Gator's 818R

[Mitch Wright]

Retro what is your guess on Gator's weight??

[RetroRacing]

He looks to be in the 190-200lb range....

[RetroRacing]

The car, 1990lb dry.

[turbomacncheese]

He looks to be in the 190-200lb range....

lol'd

[Sgt.Gator]

He looks to be in the 190-200lb range....

Bingo! 196 this AM. Down from 243 lbs in 2011. Best and cheapest weight I ever took out of a race car. Paleo FTW!

[DanielsDM]

So far entries for the Gator 818R weight pool are:
Mitch 1956#
Hobby Racer 2084#
Gator 1950#
Wayne 2015#
Retro 1990#
Weights has to be in 24 hours before Gator post the assembled weight to win the NCM Tee shirt.

If the weight pool is still open put me down for 1972#

[Mitch Wright]

DM you have been added.

[Sgt.Gator]

Some progress roughing in the DS Tank, DS overflow, and Oil Cooler:

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The cooler is a puller, so it will suck cool air down thru a ducted vent in the trunk lid, thru the cooler, and blow it across the top of the tranny.

I really like the Aviaid tank, for the money I think it's a much better deal than a Peterson.

[RetroRacing]

Looks great, I assume you will clock the tank to point the bottom feed line at the pan, everything works from then on. we went through two iterations of plumbing before I was happy with clearances. We also just replumbed the whole breather system! what a pain, but it's what they said was needed to stop blowing seals.

[Sgt.Gator]

Looks great, I assume you will clock the tank to point the bottom feed line at the pan, everything works from then on. we went through two iterations of plumbing before I was happy with clearances. We also just replumbed the whole breather system! what a pain, but it's what they said was needed to stop blowing seals.

Yep it will be clocked to point in the right direction.
Were you blowing seals out, or sucking them in?

[Sgt.Gator]

The FMIC piping has started:

[Aero STI]

What direction is your intake manifold pointed? You might consider rotating it so the throttle body is pointed toward the front of the car to shorten the intercooler piping path slightly.

The DS tank location looks good. One of the main motivations for going low mount on my turbo was that I didn't want even more weight on the driver side of the car.

[Sgt.Gator]

What direction is your intake manifold pointed? You might consider rotating it so the throttle body is pointed toward the front of the car to shorten the intercooler piping path slightly.

The DS tank location looks good. One of the main motivations for going low mount on my turbo was that I didn't want even more weight on the driver side of the car.

It's pointed to the rear - stock- direction. It's hard to set up a reverse intake manifold with the DS pump in the A/C spot. And I don't want to mess with pulling the manifold off now anyway.

[RetroRacing]

Pushing out the seals. too much blow by on new builds while the rings are seating.

[Sgt.Gator]

More FMIC progress. Josh at ArcFlash here in Bend is doing the TIG work. Some others here are using his dash solution. Here's a shout out for him. www.arcflashllc.com

Passenger (Cold) side with the hood on:



Driver Hot Side with Hood and Wheel/Tire:

[Sgt.Gator]

Side Piping:

...

[Sgt.Gator]

Here's forum member Biknman's Halo cage in progress. Great minds think a lot alike, independently!:

[Sgt.Gator]

More Progress!

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[Mitch Wright]

Looks good, that’s a lot of plumbing. Looking forward to a performance report. Wayne was pretty happy with the Fmic on the FFR car.
Also want to hear how the 17mm OEM bar works for you. I am really pleased with the performance of the .095x.750 bar I have been playing with.

[DanielsDM]

Good work on the IC piping. I'm doing something similar. One of these days I'll get around to updating my build thread.

[Zach34]

That's a lot of tube. Can't wait to hear if there's any effect on lag.

[C.Plavan]

That's a lot of tube. Can't wait to hear if there's any effect on lag.

