RACE///KERN 2011 Hill Climb Evo IX
Jul 20, 2011, 08:39 PM
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RACE///KERN 2011 Hill Climb Evo IX
Hi all, now that the rush of Pikes Peak is behind me for the season, I thought I would put up a few pics of the hillclimb car. A bunch of this stuff is also in the motorsports section, but I know not everybody ventures that far down the forum list. 
Here's how the year began:
The car was last used as a backup car back in July at the X-games for another driver, I haven't driven it since - practically a crime, I know!
This is what it weighs with about a 1/4 tank of fuel. Notice the weight distribution - sucks, but what are you going to do, right?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's weights of various stuff I put on the scales:
30 lbs - 3/16" Aluminum skidplate
22 lbs - Ohlins TTX front rally shock
45 lbs - 15x7 Compomotive TH3 & 215-65-15 BFG Rally tire
44 lbs - 15x7 Compomotive TH3 & 205-65-15 Yokohama A036 Tarmac Intermediate
45 lbs - OEM 17x8 & 24-64-17 Michelin Tarmac tire
46 lbs - Enkei NT03 & 275-40-17 Kumho W700
34 lbs - Gutted OEM rear door with glass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's how the year began:
The car was last used as a backup car back in July at the X-games for another driver, I haven't driven it since - practically a crime, I know!
This is what it weighs with about a 1/4 tank of fuel. Notice the weight distribution - sucks, but what are you going to do, right?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's weights of various stuff I put on the scales:
30 lbs - 3/16" Aluminum skidplate
22 lbs - Ohlins TTX front rally shock
45 lbs - 15x7 Compomotive TH3 & 215-65-15 BFG Rally tire
44 lbs - 15x7 Compomotive TH3 & 205-65-15 Yokohama A036 Tarmac Intermediate
45 lbs - OEM 17x8 & 24-64-17 Michelin Tarmac tire
46 lbs - Enkei NT03 & 275-40-17 Kumho W700
34 lbs - Gutted OEM rear door with glass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jul 20, 2011, 08:42 PM
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I've had an early season distraction to contend with as well. It was getting close to completion so here's a shot:
Not nearly as fast as the Evo, but its still sideways fun!
Not nearly as fast as the Evo, but its still sideways fun!
Last edited by DaveK; Jul 20, 2011 at 08:46 PM.
Jul 20, 2011, 08:44 PM
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Knocked out a bunch of stuff:
-removed all 4 windows & door panels
-purchased tinted lexan
-traced windows only to discover my jig-saw has gone missing
-removed dash
-removed heater box & fan
-removed radiator
-test fit IC in higher location (sitting on top of the radiator support)
In the hopes of lightening it up, I've removed some "unnecessary" parts. Dash pad weighs 5-6 lbs, but for now I don't see trying to replace it with anything lighter.
Weigh-in of unnecessary parts. That's 32 lbs of weight off the front half of the car, though we'll be putting a lightweight defrost unit back in.
-removed all 4 windows & door panels
-purchased tinted lexan
-traced windows only to discover my jig-saw has gone missing
-removed dash
-removed heater box & fan
-removed radiator
-test fit IC in higher location (sitting on top of the radiator support)
In the hopes of lightening it up, I've removed some "unnecessary" parts. Dash pad weighs 5-6 lbs, but for now I don't see trying to replace it with anything lighter.
Weigh-in of unnecessary parts. That's 32 lbs of weight off the front half of the car, though we'll be putting a lightweight defrost unit back in.
Jul 20, 2011, 08:51 PM
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Here's where we were as of the beginning of May:
Can't believe I'm another month closer to PPIHC and I haven't really had much time to work on the Evo at all. Managed to squeeze in one more testing day with the BMW as well after fitting a differently valved set of rear shocks on the car. Getting closer but the suspension still bottoms out some on the long straight and we get bucked off the road (near the end of the vid). Its certainly good enough for playing around, but IMO not up to par for racing quite yet when you don't know where all the dips/bumps are. The beauty of fully adjustable dampers is now very clear!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdgOaRiCEdk
So, with just about 50 days until Pikes Peak, its time to give up the RWD distraction and focus in on the Evo. Despite not working on the Evo, I've been amassing parts and trying to schedule time to get some stuff done. Time for show & tell.
