Project Car / Motorbike thread. Let's see 'em.

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I can identify with the time it takes to make up a bracket and run a line. They have so little real estate to work with it must be 5 or 10 times harder to conceptualise.

I would love to know what their spares bin looks like. One of the difficulties I have been having is finding an off the shelf part that fits in a particular spot. Unless you can get you hands on the parts and trial fit finding enough information on line is quite hard. The Hilux indicator switch was finding something that looked like it would fit and the washer bottle was pure serendipity. I would like to change the seperate brake mastercylinder reservoirs to a single reservoir with two chambers with a low level warning. The individual reservoirs nominally do not comply with ADRs because of labelling which can be fixed but the low level warning is a good thing and the caps are too big for any I have that feature a float level. The bulkhead on top of the pedal box slopes side to side 9 deg and front to back 2 deg. Finding something off the shelf that will fit isnt easy. No drawings or dimensions, just pictures. The one I like is off a Ford Crown Victoria, I contacted the manufacturer and they cannot or most likely will not check drawings for me! So I have to scale off photos on line which are not taken straight on etc.
 
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SummitFever

Eats Squid
So true. Compounded by the fact that it is seldom possible to return those special order parts. However, its really satisfying when your hunch that something will work/fit comes off.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Had no luck finding a reservoir that suited. Calculating angles off photographs is a bit hit and miss but the angles were pretty much 0 deg and then started again at 30 deg or more. So I looked around for cars which have a level sensor (float) in the cap. But the Wilwood caps are much bigger than anything out there. Anyway I stole another part off the donor VW, the cap with level sensor. The cap was way too small and the sensor about 20mm too long. These things are just a reed switch activated by a magnet which floats in the brake fluid. Above a level and the reed switch is open, no circuit. Fluid drops and the magnet drops and the reed switch is made and voila a circuit and then a light and a buzzer if you are really unlucky.

In true Clarkson "how hard can it be?" I dismantled the VW cap and switch. The cap and body of the switch had a weird relationship like @moorey and oranges so I fixed that with some side cutters. The good thing about the VW switch is that it activates over a short length. I cut into the tube that held the magnet and hid the reed switch and it was nothing more than two conductors cast in plastic until the last 20mm where it had a reed switch soldered from one side to the other. The top fits through the cap but the Wilwood cap has an internal baffle that allows air movement for the fluid level to change. Bit of cutting and filing and then drilling a 32mm hole in the cap and the level gauge with connector was in place. Drilled a 15mm hole in the baffle and it fitted over the float body and after some careful trimming the baffle clipped into place. Vent still works from the reservoir bowl through the baffle and out the level sensor. Next step was removing the reed switch and cutting the conductors to length and resoldering the reed switch. Done. Then plastic weld the level switch body back in place. Done. Does it work.



YES!!!!



Finished product and some of the detritus that was left. You can see how much smaller the VW cap was. Filled it with brake fluid and there is an open circuit. Let the fluid drain to just above the minimum mark on the reservoir and circuit is made.

Guess I will have to make one for the rear reservoir... And fix the wording on the caps to comply with our ADRs.
 
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redbruce

Eats Squid
Just had a bit of a google, yes ford used the design under license from ZF.

Filter, fluid, and 6 bits of plastic SHOULD fix this fault. The fluid is all the cost. 40 bucks of plastic, 350 bucks of fluid.

There is a place nearby that lets you use their car hoist for 30 an hour and they dispose of the fluids. I see me there very soon
Was used in BA falcons from memory.

Maxx Performance in Dandenong have a lot of experience with ZF autos (in Ford performance application),
so worth chasing about suitable alternative fluids.

Valvoline MaxLife multivehicle ATF is popular on euro/Jap car forums as is Mobil equivalent.
 

hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
I watch a few of these vids now & then but man, this one impresses me!


This one I still think is the most mental build ever:

 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
And then there were two:



Comparison of the stock and modded sensor. The finished products:





Usual wreckers wouldn't sell the cap or reservoir separately and I can understand that but the price they wanted for a mastercylinder was nearly as silly as the OEM price from a VW dealer. The cap was ex Melbourne and $135 + GST. Makes the free one look a very good deal. So a bit more sniffing around and I found an old school DIY wrecker. Rolled up this morning, signed onto their disclaimer induction form and then set free. Cap and electrical connection $10. Done! With a pattern to follow the second one was done in about 20 minutes.

The connectors will be wired in parallel so that a fluid loss in either reservoir will cause the warning light to come on.

Now to the Watts link...

