#MonsterMouse - An Italian Supercar.

Some More Steering Bracketing

2011-12-11T10:57:00.000Z

The column upper bracket is tacked in place, still needs some finishing off, it also got a piece of 25mm box up its left side to stop any flexing. In error I have the bootom UJs out of phase, the yokes are misaligned by 90deg - Something else I have learned. So they will get straightened up and then welded. The upper bracket will have to wait for the bodyshell to come off, before I can finally weld it in place.

Later today I will be making another bracket for a bearing I have bought, this will hold the lower column just above the top UJ. The black plastic bush is about 25mm, and so is my bearing strangely enough. The steering has about 2.4 turns lock to lock, and fingers crossed with that bearing in place, the flexing will be no more. I do have one more quick fix to try first before the bearing, a U bolt on the upper column onto the main dash bar/cage affair.

Garage fun later today -

Steering Column Games

2011-12-03T12:17:00.001Z

Well after a lot of forum wanderings & google's regarding shortened steering columns, I have gone ahead and shortened my Ford Sierra to the desired 510mm length.

It already comes with collapsible sections, which are certainly worth trying to retain, the little Fiat wheelbase is becoming quite a test of the grey matter. Trying to make sure I get a decent driving position, without the steering angles becoming too severe it won't work , and a seat position where its comfortable (A strange choice of word "comfortable" in a Fiat 126) to control.

Using some L section in my vice , the column was clamped in it - both cut ends of the column were dressed slowly with a file, till my wonky old eyes decided along with my brain it was all square and true. Both faces were paired up, and looked ok enough to put a couple of tack welds on.

I drilled two pairs of holes through the outer column on either side of the cut, slipped the 7/8 pipe insert into the column, and started to weld it up. It then got checked for wonkyness, and surprisingly for a first go it looks as straight as I could ever get it. The remaining weld holes were filled up, with the mig on a nice high amperage, as these welds are probably the most important ones I will make on the Fiat. Once they were done I dressed up the welds, then added some weld to the seam, belt & braces here....

So while the iron was still smoking, I rang RallyDesign and ordered a pair of Wilwood master cylinder kits, and a new Sierra intermediate shaft. This will allow me to get rid of the rubber doughnut, which will not cope too well with the steering angles I am making for it. This will also require shortening, but thats a job for next week.

I am going to retain the Ford plastic bottom column bush, and have also bought a suitable bearing to hold the column bottom end, hopefully this will keep things nice and tight without flexing. Pictures and thoughts to follow....

Steering & Brakes Fun....

2011-11-16T19:49:00.000Z

Today has been a mixed bag, I spent time cleaning up the column ready for the welding, removed some minor rust and sprayed it, along with the intermediate shaft. I also sourced some 22mm tube for the sleeving job on the column, its slipped inside the tube on the left. Just need my welder power supply sorted.

I then whipped one of the back wheels off, for a look at the rear hubs and see if the calipers are a straightforward fit. They are Ford Sierra handbrake calipers onto Sierra hubs, but they dont appear to be far enough forward to get past the hub. Its probably me, or I am trying to mix parts that wont mix, I dont have a pair of Sierra discs at the moment, but I wont be buying any till this is resolved.

Another thing I noticed today was the bottom right engine mount, there's no mounting bolt in it at the minute, but its only supported on one side, to my eyes it needs some support from the right side of the chassis. Enquiries ongoing...

The Steering Tale Continues..

2011-11-15T18:11:00.000Z

The ongoing work and head scratching with the Fiat steering continues, my Sierra steering rack did measure 800+mm - With some creative use of a hacksaw I have removed quite a bit from it.

Intention will be to preserve the triangular bottom portion of the shaft, then sleeve and weld the two pieces back together. This will be done by drilling the outer column on both sides of the cut, inserting a 22mm mild steel sleeve inside the column, then puddle welding the sleeve in place through the drilled holes. The final weld will be around the full circumference while in a jig to keep it all straight/true etc. All welds will be ground back to a smooth finish.

The intermediate shaft will then get the bottom joint cut off, and a new splined universal joint to match the Sierra rack pinion.

