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RED, my BP powered in the works drag racer, finally has enough suspension and wheels to become an actual rolling car! Of course plans changed from the original, but it came out cheaper (well, at the moment...) and doesn't look all that bad.
The original plan was to have 14 x 7 Miata aluminum wheels all around since I had them laying around in the shed, but the 14 x 7 in the rear were kind of big and heavy, plus I didn't have any small/narrow 14" tires.
But I did have some original Festiva 12" rims with tires that were in good condition. And the 12" steel rims and tires were much lighter than the 14" aluminum rims and tires - so that became a moderate no brainier. The only problem was I had to take the Aspire hubs off the rear and replace them with Festiva hubs, which turned out to be easy to do -- a remove and bolt-on job. And the Festiva hubs/drum weight about the same as my machined down Aspire hubs.
From my old BP car I had some 175 x 55 x 14 tires that were nearly new, so I had those mounted onto the Miata rims. I'll keep these on for the initial drag racing just to see how well they work.
I have Aspire front hubs with Miata rear discs that will be turned down a little more for less rotating mass. The Miata disc's are 9" x .375" and will be turned down to 8-1/2" x .190" for use with the new Wilwood snowmobile calipers. This more or less duplicates a "stock" Festiva front disc brake set up and should be able to stop the car without any major problems.
Wilwood advertises that they make aluminum hubs to replace the Aspire/Festiva hubs, and if that turns out to be true I'll switch out the front steel Aspire hubs for the aluminum Wilwood ones (again, less rotating mass).
I installed an Aspire front sway bar to stiffen the front suspension and to act as a "traction" bar. Seems to have really stiffen things up.
Next major project(s) are getting the brand new trailer all set up to tow RED to Madness and getting a rollbar made and welded into RED.
I plan on bringing RED to Madness for show and tell, so you can get a look at it close up.
Doug
The original plan was to have 14 x 7 Miata aluminum wheels all around since I had them laying around in the shed, but the 14 x 7 in the rear were kind of big and heavy, plus I didn't have any small/narrow 14" tires.
But I did have some original Festiva 12" rims with tires that were in good condition. And the 12" steel rims and tires were much lighter than the 14" aluminum rims and tires - so that became a moderate no brainier. The only problem was I had to take the Aspire hubs off the rear and replace them with Festiva hubs, which turned out to be easy to do -- a remove and bolt-on job. And the Festiva hubs/drum weight about the same as my machined down Aspire hubs.
From my old BP car I had some 175 x 55 x 14 tires that were nearly new, so I had those mounted onto the Miata rims. I'll keep these on for the initial drag racing just to see how well they work.
I have Aspire front hubs with Miata rear discs that will be turned down a little more for less rotating mass. The Miata disc's are 9" x .375" and will be turned down to 8-1/2" x .190" for use with the new Wilwood snowmobile calipers. This more or less duplicates a "stock" Festiva front disc brake set up and should be able to stop the car without any major problems.
Wilwood advertises that they make aluminum hubs to replace the Aspire/Festiva hubs, and if that turns out to be true I'll switch out the front steel Aspire hubs for the aluminum Wilwood ones (again, less rotating mass).
I installed an Aspire front sway bar to stiffen the front suspension and to act as a "traction" bar. Seems to have really stiffen things up.
Next major project(s) are getting the brand new trailer all set up to tow RED to Madness and getting a rollbar made and welded into RED.
I plan on bringing RED to Madness for show and tell, so you can get a look at it close up.
Doug
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