OK, So it’s about time for another update on where Jason Whitfield is at with his new Chevy Cobalt. Actually, we are a bit behind here, with Stage 3 of the buildup, seeing that we already have Stage 4 just about ready to go for you, and not far after that Stage 5 will be here…

We felt that instead of giving you too much at one time, we would release some photos of where Jason has been at with this car. When we spoke to Jason about the Cobalt project, he seemed as happy as ever still about it, and pretty pumped about the outcome of this car. He said that this thing has so many little tricks as well as some very unique fabrication work.

Since we are close with Stage 4 already – we will let the photos speak for themselves…

Notable Mentions –

- Custom Fabrication Work
- Complete Wire Harness – so nice and clean
- Custom exhaust has been made
- Race Pak Dash mocked up
- Sound dampening material all removed and cleared out
- Custom Full Race Manifold with Twin Wastegates - http://www.full-race.com

http://www.tunerzine.com/newsitem.php?id=24

 

$$$$$$$

looks good

 

Looks like James made a much much much nicer harness for it!!!

 

damn comin along fast

 

nice build up

is that a 42R or a 45 ???

 

 

Car looks really good.Is this going to be a SFWD car?Correct me if I'm wrong but,i thought you couldnt modify the steering column?

 

Strap a seat and steering wheel on and lets see how fast this goes

 

Car is awesome in person!

 

Thanks Jason for the space on the site - really look sgood when you put it all together. Cant wait to get you the pics for the final part of the build

Thank you

Yep Mr. Lin took car of the harness / when only the best will do !!

Man not fast enough feels like forever, but we are very very close to testing......fianlly.

GT42r w/70mm blade =

The car is going to run in the SFWD class for NOPI / IDRC / BOTI and brackets in NHRA unless they they allow the trans next year. The steering column has been changed for 2 reasons < 1 because once we got me to fit in the car the factory column was so far away it was not safe. Basically when the cage goes over my helmet plus me sitting in the seat straight up and the design of the Cobalt floor board i was too close using "factory" mounting spots. So we built it around me to be both a good fit and as safe as possible. Then needed to move the wheel out so I could reach and use easier. < 2 was because we removed all the factory body control wiring and the Cobalt uses alot of electronics and they caused alot of issues.

If tech or other racers say its not fair or dont like it we can put the factory stuff back in. Of course we dont want to but we can -

Man dont worry if we dont finish this thing here soon you just might see video of that on here soon !!

Thanks buddy

 

What happend to the motec?

Looking good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Arturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What happend to the motec?

Looking good. </TD></TR></TABLE>

its sittin here on the shelf - but we just need to run this thing asap and didnt have time yet to do the realdeal harness////////but soon very soon

 

Run it ASAP? What does that mean? I only see a couple of changes since Part 2 update. Will it be running in time for the Part 250 update? Tunerzine is going to run out of room on there server with a bunch of the same pictures. OK, so you got the cage, seats, steering, wiring, fuel system, intake, exhaust system, water system and drivetrain done, what's left, I really want to see this car run this year, its looks sweet but am I going to see it at the track, or at SEMA. And whats up with the "realdeal" harness, the one you got looks bad@$$. This isn't Formula One, this is sportsman drag racing. Fuel and Spark is all it needs to do, weather it comes from FAST, Motec or Lego, does it really make a difference, if it does please educate me.

Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rezalb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Will it be running in time for the Part 250 update? Tunerzine is going to run out of room on there server with a bunch of the same pictures. OK, so you got the cage, seats, steering, wiring, fuel system, intake, exhaust system, water system and drivetrain done, what's left, I really want to see this car run this year, its looks sweet but am I going to see it at the track, or at SEMA. And whats up with the "realdeal" harness, the one you got looks bad@$$. This isn't Formula One, this is sportsman drag racing. Fuel and Spark is all it needs to do, weather it comes from FAST, Motec or Lego, does it really make a difference, if it does please educate me.Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow ouch - oh well, we are not compl,ete with the car and that sucks too but that what happens when you build a car that doesnt have "shelf parts." But thats why we did this Cobalt to learn and grow in the market. If you have seen any of the other cars I have built you would understand why we are taking our time. I really want a fast/clean/reliable race car not something that makes 3 passes and breaks or cant go to a show on the off weekend. The reason the car is not done is mostly becuase of when we started - the last week of march. But thats just the way it goes - it will be on the track this next week for testing. We dont want to use an event to go out and practice a new car. Then we will be at HIN next saturday and the first event to follow that weekend. And just it does make a differecne IMO but everyone builds cars the way they like.