With the leaf springs the lower link will hang down below the spring so the link will have to be inside the chassis rail. The upper is clear and can go through the spring space. With the BW78 the Watts link pivot on the cover is 85mm off centre. That affects how the link will be installed. It is imperative that the links are the same length. That means swapping the links side for side compared to the donor AU XR6 which is ok. Using the 'longer' side that means I can sit the chassis dropper just inside the chassis rail while the other will poke through and out the other side of the rail.

Based on calculations the suspension travel will be 55mm up and 65mm down from the neutral ride position so clearance is tight but ok. The shocks have 200mm of travel but 50mm of that will be taken by the bump stops which contact just before the diff hits the body bump stop so that works. Full droop wont be an issue because gaps get bigger. Shocks sit at almost 60 deg so all that translates to 110 - 120mm of travel. Factory setting was 100mm.

A nice explanation of the linkage:


Next week is going to be interesting...
 
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hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
With the leaf springs the lower link will hang down below the spring so the link will have to be inside the chassis rail. The upper is clear and can go through the spring space. With the BW78 the Watts link pivot on the cover is 85mm off centre. That affects how the link will be installed. It is imperative that the links are the same length. That means swapping the links side for side compared to the donor AU XR6 which is ok. Using the 'longer' side that means I can sit the chassis dropper just inside the chassis rail while the other will poke through and out the other side of the rail.
Sorry - read that three times & still can't get it.

#thisthreadneedspics
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Sorry - read that three times & still can't get it.

#thisthreadneedspics
Had a bit of time this afternoon so hopefully this makes sense:



This is at midpoint of travel. What I was saying was that because it will have leaf springs the lower link would foul with the leaf trying to line up the hanger with the chassis rail centre. So it will sit inside the chassis rail and mount to the floor on a compensating plate. Gussets to the chassis rail and forwards (or backwards). The other side can poke through the gap above the spring and to keep the links the same length will line up with the outer edge of the chassis rail. Again gusseted as needed.

Option would be to scrap the leaf springs and run coils or coilovers. There is no perch for the coil on the diff and as the chassis is designed for leaf springs it would need stiffening up so lots of work. There are coilover mounts on the diff but that means making up some strut towers inside (standard shocks angle in and the motion ratio would make the suspension work less well than the leaf spring!). Putting in strut towers means the rear seat is scrapped and that starts all sorts of issues with sealing the rear bulkhead and trying to make something to cover the mess that is the body beneath the seat. If I was going to this much trouble I will toss up doing this versus doing things properly and bolting the diff to the floor where it belongs. Probably fit a baby BMW rear end in or something like an Explorer or Subaru diff and make the rear arms up to suit. Maybe. Probably leave it all alone.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Leaves in an escort is correct. Keep it from getting unruly with the Watts and all is well I'm guessing.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Did some housekeeping on the XR4 today in preparation for log booking the car.

Cage finished and will go for registration in coming days. Then after some discussions with the CAMS technical people, who were really very good, I will arrange to take the car to the next event either sprint or gymkhana where there will be a CAMS scrutineer to get the log book application finalised.







I didn't weld the cage, just worked with the regs to get the design right.

XR4s suffer from a gear linkage issue which we thought was the usual worn out bush at the lever. Car has only done 110,000km but is now 11 years old and not cared for since about 1957. Changed the bush and it would still jam in gear. Dr Google told me that the linkage arm bushes get sticky and the pivot shaft rusts so all that came out and was cleaned up and redone with some moly grease. While I was there all the plastic guards, shrouds, liners etc fell off.



And the worst job of all. The power steering pump was leaking and horribly noisy so I swapped it with one that we knew was good. Absolute prick of a job. Usually you take out the inlet manifold but this has the Cosworth thing which has longer runners and getting to some of the bolts is nigh on impossible.



Removal was ok but getting the genie back in the bottle is always the hard part.



Back and no leaks!!!!! Yet. Managed to get the serpentine belt on and off on my own. Ripping out the headlight and taking the wheel off was the way to go.

Finally made that modification that will make this the fastest XR4 on track...



Getting closer. Still have to roll the rear guards a little as the tyres scrub after fitting spacers to square up the tracks and also need to put a bend in the exhaust to clear the rear antiroll bar.

We were going to fit a Mazda 3MPS 6 speed box in this but given we are going to go a bit crazy on the spare shell this might do until that is on the road.
 

hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
Huge update!!!

I boiled/overflowed the PS fluid on our Fiesta at Eastern Creek. They just seem to do that....
 
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