Putting A Race 5 Speed Into A Streetcar, Step By Step...

Nice. Take some in-car video. Curious to see how it sounds. I too have sound deadener in my car, but there is some foam pad that goes over that that is supposed to help even more. Either way, it's a big help.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Took the car out testing to Island dragway in New Jersey last saturday, very cool track, really nice people there. We went out not really knowing if there was enough clutch in the car or not so the first pass was pretty easy, just rolled into it and got some good data for 2nd and 3rd gear. On the next pass we put all three levers on the clutch, set the 2step for 6500rpm and it rolled me thru the beams as soon as i got it on the chip. Then i could not get the clutch disengaged on the 1-2 shift, i let the rpms come down, kicked the clutch in and just cruised down the racetrack.

For the third pass we went back to the original setup, 1 lever on the clutch, and left the 2step at 6500rpm. It left pretty decent but felt like a controlled spin, i didnt feel the need to pedal it, and it kinda bounced thru 1st and 2nd gear, and then settled down in third gear. I got the timeslip and it was a 10.002 at 137.8 MPH. 1.46 sixty foot time. Not a bad day for being really hot out and testing out a whole new driveline and suspension setup. We didnt even get to play with the shocks or strut settings as we were out of time and passes for the day. The clutch seems to be working pretty well, definitely need to loosen the car up and i think it will start working much better.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV1yOqRhfUI


Log Graph
405F81C8-84F2-478E-BF49-AEDC31EB8795_zpsraskx12f.jpg

The transmission is very smooth going down the track, gear changes are pretty drama free, i am liking the V-gate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Does the car need more gear?
are you running solid bushings out back?
Either way, car looked solid.

Yes all solid in the rear, with some heavy torque box reinforcements over the years. The car either needs a different 4th gear or a 26" tire. The car needs a 26" tire, that is what the gear ratios were chosen for but i have run out of time and money for a tire change and i will run it this way at dragweek just because i know it is going to work and my slicks have plenty of life left in them. The 28" tire is definitely leaving some RPM on the table in high gear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
the "waa waa waa" in 1st in 2nd... at first when looking at the data I thought maybe tire slip, but hearing the video made me thing of axle wrap/bushing deflection... since it's all solid, my next question would be regarding motor/transmission mounts.
Car is hauling the mail. I forget, that trans is used clutchless once launched right?
Must be a lot of fun.
V gate sounds like a slick setup, how do you like it on the street? I know some class racing allows V gate, while others require H pattern.
I really like your car.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
shifter moves from first to second straight back, when you go to third it is straight ahead again, but the shift mechanism is set so that it drops on its way to third, then straight back again to fourth... think of it as a H on its side... to get back to second you physically release a mechanism and pull the shifter back up to the first/second gate.
pretty slick.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
The transmission is clutch assisted, i could shift it clutchless if i interupted the rpm(hit the 2step button) on the gear change but that would cause a bunch of wear on the transmission.

A v-gate shifter is a vertical shift pattern, basically just go forward and backwards with the lever for each gear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Update on the trans post drag week. We went out with a car with a bunch of new stuff and slowly tried to figure things out. We kept chipping away at it and on day 4 we ran a 9.88 at 138mph, i am very happy with the transmission and the way the car is working, we went ahead and put a pressure plate spring in the clutch with more base pressure as we were finding that when the car hooked on a tight track it was driving right through the clutch. We fixed it for the time being with more levers doing drag week. I really like the power force clutch, it is a good unit for what i am trying to do and it has enough adjustment with the levers to get you out of a jamb at the track.

As far as the trans goes, i am going to tell liberty that if they sell one of these to a customer with a streetcar, they should be required to do drag week. Honestly, when i first drove this thing it was ugly, i was pretty worried that i ruined the streetability of the car, it was loud, and i really had a hard time getting the shifter to do what i wanted. By about the 2nd day of drag week all of those concerns were long gone, i can up and downshift this thing pretty well now, i have gotten used to the handle positions for each gear which really makes downshifting easier, and the whine is what it is, it isn't really that bad.

So here is part 1 of the dragweek story, more to come later...

Some pics i took with my camera before the crappy cell phone shots start. I took these a couple weeks before dragweek started.

9B67D8D6-5494-405B-8EB4-7D03122BDF13_zpsojowndqo.jpg

7A2FC383-44ED-4D9E-A229-91973C912599_zpsfu3nofwl.jpg

I started out the trip with a 12 hour drive to pick up my codriver Tim in Michigan, 12 hours turned into about 14 and change, and we got there, and swapped out the clutch cable and the front struts. Big props to Eric at Afco for getting my struts back to me in time to use them on dragweek. By this time it was about 9pm and we went to get dinner, got home, and slept for a couple hours before leaving for St Louis on saturday.

