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Brad's Rocket build.
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6705
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Author:  golftdibrad [ May 4, 2009, 7:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Brad's Rocket build.

I'm building one of these, the kit is based on a Ford Focus; figured you guys may be interested. :D
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http://www.mevltd.co.uk/gallery.html
http://www.six-river.com/

Donar car is this:
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With this:

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and an LSD.

Cost about 9k, with some options, including shipping to get it over here. Car may be delivered as soon as may 9th.

So, what do you guys think? Looks fun, eh [headbang]

I'll keep this thread up to date along with ones on like 4 other boards, so questions may not be answered very quickly.. but i will get to them.

-Brad

Author:  Locost 5.0 [ May 4, 2009, 8:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Sounds great, give us lots of updates please :mrgreen:

Rod

Author:  a.moore [ May 5, 2009, 10:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Looks good. There don't seem to be many of those kits in the US yet.

That is also one nice looking donor vehicle. Is there even anything wrong with it?

Aside from the engine and transmission, what else does does the kit require from the donor?

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 6, 2009, 10:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

a.moore wrote:
Looks good. There don't seem to be many of those kits in the US yet.

That is also one nice looking donor vehicle. Is there even anything wrong with it?

Aside from the engine and transmission, what else does does the kit require from the donor?


No, nothing major wrong, i drove it to work today :D

I also need the column, handbrake, steering shaft/wheel, harness, ecu, half shafts, inst. cluster???, etc.

Author:  Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F [ May 6, 2009, 4:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

What turbo kit is that? Is it a diy? Method of enrichment under boost?

Author:  dhempy [ May 6, 2009, 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Looks like you'll have a find car there, Brad! I hope you'll flesh out a full build log here. I'm certain you'll have a lot of followers here.

Welcome,
-dave

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 6, 2009, 11:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Spent time this weekend cleaning the garage for the build. The garge was a MESS from the 240sx lemons build I'm doing with some friends. I wish i had a before pic to illustrate how much it improved.

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Miata will have to take up an outside sleeping position.... :( . Other than that very clean :D

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A box I will probally become more familiar with than i'd like. But hey, goodies! lets see whats inside....

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Sealing multi depth large head 3/16 rivets (250) from summit, and cleclo fasteners in 3/16 and 1/8 inch and a tool. First received part and tool purchase.

Gentlemen, The project has started. I'm stoked :D

-Brad

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 6, 2009, 11:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F wrote:
What turbo kit is that? Is it a diy? Method of enrichment under boost?


Its very DIY with parts form a core SPA kit. They are a Brazilian company that is pretty reputable; uses t3 flanges. Enrichment is done with the stock parts mostly. the MAF goes through this thing called a MAFia tha basically divides the MAF signal. Bigger injectors are installed and the MAF transfer function is scaled accordingly. That previous sentence makes little sentence to me; apparently its like the scaling a VE table with a MAP divider if you will. It also uses a retunturnless fuel pump that uses another transfer function.... yuk. Any engineers that have taken a controls class probably has the same hate for transfer functions that I have.... unless your a controls engineer. After fixing some basic stuff that was wrong (the sharp eye will note in the above pic that the wategate is not hooked up correctly...or at all...) The car drives WAY WAY better. To the point I could live with it; except the tune on the stock computer idles high and leans out over 4 or 5 engine starts. If I keep it re flashed its NBD, but thats a good way to fry a computer if your not careful and a crappy way to run the car. The plan is to get the kit running with the stock for computer and go to the MEGASQUIRT, FTW. Biggest hurdle is to convert the fuel system to a return style, and its just not that hard.

dhempy wrote:
Looks like you'll have a find car there, Brad! I hope you'll flesh out a full build log here. I'm certain you'll have a lot of followers here.

Welcome,
-dave


I hope you all like it. I have massive amounts of respect for everyone on this board, and more for the guys that do scratch builds. I did FSAE in college for three years, so I know EXACTLY what goes into designing and building a car from the ground up. Mad props, but that is the reason I went with a kit. Its an experience I wish all enthusists could go through, but once you've done it once (or three times) cutting and welding tube for a month after staring at a computer screen for two is something I'll let someone else do :D

Author:  Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F [ May 7, 2009, 5:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

I'd guess you got a pretty good deal on it considering it didn't work that well as-is.


