Author |
Message |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 355 Reg: 06-2008
| But then I'd have to put the handbrake back in Rob, and who wants to do that? |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 356 Reg: 06-2008
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Ben Lipman wrote on Wednesday, December 09, 2009 - 08:01 am:Trying to get a sponsor for a track day car that only other enthusiasts will see really doesn't offer the business a great deal in terms of exposure.
When you go to Wakefield Park, you tow your car on an open trailer down Australia's busiest road, the Hume Highway. How is that not exposing your sponsors? I'd bet my left one you probably even stop for a meal at The Big Marino, just so you can compare nut sizes. Lots of people are there gawking at your car while you're doing that mate. |
Michael McKellar
Tinkerer Overijssel Mini
Posts: 38 Reg: 08-2008
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Ben Lipman wrote on Wednesday, December 09, 2009 - 08:01 am:guess if you are part of a series that gets TV coverage that must make it easier.
Maybe, but every race series has to pay the TV station to put them on , it just adds to the cost if you have small/no sponsors. Don't say I never help with the finances big brother, you know I have to fund my own adventures in the mini |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 357 Reg: 06-2008
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Michael McKellar wrote on Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 04:51 am:Don't say I never help with the finances big brother
Hey little fella, I don't expect you to pay. Just to find sponsors who will pay |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 358 Reg: 06-2008
| Bruce called in yesterday and dropped off most of the fibreglass parts, primarily so I could put them on the car and make sure the bonnet and boot lid are positioned correctly before I attach their fasteners, but also because he has no room in the workshop for all of them to be just sitting there when we're doing no work on them. I'm going to finish off the front and rear bumpers, rear guards and side skirts at home, and get them all painted before we return them to the workshop to commence making moulds. Having them painted first will also allow me to do a complete mock up of the car with everything in the one colour, so I can photograph it for inclusion in our sponsorship information package. And I can put the pics on here too of course. Because we are fast running out of time, and I have well and truly run out of money, we are going to reinstall the original doors temporarily (they will be painted too), and move to fibreglass ones later on. I know they will add weight, but I guess that makes for an improvement later on. For now the priority is just to get the thing going. The best place to store the fibreglass parts is on the car, so here's a few pics of it with some of the panels in place. I haven't attached the guards properly yet, so you have to forgive the gaps between guard and bonnet for now. There's a little more filling and sanding required, but you can also see the detail of the dummy petrol cap too:
More soon... Cheers, Andrew |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1618 Reg: 08-2005
| hey just out of curiosity is the front diffuser going to miss the front wheels at full lock? |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1619 Reg: 08-2005
| oh yeah and if you stop off at big merino pop in to my house im 2 blocks away lol |
Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA V8 Limited
Posts: 1482 Reg: 09-2007
| haha the front splitter looks sexy as |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 359 Reg: 06-2008
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Aaron Casey wrote on Friday, December 11, 2009 - 09:25 pm:is the front diffuser going to miss the front wheels at full lock?
The wheels should never end up at full lock if I'm doing my job properly, but yeah, there should be enough clearance. I'm only running 17" rims, and the slicks are not too high a profile. You've made me curious as to exactly how much clearance there will be though, so I think I'll throw the front wheels on and measure it.
Ali Saeed wrote on Saturday, December 12, 2009 - 01:01 am:the front splitter looks sexy as
Thanks Ali. Still a lot to do on it though. Its a (very slow) work in progress... Cheers, Andrew |
Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA V8 Limited
Posts: 1485 Reg: 09-2007
| yeh. would love the look of it when its done. |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1628 Reg: 08-2005
| yeah just thinking with the wider wheels would have wider at full lock for parking or getting back on track or something lol just dont want to see it get caught and rip it off. cant wait to see this thing fully painted with the wheels on |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 360 Reg: 06-2008
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Aaron Casey wrote on Sunday, December 13, 2009 - 11:24 am:cant wait to see this thing fully painted with the wheels on
You and me both Aaron. And maybe the engine running, the interior completed and everything else finished too. Today I spent a bit of time getting the front guards, front bumper and bonnet into position, so that the bonnet pins could be installed. I also put the dummy headlights in, just to size everything up. It took a bit of mucking about, but all the gaps look pretty good now they're sitting in their final positions, and the front bonnet pins are installed.
And for your benefit Aaron (and mine too, of course) I checked out the tyre-to-splitter clearance, and it'll be OK:
Those photos were taken with the car up on stands, so when the suspension is loaded there is even more clearance because of the curve of the tyre. I also got the side skirts into position and mostly figured out how to mount them on the car. They'll be the next parts to be painted and ready to go.
