nathans project thread a long time coming....

[ferdie]

hello all,

back in mid 2009 i got this mighty boy from luke on here....

work and an injury has got in the way since then, but now the build begins....

last weekend i got billie's spare mightyboy, it will be the test one for my build so i dont butcher the good body i have and i can work out what looks the best.........



the plan is to increase the rear track and install a FD3S IRS rear end, the front will also get a massage and and the track will be increased....

the aim is +/- 300hp at the rear wheels and all engineered and on the road in QLD. she will be a one of a kind.... anything can be made legal, as long as you jump through the hoops...

im looking a 3 possible engine/box options to achieve the plan, but more on this later...

im aiming to have this on the road in early 2011, but, time will tell if i can achieve this....

here is the first days progress...







have detached most of the drivers rear-quarter, will have it off by 2morro lunchtime is the aim....

cheers

nathan

[goose360]

wow... this looks interesting. Can't wait to see how it all goes. Good luck

[ferdie]

also the seams around the tray where the rubber mounts will be removed and re-enforced to make the transition from the roof and sides to the tray smooth.

if i get really excited i might have a go at taking an inch or 2 and drop the roof.... will see how i get on with the rest of the body plans.... it would be a bugger of a job to get the roof looking good....

bed time now, more grinding in the morning....

[ferdie]

day 2 efforts (363 to deadline)

rear guard off, cut down and mocked up

have mocked it up with 4" extra, will complete the mock up with cardboard and see how i feel about it. i really want to add more but i also want it to look good, at this stage i think anymore will make it look crap, any thoughts from the collective??

photos to follow as im having trouble uploading them atm....

[ferdie]

photos updated

[rf4burns]

Nice work bloke and for what its worth (not much) IMO more than 4" (100mm) would be to much ,keep the photos coming

[Tez]

Certainly going to be a one-of-a-kind!

Yes, please keep the photos coming.

So you're going to make this beast RWD?
and road-legal at 300+/- Hp?

This will be a project to watch for sure!

[ferdie]

So you're going to make this beast RWD?
and road-legal at 300+/- Hp?

This will be a project to watch for sure!

tez, yep, RWD, Road legal and up round 300hp is the aim,


i have 5 motor options under consideration, im waiting on more advice from my engineer on which way i will go on this.

and im currently looking at either a live rear axle from an ra23 celica (shortened to fit the 'only' 4" wider per side)as i have this in the shed or the full independent rear end from a FD3S RX7, i have experience in this as this is what i run in my lotus 7 replica... at this stage the front steering/suspension will all be swapped over for FD RX7 stuff...

as for engineering i will let the cat out of the bag here... im currently still hopeful i can do it all as a "modified vehicle" that way on paper it stays a heavily modified mightyboy.
if this is not possible i will be putting it through as a ICV (individually constructed vehicle) if this is the case it will be loads more work as i will need to do every engineering test from torsional rigidity of the chassis to full emissions test...
also if i go icv will need to beef the weight up for engineering to get the motor combos through....

on a side note, i know of a Ferrari motor in brisbane attached to a supra gearbag, all i need now is to win the lotto and get that combo for this build hahahaha, i will keep dreaming on that one....

time to do more work.....

[ferdie]

photos from today...

not much progress, completed the mock up with cardboard and 100mile/hr race tape.

will leave it like this for a week or 2 to see how i like it before i start welding..... once its all welded in i will need to re cut/re roll ( i have a proper guard rolling tool) the wheel well to make the required room to fit the "huge" daily drive semi-slicks 225/50/16's in, i would also like to make room for 255/50/16's as these are the mickey thompson drag radials i run on my other car when at the drags....

2morro after work i will start on the transmission tunnel....













the plan is to keep it with the "boxy" lines from the original car, the profile of the side will stay as it was from stock on the angled bit where i have extended it. also i have realized i will need to stretch the tailgate... dont know why i didnt think of that in the first place...

cheers

nathan

[ferdie]

i got back into it, worked till i ran out of cutting disks....

have detached 95% of the floor pan including the front wheel arches the floor will be replaced with an alloy pan and the wheel arches will be fabricated to accept the new suspension and the bigger wheels....

bit hard to see in these pics, but here are some pics anyway...



front wheel arch


only needed one more cutting disk to get all the way around, will be out 2morro arvo...

[nelpd96]

Nathan, I am a Engineering Signatory in the ACT and QLD is very similar with regards to their rules and regulations. I can tell you a couple of things straight up that may save you some time.

1. Looking at your goal of 300hp you will be going forced induction which means a maximum of 1.3l engine capacity. Remember that rotor's have to be doubled to get the capacity.

2. You can't engineer and increase of track in the ACT, I am not too sure how it works in QLD I would have to go over the regulations and have a look.

If you are serious about going down this path then drop me an email with all the details so that I can at least give you a heads up on feasibility. They will not let you do it as an ICV because it is still based on the MB. You would have to build a seperate chassis and then just bolt the body to that if you want to do an ICV.

Cheers
Paul

[ferdie]

hey paul,

cheers for the heads up.

i didnt know about the increase in track being a problem for a modified car, if thats the same in qld then ICV it will be.

she is getting a full tube steel chassis hence removing the floor, but i was going to weld it in, i was waiting for clarification on this from my engineer...

the mazda RX8 13b-rew is actually compilable as a 1.3 as mazda had it certified as that for emissions when they were released. there is an engineer i know in brisbane that will use that certification and apply it to conversions pertaining to other 13b's... im not 100% settled on a motor/box combo. i dont want to broadcast that on the forum yet so will email you if i can work out the email system on this new forum, might just PM you...

if not i can up the weight easily with more chassis triangulation as an icv and have any motor i want in it....

i am actually keen to get +/-300hp with out boost as there is only limited room under the front...

[gadj]

Nathan, just in case you have not worked it out, to PM click on the 'PM' button under the member info on the right of the post... The rest, is simply type your message as for posting & so on.

[ferdie]

thanks gadj, sent him a pm, still cant see the email button that the old forum had...

here is the update from today...

got some more cutting disks and got the floor pan out, i still need to get some more of the wheel well out on the drivers side and the wheel well on the passengers side is still there. im leaving as much of the fire wall as possible till i know how much clearance i will need....



i have left approx 25mm around the edge to attach the body to the chassis





i sat her down on bricks so the body is +15cm off the ground, actual ride height will be close to how it sits here....







why does the forum cut off the right hand side of my photos?? is it a setting ive got wrong??

[Brayden]

If you use imageshack (or similar) then the images are cropped to fit on the page. If you use the forums built-in image uploader then it automatically creates thumbnails (and also ensures the images stay around as long as the forum does, unlike offsite hosting that ends up disappearing.)