midgetracr

A friend has 2 excellent tickets for next weekend's NASCAR Brickyard 400 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but is unable to attend. They are very high in the Northwest Vista. Face value is $80 each. Price negotiable. If interested please call me at 630 834 twenty one hundred. Don't know if this is the appropriate place to post this. If the post should be moved, please let me know. Thanks John Meyers

I have used Wide Band Oxygen Sensors to tune numerous engines. This includes my recent Stalker V6's, 530 HP LS3 V8, USAC Midget engines and Indy Car engines. In my opinion it is the only accurate way to tune AFR on an engine. WBO2's will react in milliseconds. Much faster and more sensitive than you could ever hope to sense manually. By the time you can hear a knock, it may be too late. That said it is only a tool. The magic is in the tuner that is using it. I have used an Innovate LC1 and was pleased with it although mine did not have a display. It fed data into a logging device. If I was in the market for a new unit I would probably purchase an AFX brand unit. About the same $ and a great reputation in the tuner community. Just my opinion. I am unaware of an aftermarket knock sensor that works. If anyone knows of one, please post info. Thanks.

Thanks Steven. Yes similar to the GTM but without a roof. It is also smaller, lighter and does not have a roll bar tube running a couple of inches from the driver and passenger head. Contact between a frame tube and your skull could easily be fatal, even in a minor mishap. That was the GTM deal killer for me. Both the GTM and FF Cobras are beautiful machines from a styling standpoint. I hope the D2 will also be much faster, because it is smaller and lighter. So far things are going well. Time will tell.

After building, modifying, racing, then selling the first V-8 powered Stalker, several members of this list asked me to keep them posted about my next project. Instead of continuing to send regular update emails, I've begun a blog to document the progress on my new Palatov D2. I've had a Corvette ZO-6 427" LS7 engine since late December and finally received the roller chassis last week from Palatov. If you are interested, you can follow my progress at: http://johnsD2.blogspot.com My Stalker was really fast. This should be even faster. :hurray: John Meyers

My engine decision is made. It will be a GM Crate LS7 and should be in my shop by Christmas unless Santa has travel delays. I hope it will have "enough" power.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll talk to Palatov about lengthening the wheelbase.

The H1 is absolutely gorgeous! Certainly I don't think the H1 would be as long lived as the LS but I don't think an LS3 or LS7 would last for 50K race track miles either. My LS376 engine had around 15K miles on it when sold but most of those miles were easy street miles. The best indication of the H1 longevity would probably come from a bike road racer running a Busa. But I don't know any of those guys. My guess is that valve springs and lifter buckets would be the weak point but I don't really know. I did replace my LS376's valve springs and rod bolts with high $ race parts and never had a problem. Interesting question.

The Palatov D2 will be street legal! Headlites, brakelites, window wiper, quiet mufflers, horn, emmisions legal and all. Done. The Hartley H1V8 has almost the power of an LS engine with even less weight. It would also allow a lighter transaxle because of much higher revs and less torque. Net savings of weight could exceed 200 lbs. The performance benefit could be significant. The downside of the H1V8 would be a higher cost and a much narrower power band. Hartley has had excellent reliability but the GM LS crate engines come with a 50,000 mile warranty. That warranty is hard to beat.

Hmmm. I don't think 340 mph is realistic. Looks like the D2 will not be as fast as a slow bullet. Should be pretty quick though. Might be "Almost fast enough"

One of many goals I have for this car is to exceed 200 MPH at a place like the Ohio Mile or Bonneville. Top gear will be set to allow 200 MPH +. My Stalker exceeded 170 but would have hit its rev limiter by 180. I think it could have done 200 with the right gear but will never know. I plan to find the answer to that question with the Palatov D2. Based upon the D2's better front to rear weight distribution vs my Stalker (40/60 vs 50/50) and slightly better power to weight ratio, I am pretty confident that it will beat the Stalker's 9.94/141.5 MPH 1/4 mile. Better aero and wing configurations should allow it to easliy improve on the Stalker's road race performance. All the above is speculation and not yet proven. We are not racing "specs" or specultaion. The comparison bar was set pretty high by my highly modified 530 HP V8 Stalker. The challenge for me will be to exceed the above performances. Don't know about "faster than a speeding bullet". The answer is kind of like the answer to "does it have enough HP?". I've always said the Stalker had "almost enough HP". Maybe the D2 will be "almost as fast as a speeding bullet" or at least "as fast as a slow bullet". Anyone know how SLOW a bullet can go? John Should be fun. John

