kaBOOM's, uh, project?

Because puppies make everything cooler.
 
*sigh*
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Meet my test driver......:lol:

Haven't been going too well of late --> having terrible trouble with wheel offsets and the like. I had designed the car around 40mm offset wheels using Sirius sports 7 suspension arms etc. The problem was adapting the front suspension (at the back) to take drivshafts was causing some major issues.

Mostly regarding the SAAB 900 Hubs. While there was the drivesahft lengh to contend with other issues regarding the amount of toe change during the whole suspension travel and how it would react under power was a worry. There was also the nagging problem of the handbrake mech (which caliper, and what rotor?) A mechanical handbrake is a legal registration requirement which I have to abide by....

So to get around these issues I purchased a whole Forester GT rear end (minus Diff), with the added bonus I could get CV's to fit without getting custom ones made up.

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So here we go after I unbolted them from the mangled Forester GT subframe.....however I now have the problem of stud pattern: The rears are 5x100 Subaru while the front is 4x125 (well Alfa Romeo 105). Added to this the Subaru wheels you get are a whopping 55mm offset. This puts my track in 15mm on each side at the rear and 15mm at the front.

On the front this is a issue, since the front mounting frames width is determined by the wheel offset. However since I do need to change the stud pattern on the front end I think a 15mm spacer plate with studs in it should fix this.

On the rear while it is a simple matter to move the hub out, (I haven't fabricated the rear arms yet) the driveshaft lengh is becoming a issue: the shafts I got with the Subaru rear end are waaaaay too long.

So off I went to the local Subaru wreckers (Subawreck on Main Nrth Road if your interested) and asked to dig through their pile of dead shafts so I can mix and match to create a "correct" shaft of the correct lengh.

Now I'm not sure if anybody has pull apart CV's here, but in the world of all things automotive its the most foul job in the world (even including a Alfa Romeo 147GTA starter motor) Damn sticky, smelly grease that sticks to everything, metal shards that cut you, ball bearings that bounce out of cages.....uh evil stuff! :tvhorror:

However the downside is I haven't found a working combination. :mad: I could go on for hours, but the inner and outer spline patters on the Subaru shafts are the same on the front, diffrent on the back and you can't put a front subaru outers in rear hubs.

Oh and before I could join the rear shafts to my FWD Subaru gearbox, I needed to change the inner slip joints: I got a pair from the wreckers off a MY98 WRX for $20 each. :)

//me has a sook, on to nicer things!

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Back end is getting done, I now have do design a "over frame" to hold the back end together after I've put the motor in.

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Yes I know we are still missing triangulation tubes. At this stage too, I have to be careful about motor access. I had to move a whole section to make it possible to change the plugs while the motor is in the car!

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Steering column mount. Lots of points if you can guess the car in the background...

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More column mounts, through the door side impact frame. Note wonderful powerwindow mechs :)

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One of my MDF overlays near the gear selector mech. I'll have to lower the mech in the tunnel a bit since the pivot point is a little too high. Also the final tunnel lengh turned out to be longer than the MDF prototype....

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And a overall chassis side shot. Note how the B-pillar (well rear bulkhead) is lower than the A pillar. Its because the glass merge comes back at a 20 degree angle.....uh its all interconnected.

Sorry for the long post, with probably a million spelling and grammer errors.....
 
'lil update, sorry been very busy...

Stuff done: heatbox/ac system, more work on the pedal box, SOR/ADR paperwork etc

Current things...

Pick up the motor next saturday (will write a saga on this later!), floor has been cut out (but not installed, to do next sunday).

Next things....

Final front coilover mounts, upper rear subframe

Body and interior design is still in the gell, some of my group are in Italy on a desgn group ATM....
 
Sorry about the lack of updated, the sheer amount of work is a little staggering atm! :? This is a full road worthy car, that is designed to be reproduced, so its a little harder than a one off clubman!

So where was I? Oh yes the engine....

We have a MY97 WRX engine, not sure about the power output since its a JDM motor, but in Australian delivered trim they produced 169Kw. In a 750kg car thats a nice power/weight ratio :)

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You can see the motor sits behind the rear firewall, and I'm putting a 'lil window so you can see the harmonic balancer from the cabin :)

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Who needs displacement? More boost! I have a old intercooler off a BA Ford Falcon XR6 turbo, should be big enough, since I can't use a std Subaru intercooler (space limitiations!)

