We have been doing it just as you are now, by adding it to the fuel that way we
can add what we want not what is in the crankcase which last i remembered was
what the factory pump does. We pass fuel checks no problem that way. They are
dielectric checks though not masking tape over the cap.. I think the dielectric
meters are about $500 now but could be wrong. If everyone that wanted to run the
gas classes put in a buck or if they took about 40 cents out of every entry fee
for the year i suspect buying one would be pretty simple.
This does bring something up in my mind as well. Inspection... We as competitors
are expected to understand the rules of racing under SCTA and USFRA and this is
exactly as it should be. All the rules are for the most part spelled out pretty
clearly, you don't have to agree with them per se but they are the rules and
that
is what the guidelines are so you follow them or keep it on the trailer. That is
also the way it has to be in the end. Some one has to have the last word at some
point in time. If you don't agree with them there are ways to change them over
time. The second side of this coin is inspection to verify that everyone is in
compliance of the rules. Most of them are visual things or can be checked with
a
tape measure, ex. body work spoilers etc. Safety equipment is the same it has to
have the proper tags sizes placement and roll bar construction is simple as
well.
There are only 2 areas that can be an issue that I see and those are engine
sizes
and fuels, your case being a good example. I would expect that as we are
expected
to own all the safety equipment required to race a vehicle at Bonneville
correctly, SCTA / USFRA has the responsibility to be able to inspect the cars in
the least intrusive way as possible. To me this equipment ought to have at least
the following items..Along with at least one person well versed in using them.
A pump for checking engine displacement
dial bore gages for checking bore sizes if the pump can not be used.
A high quality dial indicator that measures up to 5 inches accurately
High quality micrometers and standards to set the dial bore gages and other
measuring equipment
A long reach dial bore gage to check the displacement(bore) of twin cam engines
without removing the head.
Extensions for the dial indicator to do the same for stroke on twin cam engines.
A way to check the fuel for being legal, dielectric comes to mind here.
This would eliminate all the check the tape / don't touch the tape or god forbid
something happens to the tape during a run issues associated racing in a gas
class which I suspect has to make up at least half of the vehicles if not more.
This method of policing the correct fuel while simple in concept does nothing
but
add a layer of hoops to jump through but does nothing to stop someone from
cheating anyway. Any one even the slightest bit creative can get around the
tape
on the cap thing. The ways are so numerous I would not even want to bore anyone
with them. I personally have no faith that any gas class record I am racing
against has been set on gasoline as it is that easy to get around this rule. I
will use gasoline to break them, but that does not make the record verifiable.
The current method also eliminates doing something as simple as running pump gas
if you choose, many cars run best on low octane fuel if the engine is basically
stock, Chucks engine another good example. I would suspect that 93 octane
unleaded is just fine for a 9.6/1 compression rotary.
Having the proper pumps and dial bore gages also eliminates the need to pull the
heads off what is becoming a more complicated and expensive process. I will
grant you that the heads come off a top fuel car every round and are back on in
45 minutes or so. That is all well and good until you are leaning over the
fender
taking the heads off a twin cam V-8 or something similar. I would be willing to
bet if you got them off and back on it the same day you would be doing well. If
you have an engine professionally built it is even more complicated and
expensive
as now it needs to be pulled from the car and shipped back for cleaning and
reassembly as well as a short run on the dyno to make sure all is ok.. If anyone
can do this for under 3 or 4 thousand they are better than me.
The point of all this rambling is most of these tools to inspect are currently
owned and I am sure there are people in place that can use them properly. If any
items are missing from the list to inspect a car properly why not buy them and
use them? The cost is trivial in the long run compared to the cost to the
racers,
and it will speed up inspection a lot in the long run. The same goes for pumping
the engine, if it is within 2% of the minimum or maximum size I would bet it is
the right size or so close as to provide no measurable advantage.
If the cost to do this seems like a lot do the math.. I would bet there are at
least 750 entries annually to a SCTA event at Bonneville. 750X $300.00 =
$225,000.000 USFRA has a good turnout as well.. You would think that somewhere
in
this there ought to be found a few bucks for the inspection tools that are on
this list and not owned by the sanctioning bodies. It is not as though there is
prize money to pay out, and yes i know it is expensive to put on the event, by
the same token if you pull the heads off 10 engines a year that have to go back
to the engine builder to be assembled again then you have no doubt spent 30 or
$40,000.00 of amateur money to race for the year..
Dave Dahlgren
Chuck Rothfuss wrote:
> List,
>
> I've got no problem with event specific gas, 87-114 octane seems to work
> fine for me. The question I have is this: Is there gonna be a problem with
> me adding a specific amount of 2 cycle oil to the gas? On the Mazda rotary
> engine this oil is required to lubricate the engines seals which are not
> otherwise lubricated by crankcase oil. My current engine still has the
> factory oil injection pump on it, which meters crankcase oil into the
> carburetors float bowl. On my new engine I've deleted the pump and have
> been mixing the oil in the tank. I don't want to open an "additives"
> can-of-worms here, but this is a requirement for rotaries and probably some
> two cycle machines. If the oil is added under the supervision of event
> officials I wouldn't expect any problems. Anything I'm missing here?
>
> Dave Dahlgren, any new ways to deal with oil injection for rotaries?
>
> Chuck Rothfuss
> ECTA
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