Not a lot of posts this month--getting ready for SEMA. Raw frame, raw bodywork, donor car isn't even in the same county and 25 days till we drive to SEMA. You'll forgive me if I only post a couple of pics...

 

Quite to the contrary- we shall judge you harshly for it, and take it as evidence that dreams of SEMA fame and fortune have gone to your head and made you forget about the little people back at the forum where it all got started.

Bastard.

 

Well that just sucks. And to think I was going to see if you wanted to go for a ride before the car went off to the show...

 

Did I say "judge you harshly"?

I meant "be considerate and understanding of the tremendous workload you must be under, and wait patiently in respectful silence and admiration."

 

Amazing what a bit of incentive will do for you!

 

seriously, what's more important: pleasuring us or pleasing SEMA?


This also means I have 25 days to get a turbokitty decal made and sent to you...

 

I'm gonna need me some turbo first.

 

It was a banner day today--the frame, which was set up on a jig and then committed to CAD file, was fitted up with the floor and body, both of which were built in completely different CAD files. This means that multiple dimensions were taken, multiple times, fed into a computer, spat out, and everything came together perfectly! No missed decimal places, no mis-measures, no assembly brain-farts. I was truly amazed. It took all of 10 minutes to drill the pilot holes for the floor and line up the mounting bolts.

The side floor will rivet to the frame and is not intended to be removed. The center portion will be removable. There's also a splitter-like piece that fits up front, and a center portion that will go under the engine (not fitted).

In addition, the diffuser rear mount was placed, the front hood mounts were placed, and a game plan for the instrument cluster was determined.

David, our 6' 4" chief assembler/fabricator sat in the Catfish with a spare Sparco seat, and even he sat IN the Catfish, not on it.

BTW, the Razor in the background (built by David and Mark at Bent Motorsports) has a +10 inch travel suspension, full roll-cage with doors (also by Bent) and a Yamaha R1 supercharged/intercooled engine good for 250 whp. Power is supplied by a fully cnc-machined $5,000 slipper clutch.

So now, besides the 21 days left until we arrive at SEMA (28th), wheels and tires and a host of other issues are on my mind.

 

Using screws for the bottom plates instead of rivets?

 

turbo kitty do not discriminate.

 

Then the turbo kitty sticker will be the last thing those Porsche Cup cars will see as I pass them on the track.

 

The outside floor uses rivets and bolts. The bolts correspond to frame bolts. The center section will Dzus on for quick access to the drivetrain.

The other floor panels are:

front splitter
engine
rear diffuser

I plan to run two rub strips made of Delrin/HDPE/UHMW/Jabroc/wood on the outside rails that will rivet on as well.

It's a true flat-bottom car.

 

f you've got plans to visit the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association (SEMA) show, the debut of the Catfish will be in the Performance Hall at the Braille Battery booth, #24419, right next to Grassroots Motorsports. We'll be sharing the booth with a wicked Time Attack Nissan GT-R, and showing off the ML20C lithium battery in the Catfish. At just 6.1 lbs, it's light, it's green (no caustic chemicals), and it's the same battery that won the Daytona 500 this year. This really is the equivalent of battery ****. I've already got a spot picked out for the battery in the show car, and will send pictures as soon as it's bolted in.

There just might be a Catfish race car at the show as well. That's right, a SECOND car. The Catfish will be campaigned at select events this year, and the first iteration can be seen at the Achilles Tire booth (company name API) in South Hall downstairs, #43199.

More surprises are in store, so stay tuned...

 

You wouldn't be able to perhaps pass on some of those ML20C batteries under the door, would you? At $1500 a pop it is kind of out of my already heavy budget!!!

 

They're small, but not small enough to fit under a door. A sticker, maybe.

Very, very good news. Braille is coming out with a new lithium battery line in December called "green-lite". It's still not cheap, $350-ish range. I got the spiel from Braille, but basically they'll weigh nearly the same as the $1,500 battery (20lbs less than stock), and they last 7-10 years. That's your payback right there. Plus they hot start better (in the pits), aren't filled with caustic material, draw less HP from the alternator due to efficient charging (5 times faster than AGM). Yada yada yada I got mine for free for parking the car at their booth.

Dr. John Reed told me a couple of years ago--I didn't know this--that alternator draw is not only dependent on the size of the alternator. If you've got the A/C on and the radio blasting, the alternator will make the engine work harder to spin it. We were talking about alternators, replacing larger with smaller etceteras, and he brought up the point about the variable resistance of the alternator based on the current draw needed. I remembered that conversation when hearing about the lithium advantages. Interesting methinks.

 

Nice $350 is pretty decent! Will look forward to that!

 

Wheels came today...well at least two of them. 17" x 9". This one weighed in at 16.55 pounds, which is the major reason for liking the RPF1.

 

Hold the phone... Why'd you buy 5 lug wheels?

 

There are so many more wide wheels available in a 17" rim with a 5x114.3 bolt pattern, it just made sense. The Catfish is 4" from hub to lip edge at the front and 4.5" hub to lip out back. It's made to take wide rubber.

Plus, if I manage to put a 5 bolt hub on the front of the car, chances are that the bearings will be bigger, allowing the hub to last longer even for racers and the V8 conversions...

Are you wondering perhaps if this could fit on your car?

 

What do you plan on doing to swap the hubs? Got a donor? Does it fit on the stock miata hub shaft?