On my Reynard, when it was setup well, it always used up the inner 3" of the tire first. The inner wear bars were gone and the outer half still showed life. The best way to counter that is to move your tires left/right over a weekend to maximize the tire life as much as possible. It shouldn't be cupping on the inside, which is often time an indicator of too much rear toe.
You can flip the tires on the rims after a few cycles to extend life.
Have you ever gone out on a brand new set of bias tires? You'll think you died and went to heaven.
Ha, yes these where new. I really could not believe the ability of them. Sadly this last time out it was slide city. 4wheel drifting in every corner. I was thinking about flipping them on the rim, just was hoping to avoid that cost. However that is what I am going to do regardless in the future.Originally Posted by Purple Frog
You can flip the tires on the rims after a few cycles to extend life.
Have you ever gone out on a brand new set of bias tires? You'll think you died and went to heaven.
Cupping = grooving ?
"Cupping" is a wear pattern that looks like someone used an ice cream scoop to scoop out some tire tread every couple of inches near one edge of the tread. Usually, it's not more than a 1/10" or 2 deep, and each "cup" can be several inches long, but you get the idea. It is usually caused by the tire/wheel oscillating due to too much flex or loose joints in the suspension.
Graining or feathering is a wear pattern that looks like circumferential, ragged-edged grooving. That is usually caused by too much sliding on an abrasive track causing stresses in the compound exceeding its tear strength.
Last edited by DaveW; 08.04.17 at 10:23 AM.
Dave Weitzenhof
OK, Think about it. Learn.
That last session... Were you faster?
Did the track temp rise?
What were your pressures coming off the track?
Was your session after that of FVees?
Did some big chubby motor blow in the session before yours?
All things you need to consider.
Tires could have gotten over inflated. Just saying.
Track could have gotten oiled.
Also, as you progress and get faster, you will leave behind that feeling of "being on rails".
Those bias tires have been developed to have traction slip angles ~15 degrees. If you wank around you might explore 5 degree slip angles at best. But, once you start hauling the freight you'll get more and more comfortable at the higher slip angles. And, with balance all four will be slipping the same (neutral steer).
Once you start exploring those slip angles you may start building more heat in the tire, thus more pressure, and you may have to modify your cold pressures to account for that.
Also, as the rubber pad gets thinner on the tire, it is less able to hold in heat as you fly down the long straight. So, going into the next turn the tire has cooled off more than when it was new and had a thicker rubber pad.
Sometimes in videos you can actually see the "complextion" of the rubber change as you load it and unload it. That video sometimes helps the engineers determine camber and toe angles.
My MK9 advice. Don't use the clutch. Left foot brake. Get good at throttle control to get those "blips" perfect. Easier to blip properly if you aren't blipping with the same foot as you are braking. Just saying.
I got to where dog rings lasted 5 years. Clutch discs almost forever.
Many of the fast guys clean all the buildup off their tires between sessions.
Really helps to see what the tire 'really' looks like coming off the track.
Buy a heat gun at the hardware store and a 2" putty knife, and start learning.
$80 to flip four tires at the track may be a good investment when considering the $900+ cost of the investment. Just saying.
The only Reynard I've seen that didn't run on the inside 3" of the rear tires was the fabulous FF Reynard Tony Kester won a national championship with. I believe Two Dogg modified the rear pickup points. Somebody smart like Lathrop could explain. Saw the car at the FF40th. Wow!
Last race of the season is at the end of the month. I was able to get some newer (still has rubber, but about the same heat cycles) R35s from HDsporty, This race will require me to pit, so even tho I am pretty happy with the walmart pump (one for oil and one for gas) it looks like I need to get that super expensive hand crank pump from Pegasus. But short of financial reasons this has been a great season.
But this is more of a fun race than a serious race as many will switch drivers at pit time just to share the experience (lots of father son stuff). I just hope it wont be in the 40*s. Thankfully since the car is so small I can sleep in the trailer with it. So we will both be warm in the morning. I have made some movements in the cockpit to hopefully keep my head down below the broom stick test and not have my feet go numb. Because in the last race I thought I was never going to walk again after being stuck in the car for over an hour while waiting to have oil cleaned up off of the track. This time the race alone is longer than a hour.
