Build thread on Groot 2

[t walgamuth]

I'm working on it.

[alangbaker]

I have started dipsticking the gas tank to see how full it is. It works fine.

Your car has a Honda, and therefore, it has a high pressure electric fuel pump.

If you have a fuel sampling port, just use the port and the pump to pump the cell dry and then add the precise amount of fuel you want.

[t walgamuth]

Your car has a Honda, and therefore, it has a high pressure electric fuel pump.

If you have a fuel sampling port, just use the port and the pump to pump the cell dry and then add the precise amount of fuel you want.

Thanks very much!

I'll keep that in mind.

[t walgamuth]

I got the full face shield attached to my helmet yesterday. It looks like it will work fine.

[davidbrown02]

Hi Tom,
Honestly, Nice choice and I know you gonna love it. Enjoy!!

[t walgamuth]

Thanks David! I am loving it so far.

[t walgamuth]

I am planning to relocate my battery to somewhere more accessible and less in the way of my feet getting in. The obvious place is in the nose but I am also going to look around the motor area. The battery is so light it does not matter much where I put it.

[t walgamuth]

Prepping the car this week to run at Columbus In on Sunday. I'm changing the oil, topping the coolant, putting on my rain tires and perhaps softening the anti sway a bit.

What oil are people using in their fit motors?

[t walgamuth]

Pretty nice day today in Columbus IN. Didn't rain but the wind was pretty cold. I ran in the first group with my rain tires. They did not seem to give much grip. They felt pretty good until they would let go suddenly. I am pretty sure the slicks would have been better. Car ran perfectly all day. ldling like a stock honda!

[Jim Garry]

Solo Rules, 4.3.1
Full face or modular helmets shall be worn while competing in an open wheel car, formula car, or kart.

[t walgamuth]

When I drive this car there is barely room for me. I am about 5' 7 and weigh just under 200#. My legs are not that big or long any more and I have a wide ribcage. I can just see my belt connections over my grandpa belly. I could not fit in yesterday with my coat on, so I wore a long sleeve shirt and my thermal vest.

Getting back in the swing of getting all the five point belts fastened, was a bit of a challenge after the months long layoff for winter. The trick is to not sit on any of them getting in and remembering to loosen the shoulder straps before unhooking them. I cannot have anything in my pants pockets either.

My shoes which, I had modified the pedals to clear last season, were catching a bit on the edges. I had them resoled last fall and they added new wearing surface on the bottom, so I'll have to take that and get the bottom edges chamfered a bit. As for steering the car, the steering is a bit too slow and requires more turning than wanted. I found myself hitting a cone because my elbow was catching on a frame tube on the left. Then I remembered that I had to shuffle my hands to get it over and back on tight corners. Perhaps a bit of opposite lock would have done the trick as an alternative.

I may see how much it would cost to reduce the turns needed. My Lotus had one turn lock to lock but used electric assist. This Van Dieman has 2.2 or so turns.

I had a great time and stopped for two naps on the two hour drive home.

I am still grinning.

No more rain tires in the cold for me.

[t walgamuth]

Solo Rules, 4.3.1
Full face or modular helmets shall be worn while competing in an open wheel car, formula car, or kart.

Thanks Jim! I'm looking into the modular helmet option. That looks like something I can use with my glasses.

[Jim Garry]

You're welcome.

Regarding the issue of getting into the car and sitting on the belts, all autocrossers know this is a bigger problem for us than for road racers because of the number of times we have to get into the car over a short period of time.

One thing I've done is to use velcro to stick the lap belts up onto the cockpit sides. Just a suggestion.

[t walgamuth]

You're welcome.

Regarding the issue of getting into the car and sitting on the belts, all autocrossers know this is a bigger problem for us than for road racers because of the number of times we have to get into the car over a short period of time.

One thing I've done is to use velcro to stick the lap belts up onto the cockpit sides. Just a suggestion.

