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


Duncan

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since everyone is bumping their build threads today......that reminds me

I finished off all the engine bay, underside, inner guard etc wiring on the weekend. Even worked out why the Nav side power window wasn't working (yes, the motor wasn't plugged in....). It's all back to about 3 pages ago where it cranks perfect but does not start, just more colourful and straighter.

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  • 3 months later...

OK, couple of updates.

After more stuffing around, it was the injectors that were stopping it running.  There had been some water in the lines somehow and they corroded a little sitting there 2 years. Swapped them out for some good ones (after trying a million other things) and she started up fine.  So the good news is it is running and almost ready for a tune.  

I also did the final torquing on the driveshafts since it was on the ground, and also the balljoints once they had a chance to settle.

I do need to fix 3 minor wiring things then off for a tune.

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The other thing I need was trial fit the big wheels and tyres to make sure there are no problems.  

Long time back I bought some 18x9.5 +12 volks in a set of 6 to put on the car (oh look, still for sale in my sig! retro!). But with my alignment that offsite was not right so I bought some BC racing wheels in 18x10 + 22 from Just Jap. I've put 295/25/18 A050s on them for test fitting.

So, up on the quickjack and out with the shocks and springs front and rear. Bolt the wheels on and jack up under the wheel to check the whole range of movement from full droop to fully compressed.

18-rear-1.jpg

At the rear, fit is perfect. These are big wheels and tyres and they fit great.

18-rear-3.jpg18-rear-2.jpg

Same at the front. At full left and full right lock the fit is perfect from full droop to fully compressed. Offset +22 is spot on a a GTR with 10" rims

18-front-2.jpg

18-front-1.jpg

The only minor issue that the wheel almost misses the front bumper at straight ahead. It's kind of a shame that an almost miss is a hit. The tyres are just too tall.

18-front-3.jpg

I'll see if the alignment shop can pull it back a bit without stuffing the settings totally, and if not I'll try again with lower tyres 295/30 or even smaller if I can find them in usable brands.

Bit of a pain really.

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Yeah they better be bloody perfect since that was the thing that started this whole refresh.

Re tyres, there are some restrictions.  When I'm running 18x10s I'm not on control tyres but there are still only a couple of brands that are worth running on unless you want to come last.

According to websites (haven't had a chance to call yet, other sizes may be available....):

Hankook: 285/30R18, 631mm or 295/30R18, 637mm

Yokohama: 295/30R18 633mm, 295/35R18, 664mm.

Dunlop: 285/30R18, 635mm

Interestingly when I measured the diameter of the 295/35R18 yokos, I got 655mm against a listed size of 664mm. Also measured a set of dunlop DZ03G that I have in 235/45R17 which are meant to be 644mm but measure up as 630mm...so as usual the manufacturer listed specs and the ruler don't match with tyres sizes

The other thing of course is buying brand new tyres to find out they don't fit is a bloody expensive way to test. The ones I tried above were ex superlap softs, used but not very much, and perfect for hillclimbs so it's a shame they have to go...

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

Hmm I'm a bit behind here, some updates to come. I can confirm that 295/30/18 yokos fit beautifully softs and were good for a 1.05.7 at wakie which is a fair bit quicker than I've gone in this car before (but of course, it is a much bigger and better tyre).

But that is jumping a long way ahead....

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  • 1 month later...
On 4/17/2020 at 7:55 PM, Duncan said:

Hmm I'm a bit behind here, some updates to come. I can confirm that 295/30/18 yokos fit beautifully softs and were good for a 1.05.7 at wakie which is a fair bit quicker than I've gone in this car before (but of course, it is a much bigger and better tyre).

But that is jumping a long way ahead....

Don't make us wait much longer on these updates... I'm worried about what the rest of June and start of August will bring for us!!! :O

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5 hours ago, MBS206 said:

Don't make us wait much longer on these updates... I'm worried about what the rest of June and start of August will bring for us!!! :O

not to mention July

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yeah it seems cutting wood comes first. still only 2 here this morning after -4 overnight so it is hard to get enthusiasm to lie on the concrete. And it's definitely no complaint since a lot of people are in tough situations, but my work has got busier, not quieter lately.

I did pick up the second set of 18x10 +22 forged BC wheels from just jap yesterday, excellent price for custom size forged wheels as long as you can wait for sea freight at about $4.5k (compared to new Rays etc which are set sizes). I've now got 8 so I can run same sized spares in rallies. I guess Targa Barrier Reef in early September is our next big event if you banana benders agree to rejoin Australia before then. 

Also confirmed that the BC strut top rubber bushes are a perfect match for the ISC strut tops that I had in the car (the ISC guys didn't bother responding to q about parts so fortunate the JJ ones fit). I'll post up pics when I have them but the bushes were destroyed, lasted about 2 years

Annoyingly, the heated windscreen is no longer working correctly, I guess the wiring was damaged during the respray. I've spoken to Del, looks like he can still supply them; I've had that one in the car for 8 years now so I guess I can't complain.

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On 6/7/2020 at 10:21 AM, Duncan said:

yeah it seems cutting wood comes first. still only 2 here this morning after -4 overnight so it is hard to get enthusiasm to lie on the concrete. And it's definitely no complaint since a lot of people are in tough situations, but my work has got busier, not quieter lately.

I did pick up the second set of 18x10 +22 forged BC wheels from just jap yesterday, excellent price for custom size forged wheels as long as you can wait for sea freight at about $4.5k (compared to new Rays etc which are set sizes). I've now got 8 so I can run same sized spares in rallies. I guess Targa Barrier Reef in early September is our next big event if you banana benders agree to rejoin Australia before then. 

