Making our way through Lemons guides on how not to fail tech/safety inspection.
It’s fascinating to see how rules get codified to improve safety. A lot comes from existing motorsports standards and if you follow sports like F1, you can clearly see some of the safety improvements like the halo. It’s remarkable to see older F1 cars and realize how exposed drivers were to everything from flying chunks of car or even being upside down.
FIRE
Is one of the biggest concerns. How to minimize chances of fire and then how to get it out if it happens. Add to that racing in CA where av daily temps are likely around ~90F/33C. And there is a lot to do to manage fire risk.
Fire systems are now pretty self contained. Sadly https://sonicfiretech.com/ isn’t yet available for this application, so we’re choosing from some FIA-rated options. We opted for mechanical activated, relatively larger capacity system. Why mechanical? Easy for us to operate but also there is a chance that we’re not the people who have to activate…it might need to be a track marshal and mechanical pull systems have been common in racing for decades now.
ELECTRICAL
The original wire harnesses were mostly ok. Some visual inspection and cleaning of connectors is common in older car restoration, so we went through things like relay boards, fuse boxes, etc. Even pulled all the electric motors, which all worked (we’ll sell them as discussed in the ECONOMY update).
We removed things we don’t need like fuses and relays for the AC, which was removed to save weight and because we have to race with windows down, which renders it ineffective. Then we got to work on things we need to add.
Sprinkled around the car were added wiring like this. Yes to relays! But lots of spliced wires and a bit harder to document relays sprinkled around both in the engine bay and in the cabin. So opted to remove and redo.
Along the way researched various options to build a relay box from scratch and thing add simple rocker or toggle switches. Around $50-$60 if you can get from Alibaba. A bit more via Amazon for all the parts. And then 3D print housing/mounts,etc.
Then came across solid state relays, which have some advantages over mechanical ones – fewer parts and therefore fewer ways to fail. This is more about reliability but there are some safety implications. Probably spent about $30 more to use solid state system which comes with mounted switches commonly used for off-roaders to add things like light bars or winches. That’s it off to the left of the battery during a test fit.
Also visible above is the red top of the kill switch. This required a bit of 3d printing magic to make a mount that allows for location next to the battery (so we don’t have to run the large higher amp cables into the cabin). Then we need to mount a pull cable so the driver can remotely operate (this is all under the hood, which will likely be closed under most scenarios when kill switch is desired). Early TinkerCAD version. 3D printed in carbon fiber re-enforced plastic. There is a specific requirement to hold the battery in place with metal, so opted to purchase and AL bracket for the task as this comes from safety budget and we’re now running tight on time.
It’s common for folks to get race batteries like Odyssey but we opted for a cheaper, Lithium-based chemistry, which is lighter too and outside of some cold weather complaints seems to work just fine. Have another one for another old car, so also means we can use that as a space on race day. Again, assuming this falls under safety vs go-faster budget.
There are some fun deep dives around types of connectors and then holding wires in place. Lots of crimping and heat shrink tubing all round. Life was so much harder before zipties!
FUEL & BRake Fluid
Brake lines are in decent shape, though may add some shielding. Fuel system needed some review and while lines are in good shape as there is an old crusty fuel vapor management system and there was some damage to the fuel filler neck causing odd tank pressure behavior, which then impacts fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator etc.
We’ve gone over these systems a bunch and will do a final review before we race again.
Outrun Carbon 