Maverick F600 conversion by NovaRace & Piontek Engineering

[Jnovak]

Final assembly of Fred Edwards Maverick conversion is happening. All the frame mods are complete, belly pans and other sheet metal is on. This particular car will essentially be a brand new car as it is being TOTALLY REBUILT.
Designed by NovaRace, all fabrication and machine work by Dave Piontek of Piontek Engineering.

Here are a few of the key elements of the conversion:
1. Uses all the existing rear suspension. This is the 1st car that we have been comfortable with using the existing rear suspension and axle. This dramatically reduces the cost for this conversion as you do not have to cut the back of the car off.

2. We are using the new Maverick 50mm left side drive axle assembly. If your car has this you will not need to get one.

3. The chain final drive is direct to the axle using our newly designed and machined output shaft extension using a splined motorcycle sprocket.

4. No chain idler or tensioner required as we have optimized the chain geometry for this package.

5. Any final drive ratio you want you can get. Short tracks, long tracks etc.

6. Totally stock rear suspension, rubber canisters, WOB link etc. Adjusts exactly like your current Maverick.

7. Suzuki GSXR600 engine with NovaRace wet sump & 4 into 1 exhaust with side exit muffler for that F1 screaming sound.

8. Uses existing 2 radiator setup with additional oil cooler. This baby will cool properly.

9. Simple fuel cell mods for fuel injection system. Baffled fuel well in fuel cell.

10. Frame mods are relatively simple with a bolt on top of frame structure and 5 tubes and associated brackets welded to the chassis. To remove the engine you remove the bolt on top top frame structure and lift the engine straight up.
Please see the attached pictures to whet your appetite for really cool F600 cars.

See the removable top structure. Also note the aluminum bolt in headrest.


Rear view, note that the back of the chassis is totally unchanged except for the added bungs for the bolt on top. This keeps the costs low for a conversion.


Front side view of completely rebuilt and powder coated frame.

Fuel cell
sheet metal etc.


Fuel pump/filter/regulator


I will be posting pics and status every couple of days. We plan on delivering the car to Fred around October 1st.
Once we finalize all the costs we will be posting a complete price list for a Nova-Maverick F600 conversion.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[dc]

I love it, Jay, keep the updates coming!

[Chris Elwell]

What tracks does Fred normally run at?

Chris

[Jnovak]

What tracks does Fred normally run at?

Chris

Great Lakes and Cen-Div. I think he is planning on doing the ARRC too.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[sportech]

While Jay is burning the midnight oil to get ready for the run-offs I'll take over and try to post the update photos myself. We have had a number of problems with new parts that were supplied for the build. It seems that there are a couple of levels of steering arms, brackets and upper control arms. We had a mixture of levels and is was confusing to say the least. The brake pedal had to be moved over to make room for the clutch. This is a very tight pedal package. Only 10" side to side.

Dave Piontek
Piontek Engineering Inc.

[clint]

Nice work!

[sportech]

The Sprocket Extension Shaft arrived and we have it installed. This allows us to use the existing Scorpion 50mm read axle with the chain run in the same location. It bolts to a splined plate in place of the Suzuki sprocket and is supported by a self aligning bearing which is bolted to a 3/8" aluminum plate. With everything clamped tight, the shaft rotates freely!! Also shown is the radiator fill tank, oil cooler block off plate and the powdercoated header.

Dave Piontek
Piontek Engineering Inc.

[Christopher Crowe]

What material is the car's floor?

Thanks,

Chris

[sportech]

Chris,

It's fiberglass and aluminum.

Dave

[clint]

Lookin good guys! I like the way the conversion turned out!

[Stan Clayton]

Nice piece of kit, Dave...really nice!

BTW, in the rear-aspect photo showing the rear axle sprocket the distance between it and the drive sprocket looks really short. Is that a product of the photo, or are they substantially closer than one would find on a motorcycle, and if the latter do you anticipate any chain cooling issues? Thanks!

[jim murphy]

Nice piece of kit, Dave...really nice!

