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| Joined: | 10-22-2015 |
| Location: | Maplewood, Minnesota USA |
| Posts: | 36 |
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Can you remove the convertible top and the frame? The frame is steel and very heavy. I think the gas tank needs to be addressed. Changing to EFI seems like a long, involved project. Maybe do that later. I would run it close to stock and schedule your mods and upgrades based on those runs. Try to keep your car street and track ready as you do your upgrades. A common mistake made by inexperienced amateurs like me is taking everything apart then never getting it all together again.
Tim,
Building a car to limited prep race rules like those in SCCA Street Prepared can sometimes be an odd process. Often the allowances seem to offer very wide latitude in some areas, but very little flexibility in others. For instance, while the rules offer a great deal of flexibility to re-engineer a fixed axle rear suspension, I must retain the stock soft top and stock fuel tank.
In the case of the soft top, the only way I could remove it would be if Jensen at some point provided written documentation indicating the soft top could be removed from the car as an option for normal use. If anyone has a copy of any such directive from Jensen, PLEASE send it my way!
For the fuel tank, the only way I could replace it is by meeting more restrictive safety rules, which would mean adding a roll bar for an open vehicle. That would add more weight than I can remove with a fuel cell, so the stock tank stays.
The EFI may not happen for the car's first season - it all depends on how smoothly the suspension upgrades go. The Watts link, in particular, may be a little tricky, as I have limited space for the mounting brackets, and will have to re-route the exhaust and a few other minor items.
As for keeping the car drivable, this isn't my first build of this type, so I'm pretty used to a phased upgrade process. This particular build is also relatively mild, compared to some of my past vehicles, as it will remain street legal and fully capable of being driven to local events. For reference, I have attached a photo of my old Miata race car. Definitely NOT street legal, it weighed 1,760 lbs and made over 300whp. Fun car, but expensive to keep running.
-Steve
