Spare partS - Constructors Car Club

Spare Parts
On the cover: GT40 racing experiences, page
32.
May 2012
Issue 4 Volume 25
In this issue
Coming events...........................................2
AGM minutes Tuesday 10 April 2012.......3
Club Officials
Club minutes Tuesday 10 April 2012........4
President: Phillip Bradshaw
Secretary: Dave Clout
The President’s Page..................................5
Club Captain: Richard Kelly
Editorial....................................................6
Treasurer: Stewart Collinson
CCC email list...........................................7
Club Meetings
Corsair 1963 to 1964................................8
The Constructors Car Club Inc meets at
7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month
at The Vintage Car Club, 3 Halford Place,
Petone (Eastern end of Jackson Street).
Niscort....................................................10
Prospective members or others interested in
building their own cars are welcome to attend.
(The club does request a donation of $2
towards running the meeting, and includes a
raffle ticket. Meetings generally include a guest
speaker or demonstration followed by general
discussion and supper.)
The continuing story of
The Club Magazine “Spare Parts” is produced
monthly from February to December each
year. Contributions and advertisements are
welcomed.
Anglia Front Suspension Part 1...............39
New tricks for old dogs...........................19
Project Advice Tour – April 2012............22
my Pelland build.....................................26
Last month’s mystery car.........................31
GT40 racing experiences.........................32
The Stinger on the track again.................36
Scubie’s Rant...........................................46
Car club website classifieds.....................48
Who’s who May 2012.............................50
Cut-off date for contributions for the next magazine is Tuesday 29 May 2012.
Send contributions to Brian by email: [email protected] or to Secretary
by ordinary mail.
Club Correspondence to:
The Secretary, Constructors Car Club, PO Box 38 573, Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045
Editor: Brian Worboys, phone: (04) 476 3799, [email protected]
Printing: The Colour Guy, 10 Raroa Cres, Lower Hutt, phone: (04) 570 0355
Design and typesetting: Tanya Sooksombatisatian, [email protected]
Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Constructors Car Club (Inc).
Issue 4 Volume 25
Coming events
Sunday 13 May
Sunday 24 June
Gravel Autocross
Otaihunga
Kapiti CC event
2nd Quarterly Project Advice Tour
• Building on the success of the inaugural
tour.
• Will advise specific areas of interest for
each project in advance
• Notional 45 minutes at each project
(will depend on total number of projects
to be visited on the day).
• Other club members welcome to attend
to provide advice and gain benefit from
the feedback.
• Please
contact
Phil
Bradshaw
(0274421968, email: philip.bradshaw@
nzdf.mil.nz) if you would like your
project included.
Sunday 13 May
MG Charity Classic Race Meeting
Manfeild
Sunday 20 May
Technical visit to Silverstream Railway
• Intent is to attend a detailed tour
through the workshops to inspect some
of the 10 steam locomotives, 3 diesel
locomotives and 2 diesel railcars plus
various wagons on site in various stages
of restoration or operation.
• Train rides also available.
• Admission $12 per adult (group discount likely).
• Friends and family welcome.
• Anticipate 10:00 start.
• Details to be confirmed in due course.
Sunday 20 May
Autocross & Competitor Coaching,
Silverstream, HVMC event (N.B. this is
right next to our Technical visit above)
Tuesday 12 June
Club Night. Guest Speaker Andre Simon
from Speedtech will talk about his visit
to SEMA last year: SEMA is simply the
largest show of aftermarket performance
parts anywhere in the world. Last year
I visited SEMA in Las Vegas, as well as
a few of our suppliers in L.A. I will talk
about the experience and share some
photos from factory tours at JE Pistons,
and Cosworth as well as SEMA itself.
Sunday 22 July
Annual Garage Tour/Shed Raid
• Annual club tour to see what members
have going on in their sheds, and a
chance to show off projects.
• Different emphasis entirely to project
advice tour.
• May include pub lunch in the
programme.
• Please
contact
Phil
Bradshaw
(0274421968, email: philip.bradshaw@
nzdf.mil.nz) if you would like your shed
included.
May 2012
AGM minutes Tuesday 10 April 2012
President’s Welcome
Apologies:
Steve Strain, Richard Kelly & Dave/Sandra
Bray.
Confirmation of Minutes of the last
AGM – were in May 2011 magazine,
should have been read by members
– approved.
Adoption of President’s Annual Report:
Phil’s report hadn’t made the latest
magazine so he read it out. Approved
– unanimous.
Adoption of Treasurer’s
Annual Report:
Stewart presented an un-audited report.
The audited report should be available
next club night.
• Technical Committee
– Grant Major, Tim Hutchinson, Mike
•
•
•
•
•
•
Election of Officers
• President – Phil Bradshaw – unanimous
• Secretary – Dave Clout – unanimous
• Treasurer
–
Stewart
Collinson
– unanimous
Captain – Richard Kelly
– unanimous
• Committee
– Phil Bradshaw, Dave Clout, Stewart
Collinson, Richard Kelly, Grant Major,
Brian Worboys, Brian Hanaray, Bob
Cumming, Russell Ashley, Ken Rogers
and Nik James.
• Club
Issue 4 Volume 25
•
•
•
Macready, Mike Boven, Philip Derby,
Dave Clout, Ken McAdam, Anthony
Moult, Alan Price, Rob West, Brian
Worboys, Rolf Feinson, Roy Hoare,
Roger Dunkley, Phil Bradshaw and
Craig Burleigh.
Annual Subscription – no increase.
Editor – Brian Worboys, new assistant
– Matt Bull
Advertising
Manager
(Magazine)
– Stewart Collinson
Shop Steward – Russell Ashley
– unanimous
LVVTA Representative – Mike Macready
– unanimous
Technical
Committee
Convener/
Chairman – vacant, Dave C to book
rooms etc
Coffee Mugs – Vacant, helper – Geoff
Orchard
Membership Register – Richard Kelly
Club Historian – Patrick Harlow.
Patrick asked for special thanks to
David Hanson for his work on the club
web site – acclamation.
Close of AGM –Phil thanked members for
accepting positions …
Move onto normal club night …
Club minutes Tuesday 10 April 2012
1. Welcome/Visitors:
8. Mystery Car:
Welcome already done for AGM.
Steve O’Neil – into motorbikes, so now
looking at cars.
Last month (March) – none taken on night
as magazine hadn’t been printed.
This month (April) – Holden Torana
Concept – Brian Hanaray
2. Coming Events:
Sun 15 April – Quarterly Project Advice
Tour – organised.
Sun 20 May – Silverstream railway tour –
Phil Bradshaw arranging. Not to be missed.
Phil also commented on various other
possible visits that the committee are
working on.
9. Mystery Man:
Guess the name of person in the photo.
Just a bit of fun for answering on the
night.
William Lyons.
10. Buy, Sell, Swap:
Stewart – no further comments than those
mentioned under AGM business.
Members please note – they should fill
in a form before the meeting (available
from kitchen bench) if they want details
recorded in the next magazine minutes.
4. Committee Report:
11. General Business:
Nothing.
Roger Dunkley mentioned that an old
member from the very first days of the club,
one John Marcel, has his unfinished project
for sale. Talk to Roger for more details.
3. Treasurers Report:
5. Technical Committee Report:
Hmmmm, Dave forgot about this … will
have something for the next magazine or
club night, or … whatever. It would help if
we had a separate convener.
12. Tool of the month:
None this month.
6. Technical Questions:
13. Guest Speaker:
Q: Who can you get to test/certify welds
on A-arms?
A: Ultrasound in Wellington have been
used in the past by various members.
None.
Q: Nik James – does anyone have knowledge of electronic speedos?
A: Stewart Collinson – place in States,
Stewart got his one there
A: Phil Bradshaw – Robinson’s in Auckland
were good when Phil built his Leitch
A: Jon Loar – Robinson’s in Auckland
were good.
7. Magazine:
Brian did his usual casual request for articles on members projects.
14. Guest Vehicle:
Nik James helped out – again ! Nik has this
Mazda MX5 Turbo – well you wouldn’t
expect him to drive a hair-dresser’s car
would you? As usual Nik entertained us
with the how and why.
15. Raffle:
Number: 27
Name of winner: Martin Humphrey
Still owe Marvin from a previous raffle.
Meeting closed at 9.27pm
May 2012
The President’s Page by Phil Bradshaw
Daylight saving ended about a month
ago now and despite the recent unseasonably warm weather the days are definitely
getting shorter. Our major house renovations have been taking up most of our time
in the weekends so I have been making a
concerted effort of late to get some shed
time after dinner during the week.
I have long maintained that projects get
built in one to two hour-long bites, and
that the key to making progress is actually forcing yourself to get off the couch
and head out into the garage at night
during the week. Naturally this is easier
said than done, especially as we head into
winter, but I have lately been managing to
get a couple of nights a week in the shed.
Generally I manage to make a start around
7:00 and often come in at 8:30 or so, which
is generally when the programmes on TV
get more interesting. I am now starting to
see some progress, which in itself is quite
motivating.
First up I finally managed to get my
Leitch Lotus Seven replica back on the
road. I had fixed most of relatively minor
deficiencies picked up in its last WOF
check several months back, but still had
some small jobs left to do and had got
busy with other things.
So, about a month back I finally managed
to change a couple of leaking exhaust
flange sealing rings and fit some better lock
washers to stop the nuts backing off again.
I also did a tweak to the Panhard rod (that
I had been meaning to do for years) and
put some sealant on one of the rear axle
bearings that had been letting diff oil leak
onto one of the rear discs. I also replaced
the bonnet catches with some new ones,
and fixed the loose gear knob with the aid
of a Helicoil thread insert.
Issue 4 Volume 25
I’ve put about 500 km on the Leitch
so far, and other than having to replace
the accelerator cable (I use a heavy duty
bicycle brake cable) it is going well so far.
Conversely the GT4 Celica that is normally my daily driver has developed an intermittent fault that is taking up more of a
permanent residence, but is proving resistant to my efforts so far to hunt down and
fix. Suspect I will have to get more invasive
and put some time into tracking it down,
but for now I am enjoying the Leitch.
I have also begun to make some headway
on the Anglia project – more on that later
in this magazine. I found the project advice
tour quite motivating and will start planning the next one soon. This, along with
a number of other tech nights and hopefully some workshops the committee are
working on, will help motivate some more
of us to head out into the shed of a night
and chip away at those projects.
Phil Bradshaw
President
Constructors Car Club Incorporated
Editorial by Brian Worboys
Feast or Famine
There I was last month banging on about
how we needed to get more stuff in the
mag on members’ projects and this month
we have more pages than usual and even
then it has been quite an exercise to get as
much as possible in and I have to apologise
to one or two contributors whose articles
will be in next month’s issue. I hope this is
OK with our kind printer. And it’s mostly
really great stuff on actual car projects.
