Factory 48

[Joefisherff]

Looks great PF and as Dave W. stated great workmanship too. I continue to marvel at the sheer amount of talent that resides on this board. It never ceases to amaze me on the quality of race cars that this group turns out, PF's is the latest example and I can't wait to see it at speed!

Joe

[R. Pare]

Froggie:

The wheels would look great if they were the same color as the front wing end plates.

[Purple Frog]

Richard,

I agree with you. I miss those day-glo yellow BBS wheels that were on the Tatuus in '05.
Janice always liked them because she could easily spot me as I came under the bridge at Road Atlanta.

I'm half way done fitting the new diffuser. Most of the body panels 'sort of' fit. And i've yet to start putting a set up on her. So...

I've decided not to race in CMP next weekend. There is just too much left to do. I figure another 25 hours. And I need to go back to real work. If it was the end of the season, and a championship race I would push on, but not in late March. Time to earn some money to pay the MasterCard that Averill is hitting like a junkie.

[Revs2-12k]

Hmmmmm. No posts since March 21st.

Somethings up....you'd think after VIR, he'd put his nose to the grindstone & finish the project.

So, when will you unveil the car, Mike?

Any chance at Jim Stark April 24/25th at Roebling Rd? So you can excercise that demon at turn 9?

As of today, we've got 6FC's, for a total of 14 in Group 7 (FA+FE, FB & CSR/DSR)

[RacerDave51]

...7 FC's--Marc Stern is in! Is it possible the Purple Prince is...well shall we say... no we better not

[Purple Frog]

I have not seen the car nor shop in over 3 weeks. I have at least 35 more hours of work on it to be ready to test it, and a lot more money. If i work to try to make the money, I can't be at the shop doing a rebuild. The pro season has started. I had hoped to be done before that. No plans in the near future.

[Larry]

When I have the time, I don't have the money, and
when I have the money, I don't have the time.

I had a period in my career that I refer to as "My year of semi-retirement." No job, and lots of projects that I wanted to do, but no money. I'm facing somewhat the same situation right now in that I want to retire and do some personal things, but if I retire, the paycheck stops and the money goes away. This is all a result of marrying the girl I loved instead of the rich girl.

Larry Oliver
International Racing Products

[ghoneycutt]

When I have the time, I don't have the money, and
when I have the money, I don't have the time.

I had a period in my career that I refer to as "My year of semi-retirement." No job, and lots of projects that I wanted to do, but no money. I'm facing somewhat the same situation right now in that I want to retire and do some personal things, but if I retire, the paycheck stops and the money goes away. This is all a result of marrying the girl I loved instead of the rich girl.

Larry Oliver
International Racing Products

Convince her to work 2 jobs so you can retire....problem solved!

[kea]

Greg,
Great idea!
Is this how you go racing?

[RacerDave51]

Sorry you won't be there Mike. Is was looking forward to seeing that look on your face that seems to be saying "...why aren't you going faster in that car!?"

Maybe Atlanta?

[Purple Frog]

The newest goal had been to run at the double SARRC regional next weekend at Roebling Road. Weeks ago the motor was running and things were looking possible. About two weeks ago i noticed a 'film' on the floor of the car. I wiped it up and the next day it was back. Smelled like fuel. Never any real noticable liquid, just a thin film. It can't be leaking a tablespoon in three weeks by my measuring.

I have pulled the cell and it doesn't leak per say. It just looks like it is damp in a zillion little places. It is a June 1988 unit. I guess next week I'll be communicating with Hartwig, and start saving up some more money. It probably has been like that for years, but with the floor now sealed tight it became noticable. That is the deal breaker for April.

I can continue to do final fit on the diffuser and assorted body panels in my spare time. And throw weights in the fuel cell box and work on the whole new setup.

Usually by May I have enough races in to skip the hot Southern summer and coast until Fall.

I must admit this was a bit of a disheartning turn, even for a ol' veteran such as I. This whole process has run way over any initial budget both in terms of money and time spent.

[RussMcB]

Sorry to hear about another bump in the road, but the good part is you discovered it when it is relatively easy to address. At least it's not like our buddy GR who discovered it at the track and couldn't race.

My hunch is Eagle (or Hartwig) can reseal without a major effort. My experience with Eagle (a complete new custom cell) had surprisingly fast turn around, so maybe this set back isn't quite as bad as initially seems.

