Miniature Automotive Gladiator.

Unfortunately, it means inflicting less hit too, though. :D However, as I said, the one demo where I saw a Pacer v. an early Imperial, the Pacer hung in there amazingly well. Again, that was on dry pavement!
 
I couldn't believe how light this thing is, it's just tin!

Gonna be a light weight getting thrown around the track I'm sure of it. :D

I have lots of cold rolled 1/4" steel rod laying around I was going to stitch the car's door seams together with that, just tap it into the door gaps at stitch weld away.
 
There aren't any written rules for this class, just the same safety rules apply regarding fuel tanks, batteries etc.

But obviously I can go crazy with the mods like reinforcing everything with pipe. :D
 
Your best bet is to reinforce the front sheetmetal to protect the engine and get out of everyones way. Let them beat on each other. If you get too aggressive you may knock yourself out. If you've got some old snowskins, mount them on the front. Cut the front wheel arches to make a lot of tire room.

K-car shift linkage is a very weak point. Those plastic clips are prone to breakage under normal use. Try to figure out something more stable.

Your entire drivetrain is contained in one area. You need to protect it,:naughty: ta hell with the rest. :dgt:
 
Welding the motor mounts solid with pieces of scrap steel like 69.5 suggested would help with the shift-linkage issue... but you've got to do all of them. Most likely there are voids or openings in the rubber isolators, fill 'em with black silicone to stiffen them. Do this prior to welding them, in case a weld fails during the derby. The "squeeze cheez" aerosol-type silicone is great for this. The local auto-parts stores have alternatives to Permatex's "The Right Stuff" that cost about 1/3 to 1/2 of it... it's not like you're sealing anything. :D It's an old racer's trick for Mopar V8 spool-type motor mounts.

If you can tack-weld the hatch every 3-4" inches, I would suggest doing so. This would give you an enormous strength gain out back--it's now part of the unibody. Be sneaky, though, and do it from the inside. I'd also weld a plate over the spare tire well, even if it's only 16-18ga steel. You're eliminating a crumple zone right there. You don't need to weld it solid, just every few inches run a little bead.

Cut the flanges of the bumpers' shock-absorbtion mounts, and weld the flanges to pipe. Those shock mounts were only designed to take one hit over 2.5MPH. Do NOT use galvanized pipe unless you want to get very sick. If you think you might get called out on this, I have a suggestion for that, too. Sorta labor-intensive, but cheaters always win!
 
The 2nd-gen Cavalier/Sunbird coupes are tough (like a '90 body style). I know... I was waiting to turn in my Mom's when a guy in a Caddy drove into the back of it. Luckily, he hit his brakes at the last second so his front bumper went under the Sunbird's back, but he was still going probably 35MPH at the time. About $450 damage to the 'Bird... ten times that on the Caddy. His whole front fascia evaporated, the core support was bent with all the damage that creates, and I guess those gold-plated trim pieces aren't cheap. Ol' Butchy got out of the Caddy, asked me if I was OK, then looked at his car, looked at my Mom's, and then at me. "No f__king way." The Sunbird needed bumper mounts, the foam piece, and a rear bumper cover... and you couldn't even see the tear in the bumper cover.
 
I have lots of steel and a good mig welder, I was actually thinking of making the front a "hard nose" by cutting the bumper shocks off and welding the bumper plates flat to the end of the frame.

I can weld up the motor mounts too, no biggie there.

Nobody else does it out here for they're derby cars but full welding of the panel seams is not "not allowed" so since it's not in the rules saying I can't do it I do it and I'm the only one that I've seen that does it.


Like the trunk on my New Yorker. 3" stitches alternating back and forth.

189626_10150145623291251_517396250_8517347_1775252_n.jpg


The doors are solid welded.