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One important (and annoying job) I've just done, was to put the floor on. The floor is 1.2mm turnplate mild steel sheet, Sikaflexed and then rivited on. At work we do NOT use alloy floors on road cars, and they are always rivited on, not spotwelded.

Technically you can use alloy and there is no real problem its just we feel safer with a steel floor :) If you see some of the crap (and wildlife) on the roads around here you'll understand why.

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After ages, I did get a full HVAC system to fit, that is cheap, doesn't weigh too much and has pneumatically controlled airflaps. Its out of a 1987 Holden VL Commodore, and is run via a NC For fairlane pneumatic switch block.

You can also see the wiper motor in there, Still working away at that, I have twin oppisite wipers like a Alfa Romeo Gulia super, Merc A-Class or Holden/Vauxhall/Opel Zafira. The wiper motor and electronics is all Nissan.

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Here is a shot of the base frame before the floor went on. There are a few tubes in there that got cut out since they where not required. :?

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Another one of my F**kups. I started off with the outside sills made of 25x50x2mm RHS but I soon realised that I needed a bit more strengh in that area (torsional loads). The ideal situation would be 50x50x2mm RHS, sadly that would mean cutting out the sill and having to re-jig the chassis on the build table. Sorry but my timeframe doesn't extend to doing all that!

As a quick and dirty fix I welded in another section of 25x50 in parallel. Yes its a bit heavier than it should be, the next car will have this issue fixed....On that same issue I had to take a few tubes out the tunnel since the car was a little over engineered in beaming strengh and not enough torsion strengh.

Other issues, playing wires atm and making up a PC interface for the Subaru motor. There is a reverse engineed version of Subaru Data monitor.

My current issue is the rear upper subframe. This holds the rear stuts, boot and B pillar in.

Ooooo long post....
 
Great project kaBOOMn. I wish i had the space/resources to try building my own car (hell even a locost) but i don't so i will live vicariously through you. I do have one question about the gauge cluseter though. How hard was it to design and have printed. God willing now that i have a second job (if i don't spend all the money on books) i am getting the body of the GTX repaired (pesky rust) and one of the things i would like to do is integrate the boost guage into the existing cluster but i am not sure that is doable so a custom cluster would be pretty sweet but i am unsure on whats required and cost and such. Hell even if it is to complex to get done it would still be somthing i wanna learn about
 
I do have one question about the gauge cluseter though. How hard was it to design and have printed. God willing now that i have a second job (if i don't spend all the money on books) i am getting the body of the GTX repaired (pesky rust) and one of the things i would like to do is integrate the boost guage into the existing cluster but i am not sure that is doable so a custom cluster would be pretty sweet but i am unsure on whats required and cost and such. Hell even if it is to complex to get done it would still be somthing i wanna learn about

I'm still playing clusters atm, I've put that part of the project a little on the back burner, since I need to get the car rolling to free up some space in the workshop.

I'm doing the PCB design etc myself, use a program like ExpressPCB and get it printed locally.

As far as your boost gauge goes, it may be easier to intergrate a whole aftermarket one in there. A bit of cut and shutting and you may be on your way. Depends on how creative you want to be....its not really something I can instruct you on! :blink:

If you do it however, try to duplicate the original Mazda design style :) Don't go too aftermarket

Great project kaBOOMn. I wish i had the space/resources to try building my own car (hell even a locost) but i don't so i will live vicariously through you.

Cheers bro :)

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Back onto car stuff:

Playing engine mounts, and more rear suspension. Also playing windscreen wiper mechs, making sure they clear everything (still). I also purchased some seats, and we will be making a few mods to them....also gives my interior designer guy a starting point.

But now?

Now I'm doing paperwork for the damn thing..... :blink: The decidedly unglamorous area of DIY car design :lol:
 
I'm still playing clusters atm, I've put that part of the project a little on the back burner, since I need to get the car rolling to free up some space in the workshop.

I'm doing the PCB design etc myself, use a program like ExpressPCB and get it printed locally.

