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Slowpoke attempts to kill himself in a golfcart!

Next up was moving the radiator to the rear. I wanted to do this for a few reasons.... First was to move weight to the rear for better handling, and secondly was to keep it from getting clogged with mud on the days it was wet at the track. I did a little internet searching and found out that Hess Motorsports offered a CBR radiator kit that came with everything i needed to get the job done. Easy peasy!

Here is all the shit I pulled out...

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To start, I put the bed back in place, cut up the stock bed mounts and welded them to the new frame work.

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Once that was finished I got the radiator mounts made using half of what came in the kit and some tabs I made out of scraps. I wasn't feeling great about just mounting it to the bed like the instructions indicated, so I modified their brackets and now have it mounted to the bed and the cage.

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The finished product.....

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Next on the to do list was moving the battery. Stock its mounted behind the driver at about shoulder height when seated. This machine is left side heavy from the factory. With a passenger and and fuel it evens out but I'm racing alone so I needed to move weight to the right to balance it out. As an added bonus moving the battery allowed me to remove the battery box, the hardware and frame brackets from the left side, helping further with the weight balancing.

I started by making a simple battery tray out of 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle iron, threaded rod and threaded rod couplers i picked up at Home Depot...

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Once that was built I mounted the exhaust header and figured out where on the frame the tray needed to go for optimum weight placement and to keep it away from heat. I actually wanted it mounted further forward but that was not possible with the exhaust so it ended up here...

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Final resting place...

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I think I have it far enough away from the header for heat to not be a problem. But just in case, I'm going to wrap the header and exhaust pipes.
 
Next up was mounting some body panels and clearencing them for the new roll cage tubes going everywhere.

A die grinder with a carbide bit made short work of that job. I sliced the front fenders with a razor blade behind the A pillar posts to get them back on. Once they are bolted down the slice is almost invisible. :smokin:

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Another thing on my to do's list was nerf bars. Running an open wheel car on a short course with MX style starts pretty much warrants them. A few aftermarket companies offer "nerf bars" but they are more like rocker protection than anything else and the factory mounting points are a joke. I decided to build my own nerf bars out of 1-1/4" x .095 cromoly tube and use 1-1/2" x .120 wall "stubs" and 2 bolt flanges to mount the to the chassis. I wanted as much coverage between the tires as possible so I bent these up first...

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I ordered up some 1-1/4" two bolt tube flanges from Ballistic Fab:eek: and bent up the rest of the nerf bar tubes. The first iteration had a tube running off the top bar to the B pillar for a third mounting point. I fucking hated it so i ended up making a 3rd frame mount instead.

First try..... :barf:

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The A & B pillar tubes on the nerf bar insert all the way to the frame inside the receiver tube. The rear mounts, due to the angle, had to be cut down to a 1/4" stub so i could get them on and off.
 
And this is where I'm at now...... I stripping it down on Sunday afternoon but the shop got struck by lightning and the power went out before I could finish. Did I mention how good of luck I have? :laughing:


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Things I still need to get done/finish:

-Finish weld chassis
-Mod gas and brake pedal so they are not retarded
-Make a roof & door skins (I suck at this!)
-Relocate battery and fan wiring
-Somehow paint the chassis (I REALLY don't want to take it completely apart!)
-Install braided brake lines
-Instal fuel access door on passenger side
-mount chase light bar
-remove headlight and make filler panels
-Make and mount number plates
-Bring it to the Dyno guy and have it tuned


Stuff I still need to buy: :(

-Send shocks to G-Force Racing in TN for complete rebuild to race specs $$$$
-Fire bottle
-SFI spec fire suite, gloves and shoes


Stuff I want to buy for it eventually.....

-High compression pistons, cam and head porting $$$$
-OMF Ultra Light UTV beadlock wheels $$$$
-Hoosier or Maxxis UTV short course tires
-Raceco USA suspension bits $$$$




To be continued.....
 
Nothing to add, but looks like it'll be a blast.:smokin:
 
I heard Honda has a turbo coming out for the Talon.
My buddy has an X3R RC and its stupid fast.
 
I heard Honda has a turbo coming out for the Talon.
My buddy has an X3R RC and its stupid fast.

Its already out. You can buy the factory authorized kit from Jackson Racing to retrofit on an existing Talon, and i believe Honda is offering their 2021 models with the turbo installed at the factory.

No turbo for me, I'm racing this in the N/A classes. With high compression pistons, a ported head with 1mm oversized valves, a Dan Crower camshaft and proper tuning these N/A Talons are putting out HP #'s equal to the turbo model. As a bonus, all that stuff still costs half as much as the Jackson Racing turbo kit. :smokin:
 
90% of the cars at the track are on narrow tires/wheels F&R. Like 15 x 6 wheels and 26 - 27" tall, 9" wide tires. The Hoosier short course tires are 8" wide. Smaller footprint for added ground pressure and traction?

Sorry to fuck up your thread Chrispins. I'll shut up now

Weird, I keep picturing roundy round dirt cars with like a semi skinny and fat rears.

I'm trying to do the right thing here, and post in the correct thread.... For once
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Nothing special to report but I have been chipping away at the "to do's" list.

Pulled the shocks off last night. I'm going to box them up today and send them out to G-Force Racing Technology in Tennessee on Monday for a complete makeover. They are getting DSC and rebound adjusters added, new high volume reservoir caps, some valving tricks and all new springs. :smokin:

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I made up some temporary struts to throw in place of the shocks so I can move it around the shop and continue working on it. I think it looks killer like this:
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The last short course race at Texplex Park for the season is in a couple weeks. I was kinda bummed out thinking I was going to have to wait until next year to race this thing. Not anymore....

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This makes me happy!! :grinpimp:
 
That place looks nice
 
That place looks nice

Every state should have a place like this for us dirt lovers.

I got lucky, Texplex is only 45min from my house and they are open every day for riding/practice. As soon as my car is finished I'm heading over there to test the crap out of it. :smokin:
 
Got some shit done over the weekend!

Made and installed a few misc brackets and tabs ive been meaning to put on, Installed new lap belt mounting points directly to the chassis/cage, spent hours and hours sanding down all the new tube and gave the cage its first coat of paint. Its nothing special just some low gloss Rustoleum I brushed on. Maybe this winter if I feel motivated ill strip it down to the bare chassis and get it blasted and powder coated. Paint jobs don't win races so....:laughing:

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Nothing special to report but I have been chipping away at the "to do's" list.

Pulled the shocks off last night. I'm going to box them up today and send them out to G-Force Racing Technology in Tennessee on Monday for a complete makeover. They are getting DSC and rebound adjusters added, new high volume reservoir caps, some valving tricks and all new springs. :smokin:


Dumb question, I know. But are your new reservoir caps going to have a schrader valve? No idea why Fox did that bizarre needle setup or whatever, but it would be kinda nice to have a schrader. I ask as a Fox owner that leaks a little oil, and that doesn't know how to check the gas pressure in the shock.
 
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