I'm interested also. I'm working on a 2.3L ecoboost hybrid motor for the NP01 (future motor). I would run tubes to the right sidepod for the intercooler. Or I could keep it simple and go 2.5L NA. :P What is "simple"?

[129st]

I'm interested also. I'm working on a 2.3L ecoboost hybrid motor for the NP01 (future motor). I would run tubes to the right sidepod for the intercooler. Or I could keep it simple and go 2.5L NA. :P What is "simple"?

Chad, I remember some time back we were discussing the 2.3L ecoboost has as a motor for the 818R. Now you have a different car, but still considering the engine. I recommend the turbo over the NA - higher power and more tunable. I like your side pod intercooler idea.

[C.Plavan]

Chad, I remember some time back we were discussing the 2.3L ecoboost has as a motor for the 818R. Now you have a different car, but still considering the engine. I recommend the turbo over the NA - higher power and more tunable. I like your side pod intercooler idea.

Not to hijack Gators thread, The research on the Ecoboost is that you want a Hybrid 2.3L. You use a 2.0L Focus case and the 2.3L internals. The 2.0L case is closed deck, and now that the Mustang 2.3L has be out awhile, they are seeing some issues around the turbo area of the case and head gasket stuff at higher power levels. Even then- I would take an Ecoboost motor over a Subi motor from my experience. We are all just seeing too many issues with the Subi.

NA would be "drop in" and simple. Ecoboost would require intercooler plumbing, custom header, airbox mods, heat management and real ducting (which I dislike since I had a bad experience with my 818R). So not that simple. Worth noting the Elan Engineers are a great help supplying any info I ask for (Aero, dimensions, etc)
Shoot me a PM if you want to discuss more. I don't want to take up Gators thread.

[Mitch Wright]

My EJ runs and performs great. Gator get that thing done. anymore takers on guessing the weight of his beast? One of a kind NCM Fruit of the Loom Tee is up for grabs. Ok maybe not one of a kind but do have the choice of Red, Blue or Black

[Sgt.Gator]

A couple of udates.
Newly Rebuilt Ej257 in my STI with an Aviaid dry sump has done 3 hours of lapping at ORP on a break in tune (12 psi, 5,500 RPM limiter). Friday it went back to Surgeline for it's race tunes. Saturday I took it to Portland International for the first race of the season, but with the sole goal of competeing only in the one hour Enduro at wastegate pressure (12psi) to finish off the break in and get used to wheel to wheel racing again. It was actually pretty relaxing to not worry about how I qualified or if I would place. Made for a stress free Saturday.

Practice, qualifying, and most importantly the one hour Enduro went off without a hitch!

I was running waste-gate spring pressure, about 12 psi all day. It was really tempting to go to 20 psi for the race but I forced myself to keep my goal in mind. To break in the engine, watch the temps, listen to the sounds, and finish the race! All accomplished.

I went 100% on the 12 psi and had no problem keeping up with my buddy Zack in his Spec E46. I hung on his bumper for three laps. Then I noticed my gas was going fast and I wasn't going to make it the entire hour on a full tank at that rate. Part of the plan was to see if I could go a full one hour on the 12 psi tune. Well not at PIR in a no chicane race. So I backed off to 80% throttle and concentrated on watching gauges, and not getting taken out by the faster cars. I also worked on maxing out my corner speeds and other little things.

Coolant never went over 190. The tranny maxed out at 160 (I have a tranny cooler) . Oil pressures were good, even during the mandatory pit stop for 60 seconds it stayed at 25 psi on idle. It's never done that before after a hard run. The oil temp stayed under 200 almost to the very end.

The last 5 mins I kicked it back to 100% WOT to see what kind of lap time I could set at that psi. After the checkered flag I noticed the oil temp had hit 230. I'm thinking the Perrin headers were probably glowing cherry red at the end of the non chicane front straight and heating the oil filter. The headers are plain, Perrin won't warranty them if you wrap or coat them. So I'll get a standoff DEI wrap on the headers and I've found this for the oil filter:


It's funny, the Corvette guys have been using this type solution for years and I knew that but sometimes my thick head compartmentalizes my NA LS-7 solutions from my Turbo EJ257.

