Duncan's Race Car - The Most Overdue Build Thread On Sau

[The Bogan]

27 minutes ago, MBS206 said:

Duncan just needs to start an epic open pit mine, let it store the excess water for him.

Call it a dam and the authorities won't say a word

Calling it a dam will probably have the local government charging him for the water that it captures 

[Duncan]

Hey Mark, hope the bionic shoulder is working properly now, just saw that in your post  I'll try and send you some info because it would be interesting to see how close we got in size, but not going to get a chance until next week at earliest.

In the meantime, for those who thought I've done nothing on the race car lately, here's some big news:

From this:

To this:

[Duncan]

So there has actually been more progress than that, just not a lot.

Firstly, I changed the DSF wheel bearing, finished up today.  I have been getting away with murder for years moving the car around without the drive shaft in (when the engine is out), however my luck ran out when the car was at the smash repair and the bearing separated while they were pushing it around. Since I don't know what damage if any was done to the actual bearing I figured safest bet was just to change it. So she has wheels and tyres back on, and on the ground for the first time in a while

[Duncan]

More seriously though....the combination of the difficulty getting parts to repair the car, together with the issues around tarmac rally reg changes have been the real thing that has kept me from putting the car back together.

Firstly, it's really clear that my cheapy import race car is no longer cheap. Things like bonnets and front guards are NLA, not to mention intercoolers, radiator supports, rear bars, boot lids, the list is endless (speaking of which, I made a throw away joke to my japanese friend Tsuyoshi....who then turned up with a boot lid in luggage on his next visit, what a legend!)

Bottom line, while I've got it fixed this time, there is a really high chance that next crash (small or large) will result in something I can't fix. Yes, there's no point having a race car that doesn't race, but it feels like the car is one minor incident away from being an unrepairable car that can't race.

The other issue on my mind has been the upcoming changes to regs. The less important thing is that grandfathered cages will no longer be allowed; we've been running this car for about 15 years with a pretty basic 6 point cage with 1 diagonal in the main hoop.  New rules mean we need to add:

* Second cross in the main hoop

* Cross brace in the roof (close to helmets unfortunately)

* 2nd side intrusion bar each side 

* 2nd brace from the top to bottom of the a pillar

So, I put all those extra bars in last weekend:

Driver side

Nav side

[Duncan]

Good news, inflexible middle aged driver and nav can get in OK, and probably, we can pass the "prove you can get out in x seconds if the car was on fire test" (yes, that's a thing now). Lucky Bob the Evo we hired a few years back had a similar cage and we could get in and out OK, although access to the back to chuck helmets etc in was a pain

On to the bigger problem. A 32 coupe is not a big car, I'm not short, and the new regs require no part of the helmet is closer than 50mm to the top of the cage at the roof, and same distance between the outside of the side bar at the roof and the helmets. 

Having had a good look at it, Kel's seat is OK because it can be kind of anywhere, so we can remake the mounts and get it down and in.

Mine however is a problem. I can probably get it the required 80mm lower by removing the slide and fix mounting the seat (there goes Kel's ability to driver the car without a seat insert....) but worse I need to move the seat inward 50mm as well, meaning the pedals and steering wheel will be offset.

[Komdotkom]

I've got a national spec cage in my R32 if you need any pics.

As you've pointed out the cockpit of an R32 is tiny and there is very little room left over particularly if you're running winged seats. My seats almost touch in the middle and they rub on the window glass, with a double cross in the roof helmet clearance is a massive issue. My co conspirator is a big unit 6'4 and 120kg and he can't get out of the car without a removable steering wheel, this would be simpler if he didn't have a massive gut I suppose!

[Duncan]

Actually, pics of the a pillar brace and how it goes with the dash would be good, and also did you have to go custom door cards to miss the 2nd side intrusion bar? 

The rest of it can work as long as I cut the top 100mm off my helmet

[Komdotkom]

PM'd you some pics.

 

[Duncan]

In other important race car news, instead of fixing the race car I changed the crank seals on the chainsaw, because wood burner

Some damn tight (and lock tighted) m6 head bolts

Who knew plastic crank cases were a thing!

Quick tip, don't trust the youtube videos that say you can pull the old seals out with the head on in a husky 440e...not true, their crank seal tucks in behind the cover both sides.

I'm not sure I'm a psychopath, but these things are damn loud....hope I can put all the bits back in the right place

 

 Happily, it is now back to turning fallen trees into a combination of firewood logs and wood chips....just need a clear day to get into it properly