Winter Projects on the Race Car....
01-29-2008, 09:03 AM
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Winter Projects on the Race Car.... Like everyone else, i've got a couple of large winter projects going on with the cars. Back in november, I decided to do a rearend upgrade and go to a fabricated 9" housing rearend.
New rearend/chassis
- Completely fabbed 9" housing by "MidWest Chassis"
- Strange Ultra-case big bore (3.812) 9" center section
- 4.30 gears with the big pinion
- 40 spline gun drilled axles with star flanges and lightening holes
- New adjustable chrome moly anti-roll by "MidWest Chassis"
- Custom chrome moley torque arm, with integral trans mount (able to adjust instant center for chassis setup by "MidWest Chassis"
- Chris Alston double adjustable rear shocks
- Afco double adjustable front coil overs
- New chrome moly LCA's (solid mounts and no poly bushings)
The new rearend housing should be off the jig this week and be making its way to the powder coater. Im hoping I can pick up all the rearend parts late next week sometime.
And since the whole back of the car was stripped of the rearend and all of its components, I came up with the bright idea to sand and paint the whole bottom of the car :doh: So I spent about a week and a half sanding, preping, taping, etc etc. I went ahead and pulled the headers off since I was upgrading there too. I ended up starting with the bottom of the firewall and painting to the rear bumper. We used a base coat/clear coat and it came out great. A few dry spots here and there because of the large surface area, but its still a race car....not a show car
I also upgraded to a set of Kooks new full 2" primary headers. NO more stepped headers, just a full 2" tube from the cylinder head to the collector. Should help out alot with getting rid of the massive amounts of nitrous we want to hit it with this year
I hadn't planned on pulling the motor as it was running PERFECT at the end of the season, but last week I got thinking about checking it over. Since we are going to lean on it pretty hard this year to get ready for the LSX Shootout in Memphis, my engine guy and myself decided that it would be cheap insurance to pull it apart and check it over to make sure all is well. Considering our main and rod bearing issues we had back in August with the factory wet sump system, we are very curious as to how it looks now with using the 4 stage dry sump setup.
As I was taking the intake off, I noticed that there was a 12" crack in the windshield. So now I will be upgrading to Lexan windshield here sometime this spring. Didnt really plan on doing this, but if I lose a few lbs off the car I'll be happy.
Will post more pictures of the rearend after I get it.
Heres a few pictures so far....
For anyone curious on the dry sump, this picture shows the setup pretty good.
New rearend/chassis
- Completely fabbed 9" housing by "MidWest Chassis"
- Strange Ultra-case big bore (3.812) 9" center section
- 4.30 gears with the big pinion
- 40 spline gun drilled axles with star flanges and lightening holes
- New adjustable chrome moly anti-roll by "MidWest Chassis"
- Custom chrome moley torque arm, with integral trans mount (able to adjust instant center for chassis setup by "MidWest Chassis"
- Chris Alston double adjustable rear shocks
- Afco double adjustable front coil overs
- New chrome moly LCA's (solid mounts and no poly bushings)
The new rearend housing should be off the jig this week and be making its way to the powder coater. Im hoping I can pick up all the rearend parts late next week sometime.
And since the whole back of the car was stripped of the rearend and all of its components, I came up with the bright idea to sand and paint the whole bottom of the car :doh: So I spent about a week and a half sanding, preping, taping, etc etc. I went ahead and pulled the headers off since I was upgrading there too. I ended up starting with the bottom of the firewall and painting to the rear bumper. We used a base coat/clear coat and it came out great. A few dry spots here and there because of the large surface area, but its still a race car....not a show car
I also upgraded to a set of Kooks new full 2" primary headers. NO more stepped headers, just a full 2" tube from the cylinder head to the collector. Should help out alot with getting rid of the massive amounts of nitrous we want to hit it with this year
I hadn't planned on pulling the motor as it was running PERFECT at the end of the season, but last week I got thinking about checking it over. Since we are going to lean on it pretty hard this year to get ready for the LSX Shootout in Memphis, my engine guy and myself decided that it would be cheap insurance to pull it apart and check it over to make sure all is well. Considering our main and rod bearing issues we had back in August with the factory wet sump system, we are very curious as to how it looks now with using the 4 stage dry sump setup.
As I was taking the intake off, I noticed that there was a 12" crack in the windshield. So now I will be upgrading to Lexan windshield here sometime this spring. Didnt really plan on doing this, but if I lose a few lbs off the car I'll be happy.
Will post more pictures of the rearend after I get it.
Heres a few pictures so far....
For anyone curious on the dry sump, this picture shows the setup pretty good.
Last edited by SMKN TA 95; 01-30-2008 at 09:53 AM.
01-29-2008, 09:03 AM
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Here I was bored one saturday and decided to polish up the driveshaft as good as I could. The aluminum wasnt the greatest quality so it took more work and a little sanding.