Right as we headed up to bed Saturday night we noticed a couple of hooligans messing wiht my buddies car, so we went to check it out, this is just a small example of the kind of shenanigans that go down at Dragweek. Its a long running joke that everyone calls Slimbos car a monte carlo, so the Ponte Carlo SS was born...
090495D5-7797-441A-A03C-87232D337157_zpsthozw1pm.jpg

Sunday, Day 0 of dragweek was pretty much drama free, just a long ass day of waiting around while they try to tech in 330+ cars, it was a good time, got to BS with old friends, meet some new ones, and had some bacon.
12087970_892702924131209_8042268036682437688_o_zpsb5mm1hai.jpg

Cool pic of my buddy mark's monte carlo and my car on the banking after tech...
6EE516BB-BB01-4BFB-9F6F-CCE17816E78D_zps5wjm4vk9.jpg

We also made two test passes, the first one was a throw away, we found the clutch cable to be all bound up. In my tired state of driving 15 hours and not getting a real meal in, i rushed and **** the cable routing up, so we fixed the routing adjusted the air gap and went back out.

When we let the car back down with the air gap actually adjusted right i noticed the clutch was releasing much higher up the pedal, this meant that my microswitch wasnt going to work to deactivate the 2step. Decided to just rev it up and dump it with no 2step and fix the clutch switch at the hotel. That run was a 10.20 with a pretty crappy launch, after the day we had, we will take it, loaded up and headed to the hotel. I screwed with the 2step switch bracket all night and pretty much got nowhere. Tim came up with the idea to activate it off of the DS sensor, great! It took some time to figure it out, I fell asleep behind the laptop trying to figure out how to do it, Tim was using the tablet and figured it out shortly after I went to bed.

Day one, we get to the track and start moving pins around in the ECU to make the 2step work off of the DS sensor, then they call the drivers meeting, so I went to that and Tim stayed to finish the wiring up. I get back, take the car for a quick drive to test it, and the 2step works perfectly. Awesome! Pass 1, the MPH is off, no way the car went over 140. We took the 9.96 and hit the road, my goal was to run a 9.99 or faster every day of the week and i wasnt trying to get greedy. At this point, we had still had 1 lever on the clutch, and the thing left like a radial car, driving thru the clutch just a little bit in 1st gear.

Here is a link to the live feed when I ran that day.

View: https://youtu.be/0uLf0Cbx4Zw?t=2h55m48s


We packed up and headed out to the first drive, here are the two checkpoints from day one
630C21C0-65CF-41FB-8B3B-F9A252178E85_zpswjgrsros.jpg
DEA2CE0C-AC59-4840-8AC5-90437F03772D_zpsu1s8iewp.jpg
At the second checkpoint we saw Dave and Tina Pierce from the street outlaws show, really nice people, and that truck is no joke. Beautiful Build
67925205-2DB1-41E6-9535-3EFE36BBE9CC_zps3ban0jys.jpg
The Dragweek survivor kit
E29FB2FE-1579-4E7D-84F1-9A109718E5F7_zpse5yanl07.jpg

Day 2, this would be the most “interesting” day of dragweek for us… We get to the track, and as usual, indy is off the hook, track is killer. We unload quick and hit the staging lanes early, I get the car up on the 2step and let the clutch go, before I know it I am on the limiter, shift second, straight to the limiter, shift 3rd, holds for a second, then right to the limiter. By this point I realize the run is junk and abort it. We head back to the pits, and decide to add a lever. As we are jacking the car up, I see the car move quick and codriver Tim is using some colorful language… :leghump:, I already knew what happened, dropped the car on the oil pan! I grab a second jack without even looking at it and get the weight off of the pan, put a jackstand under the car and take a peek at the pan, and see it isn’t leaking oil. Phew, dodged a bullet there. I called up my engine builder to see if we were screwed or not, he tells me that by the looks of the pictures it is nowhere near the oil pump, we dodged a major bullet with that one.
82D2D7F3-4E6B-4248-AA8A-CF68C2993BFB_zpsfvtghtih.jpg

22C2C784-E256-4A90-9F5A-A8F88BE022A4_zpsglmdbhpe.jpg

Tim was nice enough to sign the pan for me later in the week when he was doing a oil change, haha.
1D745569-268F-4599-AF06-A2292DD2F4E1_zpsmot79667.jpg

So after I talk Tim off of the ledge we put the levers on it and go back out for another pass. 9.903 at 136mph, the track at indy was so tight im sure it would have run better with a 3rd lever on it, but after the morning we had we packed it up and hit the road.

Here is a link to the live feed when I ran that day. Pretty sure nobody was watching me with Frank in the other lane…

View: https://youtu.be/e0Jiuw3Dx98?t=58m10s


Thats enough typing for today, ill keep the updates coming as quick as i can.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
I was checking cars out for a few minutes when you guys came through Byron. I wish I had time to actually go to the track events. But was too swamped. Congrats on another Drag Week competition. Car is a badass! Great job!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
here is part two of what it is like to drag week.

