NC 20BPP Time Attack / Track Car - Build Thread

[Okibi]

Too right

[orx626]

It must be quite there with no customers No Charlie 91 or Magpie's car to take up your time or garage floor space

Will you do a open day to showcase this car (once you confirm it starts)?

I do love this time of year for that reason Mark....but it's really the fact that the engineering workshop is closed and I can get at least twice as much work done as I can during the rest of the year.

Yes, Automotive Plus will have its annual Open Day in 2014 and the NC will be on display...and more than likely beside another well sorted naturally aspirated MX-5.

Gilmer drive

Just a little one!

It amazes me how a 9 gallon keg can go so quickly

Will the oil reservoir for the dry sump be in the passenger compartment or boot? As a timeattack car you have a lot more freedom than a car built for racing.

Danny, good to see it's coming along between helping Dave as TA with the S14 cage (well that's what he told me would be happening ).

I assume we won't be able to see the finished car running at Lakeside, but it will be fine at QR????

So next project, this drivetrain in a spaceframe draped in a RX8 body for sports sedans?????

Matt, the oil tank is in the boot. Yes there is substantially more freedom allowed (some would say creativity as well) in this form of motorsport. It for this reason I'm drawn to it over other forms.

I'm Dave's best TA! The S14 cage is trick and almost finished too. Expect a phone call in the not too distant future.

Lakeside isn't completely out of the question...it all depends on what I can do at the rear (muffler wise) without compromising (too much) both engine horsepower and the resultant aero package.

Nah this is it for me. Rohan's (Xtreme Rotaries) has already got that one covered with his quad-rotor powered RX-8.












Cheers,
Danny

[orx626]

The three Daves!

[MattR]

Nice RX8.

The car is home now and very happy with the job, must have been the TA that made the difference

Anyway, excuse the poor quality pictures and the hijack, but for those playing at home here is a sample of the fabrication work done by the Boys at ADE.....

[orx626]

The car is home now and very happy with the job, must have been the TA that made the difference

Thanks for the positive feedback Matt. I'm glad we've been able to kelp you achieve the result you were after.


Well it's back to work as usual tomorrow after having quite a few days over the past fortnight to get some solid hours in on the project. As you will see not all was hands on the car.

First was bolting the freshly assembled engine back in the car.






I'm really happy with where the engine is positioned in the chassis.






Thought I'd fit up the toothed drive belt for the alternator and dry sump scavenge pump(s).






As previously shown this was the water take-off assembly I'd designed for use on the engine. After trying numerous machine shops I wasn't able to get a one-off done for a price that met my budget.




The good news was that Xtreme Rotaries had just released a similar product right before Xmas at a very good price (even though it doesn't have any sensor ports) so I ordered one straight away. The sensors can easily be positioned in other locations in the engine cooling system.




Nice detail - 'O'-ring groove instead of the OEM paper gasket.




The OEM water pump housing attachment flange all ready to receive the new take-off assembly.




...and fitted.






...with the -20 fittings installed.






Next was fitting of the front and mid-sections of the exhaust system with new OEM and custom gaskets.








...but before I fitted the exhaust mid-sections I took the opportunity remove the fuel tank so that a fitting for a fuel return line could be added because in standard form the NC uses a return-less fuel system.






The row of bulkhead fittings that go between the boot cavity and the underbody.




With the NC only seeing 3,000km before it was totalled, there wasn't too much opportunity for contamination and with the last time it was filled up being in early 2006, there was no chance of even a whiff of fuel. It was pretty darn clean in there!




The extra fitting welded on.






...and done!




These are the custom exhaust gasket I has made for the 6-bolt flanges.




Mid-sections installed.








Some of the off-the-car work I did was on the following items.

Single Injector plug clamp bracket.




Adaptor flange for the crankcase breather line on the intermediate plate (previously the oil filler neck).




Adaptor block that allows the fitment of an RX-8 starter motor. Mounts where the OEM 20B starter motor once mounted.




Custom oil distribution block to suit the RX-8 clutch slave cylinder and NC firewall.






Dash 20 fittings are huge! These are just a couple I'm using for testing....the real ones will be black.




Since New Years day most of my effort has been in working through options for the ducting the cooling air through the heat exchangers (engine coolant and engine oil) and integrating it into the front splitter/diffuser.

The front bar has been split to facilitate the much lower splitter height I can run in accordance with WTAC open class rules.




