Project 86 - Big technical worklog with 20V + brake + suspension conversion

[rthy]

Heres some stuff I have worked on prior to this forum:



My custom center console. This car comes standard with a double din hole, or something close to it. So what I did is cut up a stainless plate to fit ontop, cut out the hole in the middle for the face and then covered it. I love the finish and its sturdy too. The way the head unit is held in is a different nighmare altogether. I might take a pic of that soon. I think I am going to have a P.H.D is fidely crap when I am done with this car.





This was put in my car when I was getting it ready for my turbo 4agze conversion, it's still there though and will be untill I get an oil-temp gauge to replace it. This is far from a standard mounting job too, the cup was from Speco and the gauge was from Autometer, both 2 5/8 but slightly different sizes, so it didnt fit. I ended up cutting a slot in the side and having a tiny bolt to clamp it to compensate. I also got a friend to tig weld a mount on I made and I had it painted. This is also light but very solidly mounted.



Next up is my "WTF was I thinking?" parcel shelf, a project that has collected dust for a while now, I will get back to this in due time. Here it is the strangest parcel shelf for a Sprinter ever!








I will soon also show my short shifter and revisit my parcel shelf for more work.

[rthy]

well with Gavins idea I tried to solve my water pump problem with using the front asemebly off the 20V and the rear housing off the 4Ac. Now the 20V has one extra blade on the impellor however I found this to be irrelevant. Heres how they looked:



Fitting the two together I found they came within about 1mm flat from fitting. So I very carefully ground down the impellor blades on the 20V water pump. This was a bit tricky as one big slip and it would be the sealing ability of the housing. After taking a bit off I would paint it silver, and rub it against the rear housing which was black to see where the high spots are. Folowed shortly by more grinding. Soon enough the two fit together nicely and I purposefully kept it a close fit for efficiency reasons. The original blades are further into the housing so by grinding the 20V ones to suit I had a reduced surface area to push water. However I think this would be compensated by the fact that I has reduced the tollerances betwen the blades and the housing from about 2mm to next to nothing. Also add to that the extra blade and if that wasn't enough my Hyundai radiator would make short work of any extra heat if there was any. This may even have the benifit of less power losses in turning the pump. Anywya heres how the blades ended up looking:





Now that thats been done look at how the bottom outlet faces staright into the dise of the alternator:



So it's time to make a custom alternator mount and some piping.

[rthy]

Just a short update, I have been held up with my other car and other problems, add to that having another family member hog the garage for weeks.

So what I have done is to take the two belt tensioners off the block and all the cast iron mounts. I did not measure them but I am sure they weighed about 3+ kg together. In their place using a small peice of metal I made a simple looking mount that pivots the alternator from the bottom on the exhaust side down low. I am going to modify a simple 'pull and tighten' tensioner. I bought one of a ST-141 corona today that looks useable.

Other than that I have been do busy to do anything else.




thanks, your right I do do everything myself. In general people don't or can't make things to my standards, or its just too impractical/expensive to get it done elsewhere. The only things I have sent off is the alarm install. I tried and couldnt get it running so the guy found a few wires in the wrong spot (pathetic instructions!) and of course the window tint, I would never attempt that myself.

I am planning heaps still and if you wait long enough it will be all here. Some of the things I havent talked about are:


-Carbon fiber: I found out I can get carbon fiber cheaper than I was intially quoted and hence I will get some and try making some stuff with it.

-The finish of that parcel shelf- I have an idea how I can use it for a mould without wasting it. I might even use some carbon fiber to finish the shape.

-Cometics: nice and mild stuff like a front lip and side skirts from a factory levin


and of course heaps more

[rthy]

theres a composite place that's in Springvale which is in the S.E suberbs. By memory they as follows:



1 square meter of 200g carbon fiber + 200ml of resin for $50. If someone knows a cheaper place then please let me know. This is still bloody expensive however I would probably make alot of smaller things. One of my first things I think would be a skin for the bottom of my sunroof when i take it out. I will have to put a layer of fiberglass ontop though to stop the carbon fiber reacting and causing corrosion, but I will probably just make it a thin layer.


Also if someone knows where I can source Cro-Mo steel from that I also would like to know

[rthy]

well I tried the 20V FWD but not a 16V I am happy to use the 20V front with its pulley anyway. I think it is adventagous because I get to have an extra blade onthe water pump, a newer front, tigher clearences because I ground them myself and thinner blades for less drag.



Also soon I will post some more projests I have in mind of stuff I have already done but not documented.

