New to FF F1600 and New Car to us. Starting at square one.

[isagoodday]

The inner CV bolts tend to work loose from time to time. When you're inspecting the CV's, there should be a spring loaded piston in the middle of the inner flange, as well as a delrin "snubber" that fits in the outer flange. They help keep the axle centered in when its assembled. The spring loaded bits like to fly out when you're disassembling the CV's.

Yep, axels are pulled apart. The inner left side bolts were lose on this car. I am waiting for GKN grease to reassemble. Was challenging to find. Primus had a few tubes left thankfully. Apparently it is out of stock until the end of the year.

My big pushes on the car are the weekends, so spending week days ordering various parts to have everything I need for good weekend work sessions. Teardown is essentially complete. General clean up in process. Wont be long and will be putting everything back together. Just in time to get proper tires on the car (still has Cooper's from CAN series on it) and then get it setup for some shake down. Looking forward to making the CMP test day in Aug if all goes as planned.

[Raceworks]

Some things to think about while you've got the car disassembled:

If you have to change a fuel pump or if it has the in-tank pressure regulator, it's a royal pain the butt with the way the car comes: there's no way to get the fill plate off the fuel cell without pulling the bit center cowl off the car.

What I did was I rigged the rear firewall to to be bolt-in instead of riveted in. If the rivet holes aren't wallowed out (they 5/32 from the factory) you can thread them with a 10-24 tap and then changing a fuel pump or pressure regulator takes less than an hour instead of four hours.

While we're talking about it, replace the fuel pump and the pressure regulator while you're at it. If it's sat without fuel in it the diaphragms in the regulator tend to dry out and then they fail the next time you run fuel through them.

I'd change out all the button-head fasteners they use on the suspension attachment points (all the clevises, the camber adjusters, etc) for socket heads.

Check out all the mounting points for the suspension, especially the aluminum ones. The holes like to wallow out over time, especially if some dunce got the AN hardware lengths wrong.

If you've got the car apart, pull the side cover off the transmission and take a look at the state of the ring & pinion gears. If the car had a lot of time on it they could be starting to pit.

Also check the wheel bearings. The nuts that hold the stub axles in are the same 1-1/8" as the wheel nuts, but to get at the fronts you'll need a longer-than-usual deep socket (5" long total). When pressing the bearings out of the front, be careful how you set up the press: you can easily break the brake caliper mounting lugs off if the bearings have corroded to the upright.

Another specialty tool that I find helps is a long ball-end allen socket. It makes adjusting camber go a lot more quickly with the awkward access angles to the camber bolts.

As David said, cooling can be problem with the way the cars come from the factory. Most of us have cut "windows" in the upper sidepod opposite the radiator. I've also added baffles that also help locate the radiator. Ceramacoating the exhaust helps out a lot, as does wrapping all the bare aluminum water lines with heat shielding (especially where the cross-over pipes get close together in front of the engine). I also run heat shielding on the oil inlet line because of its proximity to the exhaust.

With all of those things the car stays relatively cool even in a mutli-car draft and an oil cooler isn't needed.

[isagoodday]

Sam

AWESOME info and thank you. Seems we think alike in some ways. Already pulled out fire wall for ease of access and was going to tap holes vs rivet attachment. I came to this after working 2 hours trying to get one upper harness attachment bolt out. (harnesses out of date and pulled out the old already) Gave myself tennis elbow in the process and finally got smart and removed upper panel of firewall. Was originally going to make a 'access' panel but your idea of removing all the rivets seems like an even better one. Access is good for sure!

Once I get started putting things back together, I am going to look at optimizing cooling. We are in the South East, so very hot. Our shake down will likely be in 95 deg temps in Aug. (CMP). So we should get some good baselines of where we run in the hottest time of the year.

I wanted to have plenty of time to sort things out, and it would be great if we can do the 2 days at CMP and then I know for sure we will have 2 days at Roebling in Oct. (we go to a friends event there and have 2 full days of open track with only 15 total guys there). More of a friend gathering, but we will use the time for testing and seat time.

