Any Oval dirt track tips?

[captain_steve]

I am sort of new here as well. I race and 89 Accord here in florida. The original motor lasted the first night before it went. Still determining the cause. Just received a reman A20A1 from Jasper Engines. I have a back-up car, but figured the old tired motors, that I believe may be the 2nd motor in either car, just won't last under the abuse. Going to get everything switched over and will let you know how it goes with a brand new motor.

[2ndGenGuy]

I am sort of new here as well. I race and 89 Accord here in florida. The original motor lasted the first night before it went. Still determining the cause. Just received a reman A20A1 from Jasper Engines. I have a back-up car, but figured the old tired motors, that I believe may be the 2nd motor in either car, just won't last under the abuse. Going to get everything switched over and will let you know how it goes with a brand new motor.

Oh wow! Welcome to the site! Thanks for chiming in and letting us know what you find out. I hope that it is simply a case of the motors being tired. You are brave soul for betting a new motor on it! When is your next race? Got any pictures of your car? It sounds like you need to start a thread about your car.

[Bud_1080]

I'm hoping to tear my engine down tomorrow and get a better idea of what failed. I have another engine from the auto wrecker that ill probably toss in as we are racing next weekend.

[Oldblueaccord]

5w40 full synthetic.

Well i can add this my 2011 Challenger runs that oil and the oil temps easily run 225 to 240. Dunno anything about the brand.

I would look into a racing oil like Valvoline 20w 50.

Also if you suspect the temps ars high try insulating the header pipe where it runs on the oil pan. Thats one small thing i never liked about Hondas is the pipes right on the oil pan.

[2oodoor]

Well i can add this my 2011 Challenger runs that oil and the oil temps easily run 225 to 240. Dunno anything about the brand.

I would look into a racing oil like Valvoline 20w 50.

Also if you suspect the temps ars high try insulating the header pipe where it runs on the oil pan. Thats one small thing i never liked about Hondas is the pipes right on the oil pan.

Exactly what I was thinking, also those used motors may have plenty of life in them but if I were racing one I would surely replace the rubber seals for the oil pump. The that seals the two halves of the pump can get brittle and have cracks which would cause intermitant pressure loss.
Im not sure the part number but there is a longer oil filter that can be used to increase capacity and give a tiny bit of cool down.

[apache07x]

Oil cooler is a must on any race car

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[Oldblueaccord]

There was an older thread with the same topic problem. I felt that the race rotation was important. I would guess most fwd cars the oil sumps on the driver side so racing clockwise would be best.

Just a best guess.

[accordracer39]

I just started racing an 86 LXI (fuel injected) accord at the local dirt track. Actually saturday was the the first time I raced it and it held up good. Did crack the radiator in my heat race when I hit a car that spun out in the middle of the track though (was able to get it to hold for the main though). Gonna need to replace that, along with the hood, fenders, core support, etc. But I do have a parts car so should be fine.

What I want to know is how people can adjust the camber on these things. My car just wants to eat up tires on the passenger front and push up in the corners. We kind of solved this by running like 40 psi in the passenger front tire and like 15 psi in the driver front. But a more permanent solution would be preferred.

Here is the picture of the car, yeah I know it needs paint but $400 for a turn key race car is pretty dang good

[accordracer39]

double post sorrry

[apache07x]

I just started racing an 86 LXI (fuel injected) accord at the local dirt track. Actually saturday was the the first time I raced it and it held up good. Did crack the radiator in my heat race when I hit a car that spun out in the middle of the track though (was able to get it to hold for the main though). Gonna need to replace that, along with the hood, fenders, core support, etc. But I do have a parts car so should be fine.

What I want to know is how people can adjust the camber on these things. My car just wants to eat up tires on the passenger front and push up in the corners. We kind of solved this by running like 40 psi in the passenger front tire and like 15 psi in the driver front. But a more permanent solution would be preferred.

Here is the picture of the car, yeah I know it needs paint but $400 for a turn key race car is pretty dang good

2g prelude upper control arms or there is at least one kit I know of to adjust camber that's what I have on mine. I don't remember the place off hand but their own eBay too. Send me a pm if you're interested in that and I'll shoot you their website

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[accordracer39]

2g prelude upper control arms or there is at least one kit I know of to adjust camber that's what I have on mine. I don't remember the place off hand but their own eBay too. Send me a pm if you're interested in that and I'll shoot you their website

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Thanks, I got my hands on some 3rd gen prelude arms for free. I put the passenger side arm on and I got a little camber for the last race but not much. I have taken them off and am in the process of drilling out the slots to enlarge them so I can get some more. Probably not the safest thing for a street car but being a race car I will probably look at welding everything up once I find a good position for them.

Thanks!

[Vanilla Sky]

Slotting the 3rd gen Prelude arms is perfectly fine, as long as the bolt clamps on fine. Lots of guys have been using them on their daily drivers for many years without any issues.

