sammy
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| posted on 6/5/06 at 07:46 PM |
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Wide chassis
Being into bikes and not knowing much about car engines I was originally going to build a BEC. As with most things I keep changing my mind, and
picked up my donor engine last weekend - a Rover SD1 V8! 
I havent started on the chassis yet, and as usual keep changing my mind about which way to go.
I have picked up Sierra running gear, and am considering a book chassis but with 4 inches added to the width and modified rear for IRS.
Will I be able to use the Sierra rack with a wide chassis or should I just get a narrow escort rack?
Any advice on making a chassis to fit the V8 with LT77 manual box?
Cheers!
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Gav
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| posted on 6/5/06 at 07:59 PM |
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If your using the sierra rack with a +4 do you still need to get the rack shortend?
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Cheffy
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| posted on 6/5/06 at 08:12 PM |
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Hi Sammy,
You're best bet is probably gonna be to use the escort Mk2 rack with track rod extensions. The ball joints where the track rod arms join the
rack need to be in line with the top and bottom wishbone chassis brackets (or as close as possible) to avoid bump steer.
I'm building the McSorley +442 that CaLviNx mentions (using the 2.9i V6 engine out of the donor). If you follow the link below to my website and
click on the chassis page you will see that the rack ball joints line up pretty closely.
Hope that helps,
Mart
Farts are like Rock'n'Roll. You love your own but you hate everybody else's. Lemmy, Motorhead.
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craig1410
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| posted on 7/5/06 at 01:56 PM |
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Hi Sammy,
I have almost completed building a Rover V8 powered Locost based on the McSorley 7+4 chassis. I would strongly advise you to use the Escort steering
rack as it is almost the perfect width (inner balljoint to inner balljoint) to avoid bumpsteer and therefore you only need some track rod arm
extensions to make it work.
I used the LT77 gearbox and although it is a big beast, I managed to modify my tunnel design to make it fit. I would direct you to my website at
http://www.craig.chamberlain.name but it is down for maintenance at present. I should have it back up soon though, maybe even later this evening if I
can get the brakes bled on my road car first.
With the wider chassis it was not a big problem fitting the RV8 and I would thoroughly recommend it as a good choice for a Locost. It's not as
light as a bike engine obviously but it is lighter than a Pinto 2 litre, more powerful and sounds glorious!
One thing I would also strongly recommend is to keep your eyes open for a downdraught holley or weber carb and manifold as your project progresses
(assuming you have SU carbs just now) because the SU's are difficult to cram under the bonnet and will require a large bonnect bulge to cover
them which can lead to problems with line of sight at SVA time. Not essential since the SU's are good carbs and will not restrict the engine
until over 250BHP but they are a bit tall.
On the same subject, try to get your engine as low as possible and as far back as possible when fitting it. You will also probably need to get hold of
a Rover P6 water pump and P6 crank pulley. Again, keep your eyes open on ebay and the like. I paid about £25 for a water pump and £45 for a crank
pulley to give you an idea of what to expect. They do come up from time to time but are sought after.
Any questions then please U2U or email me and as I said, check out my website later tonight or in the next few days. I have loads of pictures and
explanations of how I squeezed the RV8 in.
All the best,
Craig.
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craig1410
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| posted on 7/5/06 at 10:25 PM |
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Hi,
My webste is up and running - thanks for giving me the push I needed to get it sorted!
Cheers,
Craig.
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