Rhyscar

Basic specs we are looking to achieve; - At least 4 berth - Off-grid solar system - 200L water tanks - Hot water/shower and larger bathroom - Gas heater - still towable with the Lexus/mid sized car. Here's one basic concept that might work... will develop a few of these sketches until we land on something we like and then convert to 3D... So the idea behind this project is to apply everything we learned from building a transit campervan during Covid. We travelled the country for 4months fulltime in this and loved it. We sold it, made a stupid amount of money off it so why not rinse and repeat right? Ultimately, the transit was only suitable for 2 people so now with our daughter we want something with a bit more living space.

I've enjoyed reading other people's 'other' projects including campervan stuff so will try to post some non-car-related stuff I get up to when I'm not working on the Levin/Corolla/Subaru or Lexus.... So we purchased this sight-unseen at the other end of the north island. Previous owner had stripped it back, had a baby and then realised how much work it is. What could go wrong?!? Last weekend, I towed from Paraparaumu back to palmy with the front of the body flapping around in the wind, roof collapsing etc. 100% dodgy. Wasn't actually attached as welds had broken. It's a 15ft generic 80's caravan. 1930mm inside height currently. Bearings and frame seem to be in OK condition, everything else needs some work. Good thing it was cheap. Aiming for basic use summer 2024 and completion by summer 2025 as finishing the Levin is taking the priority currently. We were looking for a blank canvas to start with so this should be perfect once we address some key issues; - Replace roof skin & frame. Aiming to make it 100mm higher in the centre - Replace front and rear panels (lower) - Relocate a few windows - Repair frame, particularly where it's been cut to run elec wires. Might rebuild parts of it to allow optimal window placement. - sandblast & paint frame. New tow hitch/weld mounting plate - New brake calipers (brackets and discs already there) - maybe replace 12mm floor with new ply Have now propped up the roof and bolted the frame back to the trailer in preparation for towing it back to Hamilton.

Yes but no for a few reasons. I've gone with a MR2 electric PS pump because they've proven to be very reliable in different racecar applications. On-the-column electric powersteer units are good, but are tricky to get feeling right and typically involve welding/replacing the steering column (difficult to get road legal). On the AP4 rally cars they use a Woodward column and mount and have some technical document with LVVTA on how they get them through the cert process. I pretty much wanted to avoid this level of complexity so have stuck with a tried and trusted electric-hydraulic system.

That’s a good idea. Doesn’t need to be a full shroud just a piece of decently strong stuff to absorb any impact. I really do need to run a pulley kit for 9000rpms but it’ll be a little further down the track. So best to play it safe in the meantime

Been chipping away at this thing slowly. 1. Engine mount mod 2. Remount headlights (I made mounts to suit headlights with broken tabs. Since then, I've picked up a mint set of headlights with all mounting tabs that I'll be wanting to use) 3. Top radiator mount 4. Remote swirl pot/radiator filler cap 5. Radiator piping 6. Radiator shroud & fan mounting A few cool things in this pic. Head light mounts turned out mint. Love me some speed holes Cooling system swirl pot coming along. This will provide high point in the system for filling/bleeding. Still a while until I can confirm exact position & welding in/out pipes for a bunch of complicated & uninteresting reasons... Had to purchase a new oil cooler as I couldn't find fittings to suit the one I had (not AN or ORB or NPT grrr). Along with that went an unholy amount of $$ on fittings.. But at least it's looking a little more finished. Braided hose runs are super nice, no tension and sit nicely. Although I did wonder whether snapping/throwing an Alternator belt could take out a hose. Anyone had this happen before? Might need a belt guard (that meets AS/NZS 4024 and painted yellow of course ) I had the throttle cable extended by Apex auto centre here in Hamilton to reach the front of the engine. Super tidy route I'm very happy with how this turned out. My wife got me some DOORTY personalized plates for fathers day. Always wanted this plate for this car but could never justify the cost. Now its getting closer to running I'm super excited about it. Got the slim option and it fits the rear diffuser MINT. Looks like it was made for it, and much more aerodynamic. Has anyone had experience with non-standard plate mounting like what I've done? Might be fine, might not. Drew has been working away on body wiring loom. Steering wheel and dash sub looms are done. Super happy with quality and finish of work. 1000x better than what I could of achieved. Forgot to add, I started mocking up sheetmetal for the powersteering cooler ducting. Have had this sitting in my head for a while so good to see it come to life in cardboard. Need to do similar ducting for oil cooler once I work this side out. I think I'll add some 'bypass' holes as the powersteering cooler is so tiny and won't let much air through/doesn't need much cooling.

What an epic time to be involved with Ralliart! It's amazing what they did to make production vehicles survive the beating they got.