I am going to swap Motec for AIM. I know the Motec is considering more 'pro' grade, but it is all older Motec in the car and upgrading, and adding a sync'd camera will cost several times more than just putting a new MXS dash and Smarty Cam in the car. We have been using AIM for a few years and although not true 'motorsports', I think at the level we run should give us what we need without the learning curve of a new system. Luckily have a very good friend who is an electrical engineer and has been the primary guiding force behind helping us with track stuff since we first started. He is going to spearhead the dash install for us as he has done quite a few.

Just cant say thanks enough to all the helpful info! I have been playing so much 'race car' last few weeks and I have to actually get some work done to pay for all this stuff! I design custom homes and needless to say I have been a little distracted lately! But of course turning wrenches is a lot more fun! But a lot in common. Figuring out ways to get things done! Some recent stuff below. The 'car' stuff creeps into stuff even in these. Have to find a good 3D model of F1600 and hide them in the renderings

[Raceworks]

I am going to swap Motec for AIM. I know the Motec is considering more 'pro' grade, but it is all older Motec in the car and upgrading, and adding a sync'd camera will cost several times more than just putting a new MXS dash and Smarty Cam in the car. We have been using AIM for a few years and although not true 'motorsports', I think at the level we run should give us what we need without the learning curve of a new system. Luckily have a very good friend who is an electrical engineer and has been the primary guiding force behind helping us with track stuff since we first started. He is going to spearhead the dash install for us as he has done quite a few.

Having worked with both the AIM setup is much more user-friendly, although I prefer the Evo 4 / GS dash setup myself with the limited space. I re-did the dash panel and put the EVO 4 behind the dash, and mounted the GS dash to the steering wheel.

I swapped a customer's car's Motech for the AIM and he insisted on doing an MXL and we had to lower the steering column to get it to fit, which may or may not be a problem depending on your driver's seating preferences.

The wiring end of the motec to aim swap is a pain due to the way it's integrated into the wiring harness, FYI.

[isagoodday]

Having worked with both the AIM setup is much more user-friendly, although I prefer the Evo 4 / GS dash setup myself with the limited space. I re-did the dash panel and put the EVO 4 behind the dash, and mounted the GS dash to the steering wheel.

I swapped a customer's car's Motech for the AIM and he insisted on doing an MXL and we had to lower the steering column to get it to fit, which may or may not be a problem depending on your driver's seating preferences.

The wiring end of the motec to aim swap is a pain due to the way it's integrated into the wiring harness, FYI.

I am going with the MXS vs MXL (MXS is the small one) I measured and it seemed to be about the same size at the installed Motec screen.

As for wiring, plans are to cannibalize the installed harness. It is very nicely done, and we will just make our own terminations into the two plugs, vs buying the pre-made AIM harness. The installed harness is very well made and all labeled, so it makes sense to just use it. The good part of this is I have a very good friend who is an electrical engineer (besides a motorsports nut) and he has offered to help out with this. Besides putting in several AIM systems, he makes a living working with high level in the automotive world, working on data acquisition, and fabrication. I get lost at the word 'can-bus' but he said it will be easy so super-grateful to have good friends!

I am doing as much of the mechanical in prep for swapping the dash, so keeping project rolling along. Things coming along nicely! These cars are actually really enjoyable to work on.

Once that is all done, as advised, I will see what I can do to maximize cooling. Currently has external oil cooler, which I have been told just reduces airflow in the left pod. I might leave it and work to optimize the radiator airflow and see what we see for temps on track. For it's shake down, I am guessing we will be in the 90's. I can always take it off if we run hot. Hopefully will have 2 days to sort things, so might try several things, and note temps.

If I have time, I think I will go down the road of cutting side-pod holes as some have advised and I have seen on other cars.

[DaveW]

I have a small cooler in the oil line from the scavenge side of the pump directly attached in the air-stream downstream from the RH radiator - works well for more oil cooling and de-aeration in addition to the water-oil heat exchanger below it. Not much airflow restriction, and uses air that has already passed thru the radiator.

