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the franken-rex rolls!

20K views 63 replies 10 participants last post by  incomplete 
#1 ·
the people's republic of racing (based in the people's republic of berkeley, ca) present to you: the franken-rex!



it's been a long time since i posted here, but we just got most of the bugs ironed out of the full racecar build and have been taking it to small track days in CA. it's an enduro car, so simplicity, reliability, economy and driveability are key. at the same time, it is made out of about 8 different civics, crxs and integras... which is what you do.

you should see the spreadsheet. it's epic.

the chassis is an 88 HF, with 98 integ rear arms, 91 si front suspension, some pci sphericals here and there but mostly poly bushings. a set of craigslist koni yellows w/450lb springs in the front, and 600lb in the rear. (we have a set of 800lb springs if we feel stiffer is better). no sway bars.

engine is a driveway rebuild early 88 d15b2 w/mpfi upgrade, and we have an 89 Si transmission. the shift linkage is all poly/aluminum with a single-bend steel short shifter. we 'upgraded' to an Si fuel tank and get almost a full gallon more gas... after two hours of flogging flat-out at a track day last weekend, we burned through 10g. this is perfect for enduro -- we want the car on track for at least two hours between driver changes and minimize time in the pits.

inside: full cage, fire suppression, custom seat/slider mount (driver height ranges from 4'12" to 6'3"), oil pressure gauge, kirkey seat, schroth harnesses.

it's slow, handles like a dream and you never need the brakes! we'll be painting the car soon, and getting the aero sorted (front splitter, rear spoiler).

the only work we farmed out was for machine work on the head/block, transmission rebuild, and cage welding. we built the cage bits under the direction of john pagel @ evil genius racing in his shop, and he welded it in to the car. the cage is some seriously amazing work, and i have incredible amounts of headroom at 6'3".

if anyone has questions about the car, build, etc, lemme know! i got a bunch of Qs answered here, and this board has been a nice, drama-free source of reliable advice and i'm down to give back. :)













 
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#4 ·
paint done! we sprayed it at a friend's shop w/tractor paint (primer + "AC Orange"), and did a wet sand between the 2nd coat of primer and first color coat. it's definitely got orange peel, but looks great from 5' away. i consider that a success!

it took a while, but i was able to finally convince my teammates that doing a fade like the image above would be far too difficult and time consuming w/a harbor freight sprayer and tractor paint. once we started putting the orange on it, however, everyone immediately got on board.

we renamed the color "fucking ORANGE". it's glorious!

 
#10 ·
4drSpankR said:
signalpuke said:
Who sells the splitter mount?
It looks like a PCI setup, although there's is black and I'm not sure if it comes in any other color.

Well done guys on the splitter!!
thanks! it was a lot of work, and i got a million little cuts all over my hands from the alumalite, but i think it came out great. i need to add some turnbuckle braces to the front, and will post pics of that when it's done.

for the splitter mount, we actually used the one from maxpeedingrods:
https://www.maxpeedingrods.com/product/ ... lts69.html

(i discovered this mount from a different garage built hondas video: )

we had to drill 3x holes in the front frame rails w/rivnuts to make it work... the pci ones mount under the front subframe. the maxpeedingrods mounts that go on the splitter itself are steel, vs pci being aluminum. i am a little worried about transferring impact damage up to the mounts on the chassis but we'll have to see.

my neighbor runs a printing shop, and offered to make us vinyl stickers for the cost of materials... i'll have him do some test prints and if they are nice, i'll share the link to his shop here.

next up: thematic stickers, splitter turnbuckles and a rear spoiler made from the scrap alumalite!
 
#13 ·
ColdLumpen said:
Cool project. Are those BMW wheels? Do you do your own alignment or use a shop in the Bay Area?
yep, those are e30 bottlecaps -- perfect offset, super light, 14" and exactly what a d15b2 needs. we have some 15x8s for when we up horsepower and need more contact patch.

griffin motorwerke in berkeley did our post-build alignment, but we will be doing our own adjustments moving forward... once we put together the proper kit in as much of a DIY way as possible.
 
#14 ·
I occasionally see those bottlecap wheels free on craigslist but am always too late to snag them. They wouldn't fit on my crx (big brake) but would be nice on my miata.

:)b to Griffin. Back in the day, I'd bring my crx there just to be tech'd for track days but thought their garage only wrenched on European cars.
 
#15 ·
ColdLumpen said:
I occasionally see those bottlecap wheels free on craigslist but am always too late to snag them. They wouldn't fit on my crx (big brake) but would be nice on my miata.
let me see how many wheels we have... i might have an extra set for sale.

ColdLumpen said:
:)b to Griffin. Back in the day, I'd bring my crx there just to be tech'd for track days but thought their garage only wrenched on European cars.
i take my rsx-s time trial car there for NASA inspection, and they can align pretty much anything. i haven't used them for any work on my hondas tho, as i typically do all that myself. they'd be able to (and more than happy to) work on imports, though they do specialize in the european stuff.
 