Thats probably the easy bit, the hard bit is going to be getting sufficient legroom for the elderly overweight driver, a reasonable wheel position to assist the elderly driver staying in control, keeping the pedal box away from the rack enough to keep the brake master cylinders happy, as there's very little clearance.

Having spent more time sitting and looking inside the car today, It may well be the 2 x 17" Kirkey seats might have to go, and be replaced with something else. The design of them is making for a less than comfortable seating arrangement, nothing to do with the Kirkey's but the tiny dimensions of my car, and the large seats !

So at the moment I am stuck for a welder, as my garage is not yet wired up to run my MIG, so the steering column went on the backburner, while I drove round to my lockup garage and stripped out the lights, sockets,consumer ready to go into my new garage.

The cooling system also had some attention today, with the bonnet off I sat the Ultima radiator core in the front duct, it leaves 200mm to the right of it, room enough for a suitable core for the chargecooler system. I also sat the Davies 12v water pump in there, coolant will get pumped down one side of the car , via the sill to the engine, and the return via the other sill.

The radiator inlet/outlet are 40mm, into the water pump which is 34mm down to the Blackbird engine piping which for the water pump is around 30mm, so a bit of fettling to do. I understand I need to use a braided hose for hot water through the cab space for the MSA regs. Need to read it again...

#MonsterMouse

2011-11-13T18:32:00.000Z

Foundations

2011-11-13T17:40:00.000Z

When I got the car home, I spent the first few days sitting in it, clambering around it with the various parts I had stored in my loft, and to be honest I felt quite intimidated by whats required.

Writing this blog is the easiest part of the mammoth task ahead, I do not claim to be an expert at any of the skills I am about to employ constructing #MonsterMouse , I will get things wrong often but at 45 years of age - who cares. This is a Meccano set of garage filling proportions, that will test my grey matter with new skills, and offset old age hopefully.

So if you view my blog , and think there is a better way to do things, please feel free to tell me, I might not take any notice, but there you go.

The foundations I refer to are the work involved in the drivers seating position, suppose thats me ! So the car will be built to accomodate me and my Bob Hoskins frame. Anyone over 509 tall will not be that comfortable sitting being bounced about in the Fiat.

Initial work is to set down a seat base position, pedal box position & ultimately the steering column. A slight offset between steering and pedals can be tolerated, but not too much.

I had bought a Sierra column, as this is what of the Seven style cars use, but at 700mm its too long for the tiny Fiat space. The original Fiat top column is 400mm.

So tomorrow I need to go have a wander around some breakers yards with a tape measure, optimum length I need is around 510-540mm, the intermediate shaft can be cut down & welded to suit whatever I end up fitting.

Too short a column and the intermediate shaft fouls the pedal box, and even my small size 9s get snagged up.

Th seating position also has to leave sufficient room for engine exhaust manifold, and the bulkhead between me and it......

There is not much room, about 9 inches less wheelbase than a Mini.

I will be starting a twitter account for the little Fiat = #MonsterMouse will find my tweets about the ongoing build, problems , requests for help and moans....

Please look me up and join in with the build.

Regards

At Last ....#MonsterMouse is home.

2011-11-13T17:23:00.000Z

After many months of planning, buying and head scratching , the little Fiat is home.

Since my last blog post, I purchased a used Quaife Powertec axle from Myd Harries, thank god for internet advert attentive friends (Scott) who spotted the Quaife on the Pistonheads site while I was abroad. A quick email gave me the heads up,Scott contacted Myd and the deal done. Thank you both, the car is better by far with the small bijou Powertec axle.

Nat mounted up the Quaife and the Borg Warner transfer box was sidelined, in the long term, the Quaife blew my budget, it has removed a lot of machining issues still to be done with the BW box, which had no reverse and to some extent was still an unknown quantity. The Quaife with a reverse gear already, operated by a pull of the £77 cable, I know the price of the cable as it fell out of the car while on the trailer coming north.....

Its been a while...

2011-07-18T17:07:00.002+01:00

From the initial build of of the chassis by Retropower, to where we are now with it ,is quite a different
car to the original 126. The chassis was fabricated to cradle the Range
Rover/Borg Warner transfer box axle, and the engine was mounted in such a position to counter the weight of the axle allowing for decent weight distribution.

