My FC NASA racecar build

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I'm 700/400 no aero. 275 100 treadwear tires all around. My car looks just like yours @ Sebring in flat corners. I can't see going any stiffer in the rear without aero. I probably could get away with 750 in the front but I have not tried it. the rear of my car was really edgy before I added more rear toe in. Are you running a rear sway bar? I am not, just a RB front bar.

AAA speedway compresses the car quite a bit.. I cant imagine what the high banks of Daytona do!!

That is basically where I will end up is 700/400.  I had the 350's and wanted to try them.  No rear bar for me but I am running a front bar almost identical to Bowtie, I think mine is an inch longer.  My car drive fine but it seems snappy loose at higher speeds >120.  Probably because I am not used to driving it without aero.  I am only running 1/8 toe in in the rear, are you running more?

Yea I am running a little more rear toe, just under 1/4” total. It had no stability over 90/100 without the increased rear toe. Now it is like I have a little bit to lean on.

[Bowtie7]

Totally agree with running more toe in rear. I originally setup the way we did it on the ITS cars at 1/16 in rear toe. Car felt really nervous until we went to 1/4 total toe in rear. Sat in on a Hoosier seminar a few years ago and they mentioned needing more rear toe on a powerful car.

On another note, KRC makes a nice power steering pump with different valves available so it can be dialed in to your liking. Norm Frame at KRC is an old friend and customer. Smart guy and a racer.

[kartermdb]

Thanks guys, I will try a bit more rear toe and see how it goes at the next event when I break in the new trans.  I will also be there testing my new electric power steering.  Hopefully it works as well for me as it does for some of the offroad guys.

02-07 vue, and some equinox's and torrents all have this unit.  I paid $71 for 2 of them from the local pull a part.  Controller is like $45 off ebay.  Static test seems promising so we shall see.

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[cholmes]

Can you post a link to the ebay controller? Man, it looks like you can do this cheap!

[Cobranut]

Thanks guys, I will try a bit more rear toe and see how it goes at the next event when I break in the new trans.  I will also be there testing my new electric power steering.  Hopefully it works as well for me as it does for some of the offroad guys.

02-07 vue, and some equinox's and torrents all have this unit.  I paid $71 for 2 of them from the local pull a part.  Controller is like $45 off ebay.  Static test seems promising so we shall see.

[attach=1]

That looks like a pretty compact unit.  I might pick up one of those to see if I can fit it into my Pro-Challenge car.
Getting older, and P/S would be a nice addition.

[jwvand02]

Thanks guys, I will try a bit more rear toe and see how it goes at the next event when I break in the new trans.  I will also be there testing my new electric power steering.  Hopefully it works as well for me as it does for some of the offroad guys.

02-07 vue, and some equinox's and torrents all have this unit.  I paid $71 for 2 of them from the local pull a part.  Controller is like $45 off ebay.  Static test seems promising so we shall see.

[attach=1]

This is exactly the unit I used, except I stuffed it under the stock dash and had to do a lot of creative stuff to make it fit. It works pretty darn well, but my steering shaft has too many joints with the way I had to put it in so it's a little more numb than I'd like.

[kartermdb]

This is exactly the unit I used, except I stuffed it under the stock dash and had to do a lot of creative stuff to make it fit. It works pretty darn well, but my steering shaft has too many joints with the way I had to put it in so it's a little more numb than I'd like.

I am glad it is working well for you!  I only added a saturn joint at the output side to join into the stock steering shaft.  I know it should be a bit numb feeling because of the torsion bar in the unit itself to measure load and calculate assist levels. 

Can you post a link to the ebay controller? Man, it looks like you can do this cheap!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284398607554?hash=item42377a5cc2:g:2HUAAOSwPQdhDNFe
It seems like he has changed seller names.  The unit itself has been available for years.  I will update here after I use the car and get a feel for it. 

That looks like a pretty compact unit.  I might pick up one of those to see if I can fit it into my Pro-Challenge car.
Getting older, and P/S would be a nice addition.

It is pretty small.  My goal was to make the car more consistent to drive.  When I took the SLA off the front and went back to a strut, I put the car back to slightly more than stock caster.  The steering effort greatly increased with my manual converted 15.5:1 rack.  If you need any dimensions let me know, I can post them up here.

[jwvand02]

I am glad it is working well for you!  I only added a saturn joint at the output side to join into the stock steering shaft.  I know it should be a bit numb feeling because of the torsion bar in the unit itself to measure load and calculate assist levels. 

With the full factory dash in place, the main housing contacts the metal structure of the dash and has to sit in a way that is like parallel but offset from the angle of the factory steering shaft pass-through. I basically had to make an intermediate shaft that is two u-joints stuck together with a tiny piece of D-shaft. I also had to remove the control unit and extend it so I could mount off to the side to get it to fit.

Part of my issue is that I cut the factory pass-through tube way back and put in new bearings, but they aren't a perfect fit and wiggle around a little bit in there. I am a much more skilled fabricator than I was when I put this together, and could probably improve it quite a bit. At the time I think I was the first one to do it in an FC and I did it mostly just to see if I could. I absolutely loathe working under the dash and that mfer is heavy so it's a miserable job and I've been putting it off 

[kartermdb]

Nasa Championships Info. Daytona

I changed classes to run ST4 hoping the added power would make up for no aero and the harder, crappier Toyo RR.  Man this tire is absolute trash compared to purple crack.  I just couldn't get the feel for it.  I broke the stock TKX shifter in the friday qualifying.  Went home, made parts to kinda fix it, and made it back to the track to watch my Friday race group head out on track.  10 more minutes and I would have been back together. 

Broken shifter, those 4 pieces on the top should be 2, and that is all that holds the shifter assembly together.


Fortunately it was Friday so on my 30 min trip home I called American Powertrain and had them overnight sat delivery a "White Lightning" shifter.  It is a far, far superior shifter to the stock one.
I was off pace all weekend unfortunately.  I should have just stayed in ST3, where I have always run the car.  In the championship race I noticed the hood moving more than normal so I decided to pull off since I was just turning laps by myself.  Good thing I did, I may have lost a windshield, roof or more.

Broken Aero hood pin was the culprit.

The past few months I have been debating on selling this car and building something else.  I just don't have the funds to do that.  Jan 2022 will mark 10 years this has been a running car, my first autox was April 2012 and first track day was May 2012.  Plus I like to have something different so I am still making changes to try and make it better.  After the major rebuild last winter, this winter I am changing some things up front by moving the radiator, air intake, and removing some front end weight to get the balance better. 




That is all for now.  I did actually buy a car in June to tune more towards autocross, since this with the baby clutch is no fun to drive in parking lots lol.

[Sabre002]

I was at Daytona for the NASA camps at the Mazda trailer. 

Did you by chance stop by and see us?

[kartermdb]

Now for sale!  Turnkey with spares!

https://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=28645.0

[kartermdb]

Current photos, taken 8/3/2024.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10OIfxXiRkt5UmcZ2X9jpjdXiDsFpFtdO?usp=drive_link