Yesterday's design

Still not very distinctive. Air ducts, lights, large canopy all kind of 60's LeMans inspired. 

Still messing with lights, but they take a long time to render and even longer to make realistic.

64 Lotus 23C chassis bits

F100s at auction

Mind you this truck is almost new, even though it was built in 1976. 1200 miles on the clock.

14-18k estimate. Via http://blog.hemmings.com

Engine fitting

I'd like to have a general idea of how the EJ-20 engine will fit in the chassis, and how the body will fit on that. I don't have any accurate engine models, so I'll have to create them. Looking at a photo of the engine sitting on a pallet gives a very bad approximation of dimensions, but its what's available. The engine in the renderings below is WAY bigger than the EJ20 or EZ3x engine. I created these mostly to have some fun with the exhaust routing. I have created a more accurately sized EJ-20 4 cylinder with the AWD transaxle in proper proportions, but it's not rendered. The actual frame should be similar to the FFR GTM super car's chassis, but shorter in length. I can't imagine they'd build it much different, because the GTM is a fantastic looking chassis. For the purpose of fitting everything, I'll render the body in a thin glass material. I found that the model below provides no room for driver + passenger, but prefers a more central driving position. That will have to be remedied somehow. I'm guessing from the current entries on the GRM forums (I'm trying to avoid those) that the below style is pretty far off from the rest of the contestants. What I'm seeing there is closer to a Lotus Evora than a 60's LeMans racer. 

spherical to Cartesian.. woops

I think I have the formula inside-out.

more concepts

This is the original concept, now with more details. It's still feasible I think, but some of the geometry has become difficult to deal with. It takes about an hour to get from an octoad to a nice smoothed shape, but adding in the details after that can take a while.

 I do like this one, but it's a bit generic don't you think? It's practical, can be made small enough without looking like a miniature of something. But it looks too much like an R8 or a Lotus or something. The quality and lighting in that render is terrible.

 A diffuse render.

Why not? Inspired by the 1960s LeMans racing cars by Ferrari and the Alfa Romeo Stradale. It's probably way too long and low for the proposed frame and driving position, but who cares really...
And who designs the frame first??

body in the white

Its Early Days Yet

BECAUSE RACECAR

Factory Five and Grassroots Motorsports design contest entry.
These are initial designs for a spec racing car design competition. The specs are as follows (as far as I can remember)

• square section tube frame
• Composite shell
• Mid engine, rear drive layout
• 95" wheelbase
• 2.5L 4 cylinder boxer engine from a donor Subaru Impreza WRX
• 1800 lb curb weight
• Under $15k for complete kit (donor car not included)

The main constraints are price and weight. Obviously you can't get away with a composite carbon shell for $15k (or can you? China?) So the shell should meet the target weight assuming less expensive materials.
The drive train components and frame currently are estimated at 900lbs.
The remaining components are the responsibility of the designer(s)

Body

• Front and rear shell (less than 100lbs each)
• doors? (way less than 50lbs each)
• side windows (Lexan)
• windscreen (Lexan or salvaged from donort)
• rear window (Lexan or salvaged from donor)

Interior

• Dash panel 
• gauge cluster
• steering wheel 
• seats (14 lbs each for Recaro Profi)
• harness 
• pedals 
• misc linkage

Other bits

• Driving lights 
• head and tail lights 
• signals 
• rear view mirror(s) 
• front wing 
• other wings or aero elements not included in the shell

Since this car is meant to be a 'track special' or spec racer, and cheap, there will be no luxuries built in.

In order to keep the price down, it's a good idea to re-use as much of the donor WRX as possible.  The engine is to be a 300+ hp Subaru EJ257 turbo, variable intake valve timing, 16 valve 4 cylinder boxer. The builder has to pull it from a donor car, so it's really up in the air as to what you can do with the engine. The 3L boxer six from the Legacy is only about 20mm longer and could probably handle a pair of intercooled snails and about 600bhp. And water injection..

Design:

I'm using a pretty simple and free vertex subdivision modeler called Wings3D, and will be doing all of the rendering in good old PovRay raytracer.  Subdivision modelling is not a new concept, but it is different from NURBS and Bezier based models I'm used to. 

All of the models are being kept in GitHub to avoid previous data loss disasters:

https://github.com/toxonix/Because-Racecar

There the models will evolve and any interesting scenes will be stored for rendering.

Here's Wings3D at work on a prototype:

The environment is very basic, with point, line, surface and body modes having contextual menus. I like it so far, especially for an open source non-commercial piece of software. It's written in C and Erlang, and has an Erlang console interface which I have yet to use.

