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Kit Car: DDR GT Build Thread


Whitesupraboy2
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As a few had mentioned they'd like a build thread I thought id do one for this forum. Almost relive the build :)

 

July 2012 - December 2012

 

So first of all I prep'd the garage. The best purchase of my build 'Garage floor rubber matts' . Then I fitted them and they made working on the car the whole time much warmer and softer than Concrete. I actually dont think I could of worked night after night without them.

 

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg703/scaled.php?server=703&filename=imagebzt.jpg&res=landing

 

This small place would become the build space evtually but first I required a Donor car. I wanted to get as many parts from one vehicle as possible so I could get a Age related plate rather then a Q plate.

I found myself a K reg Donor MR2 Turbo. It was a rev2 with a fields ECU, dropping the delimiters and a slight alteration to the map. It had recently had a radiator go and so the guy was worried about the headgasket...I was replacing all gaskets so was not worried and hence a good price of £1k was agreed.

 

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I started stripping the car. I always wanted larger brakes to fill the wheels better. With the car being a bit lighter taen a standard MR2 the stopping power wouldn't of been an issue. So I purchased the below;

 

* S14 4 pot calipers + Supra MkIV UK discs for the front

* For the rear standard calipers moved out on RX8 Discs

* Hub to Caliper adapter plates

 

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I also refurbished the steering rack and the Radiator and other parts I might need. I continued to strip the car and originally was going to reuse the wiring loom. I ditched this idea later on.

I then removed the suspension however I found out from the kit supplier I would need a Rev1 front suspension so I sourced those parts. I prepared to re-bush the whole suspension setup.

 

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Next was for the hubs to be taken off. I decided to change all wheel bearing as to remove any potential issues later on. I also then had them powder coated I did not want any rusty parts on the car.

 

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whilst Doing this work I ordered all the new gaskets I needed for the engine. Next was the engine drop, I had limited space and no engine crane, luckily on the MR2 its common to drop the engine and subframe rather then lift it out and as I did not have to care about the bodywork.

 

I loosened or removed as much as i could on the engine and placed a tray under the engine. I then dropped the car on the floor and unbolted the engine. Lifted the car up and pulled it out.

 

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Next I managed to get some 2nd hand BC racing coilovers in great condition with under 500miles on them. They were like new. this gav me a chance to mock up a corner of the car and makes sure everything pieced together.

 

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Whilst removing the driveshafts I noticed a CV joint had split, so I took that apart, cleaned the grease out and resealed as well tidying it up.

 

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I bought other parts I would need for the build. brake pipe flaring tool, Willwood master cylinders, pedals etc...

 

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It was at this point I decided I didn't want to start fitting some grubby parts, so the fans which are large and heavy for the radiator were binned and two spal fans purchased.

 

On the 31st October the kit arrived, It was a nightamre to remove from the giant shipping container that was on the back of a truck. but we eventually got it on a flat loader and finally on to the drive. There were moments when the car was dangling on its pallet and I was worried!

 

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Next I removed the shell and placed it in the back garden out the way. So next was to move the chassis into the garage. In good old american fashion the chassis was beefy...It took 6 of us to lift it.

 

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The first job once on the car dolly and in the garage was to clean the chassis and remove small bits of surface rust. The sea air had got to little bits which were just specs but still I wanted to deal with them so cleaned the whole chassis with WD40 just to look after it. I gave it a little bit of a polish as well to help a little bit further at this stage.

 

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Once clean I fitted the first parts, the master cylinders and pedals, which had to be fitted together as the bolts held on both parts. I then attached the reservoirs as well. These turned out to be a pain in the butt explained later on.

 

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At this point I found out the Americans had used a PAS rack without the PAS. I didn't want this seeing a rev1 of the MR2 had a manual rack I was going to have a proper manual rack. I didn't want to fit a heavy complicated PAS system, it just wasn't needed and if later I do want it, I can fit a vauxhall Corsa column which has it all built into the column and electric! (easier)

 

So the test fits started.