Good luck.

[DaveW]

...I have pulled the cell and it doesn't leak per say. It just looks like it is damp in a zillion little places. It is a June 1988 unit. I guess next week I'll be communicating with Hartwig, and start saving up some more money. It probably has been like that for years, but with the floor now sealed tight it became noticable. That is the deal breaker for April....
I must admit this was a bit of a disheartning turn, even for a ol' veteran such as I. This whole process has run way over any initial budget both in terms of money and time spent.

Darn! I know exactly how you feel. Sounds familiar, like the way I felt missing 2008 because my car wasn't completed in time...

At this point, IMO, just do it right, ease off a bit, and go with the flow. There's not much you can do otherwise, and it'll be much better for your sanity.

[FC63F]

Mike,

I know the feeling - so for a good goal - come on up to the Ohio Valley Region National Regional at Mid Ohio - You can go regional or National or Both - Steve Myers is running and I would bet that several of your friends from up here are also running - May 22 and 23rd at Mid Ohio - Good Therapy!

David Keep

[DanW]

Mike,

We feel for ya. Consider sending the cell off to Eagle. Ask them if its repairable. If they can fix it for a reasonable cost, you are good to go along with some fresh foam.

If not, you are out nothing til you pull the trigger on a new one.

Good luck.

[Purple Frog]

Keep,

When I saw Myer's post about M-O i initially thought, "That would be fun."

Then, i realized it costs me about $400 more to haul to M-O versus Road Atlanta the same weekend. Still want to do some GLC events with larger CFC fields...

Averill is always trying to get me to Grattan and Waterford.

[FC63F]

Mike,

It would be great if you could make any of the GLC events - good people and good competition. I obviously like Waterford - a mere 30 minutes from home and of course Grattan is a great deal of fun with the jump. I look forward to trying out the new asphalt this summer.

I hope your car finishes up well and we see you run up North.

David Keep

[Purple Frog]

I saved up a few more coins and went back to spending on Pollywog.

The fuel bladder is at Hartwig being updated. $$$

I have been toying with a new style rub strip for the front underside. The stock aluminum bars are relatively inexpensive. They are also relatively ugly aero wise.
I have been thinking of making a skid plate out of Delrin, but the cost from McMaster-Carr scared me. Then yesterday at was at my local machinist shop (S&D Machine,Crawfordville FL), and in his scrap pile was an odd shaped piece of thick Delrin... You'll notice all the intentional mentions of one of my newest sponsors.

I went ahead and shaped it and installed. It does weigh about half the aluminum bars.

Also, I finished up installing slightly used modern VD diffuser (Thank You ZSports!). It actually is a early Radon design.

I think most fabrication is complete.

I borrowed 200+ pounds of steel bars from S&D Machine (Crawfordville, FL), and I'm about ready to start trying to put a setup on the car.

OBTW, Mrs. Frog and I would love to run the GLC at M-O. But A trip to M-O costs us about $400 more than a trip to Road Atlanta. BP turned down my proposal for their sponsorship about three weeks ago saying it looked like a disaster. Little did they know...

[Steve Demeter]

For future reference HDPE makes a good front rubstrip like yours and it does not cost anything like Delrin.

[Purple Frog]

One would have thought I died and went to heaven. I admit I was grinning a bit.

The rebuilt fuel cell showed up at the swamp yesterday at 3:30 pm. 27 hours later i was doing a shake down cruise around the Road Atlanta paddock.

Need to adjust the shifter, and the front wing endplates. But, she started, ran, shifts, stops, and nothing fell off or leaked.

$7,519 dollars, and 266 man hours later, we were rolling again.

Many, many people to thank:

Dave Boudreau, S & D Machine, Crawfordville
Kevin Roberts, Kevin's Machine, Crawfordville
Keith Averill
John @ Two Dogg
Pat Prince (pure genius)
Rob St. Clair, St. Clair Motorsports
Glen Phillips, GTP
Dallas Lambert, Moonlight Welding
Richard Fogleman
Steve Thomson, Z Sports Mid West
Kelly Sheet Metal, Tallahassee
Tim @ Safequip

and all the cheerleaders at Apexspeed...

But most of all, Janice (Mrs. Frog), who had to endure the process and bleed the brakes.

