I've always been curious about chassis rigidity offered from the different door bar options. NASCAR vs an X that protrudes into the door vs a flat X. One or two friends have sent me pictures of modern TA cars using a straight X. Doesn't seem like it would offer the same protection. Any thoughts?

Little clarity on the post above about A-pillar tubes. I prefer a continuous tube from the floor of the a-pillar to the main hoop but the gusset locations stay the same as mentioned above whether a continuous tube or a halo style cage. I may start a thread for tips on layout and bending tube, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

On to cooling system! Road racing in Texas is a definite challenge for cooling and its a problem I really didn't want. I knew that I wanted as big of a radiator/oil cooler as I could handle and close off the front of the car as much as I could. It may be an aero brick but at least try to make it better. Here's where the problem started - ducting. Sure, the engine is moved back and its a big car, but having the front closed off and a duct to feed a vertical or near vertical radiator just wasn't in the cards space wise. More used race parts! I found a PWR/C&R radiator/oil cooler module from DEI that was in excellent shape for an absolute steal but it is a freakin unit. Probably north of 60lbs when full of fluid. Here's were I started. Huge front area, mounted with a slight angle, taking up about as much space is available




How am I going to make a duct for that? Being so heavy and so far outside the axle made me start to think - if you're going to start laying the radiator down for a duct, might as well keep going and get the weight as low as possible. Here's where I ended up. The face of the radiator is level with the bottom of the bumper.




Now this I can work with. Weight as low as possible, and an uninterrupted path for airflow. Cut some more factory frame rail off, build some 1x1 framing, and here we are.


Only thing left now is how to fill this thing. Used race parts! I found a fabricated pressurized cooling system reservoir that came with an inline pressure relief valve (PRV) that would do nicely. Here it is mounted on the firewall making it the highest point of the cooling system by a fair amount. There will be more on this item when it gets plumbed.



This brings up a topic - why not just put a filler neck somewhere in the upper hose(s) from the heads or TStat housing like so many people do, even OEM's? Downflow radiator anyone? Location matters! The radiator I found is about as badass as I could have hoped for, having extruded tubes. Even with the nice tubes there is still a flow restriction created by the radiator. Just for argument sake lets say 1.5psi and you have the filler neck in the upper hose with a 25psi cap. As soon as the water pump is moving water, that cap immediately sees 1.5psi. You have just lowered the effectiveness of that cap by 1.5psi. Sure, doesn't sound like much but when its the difference between water and steam...it matters. Feeding the lower hose is the only way to go IMO, if you're able.

Here's the lower coolant pipe feeding the water pump. Notice the -10 welded bung on the top of the coolant pipe bend. This is how the cooling system fills - also something to keep in mind. All the areas that are higher than this point have air bleeds - cylinder heads and top of radiator.




A quick note on welded on fittings - obviously this is a welded on -10AN. Koul Tools offers a really neat setup to recondition the flare on this fitting should it get damaged. If you're in a situation where you cannot recondition or don't have the tool, you're cutting that fitting off and welding a new one on. O-ring Boss (ORB) weld on bungs definitely don't have as large a variety of options as far as venders and sizes go, but they're getting better all the time as more people incorporate them. If I were to make that pipe again today it would be a ORB welded on and a straight fitting coming off the top of it. Yes, that oring is another leak point, but not an event ending leak point like a damaged flare.

Anyone notice the welded on AN fittings in the cylinder heads? Prime example of "why". The heads are a late casting C3 and only one of a couple pairs I've seen with a fitting welded in - most of them are tapped for NPT. As much as NPT makes me mad depending on the use, I would much rather have preferred an NPT. One day while working on the car, I'll damage that fitting. And life will suck.

Did anyone notice the lack of a lower ball joint in the control arm?

Great cage work & very good layout on your cooling system.