Long may this trend continue.
The email list server
As you know, we use a Yahoo list for
sending emails to everyone in the club. It
seems about 20% of the membership are
not actually on this list, and a dozen or
so members who’s email addresses have
changed and so they wont be receiving the
emails either. If you’re not on the list, you
are missing out on stuff from the club. Did
you get an email from me on about 29th
April saying “yep you’re on the list”? If
you didn’t… please see opposite page and
follow the instructions.
A visit from Mike’s Blackjack
Zero
Mike von Collas and I started an email communication about 8 years ago when Mike
came to NZ halfway through building his
Zero kit. We have kept in touch sporadically
since and only met up last week when Mike
was returning to the North after completing
a tour of the South Island in the Zero. He
called in to see us at the building site but could
not stay long as the weather was closing in
and he really needed to be keeping ahead of
the approaching rain band. The Blackjack
Zero (just Google this name to find the
company site) is a very tidy kit from a small
company in Cornwall. It’s a Morganesque
three-wheeler but with modern suspension,
wheels, brakes etc. and it’s front wheel drive
with either an air-cooled VW motor or, more
classically, a Moto-Guzzi V-twin. Mike took
me for a brief ride before he had to head
off… I was absolutely delighted. Hopefully
a full article about this car will turn up in a
future issue of Spare Parts. Mike has made
an exemplary job of putting this very well
designed kit together.
Mike’s Blackjack Zero
May 2012
[email protected]
CCC email list
The Club maintains an email list to allow messages to be easily sent to our members
and we encourage all our members to join and keep current their email address. If
you are not on the list, you are missing out on stuff. Our list is hosted by Yahoo Lists
and is a free service.
The list is for members only and is not publicly accessible.
To join the list send an email to: [email protected] or contact me at [email protected]
There are two options for joining the list. The first is to sign up and create an
account. You will be prompted through this in the email invitation that you will
receive back. If you do this you can sign in to the list website and see all previous
messages.
If you do not want to sign up to the website but do want to receive the emails
please contact me and I will set that up for you.
To send a message to the list send to list-constructorscarclub@yahoogroups.
com or log into the website and use the post message option.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Richard Kelly, Club Captain, [email protected]
Issue 4 Volume 25
Corsair 1963 to 1964
by Patrick Harlow
Very little is known about this good looking
sports car and the following is what the
author has been able to glean from Kelvin
Brown and Ferris de Joux.
Joe Craddock of “Reinforced Plastics”,
in Penrose Auckland purchased a Jarvie
body and from this he may have produced
a couple of Jarvie bodies before he decided
to modernise its styling. Very few if any Jarvie
bodies were sold by “Reinforced Plastics”
before the Jarvie body was altered into a
styling that was clearly influenced by the
Daimler SP250 Dart. It was the rear half of
the car that got the most obvious changes
which incorporated Daimler lights and a ridge
was moulded into the front guards to fit a
small Daimler park lamp. Larger boxed doors
were fitted for easier access. Less obvious
was the slight flaring of the wheel arches. The
end result was an attractive little car for which
a new set of moulds were made.
The car was designed to use Ford
components which bolted onto a tubular
chassis. It came with an opening boot,
bonnet and double skinned doors that were
quite flash for that era. A hard top was offered
although no one is certain if any of these
were sold. The car was also offered with a
soft top and side curtains so consequently it
did not have windup windows. It could take
a variety of engines but the Ford 1500 was
the one that they recommended.
The car looked good and should have
attained a few sales but Joe only built the
single demonstrator. Unfortunately Ford
Motor Company took issue with RP using
the name “Corsair” as they wished to
introduce their new upmarket mid-sized car
called the Ford Corsair and claimed rights to
the name. Fortunately Joe sold the moulds
to Gordon Johns who made a further two
cars. The last car that Gordon made in 1995
was powered by a Triumph Herald.
The car then disappeared from sight. The
moulds were offered for sale on Trade Me in
2002 and the car has not surfaced since.
Bibliography
Thanks to Gordon Johns, Ferris de Joux and
Kelvin Brown
Motorman July 1963.
May 2012
Issue 4 Volume 25
Niscort
by Nik James
The intent
To have a road legal Mk 1 2 door Escort with
a power output similar to the Alan Mann car
that Frank Gardner drove around 68… over
200hp at the wheels
After some fruitless TM enquiries, I
eventually found one within cooee of my
home in Totara Park. This is a 73 Mk1 2
door, an abandoned project that was
hidden untouched in a dry lock up for 5-6
years. The owner had lost interest and was
moving house, so I got the car for $1100
– he was rapt…
The car was all there with a Pinto lump in
the front, and the most awful “roll cage” in it.
Fixing the body shell
Top: The Alan Mann car rebuilt
Above: Gardner guards trophy 69
Finding the bodyshell
This was a challenge. A Mk1 will be at
least 38 years old, and many Mk1s were
destroyed at the speedway over the years
of the Te Marua Escort Series. Inevitably this
has led to the cars becoming quite scarce,
and subsequently some silly prices are
bandied around.
Mk1 4 door cars are slightly more
numerous, but the classic lines of the 2 door
were lost with the extra two doors
10
It looked pretty bad, having matt black
paint, apparently applied by hand – without
a brush. The paint had reacted badly with
some contaminant and would take the skin
off your hand if you rubbed it.
However a closer look confirmed that the
car was in basically good shape with totally
sound floor, pillars, sills and guards.
The only body work it needed apart from
that awful paint was repair of rust damage
under the fuel tank in the O/S rear guard,
and the front valance and backplate needed
complete replacement. Considering its age
that’s not bad – and there is minimal bog.
My welding capabilities are limited, so
considerable persistence was needed to
repair under the fuel tank, and fabricate a
replacement front valance box section
While the tank was out, I considered fitting
a central fuel tank behind the rear seat, in
the interests of for safety and additional fuel
capacity. Eventually the original tank was
refitted.
After the decision to fit 15” alloys with 50
profile tyres, the lips of the guards needed
cutting back to avoid fouling.
This is easy on the front guards. I used a
neat little tool I call a “wibbler”. This fits to
May 2012
the power drill and allows a 2-3mm wide cut
in panel steel – real neat.
The rear guards are double skinned
so this is a more extensive job, requiring
refabrication of the inner guard. This refab
was beyond my welding skills so I got a
panel beater to do it.
After the guards had been cut back, I fiddled
around to bend up a safe edge to preserve
any fingers that might curl round there.
Many of these old Escorts get huge great
forest arches fitted. These look cool and
give the car a real rally car look. However
you need really big wheels and tyres to
fill these arches, which were well outside
budget, Subsequently I sourced some
modest “eyebrows” from TM which extend a
mere 30mm or so to cover the tyre tread.
The hot oily bit at the front
Pinto conversions in Escorts are easy – the
engine simply bolts in using the original
mountings. However, only a very seriously
modified Pinto would deliver the power I
was looking for, and I wanted something
reliable – not a grenade engine.
So out came the Pinto, and it was sold
locally to a young chap with more modest
power requirements than mine.
Escorts are very easy cars to work on,
but extraction of the engine and gearbox
in one piece is a tight squeeze – most of
these cars have dents and scrapes on the
firewall where the power units have been
wrenched out. It becomes much easier if
the slam panel is made removable, enabling
the unit to come out easily. However, to
keep the certifier happy it is vital to add
strength to the removable panel – I fitted
full width struts of square section and
angle steel. This makes the slam panel
much stronger than OE
Left above: Donor
panel van
Left: Pinto boat
anchor removed
Issue 4 Volume 25
11
With engine and gearbox out, a promisingly
large hole is revealed, and it was time to
explore the engine and gearbox options.
Since I wanted the conversion to be
considered a repower, as opposed to a
re-engineering project, I wanted to leave
the firewall untouched. Many repowers
seem to start by taking the gas axe to
the firewall. This can cause some entirely
justifiable grief with the certifier, and can
drastically restrict foot-room for the driver
and passenger. Also the drivers ankles
end up nicely aligned with the plane of the
starter ring!
However, leaving the firewall intact limits
the length of the replacement engine… so
it has to be a straight 4 or a very compact
v6… the Rover v8 is short enough but at
90deg is far too wide for this application.
So, a 4 cyl or compact v6 is needed with
readily available manual 5spd gearbox that
will deliver well over 200RWhp without
spending megabucks….
• Ford twin cam or BDA? – either of these
engines are very expensive, and would be
very highly modified (thus fragile) to deliver
the 250 flywheel hp I was looking for
• Mondeo? – an unknown quantity and not
a motor commonly used for repowers
• 4AGE? Would need to be a Z motor to
be strong enough.. would need to be
turbo’d to deliver the power – T50 or T55
gearboxes are getting scarce, and bell
housings are $1k.
• 3SGTE? What to use for a gearbox?
• Mazda MX5? Would need to be turbo’d
with stronger internals – gearboxes
readily available and cheap as chips.
• Nissan SR20DET? – a very common
engine that would certainly deliver the
power with high reliability, gearboxes
are readily available from Silvias and
Skyline… stacks of aftermarket parts for
12
them… rather a tall engine compared to a
4 AGE or Mazda MX5.
Some time spent with the measuring tape
at Pick A Part and in people’s garages
suggested that the Nissan SR should fit, but
the gearbox might be a tight squeeze.
I decide to grasp the nettle, and contacted
a wrecker in Chch to make a deal to buy
a front cut from a S15 Nissan Silvia. This
was complete with uncut engine loom,
standard computer, starter and alternator,
manifolds, turbo and manual gearbox. This
was a bargain at $4k delivered to my door.
The S15 used a 6 speed box, which was not
ideal, since it was deemed not as strong as
the earlier bullet proof 5 speed, and also has
no speedo cable drive. The S15 speedo was
electronic driven via a Hall unit at the diff. I
intended to use the original Escort speedo,
so elected to buy the 5 spd from the earlier
S14 instead of the S15 6 speed
It was quite a milestone when this full size
pallet was dropped of at home with the front
half of a Silvia on it. It was also a significant
task to cut the bodywork away from the
engine to reveal the beast.
Will it go in the hole?
At first the engine looked far too big for the
engine compartment of the Escort, but when
offered up it looked OK.
In its final position it cleared everything by
15mm… the X member, the firewall and the
bonnet.
The suspicions on the size of the Nissan
gearbox were confirmed, and the trans tunnel
needed to be widened to accommodate the
gearbox casing with clearance
The Nissan engine loom unplugs very
neatly via 4-5 multi pinned plugs – these
are colour coded and each is of a different
configuration so it is not possible to plug it
in wrongly.