As far as your boost gauge goes, it may be easier to intergrate a whole aftermarket one in there. A bit of cut and shutting and you may be on your way. Depends on how creative you want to be....its not really something I can instruct you on! :blink:

If you do it however, try to duplicate the original Mazda design style :) Don't go too aftermarket

yeah i already have an HKS guage that has the exact same color as the cluster so i suppose i would try and cut a hole and fit the guage into the cluster from behind. If that doesn't work i will look into a ground up solution eh at this point it is all vaporware until the body work gets fixed and all.
 
Well take a pic of your cluster (minus lense), and post it up and we'll see what we can do from a design point of view.

As far as the car is going, I purchased some seats (black generic Recaro copies), made the exhaust and am playing with arses atm...
 
I can't wait to see all the progress. Awesome choice of engine!
 
O.k a little update:

A hell of a lot of stuff has been done, I'm slowly writing stuff down for a massive update....stay tuned!

A few changes, mostly in the fabrication side of things. As you know this is not designed to be a one off. I have a strict production version fabrication time of 225 Hours (this prototype doesn't count). Erk. This means decisions regarding design are normally based on how quickly something can be fabricated, rather than outright performance.

As far as the rest of the car goes, I had to cut the whole front 1/3 of the car off and start again. Front suspension geometry, ride height and track issues caused this.....don't worry I spent till 10PM tonight working away at it, we should be on wheels tomorrow.

Front stub axles, are now TE Cortina, with 260mm Subaru Liberty rotors, a Liberty 2WD rear hub and a ATE 4 Piston Caliper (BMW 733i/Alfa 6 etc)

Also I now have a laptop and internets out in the shed...updates should be more frequent!
 
Updates??
 
The next big post...

The next big post...

O.K where to start?

A few changes: As you know this is a Uni/work project so I now have a due date: 20th October 2009 This is not the final presentation, just to show a completed product.

But anyway we are on wheels, doing plumbing (brake, fuel, coolant etc) and waiting for a new engine.....

I have a log I keep of every day I work on the car, I wouldn't really want to post all of it on here (I'll make it down loadable) but here is a small sample:

(excuse the bad spelling, Australian slang etc, I have this huuuuuuge log file in notepad :) )



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Saturday 15th November

In car atm, going out with my old man (he needs a bit for his VN Commo) to get another excel rear trailing arm. I'll then take it back to work and cut'n'shut it.

The commo had a buggered IAC valve, and Dad didn't put one of the plug leads on correctly.....but it works now! :) put the laptop up to the 'lil 808 in his car. Works fine, however Tuner pro won't read it correctly and WinALDL works, but gives me a speedo output that doesn't really match up with reality...haha!

I think I need to write a interface program for tuner pro to read a 808 correctly. Well it is a Aussie only ECU and the yanks that wrote this program never had access to it.

Thinking about it, there is no diff ratio option in the program, it just reads the sensor off the gearbox. Hrm.

I have one Hyundai excel arm, cut it, however I can't find a M12 bolt the correct lengh....ngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!

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Monday 17th November

I did a quick tidy up the final submission. Should be O.K now, I place in a few happy snaps, speaking of which, I need to cut a few down to the correct resolution so the word document isn't a million megs....

O.K I did that.

Now I'm wondering, do I goto this funeral with mum, or do I go home and work on the car?

ooooo just saw a stocker (outside) VP Commo go past with gas stickers and a huuuuge BOV noise.....hrm, Buick V6 turbo or Nissan RB? Or a HEC 304 Turbo? The Asians watching it are twittering about it, does a skyline sound better or not they are asking? Well there is more than a fair chance that there is a Skyline (bloody datsun) motor in it, idiots!!!!! (for the record I couldn't hear the exhaust note, just the massive BOV)

Also the two chicks infront of me are fine as...however they ARE archetects, which means they have (nominally) more teeth than braincells...still if they where interior archatects they would have more boobs than braincells. The one with the big sunnies is hotter, she is drinking a pint. Fark yeah!

She just moved and is packing a great rack too....nice!

I think I should keep this as a like, little diary. Some of the stuff I write in here really shouldn't be for public (female?) consumption.

Well if my Girlfriend finds this I'm dead...lol

CONCENTRATE!!!!

oooo new maserati grandturismo....in silver just like my mood board pics.

Need another beer, brb

More Golden ale. Fuck yeah!.

Getting back to the car, I need to see Dion with $200, Get this satnav/stero thingo (if it looks O.K) NOt sure which brand, do I get the Generic one with satnav for $499 or the Pioneer one without satnav for $699?

