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Rhyscar
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Posts posted by Rhyscar
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Sweet falcon in Dunedin. Spotted multiple Barrie’s taking photos in the hotel car park already.
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On 04/11/2023 at 15:49, cletus said:
Yeah it's not too bad, mrs has been cleaning, she's organizing new curtains and we got some carpet to match
Can’t have carpet that doesn’t match the drapes
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8 minutes ago, xsspeed said:
ol guns on the manwell saw
I don’t do wood things so only have steel-related power tools. Increases the non-desire to do wood things/house Reno’s
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Bought a cheap dereg shell to steal a windscreen out of it as they don’t make them anymore for these cars. Could of got one custom made but was real spendy.
so now I’ve got a windscreen, mirrors, wipers, bonnet pins and all the trim back together, it’s starting to look like a car again!
Hoarded heaps of Levin parts from the shell for future Rhys also.
this is starting to look great
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Little bit of progress over the last little while. Got chassis loom back from Drew and got it fitted to the car. Super happy with the fit up and quality.
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Thanks for the info!
Yeah I was planning on sandblasting and strengthening up the frame, maybe even adding a reverse triangulated brace (dunno what these are called) underneath.
And yes wider wheels and higher rated tyres are on the agenda. I’ve got a set of 13” work wheels sitting behind the shed that should do the trick.
No suspension on this one, axle just bolted straight to the frame. Keeping the fixings lightweight will be a priority I’m thinking I’ll make a lot of stuff in alloy and get it powder-coated.
small bit of progress getting this thing onto the back lawn. Required modifying the back steps to be removable to get it past the garage. Win.
Now I don’t need to look at it outside my kitchen window every day!
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On 29/10/2023 at 21:08, Nominal said:
Ironically this other one I'm contemplating is NZ New
That leather colour is my favourite. If you buy it and want to swap it out with a black one let me know
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On 29/10/2023 at 17:50, Nominal said:
I see a lot of Lexus imports are from Singapore, any particular concern with that?
Yeah nah stay clear of singapore. They aren't the same quality/spec as the Jap and NZ new ones. Some wiring is different, generally poorer condition for kms.
If there weren't so many good NZ new ones available you'd consider it. Still way better than owning a euro!!
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22 hours ago, GARDRB said:
Where's the transit build-thread though?
I was on a forum break. Detailed most of the build stuff on a instagram page though (might have to scroll back a fair way) - https://www.instagram.com/backyard.advanture/
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Wow thanks @Stu I know nothing about caravans. Anything to look out for? Unsurprisingly, it is very lightweight and my key concern is repairing the frame so I don't need to run my wooden stripper pole setup long-term. Might beef up the trailer while I'm at it too. I'm guessing these are pretty common issues?
Somehow, Hamilton is the capital of caravan manufacturing so I'm sure I'll find an old barry to help with bits and pieces.
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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.
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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.
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18 hours ago, shrike said:
No plans to convert to electric power steering? Ie from a newer corolla, echo , vitz, prius or GT86/BRZ?
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.
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2 hours ago, mjrstar said:
I reckon for peace of mind a little deflector guard in case of the accessory belt shredding makes sense if you plan on revving it to the moon.
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
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Been chipping away at this thing slowly.
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Engine mount mod2. 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
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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.
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19 hours ago, GARDRB said:
My old pre-trade automotive tutor worked at Ralliart in the Tommi days. He has the best yarns and some pretty epic tech drawings.
What an epic time to be involved with Ralliart! It's amazing what they did to make production vehicles survive the beating they got.
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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.
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Oh also added a genuine Subaru air filter cause the k&n filter was giving me anxiety about my MAF fucking out.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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...
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Engine mount mod2. 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.
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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++
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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
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Rhyscar's Subaru Type RA of teenage dreams... where less is more
in Other Projects
Posted
As summer arrives, have been using this for the odd Sunday drive. Passed a warrant with no issues which was slightly surprising.
The more I drive this, the more impressed I am with the performance. It hauls ass for a factory car and has super short gearing.
My daughter Finley loves it so that’s the main thing
Just a couple of 90s jdm classics out for a cruise
gave the engine bay a good clean/detail. Came up pretty good.
thanks to @Guypie for machining the centre bores for the speedlines out to Subaru size (the reason they were cheap). Also fitted a set of very used 215s as the 235s they came with were a bit balloney.
End result is it looks great on the speedlines. Classic Colin McRae/95 WRC car look
Next on the list is replicating the Group A back muffler and looking for some wind up windows and door cards?