At this stage the prototype is evolving based on my limited experience with subdivision modelling. Free form modelling is primarily done by moving geometric elements (individual or selections of lines, points, faces, objects) in such a way that you end up with a shell of the desired object which can be sub-divided into quadrilaterals that appear smooth. The above model is the result of 2 subdivision passes. Extra geometry is added in the form of bevels to maintain surfaces which I don't want rounded.

See basics of smoothing polygons here:

http://www.holmes3d.net/graphics/subdivision/

The prototype above is a first pass in an iterative process. I don't know if I like it, or it will be light enough, or will even fit on the frame. It actually looks way too large, like a Lancia with a V12 in the back. I do want the front and rear shells be one piece, and open front and rear like a big clamshell (see the Ford GT40 and other 60s race cars). This should make molding and fitting those parts simple, as you don't need separate fenders, hood, valance, etc.

It has some ripples that are the result of my removing the headlight bevels, as they didn't smooth well. I will experiment with different smoothing algorithms, and start over with new models frequently.

I welcome any ideas, input, suggestions. Gullwing doors? No doors at all?

Valves

 This is the cylinder which had lost some compression. The culprit was a worn or improperly installed stem seal on the exhaust valve. Ideally the compression will be restored after resurfacing and lapping the valves and seats. All new valve seals will be installed.

Valves, before and after surfacing. The small diameter valves with the fatter stems are sodium filled exhaust valves. These help move heat from the valve into the head where it can be absorbed and drawn away through the coolant galleys.

Honkin big cylinder head

This is an M110 Cylinder head, almost clean. It's a very nice casting and machining. It was really mucked up. If necessary a cylinder head can be cleaned by hand.

Ooh hello, what's YOUR name?

At the junkyard today, and what should I see but a blue Ford with a toploader 4 speed. MMMM, TASTY

W116 Fuel system

I took the trunk panel out to take a look at the fuel tank. It looked brand new, like much of the inside of the car. I didn't get a good description of the problem from the owner or his mechanic, so I located the leak via the 'Pikey' method, which is pour some gas in, see where it comes out. Underneath there are a few fuel system components interconnected by rubber lines. All of these rubber lines were cracked, some broken. I think the life of these lines is somewhere in the 10 year area, so they all needed replacing. All screens, filters and any other consumables are to be replaced too, while I'm at it. The fuel damper, which is a very simple, but expensive piece, had a few pin holes in it from rust. It's supposed to be zinc coated, but I'm sure all that wore off years ago. A brand new damper costs around $90 USD.

 Fuel Damper

The damper's purpose is to even out the fuel pump's surges. It costs as much as a fuel pump, so take good care of it. The accumulator, pump, filter and damper should all probably be replaced, along with all of the fitted hoses. This is not cheap! Its an easy job though, if you have the right tools.

Fuel injection systems generally have a high pressure side (feed to the injector distributor) and a low pressure side (return to the tank). If you are going to remove this system properly, you'll be wanting fuel line nut wrenches. A crow's foot line wrench set is probably the best idea, in 3/8" drive size. You may have to apply a lot of torque and penetrating oil to free the line nuts. I did both, and broke the fuel feed line anyway, so I'm going to replace the feed line entirely. This is what happens when you use vise grips instead of the right tool. Vise grips are a Pikey's tool.

Mercedes are bullet proof. Only rust can destroy them!

Most people who drive old Mercedes say "Oh I love it, it drives like a tank." I've never driven a tank, but I'm sure what they're talking about is the rigidity of the chassis. No cost is spared on the suspension or steering bits. There is only one problem, and that is the problem with all steel, and that is rust. Mercedes in particular have drainage systems that are probably intended for garage keeping and meticulous cleaning and detailing by your driver's assistants. The drains are intended to keep water away from the frame and body, and of course out of the interior. This all works great until the drain tubes become clogged. Just like the leaves that clog your downspouts, these things must be kept clear. If they are not, then water finds its way into places it shouldn't, like the trunk, tops of the wheel wells, lower door areas, etc. I have probably 6 months of welding, grinding and finishing to do on this car due to poor maintenance of drains and bad prior body work. Normally I'd stay away from body work, as it's just never good enough and can't be done right in a rush. That and all body men are miserable, humorless, violent ex-convicts, constantly covered with a toxic miasma of body filler dust, solvents, primer and paint wastes. No matter how good a car looks, once you start chipping at the rust you end up with big areas which need cutting out and replacing. 