May 2012
However there are a maze of wires in the
engine loom, and a baffling array of pins in
the plug for the CPU.
The only feasible place to put all these
wires and the CPU was behind the “glove”
box, utilising the Nissan OE large rubber
grommet at the firewall. The intention was for
access to this wiring to be via the opening
glove box lid. This is how is worked out but
it’s very busy in there – certainly no room
for gloves!
Big hole
Suspension and brakes
The second major donor car for the Niscort
was a Mk 2 Escort van.
This appeared on TM, where it was
claimed to have v6 Capri front struts fitted.
This was interesting since those struts are
bigger in dia than normal Escort ones, thus
allowing different dampers to be fitted. This
makes them much sought after by Escort
builders….
Subsequent examination revealed that the
van had been previously used as a hill climb
car with a turbo Jappa engine fitted !
The struts turned out not to be Capri ones,
but it had 15” alloy wheels, custom front
brakes and a strange looking rear axle. The
price was right so I took a punt and towed it
home on the mighty trailer.
The 15” alloys were very usable, but the
custom brakes comprised Austin Princess
4 pot callipers which were terminally rusted
up, and vented discs of unknown origin.
What looked like a pig in a poke, tuned to
gold when I examined that “funny” axle.. It is
4.1 ratio, and originated from an early 60s
Alfa 105, and has ATE disc brakes and an
LSD. Also amazingly that old Alfa had the
same stud pattern as an Escort … 4 X 108.
The Princess calipers were discarded,
and a plan launched to use Capri 2.8i
vented discs with spaced out original Escort
Issue 4 Volume 25
Trial fit
Radiator & intercooler fitted
calipers. A spacer kit is available of the
shelf from Palmside, which when fitted to
standard Escort calipers will widen them out
to accommodate the thicker vented discs.
This is a very inexpensive upgrade, and
probably entirely adequate for a road car.
13
However a cupboard search revealed that
I had a pair of 4 pot alloy calipers from a S4
RX7 which were really nice… lightweight
and (relative to the Princess) late model.
The final front brake set up was the Capri
discs and the RX7 calipers… a neat custom
caliper support bracket was made by Brian
at Barnicol. This set up would fit inside a 13”
alloy wheel (just) – a capability that was not
required when I later elected to use the 15”
wheels anyway.
Ron Scanlon at Total Performance
supplied and fitted Koni inserts to the Escort
struts, with internal spacers to suit the 180lb
coil springs also from the donor van. This
is a neat trick where the problem of loose
coils on full droop is avoided by limiting the
droop with spacers inside the Konis. Ron
set it up so nicely that the coils are just
nipped on full droop to keep the WOF guy
happy, but become loose when the top plate
bolts are released. This means the coils
can be removed without the use of (blerry
dangerous) spring compressor clamps.
Ron suggested that 180lb/in is about
the limit for these struts if the OE rubber
top mount bearings are to be retained.
Stiffer springs would necessitate the use of
spherical bearings in the top mounts.
Note the Capri vented disc are made in
Aussie, and can be sourced at any brake
emporium for very reasonable prices. It’s
amazing these are still available, since to
my knowledge they were only fitted as
standard equipment to that 2.8 Capri way
long ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
These discs are an option for an easy brake
upgrade for those who are using Cortina
uprights on their Lotus 7s.
A 25 mm front swaybar was sourced by
SAS in LH, it was made by Whiteline in
Aussie. This gives lots more roll stiffness, and
has extended ends to allow (rather tedious)
14
adjustment of caster using spacers.
At the rear, the std leaf springs are
retained, with estimated rate of 100lb/in.
The original shackle bushes looked OK, but
were subsequently changed to poly for first
WOF. This gave a radical improvement in
rear axle location – like huge.
The original rear shocks were oil and
were absolute toast – they weren’t much
kop when they were new.. Some KYB gas
shocks were supplied by Steve at SAS at
a very reasonable price. These are listed
as standard replacements…. I couldn’t be
bothered to turret the rear or remount the
shock vertically, so they are fitted in the
standard inclined position. These work
really well, with no symptoms of inadequate
damping – on a road car – but I guess they
would soon flog out on a rally car.
A custom exhaust was made by Hayden
at Import Improvements at Seaview. This is
2 ½” with two muff lers routed over the rear
axle. It delivers a very subdued exhaust note
– as intended.
All the brake bundy and hoses were
replaced, clamping the pipe down with P
clips. Brake pipes were rerouted out of the
vicinity of the transmission tunnel.
The significant power increase demanded
the fitting of a propshaft hoop. This was
sourced from TM, but required modification
to achieve acceptable ground clearance.
A Willwood brake line pressure limiter
was sourced and fitted to the outlet of rear
booster. This was fitted on the assumption
that the car would have excessive brake bias
at the rear, and the Willwood gizmo would
allow the rear line pressure to be limited.
The Nissan Silvia used a conventional
firewall mounted brake booster, but there
was no room to fit this in the Escort. So the
original Silvia Master Cylinder was bolted
direct to the firewall, and two Lockheed
May 2012
Alfa rear brake discs
remote boosters used. These are mounted
in the passenger footwell, after being
reconned by ABC Wellington
The Alfa axle casing was already modified
to suit Escort cart springs. It came with hotrod style “tramp bars” which were surprising
effective under acceleration but disastrous
under braking, allowing enormous axle wind up
Rear axle location was enhanced hugely
by the fitting of a pair of custom radius arms
sourced from TM complete with poly bushes.
These run forward from the top of the axle
casing to sandwich plates underneath the
rear seat.. These devices removed all axle
tramp and windup despite the most spirited
acceleration and braking sessions.
The ride height was too low at the back,
requiring modification of the lowering
bracket above the leaf springs.
Clutch and transmission
A custom propshaft was made by Spel
engineering, a one piece item with Nissan
front and Alfa rear UJs..
The OE Escort pedal box was retained,
with an additional support bracket welded
on to mount a clutch cylinder – the Escort
had a cable clutch
Issue 4 Volume 25
The effort at the clutch pedal was found to
be massive, causing the OE (u-section) clutch
pedal to twist and bend. This necessitated an
interesting drive from LH to Totara Park with
an inoperative clutch withdrawal mechanism.
This problem was fixed by moving the
pivot position at the clutch withdrawal level,
and boxing in the clutch pedal.
The Nissan gearbox cross member
was shortened and bolted up to the floor,
allowing the original Nissan gearbox mounts
to be used.
A $50 quick shift kit was sourced from
TM – an excellent product, the nylon spacer
provided needed trimming down a bit, but it
works fine.
Offering up the Nissan engine
The battery was relocated to the boot, using
heavy gauge welding cable supplied from
BOC, and the radiator mounting shroud
was removed.. This allowed the radiator to
be mounted 40mm further forward, and the
Nissan engine and box to be lowered into
position without brutality.
It was a relief to confirm that the engine
and box could be positioned with small but
adequate clearance off the cross member,
the firewall and the bonnet
It was not practical to retain the original
engine mounting brackets welded to the
cross member. Thus these were removed
and very substantial mounting bracket
fabricated and fitted to the inner guard. This
arrangement allowed the original Nissan
mounting rubbers to be used.
Although the engine fitted nicely, the
gearbox was a very tight fit in the trans
tunnel, requiring some modification to widen
the tunnel.
15
Fuel system for the injected
engine
The fuel system is completely custom,
requiring a low pressure pump to fill the
surge tank, and a high pressure pump to
deliver the injection line pressure. An alloy
surge tank was sourced from TM, and a “tick
tick” LP pump from SupaCheap. A Bosch
HP pump was sourced ex-VL Commodore
via Pick a Part.
The HP pump and the surge tank are in
the boot, and the lift pump is under the fuel
tank, to avoid priming problems.
Intercooler, radiator and
plumbing.
A very substantial Air/air intercooler was
sourced ex-Evo3, and was shoehorned
directly behind the radiator grille. The
fitting of this item defined the dimensional
envelope for the radiator. Since the budget
was in severe trouble at this stage, I was
fortunate to discover a Saab radiator at PAP
(where else) which fitted perfectly.
Some considerable fixing and adjustment
was required to fit the water and air
pipework, but it all went in eventually. To add
to the jungle gym of pipes and hoses, a blow
off valve was fitted and plumbed back to the
inlet pipe.
Only a very confined space remained to
accommodate the pod filter.. a very tight fit
and too close to the radiator to be ideal…
but no bonnet scoops or intakes were
necessary. The original Nissan Air flow
meter was retained.
The interior
I already had a pair of MX5 seats, so these
were fitted using custom cross supports
with OE MX5 mountings and sliders. These
seats are fine for road use, but lack lateral
support at the track.
16
The OE Mk1 Escort steering column
switch gear was stuffed, so I elected to
change to Mk2 switchgear for better stalk
switches and availability. This is turned
upside down to set the indicator stalk on
RHS.
It was a battle to wire Mk2 switches into
Mk1 loom (None of the colour codes in the
wiring diagrams were right)
Mk1 rear seat back and base were
sourced, a disgusting brown colour. These
were painted with vinyl spray.
Getting it running
Many hours were spent attempting to merge
the Nissan engine loom to OE Ford loom…
no joy, no spark, no injectors.. very difficult to
interpret Nissan diagrams in manual.
Gave up, took car to Shred Motorsport…
asked them to just get it running.
Shred have significant experience with
custome set ups, especially with Nissans.
They have a hub type Universal dyno and
are very obliging
They found
• intermittent connections in multiplugs,
• boost leaks,
• falling injection line pressure when on
boost
• incorrect interfaces between the looms,
• blip in connectivity in the ign switch,
• leaking BOV
• wayward signals from the AFM
• injectors far larger than stock
• boost map looked non-OE
• Accordingly
• The connections, boost leaks and
interfaces were rectified
• The Bosch pump was set to act as the
lift pump to fill the surge tank, and a
replacement Wallbro pump was fitted to
deliver the HP fuel to the injectors
• The ign switch problem was traced to a
May 2012
break in the voltage when indexing the
ign switch to engage the starter. This was
confusing the Nissan computer which
was resetting itself instead of entering
the start routine. It was solved by fitting
a replacement push-button start switch
independent of the ign switch.
• The BOV was replaced with a satisfyingly
noisy one. (pshaw)
The engine ran, but was very sick. It was
apparent from the bigger injectors that the
engine had been run in the donor car with
an aftermarket computer, but I was trying to
run it on the OE Nissan computer.
Also the AFM was declared to be
positioned too close to the turbo inlet
A decision was made to fit a link G4.
This would remove the need for the AFM,
utilising a MAP sensor, and would allow a
fuel/ignition map to fully utilise those big
injectors and increased boost above 7psi
standard.
