Right, as you might have guessed, we got pretty fed up with the engine by now, and having that one rebuilt had taken pretty much all the spare cash we
had over the winter, so that was the end of the racing.
A compression test confirmed it had lost power across every rotor face, which after just 200 or so miles of running was pretty disappointing on a
rebuilt engine, but combined with the previous starting issues made us suspect something else.
Anyway, a stripdown at the builders confirmed massive side housing wear, which, with the side seals in good condition, pointed at accidentally going
through the hardening when lapping the side plates in the rebuild.
Engine builder argued it and we spent months running back and forth having things microhardness tested to prove it. Builder finally agreed to rebuild
the engine at his expense with some good side housings, however it took almost a year of pestering before we actually got it back.
Anyway, rewinding a little, with no engine and no money, we parked the car up, and after it being sat there for a few months with no engine in,
looking forlorn, we really lost the drive with the car, and stuck it up for sale, with the intention of using the money from it to start a 4wd
sometime down the line instead.
quote:
Right, we had this up for sale for a while, had a guy come to have a look, decided he wanted it if we could stick a cheap vauxhall 2-litre 4-pot in it
for him, so we sold off some of the rotary bits, did a bit of research, bought some parts and started chopping the frame...
...A month after that, he came by to say he was very sorry, but he couldn't afford to do it after all, and could he have his deposit
back....:/
Anyway, since we'd done the research, started chopping, and bought some bits, and we had a bit of spare time over winter....it seemed rude not
to give the old girl another chance
She's had a bit of plastic surgery courtesy of Mister 9 Inch (angle grinder, get your mind out of the gutter):
As the new engine is longer than the rotary, we chopped out the centre of the beam tube so that we can push the transaxle forwards into the cabin a
couple of inches to keep the rear overhang similar, we don't need that reinforced part there any more anyway because it was what the old torsion
bars used to run through/work against, so it was basically a great hunk of steel tube and plate doing nothing.
Free weight saving!
Come on, you didn't think we'd completely give up on it after all that do you
One immediate issue was the engine used a pull clutch, and there's no room in the transaxle to make that work, so we needed to convert to a push
clutch somehow. We found a plate that was a similar size and a diaphragm that would fit, but the spline for the Renault transaxle was wrong, so we
nipped up to CG Motorsports to see if they could stick us a Renault spline in the clutch we'd found (or a paddle version of it).
We used to just weld centres in off-the-shelf paddles for the VW clutch setup, but the splines never last that long as they soften a little from the
welding heat no matter what you do to keep them cool, so we wanted to do it 'properly' this time.
Anyway, Mick had a good look, and decided he'd got an even bigger paddle and push diaphragm already sat on a shelf that would go on the standard
flywheel - provided we gave it a skim to take the raised surface off it - so we came back with a nice 230mm setup:
Which looks a little more promising than our old lash-up of Renault/VW/RX-8:
You'll like these next bits, lots of shiny bits in photos
quote:Due to a bit more weight/leverage and stress being anticipated this time, we went with poly mounts for the transaxle instead of the old solid
strap system, there's no real movement in them for the engine torque, etc, they're simply to reduce shock loads on the gearbox from
landings/frame flex.
And as you can see, moving the transaxle forward proved to be quite a tight fit....
Not very happy with this mount, it'll probably get changed, but it does for now.
Then we mocked up an adaptor plate for the bellhousing to the new engine, and bolted it up just to see how it fitted:
Which, as it turns out, is almost exactly where the rotary was after the alterations.
Next day:
quote:Whilst we were at it, we thought about maybe going a touch wider on the rear tyres to compensate for the additional rear weight bias, might
need a rethink on that one, not a whole lot of room left
And we checked the new clutch, after chopping a hole in the middle of the adaptor with the angle grinder, everything fits okay, but we've got
loads of spare room in the bellhousing - there's a good 30mm of wasted space there, maybe more with a tweak of the release bearing, which makes
the clutch quite snatchy as the lever arm is at an angle, so we might have a little rethink there, we stuck 2 release bearings back to back for the
minute just to test the pedal feel:
And, after a bit of a trawl around scrapyards and ebay, we accidentally might have bought this, an Eaton M112 supercharger from a Jaguar 4.2L V8....it
was so cheap it seemed rude not to...
