Conover Motor Sports build, 1990 ITA Civic EX Sedan

JeffYoung said:
Ron the floorboard of Christian's car looks better than the exterior of ours.....
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Ron Earp said:
Well, there are reasons for that....like Christian's car hasn't been raced yet!

Man, turn in with this thing is going to be unbelievable.
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True! It's easy to keep clean when it isn't driven ;)

Yeah, it'd be like taking a vintage 911 and trying to steer it from the back end only... Be easy to do donuts though! :eek:

lateapex911 said:
Christian, you know what I think, that thing is awesome. Well done, and props to Conover and his boys. Glad your ECU is mounted on studs above the floor. In rain races, I've seen little mice surfing 4" waves in my car over there.
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Thanks Jake! Yeah, the finished project is looking nice. Still some detail work to do... guages, belts, airdam, windshield/windows/rear glass, possibly mount up the oil cooler (still undecided on that item).

Good point about rain and water... you can see the only remaining stock mounting boss on the passenger side underneath the forward most roll cage mounting plate. In the stock location it was semi-vertical so water wasn't as big of a deal... where it is now though... :shrug:
 
Looks like you have x bars and gutted doors? That's not a legal combo is it? I thought you could only gut doors if the cage was of "NASCAR" style that break the plane of the inner door? I mention this because I have x bars on mine, and if this is legal, I won't have to re-do my cage, which I was planning to do in the next couple weeks.
 
Sorry but no. The door bars are decidedly not an X design. They are discreet, un-cut upper and lower tubes that angle outwards and do, in fact, break the plane of the door. A traditional "X" doesn't have nearly the extension outward into the door cavity that mine does.
 
Spinnetti said:
Looks like you have x bars and gutted doors? That's not a legal combo is it? I thought you could only gut doors if the cage was of "NASCAR" style that break the plane of the inner door? I mention this because I have x bars on mine, and if this is legal, I won't have to re-do my cage, which I was planning to do in the next couple weeks.
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Actually, even an X bar is fine in the "NASCAR allowance" situation to gut the door.

Read the rule with an open mind, and read the definitions.

Simply, the rule requires one horizontal bar to break the plane of the inner door panel, if you want to gut the door.
An X bar uses one horizontal bar. (There is no standard in the GCR for what is, and what is not "horizontal". I'd wager 2% of the cars out there have bars that are truly horizontal ANYwhere in them.) So, using a bar in the x as horizontal is fine. It's obviously closer to horizontal than vertical.

So, bend the X enough to break the plane.

Done.

(I would recommend other connecting bars in addition to the X, as recent events have shown weaknesses in the pure X design, but regardless, an X can fulfill the requirements. And certainly on the driver side, I'd solve the problem differently than on the pass side.)
 
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Sorry guys! I missed Mike's post last weekend (I was working) and just saw yours Steven.

The car is coming together but I've been tied up with some personal commitments lately... here are some shots of it with the bumpers on:

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I've still got some stuff to do before a logbook... rear fuel cell bulkhead, front and rear glass, tow straps, window and right side net, harness, decals, fire system and then it'll be ready to go. There are a few other details to have it really track ready... guages, DL1, rear sway bar, alignment, brake bleed.

I haven't figured out a first track date yet... probably hit a Seat-Time track day at Roebling as a shake down and then catch a race at Daytona later this year.

Christian
 
LOL, yeah, even if it doesn't end up with orange on the bumpers from you or Bowie, I've been thinking about adding some orange accents or possibly orange number panels. My only concern is that down here, some folks might think it's a "UF Gator's" fan car :(

Got most of the rear bulkhead formed and installed yesterday :eclipsee_steering:
 
Yo, dat thang is off da hook! Nice work, just in time for the domestic V8 swap!

I like it, nice job and I hope to see it out on track soon. How are you on weight, checked yet?
 
Definitely ITE with a Rover V8 swap. Or maybe a Lotus Esprit Turbo 2.2 four cylinder, for some madd tea time old chap!

Seriously, looking good! Can't wait to see that car race.
 
Jeff, I'm glad you replied to this thread... any chance that the ITAC would allow an engine swap spec line so I could run competitively in ITS (the 2.2 Turbo sounds perfect!)? After all, I'm sure you've noticed that there aren't enough FWD ITS cars... ;)

I did some rough weight calculations when I picked it up (also weighed it) and I expect to see it come in about 10-20#'s under the spec line weight with driver and an empty tank. :)
 
That's about perfect -- 10-20 under. You put 50 lbs ballast in and you are good to go and "safe."

Is the weight distribution better with the sedan than with say a CRX or a Civic Si hatchback?
 
Yep, a little ballast OR a cool suit setup will get me exactly where I want to be. The other option is to run some extra fuel for ballast... it'll get the weight further toward the rear. Remember, I've got a 22 gallon cell in this so running a few gallons "over" is an easy weight fix :)

Weight distribution is quite a bit better front:rear than the CRX and a touch better than the Civic Hatch. You can credit most of that to the longer/larger trunk structure. The wheelbase is exactly the same as the Civic Hatch (about 8 inches longer than a CRX but 2 inches shorter than an Integra like Ruck's). Basically the car's formula is CRX drivetrain, (larger) Integra brakes, a wheelbase in between the CRX & Teg, better weight distribution, and the same weight as a CRX (2250 vs. the Teg at 2595). I'm really hoping it's as good of a pick on the track as it looked like on paper.
 
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