Oh OK, have at them.

It appears the front side vent just vents into the rear side vent intake. This is just an illusion. The rear vent actually takes clean air from.. magic.

turbo for cheap?

Remember: you get what you pay for. Here's a new turbo kit for $169. A good new Garrett/Honeywell turbo would be about $1200 or more. You could find a rebuilt or used one for around $500.

I did run into a test run by an engine builder's magazine where they strapped an inexpensive EBay turbo to a GM 355 V8 which had 150k miles on it. They dialed it up to around 800bhp with 8psi or so of boost. So, if plumbed in properly the cheap turbos do function, but they were not tested for durability. Repeated heating and cooling expands and contracts the cast iron exhaust impeller housing. It has to be very good cast iron, something that can withstand extreme heat ranges and pressures without cracking or exploding outright. The aluminum intake compressor will also expand and contract, but at different rates than the impeller housing. It has to withstand the high internal pressures of a compressor without blowing up. When these expand, the housing to turbine blade clearance shrinks, potentially causing the blades to contact the housing. This is unlikely, but in cheaper turbines where tolerances are guessed at, the gap must be overcompensated for. So, they can either be less efficient, or more prone to blowing themselves to pieces. Another consideration is the quality and tolerance of the floating bearing. The center rotating hub must float on a high pressure, externally cooled oil supply. This is almost always supplied by the engine's lubrication system, so it must be plumbed in and out of the existing oil loop. The quality and spec of the oil and the tolerances withing the bearing and center rotating hub are critical. As the steel shaft heats up, it closes the gap to the bearing. This clearance must also be accounted for at a range of temperatures. Some of the turbo kits just use a t-splice to take pressurized oil from the oil pressure sending unit line. I'm not sure if that's a good solution, as the flow is pretty restricted in such a small line.  I wouldn't throw one of these turbos on an engine without adding an external oil cooler to prevent cooking off the engine oil. I would probably plumb the turbo directly into the cooling unit circuit. Most after-market oil coolers use an adapter plate at the oil filter connection to send off oil to a heat exchanger. This is not a bad idea in general, and requires no significant engine modification or machining. Expect engine oil to break down much quicker when run through a turbine. Water cooled turbines are much more expensive.

So, the turbo itself may look cheap, but to make it work properly you need the following:

-turbine: $170

-oil plumbing: $100

-oil cooler and plumbing: $150

-intercooler: $100

-intercooler and air intake plumbing: $150

So now we are at $670. That's still cheaper than one Garrett turbine without all of the plumbing. However, there are more problems which must be accounted for. What happens when you add a whole lot more air to an engine which wasn't designed for a lot of boost? The fuel/air mixture is now very lean. Lean mixtures are bad news. As you run a lean engine up the rpm range, things start to get really hot. There isn't enough cold, high octane gas to cool the cylinder down. Fuel starts detonating before the piston reaches its apex. This is where engines burn up valves, blow holes in pistons and in the worst case throw rods through the block. The maximum fuel pressure and injector capacity isn't enough for the additional air; it can't keep the air/fuel mixture rich enough. A rich mixture prevents detonation to some degree, as does high octane fuel or possibly adding an ethanol mix. Some engines will run fine at lower RPMs, but as the turbine spools up and the engine starts breathing a whole lot more, the injectors run out of capacity. The easiest solution is to run higher capacity injectors and add a high pressure/high flow fuel pump. Electronically controlled engines with detonation sensors, MAF, O2, and EGT sensors can alter ignition timing and fuel mixture to get optimum fuel burn without detonation. Older engines without a feedback loop may use air flow to regulate fuel flow similar to a carburetor, but using a pressure regulator rather than the Venturi effect/float system.  So the fuel system must be altered to either run richer overall, and not lean out at the higher RPMs, or run a mixture regulator manually which can be adjusted manually. So, considering the fuel system alterations, the cost will be well over $1200, which is still reasonable for turning a boring 180bhp into 400 or so clutch smoking horses.

And then back to the original reason for this post, will the EBay compressor hold up for a reasonable amount of time, or will you be left with a cheap dead snail.

Interior gauges, switches, controls

Adding more details. I don't like modern molded vinyl dashes. The best dashes are simply a sheet of aluminum with cut-outs for gauges and switches. I will add labels to the banks of switches and buttons. 

-battery toggle

-pre-lube motor run

-ignition toggle

-starter motor run

-electric water pump toggle

-fuel pump, reserve pump

-head, tail lights etc.

-rotary mixture

-boost/wastegate control

-fire suppresion

The controls should be on the center console within the driver's reach, not so much on the dashboard.

Free CryEngine3 SDK coming this summer

FTA:

“This will be a complete version of our engine, including C++ code access, our content exporters (including our LiveCreate real-time pipeline), shader code, game sample code from Crysis 2, script samples, new improved Flowgraph and a whole host of great asset examples, which will allow teams to build complete games from scratch for PC.”

The SDK and editing tools are incredible. When software is this good, it's hard not to share it.

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.