Return Of The JEDI (Mk6)
Discussion
Well this time of year is always quite for us, it's the end of our season and we've pretty much taken everything apart and are awaiting the return of engines etc. to put them back together again with. So time for a project!
I went on the internet and immediately found this:
A JEDI MK6 which had been in a barn for four years sans engine and with most other components on the floor around it. It was, shall we say, very much not complete. I immediately had it and we got on with boning it as this really was a rip it down to the space frame and start again job!
The bodywork went off to First Place Finish for paint and the frame was good but had been badly painted and generally looked a mess but before it could go off to be blasted and powder coated we had a few quick jobs to do:
Like working out wing mounts for this proper serious ex Honda F1 rear wing and where we could fit (friggin) laser ride height sensors (because everyone knows if it doesn't have lasers you're only playing at it).
The frame then went off for blasting and was then powdercoated in gloss black. The uprights were also stripped and sent off for powdercoating and all other suspension parts or bright work went off to be nickel plated, this included all suspension arms, pedals, linkages etc.
Whilst this was going on we also rebuilt the drive shafts, dampers, steering rack, crack tested the column, rebuilt the diff and decided from all the bits we had what we were going to keep and use again..... this ended up being not a lot!
The frame came back looking very nice indeed and after bolting a few essentials on we water jet cut new aluminium panels based on the design of the original panels and these were rivited and bonded in position. A new CF dash panel was also cut and fitted to carry the new dash display etc.
We found a decent 2001 R1 motor on e-bay and following a quick bore scope and once over during which we upgraded the clutch, fitted a sump baffle and generally had a fettle with it this e-bay lump turned out to actually be pretty good! We also rebuilt the set of flat slide carbs which came with the car, these were full of swarf, debris, dead flies and floor but following several days in the ultra sonic cleaner and some new trumpets came out looking like new.
It went in with no hassles but we used some rather nicer fasteners than was on there originally and beefed up a couple of the engine mounting brackets which were showing fatigue in places.
Getting some wires into the car was pretty simple. Using the original Yamamha spark controller we built a new loom around it which also incorporate the dash loom and start/charge circuits as well as running back into the engine bay to power the fuel pump and pick up the engine sensors. The car has almost nothing on it engine wise and being such a small car the loom could be built in a single piece. There was no budget in this build for a PDM or anything fancy so it's got an A1GP/Ferrari style micro fuse and relay box behind the dash which carries fuses and relays for pump, starter, main loom power, data etc. Data is again simple with an AIM EVO4 logger and Mychron 4 display. The battery is a Lithium item which I like as it's only 465grams for 95 cranking amps. The original bike alternator and regulator are used for charging. All looms into the engine bay are in fire sleeve, everything else is heat shrunk. Cockpit switch gear is APEM and really simple with it all on a CF panel on the side of the tub with main igniton and fuel pump switches being self locking, lift for off APEM items and the starter switch living under a flip up missile release cover.
Fuel system was again really simple with an 18.5L tank behind the seat, single low pressure pump going to an FSE reg straight into the carbs. A pressure sensor is located between the pump and reg to give a low fuel pressure warning.
The original coolant system was two plastic end tanked metro radiators which just wouldn't do so we used two spare Secan cores which used to live in a early 2000s Mclarens side pods and made new end tanks to suit.
Every spherical and rose joint on all the corners were replaced with new kevlar lined items and the corners built up onto the car with new wheel bearings. We made some changes to the front uprights to beef up the caliper mountings and every fastener was replaced with either a NAS bolt or high grade cap head with a K-Nut. We also shortened all fasteners to remove excess threads.
We made some pretty big changes to the exhaust setup, the original was basically on top of the car and in the way of any decent wing setup, not to mention putting the weight way high in the car. We used a relatively short motorbike can mounted on the frame exiting between the lower wishbone and driveshaft through the diffuser instead which got the weight down low and made some room for aero. This required a bit of thermal management but nothing some mylar sheet couldn't solve. We also mylar'd the bulk head, inside the engine cover and side pods and generally anywhere else anything may see heat.