And the next day
quote:
Anyway, that seemed to fit so nicely just by the inlet manifold it seemed a shame not to use it:
However, the more we looked at the space in the bellhousing, the more we wondered...so we bit the bullet, chopped the new front mount for the gearbox
back out, took the angle grinder to the bellhousing, and started moving things again...
Bellhousing, meet angle grinder, angle grinder, meet bellhousing.
And bring your friend TIG welder...
Redid the engine and gearbox mounts, which required even more frame surgery:
And as a comparison to where the old engine was, this is the old engine cage:
And as the transaxle got shunted even further forward, redid that mounting and used a strap on the casing to spread the stress:
Having had enough of chopping out old bits of the car, decided to make more shiny new bits, and everyone loves a shiny exhaust, no?
It took quite a while to get the lengths and routing all right, there's about 2 weeks of evening work in this, even though most of it was sorted
by the first two nights, tweaking and altering after that/finishing it off took a while!
As the gears are fairly wide in the van transaxle (haven't fitted that shorter gearset yet, needs lots of fettling to make the syncro's
work with it), the lengths are set to bolster the bottom end and midrange torque rather than outright peak power.
That should be enough exhaust pictures to keep anyone satisfied
Okay, one BIG disadvantage over the rotary engine, is the sump being so deep - reducing ground clearance - and needing a lot of oil control/baffles
due to the constant jumping around. It being pretty vital to the engine reliability, Ed bit the bullet and spent some pennies on a dry sump pump
rather than relying on sets of baffling, and we set about converting it, few issues along the way but we got there:
Yes, the belt is too long, we know. And yes, that is a bright pink mug of tea in the background.
This gave us a good 3+ inches more rear ground clearance, so hopefully the rear of the car won't take quite such a battering on steep/stepped
drops like it did at Kirton.
And a shiny chunk of ally billet converted itself into a pulley. Magic, eh?
And a week later:
Onwards....after fitting the supercharger on some temporary brackets, and tack welding the silencer up for it's final position, it quickly
became obvious that our oversized 165 amp alternator wasn't going to fit in the stock location.
In fact, it wasn't going to fit anywhere we could get the belt drive on it, short of putting a gear on it and running it off the flywheel
teeth...which resulted in a slightly poor solution of driving the alternator on a seperate belt that's also driven from the supercharger pulley,
this might result in too much belt slip/wear, but it was the easiest way around it.
Well, the easiest way around it would be to fit one of the new starter/alternator all-in-one units, but the aftermarket versions of those at the
minute bring a tear to the eye and a squeak to the voice when the invoice appears, so that was a no-go.
Try it and see method :p
Did a couple of beer-mat sketches after mounting everything of the old bodywork vs roughly where the new will need to sit:
I, err, well, everyone knows big wing = racecar, and it kinda works:
Old rear with Mazda:
Possible new rear end:
But everyone knows, if some is good, more is better:
One problem with moving the engine and gearbox so far forward, is it didn't leave much room around the radiator/fan setup, so we ended up
chopping those brackets off and moving the radiator up and forwards, not ideal, but cooling takes priority over CoG here:
You can also see how much ground clearance/departure angle we've gained, as that's the old engine cage, which used to have the topmost bar
horizontal.
and a little later
quote:
Bit more of the plumbing and mountings were finished, yes, I know, the outlet on the charger and the inlet to the plenum aren't great, but
it's a case of make something quickly that will work well enough for those pieces, as they can be easily upgraded later on when we have more
time spare:
You can also see the fun we're having with the alternator...
It was starting to look a bit tight in there even with the old cage on, so we cracked on with making a new one (again, out of T45 tube - you never
know if someone is going to give you a love tap up the rear...)
