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SCCA T4 Build thread
JUNE 2021 UPDATE: BUILD LIST
It was time to put everything in 1 place. SAFETY:
SUSPENSION/BRAKES
OTHER:
GENERAL SETUP:
ORIGINAL POST: After 15 years of w2w racing I learned something about myself... I like racing more than wrenching so it's time to build a car for a class that doesn't require metric tones of cash and time to play in. That's SCCAs Touring-4 Relatively affordable entry price, relatively low operational expense. T4 is great because I don't have to touch the engine, transmission, clutch or differential. It's just safety, suspension, cooling, chassis setup, tune, tires and brakes. No fancy shop here, no sponsors and it's all done in my garage with only some exception (like the cage). I will even be doing paint in my garage. My goal is to take my current FRS to make it fully race ready for <$15k. I like to spoil myself so this may be difficult but here it goes. Out with the old and in with the new: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7888/...e45c4ae4_z.jpgIMG_0081 by Rice Classic, on Flickr Due to the rules that specs the suspension (eibach prokit and non adj shocks) and an exhaust that exits in the stock location - you can easily build a race car with off the shelf parts. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7902/...9627a771_z.jpgIMG_0084 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7861/...2743c584_z.jpgIMG_0088 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7825/...a1679521_z.jpgIMG_0093 by Rice Classic, on Flickr While putting the exhaust on the nut seized on the bolt for the exhaust flange.. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4859/...523f0985_z.jpgIMG_0094 by Rice Classic, on Flickr Improvise, adapt, overcome - use one from my many Honda parts bin with a couple washers to mirror the dimensions.. Voila! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7817/...738d464c_z.jpgIMG_0095 by Rice Classic, on Flickr Now that parts starting showing up it was time to gut the car. Of course of course.. the VERY first bolt I touch (seat bolt) is stuck and bugger up the head forcing me to get out a cutting wheel, chisel, hammer etc etc. But it came out.. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4821/...2ef72c77_z.jpgIMG_0136 by Rice Classic, on Flickr The rest of the interior was pretty straight forward, however I did have to watch a couple YouTube videos. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7855/...5fd3357b_z.jpgIMG_0143 by Rice Classic, on Flickr I am gonna miss this stereo - I just worked. In a world of "smart everything" I loved the simplicity and functionality of it. I'm pretty sure there's a mystery CD in it for whomever wants this ol' relic. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4808/...227d9de2_z.jpgIMG_0210 by Rice Classic, on Flickr Next step - Roll Cage. To be continued... |
Looking forward to following this!
T4 seems like a great place to play with these cars. I've thought about starting to work on the suspension bits toward this. Can get most of it on these and still play in 86 Cup stock class for awhile. |
T-4 is my favorite class to spectate at SCCA events. There is great diversity in the class with a lot of interesting eligible models. It is also a showroom stock+ class which I really enjoy because the cars perform and race like God and the manufacturers intended them to.
I have yet to see a T-4 race where there were not several drivers, with various model cars, vying for the lead in the late stages of the race. I really look forward to your build and development on the FR-S for the class. Subscribed! |
Awesome! :thumbup:
Can't wait to see the cage! |
The Cage
Local cage builder that's been around for decades - took great care. The bars are nice and tight to body and base plates are terrific.
He pushed me to remove the door metal and glass so the door bars could go right up the outer skin of the door but opted to leave the doors untouched. With that he did a great job designing door bars that snug to the body yet allow me to get in and out easily. But first! let me start by saying that when I bought my car in 2012 I had a thing for Mentos. An already opened roll fell under my seat and several of the mentos made it under the carpet, when would go around corners fast I could hear them rolling around... Here we are almost 7 years later and I finally got to remove the buggers - and find some spare change too!. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4866/...166e3af35d.jpgIMG_0146 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7881/...8e489df1_z.jpgIMG_0220 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4812/...34536e92_z.jpgIMG_0216 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7800/...e7cc7563_z.jpgIMG_0214 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4852/...d1abfcf0_z.jpgIMG_0213 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4895/...9f11c059_z.jpgIMG_0221 by Rice Classic, on Flickr I had stopped in while they were finishing it and I'm glad I did because we got to line up the seat and realized that the bar would too low for my liking where the seatbelts would mount. I hate having my selt belts are below the plain of my shoulders - they should be either straight back or even at an upward angle. This keeps pressure off my back and keeps my spine from getting compressed during an impact. So we added a bar for the belts. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4817/...4ca5142f_z.jpgIMG_0219 by Rice Classic, on Flickr I test fit the seat with the Buddy Club low profile slider mounts and because that seat is pretty narrow I was able to get it A) quite low and B) centered. Happy with that result. For the bumper strap - I have a penchant for easy buttons so I just purchased the Raceng Tow Shaft for my pimpy orange tow straps! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7845/...6330c3e238.jpgIMG_0229 by Rice Classic, on Flickr Next up - Painting the interior/cage. |
Love this.
