Garage Takai

Had an hour or so again tonight. Pretty much finished off the box part of the pedal box:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32556-2/1000000940.JPG[/IMG]

Needs a few more coats of paint, and waiting on the balance bar so i can weld that to the pedal itself. Pretty much done though.

New exhaust manifold arrived today too:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32564-2/1000000934.JPG[/IMG]

Bought it as it was advertised as a generic stainless manifold, but on closer (not that much closer) inspection its actually an RS*R manifold:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32560-2/1000000935.JPG[/IMG]

Not bad.

Engine should be finished by the end of the week, or early next at the latest. Have to put the new front brake package together too. Pads arrived today, so should be pretty easy soon.

Had a few hours free today, got started on the brake master box:
Cue one chunk of firewall and spare pedals:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32533-2/1000000911.JPG[/IMG]

Made up a box for the new masters to sit on:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32517-2/1000000913.JPG[/IMG]

And will make up another one tomorrow to sit on the inside that i can weld to stuff 🙂
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32525-2/1000000914.JPG[/IMG]

Going decently sofar. Have to wait for my balance bar to be sent down from my parents place, but that should arrive soon.

Oh and checked what the new brake package will look like:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32529-2/1000000909.JPG[/img]

Found some photos which have been put up on Facebook from Round 2. Thanks Rosalie:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32508-1/247817_10150199272237562_605602561_7122831_1293334_n.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32512-1/249940_10150199270897562_605602561_7122806_2514174_n.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32510-1/249795_10150199268362562_605602561_7122750_1934235_n.jpg[/IMG]

Oh and this one:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32506-1/247473_10150199270352562_605602561_7122793_5314116_n.jpg[/IMG]
Trying rallying out for style…. actually trying to figure out where the brake point was, and getting the pads hot enough, and failing dismally.

I swear nothing on this car goes easily.
This weekend i went to install the pedal box i bought from Ireland. I went for that pedal box rather than fabricating my own mainly because they stated on their website:
[QUOTE]Mounts on existing points with external girling cylinders[/QUOTE]
Well, their idea of mounting on existing points in Ireland is cutting and boxing the firewall.
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32473-2/IMG_0879.JPG[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32476-2/IMG_0881.JPG[/IMG]

Pedal box is nowhere near fitting, and according to them “It is impossible to make it use the original mounts and for neatly into the bulk head”

Apart from the fact that Bill’s pedal box seems to do that requirement pretty bloody well:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32482-2/twincylbrake.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32479-2/ae86twinmaster.jpg[/IMG]
Oh and wait for it, it doesnt need any big box cut out of the firewall and a new one welded in either:
[IMG]http://www.skynet.ie/~eireae86/DANCOFRP/Small%20Pics/Shell%20Prep%20-%20Seam%20welded%20AE86%20bay%20-%20etch%20primed%202.jpg[/IMG]
Unfortunately RallyDesign dont seem to make that pedal box anymore.

Pretty bloody pissed off at the moment about the whole deal, given that with the IP regs cutting and boxing the firewall would be pretty bloody dicey.

Looks like im going to have to make my own pedal box now :S

[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/32467-2/1000000871.JPG[/IMG]

Full edo spec for you all.

Well that was a weekend which had its memorable bits, and some completely forgettable bits. Went out in Quali and found a pretty greasy track, got tapped in the drivers rear and spun around clipping Ledger on the way. Buggerall damage to both cars, just a smashed parker and bent tow hook on mine, and some paint from his.
At some point during the session the water temp gauge decided to go the way of the buffalo and jam at 80deg, subsequently i spat the fan belt somewhere down near Clubhouse. So im happily hammering around the track until the cooldown lap when the gauge magically decides to start working again and give me a brief glimpse of the fact that the coolant is around 140deg and rather unhappy. Got back to the pits and then the gauge gave up the ghost entirely and jammed off the clock 🙁 Also for some reason my passenger rear tyre pressure was 10psi more than the drivers rear when hot. Same starting pressures though. Very bloody odd and made for a rather skatey ride.

Got a new fan belt and fitted that up, and then got out for Race 1. Immediately noticed that something felt odd and that the engine was down on power, but it wasnt throwing any nasty warning lights at me, and oil pressure was still fine, so i soldiered on… to a 1:31.6… pretty clear that something was wrong. In addition as the track was now dry i quickly figured out that while the brakes were slowing me down, they certainly wern’t doing their job to the best of their ability, because despite being hard on them with my butt almost out of the seat i couldnt lock the fronts. Power was down quite significantly with the top speed into Northern being 35km/h shy of my usual.
After lunch i did Race 2 as well, just to complete my OLT so i could get my proper licence rather than having to run on temporary ones. Managed a 1:30.6 in that race. Off the start line i set the lap timer G-sensor thingy to a “powah test”. Yielded a stunning 65hp. Not sure how accurate it was as i wasnt able to give it the full distance it wanted, but regardless, thats through 3 gears, so its probably a decent enough guesstimate.

Packed up after that race yesterday and brought it all home. Havnt had much time to do any work on the car today, but i did a quick compression test and got:
1: 175psi
2: 70psi
3: 85psi
4: Dead compression tester

Arrrghhh, more stuff dying. Ohwell.

So from this weekend i now have the following to do:

1. Build new engine, pretty urgent now.
2. Install pedal box
3. Make caliper brackets for Wilwood calipers rather than the RX7 setup
4. Replace coolant temp gauge (and probably Oil temp too since they are the same brand/age).

Ohwell. I have RaceChrono data coming soon too, overlaid on video from the Contour.

On the up side though i have my OLT done, and the car is handling reasonably well, once the tyre pressures were sorted (dumped and refilled the air, perhaps something in the valve). Was a good bit of fun too. New engine time 😀