W116 280SE Project Car

Friday last, we found a European spec 1978 Mercedes 280SE.
Technical data: W116 E28 chassis
2.8 Litre DOHC Inline 6 cylinder gas engine
182 hp @ 6000 RPM
Bosch K-Jetronic (mechanical) fuel injection
3670 lb unloaded weight.

The Euro spec W116 is faster and lighter than its American counterpart, it has 40 more horsepower and  about a hundred pounds less weight. American regulations required large "park bench" bumpers, which, thankfully, were not required on grey market imports. The paint color is called "Milan Brown Metallic" I think, at least that is the closest color I can find in MB's color charts. It's not bad, but I prefer this car in lighter metallic color, as in the 450SEL 6.9's silver metallic with chrome door panels and wheel arches.

The Good:
The doors, rocker panels, and most exterior surfaces are clean and very straight. The doors open and close without any rubbing or signs of a bent frame. This is normal for an S-class tank that hasn't been in any accidents. Unit-body construction this heavy won't tend to sag or pinch the doors, but an accident could be told in doors that rub.
The engine cranks, runs and sounds good. We didn't have enough carburetor cleaner to run it for long, fortunately. I expect we will be going through the engine a bit, although there's not much there that needs doing. Valve timing is provided by duplex chain and dual over head cams, so I expect these to be in good order. A good steam clean and compression check with a tune up will turn up any unexpected top end issues.
The Bad:
A typical problem with Bosch mechanical fuel injection is condensation on the top of the gas tank, as witnessed by our VW Vanagon from the 1980s which very nearly blew Dad up one day.
The owner of this Mercedes said his mechanic told him there was a leak in the gas tank, and not to drive it. Typically what will happen is the gas evaporates through a small hole into the trunk, which will smell strongly of gasoline and perhaps explode if you should open it whilst smoking a pipe. I didn't find any gas smells in the trunk (or a spare tire), but I did find that the gas cap had been run over and completely deformed at some point. This may or may not be the cause of their leak. Pressure testing the gas tank with a new lid might be in order. If that fails, the tank will need to be pulled out, welded or replaced.

The Ugly:
I can't remember driving any Mercedes with a plush/velour interior. I know they exist, but if you're paying that much for a car, why not make it at least Pleather, if not the real stuff. Either way, UV rays have not been kind to the velour, and the inside of this car looks like a Star Trek uniform left to the weather. It has to go to the upholstery shop for a tear down and re-hide.
The only thing you can do about rotting wheel wells is make them entirely out of plastic. I don't know why this isn't done, but it isn't. The wheel wells show the usual rust and will require work and a complete repaint. This is not some cheap Maaco job for $300 either. Getting the real paint from MB, having a professional spray it after perfect preparation is the only way to go. Whether or not we will go that way is to be decided later..

There are many options for this kind of thing. You could go all-black AMG for example. With this look, you have to wear all black (Members Only of course) all the time. And a German stainless steel watch, not Swiss.

OR, you could go all negative on the colors with black on white, more of a tuning car apparel. In this case you would have to wear a white track suit with black piping ALL the time. You will also need a large digital chronograph on a lanyard.

GL1000 nearly complete

<-- HIDEOUS
I was able to get rid of the Comstar wheels and replaced them with Older, Vintage(er) Wire spoked wheels from a 1977 GL1000 that was parted out in Nevada (thanks, NV guy).
The 'Comstar' wheels were the cheap way of making a 'Mag', ie magnesium rim popular in racing. The Comstars have 5 spokes made of either stainless steel or aluminum in some cases, which are cut and stamped to shape. They are then riveted to an aluminum rim. There are 10 rivets out the rim and another 10 on the hub I think. Just looking at them makes you think "That is unsafe". They are cheap, cheap looking and cheap to make. Honda and others tried to pitch them as better and lighter than spoked wheels, but really they were just cheaper.
The rivets on mine were rotted through, and I was able to pop some of the blades off with a little pressure. Unsafe at any speed. Anyhow they are gone, replaced with much better wire ones, new tires, tubes etc.
Switching back in time to older wheels was not just a straight bolt in deal. The 75-77 front brakes had 2 piece cast rotors rather than the one piece stainless ones on the later bikes. The spacing of the rotors is a few millimeters off, so it was necessary to machine the caliper brackets to line up the braking surfaces.
With a salvaged 5/8" Nissin master cylinder, Speigler stainless/teflon lines, new pads and all of the correct retaining springs in place, bled up, the front brakes feel just right.
The CBR600 5/8" dia. master cylinder on the rear is now linked up to the original caliper and bled. I used the CBR's brake line, as it was in good shape and had the right length. So far it also feels right. That is linked to a Tarozzi rear-set on the right side.