We were really unhappy with the original brake/pedal box setup so this all went bar the pedals themselves. Masters are now Brembo cast Ti F1 items, all brake lines are shrunk in DR25 and all fittings are Ti. The standard car has no Bias adjustment so a Bias adjuster was fitted up on the dash and a 90 degree gearbox sorted for the cable drive to clear the clutch pedal. The whole setup turned out about a million times nicer than the 30 quid of no name chinese master cylinders it came with!
Bit of fake carbon on the floor to avoid scuffing the ally to pieces after a few goes as they do tend to fill up with gravel. Belts are Schroth GP but with our F1 upper belt mounts rather than clip ins.
So as it stands now we're waiting on a chain and bodywork back from paint then it will have a final once over with all hose/wire runs through panels gromited and taped followed by a damn good clean and hoover out and it's ready to have a shake down. It weighs less than 400KG with a driver in it, makes North of 160bhp, revs to 12K RPM and should make twice it's weight in downforce.
Oh and we built it in a little over two weeks from start to finish. They are beautifully simple!
I have no idea what we're going to do with it but it's a lovely little thing, very much a baby F1 car
I went on the internet and immediately found this:
A JEDI MK6 which had been in a barn for four years sans engine and with most other components on the floor around it. It was, shall we say, very much not complete. I immediately had it and we got on with boning it as this really was a rip it down to the space frame and start again job!
The bodywork went off to First Place Finish for paint and the frame was good but had been badly painted and generally looked a mess but before it could go off to be blasted and powder coated we had a few quick jobs to do:
Like working out wing mounts for this proper serious ex Honda F1 rear wing and where we could fit (friggin) laser ride height sensors (because everyone knows if it doesn't have lasers you're only playing at it).
The frame then went off for blasting and was then powdercoated in gloss black. The uprights were also stripped and sent off for powdercoating and all other suspension parts or bright work went off to be nickel plated, this included all suspension arms, pedals, linkages etc.
Whilst this was going on we also rebuilt the drive shafts, dampers, steering rack, crack tested the column, rebuilt the diff and decided from all the bits we had what we were going to keep and use again..... this ended up being not a lot!
The frame came back looking very nice indeed and after bolting a few essentials on we water jet cut new aluminium panels based on the design of the original panels and these were rivited and bonded in position. A new CF dash panel was also cut and fitted to carry the new dash display etc.
We found a decent 2001 R1 motor on e-bay and following a quick bore scope and once over during which we upgraded the clutch, fitted a sump baffle and generally had a fettle with it this e-bay lump turned out to actually be pretty good! We also rebuilt the set of flat slide carbs which came with the car, these were full of swarf, debris, dead flies and floor but following several days in the ultra sonic cleaner and some new trumpets came out looking like new.
It went in with no hassles but we used some rather nicer fasteners than was on there originally and beefed up a couple of the engine mounting brackets which were showing fatigue in places.
Getting some wires into the car was pretty simple. Using the original Yamamha spark controller we built a new loom around it which also incorporate the dash loom and start/charge circuits as well as running back into the engine bay to power the fuel pump and pick up the engine sensors. The car has almost nothing on it engine wise and being such a small car the loom could be built in a single piece. There was no budget in this build for a PDM or anything fancy so it's got an A1GP/Ferrari style micro fuse and relay box behind the dash which carries fuses and relays for pump, starter, main loom power, data etc. Data is again simple with an AIM EVO4 logger and Mychron 4 display. The battery is a Lithium item which I like as it's only 465grams for 95 cranking amps. The original bike alternator and regulator are used for charging. All looms into the engine bay are in fire sleeve, everything else is heat shrunk. Cockpit switch gear is APEM and really simple with it all on a CF panel on the side of the tub with main igniton and fuel pump switches being self locking, lift for off APEM items and the starter switch living under a flip up missile release cover.
Fuel system was again really simple with an 18.5L tank behind the seat, single low pressure pump going to an FSE reg straight into the carbs. A pressure sensor is located between the pump and reg to give a low fuel pressure warning.