#17 ·
lemon_car said:
Hey incomplete - I'm curious about why you don't run sway bars. Any input?
right now, it doesn't seem to *need* them... i'll be @ sonoma tomorrow and that track, more than any, will let me know if i'll be thinking again about that. i want it to be tail happy, but in a super sane and predictable way.

the other issue is that this is an HF shell, so any rear sway mount will require some fab. :\
 
#19 ·
AttackCRX said:
incomplete said:
lemon_car said:
the other issue is that this is an HF shell, so any rear sway mount will require some fab. :\
You can use factory Si mounts and bar with very little effort. I did this many years ago and just removed it for an ASR 24mm sway bar/subframe brace.
well, after flogging it over a few track days, i have to report: the car is sorted... it's stable through turns but has a little bit of twitchiness (which i LOVE). if you push it too far, it let's you know that it's about to rotate. when it lets you know, you just hold throttle and prep for a touch of counter steer.

i am honestly surprised, but i don't think (at least at this time) that sways will make it handle better.

this car inspires confidence.

another quick update: we dropped the car off @ griffin motorwerke this morning for some dyno pulls. i'm guessing 78whp. :)
 
#21 ·
Aero is definitely on my list to do. Chassis, brakes, suspension, wheels and tires are all sorted. Need to do some engine work (more mid-range top end power) THEN aero.

Glad to see you out there enjoying the car and all your hard work! Me and a couple friends are doing an HPDE event in May.
 
#22 ·
AttackCRX said:
Aero is definitely on my list to do. Chassis, brakes, suspension, wheels and tires are all sorted. Need to do some engine work (more mid-range top end power) THEN aero.

Glad to see you out there enjoying the car and all your hard work! Me and a couple friends are doing an HPDE event in May.
thanks!

the aero was actually pretty straightforward... the splitter just took time and remembering to continually pay attention. it also helped to have 3x ppl working on it at times -- lots of the **** work (aka cutting aluminum angle stock in to 5000 little brackets) was getting done while i was obsessing over the splitter w/a variety of levels and measuring devices. :)
 
#23 ·
When I built my splitter, I used a few sticks of 1/2" aluminum angle from Lowes, bent them into the shape I wanted and welded them together to have a single continuous piece. Using a shrinker stretcher would have probably been ideal but because the angle was so short, I just bent it in the vice and shrunk it manually. This makes it so the air damn can be removed and retain it's shape when I eventually destroy the splitter.

 
#24 ·
joelidge said:
When I built my splitter, I used a few sticks of 1/2" aluminum angle from Lowes, bent them into the shape I wanted and welded them together to have a single continuous piece. Using a shrinker stretcher would have probably been ideal but because the angle was so short, I just bent it in the vice and shrunk it manually. This makes it so the air damn can be removed and retain it's shape when I eventually destroy the splitter.

hawt. bookmarked. :)
 
#25 · (Edited)
welp... that didn't last long. :(



one of our drivers barely got any sleep the night before and was totally out of it. she tried an inside pass @ T1 (sonoma, sketchy place to pass) 15m in to the race on sunday, got spooked, lifted at the apex and swerved... promptly spinning the car and hitting the wall. hard.

in fact, the impact was so hard that they stopped the race for 30m and the track had to use their largest forklift to get the k-rail back in place. later, when chatting w/jay lamm (head lemons honcho), he said that we have the unofficial record for most damage done TO a track... this all coming from a ~1800lb car. :(

the driver was completely unharmed, just a little sore and pretty shaken up. all of us should have realized that she wasn't alert enough to get in the car, but it was a pretty hectic morning and we were all tired and short on sleep... now we know the signs to look for!

we spent a bunch of time today looking over the car with some other racers and they all think that we can straighten the chassis and keep her alive. the suspension on the passenger side actually looks fine, and even though the car took one HELL of a hit, no liquids vacated their respective homes and the car fires right up! i'm a little concerned as there's a bunch of buckling/crumpling inside the car but we'll take it to a shop and get their opinion.

the plan here is to transplant all the go-fast bits in to another donor shell... i have a line on a 91 civic Si, and we're cruising craigslist as well. tbh, i hope we can find a CRX 'mechanics special'... i love these little cars!

also, if we can straighten this chassis, we'll rebuild it w/less cheaty parts and use it as a race rental!

it's sad to see 2 years of work balled up like this. the car was absolutely sorted, and probably some of the most fun i've ever had was working my way through traffic. :)

oh yeah, our little d15b2? i just remembered that i never posted the results... and they're mind-boggling: 100whp/88tq! this was at griffin motorwerke on their mustang dyno, and they swore up and down that it reads low... where the hell did those extra ponies come from!?!?!

engine mods: homemade icebox intake, Si MPFI/intake manifold, 3" cat-back exhaust. and yes, we were running the cat lol

magic. honda. engine.

anyways: we're hoping to get version two finished in time for the december race @ sonoma. crossing my fingers for a beater craigslist CRX! :D
 
#26 ·
incomplete said:
anyways: we're hoping to get version two finished in time for the december race @ sonoma. crossing my fingers for a beater craigslist CRX! :D
well, that was fast: i just got off the phone w/my teammate and he bought a beat to hell 91 si w/a ZC engine swap!

i literally can't believe his luck on craigslist lol

i'll post some pics after it gets towed to my buddy's place.
 
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