At this point in the build I was ready for spindles. Griggs offered a couple aluminum versions at the time but I wasn't completely satisfied with how they measured up after doing some more reading about suspension geometry and design written by Ron, so I reached out asking his thoughts on working with me to build spindles for the car. After some discussions about my goals and current setup he agreed and we got to work. I don't have many pictures of this process, so I'll try to keep the description accurate and brief.

As previously established, getting a vehicle CL and axle CL's was something I was already familiar with. Getting the car level and ready to measure was easy, but I was no longer making sure things were "Just level" - I was now measuring things at ride height and getting under the car to take a measurement was impossible, not to mention the concrete in my garage was not only sloped for drainage, it has ups and downs that would make consistent measurements impossible.

Ron has already outline how to measure out your car with pictures and techniques. Quickly looking at it, he outlines how to do this all on a drive on lift. I didn't have one, so getting set up to take the measurement is all I'll cover.

First thing I did was get the car up to around 12" from the ground and shimmed the car level. Next I bought a very basic laser level with an adjustable stand for manual leveling. Small variations in how the car was leveled make manually setting the laser's level ideal - as you put it in automatic, now you're leveling the car to the laser - much more difficult. Measure - tweak. Measure - tweak. The laser is simulating the ground, and it must simulate the ground at right height with the desired rake you want built into the car. Ron told me to start with around 1/2 a degree which if I'm remembering correctly was about 1/4" up at the rear using the points on the frame rail where I was measuring to level the laser. That will be different depending where and how far apart your measuring points are. Pick somewhere you can easily use, because that's where you measure every time you set up the car from now on.

Aim small miss small with your measurements.

The UCA, rear of the front LCA, and the rack points needed to be moved. As I mentioned above, I don't have many pictures of this process but I do have the UCA relocation method I used. The UCA needed to move up and out from the original location.
Outer ears were cut off and I used a piece of precision tube to go through both sides of the mini tower. I wanted to be as exact as possible locating the points provided by Ron, and this is the best way I could think of to keep everything inline.







This definitely isn't the end of the story - the tube structure at the rear of the mini tower had to be modified to "box in" the rear UCA mount, and a new front ear had to be made. I don't have pictures of these exclusively but as I continue with the build they'll be noticeable.


To get the ride height where it needed to be, a 1" extended length LBJ was used which arrived machined and ready to install in my LCA

So now the car is an inch lower than it was originally intended to be, Rev 1 exhaust just wasn't going to work. At the time, undercar exhaust was just in my brain so oval tube and over the driveshaft we go. Not in the pictures is the oil tank mounted behind the right side of the main hoop. This meant the exhaust had to be driver side only.















Picked up a lot of clearance. The exhaust is still low but for 3.5" into oval, I did pretty good. We've seen 2/3 versions of the exhaust, now. Boring....onto the next problem.

Shifter. I knew I wanted the shifter to be close to the wheel but not crowding the wheel, and I wanted to be able to make adjustments and remove the shifter from the top side.

Got a good deal on a second hand 5-speed Long shifter...but isn't it a 4-speed transmission? 
You'll notice the car is in a different shop for the shifter mod pic. It's a ways down the road but thought I'd toss this in there just to close the 5-speed shifter on a 4-speed thing.



By flipping the plate and welding in the plug shown, I was able to remove the 5th gear slot and maintain a reverse lockout. Reverse is next to 3rd which is weird, but who cares! it still springs to 3/4 for safety and the reverse lockout still takes the same effort as intended to use, which if any of you have driven a Long rail shifter, its kinda considerable. Saved $300 with a small piece of 1/8" steel.







Control rods are LH/RH 3/8-24 threaded aluminum go cart tie rods that I cut down and rethreaded the RH side.









More plumbing coming up next!

