got my tubing yesterday,goto start on the chassis tommorow,the middle is the easy bit,i want opinions on where to put the fuel tank and rad,i thought the tank could go behind or under the seats,not much room up front,if i put the rad up front is there going to be a problem with the water pump pushing the water that far or should i play safe and put it in the rear?

Re the fuel tank, my plan is to put it behind the seats, don't think there would be room underneath the seats. Fortunately, with a transverse engine there's plenty of room within a reasonable wheelbase, to allow for the seats to be moved forward of the engine firewall by a suitable amount.

Good point about the radiator position. I intend to put mine at the front, I'll keep the pipe bore as big as possible and hope that the water pump will cope. I'm pretty sure it will, I've not heard of other MEC's with front radiators having a problem

I'm hoping to start my chassis in the next few days, making a jig for the engine, subframe and strut top mounts at the moment

John

Good points raised.
These must be common issues after gearchance and handbrake.

My tanks will be twins, one behind each seat, leaving the centre clear for shift cables, wiring, brake pipes etc.

My water pipes are being run outside the frame (within the body of course) to a front mounted radiator. However, I did not give the water pump issue any though at all, obviously because I'm using it as originally designed.

It is a very good point though, which may or may not be an issue. Personally, I think standard water pumps will be fine...but we'll see

the oe water pump should be more than man enough with our grasstrack cars we run the rads in the back of the car with standard pumps on pintos etc without any probs and i used to run a big rad in the front of my spaceframe imp without any worries of course if you are worried you could allways fit an electric pump..

thats where the tank will go i suposei am still un decided about suspension at the mo,need to get that sorted soon as it will only take me a week to finish chassis,original struts,tca,s and roll bar or wishbones???????

Keep the struts, I reckon. Struts are NFG for front end of locost style of car, becasue of height, but at the back they're OK, and have some advantages over wishbone suspension

John

Question for Viper, how tough are the Metro shafts and uprights, they seem ideal, cheap, with all the right bits as standard, I know there is a class for Minis/ metros and do they use the standard front uprights. Ta.

Why run the rads all the way to the front, why not shove them in the side pods AKA F1 and every mid mounted rally car, electric fans will sort out the slow running fan, you may possible have to use two small rads like the motorbikes do instead of one large. The length of pipe needed for the front will be kilos in weight if you include a full pipe of water.

Question for Viper, how tough are the Metro shafts and uprights, they seem ideal, cheap, with all the right bits as standard, I know there is a class for Minis/ metros and do they use the standard front uprights. Ta.



i haven't had a lot of experiance with the front wheel drive boys, but i do know they tend to pop joints but i think this is due to the amount of suspension travel not the power output, in the classes that have rear engines a lot use cossie/xr4x4 shafts (also used on a few TVR's so we know they take the power) or hewland stuff hope this helps...

why put the rad up front?,to try to even out the weight a bit,ive only driven porsche 911,not bad,vw beetle,horible and hillman imp,lethal as non front engined cars,also i having driven lorries with a lot of weight on the rear they can be a bit nasty if you have to go round a corner

My nova has (had?) the rad up front with big copper pipes running the length of the car to it. Doesnt seem to have any ill effects being up there.
Plus having it up front means that it gets the improved cooling from being placed in the airflow, and puts a bit of the weight and things forward..

Dont you want to keep the side pods for the intercoolers ?



[Edited on 27/10/02 by MrFluffy]

i can warm up my lunch in the sidepods,even have a barbie n kettle

I would have though get as much weight in the middle of the car rather than at the extremities, will give the best handling. Don't get confused with a Porsche /VW engine which hangs behind the transaxle and the imp a low engine sitting a top the gearbox but still behind the transaxle, it also had a lousy front suspension design, anyway if it was ideal to have the rads at the front then every single seater racing car would do so.

quote:

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Originally posted by wayner
Don't get confused with a Porsche /VW engine which hangs behind the transaxle and the imp a low engine sitting a top the gearbox but still behind the transaxle,

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Wayner,

Every single seater racing car would have the rad at the front if it wasn't for the fact they wanted less frontal displacement.
It is purely aerodynamics that stop it being up front. The early single seaters did have rad at front.

Putting rads in the back or in side pods is not the most efficient in vehicles that are going to be run at slower speeds. Fine for high speed vehicles used only on a track.

