touge's ae101 racecar - ‘fab it all from scratch’ project

[HighLUX]

God it went like a cut cat. Got pulled up driving it home from hamilton. Fuel lines held on with cable ties and holes in the floor from rocks were LOL

[Vintage Grumble]

There are quite a few builds but it should be relatively simple. a lot of guys buy cams pistons etc etc but don't really want to down that path.

yeah engine bolts in pretty much as it uses a c series gearbox. will keep and eye out for a c60 6 speed but they are hard to find and about $1300.

Only a small plate is required to adapt drivers side engine mount.

how is the maxima going??

 

Well shit me, I did not know this. I was joking about slapping one in the wag, one day maybe. Good luck sir, I watch with great eagerness.

[Rhyscar]

i'm sure it would go awesomely in the wags! engine conversion packages are still super expensive for these engines though they go for about $3500 with box and loom etc.. too much for my pockets hence starting with a whole bunch of pieces.haha

 

 

more progress on the weekend:

 

here are some pics of the wheels and fitment luckily my race wheels fit perfectly as well with 25mm spacers all round.. if only I could find some 0 offset wheels that look awesome on fwd cars.. maybe some sportmaxx's?? lewl. also took the crappy castor adjustors out.. fuck me I am lucky they held up were bent and thread as screwed and bolts only held in by a few threads... just yuck never again! so this is how it will sit now camber-wise. will pull some castor into it on the top hat when shocks are away getting shortened.. 

 

 

worked out heights and I want to go down by 10mm all round. I will shorten shocks to this height and then wind the coilovers down a bit more (cert height is +/- 5% which adds up to about 15mm.. worked out heights for shocks and need to go 40mm shorter in the front and 80mm shorter in the rear to make captive for cert. will give about 50mm compression and 20mm droop in front and rear will prob only move 10-15mm with the springrates. guna be sick-O. will get them sent away in the next couple of weeks for shortening.. had a look at front springs as well and to my suprise they are 400lb springs.. but still rolls waay too much.. mate reckons 450lb might be a bit hard and I think i agree. will prob run it like this for a bit with the stiffer rear swaybar and see how it goes. 

 

had a bit more of a think and measure for the gearstick.. needs to be raised 300mm from the top of the tunnel and back by about 200mm from standard position. should work really well with the reverse h pattern and being at the right height! been working on CAD during smoko/lunch but just trying to figure out the best + lightest way to manufacture it as there are a few weird angles for widths of bolts etc... might simplify it a bit by oversizing the base and having the sides straight. need to make sure I make enough allowances for switches etc. 

 

have decided to strip the dash and wiring right out of the car as it has always been messy. will run the car ancillaries off one circuit/fuse board and the engine and fuel etc off another for future engine swaps/changes in wiring. means I can get rid of double ups in wiring from blacktop conversion and pull the heater out and replace it with a smaller core that is only wired to go on hot as that is the only reason I need it.. might look at sorting some manual windows but haven't thought that far ahead in detail yet..

[Vintage Grumble]

Any up dates on this chap?

[Rhyscar]

sorry I didn't see this VG! got a bit of an update here.. Still no real good progress but It's getting there.. see below

[Rhyscar]

The bottom end was put together with copious amounts of bourbon and a fantastically dimensioned TE37 chillirim!

the 2zz is a really well designed bottom end with strong crank girdle and all nicely packaged. the head is even better designed with direct and short intake and exhaust ports.. looking forward to hearing this thing scream I think the 2zz design has plenty of potential in the future as more engines are parts become available! 

Test fitted the flywheel and turns out I can't use the 4age flywheel bolts (5mm longer) and seeing this is a weak point of the engines I'll be ordering some ARP bolts to suit. 

 

[Rhyscar]

Engine is all finished. Ended up pretty much replacing everything in the head except the intake valves as it was in pretty average shape. 

 

 

On top of that I ordered a whole bunch of goodies from Monkey wrench racing including; Kaaz plate diff, ARP rod bolts, Cosworth super-thin head gasket, Uprated valve springs

 

Extended the steering wheel for my intended seating position.. now I need to remount every single switch in the car as it can't be reached from where I'll be sitting! and this has to remain road legal so may be a challenge.. 

New steering wheel waiting patiently as well..

 

Finally decided on the scope of inside of the car.. was unsure whether to leave it or strip it and do it properly. I've opted for the later. removed all the heater etc and the extra sound deadening and all wiring out of the inside of the car. Will make a whole new loom (so much had to be re-wired anyway), one for the body and one for the engine with two separate circuits to keep it simple. 

 

So as this is still going to be a road legal car, I needed some form of demistability.. a friend put me onto a website called T7 designs in england who make these lightweight heater cores. It is the same unit all the WRC cars run weighs 1.1kg and puts out 3.3kw of heat (apparently about the same as most normal cars). Was really reasonably priced and a good options for this type of application. 