The day 2 drive was pretty uneventful, more of a prank day than anything, started with a 3am wake up call to our room from our "friends" they also were nice enough to set the hotel alarm to 3am as well, pretty much needed a caffeine IV for the day, so, as a tank you, we bought Slimbo a air freshener to match his hood rich G-body...
5F1CC7FF-EB38-41FB-9204-FA185B487B28_zps9c6z6o35.jpg

Then we bought a pack of these bad boys later in the day, and hid them all over his car, they smelt like something fierce, Jamaican breeze was the brand if anyone wants to give em a try.
F36EEA7A-5FF5-4CAE-9B83-E6DAB2B6C2FD_zpsjkhbiqom.jpg

We were driving by DSR racing so decided to stop and take a picture, woulda been cool to stop in but we decided to keep rolling
B0E2611E-4C63-45BD-B742-756582D16D38_zpsnwr4vrdu.jpg

Checkpoint #1 of day 2, this place had the worst entry, i bet the promods had fun getting in and out of there, i drug my exhaust all over the place getting in and out of here
F4CEBBBE-EA41-4533-8297-4B7CF5809AA7_zpsuqelkt1k.jpg

Day 3 at the track was pretty uneventful, went out and ran a 9.96 at 138mph, we decided to leave 2 levers on the clutch banking on the fact that Great Lakes Dragway would not be prepped as well at Indy was, which it wasnt, but the track was still really good, so again, it drove thru the clutch in first gear.

Here is a link to the live feed when I ran that day.

View: https://youtu.be/Hl_2pNfJg9c?t=31m30s


We left GLD and headed to the next hotel, the drive was pretty uneventful, the hotel that night was insane though, there were guys mini tubbing cars in the parking lot, welding suspension parts, doing maintenance, testing two steps, it was pretty wild.
627572FA-4C57-4ADF-8599-819E07E71920_zpsnt1h5yql.jpg

For Day 4, we decided to put the 3rd lever on the clutch at the hotel, which meant that air gap would be critical to not missing a gear, which changes if you look at the clutch cable the wrong way. So we unloaded and get in the lanes early, the sky didnt look to forgiving so we were trying to get out of there before the rain hit, I went out and missed third gear, so it was a mad dash to adjust the clutch cable and get back into the lanes to try and make another hit before they closed the lanes for the daily driver class. The 2nd run was much better, got out of the groove a little bit but finally didnt drive thru the clutch, and ended up going 9.88 at 138mph.
22F55C4A-497B-48B1-981A-DBB27838D765_zpspgvidlkn.jpg

The live feed had problems so no video from that day.

Day 4 checkpoint #1, also a terrible driveway in and out, shocker...
AE7F4863-7FB6-48DB-B98D-76BF8B866638_zpstv0i3vs7.jpg~original


Day 5 was pretty anti climactic, the weather looked pretty crappy, it was the hottest and most humid day of the week, so the air was junk. Racing didnt start till two, so we went out first thing and made a pass, it went 10.17 at 136mph pedalling it a little bit at the line. Good enough to clinch the win, but i wanted a 9 second pass on the 5th day. We ended up spending most of the day sitting around waiting for it to rain. It didnt, but as soon as the weather passed the air got a little better so we tried to make another hit. I ended up sitting in the staging lanes forever and the clutch cable got hot, stretched a little bit, so we lost some air gap, and i couldnt get the trans into third gear. By this point it was too late to make another hit and we were all done. Finished the week with a 9.97 average, which i am very proud of, the main goal was to run a 9 second pass every day, but the secondary goal was to just get the average in the 9's.

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Video from dragweek...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9XwhhQrL54


Also went out to island dragway in New Jersey sunday for a test and tune, got 3 passes in, this will be the last time out for me this season, ended with a 1.33 sixty foot on a 7000rpm launch that i am very happy about but the car went left pretty hard so i am going to have to figure out what is up with that...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M9wVcJ-D9c&feature=gp-n-y&google_comment_id=z12kwtxakzqxspw4004ce1hbpxzix52boxk0k
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
@90lxcoupe I was looking at transmissions today and remembered this thread. What's the plan for this year? Still like the Liberty?

I went back to the liberty site to read up on it and caught myself heavy breathing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
@hoopty5.0 I still am loving the liberty, that is probably the coolest thing on the car for me right now. Every year i say im not going to do much to the car, but i keep finding a crap load of stuff to do and getting myself involved in these big projects. So here goes the winter updates.

I have been working on rewiring the car and getting some weight out of it. Goal was 150 pounds but its looking like its more like 100 that will actually come out. Took the factory heater box out, replaced that with an aftermarket electric unit that will be used just for defrost and the footwell area.

