Teh E36 M3 said:
That's a BIG BOY! Outstanding work!
Teh E36 M3 said:
That's a BIG BOY! Outstanding work!
Brotus7 said:Re: Vsusp: How high is the rear roll center going to be?
Took a quick look, vertical roll center change is pretty good, probably want to dial in some more negative camber as I suspect you'll over load the outside of the tires.
In general: awesome build. That transmission looks massive, relatively speaking. Following.
Rear RC is 1.18, front is .67. I agree with adding some more negative camber, will futz with it a bit. You think more camber gain in compression or more static camber?
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks! That trans is pretty large, but oh so snickety.
Teh E36 M3 said:Brotus7 said:Re: Vsusp: How high is the rear roll center going to be?
Took a quick look, vertical roll center change is pretty good, probably want to dial in some more negative camber as I suspect you'll over load the outside of the tires.
In general: awesome build. That transmission looks massive, relatively speaking. Following.
Rear RC is 1.18, front is .67. I agree with adding some more negative camber, will futz with it a bit. You think more camber gain in compression or more static camber?
My thought is that you want slightly negative camber at max possible roll, 2-3 degrees roll is commonly used. I'd start with dialing in a little more static negative camber and see what it looks like.
Brotus7 said:Teh E36 M3 said:Brotus7 said:Re: Vsusp: How high is the rear roll center going to be?
Took a quick look, vertical roll center change is pretty good, probably want to dial in some more negative camber as I suspect you'll over load the outside of the tires.
In general: awesome build. That transmission looks massive, relatively speaking. Following.
Rear RC is 1.18, front is .67. I agree with adding some more negative camber, will futz with it a bit. You think more camber gain in compression or more static camber?
My thought is that you want slightly negative camber at max possible roll, 2-3 degrees roll is commonly used. I'd start with dialing in a little more static negative camber and see what it looks like.
Do you add bump to the roll or just use purely roll to arrive at your camber numbers? I'm trying to not have a ton of static negative camber at ride height just because I don't like the way it looks. Keeping swingarm lengths at 100-150" and having that negative camber at 3 degrees roll is tough.
Working VSusp for ideal. I'm amazed by how much time I'm going to spend designing the perfect suspension in theory, then trying to keep all tolerances within 1/8". Pretty tall order for the tools I have at my disposal, but at least I will start with an "ideal" compromise.
In other news, TREAT YO SELF! I needed a clutch, so I bought the FM happy meal flywheel/clutch combo. It's pretty and awesome and I'm happy. Should have ordered a new rear main seal as well, but I'll get on that before I put it all in a place I'll never see again.
I have to get a new intake cam since I have to delete VVT for hood clearance, so I am shopping- if anyone has any recommendations I'd appreciate it. I'm looking currently most closely at Fab9 Stage 2- I have an email in to them to see what the specs are, but as I said before, they are the only ones posting dyno charts which, while not critical, at least give some idea of what one could expect relatively speaking.
In reply to Teh E36 M3 :
Suspension looks good, very little roll center movement should contribute to a predictable feel. Camber gain looks good - are you going to make and adjustable upper control arm?
Have you figured out the steering rack placement too? If not, a good starting point is to put the inner tie rod ends in line with the line connecting the upper and lower control arm mounts, and the tie rod ends approximately horizontal or parallel to lower control arm at ride height. From there, it's fine tuning and it's probably a good idea to build in some adjustability.
Thanks for the feedback- I spent literally 7 hours yesterday moving points around so I'm glad it came together. Yes- the upper a-arms front and rear will be adjustable for camber.
Re: steering rack mounts- that's exactly my plan. I'll likely have to shorten the rack a few inches but I've done it before, so that shouldn't be a major issue.
I'm looking at cams to eliminate my VVT- doesn't fit under the raceline valve cover. On this note, I've looked at many different cams- am sort of leaning toward the Crower offering, both because of the name brand and the price is $200 cheaper than the fab9. Crower duration is 228in/220ex at .050 lift with total lift .389/.373.
Fab9 has these, but as I look at them they are HUUUGGE duration and lift. I mean like full race drag cams. They don't advertise them as such, but they say these are the most aggressive for use with standard valve springs, which is what attracted me to them. $599. Duration at .050 246/234 with total lift .445/.409. I like the high lift, but the duration is a little scary. The "advertised" duration is 331/315 which doesn't seem right. So upside is that they list these specs and a dyno chart- but they don't tell which supporting mods for the dyno graphs. This cam gets 217whp per their chart, which I think is in the neighborhood of where I want to be in the long run.
I will have ITB's, and 4/2/1 header of appropriate dimension to support the airflow of any of these options.
Got the front suspension a - arms prototyped. Spindles show up tomorrow so I should be able to mock up. I used e-machineshop to design and cut the lower a-arm frame brackets, and I am eager to see how that works out. Should show up next week mid-week.
Anyway....
also got this cool ass thing that will become a shift knob.
Went to get the steering rack professionally machined to narrow it. I need 18 and it's 24 inches balljoint to balljoint. So I go to two different shops- first refers me to second, who has been without power for two days because of our windstorms out here. Drove home, and in an hour I narrowed it myself. I'd rather have had them cut it and re-thread it, but I just cut 6" out of the middle and put it back together. Seems like it will work pretty well. Still smooth.
