What happened to your ChampCar today 2021 ??

[wvumtnbkr]

2 hours ago, Fetterhund said:

Pulled the garbage weld job roll cage out of the car in preparation for a new cage getting properly installed. I knew it was garbage before, but seeing it outside of the car just p****** me off. I got a reasonable settlement to try and make it right, but I am just amazed anyone thought to even try and pass this off... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, there is no prep on those tubes whatsoever.  Probably not even wiped down before welding. 

 

Crap fit too.

 

Also, looks like it was done with flux core.

 

Finally, it looks like the person welding that couldn't see.  At all.

[Team Infiniti]

On a safer note...

 

Not much here, the Shark had been prepped for Sebring and not run, although it was time to do something about our timed out fire bottle : @DiscoveryParts parts delivered a new fire system today, tonight installed, thank you for the discount!

 

Up next : Looking into a set of tires, today the new shop was wired for 3 phase, air and tire machine now up and running.

 

Car #2 aka Baby shark:

Post Sebring repairs and minor updates almost complete, wipers fixed, abs diagnosed & almost fixed, ignition and other switches moved closer for easier use of one driver w/T-rex arms.

 

39 days till Daytona

 

 

 

 

[mender]

4 hours ago, wvumtnbkr said:

Finally, it looks like the person welding that couldn't see.  At all.

I weld better than that with my eyes closed.

 

Seriously; I'm too lazy to put a helmet on and I just close my eyes. That accounts for my nice facial tan at this time of the year.

[MichaelPal]

Worked on rebuilding the car all weekend. Played hooky on Monday and worked 10hrs straight with liquid lunch.

Engine fired on first crank, that felt good. 

Shake down @ Summit Point this weekend, then work out the kinks before NCM!

 

Also saw Tire Rack has 245/15 Falkens in stock! My teammate @ChrisG got these for his e36, tread blocks are super fat. Will be curious to see how these work for endurance.

 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Falken&tireModel=Azenis+RT660&partnum=44WR5RT660&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by MichaelPal

[67Mustang]

16 hours ago, Bandit said:

A man has to know his limitations.

 

I don't weld cages.

 

Amazed people push out that kind of crap and actually expect to be paid for it.

Easy, the I doubt the guy that welded that cage had to sit inside it and perhaps depend on it to save his life.....

[QuaTTro]

18 hours ago, gundy said:

How did you get 391 pts I'm claiming 401

which car did your ecotec come from and what hp is it rated at?

[gundy]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:42 AM, QuaTTro said:

which car did your ecotec come from and what hp is it rated at?

 

I was told to use 164 HP in the calculator by several people

[QuaTTro]

4 minutes ago, gundy said:

 

I was told to use 164 HP in the calculator by several people

you are supposed to use the HP from the car it came from.  that's why the swap form asks you what car (year, model etc) it came from...right?  

[enginerd]

15 minutes ago, gundy said:

 

I was told to use 164 HP in the calculator by several people

 

9 minutes ago, QuaTTro said:

you are supposed to use the HP from the car it came from.  that's why the swap form asks you what car (year, model etc) it came from...right?  

Yep, so which car has a 164 hp ecotec? You must use the correct intake manifold / exhaust manifold / etc. for that car and it's ecotec.

[Bandit]

15 minutes ago, enginerd said:

Yep, so which car has a 164 hp ecotec?

Malibu Hybrid iirc.

 

eta-It was discussed here a while back, as I recall, how to tell the various Ecotec's apart. The only reason I recall that particular variant.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Bandit

[gundy]

27 minutes ago, QuaTTro said:

you are supposed to use the HP from the car it came from.  that's why the swap form asks you what car (year, model etc) it came from...right?  

 

Wrong, it didn't 12 minutes ago , just tried again to verify 

Edited March 5, 2021 by gundy
more info

[wvumtnbkr]

It doesn't ask which car it came from.  It asks the new hp.  Whatever you put in there better match what engine you are actually installing.

 

It better match in every way.  Intake, valve covers, etc...  Or, you better be taking exceptions that tech gets to look at... 

[Bandit]

The swap form certainly does ask what the donor car is.

 

https://champcar.org/web/pdf/2021SwapForm.pdf

 

 

[Bandit]

According to this post Jer is telling the Miata teams what to claim;

 

 

[wvumtnbkr]

Lolz. I can has read.  I read that as swap calculator too, not swap form....