Also confirmed that the BC strut top rubber bushes are a perfect match for the ISC strut tops that I had in the car (the ISC guys didn't bother responding to q about parts so fortunate the JJ ones fit). I'll post up pics when I have them but the bushes were destroyed, lasted about 2 years

Annoyingly, the heated windscreen is no longer working correctly, I guess the wiring was damaged during the respray. I've spoken to Del, looks like he can still supply them; I've had that one in the car for 8 years now so I guess I can't complain.

Damn people need heat in cold environments!
I don't know how you guys deal with that cold, I've done a bunch of work on a car many years ago in Canberra in the middle of Winter, I could not do it again. I'm headed for Canberra again end of July actually, I'm not looking forward to that cold, and I believe you likely get colder than Canberra!!!

Also, to save you needing to split the wood, buy a bigger fire place! :P

As to reopening our borders, look, while COVID-19 happened, we had to all go for a vote, we told the other states it was for councils... Really we vote on Quexit, and it's going through, we're out! So pack your passports :P

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Great to see the updates Mr Handley. You will be pleased to know I have a new apprentice whom may well be a good candidate for pit crew, he's currently building an s13/rb20 little girl. I'm like the god father, he just loves the short cuts and our amazing tools. 

Me thinks you should buy some rubber mating and get off the cold cement.

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Ha! hope he picks up good habits easier than I did :)

I did make a bit more progress on the all important stickering, although connecting the 90s tech sticker cutter to win10 was a total fail. I'll have to get the local sign guys who did the rest of the car to sort the remaining ones.

Also had the nav seat back out to reset the backrest angle forward because it wasn't comfortable on the test day.  It currently has Bride rails and side mount brackets and the combination wwth R32 floor is crap (high, forward, tilted too far back)...will need to get some custom / flatter mounts made up.

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  • 6 months later...

Hey mate it was good to catch up there, I had a good run (other than the power steering pump bearing failing) and hope you Vic invaders did too (in that small window when borders were open!)

I know this thread is way out of date, but I had the car back and running in June and did a test day at Wakefield. Amazingly after having removed every bit of suspension and redoing all the wiring, it ran flawlessly except the power steering pump bearing which failed. After I killed a second one at Bathurst Neil pointed out it was most likely a simple dumb mistake, ie the belt was too tight both times. Sure enough I backed it off a fair bit and no problems since.

At Bathurst I came 2nd in Category I (Log booked touring cars on treaded tyres) with a 2.27.8, beaten by Jason Wright in his very impressive R34 (which did a 2.23.7, way faster. Was great to stretch the car's legs around a big track and it was way more fun to drive it than it was in the dirty evo (top speed 257 was 8klm/h faster too). It was hot 32o ambient and the oil temps were pretty high (130+), and the brakes needed a cool down after 3 laps so if I want to do the 6hrs in the GTR it is going to need more cooling.

I ended up skipping the last 2 sessions because I didn't want to break anything since Kel and I were entered in Great Tarmac Rally the weekend after so I came back, changed the PS pump over and ready to go again. I did trip both pumps down and cleaned and replaced all the seals, but the only issue seemed to be the shaft bearing was stuffed in each.

We also had an awesome run down at the rally, top 5 outright pace and the car was running beautifully. Until I didn't process a call Kel gave me just before lunch day 2 and put the car off the edge and into a tree which was kind of unfortunate. The car seems mostly OK mechanically, engine still runs and it even drives straight (will get the alignment checked properly but there is no visual damage). Unfortunately the tree hit the rear quarter hard enough to shift the whole boot across so there is major work and possibly even a new rear half required to fix it so it will be a while before she's back again.

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  • 4 weeks later...

You run a much lower ride height than I was expecting for tarmac rally, this doesn't give you any trouble with the roll centres?

I'm hoping to do the Snowy River Sprint in mine this year, hopefully work/family commitments give me sufficient time to get it finalised. 

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Great idea, the roads down there are excellent fun with a mix of fast and tight, I really enjoyed the event we just did other than the crash :) good team running it too without most of the "stuff" that comes with the Targa run events and some of the competitors (for example, not a single porsche pushed past us while waiting for a stage!)

The car isn't low at all, although I can see how it looks that way from some of the pics. It is a bit hard to check the rear atm with the damage, but I double checked the front today and it is 330mm left and 334mm right from centre of the wheel to guard (minor difference due to corner wieghting.  Gary (Sydneykid) set up my suspension and ride heights many years ago and it handles beautiful and is quick considering it doesn't have a lot of power. Of course it is also quite soft to keep traction so under power like in the pics above it does squat over the rears.

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Since the car will be at a panel shop for the repairs, I've decided to take the engine and and put the spare engine in. I've had the spare on a stand for a while and since I've got the haltech doing logging these days I can see the oil pressure isn't great in the current motor (runs between 50-60psi hot, running 20w50).

So first, jack up your car.....the quickjack is a good thing but definitely no hoist, I really miss having a shed tall enough for one of those....

starting again.jpg

I actually started with the interior because I need to make some further wiring changes. No real mistakes, just things I didn't think about when I did the wiring the first time.

So, after the required number of sacrifices to the cable tie gods in the hot shed....

sacrifice to cable tie gods.jpg

....the wiring is out from the cabin again. Took a few hours but much much quicker than when I pulled the factory stuff out

wiring out.jpg

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