Finally finishing the new "JP"DP04

[JohnPaul]

Soooo, I'm finally at the final throws of finishing up what I've started. This was harder and more expensive than I could have imagined. I just wanted to thank the people that worked hard and helped: Ben Cooper, Fiberworx, Nicholas Belling, Rilltech, James Lee, Brett Lane, Pompano Machine and a ton of support and suggestions from the good people of Apex Speed: Mike B, Wren, Gary Hickman, Glenn Cooper etc, etc, etc.
I still have another round of things I want to do but I'll run it as is and start saving $ and get the track time I need. I'll be at Sebring this weekend with James Lee, I'll fill everyone in on how it feels. Thanks again to everyone!

[JohnPaul]

some pics, the bodywork wasn't tightened up, it's just sitting on the car for these pictures. It really looks sharp and the pics dont do it justice.

[VehDyn]

Wow! Looks great. Great job!

[allof6]

Looks Great!

Are the Carbon Fiber wings legal in FB?

[JohnPaul]

the nose tip is fiberglass and only the actually crush box section is carbon, nothing else on the car is carbon fiber. The wings are all black so it can be mistaken as carbon in the pictures.

[Stan Clayton]

Looking good, JP!

Do you know if those are the same wings as are used on the Firman?

[JohnPaul]

thanks, the front wing is from Firman, the rear wings were the ones that came with the car. I just fabricated the end plates myself.

[Rick Ross]

Have you weighed the car yet? Do you expect to be able to make minimum weight?

[Stan Clayton]

thanks, the front wing is from Firman, the rear wings were the ones that came with the car. I just fabricated the end plates myself.

You've got mail!

[Northwind]

JP,

You sure have added a lot of character to that car. I like it! Keep us posted on how it all works when you get it on the track.

One observation, is the roll bar made of 1" or 1.375" tubing? if it is the 1" youi may have a problem at tech inspection.

[starkejt]

Looks good, and thumbs up on that big diffuser.

[VehDyn]

JP,

You sure have added a lot of character to that car. I like it! Keep us posted on how it all works when you get it on the track.

One observation, is the roll bar made of 1" or 1.375" tubing? if it is the 1" youi may have a problem at tech inspection.

I beleive his car has already been homologated and run at a few races. He just changed a few body bits so he shouldn't need to re-homolodate, right?

[Brands]

Great Job JP - you put me to shame with the time it's taken you!

[JohnPaul]

Have you weighed the car yet? Do you expect to be able to make minimum weight?

it's still overweight but I have a few ideas that'll get me down to minimum, first thing is for me to stop drinking beer and lose about 30lbs down to my MC racing wieght.

JP,

You sure have added a lot of character to that car. I like it! Keep us posted on how it all works when you get it on the track.

One observation, is the roll bar made of 1" or 1.375" tubing? if it is the 1" youi may have a problem at tech inspection.

the roll hoop was not changed and has already been approved. all I did was add some sides.

I beleive his car has already been homologated and run at a few races. He just changed a few body bits so he shouldn't need to re-homolodate, right?

I has been homologated and run already so I don't think it'll need to be re-homologated since it's only bodywork that's been changed.

[starkejt]

Sorry if I missed it in another thread, but what engine do you have in it?

[JohnPaul]

08 GSXR with the Loshak pan.

[Brandon Dixon]

Looks great.

Are you planning to come the the National at Roebling and the Double National at Road Atlanta next month? I hope that you can come, I think that we will get decent fields at these next two SEDIV events.

[RussMcB]

Wow, JP. You've been busy. Looks great.

Don't be too quick to give up beer. That's right up there with racing and some of the other finer things in life.

[JohnPaul]

Looks great.

Are you planning to come the the National at Roebling and the Double National at Road Atlanta next month? I hope that you can come, I think that we will get decent fields at these next two SEDIV events.

I'm not going to be able to do both, the plan is to go to Road Atlanta. But if I can I will do both.

Wow, JP. You've been busy. Looks great.

Don't be too quick to give up beer. That's right up there with racing and some of the other finer things in life.

Thanks, believe me I don't want to give up beer, it's literally my favorite beverage!

[KevinFirlein]

thats is very nice work from the pictures. Never know what that car started life as, well done.

And he remembered to paint the bodywork in front of the wheels body color * cough * Starke

[Wren]

That looks really good.

It looks like you got it done pretty quickly too.

Could we get a picture of what it looked like before?

[BennyBad]

wow it does look good put together,
be careful at sebring

benny

[starkejt]

And he remembered to paint the bodywork in front of the wheels body color * cough * Starke

You try finding Nissan metallic orange spraypaint at a trackside vendor. But I agree, JP's car looks way better than anything that would ever come out of my shop. First thing I would do if it came through here is hit it with a hammer a few times and spray paint some of the pieces a contrasting color so people would believe I worked on it. Hope to see it at the track soon (I won't go near it with my hammer or spray paint).

[JohnPaul]

thanks for all the kind words guys. Here are a few "before" pictures. Notice how much larger the sidepods were.

[glenn cooper]

Things lookin' mighty tasty, well done!

[Northwind]

That thing looks so good I had to come back and give it a second look.

I hope you and few other of the Florida boys can join up and make it up for the June Sprints (Lane, Beattie).

[Christopher Crowe]

The car looks terrific!

Chris Crowe

[Richard Dziak]

JOhn Paul:

Car looks nice.........what chassis is this? It has the look of many different constructors.

Who designed the diffuser?

Can you tell us a little about what you started with for those of us that don't know.

[Nicholas Belling]

Very impressive.. now go drive that car like you stole and get some seat time.. not garage time.