Subscribed. |
You can definitely have a competitive car within your 15k budget. I guess you could say I am partial to the class. :D
https://jacksonracing.com/jr-media/uploads/t4car.jpg Good luck and have fun! -Oscar Jr. |
Quote:
My 2019 goal is to do the 2 Majors races in the NW (Portland and Seattle) and reset the T4 track records on my first outing. In my ITA car, my fastest times were within 1 second or less of the current T4 race records at both tracks - you being the current T4 record holder at Pacific Raceways.... ...for now. :party0030: |
Did you sell the CRX? Hopefully a local ICSCC racer if you did.
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Quote:
CRX went to a LuckyDog team, very nice guys too and I get to drive it in their first Enduro which is exciting. ITA stopped being a "growth" class in conference years ago despite my many efforts to revive it. Had some great seasons though. I see T4 being a growth class in both SCCA and now in Conference with CT4. The Race schedule this year is a little odd and early-season heavy. Because of that, I'm going to miss the first couple Conference races because of the SCCA Majors. With 5 races in May alone, I have to prioritize. I plan on making the Spokane Triple though! |
prep prep prep prep then... PAINT!
Since I'm not doing any fancy wire tucks or anything I figured I'd just tape the wires, leave them in place and get the darn thing painted. The factory-matched paint turned out great!
I usually do a Single stage but this time I went Primer ->base coat ->clear coat, and it is fantastic. A friend of mine helped out after about 12 hours of prep and 5 hours of spraying it was as done as it was going to be. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4914/...00e1a6c0_z.jpgIMG_0236 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7838/...bbd1408b_z.jpgIMG_0235 by Rice Classic, on Flickr PREP: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4878/...383b2c93_z.jpgIMG_0262 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7830/...87bce30c_z.jpgIMG_0263 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7884/...8d7aff5a_z.jpgIMG_0265 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4830/...01bb87c1_z.jpgIMG_0264 by Rice Classic, on Flickr BASE COAT: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4875/...90748e19_z.jpgIMG_0266 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4829/...d2d4e530_z.jpgIMG_0267 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7886/...a81907ac_z.jpgIMG_0268 by Rice Classic, on Flickr CLEAR COAT: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7818/...0b073399_z.jpgIMG_0270 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7838/...162aaeb1_z.jpgIMG_0271 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7883/...434e25ed_z.jpgIMG_0272 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7853/...de3823b5_z.jpgIMG_0273 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4878/...f3fa6856_z.jpgIMG_0275 by Rice Classic, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4846/...5ee2dc07_z.jpgIMG_0276 by Rice Classic, on Flickr I'm going to let it all call cure for a couple days. Then I'll take all of the masking off and start installing the dashboard, seat, belts etc. On the 28th it goes to Toyota for the Valve Spring Recall so I won't have an update until it's back from them. After that though is when the fun begins. Oil cooler, Air ducts, brakes, suspension, header cat-delete, setup, ride-height and eventually tuning. Feb and March are gonna be busy! |
Great googly moogly - the dash is back in, so is the seat and the belts. Holding off on the gauges and window nets until it's back from the dealer.
The seat is on the Buddy Club low profile slider brackets and they work well, a bit lower than stock on the lowest setting but I'm 6'0 and I'm happy with the height. However, they don't perfectly center the seat to the steering wheel, Im just left of center but once I'm moving I don't notice. I racked my brain trying to figure why my headlights didn't work and then after someone said "check yur plugs" I found a plug under the dash that was disconnected and voila.. back in the saddle. Now I'm fighting a P0500 code (left rear vehicle speed sensor code) and a seatbelt door chime that I will have to turn off via software. It may just be a bad sensor but I need to do some voltage/resistance test to find out. Car goes into Toyota tomorrow morning for Valve Spring recall performed and then when it's back the real fun begins!! I hope the tech at the dealer is skinny because he's not getting in the car if he ain't - that seat is tight!! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4902/...96437a18_z.jpgIMG_0289 by Rice Classic, on Flickr |
I hope my interior ends up looking that nice.
Is it possible to jump a connector to give the car's brain a signal that the seatbelt is in use? |
Awesome build, looking forward to following along!
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