01-29-2008, 02:39 PM
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Very Very cool once again! This car continues to be one of my favorite out there right now. Im amazed that you can have a car this fast and such attention to detail and keep it nicer then anyones Ive seen... Midwest chassis is a good choice BTW, guy seems to be very cool.
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01-30-2008, 09:52 AM
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Race car, remember 
I'm sure you will see it out and about this year. I plan on going to Cordova alot more this year than last year.
I love those header studs. They never loosen, fit great, and so much easier put the headers on.
Very Very cool once again! This car continues to be one of my favorite out there right now. Im amazed that you can have a car this fast and such attention to detail and keep it nicer then anyones Ive seen... Midwest chassis is a good choice BTW, guy seems to be very cool.
I love those header studs. They never loosen, fit great, and so much easier put the headers on.
01-30-2008, 06:34 PM
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Hey I'm going with the same rearend and suspension. My car is sitting there as I type. I hope to get it back next weekend. I was checking out your axles when I dropped off the car. Erik seems like a real decent person to deal with. He'll take the time to answer questions and dosn't try to rush you off like some other places I've been.
http://www.midwestchassis.com/produc...uspension.html
http://www.midwestchassis.com/produc...uspension.html
01-30-2008, 08:46 PM
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A pleasure to look at for sure!
Quick question on the front Afco's. Are you planning on drilling a hole in the shock tower so you can access the upper adjustment ****?
Thanks and best of luck this year! Can't wait till Memphis already!!!
Quick question on the front Afco's. Are you planning on drilling a hole in the shock tower so you can access the upper adjustment ****?
Thanks and best of luck this year! Can't wait till Memphis already!!!
01-30-2008, 09:00 PM
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Hey I'm going with the same rearend and suspension. My car is sitting there as I type. I hope to get it back next weekend. I was checking out your axles when I dropped off the car. Erik seems like a real decent person to deal with. He'll take the time to answer questions and dosn't try to rush you off like some other places I've been.
http://www.midwestchassis.com/produc...uspension.html
http://www.midwestchassis.com/produc...uspension.html
01-31-2008, 11:41 AM
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I haven't got the Afco's in my hands yet so I dont know for sure. I know with the adjuster on top they are a little difficult to adjust from what I have seen.
02-17-2008, 10:21 PM
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Well here are a few pictures of the MidWest Chassis & Performance fabricated 9" housing. This rearend housing has alot of custom one off items on it. I'm very local to Eric and he wanted to add some custom items to my housing as he knows how hard we are going to push the car this year. Our goal for this year is to be in the top 3-4 nitrous LSX cars in the country 
So, Eric added the bars on the back, wheelie bar brackets, more internal gussets than normal, narrowed 3" per side, narrowed LCA brackets, and some chrome moly brackets for other things.
I also picked up his new torque arm, trans cross member with solid torque arm mounts, lower control arms, 40 spline gun drilled Strange axles with pocket milled flanges, 5/8" stud package, Afco double adjustable front coil over shocks, and new front springs. My new strange hyper coil springs havent come in, so he gave me some temporary springs to use to get the car rolling. The car will be going back to Eric in a few weeks to get a Lexan windshield put in, anti roll installed, and a parachute setup.
The fab work on this rearend is fatastic, couldn't be happier with it.
Everything came out the way I wanted and better. I cant wait to get it in the car and put together. Eric is definitely a good guy to deal with, and it was well worth the wait.
Again a big thanks to Eric at Midwest Chassis & Performance
And for the pictures.....
[IMG]http://www.9handsracing.com/brian/Projects%202008/Race%20Car%2008/MidWest%20Chassis/mw-3.jpg[/IMG
So, Eric added the bars on the back, wheelie bar brackets, more internal gussets than normal, narrowed 3" per side, narrowed LCA brackets, and some chrome moly brackets for other things. I also picked up his new torque arm, trans cross member with solid torque arm mounts, lower control arms, 40 spline gun drilled Strange axles with pocket milled flanges, 5/8" stud package, Afco double adjustable front coil over shocks, and new front springs. My new strange hyper coil springs havent come in, so he gave me some temporary springs to use to get the car rolling. The car will be going back to Eric in a few weeks to get a Lexan windshield put in, anti roll installed, and a parachute setup.
The fab work on this rearend is fatastic, couldn't be happier with it.
Everything came out the way I wanted and better. I cant wait to get it in the car and put together. Eric is definitely a good guy to deal with, and it was well worth the wait.Again a big thanks to Eric at Midwest Chassis & Performance
And for the pictures.....
[IMG]http://www.9handsracing.com/brian/Projects%202008/Race%20Car%2008/MidWest%20Chassis/mw-3.jpg[/IMG