As the dry sump has lots of clearance in the middle between the fittings, we went a little more substantial with the under-engine guards this time,
as we were forever beating the old ally sump plates back straight after events, it's only thin-wall tube so it weighs very little and gives a
lot more stiffness behind the sump guards:
Oh yes, we mocked up the silencer there too, just about fits :hehe:
And the new engine cage from the side:
It shows pretty well how much extra clearance we've gained from moving the transaxle/engine/shortening the bellhousing and tilting the
transmission slightly (now there's no torsion housing tube in the way).
Unfortunate side effect is the centre of gravity is going to be higher at the rear of course, but needs must.
quote:Only place big enough for the airbox, means a bit of reworking of the bulkhead though. For the moment it's going to draw from the main
roof-fed airbox, but it'll probably get a seperate feed from the side scoops once we get chance:
Old dashboard got ripped out along with the wiring, to make room for some additional instruments and a new dash:
Still needs a rub down with some sandpaper and a brushed finish creating to keep reflections down, plus waiting on a few more electrical/gauge bits,
but:
Airbox top finished off:
And on with the weird shaped dry sump tank (only place we could find for it is behind the pulleys in the rear engine cage - believe me, we looked
elsewhere - hence the strange shape:
And the arrival of shiny bits
quote:
Okay, whilst the driveshaft angles were still just within limits (moving the 'box forwards didn't help them), with the extra power/stress
anticipated we had a bit of a question mark over the longevity of the CV joints, they get pretty hot from the transmission loss as it is.
Anyway, after a few weeks thinking about it, we bit the bullet and decided to go with longer driveshafts to reduce the angles. Of course, that means
moving the outer CV joint outwards to suit, and the car is already as wide as we can practically go at the rear that becomes a bit more difficult, so,
cue shiny bits:
Whacking great spindle/hub that's large enough to pass the CV joint right through, with ally upright to bolt to the rear trailing arms, of
course, that means we can't drive the discs off the rear of the spindle any more (The bearing preload nut is there now) hence the ally brake
bell instead of bolting them to the rear of the hubs as presently.
The CV then bolts up to a machined drive ring that is clamped down on by the wheel:
Although, I'm not sure whether to just ditch that and drill the wheels to bolt the the CV's directly to them - we've never broken a
wheel yet so I think it'd be okay.
Bit of inlet manifold modification with a set of old injectors off the RX-8...
Fuel shortage? What fuel shortage?
After a month or so of admiring shiny bits, parts started to go on again:
quote:
You know how I said the dry sump tank had to go in a really bad place because there was nowhere else for it?
Well, here's praying we don't get too much of a love-tap up the arse:
Ed had fun making it though:
And one part I'm sure most of you guys are familar with:
quote:
And the worst part of all builds, just when you think you're nearly done, stripdown time!
Mocked the rear suspension up:
quote:
I reckon that ought to cope with some bumps, eh?
Made a fuel rail and the lines for the secondary injectors:
quote:
Slow going, but the gofasterjuice can get to where it's needed now:
Pissed off on holiday and came back to this:
quote:Fairies have been in, apparently they do panelwork, who knew?
Those paneling fairies also make oil and water header tanks to fit in tight spaces, nice of them:
Packaging starts to get a little bit tight, everywhere...
quote:
Well, as you could guess from the header tank locations, space is getting kinda tight now, and there's still some more plumbing and
fibreglass/ally heatshielding to go in yet, you don't even want to see it with the dampers and some panels on.....
Bit of framework to make it easier to shape the rear bonnet/scoops, yeah, you know how I said the engine bay was quite tightly packed?
And then onto the bit I hate, damned wiring:
Spaghetti junction time this week:
You know how I said this was the final leg? I lied, there's another update yet
New rear discs being cut as we speak, little larger than the old ones but the same weight:
And we finally picked up the rest of the engine/logging sensors and plugs today, so we can crack on with more wiring, and also had the En14 stubs
machined for the rear arms which the uprights bolt onto, so we can get on with those now too.
Few weeks and it should go 'vrooom'.
Then we have to strip it all back down again for paint and reassembly after everything is trued up, cleaned, lubed, and all the tape we have over the
inlet/exhaust ports + supercharger to protect them needs removing. Bah.
