Rhyscar's Toyota Levin - ‘fab it all from scratch’ project

[Truenotch]

I feel like a scoop will always stand out too much... Like this: 

 

 

We need to make friends with this guy by the way, his name is Markku and he's got a red Corolla with a 2ZZ in it: 

[Rhyscar]

Could you not offset and relocate the intake from one of the similar doo-dadery's

eg. one of these

..but cut and moved to the position you require, being only slightly offset from centre it might still appear stock to the untrained eye.

The problem is it will always look a bit naff. I want to stay away from bad bodykit mods as much as possible to keep flatpeakers at arms length.

To get the performance I want I need a decent airbox rather than feeding directly from a scoop as benefits are +1000.

I agree Markku that car is le' tits. Makes me want to put a big cam in it straight away. Ive got uprated valve Springs already. I'm very interested to see what marks aw11 2zz mods make on the dyno

[kyteler]

The only way I see you getting the clearance required indicated by that picture is remounting the engine rotated further forward or going BTCC spec and flipping it around the other way so your intake points up and exhaust down, followed by finding a gearbox to suit the mew rotational funtimes.

[Rhyscar]

That is 100% in the too hard basket. Car will never be finished.

[Rhyscar]

Clearance isn't as bad as I was worrying about

 

 

 

Starting to shape an airbox that will fit in the cutout below and the inlet for it will be on the passenger side. I'll still consider using a curved trumpet depends on how the airbox comes out. I'm still aware a curved trumpet may help airflow within the airbox considerably but will see if I can make these trumpets work first. 

 

I'll use a half sized civic radiator in the middle somewhere and oil cooler on the left. I'm keen to vent each one through the bonnet to make sure engine bay temps don't get too high. May need to make sure I create enough of a low pressure area for bonnet vent that cooling isn't hindered at high speed.. hmm

 

 

 

Time to start a carbon fibre manufacturing facility in my shed I think. Should be interesting

[Rhyscar]

Beginnings of shaping some things. 

 

Airbox Sandwich

 

 

[78lancer]

I have a grunty vacuum pump in my posession... like proper one for doing that carbony stuff.

[Rhyscar]

Not entirely convinced. Thoughts?

 

[Rhyscar]

So these finally showed up. Pretty stoked to finally get them here. Big thanks to Phil/Fuel for shipping them direct to avoid paying a horrendous amount of GST through customs. GC

 

So these are 3 way adjustable (hi speed & Low Speed bump + rebound) and is a similar design to the Reiger suspension they use in WRC/proper tarmac rally cars but at a fraction of the cost (Reiger's will set you back $5k per corner). I didn't opt for the external canisters as they were a considerable amount more, and won't be needed for getting used to the car and short hillclimbs I'll take part in to start with. I'd consider upgrading to the external canisters when I committed to something like Targa as the additional heat capacity of the oil will come into use when doing longer stages. 

 

After driving the daily on a local hillclimb I really was decided I had to do proper shocks if I wanted the car to have the potential to push my driving and take bouncing off the road out of the head-equation when attacking a dubious corner - more for when the unexpected pops up than when its planned but it will make or break how hard I can drive this thing. Should be indestructable too so looking forward to doing some big jumps with these  

 

Still need to buy springs from summit racing and get some tophats laser cut to suit so when my bank account recovers a bit I'll get them in the car. 

 

[Rhyscar]

Slowly getting these shocks installed. Been getting tophats laser cut, new wheel bearings in front and waiting for 2 of my wheels to come back from being used to test-fit on dads ae82. 

 

 

Top hats sorted. Thinking I may cut the strut tops with a slightly larger opening then tack in a lip to add strength removed when I cut it larger. Rear is a bigger problem than the front but have a solution for now (not entirely pretty though)

 

Got 1x strut installed. Pretty happy with the lengths and heights etc. Guna be so slam. This is full droop.... 

 

 

 

 

So here are a few details about the shocks that make them the tits and worth all the extra money over what I would call a 'street/track coilover' which are fairly light duty (high spring rates, no huge impacts). Some people perhaps have never seen this style of shock before or pulled one apart. 

 

Big strong clevis made for doing jumps and hitting big rocks (all their gravel rally shocks are built exactly the same). Also notice the spring perch not having the stupid double locking setup most coilovers have - it has a small grub screw which locks it once adjusted. 

 

You'll notice the camber washers above. They have been supplied with 3 combinations of camber washers to adjust camber at the hub bolts. This is often done rather than at the top hat to help with guard/strut clearance along with having an adjustment which can't be moved (most rally cars don't have slotted top hats as they can move it you hit something big enough. 

 

 

Shock is held in the strut by one big bolt at the bottom (also notice the adjuster inside the shock shaft)

 

Pull this out and you can slide the shock out of the strut. Essentially the shock shaft you see on the outside is the body of the shock and the shaft is inside the strut body. The main advantage of this is that the body is much stronger when taking impacts - especially on macpherson strut setups where it is essentially transferring force through an 'L' between the hub and the spring/strut top. 

 

 

The next main advantage is the strut body itself has two brass bushes which guide the shock body and essentially eliminate any load on the shock shaft. These are fully serviceable/removable/regreasible and are a pretty robust solution as its easy to replace the dirt wiper seal or bushes. 

 

 

 

Looks like they have only been supplied with rebound adjustment which was a bit different to what I understood. Just means I need to spend another $3k for the external canisters at some point to get the full potential from them. Keen to get the car going like this though, will add external canisters when I eventually get around to doing an event like Targa etc. Good things take time!

