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Legends Class 4800 Build - "Tinkerita"

Valves have a hole in the handle for a cable, remote mount a shut off pull tab/switch?
 
mobil1syn said:
the unpopular opinion rebuild the back of the car. i wish i was paying attention to this thread earlier to offer some insight sooner.

id wager $20 they dont make it more than 20miles on race day before a vapor locking event disguised as fuel pump failure and if they do, $100 they dont finish the complete race. now with the pump in the tank they might have a fighting chance, but i would not be confident in that.

worst case scenario in a rollover, broken fuel line, driver codriver knocked out, ignition on they burn to the ground with the car. those valves are COMPLETELY inaccessible in race trim. FSU Off-Road ask buddy who isnt intimately involved in the car, but a 'car' person to find the shutoff valves and turn them off, time them. then have his wife, your mom, mother in law or a child find it and turn it off with your instruction to them, time them. in a race shituation that time will be significantly longer.

next best option would be to move the valve to the edge of the car, but thats a little less than ideal because you run the risk of clipping it on a rock. id probably add a cutout in the side panel and mount them inside the edge of the car by about 3" on a brackets with labels on the side panel.

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Thanks for the input. Definitely brought up some good points. I'll do some rearranging to get them in an easier location to access.
 
mobil1syn said:
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Biggest issue I see with something like this, is what if your flopped on that side. Now there is zero chance of accessing the valves. At least in the middle of the vehicle, no matter how it is laying, it is possible for someone to get at it. I would leave them as they are, and maybe try and label, or highlight them better.
 
broken4_racing said:
Biggest issue I see with something like this, is what if your flopped on that side. Now there is zero chance of accessing the valves. At least in the middle of the vehicle, no matter how it is laying, it is possible for someone to get at it. I would leave them as they are, and maybe try and label, or highlight them better.
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there is a 17% chance he lands on that side where you cant get to them. right now there is a 100% they are inaccessible because they are sandwiched between the cell, radiator, aux coolers and the side panels. i bet you can even see them, let alone touch them. in the event you can reach them, in a race shituation that area will be a burrito warmer and anyone who reaches in there will get burned.
 
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FSU Off-Road said:
Thanks for the input. Definitely brought up some good points. I'll do some rearranging to get them in an easier location to access.
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that braided line will put a hole in anything it touches so space it off the filter if you are going to use it to support it.
 
That burn is gnarly! I had a similar incident happen on mine awhile ago. I had a remote mount thermostat, and a rubber radiator hose running from the water pump to the thermostat housing. I was revving the engine showing my friends how it actually started, and it hadn't opened the thermostat yet, and the radiator hose (that was brand new) ruptured from pressure between the pump and closed thermostat and completely sprayed my wife. Thankfully it wasn't hot, but I've been terrified of that happening ever since. I originally had a bunch of aluminum hard lines and rubber radiator hose as couplers, and got rid of everything for a simple AN line and AN fittings. Even now I'm still worried since I'm putting trust in the AN compression fitting with the hose not slipping, but at least all the connections are as mechanically secure as possible and rely as little on friction as possible (and the thermostat housing is now welded to the water pump housing). Racecars have firewalls and hoods and some degree of protection at least, but all the fully open buggies (which mine falls into the category of currently) look scary, all you need is a hose to blow off the engine and you're driving into a spray of boiling fluids.

A few years ago there was a guy at a Hoonigan event and the radiator blew and his back got like 3rd degree burns and utterly fucked up. When I was in middle school I dropped a dirt bike on my leg and it was too heavy for me to quickly get out from under it and the exhaust burned my calf pretty well, burns are nasty and painful!
 
mobil1syn said:
there is a 17% chance he lands on that side where you cant get to them. right now there is a 100% they are inaccessible because they are sandwiched between the cell, radiator, aux coolers and the side panels. i bet you can even see them, let alone touch them. in the event you can reach them, in a race shituation that area will be a burrito warmer and anyone who reaches in there will get burned.
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So remote mount cable at rear? Where is ideal?
If I ran up to this class car as a spectator who has mechanical knowledge but no knowledge of THIS car where does it go?
Drag racing remote power switch always at the rear, clearly labeled.