While there are various theories on the Borg Warner box being too heavy, and maybe being too severe to comfortably deal with being mated to the Blackbird engine, it was always a compromise on not having sufficient funds in my budget to purchase a suitable Quaife Powertec type axle, or even source one 2nd hand for that matter, they are extremely popular units and still hold their money. While we had opted with the BW box, I always was on the hunt for a well priced more suitable option.

The bodyshell was fitted to the chassis, and the the guys encountered the big issue around the door hinges not functioning, and fouling on the chassis tubes, restricting the door opening. After some head scratching, RetroPower came up with a brilliant and simple solution to the doors fouling. They cut out the hinge panel on the drivers door, and let it into the rear of the passenger door, thereby fabricating suicide doors, and making access/egress into the car much much easier with the doors now reversed.

The bonnet has been chopped with two large vents , and when closed will sit down snug onto the two radiators, one of which cools the engine, and the other will provide coolant for the engines chargecooler.

The front chin spoiler also ducts air into the front of the car, up through the two radiators.

The sills are wide between the arches, which now sport Compomotive CXR anthracite 13x6s front and 13x8 on the rears. Tyres are Toyo R888...

An impending house move and family holidays have set back collection of the car in May 2011, and within the last few days a good used Quaife Powertec axle came up for sale, this now has my name on it, and further engine/chassis work is required to install the Quaife in place of the Borg Warner box.

Once the additional fabricating is complete (and Ive moved house) then the car will be collected and the build can continue.

Here are some updated pictures..

A Build Lull...

2011-07-18T17:07:00.001+01:00

Transmission Driveshaft

2010-11-12T09:43:00.000Z

To mate the Blackbird engine to the transmission, We agreed I bought a used Range Rover gearbox and stripped out the mainshaft, then Retropower would machine the shaft to the correct dimensions, and weld on the sprocket drive cup.
The first problem encountered was the mainshaft splines were never going to be strong enough to deal with the BHP my engine is going to produce. So the mainshaft I stripped out was effectively scrap, a solution was needed. RP spent a lot of time scouring the Midlands (The home of Land Rover) for a suitable machine shop capable and willing of machining a one off hardened shaft.

Not all companies will do "one off's" if they do, prices rocket, After much searching and visiting Nat came across a company, who actually produce them for a well known 4x4 company. So the specification was discussed, and the deal struck. This is the product they produced in EN24 steel.

"A nickel chromium molybdenum steel with high strength and toughness"

RetroPower Visit - October 2010

2010-10-26T14:00:00.000+01:00

With the delay in the project build behind now, the Retropower spray booth is installed and has been worth all the effort.

We decided at such a critical part of the build, when the laying down of steel has just begun, I took a swift trip to the workshop for a "sit & measure" session. No point building a car for me if I do not fit in it...

After some delicate clambering and positioning, my bulk was wedged into a far too small Kirkey seat, in the desired spot.

The pedal box was fairly tight against the offside chassis front rail, but does not have too much offset when compared to the seating/driving position. Nothing too radical by any means.

We are happy the cab is going to be "snug" for two, but there is room for 2 Kirkey's which is good.

The engine & transmission have been sat up on the build table, and its all looking good , the engine is not susprisingly going to be fairly close to the back of the drivers seat, so the heat reflecting properties of the bulkhead will need to be good. I doubt it will ever be too cold driving the car.

There will be an additional diagonal tube welded into the top of the cage, or maybe a tube north/south from the rear cage tube to the front.

After this the focus moves to the front end suspension brackets, so the wishbones and old discs and hub can be offered up for a trial fit. If you missed my earlier post I have Wilwood M16 calipers and related drilled/vented discs. The uprights will be from a Cortina, and have yet to be sourced. The intention is to shod the uprights with alloy hubs/new bearings from RD.

Rear trailing arms will come from the Autograss world, a pair of custom specification plated arms can be had for very reasonable money, Nat is currently pouring over the specification of the rose joints to mount the arms to the chassis, my view - "The meatier the better Nat"

So for the moment that is it, we are discussing steering columns at the moment , and the related aspects of IVA. Aswell as looking for Cortina uprights to suit.

