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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: July 31, 2011, 10:11 pm 
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Awesome, thanks. Just what I had in mind... although I'll probably just seal it up and wash it to start.

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PostPosted: August 1, 2011, 8:09 pm 
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Location: Central MA
So I continued work this evening prepping the block for reassembly. I had my first encounter with Flexhone tools - what a great tool. If you're even in doubt about your skills or ability to recondition a block - i.e., honing, this tool is pretty much idiot proof. Here are a couple pre-post shots of the cylinder work I did tonight. I spent a bit of time checking tolerances before deciding that a hone was all that was needed - no major machine work or boring to the next oversize was required, so it was a simply matter of cleaning things up a bit and getting a good cross-hatch (although the existing one was still pretty good but didn't want to chance poor ring seating).

I also ordered all my internal bearings and have decided to make another unique modification for the M42. The main thrust bearing doesn't have a 360 degree surface - nor do all of the bearings have 360 degree oil channel for oil - but the M20 does. I'll be using the M20 bearings since they are an ALMOST exact match, except that the notch on the main bearing caps don't have the right notching - so I'll be notching them to make them fit. Will post how this looks/fits once done.


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PostPosted: August 2, 2011, 10:00 pm 
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Joined: September 8, 2007, 8:45 pm
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Location: Central MA
Spent more time tonight on the engine. Broke down all the miscellaneous components and prepped them all for cleaning/ultrasonic bath. During the process, I found myself facing a new dilemma.

In the middle of breaking down the intake manifolds, I decided to pull out an old project that I had shelved that involved individual throttle bodies for an old BMW 6 cylinder - and oddly enough, the throttle bodies are an exact match to the lower intake of my 4 cylinder. So I'm now a bit torn. Do I go with the supercharger and low compression, or the throttle bodies, and high compression? I'm going to have to do some soul searching on this one. I've always loved the sound of an intake winding up at high rpm's - something I'll not get from the supercharger. Either way I go, I'm probably looking at an engine that's putting down about 180-200hp so plenty for this car.

I just keep thinking about a subtle peek from the trumpets sticking out the side of the hood - something I'm having a hard time resisting. Will post things as they continue to develop. I had really thought I was settled on the original design of the engine, but this came along and threw a wrench into things (no pun intended). It has no real impact on the chassis design, but something to think about.


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PostPosted: August 2, 2011, 10:39 pm 
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From simplicity's sake I say supercharger. But I too prefer the sound of an engine at a high rpm song and love the sound of ITBs/

But balancing and, ecu, air filtration, etc. can be a beatch on ITBs.

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PostPosted: August 3, 2011, 8:37 am 
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Location: Central MA
carguy123 wrote:
From simplicity's sake I say supercharger. But I too prefer the sound of an engine at a high rpm song and love the sound of ITBs/

But balancing and, ecu, air filtration, etc. can be a beatch on ITBs.


I'm thinking air filtration will be done via 4 individual filters right off the trumpets. ECU will be megasquirt all the way so I can tune at will. I'd be using the same ecu setup for the supercharger. I wish I could have the internals setup in a way that would allow me to try both, but low compression with a high reving engine just doesn't make since.


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PostPosted: August 4, 2011, 5:00 am 
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I vote for itb's and high rpm... :cheers:

The best bang for your buck mod on the last Celica gts was a supercharger and those ran 11:1 stock...


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PostPosted: August 6, 2011, 8:42 am 
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Modifiede30,
I've been reading through all the threads and came across yours. I too am an E30 fan, although all of mine have been M20 powered (2.5L, 2.7L, and one combination of the two).

My father came across an E30 323i, and bought it for $200. This would be a great donor for suspension and misc parts. How were you going to use the E30's suspension on your car? The E30 configuration is not the typical A-arm you see on most Locosts. I'm just curious to see how you planned on using the trailing arms and the struts on the front.


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PostPosted: August 6, 2011, 12:29 pm 
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Location: Central MA
jsf252 wrote:
Modifiede30,
I've been reading through all the threads and came across yours. I too am an E30 fan, although all of mine have been M20 powered (2.5L, 2.7L, and one combination of the two).

My father came across an E30 323i, and bought it for $200. This would be a great donor for suspension and misc parts. How were you going to use the E30's suspension on your car? The E30 configuration is not the typical A-arm you see on most Locosts. I'm just curious to see how you planned on using the trailing arms and the struts on the front.


I had been running a 2.5l and 2.7l stroker in my last e30 - the stroker was based on the 2.7l super eta internals and 2.5l components - great engines.