That's about all that was done today. More in the next few days hopefully. Cheers, Andrew |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1635 Reg: 08-2005
| sweet. better safe than sorry hey thinking with the headlights what if you got a sticker made up of fake headlights like nascar to stick on the fibreglass replacement? |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1636 Reg: 08-2005
| oh yeah and if i ever win lotto and this is for sale consider it sold!! |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 361 Reg: 06-2008
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Aaron Casey wrote on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 10:35 pm:with the headlights what if you got a sticker made up of fake headlights
Got a better idea Aaron, but you'll have to wait and see...
Aaron Casey wrote on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 10:36 pm:oh yeah and if i ever win lotto and this is for sale consider it sold!!
Do you even play lotto???? Let me know if you do win, and I'll tell you how much for the car! |
Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA V8 Limited
Posts: 1507 Reg: 09-2007
| hahaha build your own Aaron :p |
Ben Lipman
Goo Roo NSW Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Posts: 1858 Reg: 04-2006
| Better yet, get that (admittedly good looking) trailer queen of his onto the track. You must live all of half an hour from Wakefield... |
Ben Lipman
Goo Roo NSW Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Posts: 1859 Reg: 04-2006
| Speaking of trailers, you Andrew, are going to have fun with that front splitter. I have enough fun and games with my modified stock front bar. Are you mounting it permanently or with a quick release system? I am sure you addressed this somewhere in the last 450 odd posts, but be buggered if I am going back through them all to find it. |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1639 Reg: 08-2005
| hahaha yes i play every now and then.. never won anything though lol yeah ben it will be going out to see what i can do when i fix the motor and get wheels that are more track suitable than the 20's lol |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 362 Reg: 06-2008
| It's 531 posts, including yours Ben. Keep up mate. But no, I haven't addressed it in the past, so we may as well talk about it now. The front splitter is designed to be easily removable, for two main reasons: 1. To get the car on and off the trailer. 2. To allow service/rescue crews to remove it prior to the car being dragged out of gravel traps, to avoid it getting too damaged if the reason for entering the gravel trap has something to do with something else on the car breaking. The splitter will not be the only obstacle when it comes to the trailer however. The suspension setup means the car is very low anyway, and I've gone and added side skirts (which will scrape on the pivot point where the trailer and ramps would meet) and a bigger (lower) rear bumper complete with diffuser hanging out the back (which will scrape on the road if the trailer ramps are too steep). So Engineer No. 1 (or is he 2 or 3, I can never remember) is going for a completely new design of trailer. Made from titanium and lined with platinum inserts, the trailer will allow the car to be driven straight over it as though it were just another piece of road. Ingeniously, it then folds itself and the Soarer neatly into quarters, and injects 500cc of chemical lightness, allowing the whole thing to be towed by a Suzuki Ignus with automatic transmission and bald tyres. All this, and only at a cost of $3.50. I can't wait to use it. Seriously though, it will be a custom trailer, with a rack over the bonnet area for spare wheels and the front splitter. Cheers, Andrew |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31
Posts: 11161 Reg: 11-2004
| The last bottle of chemical lightness I bought, was an antidote for darkness. |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 365 Reg: 06-2008
| Yeah I think they mislabel the bottles sometimes, perhaps because they are made in China. I once ended up with a batch of liquid introspection. |
Bruce Stevens
Newbie NSW Landcruiser 80 series
Posts: 5 Reg: 08-2008
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Andrew McKellar wrote on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - 07:28 pm:
I'll save you the trouble and build the splitter and side skirts out of "flexible fibreglass"! |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 366 Reg: 06-2008
| Isn't that the stuff that uses self-consolidating resin? Maybe if you made them out of a mixture of that and the anti-gravity resin, you could add lightness as required? |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1642 Reg: 08-2005
| put speed holes in them too |
Ben Lipman
Goo Roo NSW Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Posts: 1865 Reg: 04-2006
| Has everyone on here gone and got boody well rotten drunk? What is this gibberish? youthse guysth aren't ta--aking thish serioushous nuff. *burp* On a more serious note- seeing as I am prototyping parts for you- I had to trim a little off the rear diffuser as it was catching on the ground as I went up and down the drive, on and off the trailer. I just rounded the bottom rear corners with about a 40mm radius and that seems to have been enough. The other option was to back cut it about 40-50mm at the bottom so the upright was no longer vertical but angled back under the car. With the side skirts I have no problems at all. My trailer has a "beaver tail" meaning the las 3 feet or so of the deck are angled down. This decreases the angle from the ramps to the deck, but I expect you are across all this, so I guess you can get back to drinking. |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 368 Reg: 06-2008
