Welcome to the forum.
It is a nice car you have there.
Ive had my turbo hood on three cars - im not parting with it:)
I know im frugal with buying parts, mostly because the parts i need, i threw out 3 times over by this point.
I got nothing on extending the range. Thinking about it, but i go nothing so far
Thanks Jon! I get hanging on to the hood. If I had a street car that was likely to preserve a hood for the life of the car, I'd definitely keep it because it's so cool. However, I'm somewhat motivated to get it off my race car because I know how racing is. I have had quite a few clean races with no contact. My last race was the first time I'd had contact, and it was an e36 M3 that dive bombed me. But I know what can happen, I've probably seen 5 cars totaled in the 3-4 years I've been racing. Also, I might want to cut holes in the hood for venting, especially if I do any aero upgrades... Definitely can't do that to a turbo hood.
VG is actually the best engine for an S12 if you just want a little more power than stock on a budget. The VG33 hybrid build is maybe the easiest "swap" in automotive history. That and it has by far the most aftermarket support and crossover to other vehicles of any engine that went into the S12. For racing purposes it is definitely your best bet. If you're not going full insane build anyway.
As for selling your parts, the S12 community tends to be on the frugal side and always has been. You will find buyers but you will have to be patient and willing to ship stuff. Judging from the pictures it looks like you are in or around Portland. Excluding SoCal, the Seattle/Portland area is probably your biggest market so you have that going for you. Like Bossman said, somebody will want that hood for a good price. Just need to find them.
I've met up with one s12 guy in Portland, which was nice. He bought my back seats, floor mats, shifter trim, etc. Unfortunately with work and kids, I don't have enough free time to go any farther than that. Shipped my clean stock steering wheel to Finland!
The vg33 is definitely on my radar! I won't do it right away, but if/when the time comes that i need a new engine, that one's on the list. I'd imagine it might be easier to find even than a 30e considering they came in newer vehicles for a looooong time. And you're right about the VG being the correct engine. What makes it the best choice for racing is: Torque, lower engine speeds, enough power but without a turbo (heat, fuel consumption, etc), and also availability of replacements. This definitely attracted me to the V6 car for racing over any other s12.
The range thing I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with. Anyway I add power is just going to take away from how long the car runs in a stint. 14.0 gallons can probably go the maximum 2 hours if it had a ka24e or something of comparable HP. 240sx's can go 2 hours with ka24de's and their bigger 16ish gallon tank. I may consider adding a surge tank (.5gal max) and some holley hydramat, which would help me use all 14 of the gallons.. still might not be enough. If I have to go fuel cell, things get complicated and expensive quickly. I'd expect to spend at least $1000, and a whole lot of time setting it up and building a frame around it.
Anyways, this isn't a build thread without an update right?
Here's some early pictures of the project as the cage came together. I did all of it myself, but paid a local shop to bend 4 tubes for me that I couldn't. Main hoop, 2 A-pillar bars, and the roof bar. A quality tube bender is $800 or more unfortunately. I notched everything by hand and did all the welding.
Sound deadening had to go. It was around 28 lbs worth
Whatever it takes
I provided measurements, local shop did the bending.
It was maybe even too perfect. I got the main hoop very close to the body (what you want), but learned hard lessons on making sure your cage is still weldable. It all worked out in the end.
More to come when I get more time!
Post Merge
Don't forget to post your parts in the For Sale section here!
AND welcome!!
Thank you! Will do! Just need to find some time to take pictures and make a list.
Post Merge
Mounting the seat was much harder than I expected
There's no way I was going to fit even if the seat was bolted to the ground. Your helmet has to have 2" measured vertically to the top of the roll cage. I had to lower the floor.
There's a transmission mount there, so you can't just cut everything out...
Test fit the pillar bars. Used this as a template. Then the shop copied that for the pillar bar, reversed the angle to get the other side. I could have done a better job, but for my first time I'm really happy with it. It's reasonably close to the a-pillar, and even contacts the roof. I'll probably weld the bar to the roof.
Notches by hand
Windshield bar.
The main elements of the cage.
Cut holes in the floor so I could drop the cage to weld each joint 360 degrees. This is an art I swear. No where near a master of this, but I got it done.
Note the diagonal roof bar. This bar is optional. I felt like there was a big open unprotected space above my head, so I decided to get one. Also, decided to have it bent to have the added bonus of more head clearance in case I have anyone taller driving my car. Being diagonal adds structural rigidity... the more triangles the better!
More to come!