Frame Welding

[Kenn]

I finished a small (6" x 14") shelf that will hold two battery chargers for the race car radios. I used the first piece of bent oak which is 1/2 x 1 1/2. It will be nice to have an out of the way place to keep the radios while at the track.

[Kenn]

Yesterday we took the motorhome and race trailer to a level parking lot and adjusted the height of the hitch. It tows great and the brake controller works. My sister made window covers from leftover upholstery material that I hope will help keep the sun out.

[Kenn]

On my race trip to Portland over the 4 th everything on the motorhome went great, the race car, not so much. We spent three days trying to get the engine to run good for more than three laps. I have been busy redoing all of the wiring on the car (3 yrs in the trailer is not good for the car). It now seems to run better. Last week I got my Onan 5500 LPG generator and have been building mounting brackets and prepping the compartment. Tomorrow we will mount it and then start hooking it up.

[Kenn]

We got the generator installed and running.

[Kenn]

After finishing all of the hook-ups on the generator, we did some test running. Everything worked fine except my through the roof exhaust created a lot of heat on the roof. I decided to add an extension through the dome (Walmart ss mixing bowel) and put a flapper on top to keep rain out. I might try to play with the height of the bowel above the roof and see if it works better. We will be racing at a track with no power this weekend, so I will be running the generator a lot.

[bushpilot]

i wonder how much clanging that flapper will make....fine at the track probably during the day (w/ all the noise) but at night i wonder...

[Kenn]

Don I hope it does not clang at all. I taped a large washer on the counterweight to get it to open wider. I ran it with light and heavy loads and it does not move much. I will let you knowhow it works.

[bushpilot]

cool ! obviously you're thinking ahead (and smarter than i)

[Kenn]

Got home late lastnight from our racing trip to Shelton Washington. Everything with the motorhome was great. We ran the new generator for long periods at a time to keep the air conditioner going (Sunday temp 90). The generator started and ran great, very quiet and my flapper did not clang at all. We had to do some at the track fiberglass work and ran the generator until after 11 pm to use heat guns to cure the fiberglass. I asked my neighbor if I bothered them and he said he did not know it was running. We got the car back together and made the race minus the rear wing and a bunch of downforce. We finished and felt good about the weekend.

[bushpilot]

good news ! congrats !

[Kenn]

Today I started working on the interior of the motorhome again. I am doing some cabinet framing for the return-air to the heater and also going to make the front of the trash bin. Next weekend is the Brooks Oregon truck show and my brother and I will be going. Last year we had a bare floor and no interior at all. It should be a relaxing weekend compared to race weekends. I thought I would post a shot of the race setup.

[Kenn]

I don't know what happened to the picture

[Dragonslayer140]

Kenn, Good to see you have had a chance to get out and do some racing, We were hoping to get down to the Brooks show again this year as we enjoyed it so much last year, and have been looking forward to seeing the progress on your rig too, but not sure the schedule will allow as we have our annual Harley trip coming up in a couple of weeks and seem to have so many chores to get done first.

Keep up the good work.

Dave

[jbeech]

Tells us a bit abut the car and the class!

[Kenn]

I race in the sports car club of America (SCCA). The class is called proto-type 2 (P2). The car started out as a Sports 2000 in 1986 with a pinto engine and 4 speed. I think they were around 130 hp and weighed in about 1300# with driver. I converted it to a D sports racer in 2007. It has a Suzuki GSXR 1000 bike engine (160 hp), 6 speed chain drive without reverse and must weigh 900# with driver. Mine weighs 1180# with me in it. The tires are 13 x 7 front and 13 x 9 rear. Last year SCCA changed some rules and DSR became either P2 or P1. P1 allows more ground-effects and the use of carbonfiber. P1 cars are faster and cost more. The new rules for P2 are 1100# for my engine. My car is under powered, over weight and the driver is old and slow, but what a thrill. At Portland the track record is around 57 sec held by an indy car and the DSR record is 1.07. When I watched a trans-am race the top times were around 1.11. Now my best time at PRI is a much slower 1.22. It is fun to do track days with expensive road cars and be able to go faster. On youtube look at DSR racing you might enjoy the in car video.

[Kenn]

I finished the cold air return grill and the trash bin. The cold air return grill can be removed to service or remove the furnace. The wood work sits on the floor and is held in place with a pair of magnets. I also finished the front for the trash bin and it works great. Going to the Brooks truck show this weekend.

[Kenn]

We have been working on the kitchen base cabinet. I will have three large drawers under the stove and three small drawers under the L side of the counter. The end of the L has the O2/LPG alarm near the floor and on the side facing the front of the rig is a door that can be removed to get to the under sink plumbing. All of this will need to be taken out for staining. I will be making a trip with it unfinished to make sure it will work. I also finished the four doors for the upper cabinets and have one coat of Minwax to apply.

[Kenn]

I got all of the finish done on the upper cabinet doors. Today my brother helped me hang the doors and then put the handles on. I am happy with the look and I installed one magnet catch and was disappointed with the lack of holding force. I bought some stronger ones that I can try. I hate having a door open while driving. Next up is to build the lower unit face frames for the six drawers. I will have a cabinet shop build the drawer boxes and I will make the faces for them.

[bushpilot]

looks fantastic Ken ! Nice work !

[RLPRACING]

Looking good. We went with the double magnet door catches and have had no problems with the doors opening. Both the taller double stacked magnets and the wide doubles(I think these are for catching two doors) work so good, its hard to open the doors.