The two heat exhangers are custom PWR units built to my dimensional specifications.

Getting a feel for the position.






This is just a concept at the moment as there's heaps more dimensions I need to confirm and give consideration to other items that need to be mounted.



Cheers,
Danny

[Lokiel]

:
I'm really happy with where the engine is positioned in the chassis.
:

:

Rightmost DAVE still not happy.

I bet you can't wait until next Xmas break so that you can finish it

Awesome work and great pictures - as usual/EXPECTED.

[timk]

Nice work Danny! Is Mr Brilliant going to be designing any of the exterior stuff?

[orx626]

Rightmost DAVE still not happy.

Actually I think he's had a pretty good holiday...will see what face he is pulling in the morning!

I bet you can't wait until next Xmas break so that you can finish it

Oh god no! I couldn't go another year without at least hearing the engine run!!!

Awesome work and great pictures - as usual/EXPECTED.

Thanks Simon. Like you I really enjoy documenting build projects.

Cheers,
Danny

[orx626]

Nice work Danny! Is Mr Brilliant going to be designing any of the exterior stuff?

Yes Andrew has been giving me some advice and as such I won't be able to fully explain all of the details for the aero package as some of it will be his intellectual property. Of course people (WTAC and our local TA scrutineers allowed of course) will be able to visually inspect the vehicle (without tape measures) and they can interpret the detail themselves.

Cheers,
Danny

[oztrackdays]

The Magic Number seems to be 1 rwhp per Kilogram.

That being said the NA pack is pretty thin so you should be a good chance in RWD NA class.

What sort of power to weight ratio you expecting to get from this, assuming 1050 kg finished
weight for the chassis and based on running 20B PP sports sedans you will be around 250 rwkw
or 340 rwhp so give or take and call it .35 rhwp per Kilo or 4.2 Kg per Kilowatt.

Will be a fast car for sure. Congratulations on stepping up.

[NitroDann]

Those seem like extremely conservative numbers. Extremely. I would have said 500+.

Dann

[orx626]

What sort of power to weight ratio you expecting to get from this, assuming 1050 kg finished
weight for the chassis and based on running 20B PP sports sedans you will be around 250 rwkw
or 340 rwhp so give or take and call it .35 rhwp per Kilo or 4.2 Kg per Kilowatt.

I'm hoping I can get it down to 1050kg. I've still got a lot of work ahead of me in that area.

Will be a fast car for sure. Congratulations on stepping up.

Thanks.

Those seem like extremely conservative numbers. Extremely. I would have said 500+.

Dann

This engine is almost the same specification as the one Centreline Suspension run in their RX-7 sports sedan http://www.centrelinesuspension.com.au/the-silver-bullet/. In the second half of last year their engine (not rebuilt as far as I was aware) was put on an engine dyno (I posted a video earlier in the thread) and IIRC it made a maximum of 516 flywheel horsepower (385kW) on pump fuel (98 RON). My intention is to run E85, so there should be a few more ponies available. Put it this way, I'll be disappointed if it doesn't make over 400rwhp (298rwkW) on the hub dyno I do all my testing on. If it doesn't make over 400 then there is clearly something wrong.


Cheers,
Danny

[Magpie]

Danny you were conservative (managing expectations) when giving numbers (HP) on my build and I trust that your build will exceed your conservative expectations.

Hopefully I will get to see it and hear it from the back of the pack in the 2014 Time Attack series.

[oztrackdays]

I forgot about that you going to spin the rotor to 9000+ to reach 300 rwkw should make plenty of noise.

If you get the Gearbox and Diff Ratios right with that sort of power it will do SMP Quite nicely.

Have you seen the Panspeed Yellow FD in the flesh it was clearly the fastest straight line car a few
years back rumour was it would just step over 300 kph at SMP, will be hard to get that without
the dirty big snail but you should go pretty close.

You using a Motec Logger will try to get you a file from a Sports Sedan if you don't have one as a guide.

How soon before WTAC do you think it will run ?

[orx626]

You using a Motec Logger will try to get you a file from a Sports Sedan if you don't have one as a guide?

Thanks for the offer but I will have assistance from McElrea Racing once the car is ready to hit the track.

How soon before WTAC do you think it will run ?

If the car hasn't made it to the track by July then it won't be entered for WTAC 2014....probably just be a static display.

Cheers,
Danny