Attempting to build the fastest road legal Elan in the world

Attempting to build the fastest road legal Elan in the world

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stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Turn7 said:
Love no compromises....
I have, unfortunately, had to make some in order to keep it UK road legal and safe to use on the highway: Wiper motor, horn, brake lights and indicators, rear view mirror, exhaust, tyres and ground clearance.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
An interesting day. Started off with removing the door lock from a soon to be scrapped caravan stored next door as it looked identical to our worn out motorhome one. Unfortunately, it wasn't the same.

I was due to meet David at DC Electronics at 2pm so left earlier so I could pop in to the caravan shop in Ulting, but their offerings were no good. Next stop was a quick chat with Geoff Page (my engine guru) prior to meeting David. Geoff said that my car will need to be taken to DCe's place so it can be properly gone over by David and Geoff so they can agree on what needs to be done.

We also decided we would add a G sensor, a steering angle sensor and damper potentiometers. However, we can do away with the speed sensor as we can use one of the wheel sensors.

Met David at 2pm and agreed to the car coming over at the end of August, actual date to be confirmed. I won't know the cost until it has been properly looked at :-(

Next stop was Life Racing in Basildon to drop off my F88 ECU so it can be upgraded to the latest spec. It should be ready in a couple of weeks.

When I got home Julia said that Chris from next door needed my urgent help with an adaptor. Went over to see him and what he wanted was to be able to fit a silencer to a sniper rifle and it had to be done tonight at it was off to the film set early tomorrow morning, so no pressure!

An hour later the silencer was fitted to the rifle :-) The adaptor isn't actually visible as it is double threaded and joins the silencer to an existing adaptor that had a thread matching that on the rifle barrel.





Edited by stevebroad on Wednesday 26th July 23:23


Edited by stevebroad on Thursday 27th July 23:36

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Friday 28th July 2017
quotequote all
Elan booked in for wiring on 7th September.

It is starting to dawn on me that I might actually meet my deadline of starting the engine this year!

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Monday 31st July 2017
quotequote all
Anyone using a digital G Sensor? Looking for one but prices are silly. In UK I have only found one so far at over £600! Can import from Japan for around £320 including shipping but not import duty and VAT.

Maybe an OEM part?

Any ideas? 2-axis will do.

AW111

9,674 posts

135 months

Tuesday 1st August 2017
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stevebroad said:
Anyone using a digital G Sensor? Looking for one but prices are silly. In UK I have only found one so far at over £600! Can import from Japan for around £320 including shipping but not import duty and VAT.

Maybe an OEM part?

Any ideas? 2-axis will do.
Cheap Android phone?

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Tuesday 1st August 2017
quotequote all
That is an out of the box idea, I like it :-)

AW111

9,674 posts

135 months

Wednesday 2nd August 2017
quotequote all
stevebroad said:
That is an out of the box idea, I like it :-)
I just downloaded a free app that graphs my phone in 3 axes.
A quick shake of the phone in each direction shows it's recording ok.
I also saw calibration apps.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
ECU and PDM brackets finished, although it took me three attempts before I got the front part of the ECU bracket the right width. The holes are to allow ventilation to the ECU heat sink (Yeah, right) and the reduction in weight of 6gms is purely coincidental :-)

There are a lot of pin holes in the laquer but they are out of sight so they can stay. My carbon skills are just enough to produce strong and workable parts. I have yet to tackle exposed weave parts that will be on show as this takes more skill and patience than I currently possess.

These will be attached to the bulkhead using a flexible glue and rubber strips in order to reduce vibration.








stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
I had planned, originally, to secure the glove box door with velcro. However, this proved to be not very successful so I had a rethink. I thought about fittng a hinge (as can be seen on the bottom of the door) but decided that it would get in the way.

Then a freind mentioned the Rare Earth Neodymium Magnets he was using on his project (not car related). Hmmmmmmmm, I thought, so I bought some N52 Grade 20x 2mm Disc Rare Earth Neodymium Super Strong Industrial Magnets and used 15 to hold the door on.

10 you can see in the video plus 5 more inside the glove box behind the 5 that are visible.

Seems to work OK, test will be when car is used in anger.

https://youtu.be/PAsZHr3rdCo

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Friday 11th August 2017
quotequote all
Battery, ECU and PDM brackets fitted. Needed some 6mm bighead bolts (to secure PDM and battery brackets) that I could glue to the bulkhead as I didn't want to drill through it. These seem to be around £18 for 5 and I needed 8. Lathe to the rescue once again. 30 minutes later 8 fixings made. These were glued to the bulkhead with a rubber spacer to reduce vibration.

ECU bracket simply glued on (again with a rubber spacer) The only modificaion I had to make was reducing the length on one of the clutch pipes as it came too close to the ECU bracket.

One more tick on the TODO list.










stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Thursday 17th August 2017
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Air intake pipe fitted.




stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Monday 21st August 2017
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Heat shields coming along. £160 of ZircoFlex III self adhesive heat reflective goodness.




tight fart

2,953 posts

275 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
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I take it that's the turbo you've insulated?
Would it no be better to let the heat escape, the heat sink when you shut down etc.

jontysafe

2,352 posts

180 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
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Two trains of thought on turbo blankets......

Will shorten turbo life no doubt but may lessen lag

I prefer not to use turbo blanket or wrap manifolds but line bonnet with heat reflective material and vent bonnet in any possible way.

High powered cossie engines can create Fukushima heat levels.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
Inner wings are fibreglass. Bonnet is carbon and VERY close to turbo (heat shield material going on bonnet). Footwells and bulkhead are carbon. I don't want the car to melt :-)

andygtt

8,345 posts

266 months

Thursday 24th August 2017
quotequote all
Steve, for the carbon stuff come round and I will give you some pointers, your pretty local to me.
I just finished making the entire side of my Capri in carbon.

I'm using the same ecu as you, just having a loom made now so I can fit it to the noble and write a baseline start map.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Thursday 24th August 2017
quotequote all
andygtt said:
Steve, for the carbon stuff come round and I will give you some pointers, your pretty local to me.
I just finished making the entire side of my Capri in carbon.

I'm using the same ecu as you, just having a loom made now so I can fit it to the noble and write a baseline start map.
Sent you an email, Andy.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Monday 28th August 2017
quotequote all
Heat sheields coming along nicely, even if I do say myself :-) A little fettling then time to add the Zircotac.








Edited by stevebroad on Monday 28th August 12:07

Smokin Donut

278 posts

228 months

Monday 28th August 2017
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Great project, well done, the attention to detail is commendable. Bookmarked and can't wait to see how it turns out. Have you decided on a final colour?

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

238 months

Monday 28th August 2017
quotequote all
Smokin Donut said:
Great project, well done, the attention to detail is commendable. Bookmarked and can't wait to see how it turns out. Have you decided on a final colour?
Thanks. Well, I would like a dark grey to black satin fade, front to rear, with no joins, ie a seamless grey fade to black. So far I have been unable to find a wrap company that can guarantee no shade banding. Also, the car is wider (1.8m sill to sill with no panel joints) than the max wrap width available, AFAIK.