Knowing that my car doesn't have much mileage, but what mileage it does have has been a little rough, I figured this year was as good a time as any to take care of replacing the OEM bushings. I ordered up all the kits Whiteline makes and the rear trailing arm kit from AMS. Since you can't see them when they're installed very well, here's what they look like sitting in the packaging:
Picked up some "new to me" suspension last night. Absolutely sick stuff - AST 5300 with remote reservoirs. Here's the specs from the AST website:
» 44.5mm diameter shaft struts, Inverted
» Rebound, Low & Hi Speed Compression Adjustable ("Triples")
» Remote reservoirs allow additional travel and heat dissipation
» Aluminum cylinder, threaded body shocks, factory mounting style
» Spherical upper shock mount assemblies
» Synthetic hydraulic fluid
And just for comparison's sake, I thought it'd be interesting to show you what they look like next to a dirty front rally strut. The reason I find it interesting is that at the MOD show in California last summer there was a car jacked up with mirrors underneath. Their wheels at full droop looked like they had just about the same fender gap as my car did sitting on the ground. This pic shows that the road race stuff is indeed shorter than the rally parts by about 2" or so:
Can't believe I'm another month closer to PPIHC and I haven't really had much time to work on the Evo at all. Managed to squeeze in one more testing day with the BMW as well after fitting a differently valved set of rear shocks on the car. Getting closer but the suspension still bottoms out some on the long straight and we get bucked off the road (near the end of the vid). Its certainly good enough for playing around, but IMO not up to par for racing quite yet when you don't know where all the dips/bumps are. The beauty of fully adjustable dampers is now very clear!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdgOaRiCEdk
So, with just about 50 days until Pikes Peak, its time to give up the RWD distraction and focus in on the Evo. Despite not working on the Evo, I've been amassing parts and trying to schedule time to get some stuff done. Time for show & tell.
Knowing that my car doesn't have much mileage, but what mileage it does have has been a little rough, I figured this year was as good a time as any to take care of replacing the OEM bushings. I ordered up all the kits Whiteline makes and the rear trailing arm kit from AMS. Since you can't see them when they're installed very well, here's what they look like sitting in the packaging:
Picked up some "new to me" suspension last night. Absolutely sick stuff - AST 5300 with remote reservoirs. Here's the specs from the AST website:
» 44.5mm diameter shaft struts, Inverted
» Rebound, Low & Hi Speed Compression Adjustable ("Triples")
» Remote reservoirs allow additional travel and heat dissipation
» Aluminum cylinder, threaded body shocks, factory mounting style
» Spherical upper shock mount assemblies
» Synthetic hydraulic fluid
And just for comparison's sake, I thought it'd be interesting to show you what they look like next to a dirty front rally strut. The reason I find it interesting is that at the MOD show in California last summer there was a car jacked up with mirrors underneath. Their wheels at full droop looked like they had just about the same fender gap as my car did sitting on the ground. This pic shows that the road race stuff is indeed shorter than the rally parts by about 2" or so:
Jul 20, 2011, 08:55 PM
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My buddy Josh decided to jump on the carbon dash project. He's done alot of fab stuff with composites in the past (http://teamsaveferris.com/ & http://www.goteamspeedracer.com/) and seems to have a really good knack for this kind of one-off stuff.
So, basically with the removal of the dash and all parts under it, we're at 38 lbs. I think with some luck, we'll end up with a net savings of 25 lbs and we'll still have a proper defrost unit in the car. Depending on how solid our mold comes out, we may be able to pull a few more dashboards.
Work continues on the Evo in two different locations. My buddy Josh has been hard at work on the new dashboard at his shop and I've been in the garage bolting things back on.
Check out the writeup to see what goes into making carbon fiber hotness:
http://racekern.com/Kernracing/?p=311
Dave
Jul 20, 2011, 08:56 PM
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Making progress as time allows. Sure would be alot easier if I didn't have to go to work every day....but damn would it make buying stuff tough.
Rear of the car just about done. Still need to tighten stuff up but with the bedroom over the garage, I'm pretty sure using the air tools isn't in my best interest.
-Arms with AMS & Whiteline bushings now back in place
-AST 5300 suspension bolted in - still need to figure out mounting solution for the remote canisters
-2-piece slotted rear rotors installed
-rear inner mud guards removed (these kept mud from getting packed into the rear bumper)
Got the news today that NOS is pulling out of some of the smaller stuff they're involved in, and that means no more NOS car at Pikes Peak. Its not all bad news, as I'm sure I'll see some weight savings from removing all that vinyl. I'm putting all the pieces in a box so maybe I'll be able to weigh it at some point.