This bike is nearly complete, just needs final touches, new oil and some test riding to make sure everything behaves.
The following is a hint on what the next project might be:
http://www.diagnostic-assistance.co.uk/mech_inj.htm
Not much of a hint, as the Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical injection system was used on pretty much everything. 

GL1000 Headers

Coming along, coming along.. These are just the headers, and fitting the titanium wrap. I'm not sure exactly what it's made of, but it's "titanium colored" material. I think they are actually fiberglass strands. These headers are made of mild steel. They will oxidize rapidly at high temperatures. So I don't know if wrapping them is a good idea, or just another manufacturer's gimmick which has caught on in performance tuning world. Certainly a refractory material INSIDE the headers sounds like a good idea, as it will protect the surface from the oxidizing atmosphere. I'm reluctant to spray ITC-100 down the header pipes though. I'm not running this in 24 hour endurance races. Yet.

GL1000 Carb rebuild

With debugging the wiring and ignition done, attention turns to getting the fuel in. The carburetors on this bike are pretty sophisticated. It costs $135 in gaskets and o-rings to rebuild the entire thing. It takes about 3-9 hours to do the whole thing right. There are a few people who do the rebuilds and will charge you anywhere from $200 to $800. The turn around time is anywhere from 4 weeks to 3 days. That's an option for some people, but anyone who claims to be an engineer should have no problem performing this rocket surgery. So at the least, figure it costs about $150 and at least a whole day of work. This particular set wasn't completely filthy like some I've seen. Now that they are rebuilt, the engine fires right up and idles nicely.

Rebuild kits:

http://www.randakks.com/ - best parts for honda GLs

One of the float bowl screws had stripped the threads right out of the body, so I tapped it oversized and cut a new screw for it. Fortunately nothing else needed any machining or otherwise modifying. I could have drilled out the jets by a few thousandths to allow for extra airflow, but that isn't in the plans yet.

I found this micro lathe and have it kind of set up for drilling stuff. Its more of a novelty at the moment because the drive system is kind of scary and I'm not sure if the leather belt drive system is usable. The drive motor sounds like a jet engine spooling up, but fits in the palm of your hand. But it is the smallest useful lathe I've ever seen. For $40 at a garage sale, so beat that.

GL work & parts list

Hey, its still July! Heat and biting insects haven't slowed progress a bit. Things that are done:
-Everything removed, cleaned.
-Tank drained, cleaned, refilled with clean gas and MMO.
-New fuel lines and filters put in. I didn't get any transparent lines. I like them so's that I can see that the fuel is going in the correct direction and isn't full of shite. But the fat black ones will have to do for now.
-Brakes off
-- Rear master cylinder is knackered; could be rebuilt, but why? More about that in a bit.
-- Front master cylinder works, but its just nasty. I want something in the 7/8 bore range that was made within the last decade. So this on will be replaced by a donor from a crashed Honda RC45 race bike with adjustable bits.
-- Lines are all off. They are to be replaced with custom teflon/stainless lines from Spiegler Performance Parts. They are great, good prices, fast service. They will cut and crimp up custom lines with any of their nice anodized fittings. The factory banjo bolts or new titanium ones will go back in.
-- Front calipers are in OK shape, but need boots and the grippy parts. These are off and cleaned. They will need painted or powder coated. I have 2 sets of front 4 and 6 piston calipers from other big sport bikes (crashed) but they won't go on without making adapters. Maybe later, if the single pots don't do the job.
-- Forks off, polished, then back on temporarily. I do not enjoy polishing, and I'll have to do it again, then clear coat tha bastards. Woo. Seals are weepy and look nasty down in there, so new OEM seals are going in. Upper tubes cleaned and polished with bronze wool. No scratches or pitting on them to ruin the new seals.
-- New battery and just going through all the wiring. Its mucked up pretty good, but most of the wires are connected to the things they need to be connected to.
-Ignition bits checked out. They are working as designed, but the spark looks a little weak.
-New condensers (capacitors)
-Electronic ignition from Dyna-S or something. I forget the details there, but I like modern electronic ignitions over mechanical ones. Points are a liability.
-- Starter was not working properly. At some point the nut which retains the starter bolt and all of the insulating bushings was loosened, which caused catastrophic arcing of the main coil lead against the rotating bits. It would turn over if I held the starter lead at the correct angle, jiggled it about a bit. It also smoked a few times, so I'd had enough of that. I pulled the starter motor out, pulled it entirely to pieces. The winding that goes around the permanent magnets (it has a name) was burned off of the bolt which goes through the housing/insulation bits on which you attach the battery's solenoid relay's hot line. So the bolt had to come out, be re-faced and re-soldered to the primary winding, then bolted back in correctly to preserve the insulating nylon bushings which prevent the whole thing from shorting out. This took maybe 20 minutes of sitting in the grass playing with something I'd never seen the inside of, kind of like a monkey getting ants out of a log. Anyhow, that worked out fine; I cleaned and greased the important bits and gears, fit it all back together somehow and put it back in the right hole. It had dumped about a liter of oil when it came out as its all lubricated by the engine oil on its mechanical side. Which I replaced with MMO temporarily until I change the oil, which will happen once it runs long enough to warm up the old sludge.

