LS1 Powered S14 by SicBastard

7 minute(s) of a 205 minute read

Frustration...



So after the hammer, the heat, and the lube failed to get the rear subframe on, I actually used my brain, and measured all of my ebay solid aluminum subframe bushings. Of course 2 of the 8 had bores that were smaller than the others... I bought some ebay crap and it didn't fit!?! How original. A little time reaming the bushings out, and the subframe went on like it should. Good thing I didn't get out the BIGGER Hammer.

Liberation...



I finally finished patching up the trailer and since I sold my truck when I moved to Manhattan last summer my buddy came over with his truck to help with towing duties. To make a VERY long story short... Two days later I come to understand that ALL rental trucks, and most trucks on the planet have 2" balls, while decent car trailers have 2 5/8" balls. I got everything sorted out, but not until my baby sat on the streets of Elmont (just East of Queens) un-attended for two nights, like a big pile of reprobate thief bait. My karma must be improving, because when I finally got back from a 6 hour drive to borrow my fiancé's aunt's truck, the 240 was still there. And I even made it to my new house in Long Island without getting pulled over for my jankey magnetic tow lights that only worked half the time.

Continuation...



All nestled on her new little home Silvia relaxed for a month or two while I unpacked and got married. Had to sell the trailer to pay the photographer... Hope we don't have move for a while. I've been on a mission to get the fuel and cooling plumbing done for a long time now, so I'm starting with the fuel cell. I'm making a perimeter frame out of 1" square steel. The frame has 2" base plates where it attaches to the rear frame rail, mini versions of the base of a rollcage.



Had to remove this tow strap to weld in the rear cross member. 3.10 Pounds!!! Is this thing made out of Lead?!?



In all honesty I loved that tow strap. It always looked like it was going to scrape on hard launches, and it was the only thing I used to tie the rear of the car down on the trailer. I know I can throw some nylon strap around my rear subframe for the next trailer, but after all this subframe modification/work I really don't want to use the subframe as an anchor point. I was talking about this with my cousin who once upon a time frequented hondatech.com. He asked me about a "Benen", to which I replied, "A what?".

It must be time for sequel to the Fast and the Furious or sumpthin, because my Ricer IQ was FAILIN! If you don't know what a Benen is you gotta do a search! The threads are hilarious (in a "I'm not laughing with you" sorta way). Now in the Benen's defense, it is 0.4in thickness and only 0.8lbs. That's the only nice thing I have to say about Benen. For just a taste:

Help me decide on Tow Hook color. (Pictures Inside) - Club RSX Message Board



Back to seriousness.

You'd think for something as serious as mounting the fuel cell that the rule books we be specific and overbearing... but they are not. There's almost no rules. That probably won't stop a tech inspector from giving you sh*t if you do a lousy job mounting a fuel cell. But feel free to get creative. Just remember: a 22 gallon fuel cell weighs close to 200 pounds full. They say an occupant of a car can survive a crash if the deceleration during the crash is less than 30g. Well at 30g that same fuel cell now weighs 3 tons! So think about that next time you mount a fuel cell by a sorry a$s strap or flange. If you crash harder than 30gs, you probably won't survive, so that big fire ball shouldn't bother you anyway.

I've decided to build a perimeter frame of 1" square tubing to locate the fuel cell laterally and longitudinally. And then to use some sort of strap to locate the cell vertically in both directions. There is one good online article by a circle track magazine that talks about using strap on the bottom of the cell instead of more tube because it flexes more. I don't know if that logic plays out, but strap is lighter, and will allow me to mount the cell lower before something hits. I also referenced a few reputable race shops and most straps seem to be made of 0.050" steel, or 0.063" Aluminum, though I have heard of guys getting crap from tech inspectors (sighting nothing) for using aluminum straps.

I really like this method of attaching the straps, just because it lets you tighten down the straps with a lot of precision.



But these straps probably weigh about the same, yet would distribute the load of an impact over a greater area.



Here's a cool little number from a company that makes mounts for the off-road guys



You guys might be getting sick of hearing from me how innovative the off-road guys are, but check this out! Epic, never-starve, fuel pick-ups originally designed by Walbro for snow mobiles!



these guys say it better than I could:
Auto Performance Engineering - Walbro fuel pick-ups
And there's also a great thread on pirate4x4 about them.

Here's where I'm at now. I'm having a little bit of trouble deciding how low to mount it though. Most exhausts hang at least an inch below the rear sub frame so that's my reference point (one inch below the rear sub frame). The bottom of the OEM tow hook is about 3 inches higher than that. Because that thing never touched the ground even with NO anti-squat and soft springs, I feel safe going 0.5 to 1.0" below that. Originally I was going to mount the fuel cell higher so that I could have a more effective diffuser, but lately have decided that if I need more rear down force a bigger rear wing is easier to get than the lower CG a lower fuel cell helps achieve.



More coming soon. It's good to be out of Manhattan.