New to Bandos - Getting car ready questions

[sfreitas20]

We have raced Quarter Midget for a couple seasons now and have recently bought a couple Bandolero cars for our boys to start practicing with now and race with later on.  I have a few questions around setting the cars up for them.  I have already gone through most of the guides I could find online regarding lead installation, buying the cars...etc, but still have a few thoughts I wanted to throw out there and see if anyone could give me their opinion.

One of our two drivers is pretty small (50lbs and 48" tall).  Most of the seats I am seeing have a pretty decent recline angle to them, but I don't know that I can have him reclining that much and still see out of the car adequately to driver.  Are people with smaller drivers sitting them more upright in the Bandos for this reason?

His car has the extended pedals which is going to help, but  they area already almost all the way back against the cross bar and I still need to get a few more inches out of them.  Would it ok to move them just behind the cross bar which is going to have them be right in front of the steering rack?  I realize to do that, I am going to have to make new linkages for the throttle and brake, but I am familiar with that because I had to do that for his Quarter Midget too.  Also, a guy at the track said something about shorter steering shafts that would move the wheel further forward, but I haven't seen those anywhere online.  Does anyone know if they make those, or is it ok for me to cut the one down in the car and make it shorter?

Our other driver is a little bit bigger so just having the extended pedals and moving the seat up should work for him.  I appreciate any information anyone could share to help us get going.

[bandostuff.com]

Moving the pedals to the other side of the crossbar is accepted and works fine.  The steering shafts can be shortened by cutting the shaft at the junction of the shaft and the steering wheel coupler.  Cut right down the middle of the weld and you can re-use the coupler.  Anyone with welding/cutting equipment can do this.  If the shaft needs to be longer, the material for the shaft is common available at most any steel supply.  If you have trouble finding someone to do this, send me the shaft and your measurement and I will modify it for you at no charge.

Most drivers sit upright in the cars, you can raise the mounting height of the seat, (just be sure to keep the helmet well below the roll cage).  Also if the car has gauges, or the dash is molded with a hump for gauges, the dash can be replaced with a flat dash or you can cut out the hump and cover the hole with aluminum.  Gauges can be remounted somewhere, or eliminated.  In my opinion the gauges are a distraction to young drivers and just complicate the cars electrical system.  Most people I know don't run gauges.

For your larger driver be sure to pad the cross bar right behind the dash.  Knees often contact this bar....Ouch!

[sfreitas20]

Thank you for the quick response and the information!

The car for our smaller driver has the flat dash with just the oil pressure gauge in it, but the one for the bigger driver has the hump with the three gauges in it.  If we have trouble getting him a good line of sight, we may swap it out with a flat dash as well.  I will check that bar and make sure to get some padding on it if it isn't there already.

How do most people figure out what RPMs the engine is turning?  We use Mychrons in our Quarter Midgets and I was thinking we might just throw one of them in the Bando too since we are familiar with them.

[justfreaky]

Fastach digital tach (SunDec Corp) is the only digital tach that is legal according to current rules. Any analog RPM gauge is legal. But only the Fastach for digital gauge.

Do be sure to read all the current rules as well as watch for any updates.
http://www.uslegendcars.com/documents/bandoleros1.pdf

Steve

[bandostuff.com]

I would, (and have) used the Micron for practice.  Once you get close the trick is to gear the car to just hit the rev limiter consistantly and back off just a tad on the gear ratio.  The rev limiter is set for 5600 RPM.

[jmredmo]

I read this with great interest. I too am trying to get a car ready for my boys and pedal reach is big problem. I've installed the longer pedals but still need a few inches. I am contemplating getting some custom made to avoid remounting the accelerator linkage and brake cylinder. Am I missing anything with this approach.

Also, my car came with a fuel leak that seem to be coming from the outlet port. There is a blue fitting and what feels like a rubber washer behind it. I am worried that if I try to tighten it will strip the plastic of the fuel tank, so any comments there will be appreciated. The car cuts off after about 5 minutes which I assume is from air getting into the line.

[sfreitas20]

I was actually able to move the pedals back even behind the steering rack and it seems like it will work pretty good.  I didn't have to move the brake master cylinder, just a new linkage that goes at it from the other side (I had previously done this on my son's quarter midget too). 

I haven't hooked up the throttle yet, but I am hopeful I can solve it the same way.   This did open up another question though.  It looks like there are two throttle cables going back to the engine, but only one seems to be spring loaded and working on our car.   Is that normal or do I need to investigate the issue there and get them both working?

I just haven't finalized the positions yet though because we are still waiting on the new seat to be made so we can get it all done at the same time.

[justfreaky]

Also, my car came with a fuel leak that seem to be coming from the outlet port. There is a blue fitting and what feels like a rubber washer behind it. I am worried that if I try to tighten it will strip the plastic of the fuel tank, so any comments there will be appreciated. The car cuts off after about 5 minutes which I assume is from air getting into the line.

I'm not sure, but think the fitting screws directly into the plastic fuel cell. You might want to pull the fitting off and replace the washer and perhaps a little sealer on the threads. Just guessing.   Hopefully someone can give you better information. You might check to make sure your vent line is clear and not plugged also.

Steve

[bandostuff.com]

The leaking fuel cell is not good.  There is a nut  inside the tank and a rubber washer or o ring sealing the fitting.  I have seen the plastic cracked around the fitting hole.  Remove the foam to access the nut then remove the fitting and inspect the hole in the plastic.  If the cell is not split  it may be time to buy that lottery ticket before your luck runs out!

I've not seen it all but I have never seen 2 throttle cables on a Bando......at least not yet.

[sfreitas20]

So I figured out the second throttle cable...it is there for if/when you break the one.  It made for a  less than 5 minute replacement of the cable when this happened to us.  Instead of having to string a new cable through the whole car at the track, I just had to disconnect the ends of the broken cable and connect the ends of the second one and we were ready for the feature.  Needless to say, now I am ordering two new throttle cables and will replace both on our car with brand new ones so we are ready to go in the future.