Garage looks fantastic, nice job Ben! I love those Menards shelving units. Super sturdy and a pretty nice price too...especially if you grab them on sale!
Decided to do a cage. Looking forward to getting it in and hopefully being able to do more than 1-2 passes at a time before getting booted.
I heard that Sir Dr. Failrad MD-PhD threatened to call the authorities at the NHRA if you didn't get a cage. @Ryan FailRad is this true?
What time will the cage be certified for? Is your plan for next year to start competing in one of the drag classes now that you will have a cage? I saw that a 72mm turbo is legal for True Street now, would a super99 or PT 72mm physically fit in the fog location as you have it now? Or would it require some more modification? Looking forward to see what you do next season!
I have been considering this for a long time. Many months ago Ryan happened to hear about this and began publicly pestering me about it on a regular basis in an attempt to show that he knew some kind of "insider info". It is a 10 point cage that should cert to 8.50. I wouldn't mind competing in something but there would be way more required than just the cage needed to actually compete (parachute, harness, window net, fire suit, NHRA license, etc). I'd need at least a new flange for any turbo bigger than what I have now, and possibly some other slight modifications. I think I could probably qualify in True Street, but to be competitive I'd need to run mid to high 8's consistently. I would need to lose a couple hundred pounds (2800lbs is the limit with a 72mm) as well as the bigger turbo and more fuel (probably need another 100-200WHP than I have now). Probably not realistic for next season. For now the plan is to try and wring out this 67mm a little more and then see where it goes. I'd like to watch the other fast guys try to sort out driveline issues before dropping in too much more power. Nothing set in stone yet.
Didn't you have to turn your car down about 100 hp due to the fuel issue? Edit: What is involved with getting an NHRA license?
Kirkey seat arrived today. The cover and brackets are still in transit. My daughters decided to try it out. Haha.
This is probably a dumb question but is there any padding that will go in that seat? Is it like 10 lbs? That will be some good weight savings!
WCF = World Cup Final...... lol best race of the season every year. True street bump spot was 9.71 this year. Glad to see you decided to make the car legal, is the cage Chromoly to keep it as light as possible?
Yeah I know. That's really the only one I had my eye on. I'm on a 67mm now anyways so it's a moot point. I did 9.5 @ 150mph with the 67mm and drag radials at close to 3100lbs. So I could qualify but I wouldn't really be competitive. I wish I was 2600lbs but I'd have to majorly gut it to get the weight that low. And I still need to be able to put down consistent RT's and 60's on slicks without breaking. Yes it is a chromoly cage but I believe it's still 100-150lbs. The seats should get me 60lbs+ back but I will probably still be going up overall.
Awesome... ^^^ I'm sure there is some more weight you can drop but with less weight it might be harder to get traction! Are you planning on keeping it a manual?
I'm not trying to get down to 2,000lbs or anything crazy. Being around 2,800lbs with driver would be good though. I imagine I'll be close to 3,200lbs with the cage, driver, and keeping the interior. Planning on staying with the manual for now. I haven't seen any auto setups that are easily available, reasonably priced, and able to do what I want.
I have always been impressed by the fact that you have been able to throw down those kind of times with a manual, banging the gears all the way. I think an auto would be awesome too, but this is awesome-er!
I don't know how you haven't left the insides of the transmission scattered around for a quarter mile or so. But it sure is fun seeing the videos on the track.
You are abusing that poor transmission in ways it was never designed to be abused #transmissionlivesmatter
I got the cover on. Still need mounting brackets before installing anything. All the white, dandruff-looking stuff is from the shipping foam. I need a lint roller or something...
There's a company in the European that makes a 5-speed straight cut dog gear conversion kit for the six-speed trans. Beefy stuff.
The thing is, the gearset isn't usually the weak point for the STI 6MT. The output shaft and transfer gears seem to be what take a **** when launching hard and whatnot. I didn't look at the ratios but unless you could trap 150+ in 3rd gear it probably wouldn't be worth it to eliminate a gear. The dog engagement would make it a bit faster to shift but would suck on the street and needs to be rebuilt a lot more often than synchros.
Rated for less torque than I already have! Things break. If they do, then I'll decide what I want next. Spending $15k-20k probably isn't what I want to do at the moment... Trapping 150+ in 3rd would be nice, as well as a taller 1st gear, but I don't think I can justify the expense.
I've been working on getting this seat mounted. The Kirkey brackets are universal and require drilling of the seat and the bracket/mounts in the car. Here's a shot of the seat mounted to the Kirkey brackets. This photo is with the height as high as possible while keeping the stock layback angle. Under this will be a fixed seat base for the GD chassis. Unfortunately with just these brackets it sits several inches lower than stock so I'm still working on some mounts to raise it back up.
I bet that's a pretty conservative rating... But I totally understand. It's really not that bad to keep going though stock 6MTs if yours lasts a year or two, compared to the cost of a lot of the alternatives.
Kirkey seats are finally in! It took a lot of measuring, cutting, and drilling to get them how I wanted. Using stock seat belts for now. Steering wheel is borrowed from a friend until I get mine.
They feel surprisingly good when you sit in them, but they lack lower back support so I don't think they'll feel great after a long drive.
I could probably fit a little pad under there, but I'll wait and see how it feels after some more driving.
Looking good so far! I've subscribe to your build for a long time now. Been waiting to see that cage go in to get you qualified for the class that you "should be in". Phenomenal job so far and keep those updates coming!!
