest changes. I'm content to wait a month for the 2 hour tow to Barber.

[formulasuper]

I started typing, "Only an idiot would drive ..." and then I realized I'd be offending a lot of people reading this. :-).

There are some brave souls who might (and have!) shake down a car zillions of miles from home. Not me. :-).

Hey, you're not talking about me, are ya? I did a couple of test sessions at the other Rd A before that trip up north.

[Brandon Dixon]

I started typing, "Only an idiot would drive ..." and then I realized I'd be offending a lot of people reading this. :-).

There are some brave souls who might (and have!) shake down a car zillions of miles from home. Not me. :-).

Hmm, I believe that I resemble that remark

[kmt63]

how did your pressure relief setup work?are you still running 2 of them?

[Mike B]

I started typing, "Only an idiot would drive ..." and then I realized I'd be offending a lot of people reading this. :-).

There are some brave souls who might (and have!) shake down a car zillions of miles from home. Not me. :-).

Yeah, you'd have to be stupid to drive 17 hours to race a car that hadn't even turned a wheel yet...

[RussMcB]

how did your pressure relief setup work?are you still running 2 of them?

Too early to say for sure, but so far, so good. I don't have any exhaust system hooked up yet, so didn't want to run the engine for long. During pre-start up and while it was running, I had like 60 lb oil pressure.

Yes, I left the original relief valve in place, but gave it an extra shim so that, theoretically, it will open at a higher pressure than the external relief valve. I did that for insurance. If the external valve doesn't work, I'll cap it off. Later, when the engine is running, I'll pull the external hose leading to the oil tank and see what the volume of oil looks like. I have an AIM system, so I'll be recording oil pressure, and will have it (and an alarm) on the dash.

I'll post pictures later, but right now it's a real mess. Now that I know it's working, I need to go back, undo some stuff, finish the engine mounts, paint, re-route lines, clean up wiring, etc. I had to alter the header, so it's out getting recoated.

Yeah, you'd have to be stupid to drive 17 hours to race a car that hadn't even turned a wheel yet...

Yep, I was thinking of you guys (Scott, Brandon, etc.), and there are a few others that have done similar things.

I think it's great you guys have pulled it off. It is a testament to your hard, and high quality, work. Kudos to you guys!

[kmt63]

when you get your car all ready to run with headers and all.keep an eye on the sight glass to make sure your not filling the motor with oil.if the relief blows off in the motor you will see it in the sight glass.being you have the relief in the motor shimmed it should blow off in the tank first.but its something to look at.

[RussMcB]

Just weighed my car. With oil & water (but no fuel):

869 lb.
1034 lb. w/ driver

Front - 45.5%
Rear - 54.5%

Right - 49.4%
Left - 50.6%

Looks like the car (and/or me) needs to lose 34 lb., and maybe move some stuff to the right side.

[Brandon Dixon]

Just weighed my car. With oil & water (but no fuel):

869 lb.
1034 lb. w/ driver

Front - 42.5%
Rear - 54.5%

Where is the other 3%?

[RussMcB]

Where is the other 3%?

Oops.

With driver:
Front - 45.5 %
Rear - 54.5 %

Without driver:
Front - 42%
Rear - 58%

[RussMcB]

I finally got around to doing something I've wanted to do for a while - testing my rear subframe for rigidity. I put the car on the ground, bolted a long, strong bar to the rear and tried to move it in different directions. The good news is, I was not able to see any flex in any direction. I'm sure it's not perfect, but at least I have peace of mind that it doesn't have any significant flaws or need any new supports.

The reason I decided I really needed to do it this winter is because the last time at the track I had bizarre, high inner left rear tire temps. We kept removing negative camber but never got decent tire temps. My weekend ended early (broken jack shaft), and we didn't get a chance to determine the problem. When I got home I measured and we had gone all the way to positive camber, so something was messed up. My only guess at this point is that I had a bad tire. Anyone have any other ideas about what could cause that? I did a pretty good alignment before we went to that last race.

In other news, I have a new jack shaft, plus a spare! Woo hoo!

Still saving up for a new fuel cell. Taking the opportunity to clean up a few things on the chassis, see if I can make it lighter, better, easier to work on ...

[Jon Jeffords]

Russ, were you guys ever able to determine root cause of the jack shaft / bearing failure?

JJ

[carnut169]

. My only guess at this point is that I had a bad tire. Anyone have any other ideas about what could cause that? I did a pretty good alignment before we went to that last race.

Bad wheel bearings... Bad rod end? Bend in the push rod... Cracked upright? Rear toe off? Could the rear be "squating" under load and changing the camber settings?

[RussMcB]

Russ, were you guys ever able to determine root cause of the jack shaft / bearing failure?

JJ

Not definitively, just opinions along the line of, it lost grease, got hot, bearing failed and shaft broke. In hindsight I realized that I saw signs of trouble brewing, such as escaping grease, but didn't put 2 and 2 together. I think I ran the chain too tight a few times, which couldn't have helped. Also, I never took it out and serviced it, ever. I naively thought it was a no-maintenance part.

Having two jackshaft assemblies should let me get into a good maintenance routine of swapping out units and inspecting/freshening them way before they need it. I'll start by running one race on each, then build up the number of events as confidence builds. The assemblies use wheel bearings like in cars and trucks, so they should last a long time. We'll see.

I'm also thinking about adding grease fittings to allow me to give it a fresh shot at the track.

Anyone have recommendations for great grease? Good idea to use a synthetic like Redline, Amsoil or Mobil 1?