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Fred
Why did you remove the Mumford suspension system?
Davew

Fred,
Congrats on the spacious new garage. Awhile ago, you hinted that you might be changing engines. Any update?

Ron

We were experiencing severe understeer with it. My reasoning was that the rear suspension roll centre was too low, it was preventing weight transfer on the front wheel. The Panhard bar was a quick way to move the roll centre higher and see the results. Yes we could play with the geometry of the Mumford, but there is a weight saving with the Panhard, making the bellcranks out of aluminium would help reduce the weight of the assembly and also changing the link with aluminium also would help.

Fred

Thanks Ron,

Yes an engine change will definitely be on the table , right now I just want to finish the car as is and get it running.
for that purpose I've been building an engine test stand to get the engine running before installing it in the car.


But I'm undecided to which engine to choose, I'm facing 3 options.

1 The simplest remain with the 4 AGE engine and maybe build up a 1.8 Liter 7AGE, 160-170 WHP would be achievable and the car could remain in the 1.8 liter weight bracket i.e. 1340 lbs
I get to keep my existing transmissions, I could use a Megasquirt 2 which is something that I wanted to do from day one. the 100lbs weight break is not enough to compensate for the lower power output vs the 1.4Turbo and 2.0L NA

2 Go with a 1.4l Turbo Cruze engine with a T5 and isuzu bellhousing... I'm thinking using a Megasquirt 3 and an anolog throttle body like you did, this is interesting and seems to be a great package.
175-200 WHP would be no problem. This seems to be one powerplant of the future. The engine are easily located and there is some aftermarket support. I keep watching your D-mod tread and Locofin for feedback.

3 Go K20 Honda I have the parts to make the adapter plate to mate it to my T50 transmissions that I have a stockpile of. I have several friends with these engine, and parts are plentiful. The only drawback is the ECU to run the engine, I would prefer a standalone than the Hondata hybrid. I'm being directed towards Haltech which is an amazing piece of work, but has a bill a bit hard to swallow, I am tempted by a Magasquirt 3, but I,m not seeing too many success stories. I've seen some +220WHP with the Haltech.

I'm not a jacket driver and I'm comfortable with that, but I want to go to the Nationals and have fun, I would like to be in the mid pack. In the end I would like to change for and Engine that will give me a really quick regional car, maybe able to trophy at the Nationals with a faster driver, but without going bankrupt

Cheers
Fred

Thanx for the reply
Making 160-170 or even 180HP with a 4AGE, would not be that difficult or costly, with all of the hop-up parts available off the shelve. Above 180HP you start racking up the $$. But to be competitive at the national level I think you need to be in 240-250HP range in the "D" mod. The Honda motor would probably be the best bet time and money wise. You just need to cut a big hole in the hood
Davew

Fred,
While I was really happy with the 1.4 turbo engine at the end of last season, I sold the car about a month ago to a local friend (he's prepping it for street use). Certainly Del's continued work on this engine is also a great source for info.
Ron

DaveW, the 4AGE is sentimental to me, I have a stockpile of 16V heads a couple of 20V engines... It was the Engine of the Formula Atlantic when a was a big fan of the series and always wanted that engine in a lightweight street car. It made some sense when I started the car and still made sense when I wanted to do other stuff than solo 2.

Ron Ahhh... Makes sense with the Tubeframe RX7, I really love that project, Looking forward to seing it run.

With a better balance with my work life, I've been able to enjoy the time in the garage and actually missed it a lot, plus I'm out from the organizing side of the sport and that helps a lot.

Engine wise in all honesty the K20 is lying there. Like I mentioned I have several friends running them. I've got an A3 block, Z3 head and front bellhousing lying in the garage. Once the Engine test stand is done I'm thinking of just making the adapter plate and machining the T50 bellhousing to bolt on, Like Del did on his YC3. We all know that's the Killer D-mod of the last decade. I'm constantly amazed at the Crank horsepower people are putting out from these engines.