Yeah I agree the group A era was the closest WRC has ever been to production cars and it produced some amazing cars from Toyota, Subaru and mitsi. The European manufacturers couldn’t keep up with what Japan was producing. I need to take you for a ride when you’re in town it’s quite an experience for a factory car from 1996. Toyota was actually dominant in 95 and I’m not certain Subaru would have won the championship if Toyota hadn’t been caught cheating. But I look at a Toyota GT4 (even an RC) and I’m not inspired the same as there is such a massive disconnect between the production and rally cars as they were marketed as an executives fun toy with plush leather seats etc. Whereas I feel Subaru and mitsi were selling type RAs/RS’s in a form that was true to their rally beginnings.

Oh also added a genuine Subaru air filter cause the k&n filter was giving me anxiety about my MAF fucking out.

Speedo cable fixed by local company apex auto centre for a fraction of what a new cable would have cost. Massive win. drove it to brunch with family this morning and god damn it goes like a cut cat! And then the clutch decided to start slipping…. So will put that on the next-year list to sort… Here’s an engine bay shot because speedo cables aren’t very interesting. Everything is mostly there, bar a few bits of trim on intercooler and turbo shroud. These are common to all v1-2s so shouldn’t be too hard to find. interestingly, the RA’s never got the red sti manifold cause this one has an extra unused injector in it. It has an aftermarket radiator which I’ll paint the top of black (not available through Subaru anymore) and generally give everything a once over with black rattle can.

Also here’s a sneaky peak at speedlines. Again, found out people selling shit suck as the centre bores are 54 instead of 56 that all 5x100 Subarus have.. Were advertised as fitting gc8/Subarus and I double checked with seller also. on the plus side they are super low offset for Subaru (35p) so fit really well. Hoping the monster truck height will prevent rubbing. Not a big issue, just need to get bore milled to size but this will go on the back burner for a while.

After a couple of goes I managed to track down the right bushes to rebuild the shifter. Feels so much nicer now. But man what a prick of a thing to work on! Haven’t sworn at a car so much for years… Also took on first 15km drive to get fuel from Te rapa and half way the Speedo stopped working and then got a check engine light. After some research found that without speedo reading and after 15mins of driving it throws a check engine light and limits to 4000rpm. They use a mechanical drive to back of dash with some whacky clips so will see if I can get cable remade. New ones are available but very pricey so will try a local shop first. Hoping to take for a Sunday drive this weekend. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

ITB's have made a comeback into the project plan as I've quite easily solved a couple of the headaches they were giving me. I'm quite happy about this because induction noises are great. SQ-engineering do a pull-down throttle bracket that relocates the pulley to use one of the TB shafts rather than sitting on top; Freeing up space for the fuel rail. So clearance to the bonnet is very tight. I've adjusted the drivers side mount (with a grinder) to lower the engine another 6-8mm or so. I'll also skim some mm off the manifold on a angle to pick up a bit more clearance. Despite this, I will need to custom print some funky-shaped trumpets to make it work with no bonnet mods. Here's my clearance for the fuel rail. Still working out an exact plan here but seems achievable. Next on the list is sorting out the engine cooling system. The 2zz cooling system works the opposite way than I thought, which is a bit of a mind-fuck with a dual-pass radiator. Anyone have experience or handy diagrams for a dual-pass radiator? I'm assuming Hot in the top and cold out the bottom like normal? How to bleed/prevent air bubbles has me a bit stumped as my swirl pot/fill point will be on the hot side (right side as it comes out of the head). I've also got a massive list of fabrication jobs all required to mount the radiator fans... 1. Engine mount mod 2. Remount headlights (I made mounts to suit headlights with broken tabs. Since then, I've picked up a mint set of headlights with all mounting tabs that I'll be wanting to use) 3. Top radiator mount 4. Remote swirl pot/radiator filler cap 5. Radiator piping 6. Radiator shroud & fan mounting Putting this here for future reference.

Due for a bit of an update here. Finished off battery mount, passenger footplate and switch panel. Drew is making headway on the chassis harness too. Switch panel design is quite neat and includes all the start/stop and major controls for the car, with the rest on the steering wheel. Racked my brain for ages to figure out how to mount without lots of fasteners. Made some little tabs that slot into a receiving plate. Should make it easy to pull apart/troubleshoot in the future if needed. Welded up a co-drivers footrest. Came out nice. Need to resist putting my feet on it and scratching it until it's powdercoated though! Also, how good does the fuel pump setup look with unicoils to support the rubber hose? A++

Thanks @kpr sounds like it’s worth a go at home. I’ve got 1m of it so can have a second go if I screw it up

Thanks heaps, I should have looked at the data sheet first it’s been years since I checked it out. Definitely sounds like a milling job ah ok that makes sense about fuel rail extrusion differences.