This was done very neatly, the Link being
installed along with lots of fuses and relays
in the “glove” box.
The cooling fan is now controlled by the
computer
The Session on the dyno now showed
over 180RWKWH.
This was exhilarating to drive (for a while),
but after the initial euphoria of the car
actually being drivable, I suspected that the
mid range torque was not what it should be.
A revisit to Shred confirmed that the variable
valve timing was not working consistently
due to an intermittently defective solenoid.
This was replaced and the engine became
an animal, with 50% more torque at
4000rpm. The final figures are 200RWKW
and 378 Nm peak torque… all this with a
modest 15psi boost.
This far exceeds the original target of
200hp at the wheels. With an estimate of
15% loss in the transmission, this suggests
230kw at the flywheel, or around 300 of
your Pommie hp. All this with no massive
revs or apparent engine stress. Amazing
Jappa engineering!
I am advised that the engine is hardly
stressed at this, and mechanically it can
handle 20 psi boost. Aaron was reluctant
to try this since these pressures demand a
special head gasket, and we cannot tell if one
is fitted without pulling the head off. So we
called it a day with that paltry 200RWKW
The WOF inspection revealed some
cracks in the aftermarket exhaust manifold
– a common malaise of mass produced
BIG wheel arches
Alfa LSD
Issue 4 Volume 25
17
aftermarket stainless manifolds. It was
decided to replace the manifold with a
much higher quality item from Sinco in
Hamilton. While the turbo was off the car, it
was confirmed that internally it is not an OE
T28. Apparently there has been some “good
work” done in there.
On the road the engine is amazing, totally
without temperament. It will drive smoothly
from 1000rpm in fifth, but from 3000rpm the
boost comes in aggressively and the car just
launches… what a complete hoot!!!!.
The Saab radiator is entirely adequate,
despite airflow being impeded by the
intercooler..
The paint job, including all preparation
was done by Janine, a lady in Te Marua. She
does a lot of work for Kiwi race cars and
does a great job for a very reasonable price.
I chose an unusual colour – a kinda metallic
green – a standard Holden colour.
That ex-Alfa rear axle is a revelation.
Despite no transverse location (no panhard
rod or other additional link) the poly bushes
on the cart springs locate the axle on every
tarmac corner I have yet found, and those
off the shelf KYBs are faultless. The biggest
surprise is the LSD… it works! Apparently
these diffs lose their effectiveness over the
years, and I fully expected this one (circa
1962) to be stuffed. It must have been
overhauled and the plates reset quite recently
because it works perfectly – unobtrusive
at cruising speeds, but very effective on
slippery stuff and on corner exits. I expected
the 4.1 axle ratio to be a bit low, but the 5th
gear gives around 33kph per 1000rpm…
since the engine progressively cuts at 7300
that doesn’t exactly inhibit top speed.
A day at Manfeild for the MG picnic
day confirmed how fast the car is. It was
understeering a bit and I was reluctant to
wreck the tyres so I braked real early for the
18
corners, then squirted it along the straight
bits. Subsequent to the Manfeild day I
experimented with type pressures ending
up with 10 psi more in the front than at the
back.. This markedly reduced the understeer
to a level where in is no problem on the
road. After a few laps of the track it became
apparent that the plateau at the top of the
torque curve allows short shifting at 5500,
with no reduction in the headlong rush to
the next corner… wringing it out to 6500
plus was a waste of time.
The car weighs a relatively porky 950kgs
with no driver or fuel. This was surprising, I
expected it to be around 870, but this is still
significantly lighter than the Silvia S15 that
the engine came out of.
With a 50/50 mixture of 110kph cruising
and up-thro-the-gears squirting the car does
around 8.5kms to the litre of 95 octane…
about 12l/100km if you prefer it.
I guess drastic reduction of the use of
boost would return 10km/l… but I wouldn’t
know.
Also Aran at Shred gave me a second
fuel map based on a max of 9psi… this is
selectable via a switch on the dash.. I guess
this would return more fuel economy… but I
wouldn’t know, since I haven’t used it.
I’ve ordered an electronic speedo from
Speedhut in the US. This works via GPS
– no cable, no calibration.
I have an aftermarket elec window kit
which I will fit sometime, and would like to
enhance the OE heater fan which is very
feeble.
Other than that the car is great… just
what I wanted.
Hoons never grow old, they just change
up!
May 2012
New tricks for old dogs
by Peter May
To put a perspective on this I need to explain
a bit of background: I’ve worked in various
Engineering Mechanical Design offices for
38 years. For the first year of my Engineering
qualification all calculations were done with
a slide rule, the second I had a calculator
that did arithmetic only. Two years later I had
a scientific calculator but still used books
of customised stress and strain formular
and stress concentration factor graphs for
some of the necessary design calculations.
Drawings were ink pen on transparent film
using a pantagraph type parallel arm drawing
machine. Copies of these drawings for
manufacturing were done on a machine the
size of a small office using photo sensitive
paper and amonia fixative. Changes to
drawings needed either a complete re-draw
or ink removal by scraping off with a scapel
and then ink updated. Form models to
check the look and feel of a product would
be mocked up by fabricating from wood or
cardboard and prototypes built by similar
methods as that used in production. Castings
came from patterns created by craftsmen
from interpretation of the paper drawings.
Today I use 3D computer aided design
(CAD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for
stress analysis and exagerated deformation
design assistance. Parts can be assembled
on the screen and checked for interference
and fit up. Drawings are created from and
linked to the parts models and printed out
on an inkjet printer,on the desk next to my
screen and keyboard. If the 3D parts and
drawings need to go to a supplier say in
China, I send them across the internet often
receiving an Email back within hours with
questions or prices. The 3D CAD models
for sheet metal parts can be unfolded and
Issue 4 Volume 25
used to programe the CNC punch or laser
profiler by the supplier. 3D CAD models can
be used to create machine tool paths for
diecasting or plastic injection molding tools
or for direct machining of the parts. The
finished part can even be optically scanned
and checked against the CAD model for
quality control. Another use of these files, of
which this article is about, is 3D printing and
rapid prototyping.
Traditionally 3D shapes are created by
cutting or machining away material from
blocks or sheets but there is another way
(called additive manufacturing) where
material is added only where required.
Plastic parts loan themselves readily to this
but metal parts, more commonly expensive or
difficult to machine alloys, can be made this
way as well. Starting with a 3D CAD model
these machines can be used to make Form
models and working prototypes with similar
mechanical properties to the injection molded
plastic parts. Because of the cost of these
machines and the specialist knowledge,
this service is offered by Rapid Prototyping
bureaus. Patterns for casting can be made
this way as well. The 3D CAD model is sent
to the bureau over the internet and a finished
model appears via a courier within a day or so.
The natural evolution from this is to develop
machines to a price and compentency that
can sit next to a printer and scanner on your
desk. I now have the use of one of these
machines. It was inexpensive and builds
small models by extruding ABS filament
to form the part, automatically integrating
easily removable support structures where
required. This process is called FDM (Fused
Deposition Modeling) and precision is such
that it loans itself to Form models and trial
19
prototypes but typically I still use a Rapid
prototyping bureau for highly accurate, similar
property and colour, multiple parts that can
be presented to the end customer without it
being obvious that it is not an “off tool” part.
After this machine arrived and I figured out
how to drive it, I decided to look for a simple
first job. I figured it would have been rude not
to use it for the first time to make parts for
my replica Lancia Stratos kit car (Hawk HF
2000). I needed a bonnet badge that looked
the part and had the center of an early Lancia
Beta grill badge (photo 1) but it had the wrong
number of ferrules holding Lancia “flag” to
the lance, so wanted to fix that during the
CAD modelling. I scanned the badge (photo
2) and dropped that into my CAD software
(photo 3). Correcting the number of ferrules
I converted the image to a 3D shape. This
file was then put into the 3D Printer software
(photo 4). The printer automatically lays down
a support structure (fairly simple for this part)
(photo 5) and starts to build the part (photo
6). The part finished on the machine (photo
7) and off the machine (photo 8) and with the
support structure removed (photo 9). Colour
matched and purchased the paint from the
local modellers supply shop and finished it off
(photo 10). It isn’t as good as the original part
but probably a fraction of the cost and after
all the car is a replica and not pretending to
be original, so it is probably good enough.
Photo 1: Original from Beta
20
Photo 2: Scan original
Photo 3: Model in 3D CAD software
Photo 4: In 3D printer software
May 2012
Photo 8: Finished build removed
Photo 5: Support printing
Photo 6: Start part build
Photo 9: Support removed
Photo 7: Finished part build
Photo 10: Finished painted
Issue 4 Volume 25
21
Project Advice Tour – April 2012
by Matt Bull (aka Scubie)
Following feedback from the masses, the
formerly sporadic/six monthly Project Advice
tour was re-launched on Sunday 15th April.
On the final agenda were eight projects:
• Russell Ashley – Citroen Big 15
• Robin Hartley – Pelland
• Matthew Porritt – Matterati
• Stewart Collinson – Porsche 718 RS60
Replica
• Isaac Stead – Chevron Mk2
• Roger Dunkley – Enclosed Motorcycle
• Jean-Pierre Paalvast – Lynx
• Craig Peach – Lotus 7 Type Special
I joined the tour after lunch so my observations
of the tour are somewhat skewed by the
afternoons events. However Phil sought
feedback from the participants, and their
comments are summarised further down…
A dozen or so members turned up to
Isaac Stead’s garage after lunch. We were
presented by the classic of someone else’s
unfinished project being purchased to get
on the road – which ends up being stripped
back almost to scratch. Isaac bought a rolling
chassis which basically needed an engine,
gearbox and wiring loom to complete. Being
a Nissan fan, he elected on a Nissan CA
DOHC short engine. The car has a Vauxhall
front end, a Torana diff, and originally had a
rotary engine.
After the engine was selected and
installed, the body was stripped down to
reveal a number of issues. Advice was
sought on further bracing the chassis to
get more torsional rigidity, whether the
angle iron through the gear box tunnel was
acceptable, what work was required on the
seat belt mounts, and whether the engine
mounts need to be encapsulated. The roll
bar mounts were looked at, and MANZ
specs of a 45mm hoop, a 35mm back brace
and 120 sq cm footings were reiterated.
One of the challenges Isaac shares with
all Type Seven builders is the room for
three pedals in the driver’s footwell. Other
aspects of the rear bulkhead often being
triangulated in Sevens and a sheet steel
firewall were also talked about.
The flavour of the month topic of protecting
the brake lines and fuel lines through the
Isaac Stead Chevron
Mk2
22
May 2012
Roger Dunkley
Enclosed Motorcycle
gearbox tunnel was discussed at length,
with a double skin down the top of the tunnel
seeming like the best solution. But this does
leave a difficult exit spot by the diff. Nothing
like solving one problem only to create
another. Another alternative suggested was
the Leitch-like pressed steel tunnel.