Oh plumbing, how I love plumbing. Seriously, I do! It's always presented a challenge and I appreciate the mindset to make it look good. Bending, routing, and mounting hard lines comes into this in a big way. I'm probably going to catch some flak for it, but all my plumbing (yes, all) runs inside the car between the front and rear bulkheads. Oil feed and return, brakes, transmission cooler for a short run, and fuel. Being that the car is as flat a bottom as I could make it, room for lines under the car becomes quickly limited leaving the only real option being the tunnel. The idea of any plumbing running parallel to a driveshaft spinning up to 8500rpm sounded like a bad idea, along with exhaust heat. Lines inside the car are protected by the frame and roll cage just like the driver. Of the pictures following, all remains how it is to this day with the exception of the fuel line being re-bent in stainless steel.

Lets get started with the oil lines. I used aluminum straights and bends and welded it all together.


This was the beginning. After this I'm going to skip forward a little bit to the point where I had painted the interior of the car. It makes things much easier to see and because pretty. Aluminum tube and bends can be acquired from several places. This is all .065 thick, making it relatively easy to weld. The issue I ran into was the flared ends. Flaring up to 1/2" is easy. Inexpensive 37* flaring tools are available in both single and double flare. Over 1/2" is an issue. For my build I had some used BMRS fittings that I cut apart and welded in place. If anyone else is wanting to go the large hardline route, contact BMRS for flared ends. They offer flaring service on lengths of tube in AL or stainless that have one or both ends flared and leak tested. All you have to do now is add a tube nut and sleeve, and weld the ends on. They do offer complete bending services as well, but I've never had them quote out a setup for me.

Bending AL or stainless tube over 1/2" is also an issue. I recently tried a relatively inexpensive mandrel bender at work, from Woodward fab that can do up to 1" steel or AL tubing but the holding device needs some attention - it causes a sizable dimple in tube where its being held. Mitler Brothers offers a similar bender I want to try that uses a roller on the holding side that may provide a better product. If you can get one of these benders to work, the tubes could be made from one straight piece instead of welded together like I did. These tools were more than I could afford at the time. But..the product from hardlines....oooo




The short lines you see that dip under the oil lines are transmission cooler.


Near the rear bulkhead I did a mounted bulkhead block. Bulkheads are welded to a removable piece that continues the hardline for fuel and brakes, but changes to soft for oil feed and return.


The downward jog on the fuel line is why I ended up redoing the fuel in stainless. It was close to the floor and the very first time I drove the car there was a scrape on the bottom from who knows what. Not damage, just a scrape - right under that fuel line. I did a tight 90* fitting and brought stainless forward, as well as redoing all the rear lines in stainless too.



The scavenge filter mounted to the side of the oil tank was a cool idea I thought, and I like the way it came out, but checking the filter is a pain, even on a lift. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of the tube filter either. Cleaning the filter free of any particulate after inspection is a pain. I have a billet Oberg filter sitting on the shelf that I'm trying to find an easy accessible place for. The Clear View filters on the market are cool too. Little pricey and a little heavy, but cool none the less.



Here's the before and after on the fuel line.






This is getting a pit lengthy so, one more note on hard lines - Mounting. Hard lines need to be frequently mounted to prevent vibration, fatigue, and failure. Planning for mounting points is something I actually planned out! Wow! Lol! I welded 1/4-20 x 1/2" bolts all over the chassis for plumbing and harness mounting. the harness mounting studs also make great grounding points. I have seen several builders weld the lines to each other for rigidity which also works well. If you thumb the line over a long run like a guitar string and it vibrates, you need another mount.

Cant help myself, couple more pics. This is the Racepak display dash mount I made.






Until next time!

That is some, nice, clean work Ryan!

Do you still install roll cages for customers?

That is some, nice, clean work Ryan!

Do you still install roll cages for customers?

Thank you, Ron! Yes, I do. I have an 8-5 so they're on the side, but I try my best to keep the time tables reasonable.

That is some, nice, clean work Ryan!

Do you still install roll cages for customers?

Thank you, Ron! Yes, I do. I have an 8-5 so they're on the side, but I try my best to keep the time tables reasonable.

That's some nice roll cage, sheet metal & plumbing work you have done on your car. I remember you telling you had installed a lot of roll cages. With the work you're done on yours, I'd happily recommend you to other racers near you.

Keep up the good work.