Yeah having it leak would suck so wanting to do it properly. I’ll try to clarify my question Is the hole you need to drill a standard size for most injectors or are they brand specific? Also, which orientation does the extrusion need to be drilled in? I’m guessing the beefy side but seemed weird it’s offset/not central to the hollow section? trying to figure all this out before I order injectors so I get all the right bits with them first time round.

This is what the intake looks like. Should have sufficient space..

So firstly, I know almost nothing about injectors and fuel rails. All the cars I’ve owned run factory setups so I need to learn something new here. This is for my 2zz racecar. NA modest power, nothing special. I’m wanting to use a Bosch EV14 injector for improved atomisation, and because the factory setup looks terrible/injectors I have are completely unknown. A while ago I bought some fuel rail extrusion thinking once I saw it the puzzle would make sense and everything click into place… and I’m still stumped. 1. Is there a drawing/sketch showing the injector/rail interface point, tolerances and required seals? 2. When ordering injectors are there different seal/extension options to standard sizes? Are they brand specific? 3. I saw a thing on YouTube with a stepped drill with correct step. Are these needed/where to buy? Would be great if I could do all this at home with a welder and drill press but happy to get stuff milled if needed. Factory these systems are non return, but I’ll be returning back to fuel tank. Thanks in advance for your help!!

Wow I can't believe that's still on youtube...

Nothing of value to add here other than encouraging you to do this silly idea. We tried a woodstock/diesel powered 4age once. Was a bit low on compression and had a headgasket issue. 7%RON was obviously no good. 8% or 11% Cody's would have done the trick I'm sure.

Putting this brochure here for reference later on:

So wife and I have been looking for a sunday cruiser for the family for a while now. Won't be a forever car like the Lexus & Levin, but should be enjoyable to own & do some basic Resto stuff for a few years. I've always loved Subaru's based on their rallying pedigree, having spent my teenage years drawing Subaru rally cars and building Subaru models. My family wasn't into motorsport/cars back then so I didn't ever get much exposure to them. Found this 1996 WRX STI Version II Type RA V-Limited for a reasonable price. This is the first of the V-limited models which was released only in JDM market celebrate Subaru winning WRC manufacturers championship & Colin McRae winning driver title in 1995. It was also the last year Group A regulations were in place - meaning the road car was much closer to the WRC car. From 97 onwards the 2-doors Subaru's were based on World-rally-car regulations and didn't have to adhere to production vehicle specs as closely. This was the top-dog model with a bunch of special homologation features/quirks; Closed deck block, forged pistons, rods, mechanical lifters, fancy valves & TD05 turbo. Reportedly made around 300hp from factory (a shade more than the 206kw JDM gentlemans agreement) 5th injector in intake plenum (unused in road form, this was a homologation-special) Intercooler water sprayer Short ratio gearbox with Centre control diff (DCCD), rear plate type LSD Lightweight glass (green tint), lightweight panels/bonnet Seats with Colin McRae/Derek Ringer signatures Roof hatch, Wind-up windows, no rear wiper, aerial on A-pillar, black door handles, no sideskirts/basic bodykit etc. Weighed in at 1150kg or so. This one may be a little more as it was optioned with AC and a radio. no. 367 of 555 built (Based on Type-RA registry, I estimate theres maybe 100 left in the world?) These were pretty much group N rally cars from the showroom floor. It's 98% original which is super important. Has done high KM's (238,000) but last owner had for 13yrs so hasn't been thrashed too much. Generally rust-free but needs a good mechanical strip-back and freshen up and underbody tidy-up. To do list (in no particular order): Paint tidy up (bumper, bonnet, roof) Replace Shifter linkage Clutch Plugs/filter & general servicing stuff Swap out dumpy exhaust to something group A inspired Not planning to do much to this car just drive it every so often and do some basic restoration work. Focus is still on getting the Levin racecar finished by the end of the year. It was also my first experience towing with the Lexus and god-damn its a great tow car. Good noises, super lush, towed like a dream (even with very poorly loaded car). Used all the fossil fuel. First order of business was to acquire a set of gold Speedline wheels for the full Colin McRae look. These are the 17" version of the wheels used for Tarmac rallies in 1996. Will report back in a few weeks when I get a chance to get these on the car.

Man that sounds good!! Will be weirdly out of place in the Carina but that will add to the fun. Also a side note on changing belt path... I've seen what you've done cause vibration issues in high-revving Honda F-series engines. Ended up snapping main M12 alternator bolt/killing alternators. Turned out there was a reasonant frequency along the long straight run of the belt that came out at certain RPMs. I'm sure theres a way to calculate/avoid this if desired. But just a heads up since you'll be revving to the moon.

I feel like drag racing is the wrong motorsport type for a 1NZ...

That's quite average power output from a 2zz. By the looks of the dyno curve it must be using factory headers... 140kw is typically what you get with a good tune. But 1NZ is a lot more impressive than a 2zz cause it has 0.5L less capacity!