Is there a spec for this racing class?
 
CarterKraft said:
So remote mount cable at rear? Where is ideal?
If I ran up to this class car as a spectator who has mechanical knowledge but no knowledge of THIS car where does it go?
Drag racing remote power switch always at the rear, clearly labeled.

Is there a spec for this racing class?
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cable is fine as long as you can visually see the valve close. be a shame to pull the cable think it was shut and it wasnt.

i like to have the top plate of the fuel cell open to the air and the valves to the be the first thing out of the top plate.
 
ridered3 said:
That's progress on both fronts (healing and shakedown) then!
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First and foremost, thank you for checking in on me. I'm proud to say I'm all completely healed up with some light scarring. At the end of the day, I'm no model, so it's totally ok. Just thankful to be back on the grind.

As for Tinkerita... it was definitely difficult to get back into it full force. Mentally, I struggled to work on it, but just as tribal4krawler mentioned, I was able to take it out a couple of weekends ago, meaning she's all but done. I have a lot to go over and necessary upgrades to show, so stay tuned!
 
FSU Off-Road said:
First and foremost, thank you for checking in on me. I'm proud to say I'm all completely healed up with some light scarring. At the end of the day, I'm no model, so it's totally ok. Just thankful to be back on the grind.

As for Tinkerita... it was definitely difficult to get back into it full force. Mentally, I struggled to work on it, but just as tribal4krawler mentioned, I was able to take it out a couple of weekends ago, meaning she's all but done. I have a lot to go over and necessary upgrades to show, so stay tuned!
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That’s what Fake Innerwebs Friends are for! Glad you are doing better and shakedown went well. Looking forward to some more updates.
 
Before I get to the finale, there is one last post I want to make beforehand. Thanks to some constructive criticism, I decided to move the fuel shutoffs. Instead of being in the center, I agree that they weren't functional. Therefore, I made a bracket and moved them off to the side. I'll be able to label them on the wrap and shouldn't have any complications. Thank you all for the input... and to clarify a few details, we have 2 in tank fuel pumps. Therefore I'm not worried about vapor locking, however, just to help out where I can, I added some heat wrap to keep things cool.
Fuel shutoff revision.jpg
fuel line heatwrap.jpg
fuel shutoff move complete.jpg


Now for the biggest and most needed upgrade yet... -20AN coolant hoses. From this point forward, no matter what I do, I'll utilize -AN fittings for everything especially coolant lines. It might be more expensive, but I assure all of you, it's cheaper than the hospital bills. So, in order to convert everything over, I opened my wallet one last time in hopes to have enough to pay for everything lol. I had to remove the radiator, all the existing couplers, as well as the water pump. Cut off the existing inlet and outlet on the radiator to make room for the weld bungs and took it to a buddies shop for some tig welding. He also welded up the thermostat housing and the inline vent housing we're utilizing. After that, it was a simple fitting install to make sure we had everything where it needed to be before we ran the big hose. After multiple measurements and installs, we got the completed lines installed.
AN 20 Supplies.jpg
AN 20 Prep.jpg
AN 20 Weld Bung.jpg

AN 20 Water Pump.jpg
AN 20 Line install.jpg
AN 20 Complete Install.jpg


Also while installing the water pump with the AN conversion, I also installed a new alternator, tensioner, belt, while triple checking all the bracket bolts and marking them. It was super short notice, but I was able to finish the AN conversion on a Friday afternoon with plans to take Tinkerita out the following Saturday morning. Although mostly complete, I still needed to install the new oil pan seal, skid plates, flush the coolant system, and triple check the oil. So I worked diligently into the wee hours of the night.
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I'm proud to say I did NOT get everything finished that night, but it didn't stop me from loading up the next morning. Although Tinkerita isn't 100% complete, she's good enough for now, and good enough for her maiden voyage.
 
The worst part of the -20an fittings is the damn price. First thought when you see it is "nah, that can't be right".
 
about 6 weeks back my rad hose came loose on me behind the seat and dumped all the coolant right now. i thought of this thread when it did and now i think i see the path forward for this winters project. the hose that blew off the pipe was right below the red cooler above the rear tire. fluke event. just drove up, parked. and was about to shut down and bam. coolant everywhere. i did have a firewall behind the seats. so nothing went into the cabin. but still made think of this thread and now i think i have the fix. thanks again for sharing and cant wait to see this rig out there.