It was then on to see Roger Dunkley’s
Enclosed Motorcycle. Wow – it’s so close to
completion, and it’ll be great to see it on the
road soon. In fact Roger has had it out on a
brief road test in a secluded spot recently.
He was pretty happy with the handling, with
minor refinements being required rather than
major rework.
The hot topic on site was the handbrake
versus hydraulic maintenance lock, which
was discussed at length. An associated
topic being discussed in another corner
of the garage was whether Rogers’s
machine was a car (as it has four wheels)
or motorcycle. The consensus was it is
a motorcycle as it has handlebars, not a
steering wheel. Roger also talked about his
dilemma with the electric reverse. A winch
was bought with the motor being pulled out
to use. It is certainly powerful enough, but is
quite heavy.
Other topics discussed were the petrol
tank – whether baffles were required and
Issue 4 Volume 25
keeping them out of the way of the float arm,
and the location of the tank being under
the back seat; the firewall loop; and use of
commercial (aka expensive) rivets. That said,
the rivet finish was excellent.
From Rogers secluded hideaway we
travelled to Phil Bradshaws place in Stokes
Valley. Jean-Pierre Paalvast had trailered is
Lynx project south to the capital. Once the
body was removed, JPP held out his hands
and said ‘Where to from here’? He then
gave us a rundown on what he knew about
the car – a Triumph Herald chassis and front
end apart from the adjustable shocks and
brakes with adaptors, a Datsun 180B rear
end and an Alfa Romeo 1750cc engine.
The conversation turned to whether the
registration was on hold for restoration, or
had lapsed altogether. This will necessitate
a check with the Post Office. This will have
implications on whether the car has to meet
current LVV build standards, or whether the
original registration will stand. If the original
rego is applicable, then the engine swap,
engine mounts, roll cage and seat belts would
be pretty much all that is required to get the
Lynx back on the road. But if the rego had
lapsed, then additional work will be required.
Other discussion included steering
column length, which noise test would be
23
Left: JPP Lynx
Left below: Craig
Peach 7 Type Special
applicable if the original rego is on hold, seat
belt mounts, and front wheel adaptors. JPP
really got some great advice and direction
on how to progress his project.
While in the valley, Phil also showed those
on site his front brake calliper adaptors. He’s
had to modify one slightly to get the fit right,
but now he knows the exact measurements
so can get the final pieces made to suit.
Last garage on the tour was Craig Peach
where we were treated to his Lotus 7 Type
Special – a self designed scratch built car
about five years in the making so far. All
present were in awe of the nose cone – built
by welding 7 pieces of aluminium together
having shaped them on an English Wheel.
Craig’s ultimate finish is all paint which we
couldn’t believe, given the workmanship
which had gone into the body. Still, the
24
workmanship visible on the project so far
suggests the final finish will be stunning.
Running gear includes a 20V Toyota on
carbs (with the threat o fuel injection hanging
over it), an Escort diff, Cortina uprights, and
a Civic radiator.
Points pondered in Papakowhai consisted
of wheel guards covering the wheel tread,
brake lines not rubbing on the wheels, the
protection of the brake line through the
transmission tunnel, petrol tank mounts,
side repeaters, adjustable seating versus
squabs, and the steering shaft universals
being out of phase. We then all headed off
into the twilight, sufficiently educated and
well entertained.
All in all, the tour was a viewed as a
resounding success. Thanks to all the
participants – scrutes and car builders
alike. We are all looking forward to the next
edition.
Snippets of feedback:
Matthew Porritt said he got a lot out of the
day. The length of each stop is not crucial,
no stops were too short, and if interest was
lost in the discussion around the car, there
were plenty of people to chat to. Depending
on his own progress, he’d be keen to have
May 2012
the tour come to his place again in about a
years’ time, and he’d probably come for a
look on any tours that are planned.
Roger Dunkley found the day and his project
visit very useful with some good hints about
things that he hadn’t considered. He thought
it would have been great if things could have
been signed off but this would require a
proper scrute. He found each visit length time
about right but the day was a bit long if all
the stops were visited. Given how close he is
to completion, he probably wouldn’t need his
project in another tour soon but does need to
get some real scrutes done!
Stewart Collinson thanked Phil for his
organisation. He too enjoyed the event,
comparing it to a garage tour but with more
chance for participants to chip in with ideas
and comments and to learn from each other.
He felt it was good to have a club gathering
centred on the build process, and thought
there was a great club spirit. A challenge
noted was to have a focused discussion
on the few points that mattered to him. He
found the discussion on impact zones was
the most useful. And the collective wisdom
on wishbone mountings was reassuring.
Cats, as ever, remain a mystery. He’s keen
to see the tours continue, but suggested two
ideas for the future. Firstly for large visits like
Sunday, have a theme – eg: visit Stewart’s
Porsche replica to look at interior impact
zones and fitting cats. This would help the
builder and techos prepare, and we could
have the relevant part of the LVVTA/hobby car
guidelines ready for discussion. Secondly prescreening – to help our scrutineers, have visits
by the tech committee and a few onlookers to
more formally pre-screen vehicles in the late
stages of a build. The pre-visit would result in
a checklist that the scrutineers/builder could
use in the actual scrut.
Issue 4 Volume 25
Robin Hartley also thanked Phil for
organising the tour. He found it very worth
while. He felt it would be nice if it was possible
to include the signing off of some inspection
aspects. Not a full scrute, but an example
would be his seat belt plates that will be hard
to inspect once they are installed. They will
now have to wait until the next scrute.
Jean-Pierre Paalvast thanked Phil for an
awesome weekend. He really enjoyed the
hospitality and the Sunday spending time
round all the nice projects and to see what
talented people there are around doing
amazing things! We were glad to hear he
got back to Rotorua safely. The information
he got from Mick was useful and he is now
working on it. JP found the day really worth
while as it gave him insight on how others do
their projects. He had great fun travelling in
between the projects in Phil’s Seven too. He
noted two months between tours made sense
providing there was sufficient demand.
Craig Peach also thanked Phil for
organising the tour. He found it very helpful,
and also very interesting to see what others
are doing and how they manage the technical
side of their builds. He wishes to thank the
Technical people for their input. Overall the
day was too long, the time spent at each was
more than adequate. Perhaps thought could
be given to specific needs prior to arrival at
various projects. He noted concerns over how
rules change during the build, particularly if
one was particularly slow it would be a never
ending modification process. He also has a
question as to how our scrutes undertaken
by the CCC can be taken into account by
outside inspections. Craig plans to take his
build to another inspector for the suspension
and steering inspection.
25
The continuing story of my Pelland build
by Robin Hartley
Photo 1 – glue left
Photo 2 – glue removal
So it’s time for another article, actually well
passed time. Now that it was in the shed it
was time to unpack. Lots of boxes with pits
& pieces that I have no idea where they go.
Graham had used duct tape to close the
doors boot & bonnet since there were no
latches. So just lift one end and pull it off,
yeah right after 2 months in transit the tape
pulled off but the glue was left behind (photo
1). I tried all sorts of things to get it off, turps,
acetone, petrol, meths, and even some of
that expensive citrus based cleaner. Nothing
seemed to work. So after much searching
on the interweb I found several people
recommending using CRC. Since turps or
petrol didn’t work I wasn’t holding out much
hope. Boy was I surprised, spray it on and
wait 15 minutes and then scrape off the runny
mess, a quick respray and wipe clean with a
rag (photo 2).
So with everything unpacked and all the
tape removed it was time to get stated.
Since I’d got a nice new moulding for the
front I thought I’d put that on. Something I
could do before I got all the design approvals
& it would give me samples of the original
moulding should I need to get it tested.
The plan was to cut a wooden template
from the new moulding & then use that
to scribe a cutting line. Easier said than
done as the mould line was not flat (photo
3). What I ended up doing was creating
a curved cardboard base which I then cut
out (photo 4). Then I made stiffeners with a
curve to hold the shape in the template. Lots
of masking tape and general muttering and I
had a 3D template to use (photo 5).
The next thing to do was to align it so
the new nose was square to the car. After
doing some quick measurements from
various points on the body it became
apparent that there wasn’t anything I could
use to align it from, the joy of a nice set of
curves. So I had to construct guide lines
on the floor. Careful measurement between
the suspension pivots and a plumb bob to
the floor gave me 2 points central to the
chassis. A chalk line through them gave me
a centre line. Then with a bit of trig & a 3
4 5 triangle I had a line on the floor that
was parallel to where the nose should fit
(photo 6).
Using a rafting square I aligned the
template onto the body and confirmed it was
26
May 2012
vertical and parallel (photo 7). A quick check
at the centre to ensure the template wasn’t
twisted & I was ready to mark the cutting line
(photo 8). A quick run around with the felt tip
marker and a check against the moulding to
be sure everything looked right (photo 9).
I now had a black line around the car, not
bad for 2 days work.
Now all I had to do was muster the courage
to start cutting up the car I’d just spent about
a year getting, no pressure. A quick test with
a narrow cutting disc in the grinder showed
that it would produce a clean cut and was
very controllable (photo 10). Working slowly
with the vacuum and putting tape across the
cut as I went produced a nice cut line with
no drama (photo 11).
After removing the tape I had 2 pieces
and was ready for the new front to be tried
for size (photo 12). A test fit showed that all
the prep work had been worth the effort. The
new front fitted perfectly and when checked
against the construction lines on the floor
was square & true (photo 13). A few strips
of masking tape & it was ready to be glassed
in place (photo 14).
Glassing a joint like this is usually an easy
job. Just brush on a bit of resin and lay the
glass on to it. Then build up a few layers and
roll. However when you are having to bend
over the front through the bonnet opening and
work upside down it take a little longer. I usually
add a little tinter to the resin as it makes it
easier to see if the glass has been fully wetted
out and well compacted (photo 15). The end
result turned out very well and removing the
masking tape on the outside showed a nice
clean bonding line (photo 16).
All that was left to do was fill in the original
radiator opening on the underside. First step
was cut away the lip and grind a feathered
edge around the bond area. To create a
mould I screwed a piece of hardboard faced
Issue 4 Volume 25
Photo 3 – template first attempt
Photo 4 – curved template
Photo 5 – template with stiffeners
27
Photo 6 – Construction lines
Photo 7 – aligning template
Photo 8 – Checking centre
28
with acetate sheet to the floor pan with a
wooden batten strip on the inside edge to
screw into (photo 17). A couple of clamps
on the corners (photo 18) at the front to get
the final curve and a bit of plasticine around
the edges to fill in any small gaps & it was
ready to glass up.
