japawagons

Are we talking BMW's or Radiators?

One of the important tasks for making this bad boy road legal, was a handbrake. The original Handbrake and Gear Stick were mounted on a massive "U" shapped Panel that bolted up from underneath the floor. Pretty Italian. Basically I wanted to raise and shift the gear selector mounting position, I took it as an opportunity to completely remove this underfloor panel. Being that handbrakes a fairly redundant when circuit racing, I never got around to remedying the situation until now. So I brought an El Cheapo Hydraulic Handbrake set up that I can put on my MSNZ Authority Card. I wanted to buy something of reasonable quality but also had the ability to be either vertically or horizontally actuated. I ended up buying a GKTech unit, which arrived promptly even during lockdown. "Essential" Car parts. Yeah Right. Pretty sure, this is just a Aliexpress unit but hey it turned up quickly enough so I guess I can't complain too much. Wasn't all that sure where this was going to be mounted so I drilled our the spot welds for the original handbrake cable bracket mount. Looks like shit. I don't have any of the original paint I used for the interior, which is definitely a bit frustrating. Feeling like a high strung anorexic these days. All mounted. Decided on a semi vertical lever position. Feels natural enough, elbow doesn't jam on the seat. Underneath the aircraft alloy patch is the original opening for the handbrake assembly. As I have just mounted the handbrake with 4x Rivnuts in the floor, I was a little worried about the rigidity, being so close to this opening. I won't know for sure until I've plumbed it up and tested it in anger. But so far so good, feels solid enough. Alloy tape looks way better than shitty not painted area. 'Cause Racecar. So far I've added another 1.1Kgs, but it had to be done, the weight is in about the best position you could hope for, low down and very central. After the gains from my front doors, I'm still well ahead, so happy days. I've got to decide whether I plumb the handbrake after the Brake Light Switch, or whether I don't worry about it and plumb the handbrake through the switch. I figure it's probably a good thing to have the brake lights come on when I'm tearing a phat cone slide.

Everytime. Just bought a new 1/2" Torque Wrench for home, after doing it everyday, I just can't bring myself to not use one on wheel nuts.

Well that kinda ended up drawing the same conclusion I did...

I absolutely agree, but please explain method. Fuck I have been away from interesting shit on cars for too long, my brain don't work no more. Ex Mechanic Decline is real and fuck it's quick.

Would the Standard exhaust Cam be relatively limited in the overlap that can be produced then? So unless the difference between the 2x exhaust manifolds is significant in regards to the clearance of exhausts gas on the exhaust stroke, then your unlikely to be able to measure a significant change in MAF. If the designs were conducive to creating scavenging then you'd require Dual VVTi to generate Overlap and aid your dip?? Might be waaay off. Likely waaaay off.

@Roman Am I right in thinking you are running a standard 3SGE Exhaust Cam without VVT?

I feel like this very situation would be much more ideal for tuning VVT in general? Being able to measure the Air Flow increase or reduction in real time. If you could fit a MAF as an overall tuning reference on a Dyno I feel like it would be a very helpful signal, even if it's outside the ECU loop. Could you put a MAF or similar sensor in the exhaust also?

I'm of the opinion that EGR is completely detrimental to Power and Effeciency and that is purely used to allow Nox reduction in a Startified Charge condition, because Nox would be prolific in that situation.

This would only occur if you are using Valve Overlap?? Or if the manifold is not allowing full cylinder emptying on the exhaust stroke? But yes, I'm sure you would see a difference.

Can I ask this question? In a road vehicle where harmful emission reduction is not legislated for. Does EGR aid in reduction of fuel consumption? In the situation of pumping losses. BMW Valvtronic system uses variable valve lift to reduce the valve lift and minimize pumping losses rather than EGR.

I wasn't under the impression that EGR was used in a Lean Burn - Startified Charge Situation.

EGR is used to reduce Combustion Temperature and intern reduce Nox formation at the outter perimeter of the combustion chamber. My understanding is that it is purely for Emissions Reduction and does not improve Fuel Effeciency. I stand corrected.

The big problem with Chequebook set ups is budget. Paying someone to tune your entire set up from Cold Start, to Full Load Power run, along with VVT maps and associated varying conditions is unrealistic cost wise. It takes hours. At between $100 - $200 an hour or more. Let alone if they're installing components and building custom wiring looms. Only drug dealers have the kinda spare cash lying around for a professional tuner to build and tune an engine management system from scratch, and end up with a system that has 80 - 90% of the startabilty, driveability and reliability of a factory ECU. Also they're constantly blamed for Failures, so on top of that, usually have super safe ignition tables and wildly rich fuel maps. Which itself starts causing problems. Like anything you can get 70% of the result with 30% of the effort. The last 30% takes time, patience and understanding.