 

So engine-wise I've been planning the intake manifold which I'm still trying to find someone to CNC (haven't heard back from my contacts ) The easiest (and best) way to do an intake manifold was to make the blacktop throttle bodies round instead of the odd shape they are from factory.. machined them out and pressed in nice inserts with a 2mm (dia) taper. really nice finish I think this will work a treat. 

 

manifold design to bolt blacktop ITB to 2zz head;

 

Got a bit more research to do on which injectors to use for the outboard injectors. I will def run a bosch motorsport injector but which spray pattern and angle I'm waiting to hear back from WRC developments who will be tuning the car as he has had a lot of experience tuning mid-90's BTCC cars. I'm in the process of drawing the throttles from which I'll be able to design the outboard injector cradles and start looking at the airbox design. 

I'm interested in finding more information about venturi effect in airboxes where tuned systems will run a small slot to accelerate the air through at a certain speed. This along with some positive pressure formed by having the trumpets just behind the grill should ensure I reach my target of 140-150atw kw with the right amount of outboard injection..

[Rhyscar]

So I've also decided to go balls to the wall with the braking system. I wasn't really happy with the proportioning/reliance on vacuum for boosted brakes which couldn't keep up with my left foot/aggressive braking at the track. The only way to go was to do a pedal box so I've got one on the way from stateside along with some dynalite 2 pot calipers for the rear. Hopefully this should sort the braking (exactly the same as we run in the ae82 which brakes AMAZINGLY)

This all means getting rid of the handbrake as well which opens a whole new can of worms with keeping it road legal..

 

Got myself a new computer a couple weeks ago with the intention of setting myself up for cash CAD drawings and being able to design more stuff for my car at home where its easy to pop out to the garage and measure stuff up. Got a mate of Nick's to build me a machine (runs a IT company). pretty happy with it definately well spec'd although wondering about throwing another 8GB ram at it for some of the larger CAD stuff I've been playing around with (also not sure how stable my version of Solidworks 2014 is..) 

 

So while I've been waiting for parts to arrive/more money to arrive I've been thinking about finalising a few of the details inside the car.. Think I'm pretty sure what I'm doing with the dash (carbon ae111 skin and ali supports etc), so next thing on the list was the hydraulic handbrake. After having a quick look at aftermarket stuff I was very unimpressed. There was nothing really nice available and due to my unique seating position and gearstick arrangement they wouldn't have worked anyway. So I set about designing one to suit.. 

 

Ended up mocking up the ae101 tunnel so I could see how it will all fit (both the handbrake and gear raiser bolt up to standard bolt holes)

The top of the handle will sit just above the base of the shifter. I'm confident this will work with my seating position and the bio-mechanics of my arm.. 

 

Another bonus is the entire assembly (excluding cylinder) only weighs 899grams.. 

 

 

I wanted to intergrate the proportioning valve into the assembly so I didn't need extra brackets/complication. 

 

Due to needing to be road legal I needed a lockout system for applying the handbrake in parking lots!.. most use a simple latch-over rachet type system which I didn't really like due to the possibility of it accidentally coming on while going over a rise/bump etc. 

So I designed this little locking mechanism. has a small spring built into it as well so it will spring down (unlocked), to lock you simply pull up the lever until it clicks into place.. To release you simply take the weight of the handbrake and it will release itself! 

 

Originally I was intending on having a shorter handle but how it worked with the gear raiser making it longer was better. I was a little worried about the handle bending under extreme force. So i ran a simulation of my hand pulling 500N on the top and a 5000N resistant force from the cylinder (about 1:10 pedal ratio). Passed with flying colours it is suprisingly strong! 

May have to run quite a big cylinder to reduce the travel - that might be a bit of trial and error when I get the pedals and rear calipers set up..

 

 

I designed everything for ease of manufacture so in the next couple of days I'll get all the profiles ready for water cutting and get a guy and work to weld the few bits of ali together. There is a small amount of machining needed but shouldn't be too bad. I'm aiming for it to cost under $200 all up. Although I will prob go to the effort of getting most bits anodized or powdercoated before putting them together so everything looks flash..

 

 

Still plenty more stuff to buy on the horizon.. most of the big items are;

Link G4 extreme

Racepak dash (or Link if they bring it out in time!)

Custom radiator

C60 Gearbox!!!

Injectors

Carboning the dash, bonnet and possibly the door cards

Shorten shocks (for now still indecided on replacing them with custom (read: $3500) Bilstein items

Another set of Racetech seats and belts - my original set have made their way into the KE20 rally car.. 

Urethaned engine mounts

 

That should take up my racecar budget for the next 4-5months at least.. then it will be time to tune it and road test the shit out of it before taking it around the country visiting racetracks/backroads.

[Rhyscar]

Engine pics..

[Rhyscar]

Bits and pieces for hydraulic handbrake/gear raiser

 

Big thanks to Jase for machining this for me.. Still got to test it out and put on engine etc but it looks sexy as shit!

 

C60 Gearbox - diff to go in over the next month and will replace any bearings or synchro's which need doing while I'm in there. 