After that I will be posting up a few more items/questions as I will do a leak-down test and see if the motor should be pulled and sorted like the rest of the car (or just every off season the cylinder walls need to be addressed). Also I got a tail piece from CROWE Composites so I will try and get that to fit. Not to mention I need to fix the side pod properly and get that smoothed out (looks great from far, but far from great). So as some of you will be starting your on season stay tuned to read my off season. And please laugh at me if you feel like I am a dumb a$$, cause I dont take life to seriously.Just want to help others who could use a nice starter guide or for the next guy whom might buy this car as in why I did what I did n stuff. So please feel free. So far there has been a tremendous amount of concentrated good info on this thread. Keep it up, and always thanks people!
Once again a big thank you to Averill Racing Stuff!
Car broke on Sunday, parts ordered Monday, and a box of goodies on Tuesday!!! Talk about your in stock Reynard parts source
Ok on with the questions. The lower front control arm bolt fell out, and I know this because I can see it come out and hit me in the head in the video. I however check these after weekend events. They where both tight before the race and now one is still tight and the other gone. What retention/prevention are you guys using (or remember using) on this Reynard?
I got the one conical washer/spacer thing from Averill that sticks in between the ball and the upright. But it looks like I have another one that is smaller on the bottom. Is this normal? if so where would I find the smaller one that goes on the outside/bottom? Is that just a giant safety retaining washer? Here is a couple of pics to help aid in remembering.
Washer
Patrick, it should be a retaining washer that allows the rod end to still rotate. Pegasus sells them. I have several on hand and will give you some on Sunday.
If the bolt came loose and fell out look closely. It could be that the rod end froze up and with each movement instead of the ball rotating in the rod end the whole rod end was rotating the bolt. After a while the nut would become loose.
So... carefully inspect that rod end!
I consider Rod Ends and Rocker Bearings to be 'wear items' When I have parts of the car dismantled that allow me easy access to wear items, depending on the age, I throw away and replace. If you don't know the age of this rod end, for me it is a no brainer... replace it with new.
The Swift uses a connection similar to this on the lower portion of the rear upright. I have struggled with these bolts loosening and allowing some slop in the connection. I had been soaking the threads in blue Loctite. Now, I have started replacing bolts and nuts that get loose. I use red Loctite on these bolts now. I don't use nearly as much of the red as I did the blue. One reason for changing nut and bolt is that you need good heads on both of them when you need to remove a bolt that has been set with red Loctite. It is a very stiff connection, but you can get it loose.
First of all, the bolt should be inserted from the top. Then, you need both rod-end washers of the proper size. If the rod-end is an unknown quantity, toss it and replace. Those nuts are designed to be used three times. After that, toss and replace.
Charlie Warner
fatto gatto racing
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on earth!
Why not drill a hole and add a small cotter pin?
Reynard
Bolt is inserted this way (on this car) for clearance issues.
Should be able to use proper length bolt with half height nut.
Charlie Warner
fatto gatto racing
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on earth!
It may be an optical illusion but it looks like your brake banjo bolts could be clocked to give a less stressful angle on the hose end.
I was debating between the red loctite and this idea, or even safety wire. However the cotter pin or safety wire might be too small and break.
I'd suggest starting with a new nut and bolt first. These aren't joints that normally come apart. There were several tips above that should remedy any issues. New rod end, proper washers, and new hardware should solve it and while you're at it do all the others.
As a comment to Mr. Warner's half height nut idea, half height or jam nuts should only be used when the bolt is in double shear. They don't have enough thread length for any other application.
Marty
My choice of terms was incorrect. I should have said an MS21042 jet nut with a thin washer and properly sized bolt. Thanks for the correction
Charlie Warner
fatto gatto racing
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on earth!
ok, so a lot of the "jet nuts" spin on and off with my fingers... So I guess I will replace them all. Bolts too???
Also, what is the bearing preload for this car??? with everything off the upright it feels like the bearings are way to tight. All I have to go off of is the bike world. And if you adjust a hub to tight this is what it feels like. no flat balls just that horrible grinding of balls. I have two new bearings but not sure if they need to be replaced or just the old ones adjusted properly. I have loosened the hub bolts and the grinding goes away. However if I torque the bolts back up the grinding comes back.
If it matters this is the 90 with the aluminum uprights. I hate to keep the bolts too loose and have the hub come apart when driving.
Is this right?
Wheel Flange Retainer Bolts 26 "
Seems they would just back right out. But I guess that is what loctite and safety wire is for.
Reynard
Yep, Bolts that hold attach the inner and outer hub to the wheel bearing are set to 26 Ft/Lbs.
There is no varying of pre-load on these style wheel bearings.
