Originalsterm

That's more than our E30 Champcar cost to buy! 2x needs a cap, a sliding scale, or 2x cost limit AND points.

+1 This is where I found the lead for my lift and got to read a ton on which route to go with it

I built my own shop 6 years ago. 40' x 32' with 12' high walls for a 2 post lift. I did a "stick built" instead of a pole barn because of resale value (wrong assumption for me). I paid for excavation and concrete slab (did a monolithic slab instead of a tradition poured 42" footer), but did the rest of the construction myself. The whole project was done part time as I had a real job to go to everyday and money isn't infinite, so it took 2 years to have a shop with vinyl siding, 3 garage doors, shingled roof, insulated walls and ceiling, electric, lift, air compressor, welder, and storage shelves. I saved over 55 gallons of used motor oil thinking I would put in a waste oil heater, but that never materialized. A torpedo heater did a great job since it was properly insulated. I did my own drawings and did not have to have them stamped before applying for my building permit. Things I learned: 1. Put the lift in a location that makes sense. Will you have a car up in the air and want to open the garage door? Make it so you can by either opening the door straight up or pushing the lift as far away from the door as needed. I did both and put the lift too close to a back wall, which meant I had zero clearance in front of my tow vehicle when it was on the lift. 2. Put your welder near the lift, mine was in the opposite corner and was never close enough to weld exhaust or anything on the car while it was on the lift (Duh). 3. Pole barns go up faster and cost less. You can finish them just as nice inside and out, check with your local code enforcement as some towns want similar construction for outbuildings as the house. 4. Monolithic slabs have no downside despite what old timers might say. I live in upstate NY and never had any heaving, cracking, moving, etc. with my concrete floor. I had 3 quotes for the floor and the lowest quote convinced me to go this route after showing me whole houses he had build on top of slabs like this without issues. YMMV and your code enforcer might disagree. 5. LED lights on high ceilings, even with white walls and ceiling were terrible for lighting. I got round 120W equivalent lights and they are terrible. I'm using a shop light for every job and I have good eye sight. 6. I thought I needed to buy a used lift taken out of a dealership or something, but when you look for a proper installer you can get a great BRAND NEW lift for less than you might think (unless you've been looking). I had a brand new 10k pound 2 post lift delivered and professionally installed (minus electric) for just over $3,100. The brand was Forward, which my understanding is this is the residential division of Rotary. It was ALI (American Lift Institute) certified, which put my mind at ease leaving my 9,000 pound tow vehicle on for days on end. I'm moving in a month and will not have room to build a shop at the new house. I will absolutely dread not having the lift anymore and will figure out what to put in my standard 2 car garage to mitigate this loss. Max Jax or a Quicklift are probably my only 2 options for a standard height ceiling. The additional value of the garage was approximately $0 when I sold my house. It made it more appealing to someone looking for a shop that size, but didn't mean my appraised value increased significantly. I should have saved the money up front and went with a pole barn. Again, YMMV.

I used this... http://kayakoutfitting.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15&zenid=696cf8a568a57998f0ec5eecf892932a Had to ditch the tank though because of rules, so it only lasted 1 weekend.

Good point, but you could also increase tire width (maybe not 40mm) and still stay within the stock fenders (or rolled fenders without flares) and get an improvement on tire life. Obviously some cars are limited with how much, some more than others.

This is the example of what I was roundabout eluding too. Keeping costs (and speed) in check by limiting how far teams can push the limit. It is a delicate balance of going fast and spending money versus ensuring low dollar teams can remain in the hunt and keep coming out race after race. It penalizes teams that are already in the series, but not doing something to keep costs in check is a barrier to more teams entering the series. My comment was no fender flairs leads to narrower tires leads to lower cost rims and tires leads to lower costs to build a team/car. The fender flare rule seems like an after-the-fact rule that may or may not have come from an actual incident on track. I don't know that I agree with it, but it doesn't impact our build at all since we are running wheels that fit within our fenders without rolling them. If you can't keep tires on your car for a 24 hour race, that could push teams to identify a car that COULD do it with fewer tires (lower cost). Again, that penalizes a team who is already in the series with a car that eats consumables, but YOU picked YOUR car.

What car needs $2,500 wheels? My aftermarket wheels were $400 plus another $500 for tires. Serious question, not trolling. There is always going to be a balance with burning existing cars versus new teams/builds pushing the limits and costs to infinity. Rules need to be added to limit this or you just end up with unlimited funds teams in the series.

If you can't roll your fenders to cover the wheels, you shouldn't be able to run the wider wheels. This would help keep speed/cost creep out of the series. Nobody NEEDS to run wider tires for SAFETY. We didn't pick your car.

Weren't the T-Tops heavier? Should their weight be used for the swap calculator?

Building a hybrid model within a platform creates an opportunity for TONS of free mods for certain cars. I'm sure there's a platform out there that will allow mix and match suspension, engine, trans, diff, and gas tank options across different trim and years. There is zero point in arguing point adders if there is so much free stuff available. I bet you could build an incredible car and claim zero points above stock VPI.

IF manifolds NEED to be replaced due to their design (more modern cars with closely coupled cats), then their replacement should be assumed and built into the VPI. Newer cars should not get performance adders for free when older cars do not.

If it increases SAFETY, then it should be free. If it increases RELIABILITY, then it should be on the FPV list or requires Tech Approval. If it increases PERFORMANCE, then it should be points assigned accordingly. If it saves TIME/MONEY, then bully for you and should be considered when building your car for Champ. Parity should be handled in the VPI list, not with modifications that are allowed or not allowed as that has shown to be case by case. The only thing that should be case by case is the VPI list since all cars are listed individually. This makes more work as new cars are added, cars on the list are run more (or less) frequently, and Tech is not an expert on every make and model someone may bring to the series. But the rules are the same for everyone in every situation, including swaps. Your engine doesn't fit in the new car with the stock manifolds? No problem,. points like everyone else. Your hubs are made of glass? No big deal, points like everyone else.

"We didn't pick your car" should apply to everyone in every situation. You need better exhaust manifolds? Should have picked a different car.

Is your point the cam can be used like "re-purposed material" since it was original to the car, just not satisfying the same function? I think the "old" rules would agree with you, but the new rules with things falling under the FPV system step on that creativity.

Lock all the exhaust valves open for a free flowing system. Less restriction that way.