Week or two later after getting the bits for the arms, started to crack on:
quote:
Getting there with the rear arms, Ed finished a jig and tacked up one side just to double check clearances:
Ended up 2.5 inches longer, 2 inches wider, and the driveshafts have gone from 24 inches to 31, which is a hell of an improvement in drivetrain
angles/wheel travel available and how much shock load they'll absorb too. And with it being bolted to the upright, it means we've got more
adjustment for castor and toe by way of shims too.
Right, congratulations for putting up with me talking to myself for this long, you're now up to date
Anyway, I'm currently working on the loom so that will take me a little while (as everything has strain relief loops in, waterproofing seals,
silicone sealent under the heatshrink, etc, to prevent any chance of water ingress or damage from the heat/vibration.
If you've any questions, fire away, the initial blog was mean for a rather less technically-minded audience, so I'd appreciate any
advice/criticisms/questions you guys have.
quote:Originally posted by PhillipM
And, some good news for a change!
quote:
Well, despite not being able to sort the slight oil weep from a fitting, we went to the last event at Ebbw Vale this weekend anyway, and apart from a
bit of a heat problem (long slog uphill through some peat bog, horrible stuff, the car sunk in about half a foot when you hit it), and knackering the
sidewall on a tyre after a little overexuberance through the final chicane - which was made of rock, so not very forgiving - we kept going all day.
As it was, we were the only 2wd car to get around the whole event, it was slippery and very rough and rocky in places, the new floorpan looks like
it's been shot peened underneath from the rougher bits...
Anyway, other than that, we managed to slug around, it was never going to be a course that favoured 2wd vehicles as the uphill slogs were on mud or
peat bog, but we made some time up early on with a bit of gravel track and ended up tenth overall anyway, obviously 1st in class.
Which means we've finally won the 2wd Championship class , and with over 100 points to spare, and we've now got 3 months to make
some more bits to bolt on
Watch this space for the upgrade program
First step is to shift the oil cooler and make some high-flow endcaps for the radiator just to help out with the cooling - it's been perfect
everywhere else but a long uphill slog in peat saw it climb to 105*c so a few tweaks should help a bit with engine life and, more importantly, stop
the driver from looking at the gauge instead of where he's going
Then onto some damper work again and perhaps rework the front end for better geo. and travel, see if we can sort a cheap digi-dash to loose some
wiring from behind the dashboard and hopefully sort out some sort of limited slip diff so we're not struggling so much in the really wet
stuff.
Some pictures from that event:
And before the car got laid up for winter, Curborough beckoned for a bit more seat time:
quote:
Had a day at Curborough on Saturday for a bit more seat time, took my nephew for a spin in it too :hehe: (he also took the first couple of pictures,
and a lot more of the floor, grass, the track behind a passing car, his thumbs...)
Few pictures:
Well, the new arm revealed one stumbling block after being cycled - the existing rear geometry gave massive toe change with the extra travel we were
intent on using, and nothing beneficial either. After hearing Ed swearing about it for a while I had a look and we decided to just re-do the mounting
points on the car and make another new arm - I've been wanting to alter some of the rear geometery for a while, so there's really no
better time than when you're making a new arm.
We've removed a little of the rear camber change, and lifted the outer pivot to help with the toe curve, which now has about half the previous
toe change over the travel and what is there is helping rather than hindering now. As a side bonus that brings the anti squat up a little closer to
where I'd like it, and lowers the rear roll centre which should help with a little more traction/grip.
Cheap and cheerful jig to swap the pivot location over to the other side of the car, nothing fancy but it works:
And on with the new, new arms:
It's actually made the area for transmitting load around the bumpstops and damper mounts much neater so they should end up a little lighter too,
added bonus!
Yep, nice to finally have it moving again, although we did end up ripping the engine straight back out this week for a dodgy clutch bearing,
it's back in again now though, few more finishing touches and back to the dyno.
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, and with over 100 points to spare, and we've now got 3 months to make
some more bits to bolt on 