BTW, in the rear-aspect photo showing the rear axle sprocket the distance between it and the drive sprocket looks really short. Is that a product of the photo, or are they substantially closer than one would find on a motorcycle, and if the latter do you anticipate any chain cooling issues? Thanks!

Not only cooling but the tightening/loosening of the chain as the suspension moves up and down. We had to move the chain sprocket next to the 4 link front pivot point to fix this problem, thus the 2nd chain.

Jim

[sportech]

The center to center distance is about 13". We have run DSR cars with C to C of 14" with 200 hp and 145 top speed. 13" should be fine wit the smaller engine. I have run street cars (1325cc on nitrous) with chain C to C of 9", but I don't run the high continuous speeds of race cars. Jay will alter the suspension trailing arm geometry slightly to correct for any change of length issues.

Dave Piontek

[iamuwere]

See point four in the OP. Jay doesn't mess around with this sort of stuff. He makes it work right. I had watched the rear of Brian's Novacar long enough to know it works until I got tired of chasing it and moved to another class...

[Jnovak]

Testing with the Maverick next week! Looking very tidy. This may be the best F600 yet.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[dc]

Any full body shots of the car yet?

[tedsimmons2]

What's the material between the headers and firewall? Does it afford protection from the dreaded rod failure results?

[Jnovak]

There are actually 2 firewalls on the car Ted. The visible one from the rear is a composite material of 3 layers for insulation. The front firewall is .06" aluminum sheet. In-between the firewalls is 1" of ceramic insulation. There will also be a small heat shield between the headers and the crankcase.

We are doing setup today and tomorrow. Will test next week. More pics of the completed car as soon as Dave and I can take a deep breath.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[tedsimmons2]

Has this conversion made it to the track for a shakedown test yet?

I notice you have removed the stock oil to water cooler and installed a fairly large oil to air cooler. In speaking with some individuals who have run converted cars there seems to be an issue with controlling oil temps - no surprise there. Did/does the larger oil to air cooler bring the oil temps down to manageable levels?

Ted

[Jnovak]

Has this conversion made it to the track for a shakedown test yet?

I notice you have removed the stock oil to water cooler and installed a fairly large oil to air cooler. In speaking with some individuals who have run converted cars there seems to be an issue with controlling oil temps - no surprise there. Did/does the larger oil to air cooler bring the oil temps down to manageable levels?

Ted

Hi Ted, our test schedule has been slightly delayed due to a couple of parts we received that did not fit. The car is drivable right now and we have a scheduled track test in about 10 days. As usual this 600 sounds so cool it is amazing.

We have been using my (formerly mine) NovaKar F600 as our development car. Our testing has shown that the factory stock oil cooler cannot keep the oil temps low enough. We have used a very low cost B&M (Long brand) oil cooler with good results. That is the cooler in the pics above. The cooler costs about $90 and it is the same oil cooler we used to win the Runoffs in F1000 last year. We expect that this cooler will get the job done in the Maverick as it works very well in the NovaKar F600.

Our long term goal is to develop a simple cooling system with 1 radiator & 1 oil cooler to keep the costs as low as possible. We have actually tested such a configuration with success, however it would not package in the Maverick chassis.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[clint]

The oil temps we are seeing is 212 (high) and 193 (high) on the water. In most cases we are around the 189 mark for the water and 208 on the oil. We will start blocking some of the oil cooler to get the oil up to temp a bit more in the near future. One reason we havent went with a smaller oil cooler yet is because we havent went to the hottest parts of the US. We are close in temps at Savannah in july but I would tend to think places like Texas and Arizona would be the ultimate place to test the cooling ability of the setup we are using.

[Jnovak]

Clints temps are right in the ball park of what we are seing in the NovaKar. Will post the results from testing with the Maverick when the testing is complete.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[Jnovak]

Hi Everyone, the Maverick conversion to F600 for Fred Edwards is nearly done. We put the car on the ground and it is VERY close to being ready to test. Test days are next Saturday and possible Sunday.
Here are some additional pics of the chassis.