Started by taking the front end off to make some room.
7BD1C3CC-D99C-4ED7-B8BA-F2DEA225D736_zpsijofvx8r.jpg
9B3E480B-88EF-496C-AA68-F2F62F625AF7_zpsrbeebabp.jpg
This is my buddy mark from jerzey in the pics. He pretty much made all this happen, he is very good at figuring all this stuff out then turning it into a clean finished product.

This is the mess we started with.
ACB83D71-83B0-46DC-8ED2-8A48D1B75169_zpsbwnwy3kk.jpg
A25F53D4-1E8E-46AA-8730-B68FF8DF3775_zpsmoamwdqy.jpg
One of the piles we made, this wasnt all of it, about 15-20 lbs of wiring was removed from the factory harness.
8A1228FA-3B80-4263-B240-C9F7E44FFE66_zpsw2tdwcop.jpg

Making progress on the factory harness.
0B34F0CB-B305-4451-9B18-553A10FA00AE_zpshcpbkxii.jpg
77257AAD-6E07-45AA-BFF9-84954FD5077F_zpsvzoh0dbw.jpg
5CB1EA3E-F849-4B80-9255-DB7E98C2FFC7_zpssbaswaot.jpg

Onto the heater, i bought this from sports imports LTD, had to cut it up a little bit to make it work but i am happy with the final product and it tucks right up under the dash nicely.
C58F602A-D016-4CED-B7B2-6661DA10A674_zpsux0gym02.jpg

Made a plate and riveted it to the factory ductwork where it meets the factory heater box, then siliconed everything together before the rivets.
109A6970-5456-4555-8621-56C717D1CDAC_zpsxuaek5qz.jpg
FBC9711B-BB4B-487F-A8CD-6401B4B037A4_zpslulsglqb.jpg

Now onto the new stuff. Got these bulkheads from racewires.
15B4E6A0-8E09-46F7-BBDD-B94A71F122FE_zps9ttfa4jd.jpg
754B516D-B500-4ED5-A15B-47F11927D61C_zpsdhdenvfm.jpg
Also ran all new cables and added a moroso battery box.
D933907E-BDC4-43C3-81C9-1BDFE694B74D_zpsorejhlqy.jpg
7CFE7B11-0DC2-4980-B225-446FE05F439D_zpszz593vdy.jpg
A8682A70-C196-41EF-BE97-916A892B6AB8_zpsalp4tenh.jpg

This tool was also a lifesaver, allowed me to mount a bunch of stuff without having one person under the car holding onto a bolt so it wouldn't spin on me.
39D1F702-8472-459D-BC04-3FA9DFFE9F93_zps7nbl85jj.jpg
AF5C939E-4729-43C6-B719-1AC6289416D6_zpsgklzo3ox.jpg

Here is the panel that controls the starter, horn, fuel pumps, electric fans and the EFI. The relay boards are from Leash electronics and they are pretty badass
6EA4683A-9D43-4484-8046-5568D8816431_zpsk1vbz2sc.jpg
8D4639C2-32B6-4AE3-8DA0-2E827A7F6F6D_zpsqwkzvoc5.jpg

All wired up, again, Mark does some amazingly clean work.
ACCEB9C8-D741-482A-B55C-9654D8E3BAD2_zpswxcge8yp.jpg

Also added some underhood lights and a starter bump button to make the late night, hotel parking lot vavletrain maintenence easier.
9869D908-1BFD-4CCE-9B64-FA428446F2CD_zpsaqyvpjxk.jpg

After all the wiring was done there is little to nothing left in the engine bay, this magnified how crappy my innder fenders looked so i ordered a set of scottrod aluminum panels to put in until i can get the engine bay fixed right.
E2D83618-8B8B-41CA-89B0-5BBEE062CE23_zps34ujy8n7.jpg
7C63301B-8E06-4EBC-BD8F-BC9A0E6D9BBA_zpsmuks7bvp.jpg




Here is the front bumper support from Donathen racing. Tim does some great work and this thing was at my doorstep like 3 days after i paid for it.
106A2982-BFD5-4197-A8A1-FF73078D7CD8_zpsey7ukkvb.jpg

Also went back to a ram clutch, i had a ram powergrip way back when i put this thing together that worked really well so i am going to try the powergrip HD and see how that works out.


Next order of buisness is the fuel system. I am waiting on the lines and fittings i ordered , here is the tank, from Chris at Behind Bars Race cars. Cant say enough good things about Chris, his fab work is amazing and he has the best baffling system in a sumped tank on the market. Sent him my holley pump, filters, and brackets and this is what i got about a week later.
8875B46C-BE30-4E36-909F-B382ECCE7990_zpsuc7cqgbv.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users