 

 

Hoping to have it back on its wheels this week fingers crossed!

[Rhyscar]

Back on its wheels. Height is perfect hopefully not too much guard work to eliminate any rubbing..

[Rhyscar]

Finally got my steering column mounted after waiting for a chance to collect the correct fasteners with a busy few weeks at work. Pretty happy with the result it gives me plenty of adjustment still and is substantially lighter than the factory mechanism. Got a steering boss kit on the way so I can mock up steering wheel position and make sure I'm happy with it before I fully weld. Also got a new TIG torch on the way so if that helps my crappy TIG out I might weld the dash bar into the cage.. 

 

 

It adjusts on the matrix of tapped holes and rotates around the centre of the UJ in 1-2deg increments as such. Plan is to get all this Gold zinc passivated like my subframes so should look pretty swish

 

 

 

 

 

So dad just ordered a set of Enkei RPF1's for the AE82 so I thought I better test fit them on the AE101. Think I need to buy myself a set cause they are stupidly reasonably priced through Barry Manon/MRP and fit my car perfectly!  15x8 +28 for those that are interested. 

 

 

Because slammage... 

 

Love these wheels

 

 

 

Apart from some photo's I've been planning and organising the build properly for a change. I find myself going out to the shed, staring at the car and not knowing where to start so I decided to write myself a list on this massive whiteboard-like panel I had lying there. It's helping me plan and know what bits I can get underway and what parts I need to order at each stage. This project is 100x more of an undertaking than I ever thought it would be and my progress thus far has been pretty pitiful IMO so time to get organised and get it finished!

This list only scratches the surface in terms of what needs doing but should get the car to a good point and give me something to work towards

 

 

Also in a burst of shed-organisation motivation I finally wired up the 4x 3-tube fluorescent lights I had lying around. First time trying electrical thingys and I haven't burnt the place down yet. Garage is well lit now for night time motivation

 

[Seedy Al]

So god damn jealous of your white board.

[johnnyfive]

^ this

[Rhyscar]

So god damn jealous of your white board.

 

 

Hah I had it sitting there for like the last year and didn't even think of using it!

 

I've got another sheet of the same stuff lying behind it currently. Can be anyone's who wants to come get it for a box of beers. 

[BobbyBreeze]

Super cool Rhys! We'll have to get some cams sorted (+roller rockers...?) once you are all go! 

 

Just a thought - can you lengthen the intake manifold (go to a 2nd harmonic) and angle the throttles down so they miss the bonnet? Would be nice to have the space to play with intake tract length later on. 

[Rhyscar]

Super cool Rhys! We'll have to get some cams sorted (+roller rockers...?) once you are all go! 

 

Just a thought - can you lengthen the intake manifold (go to a 2nd harmonic) and angle the throttles down so they miss the bonnet? Would be nice to have the space to play with intake tract length later on. 

 

Yeah that would be nice once its all running. Are you working on some cams for Mark's 2zz powered aw11 by any chance? Is it worth keeping the dual variable timing with a bigger cam or would you recommend ditching and running it oldschool on some cam gears?

 

Glen has got a set of his trumpets on the way over the me which should lengthen it a bit (140mm instead of the 70mm ones I had before). Will rely on a good airbox shape to get any intake gains. I'm going on a very good theory which Murray Coote from MCA mentioned in a video from time attack "its about being not wrong rather than 100% right" so won't be perfect, but won't be anything funky going on either. 

 

Outboard injectors will make up for a bit as well 

[BobbyBreeze]

Nope never done any 2zz stuff which is why I'm quite keen for a look at them. Definitely worth keeping dual variable if you can. Just depends if the cam phasers can handle the extra valve spring load at rpm. 

 

I'm sure it will make plenty of beans, just a suggestion to help packaging if you wanted an option to not cut the bonnet. 

 

Those MCA golds are so great. I'm pretty noob with suspension stuff but it makes sense that hillclimb & tarmac rally cars need the best dampers. The damper has so much less travel to control a heavier spring than in a rally car. Will be interested to see how you get on with them as I'd love something similar for the 205gti build. 

[Rhyscar]

Yeah even with the curved trumpet I'll still need to cut the Bonnet I'm 90% sure.

Hmm interesting. I put uprated valve Springs in it when I rebuilt with the aim of revving it out to 9500rpm if the standard cam would do it.

The reason I ask is currently I've got a g4 atom which essentially has cost me bugger all, but won't run the dual vvti. I need to spare around $2k to get the appropriate g4 to do so... So if I just put a big cam in and ditched the vvti it could work out considerably cheaper considering I've already done valves and valve Springs.. Would need to make sure I retain driveability between 4-9500rpm but I'm sure that's achievable.

Just a thought and not sure if it's worth pursuing. You think it's achievable?

Yeah shocks are where it's at for driving on the limit. So many times you'll see a bump unsettle a car just before it Spears off into the scenery which is what I'd like to avoid. Plus I like quite an aggressively setup car so having it settled when I chuck it into something a bit hairy will make it handle more consistently.

[BobbyBreeze]

Certainly will work fine without the VVT, you will just have to live with the loss of midrange or top end though depending how you time it. Power out to 9500 might be a bit of stretch on the stock cam without VVT I'd think though.

 

Also no VVT makes grinding/setting up cams a bit of a PITA as you have to grind a timing split into the cam so each high/low profile has the correct valve timing. With the VVT active you just phase to where you want at the crossover.