Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
<<  1    2    3    4    5    6    7  >>
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: 2011 Spire GT-3 RGB Racer
Andy D

posted on 5/6/14 at 06:21 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by yellowcab
Who just watched the MotorsTV coverage, couldn't be happier with the airtime, mentions and on board footage of mine that got used.

Well happy with that!!!

Roll on Rockingham!


Missed it! ..but just caught race two.. not your finest hour but you got a mention.

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 06:36 PM Reply With Quote
Andy get it on record for tomorrow morning (Friday 6th June) at 10:35am
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Andy D

posted on 5/6/14 at 06:44 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by yellowcab
Andy get it on record for tomorrow morning (Friday 6th June) at 10:35am


Record? I am retired! Shall try and catch it tomorrow. Do you know if the roadsports race was shown earlier?

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 06:50 PM Reply With Quote
It certainly was!
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 07:14 PM Reply With Quote
So it was about time I updated this thread with some progress… as you've read the paddle shift setup had to go - just didn't suit me, its all a personal preference, some people love them, I just don't get along with em…

So I picked up a bit of stainless steel FOC 25mm OD bar in order to make my gear stick support… in view of ditching the paddles



Next up paddles, rocker, gear cable & rose joints to be removed



I think my main frustration with the paddles was the amount of friction within the inner to outer cable itself due to the route it had to take to get to the gearbox… now the rear contour of the cable wasn't so bad as it was nice and gradual… but the front U bend was so sharp that it became a nuisance



The gear selector on the gearbox will have to be flipped in order for me to go up the gears by pulling back on the gearstick as the fulcrum will be beneath the pivot



Side pods off for a deep post-Snett cleanse, as it was filthy dirty from my off circuit antics!





Next up there as a 2.5mm thick high sided aluminium around my seat that wasn't really fastened to anything, so got rid of this saving 2.1kg



Gear cable was rather long at being as long as the car at 3.4m in total



So with having a foam set, I didn't want the gear bar to go down the centre of the car for no reason, so I placed it off centre to give myself more elbow room



Profiled/ Notched the ends as neat as I could with a grinder in order to get a decent connection between the two bits of metal



Going back to the selector… it needs to be flipped 180degree, but my Spire is the only one that runs a separate reverse gearbox / glorified starter motor - all the others have a posh Radical Quaife Diff with built in reverse… so I'm going to have to extend the gearbox shaft to clear the reverse box - no biggie… it's all done thanks to cosmick




The outer cable mount I was going to weld to the chassis was too close to a very convent bolt hole, so decided to ditch that and make a longer one to accommodate the M10 bolt you can see in this below photo



Job jobbed



Used the first outer cable bracket to make the front one I need to put on the diagonal bar, so notched it out agai and seeded it on, sprayed up the bar (masking taping the ends of course that need to be welded)



Dash bar cleared of powder coat, bar welded on, sprayed up and altered the dashboard to accommodate the bar coming through



Down on the floor, same again, all sprayed up with no overspray - win/win!



Before & after, from primary idea to everything done… rose joints, gear stick, gear cable & mount… and rear bulk head drilled to allow cable to pass through the engine bay



Dash back on, all wired up - and ready to rock and roll… all set for Rockingham now I think…

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 07:17 PM Reply With Quote
And my next project before Rockingham is…. can you guess?!











View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Pat_T

posted on 5/6/14 at 07:22 PM Reply With Quote
quote:


Dash back on, all wired up - and ready to rock and roll… all set for Rockingham now I think…



Nice work mate! Good tip if you want a hand grip on that new lever without adding any weight - a bit of electrical heatshrink tubing shrunk onto it gives a good grip with gloves!





www.instagram.com/patroclueus

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 07:25 PM Reply With Quote
Ahhh What a gent - I was reluctant to buy an gear knob that weighs more than the stick!