| I don't know why I didn't put this one up a while ago, but here's a photo from the last Sports Sedans round at Oran Park last month:
And who says Sports Sedans don't fly??? |
Jamie Richards
Tinkerer St.john's v8
Posts: 99 Reg: 06-2009
| up UP and away!!!! |
Phil Gibson
Goo Roo WA '91 UZZ31 track bunky, '94 blk/blk UZZ31
Posts: 1578 Reg: 07-2005
| Awesome pic, the Ricciardello car is a weapon! |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 371 Reg: 06-2008
| OK it has taken some time, but I have finally recommenced work on the car. On Wednesday I made some repairs and fixed up the rear guards, side skirts and doors. All of them made it to the paint shop on Wednesday afternoon, and they should be painted and ready for collection by this afternoon. Once I get them home I'll throw up some photos of them. I'm still in the process of finishing off the front bumper, which is still undergoing the fill, rub back repetition. I have repaired the hole in the rear bumper, which is also now filled and ready for rubbing back. There's a bit more to do on the rear bumper, but both should be ready to take to the paint shop early next week. Today I'll also commence work on the engine, stripping it down and cleaning it all up after the "dust storm" episode. It did occur to me that due to the excitement of all that, I never did put up the photos of the baffles that had been put in the sump. So here they are:
The idea is that as you corner hard, the oil in the sump wants to move sideways and up the wall of the sump, therefore leaving the oil pick-up with no oil. These baffles have hinged gates in them, so when you corner the gate closes, keeping the oil around the pick-up, while the other gate opens, allowing oil in towards the pick-up. It's a little difficult to see in these photos, but the gates are also scalloped on the bottom edge, to allow them to clear the pick-up as they swing open. More updates on today's progress later. Cheers, Andrew |
Spencer Cameron
TryHard NSW JZZ30 (converted Manual)
Posts: 115 Reg: 04-2008
| Incase you haven't sourced a trailer yet Andrew, take a look at these guys. http://www.nevco.com.au/nevco/productDetails.php?productId=1 Also, i was wondering if you might share the source of your baffled sump. I could use one down the track. (No pun intended :-) |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 372 Reg: 06-2008
| Thanks for the info Spencer. They are exactly what I need, at only four times the price I want to pay I have no problems sharing the source of the baffled sump. Speak to Craig Wildridge at Wildridge Fabrications. He also did the roll cage on my car, and is currently doing another baffled sump for a 1UZ owner. He's at Smeaton Grange, NSW mobile no. 0419 432 733. Update time. Over the last few days I finished off the repairs and preparation of the front and rear bumpers. They went to the paint shop yesterday afternoon, so hopefully I should have them back by the end of the week. Here's how the repair on the rear bumper went (before and after shots), and the area where the exhaust outlet used to be:
And here is the front bumper, ready for painting:
I have also collected some of the parts that have been painted. I'm still waiting on the inside of the doors to be done, plus those front and rear bumpers. Here's a sneak peak on how the car looks in blue. I'll put up more photos when the other bits go onto it:
I also started the clean up operation after The Dust Storm. After careful and thorough examination of the whole thing, we decided to clean up the original engine, rather than start fiddling with the second one. Analysis of the crank case showed that because of the design of the return oil galleries from the head (bless those engineers at Toyota), none of the dirt managed to find its way into them. In addition, the heavy duty assembly grease that I had used when putting the engine together kept any crap out of the main bearings and big ends. This photo depicts the amount of dirt and other rubbish that came out of the spark plug holes, keeping in mind that a heap of crap already came out of them weeks ago when I first turned the engine upside down:
I pulled the sump and other bottom end pieces off the engine, and they are currently at the engine reconditioner's place having a bath. These photos give you an idea of the crap that ended up throughout the crank case:
It took a little bit of doing, but the whole crank case, cylinder bores, rods, pistons and crank shaft are now cleaned. Here's how it turned out:
And here's a before and after shot of one of the spark plug holes:
So tomorrow I'll be picking up the sump and other bits, and then the engine will be ready for putting back together again. Then it'll be filled with oil, get a new oil filter, and be turned over on the starter motor to flush any remaining little particles out. Repeat that process three or four times, and we're ready to go. Of course there is a risk that I missed a bit of crap, and the engine may still be destroyed. But at less than $1000 for a whole new engine, I'll take the risk thanks. So, hopefully by the end of this week the engine will be back together, and all the painted parts will be here at least, and maybe on the car. I hope so, because next week I'm off for a holiday with the kids and there won't be much done on the car... Cheers, Andrew |
Aaron Casey
Goo Roo nsw '94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged
Posts: 1701 Reg: 08-2005
