Jhim Posted November 3, 2006 Posted November 3, 2006 Hi Guys, I've decided to build a spec car and was wondering if anyone has a picture of early a-arms that have been box welded for strength or any opinions on weather or not it's even necessary? I'm sure many more questions will follow............ Thanks, Jeremy Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 3, 2006 Posted November 3, 2006 Jeremy, great to have you onboard! There's a great group of 944 people in PHX. My take on the steel A-arms is that if you start out with a new pair and new ball joints, they should last for years. We only run a moderately sticky 225mm tire and our cars weigh in at about 2400-2450 lbs. You still need to keep an eye out for cracking on the inboard bushing housing. Top AND bottom! Another point is that if you make the A-arm too strong, it won't bend and absorb crash energy, which could result in a bent chassis. We're here to assist you so ask all the questions you want. Quote
Jhim Posted November 3, 2006 Author Posted November 3, 2006 Thanks Tim, I hope to have it ready by February so I can hit the DE circuit for a while and maybe start racing in the series by January 08. I’m actually building it with a friend so we’ll share the seat time when possible. The car is pretty disgusting but has a lot of promise. I’ve thrown away most of the interior and the rest will come out this weekend. The car runs, but I am going to freshen up the engine so I won’t have to get back in there for a while. The car has new ball joints, Koni’s, tie rod ends (manual steering 83), and a few other items. I have an 84 LSD, FR Wilk chip, cup clutch, strut brace, Odyssee battery, race seat & wheel, and a few other items sitting on my parts shelf that I’ll toss into it to get started. 30MM torsion bars are on the way and I may pillage the sway bars from my Turbo (welts). Who has the best deal on Cages? The interior will be close to ready for paint by next weekend so I need to get something installed pretty quickly. Also, I didn't see anything in the rules about welding up the sunroof, is this permissible? My plan is to put a very nice "race oriented" paint job on the car knowing that I’ll be the slowest on the track for a while so I may as well look good doing it . I have enough paint on the shelf to be pretty creative for next to nothing......... Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 3, 2006 Posted November 3, 2006 Great. If you can sell the Cup clutch and get a stock spring-centered clutch, you'll probably have $ left over. It's way overkill and we don't do standing starts. You can get a bolt in cage from a company like Autopower, but a welded in cage is much stronger and will fit tight enough to attach to the A and B pillars. The single most important thing is to get the car on the track and turning laps. Put the safety gear in first and start hanging out with the guys and you'll probably get some great info, short cuts, tips, and whatever else they've learned. Quote
Spec-944#70 Posted November 3, 2006 Posted November 3, 2006 Lose the Wilk chip!!! Trust me on this. We have had about 4-5 drivers with this chip have issues and we feel the timing or maps is too far off for full throttle racing. I'm sure other will chime in to back me up. Quote
Jhim Posted November 3, 2006 Author Posted November 3, 2006 Joe, What type of issues specifically? I have 3 early DME's (1 with the wilk chip) so I'm interested in knowing what's happening? Are you guys seeing burnt valves or HG's? Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted November 4, 2006 Posted November 4, 2006 I has to do with A/F Ratios I believe. Eric has more experience with these issues. A-arm buy new steel ones, new ball joints, new delring crossmember bushings and weltmeister caster blocks. These work great. As to the cage. I had mine done by Brian Nitengale at racecraft. Quote
Spec-944#70 Posted November 4, 2006 Posted November 4, 2006 The chips seem to go through head gaskets and I had detonation on my pistons. Most of the others had various issues but it seems while the FR Wilk chip is good for street use the constant high reving enviroment we use it seems to be too much for the engines to handle. Several others HAD the chip and had issues, once they went to another manufacturer the problems went away. Sell it on Ebay and but a real chip or go stock incase the rules get changed back to that. The chips don't do too much anyway!! Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.