I am a deep thinker and right now I think that I'm pretty excited about the
SOLO II Nationals that are next week in Topeka, KS. I will be running my 68
roadster "Bucephalus" in the E Modified class on Thursday and Friday. The
forcast is 60% chance of rain so I'll be packing some rain tires with me. Rain
will level the playing field and hopefully I can have a better chance against
the three rotors. Have you ever tried to drive a 20,000 RPM, 500 horseporwer,
and 1500 pound car in the rain? It probably isn't as easy as driving a 7000
RPM, 200 horsepower, 1700 pound car.
Todd Green will also be driving a Datsun Roadster in the E Prepared class. I
think that we are the only two this year but hopefully Bill, Elliot, and Don
will be there even if they don't bring their roadsters.
I spent this weekend messing with the alignment. I was havign troubles with
the drivers front tire rolling over onto the sidewall. The 20x9.5.13 slicks
have extreemly stiff sidewalls and should not ever roll over. My investigation
led me to the caster setting. Usually the car gains negative camber as the
wheel is turned forwards. I was not gaining any camber. When the wheel turned
backwards I lost 1 degree of camber. This equaled to 1.5 degrees of positive
caster. It made turning the steering wheel easy but allowed the camber to go
positive with body roll. I reset the alignment to the following specs.
Camber -2.5 degrees
Caster + 4.875 degrees
Toe 1/8 out
The car now seems to generate more stable cornering feel although the
responsiveness has gone down a bit. During the limited testing that I
performed in the parking lot at work I did not get any roll onto the sidewalls.
I also replaced a bad clutch master with a 1980 Datsun 510 part and replaced a
separated motor mount (Yikes) with a solid steel one.
Do you know the tingling feeling you get in your fingers when you hold a weed
eater too long? That is how your entire body feels when you use solid motor
mounts.
I still need to wash the car. Now that it is pretty I have to wash it before
the races. Check out the photos with the numbers and decals installed.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/267887557/429510141PUsXfP
Wish me luck,
Andy
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