My new car will be a Palatov D2. Check out http://www.dpcars.net then click on "D2" for a blog of how Dennis Palatov has progressed with the CAD design and constuction of his prototype. The D2 is a mid engine two seat car loosely based on a cross between a 7 and a Lotus 20. Lotus 13.5 ? Not yet sure what engine will be used but it may be GM LS based or a Hartley H1V8. Same story re the transaxle, there are several choices but no decision has been made. I've been without a toy since selling my V8 Stalker in August. Let the fun begin again. John Meyers

My LS3 V8 powered Stalker was sold and delivered last week. Thanks to all that inquired and praised or commented on the car. Midgetracr

Thanks for the kind words about my V8 Stalker (and its driver) Shark. It is pretty easy to be "fearless" when your car handles well and is stable at speed. BTY 500 HP per ton seems to have some meaning for the Seven performance guys. Big deal. Mine is 650+ HP per ton. That's almost enough HP:) John PS: Are you bringing your car to the Ambush in the Smokies next month? Maybe we could trade cars for a while and compare things?

Just noticed that Heikki will be there with his Turbo Miata powered LoCost. Super!

Denise and I are planning to be there from late Sunday (8-26) night thru Thursday night with our LS3 powered V8 Stalker. Then we leave early Friday AM for an event near home on Saturday Sept 1. Looking forward to another fun event with great people on the world's best roads for Sevens. Paul has selected a campground that is more spacious than Creekwood where we stayed last year. It is only a few miles away. All Seven enthusiasts are welcome. Last year we had a great mix of Caterham, Ultralite, Stalker, Corvette, Nissan 350Z and a pickup truck. Plus probably several that I am forgetting. John Meyers

Change AFR by reducing injector duration (commonly called pulse width) to go leaner or increasing duration for richer. I am not familiar with Pectel so cannot comment on their terminology. Be aware that changing pulse width by I.E 10% will not change AFR by 10%. This is because the electric field for the solenoid connected to the injector pintle and the pintle itself have lags that delay the start and stop of fuel flow. These lags are constant and do not change when the pulse width is changed. I suggest you make small changes until you get a feel for what you are doing.

AFR for maximum brake torque (MBT) at any particular RPM for a given engine depends mostly on the efficiency of the combustion chamber but will also vary depending on camshaft timing and inlet and exhaust porting and lengths. A gross approximation would be in the area of 10.5 to 13 AFR for 100% gasoline. A lower AFR number would be appropriate for E10 fuel. It is common for well tuned race engines to lean them out slightly at revs above peak torque. This is because an engine's ability to achieve maximum volumetric efficiency falls off above peak torque, combustion pressures fall off and the engine is able to burn less fuel per combustion cycle. The graph you showed seemed to be well over 12.5. I suspect that more power could be achieved by going richer. I suggest going richer in 0.5% AFR increments and comparing results. Once you achieve max power I suggest leaving it slightly on the rich side for safety, then try retarding ignition advance 2*. Hopefully this will reduce power and prove that you have been overly conservative with spark advance. If this turns out to be true, add advance a degree or two at a time until power stops increasing. Then back off one or two degrees for safety. Tuning to the razors edge of AFR and ignition advance is dangerous. Minor differences in ambient temps, engine temp or fuel octane could get you into severe detonation and be disasterous for your engine. Just my somewhat informed opinion. John Meyers

Re 7even's comment of: "I am thinking you need to write a book on "How to convince your wife to let you have a really cool race car and be happy about it" It would be a #1 seller world wide ! If I had the talent to write and publish that book, I could buy a garage big enough to store all the toys I'd want AND the toys to fill that garage:hurray: Denise actually likes our Stalker and doesn't want me to sell it. I think she enjoys having us drive around on the street and seeing so many people gaulk and wave at us or give us thumbs up. After seeing me tumble end over end down a straightaway in my midget years ago, she also thinks this car is very tame. Westy, No video but I do have the timing slip which is posted on the http://www.photobucket.com/StalkerV8 website.

