Kiwi scratchbuilt

[Lim]

Im working out how to apply a vacuum pump to my transaxle to prevent the leaks!!

I like the idea :idea: regarding the vacuum pump, it will also suck away the heat. Maybe I should also consider applying to my aluminum block which I have just purchased.

I have been re-casting and re-machining the fuel caps 3 times unsuccessfully.:veryangry:
I know I have spent too much times on recasting and re machining. But then if I get it right now it will help and make it easier for my future project.!!!!!!!! Hopefully we have the result in the next few weeks( 4th times).

Russ
Microporosity has less weight on item.:thumbsup:

Lim

 

[Jac Mac]

Lim, The SIX stage dry sump pump that you will need for the RPM you intend to run should help in the cooling of that block.
Might pay you to check on the doorhandles you gave Russ, with all the alloy bits your gathering up he has probably drilled holes in everything to lighten his car.

 

[Lim]

Might pay you to check on the doorhandles you gave Russ, with all the alloy bits your gathering up he has probably drilled holes in everything to lighten his car.

ooops:bash:

LIM

 

[Russ Noble]

ooops:bash:

LIM

Bloody LIM!! :furious:

Never does anything properly.....:furious: There's still scope for drilling a couple of extra lightening holes adjacent to the pushrod socket.:idea:

I guess it's the old motto.... "If you want something done properly, do it yourself" !!!!

Seriously though, I'd be "up whatsit creek with out a paddle" without him....

Thanks LIM. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Cheers,

Russ

 

[Russ Noble]

Russ
Microporosity has less weight on item.:thumbsup:
Lim

Yeah, :idea: that’s why I think Jac Mac’s ‘swiss cheese’ castings might be better for me.

Well I’ve had to redo the mounting position of the housing for the steering shaft bush. Basically I put that in before the steering wheel had arrived and I found that the top of the wheel obscured the top of the rev counter, which was a bummer. I could have rotated the tach but I like to have it orientated so the needle is vertical at max revs. Also the gauges for the engine water temp and oil pressure were obscured as well, so I decided to lift the wheel an inch to cure both these problems. So that cured the rev counter problem but it still wasn’t enough to make the other gauges easily read. I should have checked, but ASSumed it would be fine. By now the mounting bar and housing had been chopped around and modified that much that it was time for a fresh start with virgin tube. Checked it first, this time, to be sure. Nothing like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted….. And all good, so third time lucky!

Then last week we made and fitted up the formers for the enclosure for the water pipes and some of the panelling in the scuttle area that ties the roll cage legs together and adds some stiffness to the cockpit area. A lot of this stuff I have a vague idea of what I want to do but it’s only as it takes shape and I can see it developing that I can actually finalise in detail the dimensions and methodology of the actual construction and how things will fit. It would be a damn sight easier if I had a completed car I could reference, but there’s nothing in this fine city. Plus my car is a bit different to most others anyway, so I find it easier and quicker to work these things out as I go along, rather than to get involved in greatly detailed and time consuming planning of an abstract idea using a lot of assumptions. Guess that’s why sometimes I wind up doing the occasional thing three times over!!!

Leon helps me most Tuesday nights and Lim is doing something for me on an almost daily basis too, so Tuesday night last week was glue and rivet night with Lim and Leon both lending a hand. I use Plexus MA425 for bonding, it has a relatively short working period and we have to keep on the move. It has a long replaceable dispenser/mixer nozzle that has to be discarded after each session. The nozzles are only a few bucks but they contain quite a bit of the expensive glue which is then wasted so I try to prepare as many panels as possible and do them all in the one hit. In the past I have had the glue go off in the nozzle because I had a hold up with fitting one panel, spending too long on that before moving on to the next. Nothing you can do about that though…..Now we are onto generally smaller and less complex panels, that hasn’t been a problem lately, Still it keeps the pressure on!

Hmmm.... Can't seem to browse to get the photos. I'll post this and see what a reboot will do, and that's about the limit of my computer fixit expertise!

 

[Phil]

Russ:
I can tell you "been there done that", its frustrating to have talent and make little mistakes, but I would bet the final product looks great.
I had a similar go round with my column, and wanted bearings top and bottom, but I also wanted a small diameter column. The problem was compounded by my desire to have a small turn signal/headlamp flasher switch in the column, hide the wiring, and keep the diameter down. Well its all solved now after 3 tries, I guess thats the magic number.
I know its a departure from original, but I just wanted that switch there.
Your chassis is unique, and if three times makes it right for you then thats what it is. No worries.
Lets see some photos of the final solution.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Russ Noble]

Hmmm.... Can't seem to browse to get the photos. I'll post this and see what a reboot will do, and that's about the limit of my computer fixit expertise!

