A Racing Cab ?

[Paul Gulliver]

MD , A great read , thanks for posting . Just one thing

The majority of tracks in Oz run clockwise

.

Just let me know the next time your running at Bathurst , Philip Island or Sandown. I think i might want to be in another run group   

[L4OMEO]

Wouldn't be the first time we've seen a cab heading the wrong way up a one-way street now would it 

MD, awesomely good series of threats, thoroughly enjoying your commentary and photography. Kudos for taking the time to document it all for our reading pleasure.

Cheers
Rory

[MD]

Hey Paul,

I think I slipped through the foul up net by the skin of my teeth as what I actually said was the majority and not all. For what its worth, all the three major tracks around Brisbane all run clockwise. Other than that I hope you got something out of my input. Cheers.

[MD]

Appreciate the compliments Rory and I just know you meant threads and hopefully not threats 

[L4OMEO]

No MD, I actually meant ... nah you're right it was a typo

Cheers mate, & keep it coming. The threaDs that is.

Rory

[Storm_X]

Well done again

[Paul Gulliver]

all the three major tracks around Brisbane all run clockwise

It must be a mexican thing, There was some horse race on down here yesterday, I noticed they were going around the wrong way to.

Cheers

Gully

[MD]

Must be a great track. Certainly built for maximum horsepower.

Unfortunately, my donkey was star gazing for so long that at last report he was about to hit the finishing line having run the track backwards.

[MD]

Duk,

Apologies. I just realised that I didn't cover your question about the roll cage. This cage is much tougher having anticipated rally type roll overs. It has more members than the Brick and is of larger diameter tube. Having said that, I have added extra members across the firewall and into the damper struts to assist with controlling the coil over front end. That adds more rigidity still and yes more weight but his is offset by loss of weight in dumping the torsion bar set up.

The key thing about this cage is that it engages the rear suspension base like the Brick and not the mudguard inners. As you would be aware, the 116 gets a lot of its handling signals from the rear and it's a good idea to get this as stable as possible and this cage sets up that platform very well from what I have tested so far.

Penalty, about 60kg.

[Paul Gulliver]

The first stage being a mildly warm naturally aspirated unit that produces good reliable torque of good spread and play the part of sorting out the brakes and handling to start with.

MD could you flesh this out a bit , what did you have in mind .

Also just on the  cooling system , how have you beefed that up.

[MD]

Paul, you are confirmed looney but I love ya! 

Gully,

What  I meant by that statement is that concentrating on just making a squillion horsepower and neglecting how the power will be used is a classic mistake. Typical dickhead conversion of a HQ Holden fitted with a turbo V8 into a street chassis and then wonder why it won't go around corners on half song. You and I both know this happens all the time and only the size of the dickhead changes.

The idea in my case is to build up a known good chassis and brake set up and then trial it. Doing this does not require a full on front runner engine (at club level) and so a mid field runner engine will do. To do this means around 175-185 bhp. This can be done with cams,TB's (or carbs.) and headers and if you start with a twin spark engine, you get there with less bucks again without further mods other than a light flywheel.

Alfas are all about handling and less about brute power as we all know. That's what I concentrate on first and is the reason I prefer the transaxle cars and re-engineer them so they gear change and brake as good as any Alfa out there. To that end, I have configured an engine to do this job and initial testing of my spring rates, geometry, damping and brakes suggests that I am on track but my Achilles heel is always going to be the car's weight.

To some extent I can offset that by upgrading the power (which is in the plan) or swap cars with Frank but  I would need his secret stash of goolies and skill. 

If that doesn't cover it, and you want to be confused further, just ask.

Cheers mate.

[Duk]

Obviously you came up with an answer to your bump-steer dilemma. Did you simply use the same method as you did on the Brick or something else?

[MD]

Yeah, the bloody bump steer issue is a pearler. Having said that, this cars is not as low as the previous one and needs its own geometry. So after all the high tech discussions we had and as much as I hate welding those uprights,( a guy in Finland broke one recently) I decided to go low tech and just heat the sheit out of the steering arm and bend it to suit. Crappy job but it works. Has to be on the aligner to do it though.

[Duk]

Yeah, the bloody bump steer issue is a pearler. Having said that, this cars is not as low as the previous one and needs its own geometry. So after all the high tech discussions we had and as much as I hate welding those uprights,( a guy in Finland broke one recently) I decided to go low tech and just heat the sheit out of the steering arm and bend it to suit. Crappy job but it works. Has to be on the aligner to do it though.

Kewl!

After that thread, I actually bought some Spyder uprights from the U.S., with the idea that I would go the upside down lower BJ (what with talk that the actual stub axle is lower on the 105 uprights, so giving a bit more lower control arm clearance with the rim, but better geometry for the suspension), but also because they use the separate steering arm. My idea was to make arms that had bump steer correction but were also a lot shorter than standard, to speed up the steering (I planned on adding stops inside the steering rack to make sure I didn't end up with stupid amounts of steering angle).
Trouble was, the Spyder uprights I bought have different caliper mounting points compared to the 75 (apparently some 105's have the same mounting points as the 75's). Given the coin I spent doing my Volvo 4 piston caliper (yes, they are heavy) and slotted 164 rotor with decent pads set up (just over $1k, believe it or not), I couldn't justify going through with it.
It would be awesome to have faster steering in the Alfa, though  .
Knowing what I know now, I'd just use Nissan or Mazda Sumitomo 4 piston calipers and the Spyder uprights, but there would be to much coin down the drain to start again (I hate the idea of separating those bedded in pads from their respective rotors).

[MD]

Gully,

Sorry mate, I left off the cooling reply bit.

My radiator uses standard brass tanks set up with a Honda copper core and running horizontal tubes. I originally fitted a fan to it but later removed it altogether as it is not required. I use distilled water and 50% mix of ethyl glycol as my coolant. The system is very efficient and all that is required to cool it is forward motion.

For optimum combustion, I prefer to run engine temps around 98* and the coolant and pressure keeps this pretty stable. If there is a problem, my ECU shuts it down but there hasn't been any at all so far.

More water volume absorbs more latent heat but carries more weight. Less volume, less weight but may need fan scrubbing for efficient heat exchange. Fans can pull high current which puts a load on the engine via the alternator and so other factors kick in for choice. For me no fan means less complexity, less parts to go wrong, less cost, more efficiency. It's not for everyone. ie . Like no handbrake.