The new coupe race nose on a Gen II coupe

[jkrueger]

I wanted to post about my install of the new FFR coupe nose on my Gen II Daytona. I quick background on my car. I finished it in 2013 and my Dad and I raced it in the One Lap of America race twice and did quite well with it. It has been used mostly as a track car but was road legal as well. Late last year I decided I wanted to wheel to wheel race it and started working on mods that would help it be competitive in the NASA ST2 class. Part of those mods was a new aero package to increase the overall downforce on the car. I installed a APR wing on the back and when FFR announced this new nose and splitter I thought it would be perfect to help balance out the car.

The box came via truck freight and was well packed
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Out of the box it fit the contour of the Gen II coupe perfectly. The new radiator opening fits perfectly and snugly into the original opening.
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The carbon fiber splitter is beautiful!
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I decided to move the splitter more forward. Since this a race car, I'm not worried about street clearance (just clearance getting it on and off the trailer. This is 5 inches exposed from the front edge of the nose.
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I trimmed off the sides. I am going to make this removable with Dzus connectors. If you were going to permanently attach the new nose to the car the sides would help you blend into the fenders.
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The big issue with the new nose and splitter is how do you open the hood. John George came up with a good idea using a BMW E30 hood hinge (see his build thread). I came up with a couple of ideas as well. Making it removable, I can pop it off in the pits and then open the hood normally. I will make the brake duct hoses (and any wires for lights) slightly longer to accommodate this. I also thought I would make some wood blocks to place under the wheels to raise the nose up high enough to allow the the hood to tilt with the new nose and splitter attached.

I will post my progress here as I go along.

[johngeorge]

looks sweet! how far out did you set the splitter?

[jkrueger]

Hi John

I think I am going to start at 5 inches for no particular reason. Maybe Jim Schenck can chime in on what he thinks would be a good starting point. Where are you going to start with yours?

JC

[Mark Dougherty]

Hi JC
we are starting at 3.5 with Johns
this way the nose will still open

[Mark Dougherty]

Looks great by the way

[John Dol]

Nice addition to the car!!
are you painting it in the body color?

John

[jkrueger]

Nice addition to the car!!
are you painting it on the body color?

John

I am going to paint it. I'm going to start working on it tomorrow.

JC

[smithtlw]

Very cool to see it on a gen 2 coupe! I really like the looks of it and the fact that it is functional is great.

[Gav]

That splitter will make a huge difference on the track, great work.

[HCP 65 COUPE]

If you install air jacks then you can open the hood easy while on the jacks just an idea.

[jkrueger]

If you install air jacks then you can open the hood easy while on the jacks just an idea.

I like your thinking. I actually thought of putting air jacks on the car when I built it. They are pretty pricey though.

JC

[David Hodgkins]

If you install air jacks then you can open the hood easy while on the jacks just an idea.

Inspiration:

http://ffroadster.com/images/HB2005/various157.jpg

http://ffroadster.com/images/HB2005/various158.jpg

:)

[jkrueger]

I am almost done with installing the new nose on the car. Today I installed some abrasion resistant plastic on the underside of the splitter to try and make it a bit more durable. Last week I sprayed the nose with filler/primer and today I was doing the final sanding on it. I hope to paint it tomorrow if the weather permits. Then all I need to do is install the dzus fasteners and the splitter supports.

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Brake ducts
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Not the most ideal position for ducts. I'll put a scoop on the outside if I'm not getting enough air to the brakes.
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[RoadRacer]

I loved my Ap racing air jacks. I ran some aluminum 1/2" (3/8?) pipe to the rear of car and then used a quick disconnect to attach a divers compressed air bottle. Worked great!

[johngeorge]

where did you get the plastic that you used under the splitter?

[Mark Dougherty]

lol

[jkrueger]

where did you get the plastic that you used under the splitter?

McMaster Car. It is called UHMW. It is suppose to be very abrasion resistant.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#uhmw-polyethylene/=16i00iq

[jkrueger]

Paint is done.

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[HCP 65 COUPE]

I have seen some folks use regular single acting air cylinders for air jacks before but i never have so no clue how safe that is and you would have to make your own safty stands. Might be a fun project to try or explore.

