2012 Nova/KBS F600 rebuild thread

[TDI PILOT]

In April 2015 I bought my F600 Nova/KBS conversion car in Chattanooga, TN. The car was converted then homologated in 2012 by a few owners back with a Novak/Piontek rear clip to accept the GSXR 600 engine. When I purchased the car it was in a well used condition While the car's engine ran great, the car itself needed some attention before it was ready to hit the track. Two weeks later, I used the car to get me through drivers school at Waterford hills...(the first day anyway). I raced the car five times in 2015 and had a few mechanical glitches--my own fault for not having a pre-race checklist. I also had some good races and learned a lot about driving and preparing the car.

That being said, the car really needs some help in order to have its true potential realized. This is what I have planned to make it a nationally competitive ride.

1. Completely new front suspension setup from NovaRace to mimic the design and wheel rates already on the rear of the car.

2. Moving the front lower control arm pickup points higher to bring the roll center height above ground and to compliment the geometry of the rear suspension.

3. New bonded and riveted .090" Aluminum belly pan. The current pan is made up of about 6 or 7 different pieces and some are stainless steel (Heavy) and is in horrible condition.

4. I plan on bead blasting, inspecting, repairing, and powder coating the car frame.

5. New rear suspension uprights and updated rear axle bearings and cassettes.

6. New radiator and air ducting.

7. Installing a sports car nose from T&R Fabrication.

8. Complete body re-paint.

9. Adding to my data system with additional sensors and deletion of the analog gauges on the current cockpit dash.

10. A few new rod ends that didn't get replaced during the season.

11. Rebuild the steering rack or buy a new one.

I'm absolutely sure there will be many more items that will get attention during the rebuild but this is what I have come up with so far.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

[Jnovak]

Cool, we will certainly help you get there. One of these conversions has finished 2nd at the Runoffs the last 2 years so it can be done and they are fast.

I just sent the front rocker model to Dave a day or so ago. I am sure that we have pictures and dimensions of all the front susp mods. I an not a fan of the old spindles.

Keep in touch.

[iamuwere]

It's a good car. Runoffs wins actually (if you don't count the DQ)

[Sully]

I wouldn't powder coat the frame. It's quite difficult to get off if you need to inspect or do any work on it.

I'm trying to find someplace to strip mine at the moment and its a PITA. It will not be powder coated again.

[TDI PILOT]

Good point about it being a pretty thick film build. It may hide cracks in the tube frame as well.

I have a guy that does sand/bead blasting if you want his number. Aircraft stripper in a can from Autozone would work too.

[Sully]

I caked aircraft stripper on a test area and it just made more of a mess.

I tried my cheapo sandblaster and at 125psi with play sand, it pretty much just bounced of

The quote I got from American Metal Cleaning was $12-1400 to have it chemically stripped. Since there are plenty of holes for the fluids to drain, I got them down to $8-900. Still a bit pricey so I'm still looking for other options.

[Jnovak]

I caked aircraft stripper on a test area and it just made more of a mess.

I tried my cheapo sandblaster and at 125psi with play sand, it pretty much just bounced of

The quote I got from American Metal Cleaning was $12-1400 to have it chemically stripped. Since there are plenty of holes for the fluids to drain, I got them down to $8-900. Still a bit pricey so I'm still looking for other options.

I might have a source for you tomorrow.

[formulasuper]

I wouldn't powder coat the frame. It's quite difficult to get off if you need to inspect or do any work on it.

I'm trying to find someplace to strip mine at the moment and its a PITA. It will not be powder coated again.

Agreed, powder coating is not for frames. The fact that it remains flexible means the underlying structure can crack without cracking the powder coat, making it undetectable to the human eye, probably non-human eyes also. Flexibility is also the reason it practically can't be removed by blasting. It's the same with silicone or any flexible/soft material, the blasting media just bounces off.

[sportech]

The best way to get it off is by baking in an oven. International Paint Stripping in Romulas has an oven that is large enough. Call Marc at 734 942-0500. They are always busy so you have the drop it off on Thursday and then pick it up the next week. About $150 and then the sand blasting is only another $100 (different place). The problem with liquid paint is that with as much work that is done on a formula car chassis that it does not look very nice after a year or so. Without the 2 stroke you won't have to worry about cracks as much either.

Dave

[TDI PILOT]

Has anyone had issues with the powder coat hiding cracks in a MC powered F500?

I believe the MC engine has a lot less vibration than the Rotax motors and the frames are less prone to cracking as well.

[Jnovak]

Has anyone had issues with the powder coat hiding cracks in a MC powered F500?

I believe the MC engine has a lot less vibration than the Rotax motors and the frames are less prone to cracking as well.

Correct. The MC has a lot less vibration than the 2 stroke. I have not seen any cracks yet.

[TDI PILOT]

Ok, so I finally got around to starting the disassembly of the car. Dave Piontek completed my parts to convert the front suspension to the NovaRace design. I will have all the KBS front shocks, pushrods, and rockers for sale if anyone is interested. I will mock up the new front suspension pieces before I have the frame painted. I hope to have the whole thing torn down by next week sometime.

