Geoff's Build Thread

Is the lead-acid battery mounted behind your seat on your radar? I would be most inclined to change to a different type or move it.
Yeah I will likely be using an optima yellow top and I'm building a cubby that's accessible from beside driver seat. Fuel tank will be isolated from the battery well, since im not using the standard ports on the side of the tank and everything that's normally in that location.
 
How will you access the battery once seats are installed?
The plan is My interior bucket will have a removable panel. From mocking up the seat sits far enough toward the center console it should be easily accessible. If not I'll design the seat mount to either hinge forward or quickly removed. The access panel is critical for me so I can access and work on the fuel pump as well if need be.
 
Posting this in here SO I don't lose it. Factory service documents by Audi for the R8, Graziano transmission included. I was planning on using the speed sensor for my VSS signal however from the documents linked here that speed sensor is actually reading the input shaft of the transmission so its would be reading engine speed as long as the clutch is engaged to the flywheel. interesting use cases would be rev matching and clutch slip detection.


Im also working on mocking up my dashboard in Solidworks as my dash came chopped up for a different look that i dont prefer. Not quite finished yet but i figure ill just shape foam to the desired look once complete in CAD. Ill cut the dash up accordingly and rebuild with fiberglass.
 

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Mark B.

Supporter
The plan is My interior bucket will have a removable panel. From mocking up the seat sits far enough toward the center console it should be easily accessible. If not I'll design the seat mount to either hinge forward or quickly removed. The access panel is critical for me so I can access and work on the fuel pump as well if need be.
I did the same thing for access to the top of the fuel tank (fuel level sender, vent line)-- made a removable panel on the fuel tank firewall, and another on the interior tub.
 
In setting up the coolant expansion tank system I dusted off the ole Thermodynamics book to check out some water expansion tables. Looks like the standard LS system has 15 liters of volume in the loop, so adding some extra for extended lines and factor of safety I used a number of 16 liters in a closed loop which is roughly 4 gallons. Then calculating expansion rates of the coolant from 20c to 100c it looks like a volumetric expansion of 5.625% assuming no change in pressure. In reality the system will see a positive pressure which will actually reduce the volumetric expansion, so this is a worst case scenario. This indicates an increase from 16L to 16.9L so ill design my system to have a fill level low in my 1.5L expansion tank and include a recovery tank that is around .5L as well. Ive Used my cad model of the frame to design the expansion tank plumbing to T off of the heater core return line with a port for the steam tube and another port on the neck to run to the recovery tank that I'm not sure where I'm putting yet. I pressed out the .75 and .625 hose barbs in the water pump already and replaced them with NPT to 10 an fittings. AN fittings cost are adding up quickly as expected haha. The 10 AN T adapter for my expansion tank is $50 alone but it definitely looks nicer. In the photo below the heater line is red and the return line is blue.
 

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I know you have the car in front of you, but that won’t be a fun location for the tank. Maybe you already rerouted your gas fill hose. But between the fill hose, access to the belt, roll bar, it’s an incredibly tight location.
 
I know you have the car in front of you, but that won’t be a fun location for the tank. Maybe you already rerouted your gas fill hose. But between the fill hose, access to the belt, roll bar, it’s an incredibly tight location.

I hadn't considered the location of the fuel fill. Ill need to look into that more. Thanks for the heads up.

Edit: looked at a few cars that have tanks in that general location and i might have to move it 1 or 2 inches to the left but looks like it will work. Ill test fit with the body on it before fastening. Again, thanks for the heads up.
 
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I couldn't find the exact configuration of expansion tank I wanted and I have a ton of . 125 aluminum sheet laying around so I decided to make my own. I made sure there's plenty of clearance for the gates fuel filler tube and my idler pulley for the belt is on the other side so it's really the perfect spot on my build for the expansion tank. I'm going to offset the fill cap as well for extra clearance but here's the look. It's just under 2L inside...3.5x5.75x5.75
 

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Howard Jones

Supporter
That looks like it would be large enough. Its basic shape is very similar to the one I made for my SLC. Be sure to locate it as high as possible. Above the water volume in the heads is critical.

Here's a pic of mine in my car when it still had a mechanical water pump on the engine. My car "burps" without any extra procedures such as cracking valves or jacking up the back of the car etc. I have run one 1/4" ID hose from the top of the radiator back to the expansion tank and one from the top of the engine to the tank as well. From the bottom of the expansion tank, I ran a larger 1/2" ID hose to the cold inlet pipe to the water pump. This is the lowest pressure point in the coolant system. That is important.

I just fill it up from the radiator cap and run the car. It takes just a few mins to bleed all the air out after the car warms up.
 

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@geoff Pritchett, in another, more appropriate thread, might you give us some insight into what is was like making parts for the Ferrari F1 team? Thanks!
 
I can't tell if your being sarcastic, but since this is the internet I'm going to assume that you are. If you are not, it's much like any other customer. Most formula 1 teams use their parts. We had this Honda f1 V8 in a crate as part of trade shows to display connecters and such. The engine Honda would lease to it's race team at $800k per race season per motor. Pretty crazy.
 

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Chris Kouba

Supporter
I can't tell if your being sarcastic, but since this is the internet I'm going to assume that you are. If you are not, it's much like any other customer. Most formula 1 teams use their parts. We had this Honda f1 V8 in a crate as part of trade shows to display connecters and such. The engine Honda would lease to it's race team at $800k per race season per motor. Pretty crazy.

FWIW, I don't read any sarcasm into that post and even if there was, I will overtly tell you with all sincerity that I think it'd be a great thread to share what you did for any F1 team. Pics if you have them, but I would find an inside the tent look at the circus to be quite interesting.

Chris
 

Neil

Supporter
@geoff Pritchett, in another, more appropriate thread, might you give us some insight into what is was like making parts for the Ferrari F1 team? Thanks!
As far as making integrated circuits (small things which the media always inaccurately refers to as "computer chips") that Ferrari purchased from us, Ferrari's attitude was "You should be honored that Ferrari is buying your product". Their attitude was condescending to say the least.
 

Neil

Supporter
Kinda par for the course for Ferrari. They’re known for that attitude, even just to buy one of their cars.
Yes, and it wasn't always that snotty attitude. I wrote to Ferrari in Modena asking about the proper engine bearing clearances if I needed to rebuild my 250GTE engine and their chief engineer wrote back a very long letter with engine clearance specs and his recommendations. It was in Italian but it was a personal letter, not a form letter. Ferrari used to be quite nice to deal with in the late '60s.
 


Had a good weekend in between work trips with my dad who came into town and helped knock some items off the list with the car. I'm almost done with the plumbing. I need 1 more coupler so I can weld the last remaining radiator pipe! Clutch line is complete with AN fittings installed in the Graziano trans and HVAC line completely run to the VA box thru the bulkhead plate. I also decided I'll replace the factory mini Cooper reservoir with an aluminum one I need to weld up.

I also welded together my expansion tank and ran lines from the heater core to it. I couldn't find one that fit exactly how i wanted, so the size came out to 1.8L of expansion volume.

I finally found a used quickjack3500 on FB market place that had barely been used. The only thing i had to do was replace the old crappy leaky connecters with the new style parker dry break connectors. Solid find for $800 local plus the $80 in connecters.
 

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