THanks guys

 

Part 4 coming right on up...car is looking SICK!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Whitfield Inc. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


The car is going to run in the SFWD class for NOPI / IDRC / BOTI and brackets in NHRA unless they they allow the trans next year. The steering column has been changed for 2 reasons &lt; 1 because once we got me to fit in the car the factory column was so far away it was not safe. Basically when the cage goes over my helmet plus me sitting in the seat straight up and the design of the Cobalt floor board i was too close using "factory" mounting spots. So we built it around me to be both a good fit and as safe as possible. Then needed to move the wheel out so I could reach and use easier. &lt; 2 was because we removed all the factory body control wiring and the Cobalt uses alot of electronics and they caused alot of issues.

If tech or other racers say its not fair or dont like it we can put the factory stuff back in. Of course we dont want to but we can -
</TD></TR></TABLE>

First off, the car is looking really good, can't wait to see it on the track.

As far as the steering column. Rules are rules, the cage should be built to fit the driver to the steering wheel, when the rules state that you can not change the column. It's not right to do it and put it on other racers to "say it's not fair". I really don't know the rules at NOPI, but they don't really enforce much anyways, so it's not a big deal there. But, if you really want to run NHRA in the future, you can't expect that to fly there. I just think that it's wrong to put it on other racers to say something about it. Nobody wants to be the crybaby that makes you change it, and they shouldn't have to, that's why there are rules.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First off, the car is looking really good, can't wait to see it on the track.

As far as the steering column. Rules are rules, the cage should be built to fit the driver to the steering wheel, when the rules state that you can not change the column. It's not right to do it and put it on other racers to "say it's not fair". I really don't know the rules at NOPI, but they don't really enforce much anyways, so it's not a big deal there. But, if you really want to run NHRA in the future, you can't expect that to fly there. I just think that it's wrong to put it on other racers to say something about it. Nobody wants to be the crybaby that makes you change it, and they shouldn't have to, that's why there are rules.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well said Tony...

I see Whitfield Incs point aswell - thier jsut trying to be safe, but your 100% right, I know i wouldnt wanna be labeled a cry baby for standing up againts a car thats knowling breaking the rules.

BTW... great looking car...

 

tony you cry baby....lol//

 

Tony1 is right and thats that - no one would be a cry baby for pointing out someone that is not following the rules. We just tried and tried to work with the factory stuff and didnt like the way we fit in the car. Im sure we wont be able to run the car ever in NHRA so we are not even thinking of that rule book, the trans we have will never be allowed in the NHRA street class --- oh well. Basiclly we are putting the stock steering column back in to avoid issues - and if that doesnt make people happy we will work until they are. I guess they will change the rules and be more worried about safety when a 9 sec SFWD hits something and falls apart or hurts the driver when it could have been avoided.

Again I agree w/Tony1 rules are rules period.

3:3 STEERING
Each car’s steering system must be secure and free of defects.All
butt-welded parts must have additional visible reinforcement.Only
conventional automotive steering systems are permitted;flexible
steering shafts prohibited.All rod ends must be a minimum of 3/8-
inch shank diameter and must be installed with flat washers to
prevent bearing pullout (see illustration 3:5).All steering boxes,
sectors, racks, and shafts must be mounted to the frame or suitable
crossmember and cannot be mounted in any case to the
bellhousing and/or bellhousing adapter shield or motor plate.A
secondary steering shaft stop must be installed to prevent long
steering shaft from injuring driver in case of frontal impact (i.e.,
collar or U-joint pinned at crossmember, bracket, etc.).
Commercially available quick-disconnect steering wheels permitted.
Adapter must be welded to shaft.All fasteners must be of a positive
nature;no roll or pressed pins, ball-lock pins, set screws, etc. All cars and trucks in competition must be equipped with a reverse
gear.


After reading this a few times to make sure we understand it - I cant say that what we did is not legal. I have emails and calls into GLENN at NOPI and DANNY at NHRA.



Modified by Whitfield Inc. at 7:00 PM 8/15/2006

 

Here's what i see in the SFWD specific rules:

STEERING:
Must retain full, original OEM steering gear. See General
Regulations 3:2, 3:3, 4:1.

I guess the question is what is a steering gear? lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Here's what i see in the SFWD specific rules:

STEERING:
Must retain full, original OEM steering gear. See General
Regulations 3:2, 3:3, 4:1.

I guess the question is what is a steering gear? lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep and thats why we did it - just making it longer used all the factoy rack / steering joints and sleeves simply made it langer and mounted it to the cage. Also added the quick release and weled that to make it "legal" we think. So thats why Danny ( NHRA ) and Glenn ( NOPI ) have emails and we are waiting on replies..

Thanks for looking guys - see you all soon,

 

so since there was questions on teh column we tok the factory parts and put them back in the car. this means all the parts - turn signal / wiper controls etc etc. even all the plastic and key is put back in. but it has been remounted so i can reach it - hope thats ok. testing this week finally !!!