Jet nuts should not spin on and off with your fingers. Aircraft it is a one use and done. Most racers on a budget use them a few more times than that, but there is a limited life for them to be effective. I have worked on Reynards and Van Diemens, my preference is to replace every allen head cap screw with a correct length AN bolt wherever possible. Especially where the suspension bolts to the chassis.
Aaron
Much better. Thanks! The drivers side is a bit more tight, but I would assume that sides upright will heat up more allowing for more tolerance.
So on a non driving incident. The side pod ripped. In a mid season repair I was able to fill the void with epoxy and backed the rip from the inside with a strip of glass. I thought everything would be smooth on the outside since the rip just zippered back up perfectly. That is until I flipped the piece over and found that the resin leaked out the rip and the rip itself is jagged.
Question is; since this side pod is VERY flexible, what have you guys been using to smooth and fill the outside before paint that wont crack or flake?
If it's really flexible and you use it to push out of the car, add some honeycomb or foam on the inside and cover with additional glass to stiffen it up. A friend of mine gave me a "competition weight" set of sidepods, which are great for ultimate lightness and if you are going to re-do the car every year, but for longevity you have to sacrifice a bit of weight.
Scarf out the damage and then fill it with a paste made of resin a glass beads or micro fill. Putting a strip of release tape over it will help with the amount of sanding after it sets. You could also fill it with Hysol but that is a pretty expensive fix.
Did the proper torque eliminate the scraping in the wheel bearings?
oh yeah, right side is fine now. Left side is a bit tight, and at working temp I would assume it would be perfect. Back bearings have been perfect. No need to touch them.
So just use the stuff I was repairing the diffuser with and not use bondo or anything like that then. Got itThanks
You might also try filling in the gap between the side pod and radiator or buying/constructing a duct if you are suffering any temperature issues.So on a non driving incident. The side pod ripped. In a mid season repair I was able to fill the void with epoxy and backed the rip from the inside with a strip of glass. I thought everything would be smooth on the outside since the rip just zippered back up perfectly. That is until I flipped the piece over and found that the resin leaked out the rip and the rip itself is jagged.
Question is; since this side pod is VERY flexible, what have you guys been using to smooth and fill the outside before paint that wont crack or flake?
Is it 100% one and done or is the "finger turn test" legit? I think Carrol Smith said finger test okay but I'm not sure. Pegasus notes this:
"Reusing Locking Nuts
The FAA has issued guidelines on the reuse of locking nuts. Specific recommendations have been published for larger sizes (7/16-20 and up), but the general rule is that you should not be able to turn the nut by hand once the locking portion engages the male threads. If you can turn the nut with your fingers, it must be replaced. When in doubt, replace!"
I'm doing some rebuilding too and want to get it right (well, economically right, "right" would be replace regardless but that would get pricey...)
If you can spin it on by hand replace the nut. Kay nuts are not expensive.
The NASM manual states that the nuts may be re-used as long as they will accept the "prevailing torque". So, you should use a torque wrench every time and memorize the specs for each size? Right! None of us does that. So, pick a number - I use three uses of the nut, then I put it in a junk nut bin for non-critical applications.
One way to avoid over-torqueing is to always use a 1/4" drive ratchet. Tightening to "feel" with that is way less torque than using a 3/8" drive ratchet.
Charlie Warner
fatto gatto racing
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on earth!
Can someone please tell me what these things are called, and even better where can I find them????
Body Work Guide Pin and Bracket
I think Fast Forward makes them. Though what he has may be geared more toward what the Swift uses.
Googled that and still can not find anything. Cant believe this is so hard to find. The only thing close that I found is from summit. Its a corvette t-top guide pin.
Probably not going to find one exactly like you have, most likely a Reynard part that is long since out of stock everywhere.
Pretty easy to make out of a bolt with a proper length shank, cut off the head and threads to needed length and there you go.
Or you can have the local machine shop make some up for you.
Google "hood pins"
Charlie Warner
fatto gatto racing
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on earth!
I looked for these too. Any hood pins I found were WAY too big. Mine appear to be "hand made" with a aluminum rod (~1/4' dia) brazed on to a flat plate which is riveted on to the body and just a flat plate with hole drilled in it on the opposing body piece.
Something like this might work as a replacement but you have to have good access to the latch side:
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...asp?RecID=4660
How about these? https://www.mcmaster.com/#clevis-pins/=1acrm3bGoogled that and still can not find anything. Cant believe this is so hard to find. The only thing close that I found is from summit. Its a corvette t-top guide pin.
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