Hrm.

uh.

yeah.

Just had a couple of ugly leso's (rug munchers) pash near me. Why are lesbians in real life ugly?!?!

Thinking back I need to do some work on the VL, paint, seat, carpet, turbo, gearbox and clutch.

Well I better go, I think I just made a decision. Go home, sorry about the funeral, karl was a good bloke, but major religous funerals are not for me.

Gotta go, no battery left to write on teh train. :(

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Actually there is :)

Neat.

O.K on the train, called mum, I'm not going to the funeral.

Need to go home, get the Calais out, and go up to Tea Tree plaza to get this Stezza. Make a final decision up there.

Also need to get this car ad maria keeps talking about :) VW EOS is it? Half sex, half car all cool by her (artistic) standards. Good stuff :)

Also download the two topgears :)

Fark me they dug a big hole where the old rail yard (container terminal) used to be...actually saw a old diesel in real AN livery. WTF?!?! Oh and the Ghan just went past...

On other topics (presentation) I need to install windows XP on that old Harddisk. Ask Stuart for a disk. I just need to play with the new media player. Actually win 2K would do the trick there. Use that then.

Go home and render up some cars too. Where did my old folder go with me pics on it?

Have 7% battery left at the moment so it may cut out at any moment. Bugger. need to graft a old solar pannel into my laptop. That would be kinda cool, only as a trickle charge charge tho. Speaking of which do I graft a trickle charger into my new car? I have to have a normal built in 240V system. Ask stuart if he wants that in his car.

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At home, well I purchased the stezza, JVC jobbie at motorquip: $650. Ouch. The poineer one was $850, too much and the satnav one was actually $1050. Double ouch.

But anyway I have a stezza and I can make my dash brACKET.

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Tuesday 18th November

Today I have a meeting with Dave Gordon, about my project, by (lack of) ability and his idea for dealing with Sandy Walker. He should be here in 5 mins. Hopefully this should go O.K.

List of stuff to talk to Gordo about:

- General Uni Work
- 4th Year project, process, should I honestly pass? My future intentions.
- Process?
- Dealing with the University, will peoples noses get out of joint? Will my project clash with the SAE project?
- Dealing with the banks
- What do you think of my submission?

In other news I need to bend up those rear firewall plates. They are in the car, after this meeting goto the workshop and use the bender :)

The other issue was that I forgot to take that alloy in last night. Nggggggggggggggggggggggggg. I'll take it in on thursday night and store it in the foam room, cut it up on friday and store it in the foam room over the weekend so I can pick it up.

What do I need to cut up?

ERm rear side skins, and a new rear lower firewall.

Also I need to make up some new front lower control arm mount plates. *sigh* Why did I get it soooo wrong?!?! I also need to put the rear LCA's rear mounts back in. I had this misguided notion of rounding out the hole and having a steped bolt to give me some better toe

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Wednsday 19th November

well I put the frame on the ground today with the wheels on. Looks.....very small.

I'm wondering if I can move the front wheel back 50mm. The major visual issue here is that it effects my windscreen rake angle, however it does solve a number of problems in the vehicles front end princibly the radiator mounts. The new track is then 2500 (ratio to 1420). Yikes. Its closer to the 1:6.18 ratio I want, but not by much.

But anyway I took a heap of photots, the dog cut herself open on my power window mount and generally made a mess!

I also just finished my steering spacer. Looks and works a treat!!!! :D

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Thursday 20th November

I spent tonight working on my stereo mount and preparing all my notes, so tomorrow I can cut up some sheet metal. Sadly I cound't design the inner front guard, I mean I'm still not sure where the upper shocker mount goes and what shape its going to be. FFS!

Its going to be much easier from a fabrication point of view to assemble it as 1 folding. Much easier. The current dilema (on the train) is this: Do I cut it up as designed, or wait till I design the strut mount top?

I also took that 1200x2400 sheet of material in and saw Ahmed.....he wonders what to get Dave for his pressie??? I'm honestly not sure :S

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Friday 21st November

On train waiting to get into uni...

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O.K at uni, the workshop hasn't opened yet....are the idiots on strike? FFS!