On the subject of Glass 1st. Would using an outter layer of carbon and then supported my 1-2 layers of Glass, aid rigidity but also balance cost? Basically Glass weave is like $60 for 1mx10m. The equivalent in Carbon is closer to $400. Once you go to wider Cloth, it climbs further. My plan is to build Glass, Guards and Bumper, then modify the glass panel, to make wider guards and a splitter mould, then potentially make these from Carbon. But tbh, besides absolute critical weight savings and the wank factor of Carbon, I'm starting to think the cost and repair-ability of Glass makes it more attractive. Fuck I really need to find that properties chart I saw years ago, that balanced Carbon, Kevlar and Glass.

Double post. Sorry about the rant. Total non technical Spam.

This isn't generally transferable to life in general but there is one very easy way to clarify this. If someone is telling you that you're method is a bad idea. Ask them whether they have ever done it themselves. If the answer is no. A grain of salt should be inserted. At this point, advice should still be sought, but aimed in the direction of someone who has experience in your field of exploration. Locked Diff is a perfect example. I used to be very anti locked diff. They're called diffs for a reason, to differentiate wheel speed through a turn. I had never locked a Diff. Everyone who I spoke to that indicated that a locked diff in a FWD is a terrible idea. Had never raced a FWD car. And also never locked a diff, let alone in a FWD car. Found person who ran a FWD car with a locked diff. Advice - fucking awesome on the track. Saves heaps of money. Bit shit trying to move around at slow speed. They didn't indicate that it was either a good idea or a bad idea. They offered a nuanced opinion. Offered Pro's and Con's. In my experience people who know never paint a black and white picture. They will never give you a yes, no, good idea, bad idea. But people don't like grey, they want yes or no, right or wrong.

That GB is looking temptingly good. Floats my boat in all the right ways. The tank colour is rad.

It might give you a clack, like a detonation event but even that's unlikely on a cold engine. In my experience, you won't even get a kick with no spark and engine start. Just a continuously rotating engine. You should be able to pull a plug, and earth it and visually watch the plug spark cross the gap.

@cletus Probably worth asking the question whilst I'm thinking about my plans. Dedicated Motorsport Vehicle with Authority Card. Looking at modifying the original Engine Mounts to effectively make them solid. Using a steel plate welded in to join the outer and inner sections. Is there any reason this won't be acceptable when I get the LVV Cert updated?

Technically they are still in the engine. They're just no longer rotating. Engines in dire need of a birthday. Just checked the Oil Catch Can and it's full. Engine must be breathing pretty heavily. What I've learnt in Racecars is if everyone tells you it's a bad idea, it's generally a good idea.

Don't really want to chime in here, I imagine the frustration is overwhelming, even as a reader this is almost getting too much. So I feel your pain. Does this setup happen to have a Inlet Air Temp Sensor post supercharger? Assuming all the basics are ok, people are alluding to a cooling system change, is there any chance the flow of coolant has been disrupted? I doubt it's air, if your vaccum bleeding the cooling system etc, an air lock is very unlikely.

Spent the day digging... Pretty much all the Alfa Touring Cars were solid mounted. Them using super aggressive 2 way LSDs pretty much convinced me to lock my diff. So with that in mind, I feel like I'm going to start with Solid Mounts. If that ends up being a negative step then I will pour my own Polyurethane Mounts.

Yeah I definitely think it's well achievable. Your work looks really good but that goes along with the general theme of your work. How many layers of Carbon did you use for your dash? I've definitely found this to be the general theme in most 'professionally' built race cars. They just get in and get it done. Fit for purpose quality over perfection is definitely the go. As long as I can end up tidier than a drift car, then i'll be happy. Managed to source a Vacuum pump from the Mrs' Lab. Need the shed to be a bit bigger but once things fire up again, I'll look into moulding. I did some calculations a year or so ago and found that at least 10kgs per panel can be saved in the Boot and Bonnet by making them carbon. Just need to find a tidy way of a making wider front guard moulds. 156 GTA guards are wider but people want moonbeams for those panels, seems wasteful to buy them just to mould.

So.....Carbon Fibre the world... Easy as. Has someone found Carbon Cloth in Widths big enough for Bonnets on Ali?