Garylimey

For extra head room you can just strip out the guts of the sun roof, you will also take an easy 10lbs out the car. I know another car with the lightweight factory roof panel installed, it's nice and there's no weight to it at all. However it's not in our already stretched budget

We are going to use a lightweight sunroof panel, the weight savings are quite decent and it's within our budget

Ron Cohn

Where did you buy the sunroof panel?

SSI Performance

Sunroof panel came from American International Racing.

Garylimey

It's getting really exiting now, the car is going from being stripped to going back together. We have decided on trying an S2 trans, it will provide a much better 5th gear.
Sloan has a nice S2 trans built ready to go . This will also give us more time to get a better 5th gear made for my turbo trans if needed. The test though will be at VIR in December when I find out if it's going to be enough for the back straight.
I'll be back down to Sloan's on Friday to get more pic's. I have to say it's very cool seeing a car built from the ground up, Great job Sloan!

Lemming

The stock S2 fifth is still too long with a ratio of 0.778. Swap in the fifth from a Turbo or 944S with a 0.829 ratio. This takes the trans/diff ratio from 3.015 to 3.212.

Oddjob

You will probably really like the S2 trans. There is a big improvement in acceleration in 3rd and 4th with the S2 3.875 r/p. Only drawback is if you run out of revs on short straights and have to add shifts (and downshifts) where you could stay in 3rd w/ the stock Turbo 3.375 trans.

The S2 trans w/ 0.778 5th is good for about 158 mph @ 6500 w/ stock diameter tires, with the Turbo 0.829 5th its dropped close to 148mph @ 6500.

I would think the short 5th (.829 in the S2 3.875 trans) should be enough gearing for VIR, I dont think a 951 will be hitting 150+ there. Not too many tracks will require the taller S2 .778 5th gear, let alone the really tall Turbo 3.375 trans.

But how much time do you spend in 5th per lap? Might not be much benefit to swap 5th gears, or especially have a custom 5th cut ($1000+) for the Turbo trans. There is an Albins 0.88 5th available for a little under $1k.

Lemming

The stock S2 fifth gear is a real dog. At Road Atlanta I need 5th on both the front and back straight (old car, GTS3). When I would shift to fifth it was like you put up a parachute. Swapping the turbo 5th was easy. With 275/40-17 tires, top speed should be 155 at 6,500 rpms. I should be able to get close to that with my new GTS4 car.

gums

I think I have your old sunroof panel, Gary, I'm planning to put it in my car soon. Did it have a red cross on it? I scored it from a salvage yard on eBay.

333pg333

You can also swap in the S2 ring and pinion into the turbo tranny. The gearing is of course shorter everywhere which keeps you in the meat of the power more readily, but as Jim points out, more shifting.
There's always a compromise somewhere with gearing I guess.

Garylimey

That's the one.

Garylimey

Lets see how VIR goes with the S2 box as it is. I'm getting a decent data system in the car so there will be some good feedback from that especially with the suspension setup.

Musche

Gary,
I've run both the turbo box and an S2 box at VIR. I prefer the turbo box at VIR as the S2 is a bit too short. As fast as your car is going to accelerate my guess is you will be running out of gears at the top of the hill on the back straight. Now for shorter straight tracks, you will love it.

Garylimey

I'm looking forward to trying it, how ever the gears are I know will have a blast
Are you going to the Turkey Bowl at Summit Point Steve?

Garylimey

Ran into a little snag today, Sloan found a hole in the fuel tank that had been epoxied over .

Musche

I will be at the Turkey Bowl. Hoping Noel gets his car back together as well. Several NASA racers are planning on attending too. Hope you can make it Gary. It will be a good time and a perfect time to shakedown your car. VRG is very laid back group. I'm sure the boys can find you a gas tank.