Progress spring 2015

I had a whale of a time during summer 2014 visiting as many track days as my budget would allow. The car has mostly behaved itself but you can always improve these cars. The major issues mechanically was 1) The slave cylinder giving me poor clutch control 2) The drive shaft coupling bolts come loose fro time to time. With the addition of the SBD slave cylinder that should help the clutch issue and the wiring the drive shaft bolt heads should help the loosening issue. There is so much vibration at this junction I guess this problem never really goes away.

I have concentrated recently on the weight of the car which I think was unnecessarily high for a Megabusa. The outstanding issues were mainly due to the economies  of the original build, no criticism implied.

I have just upgraded the front suspension with new light weight RD uprights and hub carriers (8Kg saved) and the battery to Lithium ion (8Kg saved) and the carbon bonnet with (2.6Kg saved) that makes a total of 18.6Kg saved. If we add in the metalwork thrown away on the paddle shift upgrade that makes a round 20Kg total. It is not just the weight saving, but the overall value and look of the car has been improved yet again.

The other changes  are to improve the oil cooling so I added a duct at the rear of the nose cone and heat shield to stop the new bonnet overheating.

In summary another years improvements to try out on the track.

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Carbon weight saving bonnet

The bonnet on my car has always been an irritant. The 2009 builder had reused an old V8 bonnet and filled in holes in the side for a previous air intake. Also I think there have been various repairs over the years that have resulted in the bonnet being very heavy.

I commissioned Scottish Kit Car Centre (Andy) to make me a lighter one. With his amazing contacts in the industry he came up with the goods. The pattern was taken off the original bonnet and a set of moulds made. The carbon was then layered into the mould with resin.

Here are the results, as a first fit. The vents have still to have the mesh bonded in however the result is fantastic. The weight difference is 7.3Kg vs 4.7Kg a total saving of 2.6Kg.  The GRP bodywork is from an early sierra wide bodied kit and has fixed arches and different swage lines to the latest production panels. We decided to paint the panel in two pack to match the rest of the car. Over the last few changes 

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Front uprights and hub carriers

The next on the list for upgrade this winter are the front uprights and hub carriers. The existing uprights are still serviceable but I am on a mission to save more weight. The Cortina geometry uprights currently fitted are made of steel so is the hub carriers. A potential weight saving of 4kg per side is achievable. To improve the looks and reduce the weight of the steel Cortina uprights a lot of filing and grinding was obviously necessary in the past.

Rally Design (RD) make an alloy upright that is rather pleasing to the eye compared to the Westfield part. I also wanted to retain my Dynalite calipers that I had just paid for at the recent  vented disk upgrade.

 I also made the acquaintance of Callan from http://www.t89.co.uk/ who is a registered trader on the Locostbuilders forum and offered me his help with the upgrade because he had some useful parts and advice.

The key part that Callan provided were some adapters to take the RD upright and adapt it to the M16 type calliper in the form of a Willwood Dynalite. Apparently RD supplied that part at one time and Callan had a spare s/h set. He titivated them and shipped them (although I am sure he can make some for you) with the rest of the RD kit along with some adapters for the upper rose joints (which I have still to install, perhaps!).

The fitting of all this lot was not easy and was made more difficult by the vented disk which is thicker than normal. My setup is unique I guess, most people would probably be upgrading the callipers at the same time which would already fit the RD kit. Here is a list of all my modifications in case you  wish to follow my path.

* Missing M16  x 1.5 castle nuts and Ford keyed washer. The only washer supplied has to be opened out to 18mm. The stub axle has to have 5mm removed to allow the alloy cap to fit. After adding the castle nuts the alloy cap had to be opened out (internally) to stop it fouling the alloy cap with the slit pin.
* The lower Maxi ball joints comes with a 3/8" hole and the wishbones have a 10mm hole. This can and did lead to wearing of the bolts (on previous build) if not changed to 10mm.
* Alloy hub needs turned in lathe to provide the extra room for the vented disk. This amounted to 2mm.
* Brake calliper fits but needs 3mm spacers when the above is done.
* Cycle wing supports are a total misfit to upright, lots of thought went into this as I did not want the expense/effort of adding new wing stays. Minor fabrication welds to the original cycle wing stays. A bit tricky you need two people to get the fit right.
* The Dynalyte calliper mounting bracket fouls the RD upright casting. A chunk of the alloy bracket needs removed but not enough to weaken it.
* The existing ball joints don't fit the RD upright. A search on the Locostbuilders forum revealed the following.
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FYI found this thread on  Locostbuilders

”TRE (Track Rod Ends)

There are two different tapers and two different threads

1) Escort MkII Escort are M14 with the metric (large) taper. (this also include granadas to 1987, Cortinas MkIII and Mk V to 1982). FT722 , QR1834
2) Capri MkI, MkII, MkIII all up to September 1987, also some Escort Mk I and other fords (Fiesta up to 1993, Orion and Escort MkIII and MkIV, to 1990). are imperial thread and imperial (small) taper. Part number; Ford 6128814 & 5021410. Direct Part Number DR2377, AMR1205
MkII RS2000 uses MkII Escort rack and Capri uprights and so uses a hybrid TRE (M14 thread, but small taper). These are also known as “green” TRE, as they are (you guessed it) Green (at least the For original one, this doesn’t apply to the equivalent pattern parts!). AMR4118. 1564468. AM260

Most TRE labelled RS2000 on e-bay are wrong. I had to send 2 pairs back before spending more money on proper ones. “
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New RD upright and wing stays fit issue

Old Cortina uprights

Mod to Dynalite bracket

Washer needs to be 18mm

Missing Ford washer





Reduced stub axel

 

Castle nut in place stub axel too long

Drilling out cap to fit

 

View from front ball joint still to tighten



Modified wing stay arrangement

Not a lot of disk to adapter plate clearance but enough!

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Lithium Ion Battery

I invested a new LIP012C Lithium Ion motorcycle battery. The weight difference between the battery it had in and it's hi tech replacement is 9Kgs. I have no idea of the down side, it appears to start the engine immediately from stone cold. I have not had an attempt at using the electric reverse yet.

I look forward to the weight saving in my new bonnet when it eventually comes.

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Heat shield

One of winters outstanding jobs on the car is reducing the heat induced into the GRP bodywork with the Hayabusa exhaust. I am hoping to get a new bonnet some time and I don't want to stress it with heat. The Hayabusa exhaust gets mega hot and I don't think this is unique to my car.



Shield attached to the EGR blanking plates

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Oil cooler air duct

The oil temperature on my Hayabusa is a bit high on prolonged sessions on track days especially at Knockhill. I was either going to shift the oil cooler from behind the radiator to the front or duct some cooler air directly to the oil cooler. I decided to do the latter. It will still get some air from the front via the electric fan and water radiator.


New air duct

New air duct in place

From above

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Concentric clutch slave cylinder

When I described my lack of clutch control precision with Andy from AB Racing he directed me immediately to a SBD part CLT-HCA-BUSA-01K. It is a custom billeted concentric slave cylinder for the Megabusa engine. The fitting of the part is fairly straight forward only having only to change the bleed pipe outlet from the water pump (as the rubber pipe was in the way). The pump housing bleed uniion was easily modified by cutting it off and tapping out the remaining steel tube stub to  a 7mm metric thread and making a brass union and installing a remote external 8mm brass elbow. The standard SBD fitting kit for the cylinder was perfect despite warnings from them that this part was designed to mount on top of their billeted oil pump.

Water pump modification



SBD part from top




Hewland part in same location

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