Track Car Project Thread - Eventually

[neill54]

and what i want to know is whats happening to the 20g hes got on it just now!!

neil

[RA Dunk]

and what i want to know is whats happening to the 20g hes got on it just now!!

neil

Your way behind on the times Neil, he got shot of the 20G a long time ago.

[braveheart]

Close Chris but not correct

Erm not good at this lol Gt30/40 maby not a billet ;-)

[arch]

and what i want to know is whats happening to the 20g hes got on it just now!!

neil

Neil the 20G was John's I hade relocated it for the few races I competed in during 2009, it waa returned to John shortly after. The 20G on a 2.5 is a very very good set up and would definately make a very quick road car.

[arch]

Erm not good at this lol Gt30/40 maby not a billet ;-)

Cmon now Chris I cant give everything away

[neill54]

Ah I see I need to try and keep up!!! And yeah arch think that's about the route I fancy for the new year still want a type r though!!!

Neil

[arch]

Well cant believe its almost 7 months since updating this thread. Partly to do with work commitments and partly down to taking some time away from the car.

The season ended on a fairly successful note I managed to win the Lowlands Championship outright which was very pleasing, I only managed runner up in class in the Scottish Sprint Championship which was a disappointment having won it for the previous 2 years, but saying that I was fairly and squarely beaten by Jim Kelly in his EVO. Jim had a cracking year and I just couldn't catch him so it was a well deserved win :thumb: Also picked up the class win in the EACC championship so not a bad haul for a year which wasnt the best in terms of time at home and set up of the car.

As for this year well decided to have a relaxed year and the car will be out when I get round to it. Picked up a few parts along the way. Decided the brakes needed a tweek so these arrived, new rotors required but other than that they are pretty mint condition.

Definately needed to make the car handle better so these have returned from EXE-TC after a full overhaul and some info on custom settings to make them work for me :thumb:

Decided on a change of lateral arms so sourced these.

Lots of other things happening with the handling side but we shall see how that works out :norty:

Also got another rear diff which is being tweeked to suit, but may well go down a totally different route rear diff wise.

Many more things going on behind the scenes that would be just rude to post up so will wait and see where the year takes me.

[arch]

Well back up to date and not much happening this year due to initially looking to move house but in the end decided to stay put and do some building work so decided a year out would be the best idea. That gives me time to sort things out with the house and at the same time take a step back and look to move the car on significantly.

Decided to strip some bits of f the car but before doing so done a compression test of the engine and was quite shocked as the compression was quite low on 3 cylinders but worse was to come when I took the turbo off.

The turbine wheel is badly damaged as can be seen by the pics, sorry for the poor quality. This explains a lot, the combination of the turbo and the poor compression now makes sense of why I wasnt happy with the car. I didnt feel there was enough of a difference in performance between the 20G the year before and the GT30 last year but think the reasons are obvious.

The Turbo was being replaced anyway and the engine was due to come out so neither are a problem but I have now changed my opinion of rolling roads. Had I put the car on a Dyno at the start of the year I would have known there was an issue but hey such is life. The good thing is it doesnt change the plans for the car going forward

In fact taking the year out makes it easier to sit down and make the right decisions for the car without any time pressures that have constantly led to corners being cut.

Edited June 18, 2011 by Arch

[fai17]

Nice to read up with your build Archie. It's been a while.

No luck with the engine/turbo but without the time issue so you'll no doubt have it sussed.

[arch]

Nice to read up with your build Archie. It's been a while.

No luck with the engine/turbo but without the time issue so you'll no doubt have it sussed.

Already sussed Peter bigger and better

[wilky]

Good to see things moving forward Arch, as Peter says you have time on your side. I was surprised to see the turbine blades so badly chewed up, how long had the car been running like that?

Oh, and congratulations on your achievements! Very well done!