Well obviously the reboot didn't work, so the computers been away getting someone with a bigger hammer to look at it. Just back so here are those obstinate pics!

Theres been quite a bit more paneling completed since these photos. Will post more in the next day or so.

 

[Russ Noble]

Paneling around the water pipes has been completed and the merge panel blending into the rear of the footwell area has also been done. Note the 2nd generation gearlever. I felt the surplus grinder handle had more 'class' than the cut down screwdriver Also the scuttle area is well underway. Help here from Lim and Leon.

 

[Dave P]

Russ:

The Kiwi 40 is really coming together nicely. You guys are doing a great job. I am looking forward to photos of you on the track soon.

Cheers

 

[Leon]

Hi Russ, good to see some more progress on the car, That alloy work is looking good, are you going to leave it natural or are you going to cover it with uphosltry. Me personally, I like the alloy race car look but I see most guys here like the plush uphosltry and tidy street look. Some thing I have been wanting to ask is how are you pumping the oil for your G/Box. Keep up the progress, Cheers Leonmac

 

[Russ Noble]

Russ:
I am looking forward to photos of you on the track soon.
Cheers

Dave, you and me both! That's the only reason I'm doing all this stuff! The building is OK, but doing the wheel to wheel stuff is what it's all about.

That alloy work is looking good, are you going to leave it natural or are you going to cover it with uphosltry. Me personally, I like the alloy race car look but I see most guys here like the plush uphosltry and tidy street look. Some thing I have been wanting to ask is how are you pumping the oil for your G/Box. Keep up the progress, Cheers
Leonmac

Leon, Just the alloy, I must say it's starting to look a bit McLaren-esque now! Particularly with the paneling for the seats done.

I'm using one stage of the 6 stage Barnes pump for trans duties. There's more info from about post #154 onwards.

Panelling for the interior is well underway with the main parts for the seats having been completed

The seat formations are a nice snug fit and quite apart from eliminating the need for seperate bolt in seats, and the weight that involves, should impart considerable extra stiffness to the chassis. However, I am now into my fourth sheet of alloy at 9.4 Kg per full sheet so I hope all this construction works as intended. Sometimes I think my target weight of 900 Kg is slowly slipping out the window, other times I am more optimistic. It will be interesting when I get to corner weight it.....

First three pics below show the formers for the under leg seat shape followed by the panelling which forms the actual seat surfaces.

 

[Keith]

Cover it? Noooooooooo :shocked:

By 4th sheet I assume you are talking 8' x 4'? That's some pretty stout ali - should be a stiff 'un (said the actress to the Bishop).

Also like the redundant drill handle. It's got the look of an item which boy 'rice burner' racers over here would spend at least £40 for on Ebay.

You could call it "The MK1 Drifter Shifter" © TM ®

It would make you thousands....

Of course, you would have to make it shiny with a few sparkly bits on and perhaps some aggressive Japanese script..


Idea is free but i would want at least 10% Royalty on Gross Profit mate... :laugh:

 

[Russ Noble]

Cover it? Noooooooooo :shocked:

By 4th sheet I assume you are talking 8' x 4'? That's some pretty stout ali - should be a stiff 'un (said the actress to the Bishop).

Actually Keith out here in the colonies we've thrown off all vestiges of pommie imperial rule, they are actually 2400 x 1200 x 1.2 sheets (1.6 for the floor) but we've been short changed because they're about an inch smaller all round!!:furious:

Also like the redundant drill handle. It's got the look of an item which boy 'rice burner' racers over here would spend at least £40 for on Ebay.

You could call it "The MK1 Drifter Shifter" © TM ®

It would make you thousands....

Of course, you would have to make it shiny with a few sparkly bits on and perhaps some aggressive Japanese script..


Idea is free but i would want at least 10% Royalty on Gross Profit mate... :laugh:

Sorry Keith, but that is MY idea and you are not going to cut into it! I expect to make millions from it and I refuse to have my profit diluted in any way! That is why I am refusing to pay Ron the $350 (and US Dollars at that!) to become a sponsoring vendor and why YOU will never see a royalty payment! :laugh: But thanks for the free advertising!!!

 

[Jac Mac]

Actually, I have been looking for the handle off my grinder ever since you last stayed here Mr Noble, & NO I dont think the pair of Knee High socks you left in exchange was a fair deal!!

