Skunk2 Project Beta - Part 1

Project Beta is one of the most recognized project/race cars that we have built. Now, with the introduction of the new Skunk2 content management system in place, we are excited to finally have an easy way for us to open our photo archives and share numerous never seen before images of Project Beta with enthusiasts all over the world.

Part 1 of this Project Beta photo journal shows the earliest days of Beta as it is transformed from a junker into a road race car that is purpose built to showcase and test Skunk parts.

We apologize for the photo quality....most of these images were actual photographs that were then scanned.

(Article and pics courtesy of Skunk2.com)

1997 Acura Integra RS Milano Red
Project Beta started its life as a surgically stripped theft recovery that we picked up at the salvage yard for $2500.

Getting Ready to Mount on Rotisserie
We put Beta onto the rack and removed the wheels, suspension, gas tank, and all other accessories, in preparation to mounting the chassis onto the rotisserie.

Beta Mounted onto a makeshift rotisserie
Mounting the chassis onto the rotisserie allows us to access and clean all parts of the car in preparation to take it to dip stripper

Stripping off the sound deadening
The sound deadening material needed to be removed before it could be taken to the dip stripper. This may have been because at that time we were located in Northern California and the dip stripping company was extra careful not to violate any of the ultra-stringent environmental regulations. There are a couple of ways to strip off the sound deadening material. You can use a heat gun and peel it off, or you can use dry ice to freeze it, then chip it off. If you are lucky, you won't need to use heat or ice.

Scraping off the undercoating
Scraping off the undercoating on a Honda is a major chore. Apparently the acid solution the dip stripper was using was not able to take off the rubberized undercoating and seam sealer very well, so they requested that we scrape most of it off before taking to get dipped

Weight of sound deadening and undercoating
The weight of all the stuff we scraped of the car was 34.5 lbs. You also need to figure that there was probably a few pounds that never made it into the box. So...was it worth the effort? Definitely. 35lbs of weight reduction is huge!

Freshly dip stripped Beta shell
After the chassis has been dip stripped, we can now start seam welding the chassis. Its much easier to fabricate and weld on bare metal than it is on metal that is covered in paint, seam sealer, and corrosion plating.

Don't Do This!
As a common practice back in the days, we punched a few holes in the back of the car to 'save weight'. Unfortunately this is a very ineffective way to reduce weight. So for those of you that are contemplating swiss cheesing your car...DON'T DO IT! Taking a few laxatives in the morning would be a better way to go about weight reduction.

Seam Welding
Seam welding significantly improves the strength and rigidity of the chassis.

Seam Welding
After the chassis is seam welded, you go back over the welds with a grinding/sanding disc to knock down the welds. There are several ways to seam weld, you can seam weld like in the picture, or you can make 1" stitch welds approximately 4-5", or you can use a spot welder to add additional spot welds to the chassis.

Tying in the Cage
In this picture we are tying the rollcage into the chassis by welding metal plates to the cage and the body.

Reinforcing the chassis
Because we are going to run a fuel cell in the spare wheel well, we added additional bracing to stiffen the rear of the car and strengthen the rear cross member. In retrospect, its better to keep the fuel cell in the stock location.

Roll Cage
Picture of the finished roll structure. Notice how much rust has built up on the car. The climate was much more humid in Northern California causing the body to rust. So...if you are planning to dip strip your car, our advice to you is work really fast or keep the car in a humidity controlled environment.

Disassembling the B16A engine
We used a salvaged B16A engine as our base. Here it is being torn down.

Working on the crank
We used a crank from a B18A engine that we lightened and massaged to improve oiling. The B18A was a better choice than the B18C because it had an 89mm stroked compared to the 87.2mm stroke of the B18C. Also, the crank journals on a B18A are the same width as the B16A so we could use the stock rods and just shorten the compression heights on the pistons if we wanted to.

Ported Cylinder Head
Here is a picture of the original ported cylinder head that went onto the engine. Notice the dye in the port is a result of flowtesting where we were observing how the fuel might flow into the engine.

Flowtesting the cylinder head
We flow tested the heads with the manifold and throttle body on our Flow-Com equipped SF-300 Superflow flowbench.

Early Generation Cam Gears
Pictured are a set of the B-series DOHC camgears that we had designed back in 1995. If we aren't mistaken, these were the first fully billet camgears sold in the USA for B-series engine. Prior to these gears all other gears available at the time used modified stock gears. These gears were also the first that we know of that used hard anodized outer gears. Also note that these early camgears used steel center hubs.

Beta engine on stand
There you go. One B16A engine stroked to 1800cc with a ITR manifold...all circa 1997. Also notice the single v-belt underdrive racing pulley and alternator pulleys.

Stock gear box disassembled
Notice the gears and stock differential.

New gears and LSD
Beta utilized a set of straight-cut close ratio 3rd, 4th, and 5th gears. These gears were supplied to us by one of the race teams we were doing development for in Thailand. Also notice the racing LSD.