190408_10150145622751251_517396250_8517333_6945907_n.jpg
 
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Full welding is probably overkill, but it's a good idea to at least do what you did with the trunk lid there. Wouldn't welding the bumper plates on the end of the frame put the bumper perilously close to the radiator on that car? I'd probably leave it further out, but on solid mounts. Though I've never done a demo car, I know the rules are really tight around here about mods. Of course, new rules get made at the driver's meeting before the derby, but they don't go into effect until the next year. Snsspringer's Imperial is the reason they can no longer use 1-ton truck rear axles. Guys saw that full-floater Dana under an Imperial, and they were all messing their pants. :D

I was also wondering earlier if a guy couldn't cut the rear seat brace out of a K-car and weld it into your car... :hmmm:
 
Oh I'll just be stitching this car together, no full welding, takes too much time and wire. :p

I could just weld the bumper shock solid, knock the seal off the front and weld to two pieces of pipe together. :hmmm: Thats all I did to the New Yorker's bumper shocks. After you drill a hole in it to release the fluid and or gas. :D

I hope even with a cracked head I can keep it running. :D Runs great just overheats after about an hour. :doh:
 
Dr.Jass said:
Straight water and Redline Water Wetter will do you well.
Click to expand...

I was also thinking of gutting the rad cap so it ceases to build system pressure allowing the air being pumped in to escape. I could drill a hole in the thermostat too I think would help also.
 
It will overheat faster without pressure in the system. That's what keeps the water from boiling at it's normal point. If there's pressure in the system, no air will be pumped into the engine--it will only escape.
 
Dr.Jass said:
It will overheat faster without pressure in the system. That's what keeps the water from boiling at it's normal point. If there's pressure in the system, no air will be pumped into the engine--it will only escape.
Click to expand...

Hadn't thought of it like that. :hmmm:
 
Plumb the tranny cooler lines out of the tranny and right back in. Dont use the cooler. When the rad bites it you dont want to pump the trany fluid out. It will live along time with no cooler. Put a bottle of lucas trany medic in it too. Make a removeable lock out for the shifter. We make a bracket with a pin. Pull the pin and have access to park. Move the shifter out of park, insert pin. Now you can slam the shifter from low to reverse and you cant hit park. Make some sort of seat back support. You dont want to be holding yourself up in the seat by the steering wheel because the seat back broke. Just be for you hit someone or they hit you. make damn sure to look ahead so you don't crank your kneck. Get and ware a neck brace. Yes Ive done this before. LOL Watch your front wheels and try to get them stright befor you get hit in the wheel. Also let off the gas for a wheel hit. It will save the cv shafts.
 
hell run a tranny cooler INSIDE the cabin area with a shield so if it ruptures it CANT spray you..alot of the guys in souther oregon run em that way in the desert..ive seen guys run stacks of tranny coolers not just so the trany survives but more fuiild means less heat..less heat on the trans means less heat soak off the motor...ive also seen guys sneak in engine oil coolers into there tranny cooler stack...anything to keep those engine temps down even once the rads toast
 
If you've got a head leak, pour some K-Seal into the water/Water Wetter mixture. The stuff is pretty amazing. I doubt you want to pay for Blue Devil, but that stuff works so well it's beyond comprehension. The K-Seal worked so well I had a number of shops that would get it for a customer that couldn't afford to do head gaskets, intake leaks, etc. My brother limped along his kid's '98 Grand Am for months on K-Seal, and that was a loose radiator tank!

The video was gayed up pretty badly, but it's a pretty-good demonstration:

[video=youtube;pqfp3PFJQJk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqfp3PFJQJk[/video]
 
I have a transmission cooler I'm going to run and just stash it under hood somewhere.

I'm looking at an inline electric fuel pump for my custom fuel cell, I found one that is 140 liters (37gal) per hour @ 43psi 12v external. Should do the trick I think.

There is no place that I'm aware of that sells K-seal out here.
 
Call around, homeskillet. If you watch the video, it's pretty apparent it's available in Canada. We ran out of that stuff quite often... someone by you has got to be selling it, and if not, you might want to turn them onto it. It's really good stuff.
 
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