Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Struts...

Spring came to the garage. At last temperature is above +5C and I can work. First thing I need is to prepare struts for making coilovers out of them. Old shocks must be removed. Rust and stupid wrench monkeys made job "easy" with few strokes of the hammer when tightening nut. Ordinary tools failed to deal with this. Some bigger caliber was needed. China made tool (red one) failed immediatelly. However russian steel, some propane torch magic and lots of not so nice language made it. I was not suprised to find, that both shocks were different. One is from Opel, another is "import part". No idea what it is.
Here is final result:

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Months passing

Still nothing new. I doubt that someone is reading this, however - I'm still sick (latent respiratory problems), have found new joy of trying to play with guitar. Was in excursion to garage yesterday, just to charge battery, warm up engine, etc. Did tiny ride. Oh, how I like this car :). I'm pretty sure, that sooner or latter air will warm up and I will be able to breathe in the garage. Then we will see. Funds are ready for suspension purchase and pile of various items are waiting to be installed into the car. I hope I still be able to drive it.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Project is not dead, but activity is ;)

No updates for two months. Sorry. I have no strength to do something in garage. Also have few new toys (non automotive), so no time to spend i damp, cold and dark places like garage is. When it will become warmer - then project will be resumed (suspension, air intake, etc.). Now just I'm just lurking in e-bay and forums...

Sunday, November 30, 2008

996 mono's (blacks)

As you may know, my red porsche calipers are not the best there is. Also, I'm not satisfied with wheel spacers which I needed to use to fit 16" wheels. Current setup is machined Alfa Romeo 166 V6 discs (310x28) and 996 porsche GT3 rear calipers. Yes rear, so technically they are porsche 996 monoblocks, however I cannot call them so, because true 996 monoblocks are 996 NA front calipers :). I have them also, however was reluctant to fit, because it requires master brake cylinder replacement. Red setup is fine, fade resistant, however it does require to have hard foot. And I don't have one :(. To improve my speeds at the track, I need to focus on driving, not on braking. So black brake upgrade is under way. Also redrilled volvo S60 disks (305x28 directionaly vented BTW) will be used. This should fit 16" wheel without spacers (or with tiny one, not 2.5cm, like it is now).First measured all the distances, cut some templates from cardboard. Everything fits ok:
Then ordered batch of carriers at local machine shop. Design has some minor flaws (due to dramatic increases in machining price, I was forced to change initial design a bit), however virtual testing on computer shows, that those design flaws should not affect service of the carrier. BTW, this is for racing use only, not for everyday street application (lowest FOS is around 4, for street you may need something around 10)Test mount on my rusty spare suspension leg. Fits like it should:Volvo disk fits ok, however after it is getting some surface rust, temperature expansion - it will scratch suspension leg. Notice line of rust on the brake disk. That's scratching on the bearing play. Leg will need some modification (shaving few mm) at one place, which looks some manufacturing option - place for thead when using larger brakes. Also lower ball joint is too close to the disc. Compromises, compromises... Hope I will solve them.

Will see how it will perform overall. First painting, then master cyl. replacement to 20v one, and after that I hope I will have real racing brakes ;).

Update for November

Like always, when the air gets cold, I'm getting sick. This year is no exception. Car is left alone in the garage, and I'm fighting with microworld :(.

So there are news for November:Got broken camera as a gift. Managed to fix it a bit, and now I have something slightly better pictures than mobile phone. Can make photos of dark areas (with flash), etc. Cool! :).

Also, taking pictures with flash, and high resolution - reveals all the imperfections, rust, etc. Which are even not noticeable when looking live. So you will see all crap and mistakes I've made. That's not so cool ;).Here are few samples:

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Just enjoying the car, and wasting time in garage :)

It has become tradition, that there are no major updates. Just some small things which I post here. Have been in few events (training sessions), like always - loads of fun, and very weak results. Car is fast, driver is slow :). And nothing changes.

Some materials are starting to gather around motor mounts project:Time will show, what will be the result.

No more visible updates. At last driver seat now is on the slider rails, and I can adjust it's position. That was very desired, and I can now enter and exit the car, without hitting a roll cage with my leg. That's good.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Mounts theme continued

Have heard comments about 034efi solid motorsport engine mounts from very respected person. It was more like horror story, not the comments. Excessive vibrations, bolts loosing tension under vibration , etc. Nylon theme is suspended a bit.
Also had a chat with rally guys. They told me, that load's of ppl are using old 4x4 VAZ engine mounts for rally. Which are silly cheap - about 3$ each. Went to local parts store, and bought some. They are damn too small:You can clearly see, that those 4x4 mounts are solid rubber. Russian made things sometimes last very very well, no matter how crude they are made :). The problem is, that the thread is using M10x1.25 pitch (normal mounts use conventional M10, which is 1.5). Also mount heigh, if I want to put it in the old "cup", is almost twice shorter than needed. Will need to think some strong and elegant solution (it will turn to be weak and horrible to make - as usual :D).

Also manged to change toe settings a bit on the front. Don't know if it's related, the car responded with better turn in to the corners, however horrible vibrations on the steering appeared. Maybe I have tightened wheel incorrectly. I hope so.