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gt1guy said:
The worst part of the -20an fittings is the damn price. First thought when you see it is "nah, that can't be right".
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:lmao::lmao::lmao: It's absolutely insane, but then again totally worth it. I've pinched pennies everywhere I could on this thing and those -20 fittings and hose were still a rough one to swallow. The BTR fittings were the best overall price I could find from a respectable company, but the 20' of hose was absolutely ridiculous.
 
FSU Off-Road said:
:lmao::lmao::lmao: It's absolutely insane, but then again totally worth it. I've pinched pennies everywhere I could on this thing and those -20 fittings and hose were still a rough one to swallow. The BTR fittings were the best overall price I could find from a respectable company, but the 20' of hose was absolutely ridiculous.
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like 400 bucks approx from what i saw
 
chaplinfj60 said:
about 6 weeks back my rad hose came loose on me behind the seat and dumped all the coolant right now. i thought of this thread when it did and now i think i see the path forward for this winters project. the hose that blew off the pipe was right below the red cooler above the rear tire. fluke event. just drove up, parked. and was about to shut down and bam. coolant everywhere. i did have a firewall behind the seats. so nothing went into the cabin. but still made think of this thread and now i think i have the fix. thanks again for sharing and cant wait to see this rig out there.

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Wow... It's a super scary situation! From personal experience, I'm glad you didn't get burned. Had I been in the Jeep, I would of been ok as well, but dang you just never know when those freak things will happen. Super glad your good and weren't checking on things when it blew. I totally recommend the upgrade. It's pricy, but safety is more important. This winter, hit me up, I have a few fittings that I didn't use.
 
cdemart2 said:
unless you're pushing big HP with a high flow pump, you probably don't need -20. I've been running -16 for a while now and it works fine.
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I've got -20 and -24 on my radiator and water pump which is standard LS3 sizing I believe. I do have the Meziere water pump that pushes more water.
 
As most of you know, a few weeks back I loaded up Tinkerita for its maiden voyage. The night before I finished everything super late (fluids, bolt check, etc.), therefore I decided to load up the next morning. Sleep deprived and a little rusty on loading up the small trailer, I about missed my marks lol. But with a few quick adjustments and a good tie down, I was on my way to Uwharrie National Forest.
URE Loading Off.jpg
URE Arrival.jpg


Since I didn't get 100% everything done the night before, we took a few minutes after unloading to go over everything one last time. Fixed a vent tube, topped off the coolant, loaded up a few tools and necessities and off we went on the first trail. Started on some easy trails to make sure everything was good, focusing on temps, braking power, and just getting comfortable in it. After an hour or so, everything was running as it should. We stopped for a quick water break and decided to head to some rockier trails to play.
URE Front.jpg
URE Side.jpg


Since we were on a tight schedule, we made quick work of the wide open trails as we made way to the rock sections. Aside from Dickie Bell (trail), Daniel has the most room to play when it comes to rock sections and trails. After climbing the back side multiple times (hitting different rock slabs at different speeds) we moved to the top to concur the front side. There we tried all the lines ranging in different difficulties and succeeded at each one. At the end, we stopped at the top for a snack break and enjoyed the view before coming back down.
URE Profile.jpg
URE Profile P.jpg
URE FSU Crew.jpg


All in all, the day was a huge success. It's been a long time coming with so many different set backs along the way, but we did it. After loading back up and heading home, it was quite emotional to think that we built this thing from a single box of tubes and now driving this thing on the trails. A lot of personal sacrifices to get this thing where it is today, and this is only the beginning.
URE Unload.jpg


By no means is this thing completely ready, but were so dang close. After getting it back, cleaning it off, I went back through checking things. There were a few loose nuts, couple of things to address, suspension to dial in, safety items to install, but I'm very happy with the handling and it's stability. The LS1 is super responsive and the TH400 ran flawless all day. Coolant temps never rose over 190F even in the 90+ weather. The day couldn't of went any better, drove it on the trailer, drove it off. That was the goal.
 
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