OBTW, I'm 6'0"... think that roll hoop is tall enough?

[rickb99]

Looks great Frog!!

But, who did you have to pay off to do a lap with NO helmet?

[nulrich]

She's here? Was that the noise I heard earlier? Thought someone was doing donuts or trying to outrun the six million police cars (all with their lights flashing) at Road Atlanta.

Can't wait to see!

Nathan

[glenn cooper]

She's a beaut!
Job well done.

[jdp526]

Car looks great! Looks like body work/paint turned out very well.

[Purple Frog]

I'm guessing this thread is near the end.

I took the car out in the first practice session on Thursday with the 30+ F2000 cars at Road Atlanta. The plan was to run a few laps, bring her in and look her over. That was a hard plan to execute. Once i was on course and the tires were hot, i sure didn't want to come in. It was a pure blast to be driving Road Atlanta again.

I need to adjust the shifter a bit, and paint the front wings endplates silver. And Mrs. Frog thinks the dayglo helmet has to go to silver. Other than that it's time to go racing somewhere.

Obtw, between my diet (-15 lb.), and the work on lightening the car, I think we can hit the scales at 1200 lb.

[montfort]

Ditch the helmet, it makes your head look big.

[RacerDave51]

Not bad:

P8 48 Mike Eakin 1:26.994 105.111 Lap 1 +1.053

New cam & flywheel?

[kea]

Mike,
Car looks great, as I thought it would.
You should be very proud of all the work you did.
I hope the wing numbers worked for you.
Call me with the details when you have time.

[Beartrax]

Mike - The car looks great.
My "sources" tell me you put down some great lap times. Please share the story with the Apexspeed community.

[Purple Frog]

Don't buy that 26.9 lap. In my dreams. It's a completre hoax.

We did that as a practical joke for the F2000 crowd. I was not even out in that Thursday 3rd session. Brad "inserted" me as the second fastest pinto. Then we sat back and watched all the competitors come by the Series trailer and pick up the results. We actually had a few of them going for a while there.

I only ran the first test session, while all the kids that had never seen the track were still learning the place. I was probably turning 1:33 - 1:35, with a theoretical possible 1:30.8. I never really pushed it, and the shifter problem prevented ever getting a clean lap. The fastest official SCCA lap I have ever done with this car was a 1:31.9. I do believe the new rebuilt car is faster than that. But... not on it's first few laps after a frame up. I was so slow through T1 it was embarassing.

It was interesting looking at pictures of me coming into T10 with the pro cars. In the photos it looks like my car is at least a foot narrower in track. It's easy to see the advances that 20 years has brought. i'm feeling very 'vintage".

[jim morgan]

Not bad, looking good and going fast enough to win th ARRC on a shakedown. I still think the offer from a professional test driver would have shown us how well the car was built.

[RacerDave51]

Sounds like you had some fun with the youngsters...

Any chance of you doing the Kershaw SARRC?

[Purple Frog]

Dave,

I'm trying to decide between the Atlanta National, or the Kershaw double SARRC. Before the incident at last year's SIC, the plan was to put Pollywog in the '10 Runons.

Because Atlanta is closer, it is cheaper, and a great track... but only a single.

We have always enjoyed the Memorial Day event at Kershaw. kershaw is like a 10 hour tow. Compared to Atlanta, Kershaw is less attractive as a track, and I dislike the sandy paddock and impound. But, If i could get in three SARRC races, i could get back to the SIC and finish up some business.

And there is that little race in Indy on that weekend that we might spectate.

I'm really not sure i have the coin to do either.

[RacerDave51]

10 hrs for us too...

How 'bout this--win the SARRC this year & do the RunOffs in 2011... Are there enough Nationals left in the SE to qualify for 2010 anyway? Don't have the schedule in front of me.

Anyway, hope you can make it. Look at it this way--yet another chance to WHOOP up on the "purple pretender"

[Purple Frog]

I really didn't think I had anything else to post on this thread...

For the first time in 12 years I have scales and a scale pad at the shop. Isn't that pitiful? And some of you thought i was a serious racer? So to do setups i need about 190 lb of weight to throw in the car. I have used a whole bunch of barbell/free weights, and iron bars i borrowed from S&D Machine (Crawfordville Florida, great sponsor, thus the mention ) These are rather bulky and hard to place easily.