One more full day of thrashing on the car and I got the following knocked out:
-new suspension bolted to the car
-swapped back to OEM brakes from AMS Rally Brake Kit (small so I can run 15s)
-swapped two piece rotors in place of the OEM ones
-mounted up OEM trunk lid (not sure how safe superlightweight carbon one is with that much downforce)
-removed the wrap
And with that, it was finally time to get it loaded on the trailer!
Rear of the car just about done. Still need to tighten stuff up but with the bedroom over the garage, I'm pretty sure using the air tools isn't in my best interest.
-Arms with AMS & Whiteline bushings now back in place
-AST 5300 suspension bolted in - still need to figure out mounting solution for the remote canisters
-2-piece slotted rear rotors installed
-rear inner mud guards removed (these kept mud from getting packed into the rear bumper)
Got the news today that NOS is pulling out of some of the smaller stuff they're involved in, and that means no more NOS car at Pikes Peak. Its not all bad news, as I'm sure I'll see some weight savings from removing all that vinyl. I'm putting all the pieces in a box so maybe I'll be able to weigh it at some point.
One more full day of thrashing on the car and I got the following knocked out:
-new suspension bolted to the car
-swapped back to OEM brakes from AMS Rally Brake Kit (small so I can run 15s)
-swapped two piece rotors in place of the OEM ones
-mounted up OEM trunk lid (not sure how safe superlightweight carbon one is with that much downforce)
-removed the wrap
And with that, it was finally time to get it loaded on the trailer!
Last edited by DaveK; Jul 20, 2011 at 09:02 PM.
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Jul 20, 2011, 09:01 PM
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Finally onto the meat of the build!
We're proud to announce we'll be teaming up with Manley Performance for the 2011 season!
With an engine rebuild needed to start off the 2011 season, now is the perfect time to incorporate some of Manley's great products. Once again we'll be doing a high compression 2.3L stroker engine, but this time around we will be using a Turbo Tuff Series Billet Crankshaft and Turbo Tuff I-Beam Rods. This stuff is so pretty its almost a shame to hide it inside an engine!
Sunday morning I had hoped to leave for AMS Performance, but didn't end up hitting the road till 1pm. Drive went without incident and arrived in West Chicago before 9am.
The crew at AMS went right to work. There were a few bits already assembled and waiting:
Motor & trans were out of the car by Monday afternoon and accessories were getting swapped onto the new engine. Here's how the day ended, the Evo surrounded by fast company:
I spent this morning finishing up cleaning out the engine bay and made a few little modifications - going to see if you guys can spot what I've done and guess why.
We're proud to announce we'll be teaming up with Manley Performance for the 2011 season!
With an engine rebuild needed to start off the 2011 season, now is the perfect time to incorporate some of Manley's great products. Once again we'll be doing a high compression 2.3L stroker engine, but this time around we will be using a Turbo Tuff Series Billet Crankshaft and Turbo Tuff I-Beam Rods. This stuff is so pretty its almost a shame to hide it inside an engine!
Sunday morning I had hoped to leave for AMS Performance, but didn't end up hitting the road till 1pm. Drive went without incident and arrived in West Chicago before 9am.
The crew at AMS went right to work. There were a few bits already assembled and waiting:
Motor & trans were out of the car by Monday afternoon and accessories were getting swapped onto the new engine. Here's how the day ended, the Evo surrounded by fast company:
I spent this morning finishing up cleaning out the engine bay and made a few little modifications - going to see if you guys can spot what I've done and guess why.
Jul 20, 2011, 09:08 PM
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Oh man, where does the time go?!? Here's a few more pictures from my weet at AMS Performance.
Engine in the car along with a freshly rebuilt Evo VIII ShepTrans with the street/strip rebuild and an Evo IX 5th gear. Man this stuff is shiny:
I managed to finish off the install of whiteline parts, last to go in was the steering correction kit:
New year and a new turbo - many thanks to the guys at TiAl Sport for getting us this bad-boy on short notice. Its a Garrett 35R with a TiAL billet wheel and we've spec'd an 0.82 stainless steel exhaust housing this time around:
Scott got the car up and running on Friday afternoon and Mitch made a few tweaks to things so it could be moved over to the dyno for break in. While those guys were busy, I wandered a bit.
