LEE Race Technology, Inc.

01/20/2025

A bit of a struggle figuring out what Fusion wanted for these Front subframe/Bay bars and the X brace bars. There is some 3D sketching involved and Fusion handles it differently than Solid Edge and so i had to work through that. Finally figured it out which is a big relief. In the end i gave up on trimming/notching the X-brace tubes (from a CAD standpoint) where they meet the front roll bars( A-Pillar bars). I think its because it is an intersection of 4 tubes, and the two ends of the x-bracing were the last ones in (last to be modeled) and Fusion (or me) couldnt figure it out. One day if/when i get the roll cage tubes laser cut and bent, I will have to figure something out. But since I am bending and notching everything here, i dont have to worry. when I am finished drawing the cage I will import the whole thing into the software and it will give me paper templates to use for the notching.

Its hard to explain, how important the CAD is for me to get right. it will save tons of work, time and money when it is finished and finished correctly. it is the modern work flow. The CAD model is so important for a number of reasons. Namely, 1) i dont have anything existing physically to copy, it is a clean sheet design. 2) the creation (fabrication or machining) of most of the parts involve either plasma cutting, laser cutting, cnc machining or bending of sheet metal or some other computerized process and the only way to convey that information to the machines is with various files generated from the CAD Model. 3) while i could do a very basic analysis of the suspension geometry on paper, the best way to do it is to model the suspension components in CAD and take the 3D position (X, Y, and Z coordinates) of each suspension pivot point and enter it into one or more computer programs for a more comprehensive analysis. The two programs I will be using are SUSPROG and ChassisSim. I will expand on those in future posts and videos when it is time. That is actually one of the really cool parts i am looking forward to, designing the suspension, and making the choices on all the parameters.

Anyway, still in the fight, and wont quit. On track in 2025

01/15/2025

i was working out in the shop tonight and was filming and talking to myself about what i was doing and i thought "why dont i just do a live reel" or whatever you call it. so i did, I started it and went back in the house for a minute and when i came back out was on/in the live stream! i was so honored to have Mike as my first guest/customer/participant! Mike is without a doubt the best welder i have seen. His MIG welds look like stacked dime TIG welds and his TIG welds are perfect! so much skill and talent. it was a pleasure chatting with you for a few minutes. I will do more of these in the future and hope we get to extend the conversation.

i did not save it to a reel but probably will do that in the future so people can watch it later rhat couldnt join the live.

01/12/2025

First and most importantly, i am thinking of, worrying about, and praying for all those who have been affected by the fires out in LA. Two of my boys and their families live out in LA, both in safe locations. and sadly one person I know lost his house to the fires. please stay safe and I am so so sorry for all those that have lost homes or worse, loved ones.

i have finally got the 3d printed Fixture adaptor finished. I am printing the LH side now and will plasma cut the brackets tomorrow. creating the CaD model was a little bit difficult and my thought was there was no way this would print. but thanks to the wizardry of the P1S, it sliced and printed just fine.

i will probably draw up some dash bar support brackets tonight and cut those out tomorrow as well. Then early this coming week get the towers assembled and in place and get some tubes tacked together.

last year i had set a specific goal (finish date/on track) and that goal came and went, but it was a real motivator amd I went hard after it.. i have lost a bit of momemtum since then and i need to set another date. i am going to give that some serious thought in the next day or so and set a new finish date, so stay tuned. Looking forward to getting this car finished and on track at and weekly series races this summer

stay safe everyone

01/09/2025

there ya go, 12 of em. 3/4" x .065 wall mild steel tubing, 180 degree bends, with the bender. works great, not exactly production speed but for short runs, "gotta have it now" kind of parts, or a late model stock car roll cage, it is fantastic.

Do you need a roll cage? need some tubing bent and notched, i have the equipment and sofware to do the job. for bend parameters and notching layout, CAD tubing bender, and tube notcher (from )



i think i got everybody haha!

01/09/2025

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. LRT is off to a great start. Shop is chaotic and a mess, stuff everywhere and barely room to walk around, but thats a good thing because there is some really good equipment in this little space! Can anyone spot the new addition? tonight I am bending some 3/4" x 065 wall DOM for an outside project. 180 degree bends, bender is doing a great job. Anyway, there has been a lot going on with the holidays and I havent made much progress on the late model. I have some CAD work to catch up on for the A pillar (or front roll bar) bar fixturing then I can get those in place. Slow and steady, but I do get anxious about finishing this car. I just need to keep my head down and focus on the things I can do and control and believe and have faith that the Lord is working things out ahead of me, which is the way it should be.
I can tell you that I am going to be using on the and late model stock car!! Nothing formal, no free shocks yet!!( maybe one day wink wink) they have been kind enough to help in the design stage and I will honor that throughout as long as they make shocks (dampers for some, I am bilingual haha) for late model stock cars I will run them and my drivers and cars will win with them! My relationship with and Penske goes back a long way and is deeply personal and there is a great amount of loyalty to him, and thats about as far as I will go with that, just know it is deeper than just running the shocks!! Anyway, got to get back to bending these 180's, I have 12 of them to do.

