Spring is coming.....

[J P Stein]

hopefully.

Till it does, the time is ripe for making a few "improvements" so's
we can go faster when it does. While improving the driving skills is an imperative, the car gets the attention this time of year (at least for me).

I gotta try to make up 3 or 4 seconds on our local "hot dog" (a green and slimey hotdog ). Some of that is gonna have to come from the car.

As a consequence, the suspenders of my little s***box are spread all over the floor of the shop...it looks kinda sad settin' there with all them unattached hangy things swinging around.
Basicly, we are stiffening the suspension and getting a bunch of negative camber. One tire is on while I work out the mysterys of 914 rear camber settings and the effect, there on, of lowering the ride height . UPS made it's delivery, so the fun part is over.

I got the front A arms off......and all the gunk off em'.
Out at the end where the ball joint attaches, there is a kink where they change direction (just beyond where the lower section of the assy ends). The metal gets mighty thin and the factory puts a bit of weld on the inside (it looks like they cut it to make the bend). Both sides had a tiny crack (or split from manufacture) leading into this weld metal. Down the street to my welding buddy...."while you're at it, weld up the whole spot weld seams, I'll grind everything smooth and round off all corners after they get back from the blasters"....did I mention I saw one of these break in that area this last season ( of course, it was on a 9eleben with all their "road hugging weight")?.....he's faster than me too...I notice a trend, but at least it ain't green.

There's a lesson here.....I should never take anything apart.
Hopefully, come April I'll get done....and maybe even go faster

[J P Stein]

I was out in the shop with a camera......a bad thing for youz' guys...A semi-reworked A arm was just laying there minding it's own biddness....

Hey, there's my pocket knife.....been wondering where that went.

[J P Stein]

Things are progressing....if not nicely, at least steadily.
I'm putting 225s on the front. That requires some adjustments.

The tire position approximates full compression on the front suspension. I went with needle bearings in the A arms. The front inserts were toast so they got replaced. 22mm T bars and Tarett
strut mounts for some more negative camber.

Only 6 weeks till the first AX of the season.

[HarryD]

JP,

Looks nice. Will I be seeing ya at the PCA AutoX or are just goin' run with the big SCCA Boys now?

[URY914]

Where did you get the needle bearings for the front? and how much? Keep us posted if you see a worthwhile improvement.
Paul

[J P Stein]

I got the needle brearings from Mike Mueller. I pulled off the new Plastic bushings that I had just installed. Mike's is a comprehensive kit with hardened sleeves that fit over the A arm shaft for an inner race and the bearings that go into the receivers at either end, 2 hardened washers (for lack of a better term) that go to either side of a needle thrust bearing. These go at each end of the shaft. "Striction" is maybe 2-3 lbs in comparison to the plastic's 20-30 lbs.

Not cheep at about $400.
And then, there's this ruby.

For more info on the bearings, look on the 914club BBS:
www.914club.com

Harry:
I love the ORPCA AXs. They are a lot more "fun" than the SCCA plus ya get more butt time. I'll be there.

[HarryD]

Hey JP,

Did you git your gurl back in her clothes? Ya only got a month to the tuning session at PIR!

How 'bout some pics?

Will most likely pass on the early March SCCA action but will be there for the PCA opener.

That green slimy fella will be pleased to know that he WILL be able to track my progress around the track as I have done almost no improvement this winter.

See ya in March.

[J P Stein]

It's still up in the air and I'm beating the crap outta the other fender.....I struck bondo...I'm rich!...I'm, I'm ...depressed.
I'll get it semi-right, but make a bigger mess on that side.
One side is "finished?". Here's a pic ....

[HarryD]

Very nice JP. Jus think, after ya beat all that bondo off you will have lost mucho pounds (both you and the car) he-he. Ya should get your co-driver to be one with the vehicle have havin' him share in the joy.

At least all four corners will now match.

See you around.