For the suspension parts, I was going to cut up the front and rear spindles/uprights and weld onto to them the attachment points for the a-arms. This way the bearings and hubs were all pre-cast but I could adjust the positioning of the a-arm attachment points. This was particularly important to simplify things like brake calipers and the rear axle assemblies. I'll have to have a machine shop do this though as my cutters aren't powerful enough to take the trailing arms apart. I'm hoping they can simply cut them apart using a plasma cutter. I can then start filing down areas for the upright weld points and design around the bearing and hub assemblies while leaving the brake caliper bolt holes alone. I saw someone else do this as well - it wasn't the nicest looking assembly, but it made designing the suspension very customizable.


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PostPosted: August 6, 2011, 3:50 pm 
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That sounds like a great plan, I just hate that there is so much machining and fabbing involved to use these components. It makes Miata suspension look very tempting. However the up-side of this is the large aftermarket community for brake components and the wheels are 4x100 so there are a huge range of wheels available. Anything that fits a Honda should also work on these hubs.

I'm interested to see where you go with this, I might be stealing some ideas when I get ready to start my locost project.


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PostPosted: August 6, 2011, 6:07 pm 
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Location: Central MA
Yeah, I wish I could get away with using some stock uprights and bolt them on, but I figured if I wanted it to handle well, it would be best to design my own. I've been toying with the idea of just buying some steel tubing the same diameter as the rear hub assembly to avoid the cutting, but then I need to build all the right clearances and deal with the design of brake caliper locations, etc. The front should be pretty simple - I'm just going to cut the strut tube off, and put the joint into the bottom and then weld the top joint where it needs to be based on suspension design.

There's a fairly large appeal to using these components - as you say, the 4x100 gives endless wheel selection, and e30 parts have become relatively inexpensive. I always found that my e30 was under equipped in stock form on the track, but it weighed close to 1000lbs more than the locost, so I'm hoping things like brakes, axles, bearings, etc last a bit longer and don't fade as quickly (brakes at least).


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PostPosted: August 8, 2011, 12:03 pm 
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Joined: August 6, 2011, 8:31 am
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You may have seen this already, but on the MK Indy uprights there is a "Converter Stub"

http://www.smartsportscars.com/Indy_build_manual.pdf
Scroll down to page 9 and you'll see the drawing. Something like this could be machined and then welded to the e30 upright, correct?

Thoughts?


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PostPosted: August 8, 2011, 12:59 pm 
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Joined: September 5, 2006, 11:00 pm
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Location: Columbia SC
Stock E30 stuff with good pads should be fine on the track. Axle stub tye thing should work well. I can't remember if the E30 has the bolt on strut like the E36. You could
just fab up a bracket for the upper ball joint.

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PostPosted: August 8, 2011, 9:08 pm 
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Location: Central MA
The e30 strut doesn't have the clamp in strut style uprights. I figured I'd just cut out everything but the ring that holds the strut and weld in my own brackets to hold the upper and lower a-arm pickup points. I'll probably do the same on the rears once I get them cut apart. Unfortunately I don't have a plasma cutter so I'm still struggling to get the rear trailing arms cut apart to see if I can get things to work. Will let you know once I do though.


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PostPosted: August 9, 2011, 9:31 pm 
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Location: Central MA
Today marks a major step forward - I finally got the chassis into the garage so that I can begin measuring and designing the suspension, fitting the engine, etc. Will post some pics soon.
:cheers:

Also finished with the engine designs and decided to start with the ITB setup. I'll be shaving the head down a bit to minimum specs combined with a thin head gasket to get compression up to a decent 10.5:1. If I later change my mind, I can go to a thick gasket and still bring the compression down to about 9.6:1.


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PostPosted: August 11, 2011, 7:25 pm 
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Joined: September 8, 2007, 8:45 pm
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Location: Central MA
Tonight I modified the main bearings from the e30 325 series engines to fit my 318 engine. For some odd reason, bmw made the thrust bearings on the 318 incomplete so its been a common cause for failure. By using the 325 bearings, you get a full 360 degree thrust surface and as a bonus, the oiling channel for all main bearing journals are 360 degrees instead of about 280.

Chassis is in the garage and I put it up on stands to start designing suspension - front/rear.

If you look at the chassis section that leads to the tranny tunnel, you'll notice the cross-bar from the engine bay doesn't line up to the tranny tunnel. The prior owner had designed the chassis to accept a drivetrain that was slightly off set from center, and it looks like he used it as an opportunity to give himself a bit more leg room. I'm a bit smaller so I'll be moving the tranny tunnel back to center and narrowing the driver side a bit - it'll center the drivetrain, and the sturdiness of the chassis will probably be better with the tubing running in a line rather than offset as it is now. That'll take some time, but I don't think my tranny will fit without a bit more space anyway. I think I'm also going to remove the floor panels he's used, and lighten things up a bit using aluminum panels instead.


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