The Franklin/McDowell car.. AKA Mike's race car

[greydog]

I really enjoy watching your race videos and following along as you work thru the bugs on these cars. Looks like they're both very fast and once the running gear is fairly reliable you'll be cleaning up.

Thanks for the continuing story.
Dan

[pa323000]

I am in for a hood and Trunk lid if you want to make another set.

[RCMike]

After launching the pinion bearing at Willow Springs, we knew we needed baffles for the rear end housing. Kevin thought he remembered seeing those in the Rock Vest parts, so he went out to the container to look. A few minutes later, he was back with 2 boxes.

NOS Nismo boxes, and inside a surprise note..

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Left and right baffles..

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Originally sold directly from Nissan to Bob Studdard..

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And a note, from when Rock bought them..lol

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Would love to see about getting these reproduced since they are literally brand new, and we are almost all in our STREET cars, running on tires with more grip today than the racers had when these cars were new. I was shocked at how fast it ate the diff, but when it runs dry due to all the fluid going out into the tube, you cant be that surprised.

[notoptoy]

Can you load a few pictures of the baffles?

[RCMike]

Can you load a few pictures of the baffles?

Have been crazy busy, sorry this took so long. I brought the passenger side one home. I will be buying some steel so we can make a copy so we can save the NOS parts, in case someone wants to make reproductions..

Anyway, the passenger (drain) side.. The driver side is the same except it does not have the cutout at the end to clear the drain plug..

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[notoptoy]

Makes a lot of sense how that could make a big difference.

[CSP311]

If my memory serves me correctly, Hardy Kuhn (listed vendor) did or does a baffle for the diff housing....

[RCMike]

If my memory serves me correctly, Hardy Kuhn (listed vendor) did or does a baffle for the diff housing....

Interesting. Will look in to that.

In the mean time, we decided to save the NOS set, so while Kevin pulled the engine, I started working on baffles.

Flat sheet of steel..

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Trimmed, hole cut, and starting to curve..

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Adding the axle pass thru tube..

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Making each side one piece..

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Quick touches to set spacing..

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Finishing welds. Making sure there is room for a reasonable drain back..

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And installed..

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[RCMike]

So we had some work that needed to be done to make this a complete race car. When the Vest car went down, we rushed this into service.

But from day one, we wanted more space between the door bars and the seat. The original bars actually touched the seat, which does not really let it all work.

Anyway, we decided to do some surgery.

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We took a couple photos of the Vest door bars to give some perspective.

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Our fabricator chose a pyramid design, unbroken bar from shoulder to the bottom of the front bar..

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With the cage ready to weld up, it was time button it all up..

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[RCMike]

Once the cage was put back in, it was time to take care of the other issue. Timing and scoring had been complaining that they were unable to see the numbers on the car. At the same time, we had realized that somehow we had missed the graphic on the trunk of the car. Oh, and to fix the cage correctly and ensure the bars had 360 welds, the fender had its rivets drilled out and it was removed and later reinstalled. Add it together, and we needed to put some paint on the car.

I see their point, the numbers are hard to see..

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Anyway, Ron got started playing out the rear graphic, to tie in to the front..

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A couple days later, the car was almost ready..

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And then I picked it up. Got out a paint brush and got rid of the rivets..

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The good news? The new silver paint on the numbers is beautiful in the sunset..

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And in the sun it's perfect!

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[Stick]

Great to see this thread continued ... might be one of the best on the site!

Love the racing vids and mods!

[Alvin]

I got to see Mike race the McDowell roadster back in 2020 at Laguna Seca, it was rad!


Video from the paddock at 'Seca:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWO7hKCC6ts



More photos and in-car race video here:
https://www.zcarblog.com/2020/08/29/eve ... -seca.html

[Stick]

More great video's of that roaster around Laguna Seca! That thing is a beast ... reels in everything in its path.
Thanks Alvin!

[theunz]

Great to see this thread continued ... might be one of the best on the site!

Love the racing vids and mods!

You’re right about this being a great thread, but it hasn’t been updated in 4 years!
I miss reading about Mike’s exploits.

[Gregs672000]

Great to see this thread continued ... might be one of the best on the site!

Love the racing vids and mods!

You’re right about this being a great thread, but it hasn’t been updated in 4 years!
I miss reading about Mike’s exploits.

Ya, did he abandon us for Facebook ?