Kenny's Kup

[Kenny.s]

The racers used electric PAS, I'm still debating whether to go that route or not, it would mean a few changes to the wiring but nothing too major.
I'm going to use a different alternator than usual, a small lightweight unit on a custom bracket that will pick up on one of the new chassis brackets. Hopefully that will also help take some of the strain off the subframe.

 

[Kenny.s]

Looking really good mate, some really nice engineering going into it. Shame about the sodemo head, is there anyway you could get someone to 'copy' it using a standard f4r head and do all the machining etc on it or is a different casting etc?
Russ

The head appears to be a standard casting so in theory all the machining could be copied over to a new donor, the cost of doing so however isn't cheap.

One of the biggest issues is the two shafts the followers run on. I've enquired about a few ways to have this done, can either be gun drilled or spark eroded.

Then there's other things like the cams run on small white metal bearings and the custom cam cover is line bored to suit. This may or may not present an issue when a new head is offered up.
There's a small cnc profiled groove in the top surface of the head for the silicone seal. The plug cavities are drilled out and threaded to take top hat style collars that help hold the cam cover down, the cover is designed to be stressed as it was used to mount the engine in the F3 car.
Basically everywhere you look there's been something done that requires machining.

The crank and rods are ok though so the most likely plan is to use these in a new build and sell the Sodemo head for spares, all the followers are fine, cams, springs, retainers pulleys etc

 

[Kenny.s]

Long overdue an update!

I've had a lot on at home recently, it's a long story but the result being I'm not going to be building my workshop. I'm still able to work on the car where it is but progress has and will probably continue to be very slow for the foreseeable

I managed to get down for a few days last week and got on with a few things. The hardest bit is just trying to remember what I was doing 3 months ago!

I got the lid for the fuel system painted ages ago but had been putting off fitting it as I knew it was going to be time consuming fiddly job, since I couldn't think of anything else worth doing I figured I might as well get it out the way.

Used some Dzus fasteners riveted to the lip of the box with some neoprene foam seal

Fitted the sleeves for the new type powerflex bushes and tacked them in, don't think they actually need to be welded in but figured it wouldn't hurt.
Then added a reinforcing plate to the ends, I had tried to get hold of the plates the racers had but I couldn't find any so just decided to make something. Also tweaked the hole position for a little more castor

I didn't take any pictures, but the mountings on the subframe are fully welded and reinforced.

I've ordered up a push/pull control cable for the gear change and a new reverse interlock cable. The gear lever is pretty much finished so next time I'm down there i'll be able to get on with that.

Decided to go for an electric hydraulic power steering pump, anyone used one from a Mk4 Astra? plenty on ebay for sensible money and are simple to wire up.

 

[Ph1 Tom]

Interesting about the Astra pump. I'll get myself one of them instead of the 106/Saxo pump. Have you connected yours up yet?

 

[Z1gZa]

The pump is weight
Even if it's going slowly, I like the work you're doing. Keep up!

 

[Kenny.s]

Interesting about the Astra pump. I'll get myself one of them instead of the 106/Saxo pump. Have you connected yours up yet?

I've not bought one yet, just been reading up on them, the seem quite popular, plenty folk using them for conversions on other cars.

The pump is weight
Even if it's going slowly, I like the work you're doing. Keep up!

The pump might be a bit of weight but it's a no brainer keeping the power steering in my opinion.

 

[Z1gZa]

Of course mate. I was kidding

 

[Kenny.s]

lol
It's tricky trying to keep the weight down though, it's tempting to bin stuff like power steering because it's a single heavy(ish) lump. I'm conscious that the car has put on a bit of weight in places I didn't want it to, i'm trying to claw some of that back but the proof will be when it goes on the scales I guess.

 

[NorthloopCup]

lol
It's tricky trying to keep the weight down though, it's tempting to bin stuff like power steering because it's a single heavy(ish) lump. I'm conscious that the car has put on a bit of weight in places I didn't want it to, i'm trying to claw some of that back but the proof will be when it goes on the scales I guess.

I'd say it's more important to keep the weight as low as possible. Sometimes you don't have much choice in terms of adding heavy items as they're a necessity. Unless you go full motorsport spec and source lightweight items of course, but that just adds time and ££££££'a to the job.

Good of to see you're still making progress though Kenny! Looks epic as always!

