87 Fastback L47 Chump Car/ Lemons Project.
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:26 pm
And so the story goes:
A group of collective gear heads were interested in building a competitive chump car. Half the team has been and is previously racing in a prepped e30. The car isn't terrible, but its been unreliable, doesnt make the expected power and the owner just doesn't have all his priorities right as far as addressing the issues that are affecting the teams performance. So our plan was to build a car that would be completely different and use economical parts, that are cheap and easy to obtain on short notice, unlike a BMW. Our car needed more power, and more brakes, and to be able to at least turn safely/predictably.
Our initial plan:
We decided we wanted a 3800 for reliability, after scouring Craigslist and classifieds for running cars, all we could find for sub 400$ prices was a 95 Olds Aurora, not the motor we were looking for, but would provide a cheap yet powerful powerplant.
We were given a MK2 GTI shell, we had the engine and subframe from the aurora and we would devise a way to mate the two in a mid-rear layout.
The shell was clean, but barren. After deliberation, we decided, the work to accomplish this would be too much for our first totally custom crap can racer. Plus the owner of the GTI was upset we didn't have a VR6 to use .
So the team decided against my advice to use a rust parts car fiero. The suspension isn't going to make it competitive against the e30's that dominate, especially the e36's. But, we will be able to over come most of the obstacles, without having to devote all our time to R&D and fabrication, and we will still have a light, powerful, and different car combination.
So the plan for the car is:
87 GT Frame, stripped, seam welded, rust repaired/reinforced.
-We have completely stripped the car, and are starting the lightening and seam welding, and are reinforcing and replacing the rusty and weak areas of the frame. I have some different ideas we will try to implement on the car to increase rigidity and strength of the main frame rails (which is pretty poor).
The motor will be a 1995 aurora l47 running a '7730 ECM tuned using Ryan Hess' .bin file
-I already have the Moate's APu1, we are working on acquiring a wideband 02, and have arranged for some dyno-dynamics dyno time through a friend.
I have questions on this, and I will post later about what to do about the 95 issues with Ryan's .bin
The suspension will be:
-GM U body minivan rear knuckles/hubs/brakes on the rear with either cut minivan, Aurora or Fiero springs (whatever our testing and evaluation indicates is better suited). bushed with Solid cradle and Poly suspension bushings (included on car as purchsed) a small rear bar off a ford zx2 may be added (probably not). Rcc Bump steer kit (included again) may or may not be used.
-The front will be all Fiero with Lebaron rotors and s10 calipers with hand cut brackets per internet drawings. All the bushings again are poly up front. Spring will be severely cut, and lowering ball joints. Stock sway bar.
The cage will be an eight point with several tie ins to the key structural areas of the Fiero frame.
The body will be based on the 87 GT with lots and lots of mods to "replicate" and F40LM, our car has been dubbed the Ferrario F4.0. (large radiator extractor, rear hatch, big wing (hand made), etc.)
Before anyone starts spraying negatives, please understand this is a long term build, all the team members have lots of the necessary experience, and all in different areas. We have, combined, several MIGs, TIGs, a CNC bender, lathe, mill, press brake, bead roller, plasma, access to CNC lasers, lathes and mills. I am a Mechanical Engineer working in the railway MOW industry, one team member owns service shop (Rawsomotion), another runs his own Fab business (Arc Asylum), another worked and works for multiple circle track specialty shops. And our final member is a computer science geek who like cars almost as much as Macs, we have the brains and muscle to pull this off.
The rules have been studied well, and are all adhered too. our current estimated final value is between $500 to $650. More updates and inqiuries soon...
Ill be posting my issues with the engine portion shortly..
A group of collective gear heads were interested in building a competitive chump car. Half the team has been and is previously racing in a prepped e30. The car isn't terrible, but its been unreliable, doesnt make the expected power and the owner just doesn't have all his priorities right as far as addressing the issues that are affecting the teams performance. So our plan was to build a car that would be completely different and use economical parts, that are cheap and easy to obtain on short notice, unlike a BMW. Our car needed more power, and more brakes, and to be able to at least turn safely/predictably.
Our initial plan:
We decided we wanted a 3800 for reliability, after scouring Craigslist and classifieds for running cars, all we could find for sub 400$ prices was a 95 Olds Aurora, not the motor we were looking for, but would provide a cheap yet powerful powerplant.
We were given a MK2 GTI shell, we had the engine and subframe from the aurora and we would devise a way to mate the two in a mid-rear layout.
The shell was clean, but barren. After deliberation, we decided, the work to accomplish this would be too much for our first totally custom crap can racer. Plus the owner of the GTI was upset we didn't have a VR6 to use .
So the team decided against my advice to use a rust parts car fiero. The suspension isn't going to make it competitive against the e30's that dominate, especially the e36's. But, we will be able to over come most of the obstacles, without having to devote all our time to R&D and fabrication, and we will still have a light, powerful, and different car combination.
So the plan for the car is:
87 GT Frame, stripped, seam welded, rust repaired/reinforced.
-We have completely stripped the car, and are starting the lightening and seam welding, and are reinforcing and replacing the rusty and weak areas of the frame. I have some different ideas we will try to implement on the car to increase rigidity and strength of the main frame rails (which is pretty poor).
The motor will be a 1995 aurora l47 running a '7730 ECM tuned using Ryan Hess' .bin file
-I already have the Moate's APu1, we are working on acquiring a wideband 02, and have arranged for some dyno-dynamics dyno time through a friend.
I have questions on this, and I will post later about what to do about the 95 issues with Ryan's .bin
The suspension will be:
-GM U body minivan rear knuckles/hubs/brakes on the rear with either cut minivan, Aurora or Fiero springs (whatever our testing and evaluation indicates is better suited). bushed with Solid cradle and Poly suspension bushings (included on car as purchsed) a small rear bar off a ford zx2 may be added (probably not). Rcc Bump steer kit (included again) may or may not be used.
-The front will be all Fiero with Lebaron rotors and s10 calipers with hand cut brackets per internet drawings. All the bushings again are poly up front. Spring will be severely cut, and lowering ball joints. Stock sway bar.
The cage will be an eight point with several tie ins to the key structural areas of the Fiero frame.
The body will be based on the 87 GT with lots and lots of mods to "replicate" and F40LM, our car has been dubbed the Ferrario F4.0. (large radiator extractor, rear hatch, big wing (hand made), etc.)
Before anyone starts spraying negatives, please understand this is a long term build, all the team members have lots of the necessary experience, and all in different areas. We have, combined, several MIGs, TIGs, a CNC bender, lathe, mill, press brake, bead roller, plasma, access to CNC lasers, lathes and mills. I am a Mechanical Engineer working in the railway MOW industry, one team member owns service shop (Rawsomotion), another runs his own Fab business (Arc Asylum), another worked and works for multiple circle track specialty shops. And our final member is a computer science geek who like cars almost as much as Macs, we have the brains and muscle to pull this off.
The rules have been studied well, and are all adhered too. our current estimated final value is between $500 to $650. More updates and inqiuries soon...
Ill be posting my issues with the engine portion shortly..