[Jacob McCrea]

Great work, and keep the pictures coming please! I'm interested in hearing how this changes front end grip compared to the last setup, which I recall was a modified piece from a C4 Corvette. Also, isn't it nice to not have to scratch-build that thing?

[Owlknight360]

Silly question, but did you just call FFR and order the nose by itself? If you don't mind me asking, what did it cost? (Same questions for the splitter)

[jkrueger]

Silly question, but did you just call FFR and order the nose by itself? If you don't mind me asking, what did it cost? (Same questions for the splitter)

Yes, you can call FFR and just order the nose/air dam and the splitter. You will have to call FFR to get the prices. They gave me deal so I don't know what the retail prices are.

JC

[smithtlw]

So, I call and ask for the JC coupe splitter special? ;)

[jkrueger]

Nose is all done. I'm going to the track this weekend. I'll report how it performs.

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[John Dol]

That looks sharp.
Are you going to duct the air intakes to your brakes at later date?

John

[smithtlw]

Silly question, but did you just call FFR and order the nose by itself? If you don't mind me asking, what did it cost? (Same questions for the splitter)

I am also curious so I called and got a quote. I assume that they gave me retail prices as they didn't know me nor did I ask for the JC Special. To get the nose/splitter to my door would be a tad over $1K - shipping is a significant part of the cost. He did not give me a separate cost for the 2 components. For the amount of time and effort you would have to invest to come up with something similar I don't think the cost of the well done FFR piece is too bad.

It really does add a sense of modern/serious race car look to the classic shape.

Do you happen to know what the material is JC?

[jkrueger]

I am also curious so I called and got a quote. I assume that they gave me retail prices as they didn't know me nor did I ask for the JC Special. To get the nose/splitter to my door would be a tad over $1K - shipping is a significant part of the cost. He did not give me a separate cost for the 2 components. For the amount of time and effort you would have to invest to come up with something similar I don't think the cost of the well done FFR piece is too bad.

It really does add a sense of modern/serious race car look to the classic shape.

Do you happen to know what the material is JC?

The nose is fiberglass and the splitter is carbon fiber.

The race splitter for the 818 is $550, so I would image that the coupe one is similar in price. It is probably a couple hundred to ship the nose (not heavy, just bulky), so that leaves around $200-250 for the nose?

[jkrueger]

That looks sharp.
Are you going to duct the air intakes to your brakes at later date?

John


I think I am going to have to. I'll get that done before my April track date.

JC

[johngeorge]

Nose is all done. I'm going to the track this weekend. I'll report how it performs.



What do you have planned for the rear of the car? With that much front downforce you will have severe oversteer having unbalanced aero.

[jkrueger]

What do you have planned for the rear of the car? With that much front downforce you will have severe oversteer having unbalanced aero.

I put a AFR GTC-200 wing on the back.

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JC

[johngeorge]

I put a AFR GTC-200 wing on the back.

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JC

Ohh!! that will fix the unbalanced aero lol. Any pics of how you mounted it? just curious

[jkrueger]

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This is a temporary mount. Once I know my angle is set correctly, I'm going to get a one piece upright made.

[jkrueger]

Took us an hour to figure out what combo of ramps were needed to get the car in the trailer without hitting the splitter. I think I may try to figure out a way to remove the nose/splitter and hang it up out of the way when loading and unloading the car.

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[johngeorge]

bmw e34 hood hinge!! its what we did (well, we used e30, but e34 hinge is 2" shorter and will fit between the foglight buckets and not cut as much as we had to)

it pops up the nose by 3" and that will give enough clearance to load in/out of trailer and open nose with splitter on.

[jkrueger]

bmw e34 hood hinge!! its what we did (well, we used e30, but e34 hinge is 2" shorter and will fit between the foglight buckets and not cut as much as we had to)

it pops up the nose by 3" and that will give enough clearance to load in/out of trailer and open nose with splitter on.

When you get a chance. I'd like to see some pictures and details of that mod. Sounds like a great solution.

JC

[jkrueger]

I promised some full car pictures when I got it out so here they are.