I have thought about that option. So though far inertia has won out over ambition in this subject.

[lowside67]

As for steering the car, the steering is a bit too slow and requires more turning than wanted. I found myself hitting a cone because my elbow was catching on a frame tube on the left. Then I remembered that I had to shuffle my hands to get it over and back on tight corners. Perhaps a bit of opposite lock would have done the trick as an alternative.

I may see how much it would cost to reduce the turns needed. My Lotus had one turn lock to lock but used electric assist. This Van Dieman has 2.2 or so turns.

Phil has already installed faster steering arms than stock, but you could certainly have some even faster arms made. I can't remember the exact look of them, but if you look, there might be a possibility of simply drilling a hole in the existing arm a bit closer to the upright; it might not be truly ideal from a geometry standpoint but would certainly accomplish the short term goal of speeding the steering up.

You might also consider whether it's possible to either take a bit out of the seat so your legs and stomach are a bit lower in the car, to give you more clearance to steer easier.

-Mark

[CM/FFdriver]

I may see how much it would cost to reduce the turns needed. My Lotus had one turn lock to lock but used electric assist. This Van Dieman has 2.2 or so turns.

2.2 Turns ???? look into getting a different Rack something seems wrong, my car has 3/4 turn Rack lock to lock. And another reason I love my car so much.

Ok I'm going to Edit my post because I just went over the Video's from the 2017 National's with Mark and me are on the same course, our hands are in the same place through out the whole course, Mark had a little more push then me but different parts of the course our hand are the same.



Ben

[lowside67]

2.2 turns seems high to my memory... When we drove the car, we had a wheel with a cutout at the top (aka no shuffle steering possible) and I never needed to go more than around 90 degrees each direction, maybe 100-110 in the most extreme hairpins at local autocross.

-Mark

[t walgamuth]

Phil has already installed faster steering arms than stock, but you could certainly have some even faster arms made. I can't remember the exact look of them, but if you look, there might be a possibility of simply drilling a hole in the existing arm a bit closer to the upright; it might not be truly ideal from a geometry standpoint but would certainly accomplish the short term goal of speeding the steering up.

You might also consider whether it's possible to either take a bit out of the seat so your legs and stomach are a bit lower in the car, to give you more clearance to steer easier.

-Mark[/LEFT]

Hey don't blame my stomach! I can see my feet now.

I'll take another look at my turns lock to lock and the steering arm.

[t walgamuth]

Thanks Jim! I'm looking into the modular helmet option. That looks like something I can use with my glasses.

So is there a source for modular helmets that is recommended. I see all the ones I got when searching are advertised for motorcycling. It makes me worry if they know what we need in SCCA.

[Lynn]

Snell M rated helmets are legal for autocross, but not road racing.

[TedV]

So is there a source for modular helmets that is recommended. I see all the ones I got when searching are advertised for motorcycling. It makes me worry if they know what we need in SCCA.

Helmet must have decals listed https://www.scca.com/downloads/48190...11-08/download

My modular motorcycle helmet from Nolan has the ECE 22.05 certified label if purchased in Europe but only has the DOT label here in the USA even though it is the same helmet. Make sure it has the label attached to the helmet or it will not pass.

[t walgamuth]

Thanks Guys!

[t walgamuth]

I did find a full face I can wear and bought it. It is a RaceQuip full face....flat black...pretty cool looking..

today my question is about the half shafts. Is there a way to tell if I have solid or drilled axles?

[t walgamuth]

Hey don't blame my stomach! I can see my feet now.

I'll take another look at my turns lock to lock and the steering arm.

It is 1.25 turns lock to lock.

[t walgamuth]

I had the mysterious chassis issue last week. I had heard some rattling when it was up on stands some time back so I suspected something odd with the bearing or cv. Then Phil suggested it might be bottoming out so I checked pressure in the penske shocks....finding them from 51 to 65#. I also took a very close look at the cv joints and drive shafts. I decided the rattling was just the floating calipers advertising themselves.

