My new build

[mooreofit]

going for the arial look.sounds awesome. so how can you tell the ackerman is not so right with the open wheel car i pictured if the wheels are pointing strait?

[kevlar corolla]

I didn't say the ackerman was wrong,just appears to have lots.Ackerman can be designed into the upright with the steering arm,which I must admit I don't understand.The other means to adjust the amount of ackerman(or lack of)is simply the location of the steering rack fore and aft in relation to the outer tierod.The steering rack needs to be the correct height for bumpsteer 1st and then figure out for ackerman.
Since I used miata uprights they have some ackerman designed in so the rack doesn't have to moved fore/aft very far,which is good as I don't have bugger all for room.My mounts will allow for some shimming to test its affect as tuning progresses.
Taking tonight off,waiting for some brackets to be made by my sheetmetal guy-soooo much easier for him with his plasma,shear and brake etc etc etc.

[kevlar corolla]

Control arms are hanging on a rack being painted as are the hubs/uprights.Feels good to have something actually finished,I'll be able to assmeble the suspension back on the car by wednesday and then I can get the final measurement for outer tie rod height relative to the chassis to mount the rack in the right(hopefully) location.
My wilwood copy floor mounted brake pedal arrived complete with dual masters,balance bar and residual check valves(the masters are lower than the calipers)so I can start mocking that up.Once the brake pedal is bolted in I can figure out the throttle,needs to be at the right spot for heel and toe as I'll be up down the gear box in this thing like a madman.Waiting for the steering u-joints so I can fab that up,needs to done after the pedals are in to make sure they don't interfer.
My machinest buddy is working on taking the pinion gear from a 12hp garden tractor starter and trying to fit it on a civic starter so then it can turn the 12hp flywheel/ring gear which will be turned down to minimize weight and mounted between the diff and cv shaft to provide reverse.
I can start the header shortly,the stock R1 header I want to use is titanium so I can't weld it-hopefully somebody in this little town can though.
The 5 gallon fuel tank I have kicking around won't fit anywhere so I'll need to build a tank,great more work.

Thats about it for an update,thought to hold you over I'd show an ice race vid that was taken from another guys car.Red civic out front is yours truly(btw I stayed that way,kid cut the vid short so it looked like he passed me but didn't)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPs34_DVTQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kevlar corolla]

Car left the build table and hit the ground today,steering shaft mostly done,rack mounted and pedals as well.

Getting there,going to be tough to get it drivable for the middle of june but I don't give up too easy so...


Anyways here it is,

[mooreofit]

simply awesome.

[dr.occa]

it looks great tom. you've done a great job so far.

[kevlar corolla]

Thanks,I'll get close up shots of some of the more interesting bits a little later on.Hard to tell from that shot what most of it looks like.

[DjSpecter]

Truley amazing man! keep it up! plans on engine?

[kevlar corolla]

Not sure if you noticed but the engine is to the right of the seat,2002 yamaha R1 engine.

If you meant what am I doing to it,just a power commander for tuning this year and over the winter....boost.Low boost/high compression/high revs make about 220 hp very easily and reliably with this engine,in a 900lb car thats about the same as a 500hp corolla.

[dr.occa]

tom, have you already decided on the "jacket" to skin her up in?

[DjSpecter]

Wow this is going to be insane. I want to see more!!

[kevlar corolla]

Jonas,the skin will be aluminum panels installed on the inside of the tubing.Makes it much easier as the joints(there will lots of them)can be lapped at a tube,if the body were to go on the inside it'll be a nightmare to make it look right and I'm sure I won't.With the chassis painted flat black and the panels painted a very bright orange I think it'll look pretty good.

I'm doubtfull the body will get done this summer,gotta focus on getting it driving and tuned 1st.

[kevlar corolla]

Weighed the car today,843lbs with guess for fuel and coolant and some items not allready installed.Target of 900lbs looks acheivable.

Pics from today include suspension shots,gives an idea of the amount of work for the arms and mounts etc as every single pc is a 1 off part.

Here's a link,have a look at the album.

http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o50/ ... g&newest=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dr.occa]

i'm loving it tom! i'm anxious to see the outer shell on that egg! 843lbs!? what year is that r1 motor? i mean what, the earliest r1 puts out a little more than 110 to the wheels. looking forward to seeing life breathed into the machine tom.

[kevlar corolla]

Thanks Jonas,the engine is an injected "02 and is rated at 150hp at the crank-I'm using a piggy back power commander on it so with the exhaust/intake opened up a bit and some tuning it might get close to 160hp before it gets boosted.

With the close ratio box and short final drive it should prove to be a bit "lively" on the throttle.My power to weight is approx 6.8 without boost and a new viper is about 6.1 but is geared for nearly 200mph-with boost I'll drop down to about 5.0.

For reference a stripped ae86 and 20v swap is about 14.0

The sheetmetal guy called and put me off for another week as he's super busy,can't complain as he hasn't charged me a cent in years.I'm taking this week off from working on the car,suffering burnout and lack of motivation right now.I have an autox on the 16th so I'll prep the wifes ice race geo for solo duty this weekend,probably going to use at least 3 sawzall blades.