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[Bandit]

I did a quick search for the various power producing parts on the Ecotec engine and it appears the various HP ratings, in the base type engines, are produced by the ECU or downstream exhaust. All of the LE5's seem to have the same head, cams, intake and exhaust manifolds per the GM part numbers.

[67Mustang]

2 hours ago, Bandit said:

I did a quick search for the various power producing parts on the Ecotec engine and it appears the various HP ratings, in the base type engines, are produced by the ECU or downstream exhaust. All of the LE5's seem to have the same head, cams, intake and exhaust manifolds per the GM part numbers.

 

Then I'd argue they all need to be assessed at the highest HP version value then since anyone can get that highest hp just be free flashing software....  That is not like me paying 50 points for a cam to get hp after I swap in a V8...

[Bandit]

20 minutes ago, 67Mustang said:

 

Then I'd argue they all need to be assessed at the highest HP version value then since anyone can get that highest hp just be free flashing software....  That is not like me paying 50 points for a cam to get hp after I swap in a V8...

That's kind of a feature of the newer stuff. The Ecotechmiata.com page claims 200HP with a reflash.

 

Basically any of the modern ecm's can be tuned/reflashed to make more power when optimized for racing use where they don't have cat's and emissions to worry about. 

 

You can't police it. That's why reflashing is free.

 

eta-GM would reflash Cobalt SS turbo's from 260hp/260tq to 290 with 340 torque for $650 while keeping your warranty.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Bandit

[67Mustang]

I guess what I was thinking is for swap value those engine's  with multiple factory flash files on the exact same iron set should all be assessed swap points based on the highest factory power setting for that specific iron set.

 

Again, this assumes all engine iron is the same, same cams, CR , everything.  If stuff is different and you get different factory ratings that's ok, but you claim the max factory rating for your given iron set.

 

Aftermarket flash files is something different but would be free and I get your point about in many cases there is free power to be had with aftermarket flashes.

[enginerd]

58 minutes ago, 67Mustang said:

 

Then I'd argue they all need to be assessed at the highest HP version value then since anyone can get that highest hp just be free flashing software....  That is not like me paying 50 points for a cam to get hp after I swap in a V8...

I proposed basically this in a petition a couple years ago. Basically, if the same engine exists at different rated power, ChampCar should pick one as the accepted swap HP value.

The petition was solidly shot down with Jerry Enger being the main spokesperson on the BoD articulating their stance.

Edited March 5, 2021 by enginerd

[Bandit]

@gundy probably didn't expect such a shitstorm coming from his seemingly innocuous post. 

[petawawarace]

9 hours ago, Bandit said:

I did a quick search for the various power producing parts on the Ecotec engine and it appears the various HP ratings, in the base type engines, are produced by the ECU or downstream exhaust. All of the LE5's seem to have the same head, cams, intake and exhaust manifolds per the GM part numbers.

This is not true.  There are atleast 3 different intakes for the LE5. I have 2 right here. They are very easy to distinguish with the hood open.  They will all bolt up to the motor, but are different.  This is likely the main difference on hp ratings.  The Saturn Vue will have a different torque curve than the Cobalt SS. 
Keep in mind when you are looking up part numbers that aftermarket will often list the same intake for all different vehicles. They don’t care about a couple hp either way, and they would rather produce one intake than 3 different ones. 
The factory will sometimes do this once vehicles get older as well, so you can’t always trust the current part numbers as they may be superseded. 

[Bandit]

6 minutes ago, petawawarace said:

This is not true.  There are atleast 3 different intakes for the LE5. I have 2 right here. They are very easy to distinguish with the hood open.  They will all bolt up to the motor, but are different.  This is likely the main difference on hp ratings.  The Saturn Vue will have a different torque curve than the Cobalt SS. 
Keep in mind when you are looking up part numbers that aftermarket will often list the same intake for all different vehicles. They don’t care about a couple hp either way, and they would rather produce one intake than 3 different ones. 
The factory will sometimes do this once vehicles get older as well, so you can’t always trust the current part numbers as they may be superseded. 

To be more accurate I should have said the parts, intake included, are not unique to the hybrid according to gmpartsdirect. It shows as the OE fitment on other models that do not have the 164hp rating.

 

For those that want to know about the various power ratings they are listed here for the LE5 with the "LAT" hybrid variant listed right below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Ecotec_engine#2.4

 

Knowing how much effect 15hp can have in the swap calc, going between a 4.8 and 5.3, I'm sure a 177HP Ecotec vs the 164 would be painful for a Miata.

[mhr650]

Evaluated some new potential race tires 

[67Mustang]

Nice Nutz.....