They don't make one for our small size, so I'm trying the next size up, 504703.

https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/l...er-heat-shield

The Mobil1 M1-108 filter for our EJs is 2 1/2" tall x 2 1/2" diam. 200 grams.

The K&N HP1008 filter is 3" tall x 2 1/2" diameter, but only because of the wrench nut. The actual filter media size is the same. 210 grams

The Purolator Boss PBL 14615, the filters I use now, are 20% larger at a full 3" tall x 2 1/2" diameter. They are also substantially heavier at 252 grams.

The low on gas light came on just as I entered the pit lane, perfect timing! When that light comes on I only have about 1 or 2 laps before cornering forces cause superlean conditions.

I'll be adding an auxiliary fuel cell just for the one hour enduro problem. The extra 4 gallons should get me all the way thru a race at 20 psi.

On other notes:
The Auto Blip worked great. It's not as smart as a GCU, it has it's limitations, but it sure worked nice. Made for very smooth and consistent shifts in most corners. You still have to manually blip with your foot in some conditions, specifically when you downshift but don't use the brakes. The AB only works when you are applying the brakes. For now I recommend it for track and race cars.

Also in the race were a Stohr and a Radical. OMG that Stohr was fast! He would come out of nowhere, faster than even the corner workers could get out their passing flags to let you know he was coming. I almost took him out in Turn 6. I didn't know he had come up next to me, he's so low and fast he was all of the sudden there as I went to the corner exit. I later heard he was passing everybody on the outside of turn 6. I think he lapped the second fastest car which was ungodly fast too. He really needs a flashing light on top of his roll bar if he's going to keep doing Enduros with the Tin Tops.

I'm glad I installed one on Pearl, my Palatov D4. A 1,000 lb car has no chance against a 3,500 lb one when they don't see you. It's not so much an issue at HPDE days where most organizations require point bys, but in racing it's different. Whenever I saw him coming I would try to give him a point by just to be sure he understood I knew he was there.

Two cool cars in the paddock. The AMG broke his CF nose splitter in qualifying so he had to take out his backup car, the Mustang GT4. The Mustang was the second fastest car in the Enduro and still got lapped by the Stohr, maybe more than once.

[Sgt.Gator]

Progress!

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[Zach34]

That's great to hear how well your STI ran - just need to translate that to an 818R.

Looks like you will have a lot more peace of mind with the new cage. I did a lot of modifications to get my seat low enough to pass the broomstick test. Now, as I am fitting the body panels, I wonder if I might be sitting almost too low to see over the hood - heh...

[Mitch Wright]

Sounds like a fun weekend Gator.

[RetroRacing]

Looks great! Glad to hear all went well. Personally, I would stay away from wrapping the header, that's where our oil fires started, soaked the header and caught fire. We ceramic coated everything now and are hoping for the best.

[Sgt.Gator]

That's great to hear how well your STI ran - just need to translate that to an 818R.

Looks like you will have a lot more peace of mind with the new cage. I did a lot of modifications to get my seat low enough to pass the broomstick test. Now, as I am fitting the body panels, I wonder if I might be sitting almost too low to see over the hood - heh...

If you go too low it also causes issues with the shoulder straps not being at least horizontal or down 20 degrees to the cage mount. We are actually raising my seat slightly back up off the floor because of that.

Sounds like a fun weekend Gator.

It was! And I got a nice surprise a few minutes ago. I took Second Place in the Mini Enduro! I had no idea, but two other faster cars than me had problems.

The above Red Mustang GT4 took 1st place in our MEO class. The car that was in 2nd place, a white Porsche GT3 from Canada who I raced against in the Enduro last year at Spokane, must have had a problem somewhere during the race because he completed 37 laps. Unfortunately for him I completed 39! LOL!