This time access was much easier and I
had some blue tinter so it’s a better match.
Three layers of mat and some vigorous
rolling and it was looking good (photos 19
& 20). To help ensure a smooth finish on
the inside I put a layer of glad wrap over the
glass & smoothed it down (photo 21). I find
this gives a nice flat surface & prevents the
tiny needles that you can get on the inside of
fibreglass with hand lay up. The down side
is that if you don’t get it wrinkle free as you
put it down you get little ridges of glue in
the finish.
After letting it harden for a couple of days
I unscrewed the mould and was presented
with a finish that was as smooth as the
acetate sheet I used. A quick scrape around
the edges to remove the plasticine and it
was ready for a bit of filler to smooth out the
transitions (photo 22). Now all I need is a coat
of paint and a few other bits and pieces, you
know small things like suspension, brakes,
wheels etc and I’m ready to go.
Photo 9 – Checking against moulding
May 2012
Photo 14 – ready for glassing
Photo 10 – test cut
Photo 11 – finished cut line
Photo 15 – Front glassed on
Photo 16 – bonding line
Photo 12 – its too late now
Photo 13 – Offering up new front
Issue 4 Volume 25
Photo 17 – mould for radiator hole
29
Photo 18 – Clamps on mould to get final curve
Photo 20 – Glassing complete
Photo 19 – Glassing in progress
Photo 21 – Not to smooth glad wrap
Photo 22 –
The finished result
30
May 2012
Last month’s mystery car
Lots of folks guessed this one as it had
been featured in several car mags recently.
But the most complete answer came by
email from regular reader, Al Hoverd’s
grandson Alex.
Wikipedia gives us…
The Holden Hurricane was a two-seat
concept car built by Holden in 1969. The
Hurricane was one of the most advanced
vehicles for its time, with Holden describing it as a research vehicle, allowing them
“to study design trends, propulsion systems
and other long range developments”.
The Hurricane stood at just 990 millimetres (39 in) tall and was powered by
a mid-mounted high-compression 4.2
Issue 4 Volume 25
litre Holden V8 engine, producing 193
kilowatts (259 hp). The Hurricane did
not feature conventional doors; instead,
a hydraulically powered canopy swung
forwards over the front wheels and the
seats rose up and titled forward. Other
features included Pathfinder, an early
style of GPS, which acted in conjunction
with magnetic signals built into the road
to guide the driver.[2] It also contained
digital instrument displays, automatic
temperature control air conditioning called
Comfortron, an auto-seek radio function
and a rear-view camera, which consisted
of a wide angle camera in the rear bumper
connected to a closed-circuit television
(CCTV) screen in the centre console.
42 years after the Holden Hurricane’s
debut in 1969, the car was been fully rebuilt
& restored following the original design
by Holden Design. Restoration began in
2006 and was finished in 2011, with the
newly restored Hurricane first displayed in
October 2011 at the Motorclassica classic
car show in Melbourne.
Actually … I thought it might be copied
from the Eureka but I see the Hurricane
actually pre-dates it..
31
GT40 racing experiences
by Russ Noble
At Ruapuna on the
dummy grid waiting to
do the business
For the Club Day 2 at Ruapuna 7/11/10
I had the car going really well. Following is a
write-up I did at the time
Club Day 2 at Ruapuna last Sunday saw
me entering in the Unrestricted Club Saloons
class which sported some frequently raced
and well sorted cars. I was up against
Porsche GT2 and GT3 cars and a gaggle
of RX7 Batmans, the quickest of which was
running V8 power.
Qualifying was relatively uneventful and I
posted by best time yet at 1:32.124 to put
me P4 on the grid. Beaten by a GT2 on
1:31.371, the V8 Batman 1:29.493 and a
GT3 1:28.677. The plan for the race was to
try and hang on to the black GT2 who was
a second quicker than I was and hopefully
to improve my lap times by trying to keep up
with him over the 8 laps.
However as so often happens in motor
racing the plan went out the window when
the flag dropped. I got a real blinder of a start
and managed to get past them all to lead
into the first corner. Surely it would only be
32
a matter of time until I got done by the faster
cars. My mirrors were full of the white GT3
who had qualified 3½ seconds faster, and
the other two cars were in close attendance
also. This continued until the GT3 spun and
his place was taken by the V8 Batman. I
could hold them in a straight line but without
the aero it was pretty hair raising in the turns
and I was expecting a lunge down the inside
every corner. The pressure was on and every
completed lap had me wondering how much
longer I could hold them out. The Last Lap
board was shown and I had to try and hold
it together for the last lap. It seemed like it
would never end but onto the start finish
straight for the last time and I was still in front
and knew that it was mine. A win by ½ sec
from the V8 Batman! A mighty race and even
better my best lap time had come down to
1:30.391. Nothing like a bit of pressure!
Next race was a reverse grid race and I was
off Grid 27 with one of those three fastest
alongside me and the other two behind. For
this 6 lapper I got another good start and
May 2012
The engine compartment
managed to work my way through the field
all the while expecting to be gobbled up by
the quick cars. Didn’t happen and I got past
all the cars in front to win by less than ½ sec
from the GT3. With the traffic, most of the
laps were in the 1:31 range but my fastest
was 1:30.723. Not too bad I felt.
The next race was a 6 lap handicap race
and they had me off the back of the grid on
73 secs while the other three quicker cars
were in front of me off 70 sec. This was
going to be a hard nut to crack and I was
really focused on the job in hand and it took
total concentration. The GT3 won it with a
best time of 1:30.446 I finished 4th and was
next fastest on 1:30.484.
However a big wake up call, I was that
busy concentrating on what I was doing
that I missed seeing a few critical flags and
wound up getting penalised for passing a
car under the yellow flag, two others under
double waved yellows and ignoring a drive
thru penalty. I never saw any of them. Quite
justifiably I got hauled off to talk to the
Stewards who fortunately must have been
having a good day. Got a 60 sec penalty
added to my race time so that relegated me
to 14th. No monetary fine, no suspension.
Very, very, lucky!
The last race of the day was a 6 lap scratch
race combining all classic cars and club
Issue 4 Volume 25
After the accident
cars. No formal grid, first up best dressed. I
managed to get out quickly and grab Grid 1.
On flag fall I soon cleared out to a comfortable
lead and I was getting a bit adventurous trying
different lines, trying to go in deeper and cut
later apexes so I could get the power down
earlier. Well the theory was good but I wound
up spinning it on the 2nd lap and collected
33
a bit of damage so I decided to head for the
pits and call it a day.
Not too bad though, first spin this season.
The car is really predictable and I can get it
out of shape and it will come back, unlike
last season when the merest indiscretion
saw it heading for the kitty litter or worse...
When I first started building this car I had
my eyes firmly on the Classic Sports/GT lap
record which at the time was 1:30.5 held by
a T70 driven from memory by American Tom
Malloy. I can now comfortably go under that
but in the intervening years that has been
lowered to 1:29.5 by NZer Murray Sinclair
in his beautiful wee Chevron B16. So that
is another challenge. I think when I get a bit
more used to the car that it will be doable.
Time will tell.
Levels 14th Nov 2010
The car was good as I went out in the
qualifying session. The last lap of qualifying
as I came into the sweeper off the long
back straight at about 250kph the car
unexpectedly failed to turn in and it was
all over. Fortunately it slowly and gracefully
pirouetted through 180 degrees before
slamming rearwards into the bank virtually
coming to a dead stop. It was a hell of a
hit. I got out of what was left of the car and
The fibreglass on the spider which was broken
by my helmet and vice versa which caused my
broken neck
34
was going to wave to the marshalls to show
I was OK but didn’t actually feel too good,
so lay down on the grass instead. I was
transported to hospital by ambulance where
a suspected broken neck was confirmed
and heart damage was also diagnosed.
Pretty lucky though, if I’d hit any other way
than rear on I’m sure I’d be dead. It was
later ascertained that irrigation from the
adjoining farm had drifted onto the track and
I hadn’t seen it but there was enough there
to significantly reduce the grip. Bugger
My crew of Lim and John organised
getting the car loaded back up on the trailer,
no mean task in itself, while I was in hospital.
I didn’t really feel at the time that there was
too much wrong with me and managed to
talk the hospital into discharging me that
afternoon albeit with an introductory note to
Burwood outpatients, and in a neck brace
(which I wound up having to wear for nearly
two months) By the Monday night John and
Lim had stripped out the rear of the car and
cut off a lot of the damage See photo.
Unfortunately the crash actually knocked
me around more than I realised and it is
really only now that I am starting to come
right. So the car has not really progressed
significantly in the last year or so since it
was damaged. Although I built a rotisserie
over the winter and have the car sitting on it
awaiting my attentions.
There are some interesting observations of
how the car stood up to the impact. Whilst
everything in the rear bay (except the basic
engine) was destroyed, wheels, shocks,
uprights, fuel tank, transaxle. Even the clutch
cover (pressure plate) was bent! And the
doors were torn off by the G forces, although
the hinges remained operative and a large part
of each door was still attached to them. The
car was originally going to be road registered
and the hinges were engineered and built to
May 2012
Photos of damage
back home Sunday
night on trailer
withstand the specified forces. Irrelevant that
the door itself never would. LOL
A pleasing aspect of the car is that there
is no structural damage forward of the rear
bulkhead. All the crash loadings have been
distributed through and absorbed by the rest
of the chassis as intended. The chassis was
constructed using generally (except for the
roll protection of course) square 25.4 mm 1.6
wall ERW tubing and mostly brazed with nickel
silver bronze. Fully triangulated and mostly
paneled with 1.2mm alloy sheet, glued and
riveted. Although many tubes and brackets
were torn and broken in the rear unpanelled
space-frame section, there were no failures
of the brazing. An excellent testament to this
traditional racecar construction technique.
The car the night after having been stripped out
by my good mates Lim & John
Issue 4 Volume 25
35
The Stinger on the track again
by Matthijs Otto & Leon Reijnen
Hello all,
Finally, after hibernating for many months, we could bring the STINGER back to where it
belongs: On the race track, Spa Francorchamps in Belgium!
As usual for this time of year and typically for Spa Francorchamps the weather was chilly,
wet and cloudy. So traditionally, after a couple of rounds, the first unhappy ones met the
concrete wall at the famous Radillion; the slippery, high speed, blind and bumpy section
after Eau Rouge… The STINGER however survived the first cold hours, and experimenting
with different tyres kept us busy for the morning. The afternoon however we could switch to
slicks, and finally explore the handling and speed of the STINGER. Great fun!
