Novak Conversion

[Northwind]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. It's amazing how much mid range these
F-1000 cars have.

[glenn cooper]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is THAT?

(Is it anywhere near Mid Ohio?)

OR-

"Midrange, we doan need no steenkin' midrange!"

GC

[Mike B]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is THAT?

(Is it anywhere near Mid Ohio?)

OR-

"Midrange, we doan need no steenkin' midrange!"

GC

I think midrange is what you use around the neighborhood. Right, Dan?

Wait until you get that thing on a race track.

You'll have forgotten all about midrange at that point.

[RussMcB]

I have an embarrassing story about my introduction to F1000 after converting my car from Pinto power.

Of course, I knew the two engines were totally different, the Pinto lump with big pistons, heavy valves and a low red line, the superbike engine with little pistons & lots of lightweight valves, phat ports & screaming high RPM. Apparently, I wasn't prepared for how different they were ...

My first time on track with the converted car was at Roebling Road. Lap 1, taking it easy, heading onto the long front straight, shifting up through the gears ("Hey, there are two extra gears! cool!").

I get up to sixth gear and, according to the tach I'm getting near 12,000 RPM. The problem is I'm not even to the start finish line and have 2/3rds of the straight to go. I can't go any faster. How did I screw up the sprocket ratio so badly that I run out of RPMs so soon?! And, to make matters worse, while loading up the trailer for the weekend, I consciously said to myself that I didn't need to toss in the stock Kawasaki front sprocket. Why would I need it? Dumb. Figures that you always need what you don't bring.

(To add a little more to this story, I have a jackshaft, and therefore, 4 sprockets. It was easy to convince myself that I had totally screwed up the math. While I knew other peoples' sprocket combinations, I had settled on 20/30 for the front chain, and 20/40 for the rear.)

I drove around for another lap or two, keeping an eye on the tach so I didn't go past 12,000 RPM. Dejected, I came in, parked it and wondered what I was going to do. That was session 1 of the test day, 6 hours from home and I did not have a plan. Bummer.

Well, here's the embarrassing part: Turns out my AIM dash was not set for the correct number of tach pulses. I *thought * I was driving around and shifting at 12,000, but was really shifting at 6,000 RPM!

After discovering that, I had strong feelings of relief and embarrassment. I was able to easily solve that problem and move on to the next disasters.

I think it's not so much the mid range power as it is how fast these engine RPM's increase, because of their light internal parts and six gears. The first time you leave the pits and put your foot in it, it's jaw dropping.

[Northwind]

Great story Russ,

I'm wondering what issues I will have on my first track outing. I'll let you know.

And Coop, if I was going to test higher in the power band I would have to paint my car black and orange and drive around your neighborhood.

[glenn cooper]

Ha.
Hey one little thing:
You'll need some better contrast on the #'s, white on yellow's gonna get you called down to the principal's office.
May I recommend black #'s?
GC

[formulasuper]

I have an .......

I think it's not so much the mid range power as it is how fast these engine RPM's increase, because of their light internal parts and six gears. The first time you leave the pits and put your foot in it, it's jaw dropping.

Not just the first time; I get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I head out on track with the Ralt/Hayabusa for the first time of the weekend. Especially on a track like Roebling Road where you start out on the front straight & have enough room to run it up through a few gears straight out! It's a real blast after creeping along the public highways at a mere 70 mph all the rest of the time!
"Racing is Life - Everything Else is Just Waiting"
Steve McQueen

[formulasuper]

Ha.
Hey one little thing:
You'll need some better contrast on the #'s, white on yellow's gonna get you called down to the principal's office.
May I recommend black #'s?
GC

Coop's got that right. Heck, without my readers I can't even see the numbers on the sides.

[Northwind]

OK guys. I guess I'll have to turn up the contrast knob.

[Northwind]

It was the first time out on the track this weekend at BIR. Here is a little recap. The trip started at 9 AM friday leaving the house on the 367 mile journey West to Brainerd. At about 9:17 AM an old blue hair that probably should have had her driver's license pulled about 20 years earlier almost took us out as she pulled out of a street on to the highway right in front of us. Thank God for threshold braking and a wide shoulder!
After that little episode the trip went smooth and we arrived at the track about 3:30 PM. As we pulled up to the main entrance to get into the track I see there is a line of about twenty cars trying to get into the track with a couple of muscle cars on trailers. I find out that it is a muscle car weekend on the dragstrip. "Ah that explains all the activity" We get to the get and tell them we are part of the performance driving school planned for tomorrow and they let us in, no problem and no charge for camping A few minutes later we are unloading the car and setting up the paddock as needed for the next day. A quick walk around to get a feel of the drag racing community or should I say culture shock. I see every type of paddock vehicle that mankind has ever thought of building the only common denominator was that you had to be able drive it one-handed and be able to drink a beer with the other hand. There was even a very attractive (HOT) blonde girl that felt the full moon needed some competition and was showing things off. Atleast she had on a pink G-string. After a few short hours of sleep it was up early for a drivers meeting and some track tours. There was some good company around such as Herm Johnson and Jim Derhaag. Jim says there will be a pro Trans-AM race there next season.

