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Spray
Bomb Cleanup
While it’s best to powder-coat or
professionally paint parts for maximum appearance and
durability, covering parts with semi-gloss black spray
can paint is a good way to make everything look great
while keeping a down-to-the-wire project moving
forward.
Buy
A Sketch
When starting the build of their
‘dream car’, many enthusiasts have a tough time
springing for the initial dollars to commission an
artists ‘sketch’ of their dream. Big mistake.
These sketches are great for keeping you on your
original mission, inspiring you to keep working
through the tough times and helping others to get
behind your efforts.
Fishmouth
For Safety
When building a rollcage, it’s
best to mate the rollcage tubes as tight as possible
before welding them to maximize the strength of the
weld and the overall strength and appearance of the
rollcage. A tip to help you make these tight fits is
to create a cardboard template (inset) that mates
tightly, then replicate that on the end of the
tube.
Trailblazer
SS Cool Brakes
Trailblazer SS Cool Brakes If you
own one of the impressive 2006 Trailblazer SS hot
rods, then you’ll want to maximize your brake system
capability by installing the GM Performance engineered
front brake cooling system (pn 19154753). This kit
installs easily and makes a dramatic improvement in
brake rotor and pad temperatures during extreme brake
situations—which improves stopping distances, brake
pedal feel and component life.
Unsprung
Weight is Not Your Friend
The weight of the suspension
‘corners’ on your performance car make a dramatic
impact on how the vehicle handles bumps, cornering,
acceleration and braking. In general, the lighter the
components hanging out in the breeze, the quicker the
spring, swaybar, bushings and shock absorber can
control the motion of the wheel/tire combination. This
land speed racing setup is the extreme in lightweight,
but it shows how important keeping these components
light and strong, is to vehicle performance.
Chassis
Dyno Testing
One of the great lessons of racing
is that some relatively inexpensive testing goes a
long way once you are at the racetrack and want to go
fast. With that in mind, it is a good idea to take
your performance vehicle to a chassis dyno facility to
do power and simulation runs. While this can be
costly, it is almost always much cheaper than the
actual tow/race/return cost—and just helps you have
a better time once you do go racing!
Stage
1, Stage 2, For You
If you own a Saturn Red Line Ion or
Chevrolet Cobalt SS-supercharged vehicle, now is the
time to consider upgrading your 2.0 L Supercharged
Ecotec (RPO LSJ) engine with a GM Performance Stage 1
or Stage 2 performance package. The Stage 1 (pn
17801947) or Stage 2 (pn 17803229) kits install easily
and produce a substantial increase in power. And if
you want to ‘step up’ from Stage 1 to Stage 2
later on, there is a Stage 1 Upgrade to Stage 2 kit (pn
17803230).
Plate
for Strength
A rollcage that is being installed
in an existing subframe vehicle needs to be welded to
the floor in many places, as there isn’t a separate
frame to weld to in these vehicles and the sheetmetal
floor is usually too thin to apply the proper level of
heat for a strong weld. A way to maximize the strength
of this weld point is to build a plate out of 1/8 inch
mild steel that closely matches the shape of the
floor. Stitch weld this plate to the floor and then
weld the rollcage tube to this mounting plate.
Weight
Reduction
An anonymous race quote says,
“Worry about the ounces and the pounds will come.”
So all performance enthusiasts should be working to
shave weight where you can. Your lighter vehicle will
show real results in performance that are often better
than tons more horsepower!
Safety
First
Always carry a fire extinguisher in
a performance vehicle and if you’re racing, it’s
best to install an on-board fire suppression system
that can be activated from the driver’s compartment.
Gauge
Clocking
If you add aftermarket gauges to
your vehicle, consider installing them ‘clocked’
to have the gauge needles pointing straight up when
everything is operating to plan. That way, you can
tell at a glance if everything is working properly.
Egg
Under the Foot
The fast drivers will always tell
you, ‘Smooth is Fast’. Smoking tires and sideways
cornering might look cool, but it’s not fast. This
is best attained by imagining you have a raw egg
between your right foot and the throttle—apply it
carefully, but aggressively, to minimize tire spin and
loss of traction but maximize acceleration.
Sneak
Up On It
While it seems some drivers are
‘gifted’ with speed, usually they’ve just got
more experience than their competitors. If you want to
go fast, take your time, carefully discover the limits
of your driving capability and car, get good coaching
and keep good notes about your experiences. While it
will seem to take a long time to get fast, pretty soon
you’ll be considered one of the ‘gifted’ speed
demons.
Turning
Enough rpm to Mesh the Gears
When shifting through the gears of
a manual transmission under hard acceleration, the
fast guys never completely take their foot off the
accelerator-they back off, but not fully, to keep the
engine turning enough rpm to mesh the gears and keep
the car accelerating with as little lost time as
possible.
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