 Eh what else. I had to tend to the seating arrangements, as there were none (see previous post). I found very nice CB750 seat from 1978 that had been preserved in all its vinyl goodness for around 80 USD + shipping. Yes, this stuff is expensive when found. I considered making a seat, but looked into the past, then into the future and realized what an awful job I'd done. So I went back to the present and found a good seat from a good old bike, which not surprisingly looks like it was made for this bike or one very much like it. While it fits perfectly from an aesthetic perspective, it requires some creative adapting to fit mechanically. So I fabricated the necessary bits after much looking at things from different angles. I got away with using one piece of scrap steel and a bit of angle iron. This also led to fitting a ZX14 rear tail+signal assembly by chance. Well you can do pretty much anything with steel, so that worked out fine.

Next is fuel pump check, then carbs need doing. That is a whole complete cluster of madness in itself.

78 GL1000 restore

About 3 weeks ago I found a mostly dead Honda Goldwing on the south side. It was all kitted out in peeled chrome, dry rotting saddle bags, ape hangers and other stuff that I could do without. So the brothers went down and rolled it into the back of Little Moe and drove it home. It's now in the back yard where its metamorphosing into a 600 lb 1-liter bull dog rat ton up endurance trailer queen street bruiser salt flat fuel burner super bike. The nice thing about Goldwings is the engine. It's the most complicated engine you could want in a bike, but also probably the most durable and reliable. It's a 1-liter boxer engine, so the cylinder heads stick out either side. As most BMW folks will tell you, that makes it so much easier to to top end work! You can change head gaskets while sitting on the side of the road, etc etc. Well if it were air cooled that might be the case, but as is you'd be spilling coolant all over the highway.. anyhow. The cylinder heads (you get two!) are easily accessible to both the mechanic, the riders knees, and weather. The last two bits are not so fantastic. The valve covers are naturally covered in chrome, because this is a big fat bike for fatties who like to have everything electroplated in nickel and chromium to give it that cheap, polished look. Because the real polished look takes time and work, rather than time and chemicals. Anyhow, due to the reactivity of aluminium alloys in relation to PH and the presence of other alloys, the nickel/chromium coating bubbles and peels and reveals the white hydroxide corrosion underneath. Hydroxide corrosion itself is not so difficult to remove and prevent. But in the presence of electroplated nickel + chrome, or copper + chrome, it is a complete pain in the ass. If you want to avoid wasting hours of your time, but want to restore the aluminum parts to some degree, pay someone else to do it. Otherwise you may peel, sand, brush, or try anything to remove both the old nickel/chrome and the hydroxide corrosion without making the old valve covers into a complete mess. If you do get them polished up to a nice brushed aluminum finish, either stop there or have them powder coated. Do not try to paint them. This will end in tears. Paints of any kind are not durable enough for the kinds of things valve covers go through. So, first things first, if the engine don't work right, whats the point? GL engines are interference type with belt driving timing gear. The belts on this bike had seen 54,000+ miles, which is probably 30,000 too many. Anyhow, belts are cheap and easy to change, so rather than risk complete engine disaster, I replace the belts.

Slime mold Physarum polycephalum found in the yard. It appeared soon after the sun went down. This is a fascinating creature, exhibiting extraordinary intelligence for a single celled creature. It is capable of navigating mazes to locate food sources, taking the shortest path first. It can recognize patterns of events over long periods of time. It's been a hot item for your bio-computing scientists. http://www.es.hokudai.ac.jp/labo/cell/accomplishment_e.html