[ASRF1000]

Very nicely done. I'm very impressed. Always great to see someone's vision come to life. It's one of the great things about this class, that one can be innovative and make changes to a car. I hope the car is as fast as it looks. Again, great job!

Jon Lewis
American Spirit Racing

[Thomas Copeland]

John Paul,

Bring that beautiful thing over here to the West Coast and run it in the F1000 Pro Series where you can get group split starts and find the racing spirited and fun. It's going to be a great year this year. Higher car counts, new sponsors and manufacturer's, more contingencies, and great racing.

You're going wish you had and we'll really miss you if you don't.

Great job on the car.

[starkejt]

John Paul,

Bring that beautiful thing over here to the West Coast and run it in the F1000 Pro Series where you can get group split starts and find the racing spirited and fun. It's going to be a great year this year. Higher car counts, new sponsors and manufacturer's, more contingencies, and great racing.

You're going wish you had and we'll really miss you if you don't.

Great job on the car.

Another advantage to running the West Coast F1000 Pro Series is that all competitors get a free Geartronics system with entry, courtesy of Firman West Cars.

[JohnPaul]

Sooooo, the Friday test at Sebring was eventful. James Lee instructs me that I am only to go out the first couple of sessions and take it very easy, we only want to check temps and make sure the car stays together. We keep the very very old tires on it as a deterrant to my "need for speed". Well, it was raining all night and sort of drizzling/misting that morning and the track was like ice, that is fine and I took it easy on the first lap. The second lap I'm picking up the pace and coming down the straight to the hairpin when I got on the dirt/paint on braking and the car swung 'round and round at 120 mph. Luck was on my side and I came to a nice light "bump" into the tires, my diffuser had a 3" chunk bit off and my rear wing supports acted as a bumper and took all the impact, no real damage, Norman took out the hammer and straightened them out. James checks the video and determined that the slick dirt and paint at the edge of the track and the need for more front brake bias was culpret, but the good news is that all the temps were perfect, water didn't move off 180 and oil temps were right where it needed to be (although oil pressure still isn't as good as we'd like, maybe the engine is need of a refresh) we get the car ready and the weather is starting to look better. Now I'm back out on the next session with sticker tires and a dry track and I have fire in my veins. Ok, fast forward to the 3rd lap: the engine cuts out for a moment but comes back.....Ok, what was that? no problem we'll take a look when I get back into the paddock, no way I'm coming back into the pits I'm high on life and like any other addict I not thinking clearly. I get to the back straight and the motor cuts off completely and I'm on the side of the track. Sh*t what did I do now? it has to be the battery, I got the smaller 2 row when I should have got the 3 row and it's been giving us some problems, that's got to be it. We get the car in and James starts going through it, he has Norman check water levels as usual... it seems low? OK, fill'r up.... why do we hear water splashing around under the motor? seems the water hose to the engine came loose and completely came off... nice... 397 degrees when it shut down.... put a fork in her, she's toast.
So the engine hunt is on... do I look into the kawi? new gsxr? the same 07-08 that came out and same me the headaches of fitting a new motor?

[glenn cooper]

Sorry to hear this latest deveelopment JP.
It seems I suffered a similar fate last year at Sebring.
The weekend prior at Homestaed I had the -4 air bleed come off the swirlpot during the Q. It was basically dry when I came in as it took a gallon to fill it up.
It started and ran, but the damage was done, as the next weekend at Sebring on test day it cooked the #2 rod jornal/bearing/rod w/o actually punching the crankcase.

As the car was brand new prior to Homestead, and performed perfectly, it seems I got every single fastener and connection done properly, save for one, which ended up being a biggie.

I feel your pain.

Call me about an K7/K8 GSXR if ya gotta have one real quick...

I may have a crank and a few piston/rod assemblies if it isn't cooked too bad.

[Brands]

Sorry to hear about your troubles JP. Go with the 07/08 motor. Just drop a new one in and go. If you decide to go down the 09/10 GSXR route (I would recommend that as a winter project) I have all the necessary motor mounts in CAD so you can avoid all my head aches. At least the nose is in one piece! We should have the material in next week in you need a new diffuser.

[Rick Ross]

JP,

I don't know if it would have made any difference, but you may want to consider programming your dash to give an alarm if any of the temps and pressures get out of the normal range. Your specific coolant leak may have been so rapid that an alarm would have been of no value, but it can save your motor in the case of a slow coolant leak.

[JohnPaul]

Here are some pictures from Sebring.

[Jtovo]

You may want to consider running a water pressure gauge. I always did, they are a good idea.

[glenn cooper]

Just spied the exhaust in that one pic. Looks different/cool/Ti(?) than anything I've seen, what can you tell us about it?

Oh yeah, no need for any of the water pressure warning devices - I can guarantee you'll NEVER leave a hose loose again!
(j/k, sorry couldn't resist, Bad Coop)

[JohnPaul]

Just spied the exhaust in that one pic. Looks different/cool/Ti(?) than anything I've seen, what can you tell us about it?

The headers are Ti, it was made by a guy (forgot his name! duh) that Jay Novak recommended, he did an awesome awesome job. Richard at Rilltek made the custom mid pipe made from some super light weight blended aluminum, he did a sick job and it was fast and not expensive. The exhaust can is the orginal Ti that came on the engine when it was assembled made at the Van Diemen factory.

Oh yeah, no need for any of the water pressure warning devices - I can guarantee you'll NEVER leave a hose loose again!

Nope that wont ever happen. Funny thing is I'm pretty sure it was tight but who knows it's in a pretty tight spot and maybe it wasn't as tight as I thought. I wish the pipe was a little bit longer so I can get alittle more hose on it, it never feels secure enough for me.