 

2zz all ready to go apart from missing a few bits and pieces and needing to be repainted.. (lol thanks lt Dan)

 

Pile of stuff waiting to go in the car is getting larger by the week. Waiting for quite a bit of Laser cutting to be completed at the moment which should see most of this stuff installed. Also taking some time off work to get stuck into it and get seats mounted and pedal box installed. Also need to decide how to go about repainting the inside of the car.. Just done this job on the rally car and its a PRICK so not sure quite how to attack it as I can't get the Gunmetal grey Hammerite paint I used originally to do the inside.

[Rhyscar]

Oh yeah and this... starting to gather my thoughts from the last 12 months as to how this ITB/outboard injection is actually going to work. Looks promising/boss. 

 

[Truenotch]

That is going to be awesome. 

 

[Rhyscar]

hah I've just got to finish it is the problem.. 

 

Can anybody recommend a good anodizing place in north island somewhere preferably? Looking to anodize quite a bit of stuff for this and the rally car also. 

[eke_zetec_RWD]

Advanced anodising on tokaroa. They real good and very fast

[Truenotch]

CXGPWR's bathtub anodising service. 

[Rookie]

Great work Rhys!

[Rhyscar]

So got the shifter mounted tonight and tested out my seating position - It's mint!! need to bring pedals towards me about 70mm though but that is doable and actually makes clearances around the steering column better. Mounted the AW11 shifter as well for my reverse H-pattern. Couple of small things to tidy up but getting there. 

 

Worked out what I'm going to do for the gearshift linkages as well. Will use a couple of levers on some bearings with adjustable pivot points so I can adjust how short I want the gear change to be. Will get onto some solidworks drawings and make sure it is going to work. 

 

[Rhyscar]

Done a few small bits and pieces lately. Nothing that exciting as a) it's fucking cold and have zero motivation/heaps of other stz going on lately rally car, rallying, having a girlfriend 4 hrs away and a drinking problem is succeeding excellently at emptying my bank account a couple days after each paycheck..

Oh yeah and new reyums for new daily/towcar (just thought I'd share) just need to get it tinted now..

New shed is super lush as well

Bought a new racetech seat for this thing as my other seats are currently living in the rally car. Hopefully won't be forever but with the goal of going fast on backroads/doing targa eventually I thought it would be better to spend the money on safety..

Bit annoyed as it was advertised as good condition but I'd call it rough at best. Heaps of holes in fabric and is dirty as he'll. Think I'll be ringing up racetech and ordering a new cover to male this look brand new again.

It's a 4000WHR (wide head restraint) and is slightly challenging to fit in the hole. Need to cut out tunnel and replace with panel for seat mounting. Just need to find some time and motivation.

Mounted the heater some time ago with sweet little brackets and lots of cap screws/rivnuts

Also properly mounted my gear shifter thingy with stainless cap screws and all the correct fasteners. Spent like $200 on fasteners so far so will see plenty more stainless cap screws and rivnuts as this car progresses

Starting to design all the linkages and shifting mechanisms in my head but trying to hold off modeling them until I get some work done on the calf feeder as that will actually earn me money!

Sorted rear brake mounting finally to the standard I wanted.. loved using my drill press..

Also bought some new trumpets. Took frigging ages to arrive from T3 and had to chase them for 2 months but got them eventually

[Rhyscar]

Have made a bit of progress lately.

Mmmhh 6 gears..

Found some goodies inside, the gearbox had been rebuilt previously and found a TRD LSD in there as well. Didn't have any wear on the synchros or the diff and looked to be TRD oil in there so that's always a good sign.

While the gearbox was apart I took some time at work to sandblast the casing before putting it back together with new diff bearings and a couple of new bearings inside the box and a seal kit

Also blasted the timing chain cover to get rid of the green. Have clear coated the bottom part and the top will go the same color as the rocker cover.

Intake manifold mk 2. Big thanks to jase for sorting this. Still some small adjustments to make for a perfect fit but almost there. Nothing that can't be sorted out with a file. Also struck a problem with the vvti solenoid plug being in the way. Need to work out how I can rotate the plug by 180deg but leave the solenoid in the same place.

Got heaps to do at the moment with the pedal box needing finishing, seat mounts to do, sump to baffle, rocker cover to clean up and refit with cam timing cover, shorten 4age flywheel bolts and fit gearbox and clutch then I'll be ready to mount it in the car and fab up and engine mount.

While all this is going on I'm in the process of designing some coilovers bodies for some 42mm inverted bilstein shocks. Should be good to get them sorted!

[Rhyscar]

Rocker cover all todied up and back on, timing chain cover back on, 4age flywheel bolts shortened and flywheel fitted. Also replaced all visible bolts with stainless cap screws for prettyness

Just waiting for gearbox to come back with new diff and bearings then I'll start looking at engine mounts

Had an issue with the throttle linkage hitting the rocker cover on full throttle so modified the mounting for the throttle cam and shortened the linkage to suit. Looks like it's factory now..

And also..

Hello valves..