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[johngeorge]

That looks wicked!! Awesome JC!!!

[John Dol]

Awesomeness!!!
That looks fast sitting still

John

[WIS89]

JC-

What a great job on the new splitter and nose! She looks terrific! I agree with John, she looks fast standing still.

Thanks for sharing!

Regards,

Steve

[jkrueger]

It is late and I loose an hour of sleep tonight so this will be quick.

The car did great today!

I kept increasing the rear wing angle every session and it was helping the oversteer in the high speed exits but it was still loose on exits in slow speed corners. A friend suggested adjusting the pan hard bar height and that made a huge difference in the car. Now it is pretty neutral in the slow speed corners and only slightly loose at the exit of the high sped corners. Thanks Ian. I’m going to continue to adjust the wing tomorrow to see how much angle I can put on it. The car has a lot of grip, from a combo of the stickier tires (Toyo R888) and the nose/splitter and the wing. My corner speeds (especially the higher speed corners) are up a lot compared to where I have been before and it really shows in my end of straight speeds.

The full floating rear axle that caused so many head aches worked great (other than the vent). I am very happy to say that I have no more pad knock back. A huge improvement!

The 3.73 rear gear (used to be 3.31) really woke up the car. It is amazing how it pulls, and the third to fourth shift puts you in the back of the seat.

It will take me awhile to get through the video. I'm out of town for work next week so I need to focus on that, but I will try to get something posted.

I also got moved up from HPDE 3 to 4.
JC

[johngeorge]

Sleep is overrated!! Stay up and edit videos :) oh and that work thing keeps getting in the way too

Glad to hear everything went well, and for the love of Pete get some real tires! R888=crap in my book! You should be on at least Hoosier A7

[Mark Dougherty]

That is awesome news

[Owlknight360]

I second everyone else, the new nose and wing look terrific (I just wanted to use a different verb than everyone else)!! Definitely want to add these features to my build.

[jkrueger]

Sleep is overrated!! Stay up and edit videos :) oh and that work thing keeps getting in the way too

Glad to hear everything went well, and for the love of Pete get some real tires! R888=crap in my book! You should be on at least Hoosier A7

I know on the tires. I had spent so much money getting the car ready for this first event I didn't want to spend the extra money for the R7s. When these wear out that is the tire I am going to run. Do you like the R7s or A7s better?

JC

[jkrueger]

Here is the first video. This is from Day 2 in the HPDE 4 group, session 3. I have one more video with data that I will work on tonight that hopefully I can have up in a day or two.

https://youtu.be/Cnya0DcYb28

JC

[johngeorge]

I know on the tires. I had spent so much money getting the car ready for this first event I didn't want to spend the extra money for the R7s. When these wear out that is the tire I am going to run. Do you like the R7s or A7s better?

JC

I need to use the fastest tire possible to run at the top of ST2, so A7 is where its at. The R7 feels better and lasts longer, but isnt as fast. We are talking about 1/2-1 sec per lap difference.

[Bob-STL]

Here is the first video. This is from Day 2 in the HPDE 4 group, session 3. I have one more video with data that I will work on tonight that hopefully I can have up in a day or two.

https://youtu.be/Cnya0DcYb28

JC

Video is great!

Thanks.

[TomV]

Beautiful car, love it

[jkrueger]

Full video from my last session on Sunday. Lots of traffic in this session due to all 4 HPDE groups being together. The data file got corrupted during this run so no overlays. Sorry.

https://youtu.be/Nq0cDoahW70

[Austexican]

Are you bringing your Daytona to the Texas Cobra Club Spring Meet in San Marcos? I have a $250 dollar gift certificate from Factory Five from winning last month's photo contest. Your pics are really tempting me to go radical. I need to check out the installation and clearance details.

[jkrueger]

Are you bringing your Daytona to the Texas Cobra Club Spring Meet in San Marcos? I have a $250 dollar gift certificate from Factory Five from winning last month's photo contest. Your pics are really tempting me to go radical. I need to check out the installation and clearance details.

I can't make it that weekend. I am going to be at the track doing some testing with my Chump car.

JC