 

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At this point I found that the PAS steering rack spline was on a longer length so I had to get the column extended so it would all connect. In the meantime I started on the front corners.Fitting the lower arms, coilovers, hubs, calipers and discs. It all sat together well.

 

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Next my column came back and I attached it all together, as well as this the track rod ends were longer extended ones. So this meant there would not be large spacers at the front as the wheel hubs had been moved out by around an 1" - 1.5" each side.

 

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Next was to move on to the brake lines, the car has two independant master cylinders which are setup via a balance bar on the brake pedal. To keep everything neat the clutch and rear brake line would run on the top of the centre tunnel.

 

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The brake lines were not completed at this time and just the larger longer lines for the main body of the car were done. I then fitted the coolant pipes which ran in the tunnel under the car and out the front. These were very difficult as the space was tight. However once in were very secure, I then fitted the front brake T piece to the brake lines and I also test fitted the rubber hoses to the radiator.

 

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Next I choose to mount the aircon unit in the dash area so I know where to pass future hoses. Also I made up a new front firewall panel for the steering column to pass through.

 

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The radiator was far to loose and unsecure for my liking so a new mounting was constructed to secure it in the middle. As well as this the coolant pipes coming out of the tunnel were mounted on to a new bracket to be more secure and the hoses were clamped. The slim line fans were fitted to the radiator prior to fitment.

 

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Whilst doing all the above work I also had the engine at a friends Garage where I also stripped the head off and had the valaves lapped as well as new gaskets (inc a metal headgasket for more boost) and other seals. I painted the block black and also cleaned up the shields. There was no point tuning, forging the engine etc... as the emissions test is strict to pass for the test and I didn't want to risk it for any reason.

I then went back to putting the rear suspension on, with the MR2 i needed to fit the rear subframe as well. Everything went together as expected.

 

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Once done the next piece was mounting the MR2 gear selector, now this didnt differ from any other mr2 kitcar to some degree with a lengthening of the rods used for the gear selectors.

 

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I then completed the rear brake lines with stainless braided lines and also tested the rear handbrake, however the rachet end will need some design work. At this point the system cant be pressure tested to ensure there are no leaks.

 

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I wanted the car to be water tight and also to keep the noise down I want to hear the engine but not feel like the exhaust is channeling into my ear. So I ordered alot of sound deadening matt and also noise absorbing foam. So I started by fitting the matt all over.

 

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During this stage I test fitted some second hand seats I got, again the seats were basic but what I knew would pass the test. Being the first to build a car like this always mean't some cash would be wasted on bits like this. At the same time I came up with a handbrake solution, which was a handbrake from a peugeot 206 slightly modified.

 

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Now the sound deadening was done I could fit the hose holders for the in car heater. The tunnel under the car did not have enough room so they had to go on top of the tunnel I made sure the holder could hold 4 lines, 2x heater and 2x air con.

 

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At this point with all 4 corners on, I chucked some wheels on and took it off the car dolly. Boxing day 2013 I got the car on to the floor for the first time and did a walk around of how the car currently stood.

 

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So with the car now on a rolling chassis I needed to get the engine in. So with the engine all finished and cleaned up as well it was time to fit it back in, again without an engine crane. So the rear was lifted up and the engine slid under. Then I dropped the chassis a little and jacked up the gearbox mount and attached it, then i jacked the other side of the engine up and attached that. After that I put the car on axle stands with the garage being so small it was impossible to work on the car with wheels on.

 

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So the first two parts to connect up were the coolant hoses and the gear cables. When I tested the gear cables I was able to select a gear without any issues so the rods had been extended the correct length.

 

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I designed a fuel tank that was a box shape for mounting purposes but with 2 baffles inside so a high amount of sloshing wouldn't occur and also under hard braking the fuel would not move away from the pump. I also designed it to use the original fuel pump holder and fuel level sender. I sent this off to a fabricating firm to be made and back it came.