 

[Kenny.s]

I'd say it's more important to keep the weight as low as possible. Sometimes you don't have much choice in terms of adding heavy items as they're a necessity. Unless you go full motorsport spec and source lightweight items of course, but that just adds time and ££££££'a to the job.

Good of to see you're still making progress though Kenny! Looks epic as always!

Yeah thats very true, thats partly why I'd opted for an electric pump, it can be moved to the back corner of the engine bay, low down, only short hoses needed and it's also close to the main starter cable so I'm going to piggy back it off that so there's minimal extra heavy wiring needed.

 

[Kenny.s]

Just realised I had a few more pictures on my phone of the finished subframe.

I got in touch with a mate I've not spoken to for a while. He's now running his own business and as part of it he has a pukka grit blasting set up, ie a 20ft container with full breathing apparatus and various different grades of grit. Better still I can pop down when they're not using it and clean what ever I want for beer tokens

Next time home ill try and pop along and get the subframe cleaned up ready for painting. I've also got another rear axle which I'm going to build up so ill get that blasted too. Since everyone else seems to find it beneficial, I'm going to put a PMS strengthening kit on this one.

The custom push/pull gear change cable has arrived and the reverse interlock cable is on order so hopefully get on with fitting them when I get back.
Also ordered an inline load cell for the gear linkage, this will allow proper flat upshifts and throttle blips on downshifts. Still need to find a suitable solenoid to blip the throttle but I have a few possible options.

Springs are on order, ended up going with 350/500 as a starting point, see how it goes from there. There's enough adjustment in the shocks to go quite a bit stiffer should I need to.

 

[Andrewclio]

Looking amazing kenny! Have you basically replicated the cup racer subframe? Or is the engine now sitting lower?

 

[Kenny.s]

Looking amazing kenny! Have you basically replicated the cup racer subframe? Or is the engine now sitting lower?

Cheers Andrew, yeah it's just a copy of the cup racer subframe, I was thinking about trying to lower it slightly but the sump is already the lowest point. Once it's dry sumped (whatever year that may be lol) I'll look at dropping the engine and box a bit lower.

 

[Nafoff]

great work kenny, although yours is for much different reasons we seem to be in a similar position with progress, good to see your pushing forward, and in great style as per.

 

[Kenny.s]

great work kenny, although yours is for much different reasons we seem to be in a similar position with progress, good to see your pushing forward, and in great style as per.

Cheers Neil
Yeah, things have been pretty difficult recently, lot going on, long and short of it is we're moving house again so the car has taken a bit of a back seat lately.

That said, I managed to get down to the workshop for the weekend and got a few wee jobs done. Not many in progress pictures I'm afraid,

Due to the sequential box being an afterthought, a few things meant I couldn't use the standard metal pushrod for the gear change. The additional X brace on the bulkhead looks like it would probably have been in the way and the mother of a switchpanel was most definitely a show stopper, given the time it took to built that I didn't really want to start over.
Therefor the easiest solution for the gearchange was to use a push/pull cable. I contacted a few places and eventually went with a company called Cablecraft, very helpful and the quality of their work is spot on. We decided to use their medium duty conduit which is rated at over 100kgs of push, so more than enough to cope with what was required. I measured up the route and a few days later I had the cable

I then set about modifying the back of the gearlever frame to hold the outer of the cable, used a few bits that I had laying around to make the clamp.
There's a KA Sensors GSS Load cell in the linkage, this will enable more accurate ignition/fuel cut for upshifts and will also allow a throttle blip on downshifts.

At the gearbox end, some more jiggery pokery, made up another bracket, there wasn't a lot to work with so hopefully this will be sufficient, time will tell if it breaks.

Very crude, but using a set of kitchen scales it looks like it needs about 18-20lbs of push or pull to make a change. Certainly no danger of changing gear by mistake that's for sure!

I was running out of time by now but wanted to get a start on mounting the Astra PAS pump.
The pump came with the standard bracket so that made a good starting point. Chopped off all the original mounting points and offered it up. The first new mounting was straight bit of 25mm tube with an M10 threaded insert welded into the end, this was then bolted through the top skin of subframe. Its surprising ridged as it is but it would almost certainly fatigue fail if left like this. It really needs another 2 fixing points to triangulate it so I'll get that done the next time I'm down there. The pressure hose will be nice and short which is a bonus, just need to decide if I'm going to run an oil cooler.