Watch this space...

Floor Section/ Main Roll Hoop / Door Bars

2010-10-20T11:55:00.000+01:00

Received these pictures today, more progress by Retropower.

Nat is happy with the geometry and tolerances acheived so far, The bespoke front wishbones I sourced are definately staying ! And are going to work well, given the tight confines of the 126 body.

I intend visiting over the coming weekend for a measure up of the seating position, and just to make sure I fit in it. Although I must admit my broad Northern shoulders do not fit too well in Nat's "medium size" Kirkey racing seat, I tend to put it on as opposed to sit in it....

Note to self - Ensure you purchase the 17" Kirkey's !!

Front Suspension

2010-10-14T19:50:00.000+01:00

Nathan has been busy on Autocad, designing front suspension geometry for the little Fiat.

Plan is to use bespoke front wishbones mated to RallyDesign Cortina geometry uprights.

Optimum Balance Products Pedal Box

2010-09-26T18:08:00.000+01:00

Purchased recently from Andy Burn (AB Performance) check out the AP Sabre race car. The pedal box was destined for the Sabre but a change of plans by AB resulted in me securing this good quality pedal box.

Bodyshell Stripped

2010-09-26T17:54:00.000+01:00

Recent visit to Retropower in September - Little Monster now very bare, and on the build table.
Next step will be a complete & total shell strip with blasted media back to bare metal.

First image above text shows the floor still there, the rest showing the power of plasma cutters. Rear shelf bulkhead left in place for the time being.

Then back on the build table, recent purchases included a pair of new front wings & spare bootlid from Wiktor in Leicester.

DTA S60 Engine Management ECU

2010-08-28T09:08:00.000+01:00

Been a while since my last update, here is my latest toy. This does everything for the Blackbird engine. All can be managed from the laptop, once I get my head around it all. The DTA software is very user friendly, with good backup.

The build of the car starts in earnest next week, Retropower have up to their Midlands ears in work, some of which has run over unexpectedly. No worries there Nat/Cal ! I know why your busy, its because you are good ....#

Anyway the ecu

Here's the company blurb, reads very well if your into that some of thing.

http://www.dtafast.co.uk/S_60_PRO.htm

Bodyshell Stripped.

2010-07-23T13:07:00.000+01:00

I received these pictures yesterday from Retropower, the shell is now completely stripped back ready for the next stage.

OMP "SuperQuadro" Wheel.

2010-06-20T20:55:00.000+01:00

And todays purchase is an OMP suede flat bottom steering wheel, creates slightly more room for the drivers legs with the flat base, It will look good with the paddle gearchange and a quick release hub.

RallyDesign - Front Brakes.

2010-06-05T15:44:00.000+01:00

A guy on the Locostbuilders site (Mutleylocost) recently arranged a bit of group discount with Rallydesign, I opted to buy Wilwood Powerlite front calipers & matching Maxtorq ventilated/drilled/grooved front discs, and also a pair of rear Mintex 1144 pads. Dont they look nice ?.....

Tuesday 1st June 2010

2010-06-01T21:40:00.001+01:00

A bit more parts purchasing today, I need to fairly special radiator to fit the front end small confines of the Fiat , so what better than a bespoke radiator from an Ultima GTR.

Very thick core complete with a Spal electric fan.

Locostbuilders came up trumps recently, Mutlelocost arranged some discount with RMD on Wilwood brake parts, so today I ordered ....

Wilwood M16 4Pot Front Calipers
Ford Capri Ventilated Grooved/Drilled Discs
Mintex 1144 Pads (Both Ends)

KOSO RX1 Digital Dash

2010-01-05T19:21:00.000Z

Purchased this little gem today, puts everything in one small cluster.

Chargecooler -

2009-12-20T14:31:00.000Z

Speaking with Nat @ Retropower recently he suggested I look at chargecooling as an option as opposed to intercooling. The Fiat is very small and space is tight, a front mounted intercooler to a rear engined car would not be very efficient at all ! , so finding space in the back end over a hot engine with decent airflow creates other issues around the build, ie ducting/vents/scoops that sort of thing. The Fiat will have big wheelarches but I would like to keep the bodywork as normal as it can look, if thats at all possible.