Also, some of my preliminary weighing is putting Pollywog dang close to this new ridiculously high FC minimum weight of 1200 lb. For the first time in my career, i may need ballast... Un frekking believable!

I have seen the inside of DaveW's van. So i know the volume of concrete blocks, iron weights, boards, etc. he hauls all over the country to be able to effect a setup by himself. I don't have that much space in the RV, Janice reserves a lot of space for antiques she purchases on those racing trips.

Last weekend, i remembered i had a rather large box full of old wheel weights sitting behind the barn in SW Georgia. When I went back behind the barn to 'recycle' them, i could not budge the box, so i split it up into 5 different 5 gal buckets, loaded them on the work trailer, and hauled them back to the swamp this evening. After reading a whole bunch of threads posted on several survivalist websites (scary places) on how to make one's own bullets out of wheelweights, i was ready to proceed.

This evening i reduced about 200 lb of wheelweights down to 175 lb of pretty shiny silver ingots. I poured them in multiple sizes (2 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb, 20 lb, 40 lb). i even poured some in special shapes that should fit in the car in little spaces. I did it with a borrowed turkey fryer, and a cast iron pot i bought at a junk store. I had a supply of muffin tins and cake pans in the shop for holding loose hardware during a teardown.

All the stuff i read about the process made me aware of the safety precautions to take. I had the eye protection, welding gloves, and ample supply of alcohol. The whole process took about 4 hours, including the first coat of enamel i applied to all the weights. No animals were injured during the show.

I even created a pretty little diet coke can that I can carry into impound. 9 lbs. It holds about a thimbleful of fluid at the top. So I can turn it upside down and show the inspectors that it is really 'empty'. (The things one learns when working for IMSA teams back in the late 80's.) Not that i would do something like that... but it was fun.

OBTW, 175lb of lead doesn't take up a lot of space, compared to 80lb bags of concrete. (But it does take up a whole lot more space than the spent uranium we snuck into Nascar chassis back in the 90's.) That said, 40 lbs of lead ballast looks like a scary proposition to me, in terms of safety, if one needed that to be legal.

[nulrich]

That said, 40 lbs of lead ballast looks like a scary proposition to me, in terms of safety, if one needed that to be legal.

How about 100-120 lbs of ballast? Trying to figure out how to place that safely has me scratching my head a bit, although I've got a couple of ideas. Of course, we won't need that much for certain unnamed drivers but there is one 150 lb kid who'll need a lot of lead in the car! I don't see anything prohibiting depleted uranium in the GCR...hmmm.

Nathan

[Stan Clayton]

So to do setups i need about 190 lb of weight to throw in the car. I have used a whole bunch of barbell/free weights, and iron bars i borrowed from S&D Machine (Crawfordville Florida, great sponsor, thus the mention ) These are rather bulky and hard to place easily.

Also, some of my preliminary weighing is putting Pollywog dang close to this new ridiculously high FC minimum weight of 1200 lb. For the first time in my career, i may need ballast... Un frekking believable!

I have seen the inside of DaveW's van. So i know the volume of concrete blocks, iron weights, boards, etc. he hauls all over the country to be able to effect a setup by himself.

We used to insist on having the driver weight in the car for setups, but that became such a pain that we figured out how to do it without him or the weight in, and life has been sweet ever since.

1) Do the setup once with the driver/weight in the car, and record all the measurements you normally look at.

2) Remove driver/weight from car and rerecord everything. THIS IS YOUR NEW BASELINE.

3) Adjust as required.

[Purple Frog]

Stan,

I know, i know. That's what Steve and Richard taught us at the world famous ICP Seminars. I guess what happens is that when i finally get a setup on the car, i'm never in the mood to remeasure it all over again. Besides, up til now i was always borrowing someone else's scales at the track.

I guess now i'll just have to make a few thousand bullets...

Natan, the volume of even 100 lb of lead looks like a serious challange to fit in a chassis safely. The uranium was so dense it was easy to hide. As i recall, a piece about the size of a dollar coin weighed something like 2.5 lb.

[marshall9]

Mike,
Congrats on the completion and getting the car on track. I admire your determination and hard work.

[john f]

look at bolting steel sheet or PLATE to the bottom. it will be as low as can be and will protect the bottom of the car. a 24" x 60" x .25" plate is 100#.

john f