Anyway who is macking a single seater?
For the general classes that these cars would fit into for competition, two seats would be necessary. Also you can maximise cockpit space by not having to squeeze radiators alongside you.

Terry

quote:

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Originally posted by wayner
...... Porsche /VW engine which hangs behind the transaxle and the imp a low engine sitting a top the gearbox but still behind the transaxle, .....

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Not so much of the "old git" Alan,even if i am getting that way.
nearly finished making the 2 sides of the cockpit today,only took 4 hours including tea breaks a plentyat this rate ill be finished by the end of the week.

Only joking mate

Sounds like you are making good progress!
Any idea when the photo section will be up and running again? I'd like to see how you are getting on.

ill mail you some pix at the end of the week,i havnt worked out how to post on my own site yet.
had to do some real work today so only got 2 more diagonals in place but tommorow is another day!

Why not just post them up onto here?

All you need do is attach the image with "Attachment" below when replying.
Just click on the browse button and locate the image on your hard drive and that is it. It will be uploaded automaticaly

Terry
Just like this!

If you're interested it was taken at last month's Kitcar show at Donnington.

[Edited on 29/10/02 by Bull]




[Edited on 11/23/2010 by ChrisW]

i tried for many hours but couldnt get them to post here,i posted a couple to bob with no probs,ill have to get someone round to show me how,probly a software fault.

John

Post the pics to me and i'll chuck em on mate
Rescued attachment johns car.jpg

im not really as old as i look,i was having a bad day(waiting for merlin to make the tea)

Chassis nearly finished,thinking about suspension now,i deciced to go wishbones all round,front is sorted,escort hubs.
now the rears.
i got a choice of escort front hubs with a steering rack side rod to stop the rears from turning or do i use seirra shafts and hubs and make an upright as mk does?
ive got all the bits in stock,the escort would seem easier to do,the seirra the propper way to do it but i need some engineering to make the uprights,unless someone has a pair.
i have a drum braked parir of hubs n shafts but was going to fit the discs as they fit straight on.any sugestions?

When i have sat down and drawn up chassis in the past my last version used the same at all four corners for simplicity and ease of repair, if all four corners are the same then you would only need two different wishbones one top and one bottom (for racing purposes you need carry less spares) personely that is the route i would take.

Have you tried the engine in position against the chassis to see how much room you have for the chassis members that the wishbone brackets will fix to? It may affect the wishbone design. When I was planning to go this route I was planning to use the MK uprights and wishbones, but the bit I ws concerned about was the front upper wishbone bracket, it might be where the engine wants to be.
Generally speaking though, the Sierra disc on escot hub sounds like the right thing to do

Fortunately the Mondeo design uses a lower wishbone rather than track control arm/anti roll bar, so retaining the front strut is a better solution for me.


John

I was at Bob,s today looking at his mk rear hubs,i would have to buy them no way i could make them so i will do as viper sugested and keep it the same all round,chassis nearly finished,plenty spare tube,all hubs,brakes,steering and ive only spent £60 so far,looking good!

spent all day drinking tea and came up with a way to use seirra rear hubs and escort xr3i drive shafts,so simple,the inner "pot joints"are the same internaly so all i gota do is cut n shut the shafts,designed economy rear uprights as well.

quote:

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Originally posted by theconrodkid
came up with a way to use seirra rear hubs and escort xr3i drive shafts,so simple,the inner "pot joints"are the same internaly

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i think it is a 2 through bolt fixing,fiesta is similar but will probly be smaller or cut mondeo strut up and weld a threaded tube round the strut,demon tweeks do somthing along those lines

started making front wishbones,designed the rear uprights,ordered all the balljoints etc,should have a rolling chassis,steering,brakes less pads and flex,s for £148
now thats what i call locost!

got rack position sorted but space is a bit limited up front,do i need a servo?
it will have discs all round,and weigh a bit less than the 500kg my 7 weighs,opions please

IMO, servo is not needed.

I agree with alan. If you size the master cylinder and caliper pistons correctly you don't need a brake booster.

I am very impressed with the cost of your project so far. I think that would buy a set of brake pads for my project! I am going to name mine astronomicalcost

[Edited on 11/21/02 by ProjectSRP]

being in the motor trade has its uses,i swap parts and services welding etc for other parts and services,no cash changing hands,thats how it is so cheap,picked up an escort for running gear for nothing today!!!