 

[Russ Noble]

Haha Jac Mac!! Your workshop is worse than mine, I bet you spend most of your time looking for things in it!! :laugh:

Well the plan for the weekend was to remove the motor and trans so I could get in to finish welding some of the chassis tubes that I had altered to make everything fit. Also took the roof off because I wanted to change the placement of the diagonal in the top of the cage because it was too close to my helmet after I had finalised the seating position.

While the motor was out I wanted to fit a lambda sensor to the #1 primary so I could keep an eye on the mixture. The track is my dynotuning! I had intended to fit it to #5 as that is the cylinder that normally runs leaner with the Victor Junior but packaging considerations ruled that one out. I didn't want to remove the exhaust as I think the less you disturb threads into alloy the better. So I decided to drill the hole and weld the boss in place using a vacuum cleaner stuck up the end of the pipe and an airline screwed into the spark plug hole figuring that with the exhaust valve open the blow/suck should remove any unwanted swarf.

I already had the motor set up at TDC #1 on the compression stroke and hooked the airline up just to make sure my adaptor was sealing nicely. With any luck the airpressure acting on the piston should push it down to approaching BDC which should open the exhaust valve and let the air flow through the pipe.

Jeez! All the air was coming out the #2 pipe!!! WTF!!! Head gasket not sealing? Some major stuff up in the motor? After looking closely at everything external and thinking I was going to have to pull the head, I decided to call it a night since it was getting late. And I needed time to think.....

With a clearer head on Sunday morning I realised the air pressure had turned the motor backwards so that the inlet valve was open, this fed the air into the intake manifold which was taped off at the carb face to stop any crap getting in. The valves for #2 cylinder were on the overlap and the air was going straight thru and out the #2 pipe. Thank god for that!

So with the motor set up with the #1 exhaust valve open everything worked as planned and the sensor was fitted with no further hassles.

 

[Leon]

Hi Russ, Looking at that alloy work I think you are a closet McLaren fan that just can't keep your ambitions away from your 40!! All jokes aside, that is looking really nice and as always the standard is tops, I will have to work very hard when I start my tub to keep up with that Mate!! I was thinking that was how you were pumping to your G/box as I didn't think the P box had an external drive. I intend to run a pump of the ley shaft out the back of mine. I was thinking that a pump such as the fuel pump used for the injection would be easy to fit and drive. Is there any reason I couldn't pump oil with that type of pump??? Cheers Leonmac

 

[Russ Noble]

Nothing closet about it Leon!

You might be interested to know I built this car in 1972/3. Guess what it's modeled on? Only a spaceframe though. And only 1600cc.

The first two pics are it's debut at Ruapuna early 1973.
3rd pic is in the pits at Levin before the first championship race
4th pic Ruapuna championship race
Last 3 are Bay Park championship race

Note the body changes in the Bay Park photos. The early season racing was pretty frenetic and although I usually got pole and the lap record, it was normally only by a tenth or so. I was looking for more straight line speed and tried to get it by lowering the frontal area with altered bodywork part way through the season. That was quite a bit of work that only yielded marginal gains....Maybe McLarens had the original concept fairly well sussed....

Note also Frank Bray's 'Spear Racing' entry also looking for gains with revised bodywork in the later photos.

I also altered suspension pickup points. The pressure was on!

 

[Russ Noble]

Deleted double post

 

[Russ Noble]

As indicated earlier, last weekend we changed the diagonal in the top of the roll cage. It is not a compulsory part of the roll protection structure, I fitted it as a stiffening component for the chassis. Unfortunately, whilst I thought it would clear my helmet, once the seating position was finalised it was just in the wrong place! I wound up moving both ends of the diagonal 100mm away from the tube junctions. Theoretically from a pure design point of view, to gain clearance I should have doglegged it with a 'Y' structure into three tube junctions. But the roll cage material is 38x2.5 so is pretty substantial, thus I took the 'easy' option which I am sure will be more than adequate.

For convenience sake it was easiest to sit the frame on it's side to tig the bottom of the tubes. As it is getting heavier and more cumbersome this entailed chain hoists hung from the roof front and rear to suspend it and turn it over.

I think everything is now going back together for the last time. Sounds like an echo doesn't it......!!??!!??

 

[Jack Dunn]

I very much enjoy your build posts.

A question about your Noble Ford sports racer photos at Ruapuna '72: did you scratch fabricate the bodywork or did you utilize existing bodywork? I assume it was fiberglass?

I'm interested in reference to Leonmac's intention to scratch build his M20 bodywork.

Jack