So I called around and finally found a shop in Brownsburg that would add gas so I took them down there. Gassing them cost me $5 ea. He also will rebuild them so I plan to run them as is keeping an eye on the pressure and get them gone through in the off season.

I looked around his shop. He must have nearly 4000 SF. A handful of employees working on shocks and lots of shocks of different sizes but all looking very similar. I asked him if he shipped all over the country and he said, yes and the world.

So I will put it all back together and send the cv joint back to Pegasus that I ordered early in the week.

[t walgamuth]

So my shocks to begin with had from 51 to 65 # gas and now have 100. Will the increase in pressure cause the car to ride higher?

[alangbaker]

So my shocks to begin with had from 51 to 65 # gas and now have 100. Will the increase in pressure cause the car to ride higher?

A small amount, yes.

[t walgamuth]

A small amount, yes.

Thanks Alan!

Would a quarter of an inch be a good estimate?

[chrisw52]

Thanks Alan!

Would a quarter of an inch be a good estimate?

With that much change in pressure, I would recheck the ride height and do a full alignment

[t walgamuth]

With that much change in pressure, I would recheck the ride height and do a full alignment

Good idea!

[t walgamuth]

In reinstalling the shocks in the car I discovered that I think I am missing some centering bushings on the bolt that holds the shock in. The Penske shock guy in NC did not know what I was talking about. I tried to find an image of one but so far had no luck. I am hoping to avoid taking the shock off and photographing it etc.

Anybody know what they are called and or where i can get a few?

[Barry Ott]

Maybe these:

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=3077-050

[t walgamuth]

Thanks Barry! Those look very promising, I will go measure carefully now.

[Jim Garry]

Hi Tom,

If the shoulder bushings were missing from even just one shock, that would cause serious handling issues.

[OneWayOut]

I think Penske refers to these as "Eyelet Bushings". Basically a rod end spacer/reducer for the shock attachment point.

https://mrpmotorsports.com/penske-eyelet-bushing/

Primus probably has some, but they only list a generic one for the wishbones on their website. I would call.

https://www.primusracingparts.com/Sp...14_p_1539.html

[t walgamuth]

Hi Tom,

If the shoulder bushings were missing from even just one shock, that would cause serious handling issues.

All of the shocks had at least one shoulder bushing at.each end..looks like two are needed

[alangbaker]

All of the shocks had at least one shoulder bushing at.each end..looks like two are needed

Two are DEFINITELY needed.

When I first got my RF98, one of the corners (left rear) had a single shoulder bushing on the bottom and just a stack of washers to take up the space between the shock's spherical bearing and the bellcrank. I could definitely feel the extra move in the suspension.

So I had this fabbed by my next door neighbour to my garage:

[t walgamuth]

Two are DEFINITELY needed.

When I first got my RF98, one of the corners (left rear) had a single shoulder bushing on the bottom and just a stack of washers to take up the space between the shock's spherical bearing and the bellcrank. I could definitely feel the extra move in the suspension.

So I had this fabbed by my next door neighbour to my garage:

On mine the bolt in the center is bigger in back compared to the front.

[alangbaker]

On mine the bolt in the center is bigger in back compared to the front.

Mine too. On the front shock mounts on the oil tank, the posts are the same diameter as the spherical bearings hole, and there is only a very small bushing (about 3/64" in thickness both axially and radially) that you put between the bearing and the washer and nut.

The bushing has a taper on one side that meshes with the slight chamfer of the bearing.

[t walgamuth]

Mine too. On the front shock mounts on the oil tank, the posts are the same diameter as the spherical bearings hole, and there is only a very small bushing (about 3/64" in thickness both axially and radially) that you put between the bearing and the washer and nut.

The bushing has a taper on one side that meshes with the slight chamfer of the bearing.

Thanks Alan!