The 1.4 Turbo is tempting because Del has been pushing the engine as a cheaper alternative, plus the 1.4 multiplier is way obsolete. To rulemakers countered this with the 33mm restrictor. I just don't think that using the stock ECU is the way to go... Seems to be a lot of problems. It's relativelly cheap to build up at first, but I'm not sure of the cost to get to the Max crank HP of 275.

Here some more things I did on the car. I did not have much space for the brake bias adjuster on the Dash so I made a little bracket on the passenger side of the tunnel


I've also painted the some Bedliner paint like Andrew, but I will need to make some sort of extension for the Brake Bias Gauges.


here the car just before I cleaned up the cut side bars from the roll cage


I have to find the pictures for the coolant lines to post.

This month I'm tackling the electricity, I already hated when I did the wiring for the garage, I'm really dreading it for the car, even thought there isn't much. Just waiting on my parts and with this Covid19 some stuff is getting delayed.

Cheers,
Fred

A 4AGE Formula Atlantic engine can make 240-250 HP, but you are also talking a min of 10-12,000 bucks! Even a 7AGE in that HP range is $$.
That is not the most cost effective way to make competitive HP.
It's just me, but I would not spend the money and not be in the hunt, if you are shooting for the nationals. If you are just looking at local solo, that's different
Davew

I'm with you on that one, yes it could make 240-250 hp, for a season or two, but they are grenade motors and will require big rebuild builds... The more I think about it the K20's make a lot of sense, just need to fork out the $$$ for the Haltech and concentrate on other aspect of the car and enjoy driving the thing. Getting 250-260 HP from a K20 engine is not complicated and I know a couple of tuners here familiar with Haltech so the writting is on the wall. The biggest plus of the K20 is the Vtec from the A2, Z1 and Z3, it makes is a very tractable engine wich can be a big plus on Solo 2... A 240 HP 4AGE will be peaky and not very usefull.

Fred

The car is looking good Fred. Good to see you back at it!

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-Andrew
Build Log
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Yupper on the peaky. Even 140 HP 4AGE, using a mild cam, it difficult to drive thru town in low enough rev's, to not wake up the dead from the exhaust noise. And that is using 2 mufflers!
Davew

I've been thinking about the engine side some more. The 4AGE is obsolete when it comes to DMod. The Ford Duratec , Mazda MZR, Honda K20A2, Z1 &Z3 and GM1.4 liter have so much potential in flexibility because of there variable cam timing possibilities. the NA engines I think may be able to spread that powerband more than the little turbo, but modern Turbo engines are pretty good at reducing the Turbo lag. Like other components of a race car, the Engine needs to be develop, and tune. Engine tunes and the Variable Cam Timing is probably an area that needs to be look after in order to reach the National level.

With some of the electrical parts delayed I may go on to work on the final piece left: Front brakes. I need to order some 10 inch solid Disc, redrill my rotor adapters and build new barck brackets for the Wilwood midilite calipers I have.

Cheers,
Fred

Some additional work was done on the back. I install the vent line for the fuel cell, but it was stiking out a little.
I made a little blister to rivet, I dd not cover the holes from the previous cage as they will be covered when I put on the rear spoiler.






I now have plenty of clearance for the fitting and the line


My hammer skillls need more practice
Cheers,
Fred

Since it's coming back from the dead and I'm still waiting on most of my electrical parts I took the time for a change of color scheme. It's a spray can job and look terrible but its ok. The cones and the stone will do a god job of sandblasting it

I still don't have a proper compressor. It will get repainted with a spray gun one day

Got my brake bias gauge. It's a nice unit.

I wanted a reference for the little red dial. Its easy to lose track and i find it cool.

Made an extension to the dash for them. Not the best placement, but knowing an engine change with a much more radical location is down the road I figured not to spend too much time on it.


This week I'll route some gauge lines and work on finishing the engine test stand
Cheers Fred

Red and Green in there, nice!

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