We also did a small test with the air intake, now sticking from underneath the bodywork
into the air stream; it gave us about 300-500 higher revs in highest gear at the end of the
straight, so that’s something to think about … There were also several SAKER ‘group C’
cars present, but with their Turbo’s we could keep up with them on the straights… So there
was a real Kiwi touch to this event :-) (http://www.subarutrackday.com/)
See the attached pictures for a short impression of the STINGER at Spa . I guess Bob
Needham would have been proud to see it up there….
Special thanks to Les & Gail from Les Hunter Racing, who’ve send us a lovely original
promotion video and leaflets of the STINGER and some pictures of it’s building process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeTF8PmNjDo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFOiP7nQ2Xo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQu5WHf2xIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPW-qr74xFo
Along side a Saker another well known New Zealand car
36
May 2012
Leon Reijnen beside the car and driving
Issue 4 Volume 25
Matthijs Otto beside the car and driving
37
Johan
38
This car was originally built by the late
Bob Needham a regular contributor to
Spare parts. What follows is an excerpt
from the Stinger profile sheet written by
Patrick Harlow shortly after the car was
finished in 2000.
With many years involvement in
motorsport behind Bob decided that
he wanted to give something back. He
designed what he calls an entry level
race car for a class that should make it
affordable for a greater number of people.
Using easy to find Subaru parts the car
was able to produce a respectable time
of 1 minute 8 seconds at the Pukekohe
Park Raceway. It is believed that with
a little tuning this can be reduced by
at least another 3 to 4% which places
the car only 2 to 3 seconds slower than
Formula Ford time.
The car has been designed to be a
safe, economical and reliable form of
motor racing. The cockpit dimensions
are such that drivers of varying physical
builds can be accommodated. This
is further aided by adjustable pedals.
Just in case of emergencies the
rollover protection is Motorsport New
Zealand approved. Naturally the cars
suspension is fully adjustable as is
normal for a single seater race car. This
includes front to rear brake bias.
Bobs car has a standard Subaru EJ20
2 litre non turbo fuel injected engine
controlled by a Link computer and
coupled to a Subaru 5-speed manual
transmission through the standard
flywheel and clutch. During testing on a
Dynanometer 140Hp (104Kw) @ 5900
RPM was observed at the rear wheels.
May 2012
Anglia Front Suspension Part 1
by Phil Bradshaw
• Adjustable camber plates
• 14x7” alloy wheels (with 15x6”
alternatives)
• Custom steering arms
The Anglia
Part 1: How to save $1300 on
a Brake Upgrade
Our house renovations and lack of room in
the garage have meant that I have limited
space (and time) to mess with cars. The
Anglia is the only project that will fit in the
garage (I am beginning to think that Joanne
is right and I actually do have too much
treasure/junk in there...) so I have been
keeping myself amused when I need a
break from the house messing with the front
suspension for that lately.
Following a bit of online research, some
brief experience I had with a stillborn Anglia
project ~15 years ago and a frustrating time
dealing with serial responders on a forum
(whose actual expertise is significantly less
than they think it is) I have come up with the
following ‘recipe’:
• Mk 2 Cortina struts
• Mk 2 Cortina track control arms
• Anglia sway bar (that I will double up)
• Vented brake rotor/4-pot alloy calliper
upgrade
• Fully adjustable spring platforms
• Rebound adjustable shock absorbers
Issue 4 Volume 25
Mk 2 Cortina or Consul 315 front struts
(which have disc brakes) are the traditional
means of upgrading from the original Anglia
front suspension and drum brakes. Some
modification is required as the upper spring
platforms are too big to clear in the Anglia
strut towers, the top hats are different and
the struts are too long to allow you to lower
the car by much.
Fortunately they have the right camber
between the strut and stub axle to fit
without increasing the track too much,
and when fitted with a Mk2 Cortina track
control arm (which is about 25mm longer
between where the sway bar mounts and
the outer ball joint) they result in around
1.5 degrees of negative camber when the
vehicle is lowered. Complete Escort front
end assemblies can be fitted but to my mind
this is more hassle than it is worth due to
significant differences in track width, strut
camber, sub-frame location etc.
Mk 2 Cortina struts are the only real option
if you plan to fit larger, vented discs as they
have more clearance between the disc and
the track control arm ball joint than Consul
315. The Mk2 Lotus Cortina, GT and 1600E
struts mount the calliper ahead of the axle
line, but these are way less common and
hence much more expensive. One good
thing about the Consul 315 struts is that
they provide the stub axle with much more
rigid support than the Cortina does.
I managed to acquire pairs of standard
Cortina and Consul struts, but will probably
39
sell off the Consul ones. All the struts attach
to the track control arms (TCAs) via the
steering arms. Of course the Cortina steering
arms differ from the Consul arms, and both
are longer than (and different to) the Anglia
ones. I have one pair of Cortina steering arms
but I am looking at custom building some
shorter steering arms in the near future – you
can buy custom arms out of the UK, but they
are fabricated and welded in a manner that I
suspect will not be compliant in NZ.
My current focus is upgrading the brakes.
I could possibly get away with rebuilding
the stock callipers and fitting new (solid)
rotors and upgraded pads, but noting the
performance potential of the car (~210
horsepower courtesy of the Toyota Altezza
3SGE ‘BEAMS’ engine I am fitting) I would
feel safer with an upgrade to vented rotors of
a larger diameter and a 4-pot alloy calliper of
some description. Admittedly there is also the
visual appeal of having ‘man-sized’ brakes!
There are several well-trodden paths
for this sort of upgrade, but they are
predominantly based on components
commonly available in the UK (that are
correspondingly less common here), or to
my mind just too expensive. In addition to
being quite ‘old school’ as far as technology
goes, they are also generally optimised for
fitting inside 13” rims; as I will be running
14” mags or bigger I figured I may as well
explore other options.
To my mind there are two ways of
approaching a brake upgrade – one is
to make the brakes the primary design
consideration and select a wheel that clears
the callipers/rotors you decide to fit; the
other is to make the wheel a constraint and
select brake components that fit within.
I took the latter approach, primarily based
on my purchase of some used (circa 1980)
14x7” Enkei Minilite style wheels. Their stud
40
pattern is on a 4 x 4-½” pitch circle diameter
(PCD), which is RWD Toyota (and matches
the ~1980 vintage RWD Celica rear axle I
intend to narrow and fit in the fullness of time)
but are at odds with the Cortina front hubs
that are 4 x 4-1/4” PCD. So, job #1 was to
change the Cortina hub PCD. Irrespective
of changing the PCD, I needed to fit longer
wheel studs anyway as the Cortina ones are
too short for an alloy wheel (that is thicker than
a steel wheel where it bolts to the hub) to get
sufficient wheel nut thread engagement.
It just so happens I have a collection of
Toyota wheel studs that are suitably long and
a metric threaded to boot, matching my large
collection of used mag wheel nuts. The studs
are ~13.8mm OD over the knurled section,
and with a bit of persuasion fit nicely into a
13.5mm hole (which is a readily available drill
size). Luckily the Cortina hub has a solid face,
so there was lots of scope to re-drill it for the
new studs on a different PCD.
I could have carefully marked up the
hub to the new PCD, centre punched it
and drilled it in my drill press, but that all
seemed like too much effort to me. What I
did instead was got a drilling template laser
cut, namely a 5mm thick steel disc that has a
centre hole ~63mm diameter (to match the
wheel centring boss on the Cortina hub).
The template has 4 holes that closely fit over
the Ford studs (in order to locate it). Spaced
halfway between each of the Ford studs is
another hole in the template, which are on
the (larger) Toyota PCD. Each of these
additional holes is a different diameter, being
1/8”, 6mm, 10, and 13.5mm.
To drill the Toyota PCD I simply removed
the hub, dropped the template over it and sat
it on my trusty old hundred-buck Ryobi drill
press. I drilled a pilot hole between each of
the Ford studs using a standard pop rivet drill
bit (hence the 1/8” first hole), indexing the
May 2012
template after each hole and working my way
up in drill bits until I had 4 x 13.5mm holes.
Due to the design of the hub I had to file
a small flat on each of the stud’s mushroom
head in order to get clearance when angling
them into the new holes, after which it was
easy to pull them fully into place using a
wheel nut pulled up against a washer, with
some lubricating oil on the threads and
between the nut and washer.
Next step was to machine the wheelcentring boss on the hub down (by about
3mm) to 60mm diameter, as this is what the
standard RWD (and most FWD) Toyota boss
is. An added bonus was that I happened to
have some centring rings with this ID that
also fit the mags lying about. This will make
sure that the wheel studs are only holding
the wheel on, not centring it or taking the
weight of the car. It will also ensure the
wheels run true and is why all wheels should
be a snug fit on the hub centre boss.
Once I popped the new studs back out
it only took a few minutes in my lathe to
machine the boss down 3mm in diameter.
Of note the outer wheel bearing outer race is
slightly loose in the hub (rotates but doesn’t
fall out) – this is a common Ford problem
that I intend to solve with some magic Loctite
660 or 680 retaining compound gunk when
I replace the bearings for final assembly.
I was now in a position to be able to
commence the brake upgrade in earnest.
The age-old trick is to fit Capri 2.8i vented
discs; there are the same diameter as the
Cortina rotors (around 250mm) with 4
pot callipers from an Austin Princess. The
callipers need a spacer inserted between
the two halves to widen them to clear the
disc, but once that is done the set up is a
bolt on. That, and the fact they fit inside 13”
rims, is the good news. The bad news is the
Capri discs are quite expensive new, the
Princess callipers are hard to find and hence
ridiculously expensive, unbelievably heavy (as
they are steel), and by all accounts rebuild
kits are practically unobtainable. Given my
intent to run 14” rims I figured I might as well
go a little bigger in rotor size and at the same
time fit a modern alloy 4-pot calliper.
The good news is Fraser Cars make
a very nicely engineered bolt on kit that
utilises Wilwood components and results in
simply awesome stopping power (and looks
mega cool to boot). The bad news is it costs
around $1800, which I simply can’t afford.
The Ford hubs ‘reverse mount’ the rotor, in
that there is a dedicated flange on the strut
14x7_ Enkei Minilite
Development Calliper Adapter
Issue 4 Volume 25
41
side of the hub (i.e. separate from the flange
for the wheel). My aim was to run a modern
OEM alloy 4 pot calliper and (ideally) an off
the shelf vented rotor to suit. The problem
is most modern rotors are ‘top hat’ styles
that sit on top of the wheel hub, sandwiched
between the hub and the rim.