And I ran a pretty decent fastest lap time even on wastegate boost, a 1:20.7. That was the fourth fastest lap time of the 21 cars in the race. Turn up the boost Mr Scott!

Next race is May 19-20 at Pacific Raceways outside Auburn WA. I guess I better be there in the Mini Enduro on Saturday May 19, I'm in second spot for the championship! Hope to see some of you PAC NW guys there. (Retro & Tony !!!)

Hmm, I may have to run in the ST class too, give those guys some competition!

Looks great! Glad to hear all went well. Personally, I would stay away from wrapping the header, that's where our oil fires started, soaked the header and caught fire. We ceramic coated everything now and are hoping for the best.

Perrin specifically denies warranty claims for wrapped or coated headers so that's not going to happen. But the standoff shields are OK. And I got the oil filter cozy, I'll be doing some garage experiments on it. Did you figure out what caused your last issue?

[Sgt.Gator]

Joshua Murray at Arcflash is doing some great work on the 818R. Here's his ducting progress for the FMIC and Radiator:

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And to pay for Josh's work don't forget to order your Murray Constant Tension Turbo Seal Clamps from my eBay page! Here's a recent ProDrive built WRC Audi, they've been using the Murray clamps for many years on all their builds:



http://stores.ebay.com/colonelredracing

[RetroRacing]

See you at Pacific. We are testing on Friday in hopes we can run the endure on Saturday, at 6-7k rpm, at 7psi which will make us slow but still want more hours on the engine before turning it up.

No idea where the oil came from, can't get it to leak by revving it, so we think it must be happening under load/high g conditions (pulling over 2g's in the corners and under braking). looking at the blockoff plate for the oil fill now, to see if that is the issue.

[Sgt.Gator]

See you at Pacific. We are testing on Friday in hopes we can run the endure on Saturday, at 6-7k rpm, at 7psi which will make us slow but still want more hours on the engine before turning it up.

No idea where the oil came from, can't get it to leak by revving it, so we think it must be happening under load/high g conditions (pulling over 2g's in the corners and under braking). looking at the blockoff plate for the oil fill now, to see if that is the issue.

Great. We'll get there late in the afternoon. When I drive in I want to see the RR Happy Dance!

[Mitch Wright]

Looks like we will have a final weight soon.

[Sgt.Gator]

Looks like we will have a final weight soon.

I'm taking the rebuilt STI to Pacific this weekend. The 818R is still about 3 weeks out, but soon!

[Sgt.Gator]

Here's why on the full halo cage, particularly if I'm instructing students, I want us to be Safe first. Fast second.

This last weekend at the SCCA Majors - Portland International Raceway. Luckily the driver on the bottom was ok!

[C.Plavan]

Here's why on the full halo cage, particularly if I'm instructing students, I want us to be Safe first. Fast second.

This last weekend at the SCCA Majors - Portland International Raceway. Luckily the driver on the bottom was ok!

Crazy picture, I agree. -Side note: That is the axle I have on my NP01. Same unit as in the F4 cars. How many F4 cars were there?

[Sgt.Gator]

5 F4 cars racing in the Group 3 Formula Atlantic class. This was Race 1 on Saturday. All the results/lap times are here: https://www.scca.com/events/1990424-...-oregon-region

The wreck is causing a bit of controversy. The driver on the bottom is last year's National Champ, the driver on top is a kid in his F4 This occurred at the start going into the first turn chicane. Lots of folks not happy about it.

[Sgt.Gator]

Josh at ArcFlash is making good progress on ducting and fire system:

Door Vents almost done. A little more ducting to do:


Fire System installed with nozzles in the cockpit, upper engine bay, lower engine bay, and fuel tank:



....

The doors, side panels. and rear panels are all being converted to metric bolts for quick removal/installation at the track.
Shouldn't be long now!