[dan_wheeler]

So how do those canister-less pucks work?

I don't have anybody locally that has a Nova that I can look at. There doesn't appear to be any provision for motion at the chassis attachment point nor for travel stops in either bump or rebound. What does one look like disassembled?

[Jnovak]

So how do those canister-less pucks work?

I don't have anybody locally that has a Nova that I can look at. There doesn't appear to be any provision for motion at the chassis attachment point nor for travel stops in either bump or rebound. What does one look like disassembled?

They work good.

3 Runoffs wins + our KBS conversion car with our system all around finished 2nd in the last 2 Runoffs which both were won by NovaKars

[dan_wheeler]

Oh yeah, the performance is self evident from the results. At the risk of hijacking TDI Pilot's thread, I'm asking how they're put together. Their method of function isn't obvious.

[Jnovak]

Oh yeah, the performance is self evident from the results. At the risk of hijacking TDI Pilot's thread, I'm asking how they're put together. Their method of function isn't obvious.

The rubbers are simply compressed between 2 aluminum plates with a simple 3/8" stud going thru all the bits to keep everything aligned. Extremely simple in concept.

The design of the rockers is the hard part. As you probably know elastomers are not linear springs like a conventional coil spring is. The rockers need to be designed such that the actual wheel rate is linear or what ever you want it to be. I have many years and lots of $$ invested in the entire system. I can make the wheel rates anything at all.

[TDI PILOT]

This is what it will look like when complete.

-Eric

[dan_wheeler]

I appreciate the replies, guys. Eric, thanks for letting me muck up your thread.

But those photos show my confusion. There doesn't appear to be any provision for rotation at the chassis attachment point. The rocker end is moving in an arc. Depending on the design, it could be a very small arc, but it's not linear motion. Is the puck just getting compressed asymmetrically? How is it attached to the car?

Thanks.

[TDI PILOT]

There is a small ball joint between the aluminum bridge you see bolted to the frame and the upper aluminum squish plate. The rubber puck and plates can "pivot" slightly preventing any bind.

As Jay said "The rubbers are simply compressed between 2 aluminum plates with a simple 3/8" stud going thru all the bits to keep everything aligned. Extremely simple in concept."

The hole for the 3/8" stud that goes through the aluminum bridge is wallowed out to allow some pivoting of the puck and plates as the suspension goes through its stroke.

Hopefully I haven't just confused you more...sorry

[TDI PILOT]

See ball joints in the picture here in small plastic bags.

-Eric

[TDI PILOT]

While disassembling my car further last weekend I accidentally set off my fire bottle. I'm just glad it wasn't the powder extinguisher agent. Looks like a $400 mistake

[TDI PILOT]

After being out of town for a few weeks on business, I was able to get the rest of the mechanicals out of the car today. Next is removing the belly pan and welding all the holes shut from the old rivets. Ted Johnston from T&R Fabrication will be raising my lower control arm pickup points to bring the roll center location above the ground. This mod will make the front end of my car handle as well as the rear does. The frame will then be sandblasted, inspected, prepped and powder coated shiny black or gray. A new .062" 6061 belly pan will be fitted as well. This is just the beginning!

-Eric

[TDI PILOT]

2-27-16

[TDI PILOT]

Ok, so I had the exhaust header ceramic coated inside and out for insulating purposes. Thanks to QC Coatings of Shelby township, MI. We will be starting on the new sheet metal work this afternoon. New belly pan, intrusion panels, dash, and firewall. The belly pan will be 6061 .062" aluminum. I will be using 5/32" cherry brand countersunk rivets and bonding the pan to the frame. If you look closely the front suspension LCA pick up points have been raised 50mm to optimize the front end geometry and to match the rear roll center height. The front suspension rubber puck mounting beam was fabricated to accept the NOVARACE style rubber suspension system. I also had the flimsy aluminum front bulkhead that holds the brake master cylinders removed and one fabricated from alloy steel for improved brake pedal feel and performance. All fabrication work was done by T&R Fabrication of White Lake, MI.

Lots of work left!

[TDI PILOT]

more pics before paint

[GBugg]

Lookin' good!

[TDI PILOT]

This weekend I managed to finish the belly pan. It was bonded to the frame with loctite Hysol epoxy and 290 5/32" countersunk rivets. I also attached 1/4" thick X 2" wide UHMW skid plate strips down each side of the pods.

[jemartin144]

How thick is the pan? I need to replace mine and im curious what you'e chosen.

[TDI PILOT]

I used .062" 6061 aluminum.