Second phase was getting under the (very dirty) rear to start on the rear subframe. I wasn't looking forward to this, but did it- got the upper part of the frame roughed out. It gives me the reference points for all the suspension mounting points. It won't look like a lot, but this was a fair amount of work, and actually more challenging than the steering rack.
Next is finishing the rear subframe, building a-arms, and getting it blasted back in. It's exciting actually making progress toward getting it back on wheels. Getting running gear more toward "running" is the most exciting. Parts are starting to pile up- in a good way.
I'm going to keep spamming- probably no one listening but here goes. Saturday-
- Opened up the rear lower mounts on the miata spindles. I'll run a 3/4 x .125 tube through the enlarged holes and a 1/2" CrMo bolt to tie the a- arm legs together. I'm still trying to decide whether to run a separate leg for toe control or just tie it into the main arm. My original thought was to run separate so I could vary the height of the inboard mount of the toe link, but that might be just one more thing to F up in adjustment, and probably unnecessary. So I probably will mock it up with the forward link adjustable but tied in with the main a-arm.
- I took a ridiculous amount of time to get the rear subframe mocked up. It's no where near complete, but I've got the mounting points pretty accurate, which I am proud of. Maybe I'll get a side of a arms mocked up tomorrow.
I hate making mounting tabs. To get them accurate is just painful. I designed and ordered a set from E-machineshop.com and may take the time to do some more for the rear if these come out well. Their software was surprisingly easy to learn. Not that I did anything but a very simple 2d bracket, but hey.....
I'm still watching.
Just nothing to say! Except im slightly worried about the welded rack. At least im assuming that you cut and welded. And i have no reason to be worried, except for paranoia.
Im also looking forward to the money shot of itb's and big cams.....
Thanks DB- I welded the previous midgets rack and it worked out well. I did a deep vee and welded all the way around. There's no way this thing is coming apart. I have the odd paranoid thoughts about it but I have to keep convincing myself I'm not crazy.
just ordered the big cams, the microsquirt, and will call race line in the uk for the ITBs on Monday.
Been doing the "do one thing a day" bit and getting some done.
Diff mount in. It's freakin huge, I know. I just hope it really is "limited slip". Should be all the diff I need for any power level. Driveshaft will be about a foot long.
Made a set of lower a arm brackets with emachineshop- fun project, and they came out well.
I'm enjoying the frequent posts, this thing is coming out sweet. I'm interested in the emachineshop looks like a few people on here have been using them. How have you found the pricing? I may have to download their software and find out.
My parts were pretty simple, but I found the software pretty easy to use, and loved the instant pricing. Really- the setup is the expensive part. I think it was like $45 for setup and $6/part. So I think with tax was like $115 for ten brackets. I mainly did it to just try it out, but man it saved me a bunch of time I spent elsewhere. And I'm really happy that I can depend on them to be exactly alike.
I'm excited to see so much progress on this. Keep going!
This is awesome progress! Hopefully I didn't just miss it, what size tube are you using for the subframe and for the custom arms?
I gotta say, I'm hanging on every word. This project is extremely close to my heart. I loved your last MG. In fact, I'm considering starting a Teh E36 M3 fanclub.
I was just embarrassed, and concerned that I'd come across as "needy".
So, yeah, watching...always watching.
<=== Raising my hand to say "I'm another fan of modfied British tin"
You're a much better fabricator that I am. Watching with interest.
God wow! Thanks guys! I've stolen so much information and ideas from so many others that if I can contribute in any way it will make me very happy. Knowing you dudes are actually following will make me keep this up. I'm only able to make so much progress because I've had some time off from work... going back at the end of Feb, and hope to have it on wheels by then.
Jackets: 2x2x.065 just like the original frame rails. Lower A arms are 1" x .065 4130. Upper are 3/4x.065. I've got a bit of a scheme to do some more triangulation with original steel and new stuff swirling around the brain bucket, but nothing I can or have put into metal. I'm sorta working my way around the car so I don't get fixated on any one thing and just say "berkeley it" and blast in some metal. I'm afraid I might have done that a bit with a rear crossmember, and the mini-tub job, but hopefully I can recover and make it prettier. Or just less embarrassing.
So, today, took the engine in and out the requisite 852 times. Luckily the whole thing is pretty lightweight. My engine hoist is a harbor freight chain falls with a superstrut and trolley mounted to the rafters- supposedly rated for 600lb. Been working pretty well so far. It was all for clearancing- had to break down and cut the frame rail for slave cylinder clearance, but my idea to countersink the slave bolts worked great and helped out. Cut out a bunch of the passenger footwell and the transmission floor. For the latter, I'll be welding up a little frame to tie it all back together.
Time to start putting metal back into the car. Haha. Surprisingly so far has stayed pretty plumb, but before I put it on wheels I would like to have some structure back in it. Almost wish I'd gotten it sandblasted first- cleaning old por15 for welding is a PITA. I could have just bombed it with ten spray cans of primer. Oh well.
Some good work got done today despite it not looking like much. Worked on the powerplant frame. I'm going with 1" 4130 tubing. I got the upper and lower shafts tacked in, and will tie them together with either some more tubing, or 1/8 plate. I'm glad I'm going with the PPF- I don't think there is a good spot for a rear trans mount, so this is a better option anyway.
Happy Friday!
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