[skinnerd]

gawd JP
need some "duck'd" tape or chewing gum to help out?
you telling me that buggy of yours is going to need paint on all 4 corners now? well that's progress of some sort I guess
maybe you're trying to get primer on the entire car then it won't look like it needs painting?
I won't tell you what I've been up to this winter.... wouldn't want to cause you or the co-driver any worry
I will be needing one of them drag chutes the top fuelers use when I come into the stop box this year (and no I just didn't take off all the brakes to save some weight!)

can't wait for auto-x season and to see you guys

[J P Stein]

Humm....I think each of the 4 primered corners are tastefully done.....no 2 are the same. Maybe I'll take a poll and have the AX crew pick out which one they like best, then hammer/primer the others to match....kinda'.

As for that green toad: You're saying frog legs won't be on the menu? Oh well, maybe we can just worry you a bit. Keep you on your game, so to speak. Then, when we go up to Bremerton, maybe you can worry those guys some.

[skinnerd]

I've got some leftover "John Deere" green spray paint in a can that I can give ya. Little by little I could make that Amazonian green buggy of yours begin to look more and more like one of those Southeast US froggies (they're a little darker green than you're used to). Not that I don't like your green or anything. Perhaps you could get creative with your primer to give it the camoflaged look. That would be "croakin".

This guy is for sale on Ebay right now. Pretty neat car (I'd have to flare it though). I'll keep dreaming about more cars in my garage, as dreaming is as far as it's going to get right now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2404504610&category=6430

What will be your 1st event when you roll out the new mods for you and your co-driver to sample? Could go to Bremerton this Saturday for a practice, but probably have family stuff instead that I need to do.

Talk to you later. I'm still good at putting away microbrews! thank god

[J P Stein]

Hey, that's a good lokin' 914.
It's not an original 6, but a conversion and as such, proly overpriced. A nice 3.2L 914 (a 74 which is a better car) from AZ was just an ebay no sale at 14500(approx).

Hopfully (and weather permitting) it'll be ready in time for the SCCA "test" 9 March.....that's a maybe. For sure for ORPCA 30 March.

[HarryD]

Found this to get my thoughts in the right place and thought I would share.

http://www.riedelvideo.com/0210_PCA.shtml

[J P Stein]

It runs again. The ride height is a bit low in front and high in back.
Tomorrow it's off to the alignment shop....I wuz gonna try and sneak it in today....before the rains hit....nopers. Jusy before we lit it off, rain. I drove it about 6 feet......handled gud, tho

[skinnerd]

there's no way I'm racing you at any more 6' auto-x's!!!!

looks good JP, I think you need to raise it even more in the back and lower the front another 9"; that should really help your lap times

seriously... looks good; I know you've been working hard at Ulf... it tells (in a good way)

I have a new steering wheel... I figure that's good for about 1.5 sec this year

I may wander out to the SCCA practice this weekend at PIR if the weather (and spouse) cooperates; if not we'll see you later in the year

[HarryD]

JP,

I was looking at your picture. Where is that "bucket of negative camber" you were looking for? I hope you didn't drag it under the car when you raced it 6' .

With any luck, I'll be seeing you and ulf at PCA AutoX.

[skinnerd]

JP:
What's new? Is the car finished yet?
I'll be missing the first PCA auto-x as I'm returning from "south-of-the-border" on that day, so likely won't be home in enough time to attend. Beat up on some people for me. April will be the earlist event for me this year. I'll do Bremerton on the 12th and SCCA-PIR on the 13th. Maybe we'll see you at one of those? Post some more pics so I can decide if I should be worried or not....

[J P Stein]

The car will not be finished till I run outta ideas....or breath.
I have another pic here that prolly won't send chills down your spine.

I haven;t had much opportunity to drive it, but it certainly feels different. It is not as harsh riding as I had feared and the front end sticks very well. A new thing is a bit of a lurch at the rear which I think is a warning of the back end getting loose. The streets are no place to take it any further. I'll need to take it to the pro pits to explore this in depth . Hopefully we can get it dailed a bit by the time you and Fregie show up at one of these events. My intent is to do the 12 & 13 th of April SCCA in Portland.
I'll wait to see how things work out before popping for new tires.
245 s on 8s at the rear & 225s in front are a possibility. I may have to do some
work on one rear flare to make that happen. I was figuring 24 May for Bremerton.