[TDI PILOT]

I've made a little more progress in the last two weeks. I have the car back right side up and have attached some front control arms for measuring purposes. I have the steering rack and tie rods in as well. The front suspension components are mounted temporarily and they look great! Thanks to NovaRace, Piontek Engineering and T&R Fabrication for all the great parts and design work! I had to make a small platform base for my fuel cell as it places the filler out into the left sidepod. I made the platform out of 1" aluminum square stock and 1/8" thick aluminum sheet. I didn't need the 1/8" thickness for strength but in order to match the height of the frame rails to support the fuel cell. I then attached the anti-intrusion panels in the main cockpit area. I will have to fabricate an aluminum enclosure for the fuel cell for safety and aesthetic reasons but that can come later. Just an aluminum box with a hole cut out for the filler cap should work. I ended up using some rubber mat that is meant for tool box drawer liners purchased from Home depot for fuel cell protection from the frame rails and belly pan.
Next task will be installing the new lightweight Willwood brake MC's, and new DynaPro calipers. The pedals will need to be mounted slightly further forward than before to maximize driver comfort. I also need to source a new clutch cable and fab a mounting bracket. Trimming the belly pan around the front tire area will most likely be all I will get done before work takes me out of the country for a month.

-Eric

[TDI PILOT]

Made some more progress in the last week. This work thing really gets in the way of race car building. Trick new billet rear uprights from Piontek engineering/NovaRace use the heavy duty bearings that all the mini sprint guys use.

[TDI PILOT]

More pictures

[TDI PILOT]

Finally got the car together(mostly) and made a local race at Waterford hills. The car still needs some engine tuning, but the new suspension felt great! Huge improvement, thanks to Ted Johnston from T&R fab, Dave Piontek engineering, and NOVARACE. More detailed pics to follow.

-Eric

[Jnovak]

Congrats, a big job well done.

[GBugg]

Nice work! I love the nose-job!

[Jnovak]

Nice work! I love the nose-job!

That is a new nose that TDI makes to fit their chassis. it started life as a Rakavon nose that I sold them. they made it over to fit their car. a great job guys!

I think they must have made a new mold too. sweet

[TDI PILOT]

If nothing else it looks cool

[Jnovak]

Wicked!

[TDI PILOT]

Here is the list of what was done to the car for the rebuild. After I got started, it turned into a complete rebuild top to bottom. I saved the frame, fuel cell, and a few other things. I just didn't want to say later "I wish I would have done this or that". I just raced the car last weekend and need to get it cleaned up, then I will post pictures.



Engine
-2007 Suzuki GSXR 600 engine
-Piontek oil pan
- Power commander 5 with AutoTune module.
-Piontek engineering header with O2 bung for AutoTune
-Header ceramic coated inside and out for heat retention
-Coast Fab stainless muffler freshly packed
-NGK iridium spark plugs
-Holley fuel pickup sock, new design (no fuel surge tank necessary)
-Walbro HP fuel pump
-MagnaFlow FP regulator
-Antigravity battery (weighs 12oz)
-Cleaned and matched fuel injectors
-Engine Ice coolant
-BMC racing air filter
-Silicone radiator hoses
-Aircraft fire sleeve hose sheath in critical areas throughout
-Custom Zeroclearance double firewall
-SS/ceramic insulation engine scatter blanket

Chassis/Suspension
-Bead blasted and powder coated satin black frame
-New .063" 6061 aluminum bonded and countersunk riveted belly pan
-UHMW rub strips on underside of car
-NOVARACE front and rear suspension components (new matched rubber pucks and friction washers)
-LCA pickup points raised 50 mm from stock location to make front roll center compliment rear geometry.
-All front control arms powder coated satin black
-All new suspension bearings and wheel bearings front and rear
-New swedged black aluminum pushrods
-All new Aurora and QC-1 rod ends
-All new AN hardware throughout entire car
-Satin black powder coated (New) Douglas aluminum wheels
-New Wilwood DynaPro front calipers (Very rigid)
-New Willwood lightweight compact master cylinders
-New Willwood pads F&R
-New Kevlar reinforced braided brake lines
-Piontek aluminum brake pedal
-New custom made throttle, clutch, and shifter cables
-Custom Aluminum fuel cell enclosure
-New aluminum cockpit enclosure panels
-NovaRace/Piontek 50mm rear axle with Heavy duty uprights & bearings
-New EK ZVX3 530 Gold chains
-Martin hardened steel primary gears
-New Ceramic jack shaft bearings
-Gun drilled jackshaft for reduced weight
-Rebel gear split rear aluminum sprockets
-New radiator and Oil cooler air ducting
-MOMO wheel

Safety
-New Firebottle fire suppression system with 2 discharge nozzles (cockpit and header/oilpan areas)
-Racequip Hans style belts
-Custom made 5.5 gallon Fuelsafe cell
-SCCA approved fuel sample port
-LED Rain light

Body
-Preform Resources rear diffuser with UHMW rub strips
-All new paint Ford Race red w/2K clear
-SFI foam seat covered in carbon X
-Carbon fiber rear diffuser plates
-TR-1 Sports car nose with UHMW splitters
-TR-1 Body sanded down and lightened as much as possible


Data
-AIM MXL2 Data system with oil pressure, oil temp, water temp, fuel pressure, GPS sensors
- AIM wired into K-line ECM for all engine parameters including manifold pressure and throttle position

-Eric