The chargecooler system should be more efficient to reduce the intake heat, I need to source a bike radiator and an electric water pump (Vauxhall Omega).

Here's a peek inside ....

Thes are clearly Chinese made and have been floating about on Ebay for about £90 + Postage, this bargain appeared @ £75 free post, stock clearance. The quality looks fine and if its not what I need I will go back on Ebay.

Bye for now.

Trickshifter

2009-12-20T13:54:00.000Z

I have been uncertain which way to go with gear selection, I do like the paddle setups on the bec kit cars, including the AB Motorsport cable system and also the Quickshift electronic system.

The market has various options open to the home builder, here is a short video of a Quickshift system on a MNR Vortx/ZX12R kit car.

Last evening the Trickshift system came up for grabs at a good price, only 18 months old and hardly used. This system allows me to use either a gearstick or paddle arrangement as it operates a sensor in the pushrod to activate the electronics. So my final plan is not confirmed yet but the option is there to do either, which is good.

Full throttle clutchless upchanges, and similarly clutchless (within the realms of gearbox sympathy) blipper downchages. The clutch only necessary for starting & stopping. The system I have bought came from a guy using it in a Darrian T9 Rally car.

A picture of the Trickshift system

YouTube - Fiat BECs

2009-12-16T09:30:00.000Z

There are lots of poor quality videos on Youtube, but here are a few decent ones to wet the appetite.

Quaife Chain Drive

2009-12-13T22:16:00.000Z

The Quaife chain drive differential came from a guy I found on the Pistonheads site, A Westfield owner who was also building up a Van Diemen single seat car, after a change of plan he opted to install a car engine instead of a bike engine.
The sprocket that came with it is a Talon make, the subsequent gearing for the Fiat will need calculating so it may or may not get used. With the predicted torquey Blackbird Rotrex power the sprocket and chain will get a bit of thought before we decide what to buy, its a short length of chain and the thoughts are it will wear fairly quickly. I may end up going the whole hog and buying a Quaife reverse box , we shall see.

The other aspect of the chain drive is getting a flywheel machined to fit the carrier so I can build in a 12 volt reverse gear. The research I have done suggests a VW Golf / Bosch will run anti clockwise giving me a reverse gear.

Some More Pics

2009-12-02T21:54:00.000Z

Not a lot to show here, but "Retro" is cool....

1974 Fiat 126

2009-11-30T00:05:00.000Z

After following lots of cars on Ebay , I was let down several times trying to secure a car suitable for the project.

Most of the cars were generally tired & rusty and tended to be the BIS model as opposed to the car I ended up buying.

My car is an orginal 1974 air cooled 126 in white, the guy I bought it from had bought it from an antique dealer 12 months previously intending to renovate it for his son. The job never took off so it lay on his drive. The antique dealer had come across it while dealing with deceased estate, the car had been laid up in a barn for 12 years unused.

It was collected by Nat & Callum from RetroPower earlier this week, and while I have not seen it myself they tell me its a very original car in quite good condition for it years.

Why ?

2009-11-29T23:43:00.000Z

Why ? Well this idea started off as a kit car project, MNR , Sylva Fury, MK Indy that sort of theme. I definately wanted a bike engined car for two reasons ... 1) Wife wouldnt let me buy a motorbike as I would kill myself. 2) The noise. The bike engined kit car seemed to offer a compromise of sounding like a hooligan bike with slightly more safety features. A trip out with Martin Keenan in his MK Midi sold me on the idea and confirmed what I thought I wanted, something loud and very fast. I came across a couple of Zcars Hayabusa Minis at a RWYB at York raceway and started to like the small car bike engine idea, however the cost was well over my budget, plus BEC Minis are popular and I wanted different ! Then I came across some BEC Fiat 500s & 126s on Youtube, these were used in hillclimbs/autoslalom in Italy.

I wanted one....

The research began......

Complete Spaceframe
Bike engine
Coilovers
Chain Drive LSD