Something like that might work for you.

[isagoodday]

I have a small cooler in the oil line from the scavenge side of the pump directly attached in the air-stream downstream from the RH radiator - works well for more oil cooling and de-aeration in addition to the water-oil heat exchanger below it. Not much airflow restriction, and uses air that has already passed thru the radiator.

Something like that might work for you.

From what I have read, (and I have been spending many a night reading through old posts on here), with the Honda if you get water temps good, the oil is not a concern. That said, I am first going to try to make some of the cooling mods people have done. Then may test with and without current cooler. We should be doing our initial shake down during the hottest time of the year here, so should give some insight.

I also thought of using the oil cooler mounted further down-stream than in the pod, but I have to wait until I start to put body back on to see where the options are.

Here is where they had it. Left pod in the rear. Note in the pic I had removed the screws that were holding it to the bottom of the pod. They had it at a diag so it actually flowed air vs where it is sitting in the pic.

[isagoodday]

Just a small update. 5 weeks after getting car, full tear-down and refresh done (except body cosmetics....will sort that later)

Just wanted to extend HUGE thanks to Mike Scanlan who has been so helpful in this! NO way I could have done this without his help. Also a few of the other guys who have reached out and offered their help. Cant thank everyone enough. Kind of jumped in with both feet without really understanding what I was getting into. But a great way to learn is to take something completely apart and put it back together. (fixing anything that does not look quite right).


We will get to get out on track this weekend for 2 days for some shake down. The 'hard' part is my son has never driven one so does not know what it SHOULD feel like. So we will take it slow, and have the benefit of data, and good video now to review the sessions.

[TimH]

The 'hard' part is my son has never driven one so does not know what it SHOULD feel like. So we will take it slow, and have the benefit of data, and good video now to review the sessions.

Coming from SRF he will, I expect, be delighted.

[isagoodday]

Coming from SRF he will, I expect, be delighted.

He did his race license at Lucas Oil, which is similar chassis on street tires. He really enjoyed that. And then got to experience a F2000 for a FRP weekend. Definitely enjoys the 'sharper' cars. He and I have been working every night in the garage to get the car done and I found him out in the garage just sitting in it the other night! I think he is ready to go!

I did my first bead seat for the car. Came out VERY nice. Such a nice way to do it. Came out extremely well. Great way to do it and did not feel rushed like a poured one. He got in and out of the car a few times so we could make height adjustments...etc. Covered in tape for now in case he wants anything trimmed at the track. Will cover in nomex when done.

The spectrum has quite a bit of room and we used the 15 gal Bald Spot kit and had just enough (and not much trimming).

[racpercival]

Can you tell me where you got the bead from and how you went about building the seat? About to do my first!!!

[isagoodday]

Got seat from Pegasus. 15Gal "Medium kit". He is a small(er) kid. Only about 120lbs and the Spectrum is fairly wide compared to a lot of chassis. We needed ALL of the foam for him for sure.

First thing we did was tape up all the interior trying to eliminate places the foam can 'wedge' itself in. We used racers tape. But over the span of some of the larger triangulations of the frame, it did bow slightly and "key'd" itself in place in a few areas. That was OK and since he is narrow, we really wanted side support of the seat to the chassis so we let it envelope the shift linkage and all.

The BIG thing that helped us was I used a tape measure to estimate how large the seat needed to be in lin-in each way. I came up with 4' long and 3' wide. This number was perfect. We laid the bag on the floor and laid out the center line. I then rolled tightly the sides of the bag to make it perfectly 3' wide. We added the foam and rolled the top of the bag down to our 4' line.

We then smoothed out the pellets in the bag and put a vacuum on it. (still no resin). This gave us about a 4" thick shell 3' wide by 4' tall.

Carried it over to the car with the vacuum on it. Had my son turn on and off the vacuum to just keep light pressure in it so I could bend it into the car. Shutting off the shop vac and pushing down in the car and turning on and off just to keep light pressure.

