[cherokee]

I am new here but not new to Opels, I have been working off and on getting an Opel GT ready for racing, 2 yrs. I am in my first season of IT racing, I run an ITA MR2 now. The Opel is at the painters, glass is all out of the car and the car is going to be put in primer before the cage gets installed. All of you SCCA ITB GT guys out there I am sure that I will have a few questions now that we are getting so close, Hopefully we will be running next year.

What would you guys suggest to do to make this car live under the rigors of racing?

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi.

You can see some pics of the car on opel gt motorsports site...I will post some here hopefully this weekend after I get back from the painters.

 

[cherokee]

I hope I am not too hard on my equipment. I have a couple of extra a-arms, tranny and rear end. With the car being an ex-lawn ornimant I was looking for anything that I may have overlooked. I have done ball joints, tie rods,..basically rebuilt the front and rear ends. I have not gone into the tranny...I need to learn what really happens in there and how to fix it, I am just going to hope it holds together...it seems fine, shifts nice and does not jump out of gear. My first consern is I don't want to stuff it due to a $100 part failure that I should have replaced anyway. After I mature as a driver...and the car matures as a race car then I will look at setup and all...unless it handles like a pig out of the shoot.

 

[Paul]

You probably change to Synthetic fluids.... like RedLine MT-90 for the tansmission, RedLine75W-90 for the rear end and RedLine CV-2 for front wheel bearings.

____________ ( a place for the Bobs to chime in here)

Paul

 

[cherokee]

I did do the synth. fluids everywhere. I seem to remember that someone suggested that you run with no thermostat and no restrictor...is that correct. I am also running an oil cooler/remote filter, Cooling in these cars has never been the best...expecially when it is 108 in Topeka. Has anyone ever gone to a different Rad. I was thinking of a custom rad...just wondering if with what I have done with the oil cooler and all if it would be needed.

thanks for all the help...I think I will be picking your brains quite a lot in the comming weeks/months.

 

[Paul]

The "Other Bob" (Bob Dennard) has a custom radiator and fan package specially built for the riggors of racing your Opel! Check out his website.

www.tgsi.com

You're welcome Bob...
Paul

 

[cherokee]

I remember the TGSI site from a couple of years ago...I still drool over one of his heads...maybe in a year or two. It also seemed to me that he wanted to do a Fiero for IT...did you ever do that or go down a different road....I was thinking about doing a 88 Fiero.

 

[cherokee]

UPDATE......

Dropped off "Spot" the GT this weekend to get the cage and fuel cell installed. About 3-4 weeks later she should be done. Then its back to the shop for paint and to get it to run right. It ran pretty good conserding the timing was set by ear, carb settings where guessed at plugs and wires where out of the parts car, you get the idea. That is the furthest I have ever driven this car after everything was put back together. It did leave a oil trail back to the trailer...leaky oil sending unit. I guess it wanted a trail to follow back home. You can see some pics of it on the Opel motorsports page, I will get some more taken as the cage progresses.

 

[davegt27]

Who's doing your cage?

cage can be hard in a GT the roof slopes down at the rear

its very important to get it as high and wide and as far back as practical

maybe cutting the roof off would be the way to go

Anyway I am sure you have gone all over this stuff.

Good Luck.
davegt27

 

[cherokee]

Charlie Clark is doing my cage. He is the RE here. We have one HP GT that runs down in OK and he knows that car so I have no worries. He is going to build the cage so it can go to FP with as little work as possible....thats when the money tree grows a little bigger. Going to a 8gal fuel cell with remote fill...that will make life a little better....a little expensive.

 

[davegt27]

a few things that might be on your list

Take some extra control arms down and have the boxed and reinforced.

find info on Targa Top kit and add reinforcements at those locations

heavy duty torque tube stuff

rebuilt rack

oil cooler

4 core radiator used to cost us $150 down in TX

fan shroud is a must

crank scraper and windage tray

My GT always over heated even with 4 core radiator 2 elect fans and an oil cooler

so an under pulley might help

2.2 water pump

if you can run FI maybe but not at first

K&N sold an adapter that was a weber to round air filter
then on top of that they had snorkel like the stock GT set up

you could pull cold air from the front of the car

quaiffe sells steal synchros for the Opel 4 speed Trans might help

few things off the top of my head

I never raced IT just Solo II (EP/DM).

davegt47

 

[cherokee]

I can't play with the control arms...that's a big bummer. I understand that they are week and bend easy.
I do have a new rad that flows pretty good and with my elect. fans I don't overheat at idle...over heating is one big worry that I have. I have an external oil cooler and the filter is relocated. The oil has about two quarts more then stock with all the extra plumming and big filter. Did do the new rack..heck almost all the susp. parts are new. Getting the stuff for the torque tube. I think that the trans is weak but there is not much you can do there pretty much stuck with stock. I found that air filter housing I think I am going to try that.

 

[gary keller]

Spring rates

Does anyone know the spring rate for the sport front leaf spring and the proper rates for the rear spring for racing ITB opel gt's?Please help or email me rally Bob
[email protected]

 

[davegt27]

i think Bob said they where using 500lb front spring on that IT GT in New England


davegt27

 

[cherokee]

If my memory serves it seems that my front spring was around 500 and the rears where around 200. I am at work now and don't have my notes handy. Gary are you going to be running IT? and where are you at...I would love to talk IT racing GT's.

 

[opelgt4]

I raced an ITB Opel GT for 4 year. Contact me at [email protected] if you want to discuss.

Bill D.

 

[StephenM]

Bill-

Small world. I recieved a picture of your car with a stack of documents when I bought my ITB Opel GT (which is still a work in progress, but all things in time.) Pic is below. Would you mind if I contacted you at the above e-mail in the future? I'll resist the temptation to flood you with questions.

-StephenM

 

[Sporqster]

Just put my own custom cage in my GT

I'm just about done putting a cage in my GT, though I doubt it will ever be a REAL race car - autocross primarily. I did try to keep it to SCCA open class rally standards though with the thought that it might do the tarmac express or some hill climbs one day - pics tomorrow night.

BTW- I had to bend my side braces twice very carefully to keep them out of the way of the steering wheel (espically with my fat hands) and away from my helmet. I would say that was the trickiest part.

I'm running the side braces all the way to the front where the floorboard angles up and I plan on bracing that across to the frame-like part that houses the tranny.

My cage was built with the thought that it could be virtually hidden under some custom interior work, with only the braces to the rear shocks and the front top bar visible. The main hoop is never more than 1/2" from the body work which made welding it a challenge.

I'm still welding the points to the body and I have not put in the side braces yet, but otherwise I think it's shaping up nicely.

 

[RallyBob]

Would love to see pictures of everyone's GT rollcages....

Sounds like there are quite a few cars being built right now.

 

[cherokee]

Bill, I would love to talk to you about your car, and ask a few questions....I hope I will not make a pest of myself. I will send you a PM...although I wonder if the rest of the group would bennifit from your experence....I know I have learned lots with the almost 2yrs that I have been working on my car.

Bob...glad to see you back. I will work on re-sizing some pics of my cage. I did not install it. I had it done, and it is a work of art. If anyone is in the midwest I can reccomend a excellent place to get that kind of work done.

 

[opelgt4]

Cherokee & Stephen M, OK to chat Opel racing at the e-mail I gave,

Bill D.