Tom, Wow! A 2453 HP garage! Awesome! My li'l old underpowered V8 Stalker would probably not feel to out of place between your other muscle cars It might even be willing to race them What times have you run with those cars at the drag strip? Your 1200 HP Chev ought to really fly if you can get the power to the ground! My Stalker ran a 9.94 second ET at 141.5 MPH. It should be quicker but I couldn't get a really good launch. High 1.5 to low/mid 1.6 second 60 foot times. It should be able to do better with that power to weight ratio. I need more practice. John PS: One secret to controlling lots of power is having a long throttle pedal travel. My Stalker has almost 4" of throttle pedal travel. Makes it easy to dial in "just enough" power. And it has "almost enough" power.

Thanks 7evin. I appreciate the kind words. Actually it is not hard to drive. It is stable after you learn to control your right foot. It also has tons of torque. Therefore you don't have to shift often and is easy to keep in the very broad power band. Just to be fair to the IndyCar crowd, maybe I should increase my asking price by a $ million or so. :) Seriously, I've decided to lower the asking price to $45K. This would be for the complete car in street trim. It would not include the computers, WBO2, 14 race wheels and slicks or the wing. I have had serious discussions with about a dozen guys. They all seemed to have a wife problem, couldn't come up with the money or were afraid of the potential speed. No one said he thought it wasn't worth the asking price or felt he could duplicate what I built for what was being asked.

None of us really need these cars. Isn't it all about fun and rewarding ourselves with a really neat playtoy? I've worked hard (and sometimes smart) most of my life and thought I deserved a really neat playtoy. So I built it, am proud of the result and like it a lot! All of us could drive my car safely. It handles well and is quite predictable. Just because it will go over 170 MPH does not mean that one has to drive it that fast. I can honestly say that I am comfortable driving it that fast. To me the only thing scary about the back straight at VIR is approaching the blind corner after the hill at the end of the straight. Many posters on this forum have expressed concerns about driving their cars at or over 100/120 MPH. This car is very stable at that speed. Because it is based upon a modern Corvette engine with a proven driveline, it has been and should continue to be quite reliable. In fact the engine came with a 24 month/50,000 mile warranty. The 24 months has expired but GM must have had confidence in its longevity or they would not have offered that warranty. A stock SuperStalker weighs around 1500 lbs +/-. The all aluminum V8 engine is actually lighter than the all cast iron V6 with a supercharger. The TKO600 trans, steel scattershield/ bellhousing, full belly pan/diffuser and wing aerodynamic package, additional frame stiffening, power steering, dry sump oil system, 15 gallon fuel tank with safety bladder and internal scavenge sump plus the Kirkey Seat and full roll cage add a net of about 125 lbs. The result is that the car is about 1625 lbs wet and ready to run. In my opinion the additions have all added to the safety, street and track driveablity, performance, comfort, reliability and longevity of the car. There are lots of very nice Sevens around. I just don't think there are any Sevens that can come close to the total package for anywhere near the price. I am also not aware of any Sevens that have been as successful in competition in the big magazine events like Run n Gun or the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge. Just my opinion. I am sure that someone will correct me. John Meyers

Bump to the top. Numerous inquiries but no buyers, yet. :auto:

Be glad to post a pic. Only problem is that we are out of town viewing fall leaves in Wisconsin. Be home by Tuesday and will get pix posted shortly after. It is very crude and only used when I am forced to drive in the rain. It is however effective on the front of the windshield. John Meyers

Stewart, You should have been to the Ambush a couple of years ago. I almost drowned on the way to Two Wheels Only. That wiper worked throughout. Should have had a second one to wipe the rear of the windshield