Cheers for the info Pat - should pop around some time

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
bi22le

posted on 5/6/14 at 08:00 PM Reply With Quote
Or I may be able to get you a snazzy push handle grip from a wheelchair that has ridges on it.

Was it 25mm OD?

U2U me if you want one with the ID you need and I will see what I can get. It wont be for this weekend though!!!

PS: following your blog so keep it up!

PPS Ill have a guess on your project. . .

Trailer?

Towing Dolly?

Traction control?





Track days ARE the best thing since sliced bread, until I get a supercharger that is!

Please read my ring story:
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/13/viewthread.php?tid=139152&page=1

Me doing a sub 56sec lap around Brands Indy. I need a geo set up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHksfvIGB3I

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
CosKev3

posted on 5/6/14 at 08:04 PM Reply With Quote
Gear set up looks good

Would a bike handlebar grip fit on the lever?

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 08:44 PM Reply With Quote
Loving the handle ideas!

I thought about tennis racket grip handle tape stuff too...

The diagonal bar is 25mm OD... I'll measure the gear stick itself in sec and post again

Thanks for the interest guys, nice to know some read my ramblings!

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 5/6/14 at 08:45 PM Reply With Quote
Bizzle - yep, trailer mk2... Longer and wider (hence hubcentric wheel spacers, 30mm per side)
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 6/6/14 at 11:07 AM Reply With Quote
16mm O/D on the shifter
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
bi22le

posted on 6/6/14 at 12:22 PM Reply With Quote
I had to space my caravan wheels off aswell when I converted to a trailer.

Regarding the grip - 16mm is a little thin for wheelchair frames. 19mm is the norm but I can get 22mm or 25mm because I am good!!

Nevermind, at least I guessed your project correctly





Track days ARE the best thing since sliced bread, until I get a supercharger that is!

Please read my ring story:
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/13/viewthread.php?tid=139152&page=1

Me doing a sub 56sec lap around Brands Indy. I need a geo set up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHksfvIGB3I

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Andy D

posted on 6/6/14 at 12:52 PM Reply With Quote
Caught the Snetterton Motors TV coverage this morning.. you did do well.

Can't help thinking at some point in the future you'll be wanting to "upgrade" to paddle shift?

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
adithorp

posted on 6/6/14 at 03:00 PM Reply With Quote
You could use bike handlebar tape for the grip. One pack should be good for 4 changes of tape on that. Standard cork will do it (£10ish a pack) but if you want extra grippy (but not cheap) go for "Lizzard Skins"

Have to say I had the same thought as Andy. I love my paddle change but I have to admit after a couple of days touring I do get cramp in my fingers.





"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire

http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 6/6/14 at 03:08 PM Reply With Quote
It was the friction that put me off due to the harsh route to the engine I think...

If I was front engine, or electric (illegal in our regs) then I'd keep em lol

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Andy D

posted on 6/6/14 at 03:12 PM Reply With Quote
Ya wimp, all you need is some muscles!



View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 6/6/14 at 03:21 PM Reply With Quote
I don't need muscles there!!! thats the problem…

This is what I need…





Isn't it amazing what one can find on the interweb!

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 6/6/14 at 03:29 PM Reply With Quote
For those that couldn't see it on MotorsTV - race starts at 3m 30s

http://player.vimeo.com/video/97451588

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
perksy

posted on 6/6/14 at 09:01 PM Reply With Quote
Well Done and keep up the good work

Good write up and some superb photos as usual

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 7/6/14 at 12:07 AM Reply With Quote
Cheers Perksy

Evening gang…

So putting the car to one side, as I won't be going anywhere until I've built this trailer… more parts turned up today, including mudguards, 4x LED marker lights, 10mtrs of 7 core cable & plug… and new tyres and got the old knackered tyres removed




I know its not interesting, nor exciting… but it is dead satisfying turning what looks like a bag'o'sh!t into something worth looking at… the drums were in a poor state, but tidied up nicely & painted




The beam, backing plates & indespension units also had a lot of surface crust on, brought them back to life




The wheels were manky filthy dirty both inside and out… cleaned them up, sprayed them silver outside, and black inside




Now where I come 'cap in hand' does anyone relatively local to me have a lathe… please? the hub centric wheel spacers I bought on a whim are marginally incorrect fit, in that the centre bore of the spacer is 56.1mm, the centre bore of the trailer axel is 56.6mm… so I need 0.5mm taking off the inner diameter… could anyone help out please?


