Superformance MKII, Riverside Racer 289 FIA vintage race car

1795 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-23-2021, 07:26 PM

Trying to get everything put back together and ready for a vintage race at Watkins Glen on July 7-11. Georgie sent the test models of the headers to me and they looked good and fit well. The final version will have fewer welds and will look a little more shiny than these, but these will get me on the track and that is all that matters now. It takes awhile in product development to get things to a finish stage and Georgie and his crew have done a very nice job.

The headers are installed. They should flow nicely. Georgie also made me a set of exhaust pipes with a small custom made muffler (straight through flow) to try to keep the noise down to about 100 decibels. Some tracks do not have a noise limit and others do. Besides, I really enjoy being able to hear and open pipes right near your ears can get a little loud.

Will hopefully have everything buttoned up and ready for a dyno tuning session before the race weekend. Going to go to Pitt Race the following week for the Vintage Grand Prix there.

Jim

xb-60 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-23-2021, 10:48 PM

Jim, a nice looking set of pipes.
Just wondering, what internal diameter are they?
Will they be coated? This is not my area of expertise ....do you know if ceramic coating does actually make a difference to the power output in race applications?

Cheers!
Glen

1795 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-24-2021, 04:01 AM

Glen,

The headers are 1 3/4" and the exhaust pipes are 2 1/2". 2" pipes would have been too restrictive for this engine and 3" pipes would have killed the torque. They do real nice work at Gas-N.

Jim

Mark IV · #4 (**permalink**) 06-24-2021, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xb-60

Jim, a nice looking set of pipes.
Just wondering, what internal diameter are they?
Will they be coated? This is not my area of expertise ....do you know if ceramic coating does actually make a difference to the power output in race applications?

Cheers!
Glen

2.5" I.D. They are not coated, they are "mill finish" i.e. as the stainless comes from the supplier. I do not know if coating helps power, it does reduce heat radiance but stainless has less heat transfer than mild steel anyways.

Hoping to wrap up work here at Time Machines today so we can transport the car back to Jim's home shop for the minor details completion and eliminate his 3 hour round trip commute to our shop.

1795 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-24-2021, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark IV

2.5" I.D. They are not coated, they are "mill finish" i.e. as the stainless comes from the supplier. I do not know if coating helps power, it does reduce heat radiance but stainless has less heat transfer than mild steel anyways.

Hoping to wrap up work here at Time Machines today so we can transport the car back to Jim's home shop for the minor details completion and eliminate his 3 hour round trip commute to our shop.

Glen,

What Rick said. I am in a hurry to get out the door to do that long drive to his shop so that I can get to work on the car and get it back home. Rick volunteered his shop for the car as he and others would be there to help while I was rehabbing my rotator cuff.

The headers and exhaust pipes are a high quality stainless steel and will not transfer heat as readily as mild steel. I can always have them coated later if I feel the need. Take care.

Jim

xb-60 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-25-2021, 04:25 AM

Thanks Rick and Jim. Yes, the thermal conductivity of steel (the "k" value) is around 3 times that of stainless.

Cheers,
Glen

Mark IV · #7 (**permalink**) 06-30-2021, 10:19 AM

The Time Machines FIA Vintage car is off the lift, into our trailer (Jim's new trailer has not arrived yet...like EVERYTHING on order today!) and back at Jim's shop for the final details. Unfortunately, it will not make the Glen HSR race next weekend as the dyno tune cannot be done in time. But we expect this to be a real bear with the new engine and some other tweaks!

1795 · #8 (**permalink**) 07-20-2021, 05:12 PM

Started sorting out the new build and some suspension changes at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. The weather was mixed, with a lot of rain and some races cancelled due to thunderstorms. Here is a video from one of the time trials. The first half of the video is the most interesting, after about half way through it gets a little boring, as it is just me for several minutes and then the trip back to the paddock. Also, I need to move the camera as the rear view mirror is in the way.

https://youtu.be/6JhbSBPgpZ4

Jim