[captain_steve]

The new motor is running good. I got rid of all the vacuum mess and black box when we installed the new motor and with really no adjustment it runs perfect. Still breaking it in. It has three races on it now. The neons kick butt, but I am beating preludes and running in the top ten every week. It just kind of depends where you start. We have a few guys running locked differentials, but they are outlawing them for next season which should even things up a bit.

I want to thank 3geez because I learned more about this car and basic mods I could do to keep it stock, but add performance. Thanks to everyone on the site!

Here is a pic of the car as requested.

[Vanilla Sky]

Neons and Ecotec Cavaliers are the fast cars up here at Putnam Raceway. Are you having to upshift at the end of your straights, or can you hold the gear until the corner? Changing around your transmission gearing might help against the quicker cars, especially if you can deal with a shorter gear set.

[2ndGenGuy]

That is a good lookin' race car! I wish we could do bumpers like that in Lemons, but we're not allowed to modify any of the crash structure.

[captain_steve]

Thanks for the compliment. Trust me, those bumpers are nice. Some guys run the stock bumpers, but after a few weeks the nose comes off and some extra beef is added. My dad raced full size GM cars and they ran similar bumpers, that is where I got the idea.

The track is a 1/4 mile D shaped oval with 8 degrees of banking in the corners. I'm still working on the set up to get off the corners better. I catch a lot of competitors going into the corners. I run the car in
2nd gear. I'm right on the edge gear wise at the end of the straightaway. I have the carb'd A20 and everyone else has a rev limiter so I can run harder into the corner. Everyweek get's better. No matter what, it's a blast.

I've learned so much on this website and the car has some advantages the others don't I believe. Just working on the handling and set up. I'll take any suggestions. I've search the internet extensively on fwd set ups and read a lot of different stuff. Just slowing going to try stuff till this season is over and then go at it hard next season. In the meantime, just learning and having fun. Proud to drive a Honda 3gee!

[Vanilla Sky]

Can you add ballast? Minimum weight limits in the class?

[captain_steve]

You can add ballast. Minimum weight is 2,000 lbs since the engine is 2.0L or close to that. With me in the car, weight is around 2,400 lbs. No more than 56% left side weight. Was at 54% last time on the scales. Need to get the car re-weighed because I got a set of lowering springs in the car now. Trying to lighten it up more, but you can only gut the driver's side doors for the roll bars. Just picked up a rear sway off a '92 vigor. I've been reading about putting a rear sway bar on, and unhooking the front sway bar all together. Was also going to mess with rear toe at practice and see how the car reacts.

[Vanilla Sky]

So, you're thinking about making your car dynamically unstable? Of course, no one would ever try something like that for a road-going car, but it can really help make the car rotate.

Do you have a link to your rule book? I'm particularly good at finding loopholes.

[captain_steve]

Not doing anything drastic. Just reading and trying to do my homework. Not running off and changing the whole car.

Here is the link to our rules. Keep in mind the locked differential rule is going away next year. Can't run one. Thanks in advance.

Mini Stock 2013 | Showtime Speedway Pinellas Park

Race on Saturuday night. Started 18th and finished 9th out of 20 cars. Was up to 7th at one point. Car is getting better every week.

[Vanilla Sky]

Well, there's not a lot to change, really. A few things I did catch were these little bits:

1. They care about engine size, so you can technically install a CRV B20 with no VTEC and be within the rules
2. They leave no provision for the car's front end camber to be changed. Crash washers don't help with the way the front end is designed. You can shim the back, though.
3. Updating and back dating parts is something that may or may not get you caught. I'd give it a shot.
4. What tire size are you using? I'd fit the widest 60 series tire I could manage on a set of stock 13" steelies.
5. Sway bars aren't mentioned, so I would concentrate on bars for suspension changes since you can't change springs.

That's what I came away with, anyway.

[Vanilla Sky]

Oh, I also noticed that the transmission ratios can be changed based on the lack of a rule against it. Just no changing out for "racing parts".

[captain_steve]

Can you expound more on the transmission ratio. I run the car in 2nd now and rev to about 6500 +/- rpm with the new motor. I'm kind of afraid to go much more than that. I'd love to lower the rpm's by a bit. Not much to keep the engine wound up, but kind of like if you had a 2-1/2 gear, if that makes sense. I know I need to search, but I'll take and hints or answers you can give me.

I do have camber in the car. I got a bunch of the 2nd gen preludes control arms, but slotted the holes larger the other way to get camber. I just got a rear sway bar from a '92 vigor that I am going to put on the car this week or next. Don't race for another 3 weeks. I was planning on figuring how to build in adjustment to the bars.

[Vanilla Sky]

Don't worry about adding adjustment to the bars. By the time you've screwed with them, you've found another dozen in the junkyard that will work just fine.

Here is the list of gear ratios and which transmissions you can find them in. There are a bunch more threads on the topic, but no sense going through the rebuild threads when you can't make your gear ratios any better for your track.