The original coolant system was two plastic end tanked metro radiators which just wouldn't do so we used two spare Secan cores which used to live in a early 2000s Mclarens side pods and made new end tanks to suit.
Every spherical and rose joint on all the corners were replaced with new kevlar lined items and the corners built up onto the car with new wheel bearings. We made some changes to the front uprights to beef up the caliper mountings and every fastener was replaced with either a NAS bolt or high grade cap head with a K-Nut. We also shortened all fasteners to remove excess threads.
We made some pretty big changes to the exhaust setup, the original was basically on top of the car and in the way of any decent wing setup, not to mention putting the weight way high in the car. We used a relatively short motorbike can mounted on the frame exiting between the lower wishbone and driveshaft through the diffuser instead which got the weight down low and made some room for aero. This required a bit of thermal management but nothing some mylar sheet couldn't solve. We also mylar'd the bulk head, inside the engine cover and side pods and generally anywhere else anything may see heat.
We were really unhappy with the original brake/pedal box setup so this all went bar the pedals themselves. Masters are now Brembo cast Ti F1 items, all brake lines are shrunk in DR25 and all fittings are Ti. The standard car has no Bias adjustment so a Bias adjuster was fitted up on the dash and a 90 degree gearbox sorted for the cable drive to clear the clutch pedal. The whole setup turned out about a million times nicer than the 30 quid of no name chinese master cylinders it came with!
Bit of fake carbon on the floor to avoid scuffing the ally to pieces after a few goes as they do tend to fill up with gravel. Belts are Schroth GP but with our F1 upper belt mounts rather than clip ins.
So as it stands now we're waiting on a chain and bodywork back from paint then it will have a final once over with all hose/wire runs through panels gromited and taped followed by a damn good clean and hoover out and it's ready to have a shake down. It weighs less than 400KG with a driver in it, makes North of 160bhp, revs to 12K RPM and should make twice it's weight in downforce.
Oh and we built it in a little over two weeks from start to finish. They are beautifully simple!
I have no idea what we're going to do with it but it's a lovely little thing, very much a baby F1 car
poppopbangbang said:
Just ripped it up and down the road with ancient wets on and no bodywork. It's insane
There must be a way to prank someone with this.Say the someone who comes to inspect the F1 car they drive. You say it required quite a bit of work this winter.... et voila push the Jedi out into the sunlight..
Here it is with the rads in.
Bit of a bodge up at the moment with bits of random Samco we had kicking around. I need to order some reducing 90's to make it nice. There is a rad per side pod with oil cooling via the standard water/oil heat exchanger (hence plenty of rad area). If anything it's OTT as there isn't room for the standard thermostat setup so this is going to get pretty Formula Ford with the gaffer tape I think! Cores are ex F1 Secan secondary rads so pretty efficent and light for their size.
Front wing is back on too. Standard Jedi wing with new end plates and will shortly have some gurneys on the elements. Mounts are direct to the space frame via two ally uprights.
Shows the rad angle as well which is basically a pair of parachutes with the exits through the side of the side pods. Some serious dev to be done here to get the drag out but for now it'll do.
Oh and belt mounts:
Uppers are on a Ti dog bone which bolts through the bulkhead to a Ti spreader plate which in turn bolts directly to the space frame with a NAS bolt. Much nicer way of doing it than using a standard bolt in upper belt mount which in this application would have to be verticle and hence have a load path which was far from ideal i.e. in the event of the big one would be trying to pull a standard bolt in mount over the top of the fastener.
Carbs took a bit of dicking around with to get right, we're all stand off injectors and 20 bar fuel pressure so going at the fueling with a pair of screwdrivers was novel.... still once we'd worked out which ones were the idle jets and balanced the carbs it ran sweet. WOT down the access road showed no problems and with the slightly bigger masters it has plenty of brakes. It also vomits a spectacular amount of flame out the diffuser on the over run
So completed on time as today was the last spare day. Monday we get our first VJ back from rebuild so that needs to go into a car and we have the serious bit of an OEM project kicking off.