 

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I then at this point needed to start on the wiring as I wanted to get the car fired up before even considering lighting looms etc... So I studied the MR2 manuals and worked out if I took the rear clip of the MR2 from fuse box back I could potentially get the car started with just 5 wires to the rear from igntion battery etc... So I decided to buy a fusebox and base my wiring off of that. I also managed to incorporate the MR2 main 120amp fusebox as well, this way the car had some protection as well, shown in the below photo.

 

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Following this I thought I would give the engine a turn over, no fuel and the car turned over at this point I thought I was near the end goal. Next was to install the intercooler on to the engine.

 

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Whilst waiting on parts for the engine I started on other electrical circuits, with the fuseboard it was easy to start doing each extra circuit without effecting other circuits. I made sure proper car connectors are used.

 

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So it was time to try running the engine....it turned over and over...nope! Great! So I spent next 7 days checking over fuel, spark etc... testing everything. In the end I ended up checking the one part I had had a mechanic fit...the head and the belts. the cams were out both inlet and exhaust, so I realigned them and tried again, bingo...fired up and ran. Big hurdle done! At this point there was no coolant in the system so a 30second run was all that could be done.

 

So back to electrics!! Horn, sidelights, radiator fans and all the other bits.

 

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That's some kit car ! ... Looking forward to see the rest of the build !

 

Cheers, bit different to the norm!

Interesting project, looking forward to updates :)

 

I'm intrigued about your choice of brakes, I wonder if the Nissan calipers could be adapted to fit a Supra. Probably no better than the Lexus LS400 brakes, but certainly a larger choice of discs and pads.

I went for them because they are an upgrade people already done on the MR2 and I have the advantage of a brake bias bar so can balance the brakes better as well. The S14 calipers are the same as skyline GTR, apart from these are cast and weight more, the GTR's are aluminum and weigh less than the original MR2 brakes! They are shared across a few cars as it happens, i just cant remember them all!

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Without getting too boring, more electrics including trying to keep it tidy as you go and wiring in the aircon unit.

 

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Stripping more wires out!

 

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Next my dash kit came, Being universal to fit on any car I was excited about fitting this as it made wiring even eaiser with all wires being wired down by the fusebox and a single cat 5 cable to the dials.

 

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As part of the requirements all cabling must be secured throughout a maximum of 300mm apart. I took this to the next level and also did fuel lines, brake lines the same.

 

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I had to get a custom exhaust made so I fitted a 3" decat pipe and then fitted a flexable exhaust and fit a backbox under the sump.I would have to decide on where the exhaust would exit on the rear bumper.

 

Next I needed to start on the dashboard the one that came with the kit would not pass the test and also was very basic.So i started to cut apart the mr2 dash and the one that came with the kit and fibreglassed them together to give a shape I roughly wanted.

 

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Once the wiring was all tidied up and inside cleaned.it was time to put down the noise absorbing foam, with closed cell on the floor and open cell on the wheel arches and front firewall.

 

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The interior that was built is only a version 1 and has been designed and made in a way to pass the UK IVA test to get a kitcar on the road, sharp edges is one of the areas that is so strict and so dials are recessed.

 

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With a few good days of weather I decided to clean up the bodywork which had been sat in the garden, I removed the headlight covers as well as they did not need to be on the car.

 

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Back on to the interior and I fitted a carpet and the tunnel side walls. Although the colour is not what i wanted it is fine for just this stage of the build long term it will be redone. On top of the carpet the throttle pedal was fitted.

 

The dash is covered with a lot of foam underneath to meet the radius tests and then covered in material. Long term it all be removed and the dash flattened and smoothed and then flocked. This will be done at the end of the summer '15.

 

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Some parts with the kit were just steel and sub par so I replaced them with machines stainless or aluminum.

