Europa TCST (Turbo)

Not much this week with Christmas right around the corner!

Decided to make end link adjustable mounts double shear (still some finish work to do on them).... Hope to print new seal holders next week....

Finished my adjustable sway bar end link clamps.
Reduced front trailing arm bushing deflection by 20% by constraining them with a hose clamp!
Measured before and after with an extension and old front rotor for weight.

In reply to TurboFource :

Great experiment! I bet the hose clamp will depart rapidly in service, but a triple depth duplicate of the chassis doubler and long attach bolts and the correct hole size to constrain the bushing would be a really interesting to test on road.

I will see how it holds up. A redesign as you suggest may be in the future.....

On the first try (not perfect but usable) we were able to print carbon fiber reinforced nylon seal holders using a $200 Ender 3 V2 printer.
Made a cardboard enclosure, used a dehumidifier to get humidity down to 30% in the room and a heater to get it over 80 degrees, also used a filament heater. 

Two steps forward, one step back (so back to work!).....

- Decided to simulate running temp (since my garage was cool when I set the end play) and heated rear housings and stub axles since aluminum expansion rate is twice that of steel...they still spin freely  
- New 3D printed carbon fiber reinforced nylon seal holders glued into housings
- Polished "seal" surface on flanges
- Replaced spindly rear wheel studs with 12 x 50 mm Rover ones
- Upgraded turbo heat shield to a "titanium" blanket

- The counter bore for my brake drum spacers (I eliminated the outer spacer to get full spline engagement) were not deep enough (I couldn't find my sketch so I don't know if the sketch or machining was off) so I did more wood lathe machining (don't try this at your house )

- Ready to start putting rear suspension on chassis  

This past week......



Love these wheels       (Rota RBs)

Before.....

Double checked my flange shims and found if I used a ratcheting strap to make sure the u-joint flange was all the way in, I got a different result than I previously did. So I reshimmed them and installed the spring pin with the strap in place. The spring pin is also thicker in one direction because of the way they are wound. I put this thickest dimension in line with the axle so I had the maximum thickness (diameter) holding the flange against the shims etc. The shims are to make sure the loads from the upper suspension arm (half-shaft) are transmitted to the differential carrier bearings and not through the output shaft and to the spider gears etc.

I have been wondering for awhile now if eliminating the outer spacer to gain spline engagement
would end up with the flange hitting the wheel cylinders.....

I no longer have to wonder because they do! Some clearancing of the flange provided clearance.
(There is more clearance now than in the picture as my new wheel cylinders are slightly different in shape.) My spacers seem to be good as the brakes went together and nothing seems to be rubbing.

Discs are in the future...trying to reduce project scope creep.....

I feel like a slacker compared to some of the stuff going on other builds on here!!

That is a curious wheel cylinder!  Does it incorporate the handbrake?  Is there a second one on the bottom for a double leading shoe design or is it a leading/trailing setup?

It does incorporate the handbrake...single cylinder...about the crappiest drum setup possible....

I am not sure about that... if the wheel cylinder had two pistons, the aft one would do nothing except in reverse.  Drum rotation pushes the shoes around and the rear shoe ends up getting forced by the front shoe anyway.

I like drum brakes, in the sense that I respect their strengths and weaknesses for what they are.  They are simple, light, and effective.  Heat tolerant or linear, not so much, but just fine for a lot of applications.

They pivot at the bottom and the wheel cylinder can actually slide in the backing plate to keep it centered between the  shoes... 

Rear brake lines flared, bent and installed.

Next project is make this pile of iron oxide into a usable set of pedals so I can bleed the brakes while everything is easy to get to!

Some pedal progress and these round things showed up....

New billet compressor wheel and new turbine shaft, because it is lighter and will spool up easier (also more efficient etc), they even balanced them as an assembly gratis    Pedal stuff about ready to weld also. (All the internal parts will be new and cost more than a new questionable quality chinesium turbo but this turbo will remain all Made in USA!)

The turbo should be good for at least 150,000 miles.....I think the life expectancy of a boosted Twink (Twin Cam) is somewhat shorter  

Sticking with the turbo theme on life....my favorite wine (18%)

Almost done.....

Got slowed down this week...it took 3 years but all three of us (my son, then wife, then me) tested positive for covid for the first time this week  .... day 3 of covid and I managed to finish my pedal assembly and upgraded the clamps I had put on my trailing arm frame bushings...

Pedals temporarily mounted...hope to bleed brakes this week.... Good thing I made brake pedal adjustable side to side...

This is why I move the ARB up.......