[Edited on 7/6/14 by yellowcab]

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
yellowcab

posted on 11/6/14 at 09:32 PM Reply With Quote
No real update to speak of - other than trailer stuff, but thought I might aswell document it anyway, for those wanting to make one… like I did my last one.

This trailer has a 4 metre long bed instead of 3 metre, to accommodate overhang of bodywork, also it is 60mm wider bed due to hubcentric wheel spacers which was the cheapest way to do it… and also the bed steels are 350mm wide each, rather than 300.



So I received my gear shaft extension from Mike and it was a perfect fit in order to connect my gear cable… went for a test drive (or did I) and its perfect, feels so much more natural already.



Altered the fulcrum from pivot point to give me the desired about of gear lever throw, and leverage



Wanted the steering wheel closer to me, and cutting & welding the column was a bit too Senna for me, so spaced them out with 25mm brass spacers, with nuts on the back of the 12.9 high tensile bolts you can see here, this also now puts the steering wheel dead adjacent to gear stick - perfect!



So I got the call to say the trailer galv are ready, go and break my back collecting them but they all fit in the trusty Golf Estate, even the 2.5metre ramps! that night I laid everything out to double check measurements as I used the width measurements from before just adding on 60mm (to accommodate the wider track)…



You can see the basic principles of whats happening here… all very self explanatory



With the car rolled on, you can see we have ample room at the front of the trailer with still a good 500mm off the back should we not need to push the car right to the front… the 60mm track width has made a huge difference to how much more tolerance I have when loading the car




A design idea of mine was to double fold the ramps, and have them not as high as the inside edge of the trailer troughs so they can be stored like so, without the risk of them flailing around left to right under the car



Bargain £10.99 Lights on, courtesy of eBay… and started bolting the front sections together




Making sure they were running parallel took a bit of time but got there in the end after making up some shims to space out the end of the troughs inside the end capping



Thanks to Nat at RetroPower for turning out the inside of my spacers, they're now on the axel, with my painted wheels and new tyres ready and waiting to go on…



I'm offsetting the number plate panel to allow the ramp latch more meat on the steel, so edged it out by 7mm, then marked and drilled the rear panel, and also where I needed to angle grind the slot in the top, for the ramps to slot in… to double up the strength



Number plate capping ground out, slotted, trough on top, bolt resting through… just now need to cut some off the ramp to enable the lip to drop into the groove… thats all for now folks, quite noisy work and don't wanna pish off the neighbours

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
rdodger

posted on 12/6/14 at 08:06 AM Reply With Quote
Nice work Olly!

Trailer MK2 looks like a real step on from MK1. Very well thought out.

You could have a nice side line building them to order






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
RaveyDaveyDave

posted on 12/6/14 at 08:13 PM Reply With Quote
Like the cars new colour scheme, just need to get rid of that eyesore that is your novice cross. Good luck with the racing, I did club racing for over 10 years, still miss the thrill. Don't miss driving all over the country, or all the sitting about at the circuits waiting for your allotted times. Your mention of going to the toilet more times that morning than all the previous week brings back memory's too, that's why you always see Brundle chasing drivers down the pit lane trying to get an interview before they nip off for another number 1 or 2! Visiting the loo several times and racing will always go hand in hand.
I'm very jealous, you car seems great. Just wait until you get to some great tracks like Cadwell or Donington. I hope your season stays damage free and you really enjoy the experience.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
<<  1    2    3    4    5    6    7  >>
New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.