 

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I had to have windscreen made from the one supplied as it was only Dot marked and not E marked, luckily I managed to get a contact who managed to get pilkingtons to make a mould off the screen I had and provided an E marked screen for me. This was then test fitted to see if it fitted and it did which was good news.

 

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Also at the same time both seats were fitted properly with 4 point harnesses, They were mounted at the correct heights to meet regulations for the test on location and strength.

 

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I found out the demonstration car in the USA didnt actually have a working wiper so i had to work on a solution, which involved lengthening the linkage and also changing the pivot as I needed to alter the sweep area. I also extended the arm and fitted a 26" blade. However on the test I was getting twist on the bracket so it was further braced.

 

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I had the hinges for the doors anodized so that they last well and dont damage the paint.

 

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and I test fitted the front bumper as a line up to see if it would fit ok with the splitter. It married up well and I shouldnt have issues fitting it in the future.

 

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I then secured the braking system further and placed protective tubing over the top. Also the brake fluid tops are wired to give a warning light on the dash if the fluid gets low.

 

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I finally found a solution to securing the handbrake cables under the car so completed that bit of the work also fitted the flush fuel filler cap. I had to tether the cap itself as thts a requirement as well as being locked via a key.

 

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The rear bodywork was test fitted and lights tested. I had some leaks from the brake reservoirs so these were dealt with as well.

 

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I couldnt get the wheels I originally wanted as they did not do them wide enough for the rear and I wanted 5 or 6 spokes but not multispoke. In the end I settled on some 19" Rota drifts, however there could only be picked up in two colours, 2xgrey and 2xmatt black. so it was 8.5J on the front and 10.5J on the rear, but even with the offset they still required 30mm spacers on the rear later on, which was annoying but not much I could do. So I had to decide on the wheel colour and in the end i had them hydro dipped in carbon effect.

 

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The doors were test fitted (no catches) and the light system tested. I had wired one sidelight up wrong in the picture below. Before testing though I had to install the rear lights and the horrible fog / reverse lights. These had to be positioned so that they would pass the test. The fog light is not allowed within 100mm of a brake light.

 

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It was finally beginning to look a lot more like a car now. However the doors would be removed again so the windscreen could be refitted.

 

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Finally the windscreen could be fitted this meant a lot of work in short succesion.

 

Windscreen in.

Wiper mechanism final fit, wiper arm fit and bend and twist

Bonnet catches could be fitted

 

I used motorsport quick release catches, one each side and the work really well. very strong and would really well for quick release bumpers (apparently they use them for some racing.)

 

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I also decided where I wanted the exhaust to come out and I decided between the lights, I had to fit a rubbish styled exhaust with curled ends at this point to pass radius edge tests. All vents wont be cut out till after the test or they will test the hole and mesh with holes smaller then 10mm squared must be used.

 

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To take the wheels spacers i fitted longer wheel studs which was not an issue. Although the bodywork was going to a bodyshop I wanted to get the doors close to a good fit beforehand so that the workload would be lower and cost.

 

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The noise emissions for the test is 98Db at 4500rpm, with 2x small silencers it wasnt even close so I had to install a motorbike baffle / silencer into the exhaust. It worked perfectly although killed power but that wasnt an issue for the test.

 

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One door and bodywork fitted and shape beginning to taking place. I also at this point got a chassis number from the DVLA and stamped it directly into the bodywork.

 

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Now with the door lined up, next was to fit the catches, strikers and door latches. I had to fibreglass brackets for the cable holders into the door and fitted handles to the outside and inside of the door with custom cradles to spread the force over the fibreglass. As well as this I fitted the hydraulics that would hold the door up for getting in or out.

 

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With the bodywork now fitted and the rear it was time to test all the lighting again. You have to keep testing parts as you move and fiddle with bits to make sure you havent accidently broken something.

 

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The door handle cradles were redesigned so they were flusher and the weight spread more across the fibreglass.

 

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I had some side windows made in glass because these also had to be E marked although plexi is allowed on the side windows.

