Most of the saab parts and fab work looks virtually identical to mine! good work mate i will have to come have a look at it when its done!
Well I'm really shit at updates!!! I didn't even get round to putting words up to all the images I've done already. Another big photo dump coming up!!!
Hello Andy, I can't PM I think so I had to register to try to contact you, I have a few questions regarding your old S40 track car as I'm building one as well, hope you can PM or something me so we can get in touch and not clutter your thread. Cheers!
Long time no post - does anyone still use forums these days?! News is, this is still going! Progress is slow, but not dead. Since I last posted I've been busy with stuff, you know, life stuff. Now have a 2 year old daughter, moved house (with double garage!) and have managed to get to work on the car a few times. I'll stick up a few pics from instagram which should help summarise the going ons. Andy
I recently started following you on IG, initially to see how the pedal box assembles as finally cut one... now I can't stop looking at your car progress, awesome stuff man.
Got the front wings finished, painted and finished. Turned the aluminium wing spacers on the lathe and finished with a stainless helicoil to make sure the m6 threads don't rip out Finished up the shallow sump with pickups front and rear for the diy dry sump setup Moved the car over to its new home in the double garage Made a start on the tubular front support Got some new wheels, went up to 18's so I could wrap them in 265 BTCC slicks Andy
Made a new adapter output flange for the diff because I had the plate LSD fitted which needed different length splines. Made much easier with a lathe now A milestone this one, got both hubs turning through the plate LSD. This was the first time everything came together in the metal rather than dimensions scribbled down on scraps of paper and "that'll probably work" calculations. Glad the shafts fitted where they should, bolted up to the diff and cleared all the suspension components. Made a big decision and sold off the Jag Getrag 5 speed. Made a tidy profit on it, although I guess that's what comes with buying something readily available at the time, store it for almost a decade and then finding out they're now rare as hens teeth lol. Reason for the swap was that although mighty strong, they're now rare as hens teeth and sell for a fortune. I didn't want to have to splash out best part of a grand if i broke it. It also meant that with the "profit" I could buy a newer 6 speed which is also supposedly just as strong (if not stronger) that also had an adapter plate available to buy already made that I could just bolt up (so I thought) No surprise here, its a BMW ZF GS6-53DZ. The diesel ratio should work well with the rear diff (3.692) Did a weld and called it an update. Ok there was a bit of fabrication required. Got the pedal box finished up, powder coated silver and grip taped. Looked awesome, so I sold it! Went for reasonable money but nothing compared to the time invested in making the bushings etc. Basically after all that work, it didn't fit. The main hoop and harness bar stops the seat going back further and rear mounted M/C's meant that even with my stumps I wouldn't have enough leg room. I've since bought a billet aluminium reversed OBP that I've not photo'd yet.
Thanks, will try and keep updates coming this way. I won't stick all the IG posts up here just yet, its nice to be able to put a few words up rather than just a picture sometimes. Andy
So, I had been scratching my head at how on earth I was going to make the BMW box work without spending a shed load of cash because, as it turned out, the box that I had sourced wasn't one that had been tried before and all the "bolt on" parts just wouldn't work. The input shaft is offset so far inboard of the mounting face the flywheel didn't get close. The idea was to bring the FW closer to the shaft so I've turned out this crank/flywheel spacer. I also sourced a flex plate from an auto to enable me to actually start the thing. I designed and made some secret fix wing brackets to fit the boot lid. Made out of 10mm thick aluminium, I then had to profile it to fit tightly, a lot of time with a grinder and file to get it right without any gaps. I then drilled and tapped (and stainless heli-coiled) and bolted it up from the inside. Looks pretty neat I think?! The rear blade came from a friend of mine who at the time worked for Redbull Racing who laid up carbon fibre for their brake components. He had it sat in his garage doing nothing so donated it to me. Its now sat in my garage doing nothing And this is how it looks mocked up. Still need to make some brackets for the blade, but I'm quite happy with it so far.
SOOOO... A bit of a thread revival here - and a bit of news. The project as ever is still a project and I've been putting some hours in trying to finally get shit done and this thing out on track. I've taken the bold decision to book a track day so I've got a goal to try and achieve but I know there's still absolutely loads to do still. I've picked up a few more skills and tools along the way too, namely TIG welding which has added a new dimension to the fabrication. Aluminium be being used more often and exhausts aren't MIG welded monsters Here's a pic of how the wide arch is coming along on the rear - I've put this to one side for now, just concentrating on getting the thing running.... I've also started "vlogging" my progress of the car on youtube - I'm 11 videos in now, take a look and let me know what you think. They're geared towards the fabrication side of things and I go into a bit of detail showing you how I've made things rather than saying I'm going to do something and then it's done. The last couple of videos are about how I've made this, which I'm quite proud of - And the video (which is in 2 parts) - I'll try and keep this thread updated a bit better, and not just post links to new videos all the time - long live the build thread forums! For now, here's a few pics of what I've been up to https://www.instagram.com/p/CDO7bvhnbqO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://www.instagram.com/p/CD_8ItwHCN-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://www.instagram.com/p/B8UAHoAH79B/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