This is a good shot of the output shaft extension used to place the sprocket inline with the rear axle sprocket. Now everyone will ask "how can the chain length be so different from the control arm lengths?"
Remember that the total suspension travel of an F600 or an F500 is about 2.5" to 3" maximum. By carefull placement of the engine and by adjusting the geometry of the trailing arms we can keep the sprocket center to center distance well within reason for the total range of the wheel travel. All of this geometry work is completed in SolidWorks before the car is built.



Here is a picture of the oil cooler. This is a $90 B&M (Long Industries) oil cooler that we have used with great success in many cars including our Runoffs winning F1000 and our ARRC winning F600. Very low cost solution.



Rear view of the chassis with all the engine stuff in place. Note that the exhaust goes out the back of the car. Our typical side outlet exhaust will not fit on the Maverick.



Another right side shot. You will note that the car has 2 radiators. Our new NovaKar F600 will have 1 radiator and 1 oil cooler to simplify the plumbing. We could not go the single radiator for the Maverick as it would have required much modification to the side pods and ducts so we stayed with the Maverick package.



Left side front view. Note that the radiators and the left side duct work is standard Maverick. There is a mod to the right side exit duct to fit the oil cooler but everything else is stock. Note that we are using the stock GSXR airbox as it fits very nicely in the chassis. We will eventually be doing a dedicated airbox that can be used on any F600.



Front view that shows the new right radiator exit duct which integrates right into the existing radiator package. Also note our newest version of our paddle shifter. Very slick and it also has our mechanically operated throttle blipper that works on downshifts. The only time you need the clutch is when starting from a stop.



Tomorrow we hope to drive it around a bit for a systems check. More news and perhaps a short video in the next day or 2. Full body shot of the completed car tomorrow so stay tuned.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[chris huskamp]

The conversion looks excellent.

[2BWise]

Nicely done conversion. I really like the simplicity of it. Nothing too outrageous, just simple well designed solutions. What is the weight distribution of the car with driver? How about fully fueled? Just curious as the motor is sitting way back, very near the rear axle.

[Jnovak]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. i do not have the scale numbers with me here at home so I am not sure what the weight distrubution is but it is a bit heavier in the rear. We are going to rescale the car tomorrow or Friday as we have had several new suspension pieces on the car since last week. The total weight of the car with me (200 lbs) is 845 lbs with 2 gal fuel.

I drove the car around Dave's shop neighborhood yesterday. It is a little monster, pulls really hard but I did not use more than about 9000 rpm. We will leave that up to Fred.

Been way to busy to take anymore pics, more later.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[Jnovak]

Drove it a couple of days ago. Even though I only went to about 50+mph it gets there mighty quick.



_________________
Thanks ... Jay Novak
SCCA member for 44 years

[lancer360]

Looking forward to racing against Fred and this car at the ARRC. Hopefully you can make it down. Let me know if you need me to add you onto my crew list. I still have a couple of spots open.

[Jnovak]

First test day today at Gingerman for Fred Edward's Maverick F600. The car ran 4 sessions in very cold weather in the afternoon (rain all morning).

Water and oil temps way under 180 deg F. Fred managed to use 15,500 RPM a few times while learning to shift the car. Other than a minor clutch slipping in the last session no problems at all. We did adjust the chain tension and reduce the fuel pressure after the 1st session.

Pictures and video tomorrow. Brrrr

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[JRMarchand]

Looks great in person, good job

[Jnovak]

Here are some pics of Fred's car at Gingerman. No comments just the pics. The next outing will be the ARRC. Fred got 4 sessions in the afternoon. It rained all morning.






Thanks ... Jay Novak

[lancer360]

Looks good! Tell Fred he needs to hurry up and register. Registration closes on the 29th.

[Northwind]

That sure is a foxy car. How about some audio to go with those pictures. In the case of F600 isn't sound worth a thousand words also?

[sportech]

Search for Freds F600 on Youtube, or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5g8JWWpa0U

Dave Piontek