Firehawk's N2 racecar project

[firehawk]

Ok, I'm finally done with the body repairs and reinforcements so it's time for a bit of paint. Some photos;

Reinforcement for the base of the front shock towers;


Improving the framerail-to-firewall seam;


Ready for painting the underside. All welds have been first brush-painted with copious amount of Zinc 182 primer, then sealed with a thin layer of Sikaflex body sealant;


Painted with semi-gloss RAL 9016 Anthrazitgrau;


Additional triangular supports for the front;


Bracing the mounting brackets for the lower rear links for additional support against the link pushing against the bracket when accelerating;


Slightly smaller bracing for the upper brackets;


Rear corners removed, welded, primered and sealed - need some more of that anthracite gray paint here. Note also that the wheel arches have been cut, the inside panel hammered out and then re-welded for better wheel clearance with the N2 flares.



We'll do one more layer of gray on the inside and outside of the car today with my brother, and will then proceed with glossy pure white on the exterior of the bodyshell, bumpers, bootlid and bonnet. The doors still need a bit of metalwork.

[NoHachi]

Hmm did you read that they modified the 4link attachment points on the racing cars? Remember reading an old article back in the early days of the corolla internet thing (5 or 6 years ago) from some works racing team. With the modified points you can vary anti-dive geometry and dial in more or less oversteer.

Also, a lot of Finnish people have been very creative in creating Watts link setups for volvo's, corolla's etc. Would be far superior to the panhard thats there now. Maybe you could fab a system based on the ford escort low roll center kits? They're about 200-300 Euro's

[firehawk]

NoHachi Wrote:Hmm did you read that they modified the 4link attachment points on the racing cars? Remember reading an old article back in the early days of the corolla internet thing (5 or 6 years ago) from some works racing team. With the modified points you can vary anti-dive geometry and dial in more or less oversteer.

Yeah, it's pretty common to cut holes on the floor and extend the upper linkage brackets further forward to be able to use equal length linkages on the rear axle. Usually people also fabricate new linkages with adjustable uniball-joints at the ends so that the position and alignment of the rear axle can be fine-tuned. I have all this on my "to do" -list, but for now, I'd like to have the car driveable for next summer so that I can test it a bit and get a feel on how it drives. It's easier to analyze how changes to the chassis effect the handling when I've managed to establish some kind of a baseline feel to the car.

Quote:Also, a lot of Finnish people have been very creative in creating Watts link setups for volvo's, corolla's etc. Would be far superior to the panhard thats there now. Maybe you could fab a system based on the ford escort low roll center kits? They're about 200-300 Euro's

The Volvo rear axle has a removable cover which can easily replaced with a custom-made one that includes the spindle for the center connecting link. On AE86, however, the cover is fixed into the axle housing so slightly more work is needed. I've been thinking that maybe I could kill two birds with one stone by extending the fixed cover on the AE86 axle housing so that it would both increase the oil capacity of the rear axle (to improve cooling) and provide a steady base for the connecting link spindle. On the body, the old panhard bracket can be used for the lower radius rod but for the upper radius rod, a slightly shallower bracket would need to be made on the other end of the beam.

[firehawk]

Phew, we're now finished with painting the bodyshell. First, we painted the interior and engine bay with the same semi-gloss anthracite gray which we used on the underside;





We also sprayed some on the outside to see any irregularities on the surface;



After filling and sanding a few bumps and pits, we covered all the big and small holes on the bodyshell and sprayed the exterior with RAL 9010 Reinweiss;



After the paint had cured and I started to unwrap the car, it felt like christmas. I was so excited that I just had to start putting parts back on the car right away.









The rear bumper is still a bit droopy because I didn't want to fix it into place until I've had the chance to test fit the N2 flares over the bumper.

[NoHachi]

Oh man that looks good!

[robokill]

Damn fast progress something i am willing to do as well! keep it up !

[nmwisima]

fantastic!

[Widar]

I'm speechless! Incredible!

[firehawk]

Ok, I've been lazy and haven't updated my project thread for over a month so it's about time I wrote something.

I've had the N2 kit since December and have been working on prepping them for installation on the car. There are some minor cracks and scratches from transportation and some topcoat has cracked off the FRP. The rear flares needed most work but are now sanded smooth and primered;


The rear wing is already installed on the hatch (the fuel filler door looks horrible but will be covered by the rear flare);


A few photos of the rest of the kit are here.

The drivetrain is just about complete - only the rear halfshafts are missing as I need to find a big enough press for replacing the bearings. The transmission is bolted to the subframe with my "custom made" transmission mounts which are actually modified from a few polyurethane bushings left over from our endurance CRX;


Getting the backlash and preload on the diff dialed in was a bit of an adventure but I finally did get it them to the specs given in the service manual. The backlash feels a bit uncomfortable as there's an audible "clank" when I turn it but putting oil into the diff will probably dampen it a bit.


The engine is now almost done and I'm waiting for the clutch and flywheel to arrive before I can lift it into the car.


I unwrapped all the wiring looms and removed any connectors and wires which are not necessary. I also rerouted the wires so that they won't interfere with the carb linkages and the belts.


The carbs are now fully cleaned and rebuilt with brand new gaskets and set screws. The linkage still needs a bit of work as I've had some problems finding suitable connecting rods for it.


I found that the water pump I have is from an AE82 and slightly shorter than the AE86 pump. My brother is a wizard with the lathe and made a small spacer plate to align the pump pulley with the other two;


All the pulleys now line up nicely;


There are a few more engine and drivetrain photos here.

Once I have the clutch and flywheel, I'll put the engine in the car and can then finish the electrical stuff, including relocating the battery to the passenger side footwell. I'm also almost done with the N2 kit, so I'll probably start installing them pretty soon.

[DJexor]

very nice project you got there firehawk!!