 

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I then had to fit wing mirrors, however visibility is part of the test and with no middle mirror I had to fit mirrors that would cover this area as well. also if you cant adjust the mirror from the drivers seat then it needs to snap back in to position.

 

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Finally fitted the windscreen wiper motor brace which did its job.

 

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I also need to fit a wire to hold the rear canopy at a certain angle as the rear lights and reflectors must be visible at all times for the test.

 

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I was now prepping for the test. With the test centre in southampton (45miles) I didnt want to drive so arranged a beaver tail truck to take me and also arranged to pop down an industrial estate on a quiet sunday afternoon for its first ever test drive. the car stunk of burning oil as all the WD40 and oil slowly burnt off the car, however it did not get even close to being burnt off in this little session.

 

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Thought Id seen one of these before.... NZ member on the GTR forum is build one, with a v12 engine :D Unfortunately, the build is progressing in secret due to being filmed

http://forum.autoclique.co.nz/showthread.php/550-World-first-Our-FZ12-Supercar?

 

Yep Frazer's build is going to be something else! He's doing a lot of work to the car outside of what I would say is a normal build. That car will be something special, very fast and ridiculously expensive (at least compared to mine) but it will be an amazing one off. Hes taken it to the next step and from what ive seen its going to be one of those pinnacle builds in my eyes.

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Yep Frazer's build is going to be something else! He's doing a lot of work to the car outside of what I would say is a normal build. That car will be something special, very fast and ridiculously expensive (at least compared to mine) but it will be an amazing one off. Hes taken it to the next step and from what ive seen its going to be one of those pinnacle builds in my eyes.

 

Oh yes... its the same as his race NSX, assume you have seen that ;)

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So the test was fast approaching and the interior was finished to how it was needed to pass the test. (I hoped)

 

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So the day of the test on 3rd september and the car was loaded up on the trailor the night before. The front bumper has to be left off to make loading easier.

 

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So how the test go; Well I was told from others experiences the test would be around 3 - 4hours and they will test all points. The IVA manual is 299 pages of regulations and bits you need to meet. I failed on about 10 items. 3 Only being large items;

 

the 3 biggest jobs;

 

* Failed on emissions - which I then tested the sensor and it looks like my Lamba sensor is doing bugger all, so new one arrived and installed. However further investigation found the IACV was not being controlled and the high idle of 1200rpm was not helping. Someone had wound the idle screw right in to lower the idle as much as possible. So I gave the IACV valve a constant 12volts to close it which caused the car to stall. I then unscrewed the idle screw the required amount and now idles at 800rpm. the Thorttle position sensor had to be reset afterwards.

 

* Brake Reservoirs too low - there is a higher point where the fluid goes into the top of the master cylinder, they raised that if there was a pipe leak the reservoir would not empty into it which is a fair point so brackets were made to raise the reservoirs...the catch the bonnet needed cutting to incoorporate it.

 

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* Steering not smooth - This turned out to be too high an angle on one of the unions spent alot of a day measuring this before doing anything and the angle was about 41 - 42 degrees, when its advised not to be over 35 ideally 30 in most applications. this was solved quite easily by changing the length of the 2 pieces, making one column bit longer and the other shorter changing where the union is.

 

Other bits were all small;

 

* Passenger side mirror poor visibility - Lowered the arm for passenger side and can now be seen well.

 

* Front indicators - Angle and brightness not enough

 

* Trim on windows needs adding

 

* trim on dash edge

 

* engine rear canopy needs cable to stop it going all way back

 

* Sand edges of the doors and front bumper to smoother radius

 

* Fuel pipe touching alternator pipe - rectified and cable tied to other pipe

 

* Few other radius edges like gear gaitor and heater controls

 

I came away very happy to be honest, although my test took 7hours and everythign was checked, one of the bad bits about being the first to build I guess.

 

So i completed the fixes required within 2 weeks and had a retest on the 23rd of September and passed.