The fab guys have been busy and there's going to be some cool customers soon:
Its not an evo, but I got to hear this thing tearing up the rollers and just had to snap a pic. Can't argue with 700whp on 93 pump gas.
Engine in the car along with a freshly rebuilt Evo VIII ShepTrans with the street/strip rebuild and an Evo IX 5th gear. Man this stuff is shiny:
I managed to finish off the install of whiteline parts, last to go in was the steering correction kit:
New year and a new turbo - many thanks to the guys at TiAl Sport for getting us this bad-boy on short notice. Its a Garrett 35R with a TiAL billet wheel and we've spec'd an 0.82 stainless steel exhaust housing this time around:
Scott got the car up and running on Friday afternoon and Mitch made a few tweaks to things so it could be moved over to the dyno for break in. While those guys were busy, I wandered a bit.
The fab guys have been busy and there's going to be some cool customers soon:
Its not an evo, but I got to hear this thing tearing up the rollers and just had to snap a pic. Can't argue with 700whp on 93 pump gas.
Jul 20, 2011, 09:12 PM
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Next up was the trip to the dyno for break-in and tuning.
Scott keeping an eye on things as we get ready for break-in miles:
Different angles:
Looks like I missed a couple spots when removing the old vinyl:
Mitch working his magic on the bombproff laptop:
Mitch making some adjustments to the throttle kicker:
Picture of the throttle kicker:
Science experiment gone bad?
Hardly - one of the best things about the MoTeC ECU is its sheer capability of what you can do with it. I just wanted the option to run real rally-style antilag, but its capable of so much more. I'll let Mitch chime in with all the cool stuff he's been doing but I gotta say I'm damn impressed. Lots of checks & balances and different parts of the tune that reference off different things...enough to make my head hurt. LOL
Scott keeping an eye on things as we get ready for break-in miles:
Different angles:
Looks like I missed a couple spots when removing the old vinyl:
Mitch working his magic on the bombproff laptop:
Mitch making some adjustments to the throttle kicker:
Picture of the throttle kicker:
Science experiment gone bad?
Hardly - one of the best things about the MoTeC ECU is its sheer capability of what you can do with it. I just wanted the option to run real rally-style antilag, but its capable of so much more. I'll let Mitch chime in with all the cool stuff he's been doing but I gotta say I'm damn impressed. Lots of checks & balances and different parts of the tune that reference off different things...enough to make my head hurt. LOL
Jul 20, 2011, 09:16 PM
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Had a chance to do initial shakedown on the car at High Plains Raceway last Friday. Didn't make it out there until 3pm and the track closes at 5pm, but was just hoping for a few laps.
Went out for the first session and was pretty gentle. Partial throttling it down the main straights, but still seeing 120mph. Came in, poked around the car a little and everything seemed in place. Nothing out of place other than an unconnected wire plug from under a headlight that dangled out into the wheel well.
Second session I started to wring out the car a bit more, seeing somewhere around 145 on the main straight. Towards the end I decided to push a little bit harder in the turns to get a bit more familiar with how the Evo reacts on tarmac. Ended up with a nice spin down thru the Prairie Corkscrew, but was pretty much alone on that section when it happened, so no biggie.
Went out for the third session and went full throttle down the straight. Not one budge in the radiator temp needle so I was pretty happy. All was going well until I decided to try and pass a GT3 in the last third of the straight and the brake pedal went to the floor...oops! Managed to get it slowed and didn't leave the track, but that was a close enough call for me to call it a day. No pad fade was going on, just a classic case of fluid boil I think.
As you can see from the pic, the car is far from ready to race, but seat time is seat time I guess. After looking at datalogs it appears that top speed for the day was 155 according to the ABS sensor data. With the slightly smaller diameter tires, I think that means 153...a new top speed for me.
Lots of stuff to do before the car sees the track again:
-full flush of the ATE SuperBlue fluid for the Motul RBF600
-reinstalling the AMS brake duct kit & adding "headlight duct" to the inlets
-reinstalling the side skirts
-mounting the big rear wing
-mounting the front splitter
-mounting up the new race tires
-swapping springs from 800F/1000R to 600F/800R. New F-spring is 7" instead of the 6".