[rthy]

another mod from a while back:







this is my short shifter. Pretty crude really but works better than what you may think. This was off my corolla T-50 I had spare. I basicly chopped the vibration insulator out and then welded in the shank of a bolt to get the height back up. Doing some driving I found that I had to strech my hand way too far for 1st and 3rd so I cut it again and welded it in on an angle, in the pic its in neutral so it shows how much its be moved towards me back and to the right. After doing that I found it suits me perfect, it stays clear of the hardbrake along with everything else. I think it feels really good, so much so I would stil want this even if I liked to make slow gear-changes. The reaction I have had from people who have tried it has been simular. The only downside is that without the vibration insulator I get more force though my hand, I occasionly feel it jar my hand with a particully vicious gearchange. I am hoping a nice leather gear knob will help a bit there. But all in all it's a minor issue.

[rthy]

and something a bit more recent:







This is a photo of my unfinished boss kit that I made myself, I am currently using it and the only thing it needs is a peice of 3.5 inch pipe to be welded on as a shroud to hide the horn holes, cables, etc... Since the photo was taken I have since wired the horn in and obviously attached the wheel. Notice the base where I am using the original (well a corolla original) plastic plate with the brass ring, this is to keep the horn running. To make this I chopped the center out of my old Corolla wheel and machined it down in the lathe at work when no-one was looking, welded a peice of pipe, made my eloborate flange and welded that on. When I get that 3.5 inch pipe i will take it off again and weld that on. In the meantime however it works great, would be almost indestructable while still being very light and still lets the horn work. I know this is an unsual thing to make but it has worked out well so far and besides I made this during a few quiet times at my work

[rthy]

and more parts again:





Here I converted my own traction and pan-hard rods. I don't think I will end up using the traction rods so if someone wants them for a small price let me know. I will probably make up a few more pan-hards for my friends as well. Right now I am using an adjustable pan-hard that came with my T-18 diff but I will fit one of my own because it will be metric, look better and I will just be able to say that I made it. For both I used grade 8.8 threads and nuts, and the rod joiners are grade 5, the threads are 20mm for the traction rods and 16mm for the pan-hard so I won't have to worry about any of these ever snapping on me.

[rthy]

whoa! thanks Jay, however if your impressed that easy then your totaly going to flip out if I get enough time to make some of the ideas I have. How does this sound for a warm up:

-A 12V industrial programmable controller running a variable length intake system with analogue feedback for optimum intake tuning for most of the rev range. The controller could also be programmed to do various other functions such as shift light control and so many others.


-Homemade composite bonnet with Cro-Mo pipe supports, I am aiming for under 5kg

Also with excentric dual linkage hinges to open the bonnet up and out of the way in a way that hasn't been done before, so I would have total access to the engine bay and also look very interesting.

and so many other ideas that I know are too eloborate or I will never have time to explore, but who knows what I will come up with in the long run.





Also an update:




- As part of a deal I did my RCAs are being machined for me and are in the middle of completeion, they will be 60mm.



- Also part of my deal I will have some lower control arms modified to be adjustable. This means I will have adjustable camber from the bottom not the top. I don't think having a spherical bush in the top suspension is a good idea and just about all but Noltec do this. This way I can keep my stock strut top.


- I am almost finished in me making a custom alterator bracket, I will finish it clean it up and take some pics soon. I still need to find a different belt though that's longer, anyone have any sujestions? is an air-con one longer?

[rthy]

Well I had issue with my second car so I had to take it off the road, so once I got rid of it in a blaze of glory I had to rely on my sprinter as a daily trasport. This is really bad because I can't do things like this diff practically because I have to have the car back on the road the next day. Add to this I havn't had access to a hoist for a month because it has been occupied. Anyway my diff still is one of my higher priorities right now and what I might do is to get my car back on the hoist, take the current diff out, do what I need to do with the brake mounts and then put the current diff back in so I can drive it still. I will need to do that about 3 to 4 times I think but it should only take about 20 min each way. Anyway I am looking for another daily driver so I wont have to do this sort of crap. Also I have been overwealmed with other things that have kept me away from my garage and they will bug me for a while yet. I am hoping to work on this diff in one months time, then I will see if this combo really works.


I tried my 14 inch rim on my diff and I found that because of the oversized disk and the fact that the caliper sits out a fair way it comes quite close to the inside of the rim. If it wasnt for the fact that the disks sit so far inwards then a 14 just wouldn't fit. However that's not to say all 14 inch rims fit, some rims have the recess to put the tyre on on the inside. Rims with a big dish almost always have this and I dont think those will clear the caliper.

One other thing that might cause some issues is that the hydraulic lines coming off the caliper leave off an awkward angle I will probably need an elbow or something to make it work. I will get custom metal lines made up for the rest though regardless.


I cheated when it came to finding a plate to mount the calipers on, all they are are the original AE-82 Corolla ones with the steel dust covers removed, i found to my pleasant suprise that all I had to do was cut the original hole in the middle into a slot and it slid over the diff housing. I will need to brace it but thats very easy. This is have a really nice factory look too which is just what I want for anyone in blue looking at my car.


I have no idea about fitting axels off T-18 into a Trueno, I guess if its a zenki (earlier) trueno then it shouldnt be a problem but who knows