Callum

[arch]

Thanks Callum, not sure how long its been like that but suspect a fair while. It was John's old GT30 which we never stripped before fitting it so not sure when it happened. The car still made boost but would have taken MUCH longer to get there than it should have. I have to be honest I was shocked when i seen the state of the blades but suspect it is heat or water related as low compression and a bit of oil usage is the only visible issue with the engine no reason to suspect chunks of engine have eaten the blades. May know more when I strip the engine but also curious about the cause of the low compression would put money on the heads or perhaps an outside bet the rings.

[supremeweb]

Awesome read!

You selling your old lateral arms?

[arch]

Already sold mate sorry, they are in Holland now.

[supremeweb]

Already sold mate sorry, they are in Holland now.

No problem. Where are the new ones from? Got a web link?

[arch]

Will see if I can dig it out.

[arch]

Well thought i would resurect this thread and update it.

Well its been a while since i have updated this with any progress on the car.

I had already decided that the 2.5 had to come out to be refreshed and had weighed up the options of going back out with the 2.5 refreshed or taking another route given that the 2.5 was prob at the limits of what a SCD block can take. The rest of the engine was always good for more power and boost but the block was the weak link.

In the end the decision was made for me when i stripped the engine down.

I removed the LH head first and found the bores were in excellent condition with the honing still in good condition which I suppose given the actual mileage of the engine could have been predicted. It was when i took the RH head off that things were decided. I found No1 bore was cracked at the 11 oclock position which would appear to be common on these engines when they are pushed to the limit. Not the end of the world really as the rest of the engine was on the whole in good condition.

I had a spare block and had contemplated using that but in the end decided a change of direction was required. So this was sourced.

Sorry think the wrap makes it a little awkward to see the engine

So decided while the engine was out that it was time to do some tidying up in the engine bay. So went from looking like this

To this. Some cosmetic tarting up and some things to move around but not going mad as Gucciness doesnt make it faster and hurts more if things go wrong.

Still some more work to do in the engine bay in terms of tidying and decluttering but suppose it would have been rude to not start on the inside.

It now looks like this.

So the car has started its diet for next year with a healthy start to the weight loss program from this lot.

This is just the start of what will be a long and labour intensive winter to get the car where i want it for next year. I am hoping I wont have to make the compromises I have had to over the last few years but ultimately budget will dictate that.

Next up for the diet is the rear end it def needs some attention.

[arch]

Well lots going on at the minute. The car is fully stripped, subframes off and being fettled, hopefully have one of Steven Darley's tubular gearbox cradles in the near future which will solid mount the gearbox to the chassis.

Work will be starting on the custom Syvecs ECU loom and MOT spec car loom. Both will be stand alone.

Biggest job is the next on the list, that is to add additional support to the 6 point cage to stiffen the chassis. Looking at adding support bars in accordance with the blue book to create as close to this as possible.

Also working on a new rear diff mount.

So lots going on Jan and Feb will be a busy months.

[arch]

Well quick uppdate.

Lots happening, car still a shell tho but hopefully things will progress quicker now that a major hurdle has been overcome. The cage that was in the car was pretty good, but I wanted to stiffen the chassis. initially I had thought about adding to the existing cage but both time and cost made that a non starter so decided to go for this.

http://www.safetydevices.com/motorsport/products/roll-cage/Subaru+Impreza+GC8+2nd+generation-2001-2007/460/

Big big thanks to Graeme Jerame at Whiteline for helping with this and thanks to Kev at Scoobyclinic for getting it out so quick and also thanks to Steven for his help.

There will be a weight penalty when compared to a full weld in T45 cage but that is just something I will have to live with. My hope is it will stiffen the chassis to something approaching that of a full weld in but obviously not to the same degree.

Decided that it was time for the obligatory where's my boot floor gone picture.

Next step cut and shape some 3mm Alluminium Composite. I then used aircraft skin pins to hold it in place while i drilled the holes for the rivets.

I extended it beyond the boot so that it would mate nicely with the back side of the bumper. It needed a slight bend but produced a neat solution.