I still thing it's gagging for inboard dampers, sculptured rads and active aero though.... plus a nice ex F1 steering wheel
Bit of a bodge up at the moment with bits of random Samco we had kicking around. I need to order some reducing 90's to make it nice. There is a rad per side pod with oil cooling via the standard water/oil heat exchanger (hence plenty of rad area). If anything it's OTT as there isn't room for the standard thermostat setup so this is going to get pretty Formula Ford with the gaffer tape I think! Cores are ex F1 Secan secondary rads so pretty efficent and light for their size.
Front wing is back on too. Standard Jedi wing with new end plates and will shortly have some gurneys on the elements. Mounts are direct to the space frame via two ally uprights.
Shows the rad angle as well which is basically a pair of parachutes with the exits through the side of the side pods. Some serious dev to be done here to get the drag out but for now it'll do.
Oh and belt mounts:
Uppers are on a Ti dog bone which bolts through the bulkhead to a Ti spreader plate which in turn bolts directly to the space frame with a NAS bolt. Much nicer way of doing it than using a standard bolt in upper belt mount which in this application would have to be verticle and hence have a load path which was far from ideal i.e. in the event of the big one would be trying to pull a standard bolt in mount over the top of the fastener.
Carbs took a bit of dicking around with to get right, we're all stand off injectors and 20 bar fuel pressure so going at the fueling with a pair of screwdrivers was novel.... still once we'd worked out which ones were the idle jets and balanced the carbs it ran sweet. WOT down the access road showed no problems and with the slightly bigger masters it has plenty of brakes. It also vomits a spectacular amount of flame out the diffuser on the over run
So completed on time as today was the last spare day. Monday we get our first VJ back from rebuild so that needs to go into a car and we have the serious bit of an OEM project kicking off.
I still thing it's gagging for inboard dampers, sculptured rads and active aero though.... plus a nice ex F1 steering wheel
Munter said:
There must be a way to prank someone with this.
Say the someone who comes to inspect the F1 car they drive. You say it required quite a bit of work this winter.... et voila push the Jedi out into the sunlight..
Needs PS01 livery then we can do a Mini Me style test with it and the real ones Say the someone who comes to inspect the F1 car they drive. You say it required quite a bit of work this winter.... et voila push the Jedi out into the sunlight..
mwstewart said:
Beautiful build and quality of installation. I'm looking more and more at something like this as a track car project.
They make a lot of sense. The one we have just built will happily muller an F3 car in terms of pace around a circuit yet an engine is less than £500. I think there is a good argument for making some sports car bodywork for it and having a baby LMP, that way it'd be legal for nearly all track days as open wheel is a bit of a no no at most public track days. Nice work and nice garage!
I own a Jedi mk1/4 and can vouch for them being an absolute hoot. We run a gsxr 1000 k8 and is 320 kg ish with circa 175bhp so pretty much the same. You often see people miss using the phrase " you can't go quicker for less" but in the case of Jedis I think it really is true.
I previously owned a modded Elise and a Griff 500 which were pretty quick road cars but sold up to go hill climbing. Nothing quite prepares you for the first shake down and the leap in performance vs a fast road car. The acceleration is in a different league which I guess is circa 0-60 in 2.5 - 3 secs ish and I guess 100 comes up in 6.5 ish ( hard to say and never timed it ) however it's the sheer lack of weight that means the thing can change direction or stop so quickly that makes the biggest difference vs anything road legal. For me that was the appeal and nothing else can really deliver that sort of driver satisfaction for less than £50k let alone £10k
To put it into perspective a 1000 cc Jedi holds the outright lap record at Cadwell Park - ahead of Leon Haslam on a works Honda ( iirc ).
Great fun and no doubt you'll enjoy it, ( although the other cars in the garage look a bit serious also? ). I'll look forward to following the thread.
I own a Jedi mk1/4 and can vouch for them being an absolute hoot. We run a gsxr 1000 k8 and is 320 kg ish with circa 175bhp so pretty much the same. You often see people miss using the phrase " you can't go quicker for less" but in the case of Jedis I think it really is true.
