WCA - Build thread 3

[landmannnn]

The americans have put ls engines in the mx5. I checked this out, the fitting kit including exhaust, engine mounts, radiator etc came to $5k.

Having dropped an ls (lq actually) into my off roader, the costs ramp up to several thousands to finish the job off correctly. I dare not mention how much!

Don't get me wrong, a decent engine transplant is really worth doing, but don't expect it to be cheap.

In terms of bang for your buck super or turbocharging may sound expensive at face value but will probably work out the cheapest in the long run.

[Mister Towed]

Have now pm'd those interested in the Maserati motor.

[redratbike]

You've been spoilt in the merc with its available on tap power

I'd sort suspension and enjoy a better handling car with the available power ..then go with the manifold rechip etc...

Then turbo or super charger

But those ls1's do look good

http://ls1tech.com/forums/conversion...onversion.html

[Mister Towed]

Powerrrrr corrupts. Absolute Powerrrr corrupts absolutely...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdLHAqL8KJw

Sometimes, less is more.

[Scottie22]

It may be a lot cheaper in the long run to have a few sessions with a good psychiatrist, who may be able to convince you that 200 BHP would be enough for a lightweight car like yours :-)

[WorldClassAccident]

I have a new plan. i will be starting a build thread soon.







=



Images are only ilustrative at this point. Need a new donor car to put it all in as well

[WorldClassAccident]

When I was with Chris on Wednesday I noticed he had a fancy conical air filter fitted and said it sounded great. I immediately wondered if it made more power too so started to google.

Unfortunately this suggested not : http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8918

But it did suggest modifying the route of the air to the air filter would improve things. Unfortunately I couldn't see any pictures on the thread and other threads I looked at didn't look the same as my engine.

Not to be put of by a lack of knowledge, guidenance or ability I made a start.

I found the bottom of the air box and pulled the connecting bit of plastic off


This was a funny shape with a sort of rectangle at the end that connected to the bottom of the air box and a flat slot at 90 degrees at the other end.



Which ever way you looked at it there seemed to be sub-optimal air flow.



What was needed here was a genius plan to use part of the existing plastic, a jubileee clip, some extra piping and my finely honed fabrication skills to get a flow of cold fresh air directly from the front of my car with no funny squidged bits.

I used a high tech computer aided design tool to generate the theoretical prototype


The yellow line shows where I should cut. The picture below shows where I actually cut.



A quick stroll over to A&E for a wash and three stiches and it looked a lot neater.


Back to the car again and I am pleased with the end result. I didn't bother refitting the bit of plastic and the end result looks like optomised air flow to me.

[oxford1360]

Looks like the A&E Loyalty Card came in handy.

[landmannnn]

To be honest the A&E bloke's fabrication looks better than yours, couldn't you get him to do your airflow changes?

[WorldClassAccident]

Now with big bore pipe getting air from the vent in the nose. Shame I couldn't get smooth pipe but the surface area is still loads bigger than before and there is still the big BMW airbox to smooth the air flow.

Hard when you have two fingers taped together and can't bend them

[y cymro]

Will this achieve more power than the LS conversion ;-)

[WorldClassAccident]

No, it with distort the aluminium tubing :-(

After an enthusiastic drive I popped the bonnet to discover a sub-optimal piece of tubing.

At the back of the radiator and before the airbox there is some very hot air which caused the problem.

If you look at the radiator and the silver bit of bodywork you can see the black plastic fixing mount. I am now thinking that if I put a sheet of something very heat proof to act as a wall between the hot air and the air intake vertically and roughly in line with that mount I might solve the problem

[WorldClassAccident]

I haven't posted for a while as I have been enjoying the car in the sunshine. Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and have got someone else to do the interior for me. I delivered the var and look forward to seeing what happens next.

Here are some before photos showing the car as it was handed over




Hopefully I will get some in progress shots while the work is being done.

I will be sending Ken a link to this thread so he can add stuff if he wants.

[y cymro]

Looking forward to see how this turns out.
Will there be a clock?

[Jaguartvr]

God I hope not

[WorldClassAccident]

Dropped off the new clock (joke) and took some pictures of progress. The door leather is not fixed yet but the framework holding the switches looks good. It will all be behind a secret pannel when it is finished.

[y cymro]

Personally, I think there should be an appropriate clock as all Maser's have always had one. Perhaps a suitable black stopwatch?
I like the shape of the dash panel, that's coming on nicely.

[WorldClassAccident]

Lower door panels and centre console will be saddle brown.

The top of the door car will be black leather as in the first photo with the bottom part being the brown leather in this picture. Again this is work in progress so the wrinkles will disappear

[IanA]

Originally Posted by WorldClassAccident

Lower door panels and centre console will be saddle brown.

Looking very good.
My preference on my car would be just a touch lighter, with the same colour on all surfaces and not shiny- for that period feel.
Probably Alcantara in the right colour would do. Wonder if it fades much?

[WorldClassAccident]

The leather does have a surface texture so isn't actually shiney, just not a great photo.

The colour is a shade darker in the picture that reality because it is lit from behind. It is a little darker than I thought it would be. I wanted something closer to the wood on the steering wheel. Having said that, it does look good against the black door tops.