The first session on the track had only three issues. The first was that the clutch pedal was sticking down randomly. OOPS one over-rev to 13,525 rpm on the Tell Tale. The second was overpacked tripod joints were squirting a bit of grease on the muffler and third was an oil leak on the valve cover that was dripping a bit of oil onto the headers. About an hour and a half later we were back on the track. The sticking clutch pedal problem was the pedal clevis for the master cylinder was rubbing on the lower front A-arm tube when the suspension had some load on it. I had to pull the clevis and grind away material to make clearance for suspension travel. The valve cover oil leak was just a missing valve cover bolt gasket and was simply repaired with a piece of rubber grommet that I found.

The rest of the sessions went extremely well no issues at all. The ambient air temp was 79 degrees F. The engine oil temp max was 180'F and the water max was 195'F. The car was clearly the fastest at the track. After a few laps, the muscle memory was coming back and my confidence rising. The 17 years of not racing was fading with every corner. After the second session I felt like I never left the sport. All I can say is that I have driven and raced FF's, DSR's, CSR's, S-2000, and FC and this F-1000 car is clearly the best car I have ever driven! Anybody that is even slightly interested in this class should not hesitate on getting into it. These cars have a perfect balance of power and grip for club racing. Jay and Dave, you got things right with this conversion kit! . I'm really looking forward to next season.

[RussMcB]

That's a great start. Congratulations. Glad to hear it. This certainly adds to the Novak kit's already great reputation.

[jjstecher]

Glad you got her out at BIR this weekend Northwind. I hear the new club course is a lot of fun. Any idea on lap times or were you just screwing around? Tying to figure out how many laps a race up there will be next year. Can't wait to get up there and try that track out...its been way to long.

Looking forward to racing with you next year.

[Northwind]

John,

I couldn't get any idea of a lap time as there were only two passing sections allowed on the track. From the exit of 13 to the turn in cone at T-2 and between T3 and T4 on the left side of the racing line. To give you an idea of the speed difference between me and the rest of the field, mostly SRF's, I could do a lap and a half to two laps before I was starting to lap the field again. It was tough trying to get any kind of lap rythm before having to slow down to their pace and get to a passing zone. I did get out one time where I got almost two laps clean and they felt real good. This is going to be a fun course to race on. If you want some cheap track time It only cost $265. for the entire day and you can come and go as you please as there are no sessions. I think there are many people that now have an idea how fast F-1000 cars can be.

[jjstecher]

Jeez...yeah 2 laps free is good with only those areas for passing zones. At least you got out and thats what matters and hell nothing really broke. Hopefully your licensing guy will give you the go ahead now that you have some time at speed back under your belt.

I was curious if this was a BHF type track with 30 lap races or a MAM track with 20 lap races.

[Northwind]

I'm going to take a guess at this, With our cars I think the lap times should fall in the range of 1:27+ to 1:35-. Lap distance of 2.5 Miles. Number of race Laps should be between 20 -24.

[glenn cooper]

Sweet, Dan.
Prepare to have your mind blown the first time you take a green flag!
Oh hell yeah...
GC

[Northwind]

I can hardly wait. Hopfully it won't be to far behind you at the sprints next season.

[glenn cooper]

where are the pics of the hot blonde?
GC

[Northwind]

I forgot the camera, my bad. If I would have remembered one I would have had some pics of the car running on the track also. I think I need to buy a small pocket cam for catching these special moments!!!

[Northwind]

Now that the snow has stopped for a few days up here in snow country, and I haven't had to worry about snow removal. I took the time to add up the bits and pieces that were sold during the conversion process. I would say that I recieved fair prices for everything that was sold. This would be a pretty good estimate for those people considering doing a conversion on what kind of value the parts have that can be sold off on a late model Van diemen conversion. I will not breakdown the individual prices per items to protect those who purchased from me but the total added up to $9570. I still have about $500 worth of odds and ends that I may list in the future. Overall it covers a majority of the amount of the conversion cost.