 

Following the IVA pass it was on to the rip bits off you dont want and fit the bits you do want. So i fitted the later revisions turbo as this holds boost better.

 

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Whilst testing the oil filter flew off at me and i killed the engine quick, investigation had foudn the cooler bracket had broken from investigation it looks like previously it got cross threaded due to the order of tightening parts up. This was changed for a new one and the oil changed.

 

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I also fitted a rear view camera to help with rear visability, it was a wireless one however there is too much interferance from the rear view camera so will be redone with a wired one.

 

The next stage was a proper running test with the new turbo. This included driving to the industrial estate, well with the oil that had gone everywhere it took forever for the flexi exhaust pipe to burn the oil off, often looking like it might be on fire! The noises you can hear of clattering in the below video is because the door rubbers have been removed so flapping on the door catches. The boost is a low 7psi on the actuator and will be up'd to 14/15psi.

 

Also the fault I mention in the below video as the headgasket...was in fact a leaking cam seal....annoyingly!

 

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The next stage was to apply to the DVLA with all the paperwork. So i sent it all off and had to wait 3 weeks but I did get an age related plate, although a Q plate would of been fine i was happier having a normal plate as I could put a relevant personalized one on it.

I also removed the current indicators and moved them into the headlight covers as a strip for a better look.

 

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I changed the steering wheel for the one i would use in the end again that will be customised when the interior is done and refreshed including being hydro dipped, this was done whilst I fitted the rear view camera screen.

 

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I then fitted new sleeker mirrors that suited the car, they have good convex glass in them so visibility is actually pretty good! I also built rear mud guards to keep direct off as many components as possible.

 

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So i had been wanting to source a spoiler for the car as the back was a big giant slab and even with vents i felt it needed something. I eventually sourced a corvette one although will require modification it will be roughly the shape I want and a good starting point.

 

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I have now just dropped off the car to the bodyshop for all the vents I want to be cut, bodywork tidied up and prep'd to be sprayed. Once back I will have work still do. I will need to make a decision what happens with the rear spoiler in the next few weeks.

 

With some changes being when the car is back;

 

* fit door poppers and remove exterior handles

* fit wired camera

* wire new fog light / reverse light setup

* alter rear view lights how i want

* mesh over reservoirs

* setup ride height

* then go for geometry setup

* duct vents to intercooler and air intake

* fit water / meth injection kit

 

and more ...not even including the interior.

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This is amazing, real shame about the brake reservoirs though and the bonnet. Would be nice to see some costs as well - not that I can see myself doing anything like this, I don't even open the bonnet on my cars anymore!

The costs are a bit scary because I was the first. For instance the windscreen mould I had to get made...£3k!! But I do now own the mould for E marked windscreens, so he just needs to sell more, mass produced would be great :D Overall though its the importing that really hits you! I think with the right planning and patience it could be built for about £25k.

 

Pretty cool, yeah shame about having to cut the bonnet for the reservoirs. I liked the comical wing mirrors you had for the test. :D

 

Good work, I wouldn't have a clue undertaking anything like this!

 

Those wing mirrors were and engineering marvel, even the radius's on mounts etc... were checked as part of the test. The tester knew they would be taken off instantly :D

 

I have lowered the reservoirs a little and I now will be able to mesh the hole up in a neat way and hopefully it will look like a vent.

Great project :thumbsup:

 

I'd leave the rear wing off...like the McLaren F1 had no rear wing. This makes the car look longer which I think it needs.

 

Its been a real tough decision. The issue is from behind the panel is just to large and slab like even with the additional work I'm having done at the bodyshop. Also as the bodyshop pointed out its fibreglass it will need be as smooth / flat as metal sheet so may draw the eyes to even minor issues in that area. I do plan on chopping the end curves off the wing, removing the legs and fitting universal legs closer together in the middle...this way I can machine new legs to get the spoiler at the right height. I just didn't want a big metal wing, but my thinking with universal legs is I can switch in another spoiler if I need to.

 

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