 

[Z1gZa]

Well done mate

 

[RS225Megane]

Just finished reading this from start to finish, absolutely amazing!
Can't wait to see more, your vision for this car and the attention to detail and skill of fabrication is incredible.
Keep it up mate, was an awesome read and I am literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see how this project evolves!

 

[Kenny.s]

cheers

If we get settled in a new house before the end of the year that's got a useable garage, I'm hoping to get it out before the end of next season but I've said that before and I'm still building it! Just need to hope I can remember how to drive and do it justice.

 

[Ph1 Tom]

Get another cheap 172 cup to get out on track with until its ready.

 

[Kenny.s]

I had thought about that, and I might still do it, but the worry was it might distract me from getting this finished!

 

[Martin.]

Absolute Clio p**n!!!!

Amazing work you've done so far. Following with huge interest.

 

[Kenny.s]

Lol, cheers Martin [emoji16]

Few minor updates from the odd day I've managed to get at the workshop recently.

Got the Astra PS pump mounted, managed to get it tucked right into the corner. Used part of the standard astra bracket with some bits chopped off and then added some new supports onto the subframe.

The pressure hose is nice and short too which is a bonus. Got it made up by a place called Spectrum Hose, used them loads in the past and their work is 1st class, Goodridge fire sleeve just to be on the safe side.

Did a few wee jobs in the car.
Made a start on wiring up the steering wheel buttons, the two yellows are for pit lane speed limit and the other two are for scrolling through menus on the dash.

Also made a jumbo size brake pedal [emoji16]

Bonded the rear screen in, used a few small bolts in to hold it while sikaflex set, will change these for plastic once it's set, every little counts lol

We're hopefully going to be moving house soon, so ill finally have my own garage!
In preparation for the move I decided to chuck the suspension on so we can get it onto the trailer a bit easier. Need to change a few bolts and some of the spacers need tweaked but it'll do for now.

The subframe and wishbones all need to come off again to be painted too.

That's it for now, not sure if I'll manage anymore before the move so the next update might be the car seeing daylight for the first time!!

 

[sonny172cup]

very nice, great work.

 

[Jack-C]

Truly amazing. Really enjoy your updates

 

[Kenny.s]

Moving house has to be one of the most stressful things you can do but hopefully that'll be us for a the foreseeable.

Anyway, no sooner was the house half liveable, I was hatching plans to get the car and my tools into the garage. :grin:
It's only a crappy pre-fab concrete thing, the floor space isn't bad but the roof height is rubbish, it'll have to do for now though.
There's plenty space to build something else when I can afford it.

First job was to build a workbench and some shelves

Once I had the place semi organised it was time to go and collect the car, a friend with an enclosed trailer offered to shift it for me which was ideal since it was missing a few windows!

Last day in the old workshop, couldn't count the hours I've spent here lol

In it's new home

 

[Paprika123]

Lovely.

 

[-J-]

Love this car... One of the best on the forum!

 

[tuningmeisterjj]

What A Build!!!!

 

[JoeMarano]

Looks lovely if a bit bare without any badges/plates! Real nice colour.

Weight is overrated a lot of people strip their cars then plonk a heavy passenger in instantly negating the weight loss...

 

[JackJack]

It's looking good.

 

[sonny172cup]

Serious garage envy here...

 

[Tony Hunter]

You not got this going yet? :wink:

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Great effort with this mate, keep up the good work and updates coming :up:

 

[william...]

Amazing! Or better would be "Gigantomanisch"

 

[Nafoff]

seems we are in a fairly similar position @Kenny.s

We have just bought a house, but it has no garage, so having to look at building one, but thats going to be a while and saving is going to have to go to that rather than the car, even if it is only pre-fab, at least you have a garage, looks a decent size too. Congrats on the house purchase/move mate

 

[craigoscott]

amazing build

 

[thedjse]

Read full thread mate absoloutely awesome !!!!!

Really well done matey fab work awesome, parts fitted awesome very impressed, glad i have only just read it means i didnt have wait for updates.

 

[Kenny.s]

Cheers for the comments lads.

It's great having the car at home, it'll make it a lot easier to get on with all the wee time consuming jobs I've been putting off but the budget has taken a pretty big hit buying the house so i'll just need to see how it goes over the next few months.

I've still got a few significant parts to buy, such as:

Throttle Bodies & Airbox
ECU
New Crown Wheel & Pinion
Instruments

It will get finished, one day.......

 

[thedjse]

Least the main bulk has been purchased before the house buy pal

 

[JD_RS172]

This car is awesome!!