EvanB said:
eastsideTim said:
Maybe a cool shirt setup would be simpler?
Probably, and I have everything to make one, but just seems a pain for a two-driver rallycross car.
I just wanted to mention it because I'm leery of A/C in a dedicated rallyx car. Need to make sure to protect the condenser. I went to a decent amount of effort keeping the A/C functional. First event I went to with the 2.4, a rock or something put a hole in it, so the effort was for nothing.
With them being used in Lemons and other cheap enduro races, I assume there are check valves and quick release connections that should make swapping drivers a bit less messy.
What if you did a cool seat instead of a cool shirt? Pipe all the water to tubes on the seat cover instead.
Or if you want AC, just put the condenser somewhere safe- everything else in this car will be in a new place anyway, what's one more system.
I've seen cool seats in Lemons races and been told they're quite effective. Not as effective as the shirt, especially not a name brand cool shirt, but more effective than you would think.
EvanB
MegaDork
6/30/22 5:40 p.m.
The condenser would be in back with the radiator.
Cool seat was the plan for my miata years ago. Possibly worth exploring.
One of the benefits of the Edge radiator is that a condenser will just clip in. Assuming that there is room under the hood for the compressor (maybe 75% chance) the biggest issue is that some dumbass put a transmission where the Mini HVAC system was.
But on the bright side, having about 20 feet of line between the compressor/evaporator and the condenser just gives that much more opportunity to drop heat.
And yes, rallycrossing the S40, various Stock/Prepared class Subarus, and Dave Rudy's Neon, I always had the A/C cranking in the summer. A driver that is comfortable is a driver with fewer distractions.
Secondary goal, though. Must run first. Working A/C is not a prerequisite for that. I suspect that its location will also depend greatly not only on what parts get junkyarded but where Adam sticks the cage.
We did a cool seat in our racecars for years. Worked well enough to keep you cool, bit not comfortable.
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Exactly. There is something to be said for "not getting heatstroke" but when I sat in teh Volvo on Sunday to drive home, the vent thermometer was reading 110F and it felt COOL in the car compared to outside.
It was almost funny. It was hot in the sun, so sit in the car, where it is even hotter. Turn the vent fan on max and get hot air blown at you, like having a friendly dog in your lap. No respite 
Step 1: Remove everything... which requires removing everything from under the car...
While welding on my back the lens in the welding helmet shifted and now everything looks weird in my left eye, which is the one that does all the heavy lifting. Ugh.
While I am waiting for my eyes to sort themselves out, some pictures.
Last night these went in. Part one of a multipronged effort to restore lateral strength to the shell.
Finally finished the inner shell of the driver side box. Was welding this when the helmet messed up.
Welded in the front strip, all is happy
Set the tank frame in place, made some adjustments, set back in place, tacked, all is happy
Wrestled the fuel tank in by starting the rear strap bolts, levering the tank up, started the front bolts, went to tighten down the tank, and all is not happy.
Ugh.
Removing rear subframe, one of the bolts was boogered. Grabbed a 1/2-20 thread chaser set and chased the bolt so I could get the nut off, then when it would not go together well, chased the nut, which moved freely. Chased the bolt on the bench. Nut still tight in spots. Got an impact, clamped bolt in vise, ran the chaser up and down it. Saw a weird rippled effect in threads but thought little of it. Nut still tight. Clamped nut in vise, started bolt, and went to do the old hammer-turn-hammer-turn method of thread reforming, and saw that my hammering had highlighted the big "8.8" on the end of the bolt.
Er.
Put away the 1/2-20 chasers, grabbed the 12x1.75 chasers, cleaned up the threads, all is well now.
How the HECK did the 1/2NF chaser run through the 12mm nut so easily??
So, first we cut out the galled threaded insert so we can weld in a new one...
Install new one, bolt tank up, get unhappy with the level of the front supports, play with shims this way and that, end up with no shims on right and six (!) on left. Tack into place.
Satisfied, weld a bunch, remove front subframe bolts one at a time for welding access, and then unbolt some stuff and remove subframe.
Y'know, I kinda tire of the dadjoke "It's starting to look like a car!" But somehow, removing the subframe makes it look more like a chassis and not a collection of parts.
The CRV springs would be perfect if they were WOUND THE OTHER DIRECTION.
Moving right along, some Forester control arms donated some bits.
New plan, again!
This is a Subaru ball joint.
At the end of the taper it is 15mm in diameter. 10mm down from the end it is 17mm in diameter. The taper is thus 2mm per 10mm or 2.4 inches per foot. I think. This is not a common size...
This is the episode where we realize that:
Bilstein HD inserts thread into the housing, not slip in. Koni inserts slip in.
Evan has no tools to clean up 10x1.0 threads.
Well, berk. The threads on the insert are juuuust boogered enough that I can't remove it to get the bumpstop out.
Much better.
Bumpstop is a lot shorter than I was thinking. Hmm. Believe it or not there is not much room to work with 185/65-15 tires, will definitely need shorter like 185/60-15 or 185/65-14.
Stared at how I am going to mount the compression rod. Had some ideas initially, came up with some better ones until I realized geometrically they would require a rod end at the track arm.
Not gonna do that. So, moving with plan A, first we remove the rest of the subframe from the Mini subframe chunks...
Bolt them up with the trans crossmember in place and stare a bit.
I had wanted to have something that wrapped around top and bottom, that will not fly because of the materials I had, so made two of these. Got the hole in the right place on the first try!
I don't want to break out the welder just yet.
Nice to see this back at the top
More hmmm.
Strut tops.
I got some free PT Cruiser ones, but I don't like the bearing arrangement or the spring seat arrangement.
I got some free CR-V ones, which are nice but have absolutely no tolerance for angle change.
I got some free Kia something or other ones, which look a lot like SA/FB mounts with a ball bearing that the strut rotates on, and the spring hat is almost perfect for the springs I want to use.
Problem:
The angle difference is huge. I do not see the rubber lasting very long before it tears apart. I also see it binding and possibly breaking the top of the strut off, not that this can ever happen Nonack.
Rebuilding the tower looks like a complete exercise in suck.
So, I am thinking we need something with a bearing in it, what they used to call a pillow ball mount. After conferring with Evan, we have a plan forward.
Feel free to drop by this week and see what i have laying around, just not tomorrow
In reply to Patrick :
Thanks, will do, assuming I have time to get out there.
The key is needing either a small bolt pattern or something that can nudge up against the inside. Have been looking at 3 point mounts, the triangle will point outward
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
The angle difference is huge. I do not see the rubber lasting very long before it tears apart. I also see it binding and possibly breaking the top of the strut off, not that this can ever happen Nonack.
That's not what took mine out, but it would definitely be something to avoid. My top mounts are these: Gartrac Top Mounts
Bigass spherical bearing with a lot of rubber around it so the bearing doesn't get rattled to death, they're nice- the one at the top of that snapped 40mm insert survived just fine.
Volkswagen is a good source of triangle pattern mounts, and it faces out.