12/07/2024

A couple of quick snaps. Finally got the roof bar in place.It looks pretty good and notches are close, but I still need finish the clamp for the saddles. The bar sits pretty evenly in the saddles. a slight twist in the bar, but the clamps should hold it in place.

11/21/2024

When i started this Late Model program almost a year ago, i had this shot in mind as I built and positioned the chassis fixture. And a few months ago as I was deciding how far apart these roll cage fixture towers would be, I had this shot framed in my mind and positioned them accordingly...haha, not really, I just stumbled into it as I was walking around the chassis fixture taking some pictures of the day's work.
Everything with the cage fixture towers is coming out really well. I am very happy with the measurments and accuracy to the CAD model. the main hoop is about .025" high. CAD says 46.125" from the top of the fixture table to top of the main hoop and real life is 46.150 with my calitape measurment tool!!

11/16/2024

beautiful day outside. Both of the side x braces in place. next up, two cross braces and the towers will be set. then some roof bar brackets and (for the most part) the center roll cage fixture will be complete.

11/16/2024

i put a piece of paper behind the letters to see/show some details. The only thing i have done is take a small amount of slag off with a 3" sanding disc on a pneumatic angle grinder.

the bar across the R is 0.100 wide and the bars across the a's and r's are 0.050. So not to bad on the bars on the small letters. it stayed away from most of it. The r in cars lost some of the bar, but overall pretty good.

Never going to replace a lazer cut, but darned good for the money. and i didnt have to wait 7 to ten days.

anyone need a metal sign or placard? this is 11 gauge mild steel (0.113" to 0.114" thick)

11/16/2024

LS x-brace cut. i am really impressed with the JASIC Razor weld, Razor Cut 45. i had my doubts, but it has proved me wrong For the money. and the Crossfire as well. it seems like the contro have improved over the last couple of years? or maybe its just in my head because i spent the money and i am wishing it to be! no really, it does take some tweaking of the feef speed and torch hieght voltage, and getting the kerf width dialed in, but that goes for all the systems. also i will not run a plasma table without a silicone boot (funnel) it saves so much mess and splash especially up onto the gantry and the torch hieght controls.

11/16/2024

Xbrace for roll cage towers, i will follw with an installed photo later

10/30/2024

first of the 4" x 4 x 42" towers clamped up and ready for a whole bunch of tack welds. I am really happy with the way these are turning out. i was a little worried about using 11 ga material that it wouldnt be strong enough. i am not worried at all about that anymore I will tie the tops of the four towers together with an x-brace of some design and also put right angle braces at the base of each tower. Really happy with this setup. Another good thing about the slot and tab system is the welds are all short, basically long tacks, so heat and distortion are minimized, and as work mate of mine some years ago would say, "you couldn't tear that apart with a hammer" meaning..those welds are strong!

10/29/2024

first tower base turned out good. confidence is high this will work!

10/26/2024

10/23/2024

finally starting to put together the Langmuir crossfire. a decent plasma table especially if you consider the price point

10/18/2024

a cool x-ray picture, helped to get things oriented. CAD roll cage highlighted under the 3d Scanned Body

10/17/2024

"way" back in early spring (feels like a lifetime ago) I rented a truck to pick up this Five Star Bodies, Late Model Stock Car bodywork. Took up way more room than I anticipated! I got the roof/greenhouse (2 pieces), doors, rear quarters, rear bumper, windshield, rear glass (plexiglass) deck lid, and I got the roof fixture to assemble it in (second photo)

10/16/2024

Trying this again, I am experimenting with Metricool which is a social media management software where you can post to all your platforms from one location (app) so we will see.

Anyway the story behind the tires is that I was at the for the race this past Saturday. I was just there for a few hours to talk to a couple of specific people, then I went back home and watched the race on which, as it turned out, was a pretty good race.

In my wonderings and observations, I learned a little bit more about the tire diameters and staggers they are running with the F45 Hoosiers. The circumference written in yellow crayon on this tire is probably a nominal measurement from Hoosier for sorting or other reasons, but it gives me a starting point. From observation I believe that the right rear tire is 86-1/4" to 86-1/2" in circumference and the left side tires and probably the right front tire are 85-1/2" in circumference, which is a "stagger" across the rear tires of 3/4" to 1" based on the circumference. Any late model guys out there? please comment for us what the real staggers are for the F45 on a Late Model Stock Car