Well it gives me some time to do some CAD work.....actualy I can make a prototype center console to mount my stezza. The problem is I can't remember what the dimensions where. The console is what 200mm wide, stereo is what 200mm high? Nah

OOOOOOooooo workshop lights are on :)

Also flogg'd some nichrome wire from the foam room, now what was the PSU output? Damn, no listing and no multimeter handy :(

I'll have to google it, might be a better idea.

O.K I cut those skins out. Fkn Peter, very short he is.

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On train going home

Cut and folded both of the rear side skins, and a new rear firewall section up. Did a quick assembly seems to go together O.K-ish. I need to assemble the whole thing in the car and get some basic list of the contact points. Then a few rivit holes and we should be laughing.

I didn't get to cut up my new center console box. What where the dimensions again? 230mm long and 100mm deep from the upper tunnel tube.I decided to make it out of steel rather than alloy, make it a stressed member....actually how the hell am I going to pivot it?

Last time I pivoted it forward of the rear merge point, but since I've moved the handbrake back (and changed the angle) I've lost that extra space. Hrm. Actually I couldn't make the console box go all the way to the end of the tunnel since I need to put the light in the end of the bloody thing.

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Monday 24th November

O.K I finished the rear trailing arms off. We should be totally good to go now. I also spent some time finishing off the plates for the front suspension pickups.

I need to get my arse into gear regarding the SOR. *sigh*

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Tuesday 25th November

Nothing today, I'm busy trying to earn money instead!

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Thursday 27th November

Spent a few hours playing with the stezza support bracket. The design really is a pain here. The main problem is to
get a aderquate amount of clearance behind the stereo for the wiring harness and the intergrated cooling fan. There
is a factory notch in the VL Commodore heater box, but alas it really isn't big enough.

I got a few new (old) speakers from a Falcon. Good testers. Remember to talk to karl about getting some 6" JVC speakers.

The other problem I'm dealing with is fuel tank capactiy. I have a vision of around 40L of fuel, sadly this figure keeps dropping faster than petrol prices are atm (99c!!!!). Too many technical parts and not enough space! :(

As far as senders and pumps go, I'll ditch the Magna unit (with a exteral pump) and use a internal pump and sender from a VN. Electrically this shouldn't be a big deal.

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Friday 28th November

I went to the Subaru wreckers, had a look at some old rear shocks. They look O.K-ish. I'll try to fit them on the rear end of my car. I asked about my motor, but they said the head bloke is on holidays for the next two weeks. Nggggggggg

After I finish writing this, I need to clean up the shed at home so I can take the car to work tomorrow....

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Saturday 29th November

Today I cut the front suspension brakets off completly. Yay. Not.

I then welded the new ones on, but the welder decided to go AWOL with the shielding gas. The welds suck.

Oh before I forget I moved the front wheels *BACK 15MM* put that into CAD when you get home. From the front firewall to the central axis of the wheels is now 535mm NOT 550mm

The steering mount pickups look like they warped, but they are in the correct plane and axis. I'll trim them up with the grinder to make it look a little better :)

Tomorrow I'll try the top arm of stewarts clubbie and then weld the mounts in.

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Sunday 30th November

OH F**K!

That does have a familiar ring to it....

Well now I'm paying the price for expanding the front upper subframe to fit a spare wheel and the steering shaft. Why? Well the stock sports 7 top suspension arm is simply too big. I end up with positive camber. Also if I dial in a adequate amount of castor the upper arm hits the coil over spring. Grrrrr

So while haveing a sook, I made the front battery shelf up. Remember to put that into CAD sunshine...

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Car is now at home. Playing around with the idea of using a VN commo cooling fan and radiator. Cheap and effective.

Tomorrow at work I'll have to get the upper arm jig down and set to work designing another arm. I reckon if I offset the pickups I can create a arm that gives me my camber adjustment, castor and misses the spring.

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Monday 1st December

I finished off the trimming of the tube for the bottom control arms today. Tony will weld them tomorrow.

I borrowed and tried a VN commodore radiator and thermofan. No go. The outlets will hit the lower control arms when I angle the radiator to clear the thermofan ala Miura.

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Tuesday 2nd December

Tony welded most of the arms today. All thats needed now is the top plate to be welded on.

Looked around at a heap of radiators. What I need is a radiator with the bottom tank inlet in the MIDDLE. U12 Pinny might do the trick. I think.
 
Wowl Alot has been done since I last checked this thread! Coming along nicley!

I can't wait for Next OCTOBER!!!!!
 
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