I'm also working with the guys from Guru Graphics in Denver on the appearance package for the car, hopefully some details/teaser pics to drop over the next week.
Went out for the first session and was pretty gentle. Partial throttling it down the main straights, but still seeing 120mph. Came in, poked around the car a little and everything seemed in place. Nothing out of place other than an unconnected wire plug from under a headlight that dangled out into the wheel well.
Second session I started to wring out the car a bit more, seeing somewhere around 145 on the main straight. Towards the end I decided to push a little bit harder in the turns to get a bit more familiar with how the Evo reacts on tarmac. Ended up with a nice spin down thru the Prairie Corkscrew, but was pretty much alone on that section when it happened, so no biggie.
Went out for the third session and went full throttle down the straight. Not one budge in the radiator temp needle so I was pretty happy. All was going well until I decided to try and pass a GT3 in the last third of the straight and the brake pedal went to the floor...oops! Managed to get it slowed and didn't leave the track, but that was a close enough call for me to call it a day. No pad fade was going on, just a classic case of fluid boil I think.
As you can see from the pic, the car is far from ready to race, but seat time is seat time I guess. After looking at datalogs it appears that top speed for the day was 155 according to the ABS sensor data. With the slightly smaller diameter tires, I think that means 153...a new top speed for me.
Lots of stuff to do before the car sees the track again:
-full flush of the ATE SuperBlue fluid for the Motul RBF600
-reinstalling the AMS brake duct kit & adding "headlight duct" to the inlets
-reinstalling the side skirts
-mounting the big rear wing
-mounting the front splitter
-mounting up the new race tires
-swapping springs from 800F/1000R to 600F/800R. New F-spring is 7" instead of the 6".
I'm also working with the guys from Guru Graphics in Denver on the appearance package for the car, hopefully some details/teaser pics to drop over the next week.
Jul 20, 2011, 09:16 PM
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Got the car up to The Tire Source in Boulder this afternoon for an allignment and holy crap were the settings not consistant before:
----------------------Left-----------------Right
Front Camber---- -2.9--------------- -3.2
Rear Camber---- -2.4---------------- -2.0
Caster--------------5.5-----------------5.5
Front Toe--------1/2" out-----------25/32 in
Rear Toe--------1/16" in------------9/32 out
Front Height-------------13.675-------------(wheel center to fender arch)
Rear Height--------------12.500-------------(wheel center to fender arch)
The car had some understeer that you could easily cure with a boot full of throttle, but it wasn't as neutral as I'm looking for. I can't really fault the parts too much as I didn't make any tweaks with the valving as I was running Star Specs and didn't have any of the aero bits on the car.
New rubber arrived today so I'm excited to actually get down to business of dialing the car in. I finished the spring swap so instead of 800F/1000R the car is now sporting 600F/800R.
New alignment is even from one side to the other:
Front Camber---------- -2.8
Rear Camber----------- -1.7
Caster--------------------5.6
Front Toe-----------------0
Rear Toe-----------------1/16" in
Front Pinch Weld-------7.0
Rear Pinch Weld--------7.5
----------------------Left-----------------Right
Front Camber---- -2.9--------------- -3.2
Rear Camber---- -2.4---------------- -2.0
Caster--------------5.5-----------------5.5
Front Toe--------1/2" out-----------25/32 in
Rear Toe--------1/16" in------------9/32 out
Front Height-------------13.675-------------(wheel center to fender arch)
Rear Height--------------12.500-------------(wheel center to fender arch)
The car had some understeer that you could easily cure with a boot full of throttle, but it wasn't as neutral as I'm looking for. I can't really fault the parts too much as I didn't make any tweaks with the valving as I was running Star Specs and didn't have any of the aero bits on the car.
New rubber arrived today so I'm excited to actually get down to business of dialing the car in. I finished the spring swap so instead of 800F/1000R the car is now sporting 600F/800R.
New alignment is even from one side to the other:
Front Camber---------- -2.8
Rear Camber----------- -1.7
Caster--------------------5.6
Front Toe-----------------0
Rear Toe-----------------1/16" in
Front Pinch Weld-------7.0
Rear Pinch Weld--------7.5
Jul 20, 2011, 09:18 PM
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New livery started to go on the car today. Big shout out to Guru Graphics for all the hard work on a tight deadline. If you're in the Denver area and need vehicle wraps or designs, give them a shout!
Damn, that's bright!
Damn, that's bright!