| haha nice a much needed holiday.. wish i had some i cashed mine in to get my 2j payed off lol |
Joe Russell
TryHard Manawatu 4.0 V8 GT-L (UZZ31)
Posts: 500 Reg: 10-2008
| Nice clean up job, looks like it turned out well. |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 373 Reg: 06-2008
| Thanks Joe. I think it'll be OK. Got the doors back from the paint shop, so I'll put a couple of photos up later today. Just waiting on the front and rear bumpers to be finished, and then the body is completed and ready to put back together. Still got to finish putting the engine back together too, which should hopefully happen over the next day or two. I want to get as much done on the car as I can after the kids go back to school, but before I go back to work. Here's hoping... |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 374 Reg: 06-2008
| Here's how the doors looked when I got them back from the paint shop:
I gave them a clean yesterday to get the dust off, only to discover that some of it was actually overspray from another paint. Not too much to worry about, it'll come off OK with the right treatment. But it delays getting the door hardware installed and mounting them on the car. Should still have it done by the weekend though. I also got most of the engine back together, and was working on it until 1am. Just have to make up a few plates and other things to cover up holes, vacuum connections and water pipes that I won't be using, then it'll be ready for the oil cleansing treatment. Here's how it looks at the moment:
I also reinstalled the dip stick, and made a little plate up to seal off the hole that used to have the low oil warning sensor in it. That shoule prevent further dust storms getting in.
Cheers, Andrew |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 375 Reg: 06-2008
| Got all the overspray off the doors this morning. Just need to give them a final clean before installing door handles, latches, hinges and trim. I'll throw photos up when it is done. Also solved another little issue with the engine. Because I'm not using the hydraulic fan setup that the engine came with, the pump was surplus to requirements. Easy enough to remove it, but then it left a gap where the timing belt was exposed:
A check with Toyota revealed there is no plastic part to replace the pump and cover the gap, so I contemplated doing some sort of custom job out of aluminium. In the end I completely stripped out the pump and all its components and was left with just the aluminium bracket, which was much lighter than the original pump. I cleaned it up and painted it black so it doesn't stand out as much, and the gap is now nicely filled:
More info as I progress... Cheers, Andrew |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31
Posts: 11280 Reg: 11-2004
| It's great to see stuff happening again. Do you have any vague estimate for when it will be ready for the track? |
Cihan Aday
Moderator etuner.com.au JZZ30
Posts: 3152 Reg: 07-2005
| Thats tuff. Love your work Andrew. |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 376 Reg: 06-2008
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Peter Nitschke wrote on Friday, January 29, 2010 - 04:52 pm:Do you have any vague estimate for when it will be ready for the track?
No idea I'm afraid Peter. It was due on track in the middle of last year, but of course you tend to hit a few hurdles along the way with a project like this. Although it looks like a lot has been done, in reality there is still a bucket-load of stuff to do. I'm also still waiting on finances to be sorted out in the rest of my life's endeavours, before I can spend another cent on the car. At the moment I'm just tinkering with the stuff I already have, and hopefully by the time I've installed everything that is already in the shed, some money may miraculously appear to finish the job off. |
Ben Lipman
Goo Roo NT Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Posts: 1907 Reg: 04-2006
| Hey Andrew, at least you have your car at your place...I still have no idea when mine is going to arrive at my place. It is already 10 days overdue. |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 377 Reg: 06-2008
| Hmmm. Not good. Perhaps you can come and work on mine until yours turns up? |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31
Posts: 11283 Reg: 11-2004
| That's a long drive from the NT though. |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 378 Reg: 06-2008
| His car hasn't arrived anyway Pen. Maybe he should fly down... To think he won't lift a finger to help, after everything I've done for him! |
Andrew McKellar
TryHard NSW Soarer Sports Sedan (well, nearly); '84 MA61 Supra.
Posts: 379 Reg: 06-2008
| I wasn't going to put pictures up of the doors yet, although I have assembled them. They're being hung on the car tomorrow, so I'll put a couple of photos up then. And this photo I wasn't going to post up at all, but I guess you all caught me at a weak moment. I had to do something to fill the holes left by the lock barrels, and they just happen to be the right size...
Because it is a 1991 Soarer, I searched the known universe for 1991 coins. I don't know, but I think the Royal Australian Mint had that year off. So I went with something else, just as noble. 1996 and 1998 were the years my kids were born, and they've both had a fair bit to do with this project. The Queen is there because I work for her, so when its added up I guess each door handle contains my lucky coins for this car. Every car should have them after all. When the doors are on I'll post up more photos, I promise. Cheers, Andrew |
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