I previously owned a modded Elise and a Griff 500 which were pretty quick road cars but sold up to go hill climbing. Nothing quite prepares you for the first shake down and the leap in performance vs a fast road car. The acceleration is in a different league which I guess is circa 0-60 in 2.5 - 3 secs ish and I guess 100 comes up in 6.5 ish ( hard to say and never timed it ) however it's the sheer lack of weight that means the thing can change direction or stop so quickly that makes the biggest difference vs anything road legal. For me that was the appeal and nothing else can really deliver that sort of driver satisfaction for less than £50k let alone £10k
To put it into perspective a 1000 cc Jedi holds the outright lap record at Cadwell Park - ahead of Leon Haslam on a works Honda ( iirc ).
Great fun and no doubt you'll enjoy it, ( although the other cars in the garage look a bit serious also? ). I'll look forward to following the thread.
I gotta say i'd be a little bit scared of the longitudinal control arms being in single shear and pointed directly at the driver. Hit something, a bolt shears and ouch, you'd easily get "speared"! Would like to see either double shear attachment or some "catch" metal work around the inboard ends or preferably, both!
Max_Torque said:
I gotta say i'd be a little bit scared of the longitudinal control arms being in single shear and pointed directly at the driver. Hit something, a bolt shears and ouch, you'd easily get "speared"! Would like to see either double shear attachment or some "catch" metal work around the inboard ends or preferably, both!
You're scared?!?!?! I've got to drive it!!! In all seriousness the arms would fold up before the fastener failed, they are seriously weedy. If for some reason they didn't then yes you're getting run through but considering your feet are infront of the steering rack that's a more pressing concern! Compared to some of the 80's F1's I have driven it's a whole heap safer than a baggy well used ally tub with a roll bar over your ankles with the added bonus that any impact has 400KGs including driver behind it, F=ma and all that!Edmundo2 said:
Nice work and nice garage!
I own a Jedi mk1/4 and can vouch for them being an absolute hoot. We run a gsxr 1000 k8 and is 320 kg ish with circa 175bhp so pretty much the same. You often see people miss using the phrase " you can't go quicker for less" but in the case of Jedis I think it really is true.
When you consider we've built this whole car for slightly less than the price of a new clutch on some of our other stuff it really puts it into perspective!I own a Jedi mk1/4 and can vouch for them being an absolute hoot. We run a gsxr 1000 k8 and is 320 kg ish with circa 175bhp so pretty much the same. You often see people miss using the phrase " you can't go quicker for less" but in the case of Jedis I think it really is true.
Edmundo2 said:
I previously owned a modded Elise and a Griff 500 which were pretty quick road cars but sold up to go hill climbing. Nothing quite prepares you for the first shake down and the leap in performance vs a fast road car. The acceleration is in a different league which I guess is circa 0-60 in 2.5 - 3 secs ish and I guess 100 comes up in 6.5 ish ( hard to say and never timed it ) however it's the sheer lack of weight that means the thing can change direction or stop so quickly that makes the biggest difference vs anything road legal. For me that was the appeal and nothing else can really deliver that sort of driver satisfaction for less than £50k let alone £10k
To put it into perspective a 1000 cc Jedi holds the outright lap record at Cadwell Park - ahead of Leon Haslam on a works Honda ( iirc ).
Great fun and no doubt you'll enjoy it, ( although the other cars in the garage look a bit serious also? ). I'll look forward to following the thread.
The low weight really is the thing with these cars. Getting a formula car down to 300 and a bit KGs isn't easy. To do it steel framed with GRP bodywork is pretty impressive. Obviously the bike engine and chain drive is key here eliminating a boat load of weight in the drive train. With this little mass to stop, accelerate and change direction it goes brilliantly even with a suspension design that's pretty prehistoric! It's comfortably quicker than an F3 car. To put it into perspective a 1000 cc Jedi holds the outright lap record at Cadwell Park - ahead of Leon Haslam on a works Honda ( iirc ).
Great fun and no doubt you'll enjoy it, ( although the other cars in the garage look a bit serious also? ). I'll look forward to following the thread.
I can't wait to put some mates in it so they can experience what a quick single seater is like. As you say road cars just can't compare.
Going to need to move some mass! 
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