Once it was in car we test fitted him and knew the 3'x4' was going to be perfect. We also realized we had to mark his butt area and leave less foam there and bias our bag to have side support foam.

One test fit and we felt good. The bag came back out of the car and we mixed resin and poured it in the bag and kneaded as instructed. smoothed it out as we guessed where to bias the beads, and light vac and in the car. My son got pretty good at timing the on off of the shop vac to allow it to move as we wanted.

The GREAT thing about the kit was we had PLENTY of time to get it right. We had him get out of the car twice to manually try to remove more foam from under his butt to get him the proper height in the car. No real stress and you have plenty of time to work it.

Third time we got his height just right and he sat for 35 min and I helped him out of the car. Left shop vac running over night and we had a great plug!

The key I think is pre-sizing the bag. Without doing that I think it would have been too hard to handle the foam. If one had too much excess foam with their kit, you could always leave the length longer, but having the sides the right length make for very little trimming and GREAT fit.

We then trimmed and my wife and I spent the night at the island taping it up. Going to wait till after we run the car in case he wants any areas trimmed.

[racpercival]

Thanks! Incredible explanation. Thanks for taking the time. Will try and let you know.

[Roux]

Excellent work! Just be carefull that as he tests it out his drivers suit will try to roll the tape edges as a he moves left to right. (small but not insignificant motions). This might roll up the edge of the tape and the sticky stuff then tries to stick to his nomex suit. I assume he has a really nice suit and I would hate to see it stained by the tape glue. A thin cotton barrier layer might be a few bucks and worth temporary covering to mitigate this risk. I found stretchable denim at craft stores that i have yet to try for similar applications. Classic denim is not friendly enough to conform to all of the curves. It has about 0.0% ability to stretch

Steve
BTW. Really enjoy hearing your updates. Keep filling us in

[isagoodday]

Excellent work! Just be carefull that as he tests it out his drivers suit will try to roll the tape edges as a he moves left to right. (small but not insignificant motions). This might roll up the edge of the tape and the sticky stuff then tries to stick to his nomex suit. I assume he has a really nice suit and I would hate to see it stained by the tape glue. A thin cotton barrier layer might be a few bucks and worth temporary covering to mitigate this risk. I found stretchable denim at craft stores that i have yet to try for similar applications. Classic denim is not friendly enough to conform to all of the curves. It has about 0.0% ability to stretch

Steve
BTW. Really enjoy hearing your updates. Keep filling us in

Thanks! We bought nomex for covering. But wanted him to run the seat first to see if he wanted any adjustments or trimmed areas. The nomex came from Pegasus. Only downside is it really only wants to stretch in one direction. Kind of nervous about trying to get it to conform (neatly) on the very complex curves of the seat.

[JHerscher]

The Nomex fabric will have a "grain" line that runs the length of the yardage you purchased. Try placing the fabric with the grain line on a bias (45°) to the centerline of the seat. (that is, if you have enough!) This may give you enough stretch in seat length and width directions to allow you to conform the fabric to the seat.

[Bob Wright]

Great seat explanation. A couple of added suggestions: I put a gate valve between the seat and the shop vac that allows me to regulate the amount of vacuum. The other thing I do is add a thin layer of fiberglass cloth (with epoxy resin) to the back of the seat instead of tape. Everything lasts a lot longer.

[isagoodday]

Great seat explanation. A couple of added suggestions: I put a gate valve between the seat and the shop vac that allows me to regulate the amount of vacuum. The other thing I do is add a thin layer of fiberglass cloth (with epoxy resin) to the back of the seat instead of tape. Everything lasts a lot longer.

That would have been a FANTASTIC idea!!! That would have freed up one set of hands. I think Cooper got tired of hearing "on....off...on...off". It was like doing a never ending brake bleed . A gate valve would be so much easier when you are doing small tweaks and trying to move foam around.

Also would have made it easier on the shop vac running overnight. I did have in the back of my mind the thought I might burn out the motor running on full obstruction. But Rigid must make a good vac It survived.

[Bob Wright]

oops, not a gate valve- 1/4 turn ball valve. Much better.