Then it was just a case riveting it in and making some brackets up to support the rear section.

With the bumper cut and back on the sheet mates really well with the bumper asnd now just needs the sides filled in. will do that at some point later tho.

Not the best picture but it shows the sheet bending up slightly and meeting snuggly with the bumper.

The next stage is to get the car back on the ground so that the cage can be installed which is the critical bit time wise.

Managed to get a set of these from Graeme through at whiteline, thanks graeme.

Really good idea the way these have been designed. Last year I turned the top mounts to achieve caster but that was at the expense of camber adjustment at the top. These use an offset mounting point which allows both. I have measured the position when compared to last years top mounts and they are almost identical and I achieved 5 1/4 deg of static Caster with no other mods so this should be similar.

Hopefully I will get the car down on the ground and the cage test fitted by the end of the weekend so kenny if you have plans for next week best turn your phone off

I have managed to source a newage quick rack so that should be here soon. I also have a newage steering column which i would like to use to eliminate the need to cut and shut a UJ. On an initial fit the column mounts are different spacings from the classic but thats not a major issue but the bung in the bulkhead where the column goes through is much larger diameter on the classic as the classic column has a metal sleeve with an end stop, the newage one doesnt. so i need to source the correct bung to locate the smaller dia newage column.

Newage column at the top.

The bung on the road blobeye looks like this so assume this is what i need.

I had intended to go to a pedal box this year but time and budget has seen that removed from the list. I have never been fully happy with the brakes on the car so decided to fit a newage servo and master cylinder. But as with all things subaru related nothing is easy. The RA master cylinder has 2 front and 2 rear ports as it does not have ABS. The newage one has one front and one rear since the split is done at the ABS module. So no point replumbing everything for one season so new plan is to fit the bigger and newer newage servo and have the RA master cylinder overhauled. So the master cylinder will be on its way down to Durham for Alyn to give it some TLC just incase there is any slight fluid bypass issues which is possible given the master cylinder is 19 years old :eek:

Thanks Alyn appreciate the help

[badbaz]

Been busy Arch - just read it on 22b - interesting stuff

[arch]

The busy bit starts now Baz the whole car is changing pretty much only the shell and gearbox will be the same.

[johnnyr6]

Arch, when you talk about the rack spacings do you mean the distance from the column end to rack? If so it might be fine as a new age uj and classic uj are different lengths so it may mean you only need a new age uj.

Johnny.

[arch]

No I have a fair selecton of UJ's and the option to cut and shut the newage and classic UJ's has been there all the time and one I knew about before I went down this route, that is the fall back position, I have just chosen another option for a few reasons. The spacing I refered to was the mounting points on the dash bar its not just a bolt on affair it needs a little mod to the mounting points which is a 20 min job. Looking at the lengths of the columns and the UJ's the overall lengths are the same.

Hawkeye quick rack arrived today but just like buses I may have another on its way so will prob have a newage 2.25 turn rack for sale soon.

[braveheart]

Alot of work going on there Arch, hat of to you my friend love to have your knowledge and as handy as the with the spanners. Have you got time to work lol a very dedicated individual here well done look forward to the end pics.

Chris

[arch]

Its very time consuming Chris I must admit. Its not just actually physically doing the car its researching parts, seeing what will work together with other parts, working round compatability issues etc etc. I am very fortunate that I have good people around me who are a constant source of advice and help, they have done it all in the past so many of the obvious mistakes that people make I try to avoid through taking advice.

An example of this is fuel pumps. There are so many options. A single aeromotive, two 044's etc etc. There are loads of things to think about like current draw, reliability, flow rates, redundancy, distribution of the fuel system it goes on and on and that process is the same for virtually every aspect of the car. Most of these self builds tend to focus on bits being bolted on and pics of the shiny bits but the stuff that goes on in the back ground takes 10 times as long. This is a relatively simple build so the research is not as difficult but imagine the research required for something like Andy's EG33 build!