This wasn’t an option for me for two
reasons. Firstly, the 14x7 rims (which are
shod in 195/60x14 tyres) are getting pretty
wide to squeeze under the Anglia guards
(which I don’t want to flare) as it is, so last
thing I need is to pack the wheel out by
another 6-10 mm courtesy of a top hat style
rotor. Secondly, modern alloy 4 pot callipers
are pretty bulky, and so you need a wheel
with a fairly ‘flat’ inside face to clear them
given the plane where the typical offset of a
top hat style disc dictates the calliper has to
sit. My old school mags were never going to
clear this sort of set up.
This is where one of my most handy
resources comes into play – PDF copies of
a number of Disc Brakes Australia (ww.dba.
com.au) catalogues. From previous experience
I know that Nissan Skyline alloy 4 pot callipers
are readily available in various guises to suit
rotors from ~275-330mm that are ~30-32mm
thick, whilst Mazda RX7 callipers suit rotors
from ~275-300mm that are 22mm thick.
The standard Mk2 Cortina solid rotor
is ~29mm ‘tall’ overall; if I was going to
‘reverse mount’ the upgraded rotor then I
needed to find a vented rotor that was not
too dissimilar in total height. Logically this
meant that a 22mm thick rotor was more
likely to be an option than a 32 mm thick one.
Accordingly I searched the PDF version of
the DBA catalogue looking for 22mm thick
rotors. What I needed was a rotor that was
also around 29mm tall overall and about
275mm in diameter, with a centre hole for
the hub boss of no more than 68mm.
42
It didn’t take long before I stumbled across
a disc for a Citroen that met all my criteria
apart from being 285mm diameter. Given
how cheap many rotors are new, I ordered
a pair of aftermarket replacement rotors from
Repco that turned up a couple of days later
and cost under $100 each. The first thing I did
after I opened the box was to measure them,
as they looked absolutely huge – although
they were indeed 285mm OD.
It had become apparent that I was likely to
be fitting a 22mm wide disc given the limited
space overall, so I started surfing TradeMe
for callipers. Club member Nik James and
others had recommended I look into RX7 4
pot alloy callipers, so combined with a bit
of Googling and cross referencing with my
DBA catalogue I ended up buying a pair of
FD RX7 callipers off TradeMe. These are off
the ‘Batman’ model and are notionally for a
300mm disc. I could have bought earlier FC
model callipers (generally mid ‘80s to early
‘90s vintage) but these are an older design
and in reality the later model callipers were
the same price.
The callipers cost me $220 delivered to
my door, with near new pads and all the
various shims and clips. Whilst I will replace
the pads before the car goes on the road,
they are good enough for set up purposes.
My first challenge was to fit the rotors to
the hubs. The rotor ID was some 1.5mm
smaller than the Cortina hub OD. Ordinarily
I would have machined the centre of the
rotor out slightly, but given that I wasn’t sure
if the rotors would actually fit (although initial
indications were looking good) I decided to
machine the hub so I could return the rotors
if necessary. This also means the rotors
remain closer to stock and hence need less
modification should I need to replace them in
the future (it looks like the only modification
needed will be to re-drill the PCD for the
May 2012
mounting bolts to suit the Ford hub, which
is about 90mm)
So, the hubs went back into my lathe and
I machined the boss down by about 1.5mm
to suit. Given the PCD incompatibility I
cable tied the rotors to the hub in the first
place with some 50kg breaking strain cable
ties, again so I could return the rotors if it all
went pear shaped.
Next step was to put the hub and rotor
assembly back on the strut, before sliding
the calliper onto the rotor. This gave me the
first real opportunity to see how the calliper
lay in relation to the strut calliper mount.
Fortunately the calliper sat in a location
where it was fairly easy to make a simple
adapter bracket that bolted to the calliper
and straddled the Cortina mount, requiring
just a couple of spacers to cater for the
difference in offset. At least, that was the
theory. A shortage of handy steel to mock
something up from was compounded by
difficulty in getting relative measurements
to the required accuracy (to within about
1mm) due to the lack of clearance between
the calliper and wheel. This meant that
the easiest way forwards was to design
a bracket to be laser cut that was at least
known dimensions that I could subsequently
get altered and re-cut. Despite my best
efforts it took until the third bracket to get it
right, but I am very happy with the result.
A quick word of advice might be
appropriate at this stage – not only do
you have to consider wheel to calliper and
calliper to disc clearances, but you also
have to bear in mind whether or not the
calliper will hit the strut, steering or track
control arms/ball joints throughout the full
range of suspension travel. You also need
to somehow be able to bolt on the calliper
(I have seen some conversions where the
calliper has to be disassembled and built up
Issue 4 Volume 25
on the car…). You also need easy access to
replace the brake pads.
Beyond the obvious aim of centring the
disc in the calliper axially, you should also
aim to get the brake pads line up as close as
possible so that the OD of the disc and OD
of the pads coincide. Most 4-pot callipers
have a large pad area to maximise braking;
generally speaking OEM callipers have pads
that tend towards ‘square’ whilst aftermarket
(like Wilwood) have long, thin pads. This
means that many aftermarket rotors have
a large swept area ID that means an OEM
‘square’ pad might be bigger than the actual
rotor area and hence not fit.
This also means that the OEM callipers
may not provide much scope for machining
down OEM rotors to reduce the overall
diameter before you run out of ID on the
swept area.
Obviously the callipers need to be
mounted with the bleed nipples uppermost,
but you also need to make sure that you
don’t have callipers with differentially sized
pistons, as these go only one way up. This
means that potentially callipers that the
OEM fits ahead of the axle line may be
incompatible with mounting behind the axle
line. Fortunately this is not an issue with the
callipers I bought.
Anglia Adjustable Camber Plate
43
It turns out that my basic model Cortina
struts mount the calliper to the rear;
apparently Mk2 Lotus, GT or 1600E Cortina
struts mount the callipers to the front, but
are much more rare and command elevated
prices as a result. Unfortunately my brake
upgrade is such that the factory Cortina
steering arms and the calliper mounts want
to be in the same place, and the struts
cannot be swapped left for right on the
steering arms, which would in effect place
the callipers on the opposite side to the
steering arms.
So, my next step is to make some custom
steering arms. This will resolve the loss of lock
issue created by the longer Cortina steering
arms, and fortunately I will be able to make
new arms that retain the correct Ackerman
angle and readily clear the brake adapters.
From the outset I fitted Mk2 Cortina track
control arms; these are about 25mm longer
than the Anglia arms, which increases the
track by the same amount, but otherwise
identical. This means that with the front of
the car lowered to a realistic level you end
up with ~1.5 degrees negative camber.
Unfortunately my 195/60x14 tyres are a
little too big in overall diameter to clear the
guards at the desired ride height. I found
that identical offset 15” wheels fitted with
195/50x15 tyres clear nicely, which means I
will have to sell my current 14” tyres and buy
some 185/60x14s, which are about 15mm
smaller in diameter. This may not sound like
much, but it makes all the difference. I also
had to re-radius the front bottom edge of the
guards to clear the tyres, which with a bit of
tidying up will be hard to pick from factory.
I also fitted some adjustable top camber
plates, that came with the aftermarket
‘BC’ suspension I will be using to modify
the Cortina struts with. The camber plates
needed some minor surgery and mounting
holes re-drilling to fit the Anglia strut top, but
more on that next time.
Completed Strut and Brake Upgrade
44
May 2012
Issue 4 Volume 25
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Scubie’s Rant
Some how I always knew I’d struggle to
keep my hand out of the air... I knew the
AGM was on at April’s monthly CCC
meeting, but I chose to attend anyway. And
as with other clubs and organisations I’ve
been involved with over the years, I always
seem to get more involved than just being
a member. Not that I have any disrespect
for those who elect not to be any more
than just a member. I just happen to be the
sort of guy who likes to get more involved
in things. When I joined CCC last year and
saw our Spare Parts magazine, I developed
a yearning to become a regular contributor...
But alas, one article in eight months does
not a regular contributor make... So there I
am at the AGM, trying not to jump into too
much too fast. And the vacant Assistant
Editor of Spare Parts position came up. And
consequently, I raised my hand to volunteer.
And so in order to make sure I have a say
each month, I thought I’d start a column. No
particular topic in mind, just a collection of
musings of things generally automotive in
nature. So being month one, an introduction
of sorts beckons.
I joined the club to meet like-minded
people, and to help facilitate my long held
ambition to build a seven styled kit car.
And as my kit building has started, so has
my contribution to Spare Parts. My Almac
Clubsprint chassis is now nestled in my half
of the garage, and bits of MX-5 are piled up
round the place ready to start being bolted
46
on. But out-loud musings a week or two
back nearly upset the whole box of bolts.
While couch surfing on my iPad I stumbled
on another kit car – more on that in a sec.
Said kit car is similar to the Clubsprint in that
it’s based on a single donor. The required
donor is an early to mid 2000’s Subaru
Impreza WRX. Now I don’t have a WRX, but
I do have a 2001 Impreza RS. And I reckon
the kit I was looking at, naturally aspirated,
would almost be as much fun seeing as todate I’ve avoided owning any turbo powered
car, and still managed to have the odd bit
of four wheeled fun. Trouble was I thought
the kit looked great, and had the advantage
of me already owning an appropriate donor
vehicle. And I said as much out loud. And
she who holds the purse strings, amongst
other things, suggested I focus on the build
at hand lest she scuttles all the construction
dreams spouting forth.
Right, having refocused and committed
fully to the build already under way, more on
the kit I stumbled on in a Sydney Morning
Herald article from mid 2011. A competition
run by US niche kit-car manufacturer
Factory Five resulted in the one of the finalist
designs becoming the basis for a new kit.
The brief for the Project 818 contest (the
number coming from the target 1800lb
weight, translated into kg) was for budding
car designers to offer up their best compact
roadster design to be sculpted around a
bespoke light-weight chassis designed by
May 2012
818 and Chassis
Factory Five. The sports car to be is to be
mid-engined rear-wheel-driven with power
coming from the single donor turbocharged
Subaru WRX engine.
The design goal behind this car is very
straightforward. The car must be simple,
lightweight, affordable, and easy to build
in countries around the world. So even if I
didn’t have a potential donor car sitting in
the driveway, there are enough WRX’s falling
off the roads at the hands of inexperienced
drivers in the land of the long white cloud to
find a suitable donor when the time comes.
And at US$15k total build cost, and the
current exchange rate, I think this has the
Issue 4 Volume 25
potential to be a popular kit in this fair land
of ours. Check out the pictures. Not bad at
all in my book!
Anyway, welcome to my world... All going
well, I’ll share a little piece of it each month.
Random thoughts and things somewhat
associated to the sandpit we all play in. I’ll
be out there bugging you all from time to
time seeking some background on stories
to share. And if anyone wanted to further
investigate bringing these particular kits into
the country, I may well be interested in being
involved...
PS: If you’re wondering, it’s pronounced
‘Scooby’.
47