I don't know much about the MAFia. IMHO, I think mapping the maf is the first place a tuner should complete before making other tweeks. There may be a diy solution using the stock ecm with a flash programmer but complete control using oem sensors. It would likely be quicker than the squirt since the maps are right (for na) already instead of building them from scratch. Check out www.Moates.net

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 10, 2009, 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F wrote:
I'd guess you got a pretty good deal on it considering it didn't work that well as-is.


I don't know much about the MAFia. IMHO, I think mapping the maf is the first place a tuner should complete before making other tweeks. There may be a diy solution using the stock ecm with a flash programmer but complete control using oem sensors. It would likely be quicker than the squirt since the maps are right (for na) already instead of building them from scratch. Check out http://www.Moates.net


I think the stock MAF will max out at the turbo flow rates. I did not know Moates did fords.... one of his programmers is a good friend of mine. I will have to investigate this further. I'd like to use the stock computer but only if i can get the heffer to work correctly.

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 18, 2009, 10:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Got the Crate!!!

unpacked rollbar
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GRRR!!!
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Parts room.
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And since we all love action shots!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb965Ao0_vE

Everything looks like it arrived in good shape. I'll be taking inventory and will report in later.

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 27, 2009, 1:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

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Preparing to fit
Starting to drill holes
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more holes
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While the floor was off to de-burr the holes.
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finished
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Carnage
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All bushings pressed.
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So.... some actual text on how things are going. Ill start with the floor

Do yourself a favor..... dont use the harbor freight drill bits. I went through a ten pack and was still not finished. I had some other 1/8 inch bits so i was in luck. I expected to break a few... but TEN??? the 'other brand' ones that i think were craftsman did not break... even one after 15 holes. I was averaging I guess five with the HF ones.
Cutting the floor was straight forward, just use a sharpie at a fixed angle and use the chassis to trace. I drilled all the holes 1/8 first, then 3/16. Get and use the clecos, they are a huge help - as well as a center punch. I worked from one end to the center, then from the center out. I stood on it today and it holds my big ass so i guess i did something right.
I did the floor first for two reasons: Its step one, and i've never done anything but read about sheet metal work so i wanted to hide my crappy work. It turned out beautiful. all the rivets line up and are nice and geometric. Too bad no one will ever really see it again.

The bushings.... step TWO. Who knew i'd read the directions?

As usual with polyurethane, it was a royal pain in the ass. Didn't get any pics doing this... opps. Some things we learned that will make your life easier:
1. You absolutely have to file off the powder coat on the a-arm, get a nice smooth finish
2. Chamfer the edges of both the bushing and the insert.
3. Use lube, but not too much.
4. We stopped mid way to go get a vice (I needed one anyways), but the deadblow hammer worked the best. The vise helps with the sticky ones though.
5. This is important.... you HAVE to use the wire wheel on the (bench) grinder to finish the surface of the steel inserts. There was some leftover scale, oil from packing, and other things it did that made it SO much easier. The first two were a pain and once i discovered this the rest went smooth.

Well.... hardware is on order, should be able to start bolting things together Thursday.

Sheetmetal work in timelapse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdXmx1m5Djc

-Brad

Author:  Flipper_1938 [ May 27, 2009, 7:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

What kind of screws did you use to attach the sheetmetal? They look pretty neat.

Where did you get them? and expensive are they?

Author:  golftdibrad [ May 27, 2009, 11:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

Flipper_1938 wrote:
What kind of screws did you use to attach the sheetmetal? They look pretty neat.

Where did you get them? and expensive are they?


Its riveted in using blind rivets from summit.

Author:  Flipper_1938 [ May 27, 2009, 12:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brad's Rocket build.

golftdibrad wrote:
Flipper_1938 wrote:
What kind of screws did you use to attach the sheetmetal? They look pretty neat.

Where did you get them? and expensive are they?


Its riveted in using blind rivets from summit.



These are rivets?

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