Looking good.. appears she will be a beast when complete.

 

Looking good man! I'm also working on an XP car. Keep it up!

 

A prepared car is never complete, but THANKS for the kind words!!

The car was a beast, I am hoping for a lighter,stronger, faster, better handling beast, hence the update.
25XP

 

Some of the parts for my new steering setup. I was able to source the correct steering joint that will mate up to the unique Mazda power steering spline. I am awaing another couple and the intermediate rod, but I am really looking forward to how the new setup will perform.
25XP

 

While I very much liked the monochromatic look of Artic Silver exterior and interior, the gloss black of the POR15 underside made it's way to the interior. While I am realize it is not ideal for heat or lost nuts and bolts, it does look pretty bad *** with the black over silver exterior. I may hate it and if so, I covered the inside with a very stout primer. I like te fact that I can simply apply a touch up when need be, scratches, cage modifications, etc.

I did my final instal on the fuel system, while it went together nicely and without out issues, it will probably mean I have a leak or three... Time will tell when I fire it up.

I was hoping to have some final pics of the new steering installed. I had a mishap with the intermediate shaft measurements. Measure twice, but make sure you mark you measurements correctly, cut once..... The steering quickener install was much easier then expected, I can't wait to drive it with the quickener.

The rear suspension is back in place, and the parts I POR15'd look great. The new aluminum fuel lines and cell look good with the underside freshly painted.

25XP

 

I finally secured the wing to the car. I am not sure if I will need additional bracing under the hatch or if it will be strong enough. While the hatch can not be opened with the wing on the car, it shoudn't be a big issue. I will have to remember to fill the cell before I put the wing on at events.

I also removed all of the stock latches for the hatch, I will be installing Sparco pins to keep it secure.

25XP

 

Looks real nice.. that wing mounting turns out to look pretty good.

I dunno.. I would think the stresses you will induce in cornering forces would cause a lot of lateral flex in that rear deck sheet metal. I am wondering on lateral regidity. The bases are only what.. 1" square each?

May want to either put something wider underneath the sheet metal to distribute the load.. or consider something like a braided wire x brace to give some rigidity. ( only because speed will not be TOO high in SOLO II so a small amount of added drag may not be an issue)

 

Why mount the wing so much forward? Try to attach it to something more solid then sheetmetal. In the ideal situation I would be connected to the rear subframe, that's where you want the downforce.

Riz.

 

The wing is mounted with forward sweep struts to keep from extending past the rear bumper per the SCCA rules. I may end up making supports for it, I will have to see how much flex I can put into the rear hatch or if it needs some bracing.

25XP

 

Looking good, where did you find those louvers on the hood?

BigAl...

 

Thanks Al,
The louvers I made myself. It was a bit stressful cutting 2 big holes in a perfectly good turbo hood. I bent some flat stock to fit the rails I made, pretty simple design really. Card board models are your friend....
My goal was to let as much heat escape from the turbo, but I want to keep a balanced look on the hood too.

Overall I am happy with how they turned out.
25XP

 

Today the Roll center kit came in from AWR.
I am happy with the quality of the parts, they fit exactly perfect without issues.
Here are few pics of the new parts and a comparison next to stockers.

At this time, I am going to run my ST swaybar. I will install a Speedway bar in the future, but time is running out for the season. I left the end links off until I get the car aligned.

25XP

 

Now that the Roll center kit is installed I was able to set the car back on it's wheels for the first time in months.
I took the plunge and fired up the car. With the complex fuel system, I was suspecting leaks. Sure enough there were a few. I was able to find them before I started the car, so risk of fire was less.
The aluminum hard lines were most of the fitting leaks. Whlie most only needed a snugging up, one did need to be modified.
Also the Jazz fuel cell needed the fittings snugged up. The supplied washers were the cause, but I think I have that taken care of now.

All of the fluids were changed during this revamp. I re-bleed the clutch and brakes. I used Speed Bleeders on all the fittings, and I had used them in the past on another project. They are such a great investment and work like a charm.

I am finishing up the final wiring revamp, but all the new electrical seems to be working well. I will post some interior pics once everything is buttoned up.

The engine bay revamped. The goal was to reduce heat to the intake, with gold foil and turbo heat shield. The down pipe already is wrapped.
I also modified the powersteering pump's location. It fits very nicely down low with helps with a better CG and intercooler pipes. Some cosmetic stuff, cleaning up the wires and such. Of course the new fuel system too.
I have a few more tweeks and cleaning up under the hood still to do.

25XP

 

Here she is on the ground in the garage.
The rear wing and front splitter are shown.

I will be running the current Real Racing wheels for right now, but CCW classics should be on later this season.
I think I will go with gloss black center with polished lips. Can anyone photoshop that combo for me?

I will be getting the car corner weighted and aligned as soon as it can get into the shop. Then hit the local events.

25XP

 

Looks great.. Nice work done on her!

 

man, you got your roll center kit before I did

They look great

 

Does the roll center kit end up increasing front track, giving you more negative camber, and changing motion ratios and wheel clearances? It looks like it would do all of that by moving the lower shock mount further outboard...

 

can you plz measure the articulation in the bearing on that roll center kit? thats basically same the thing i'm working on, except using a modified bolt in place of that stud (making it adjustable). the bearing I have only has ~26*, which gets used up pretty quickly (3/4" monoball from UB Machine)

also how much was it? may be worth it to just buy the welded part and use my bolts, which i've already made.

assuming the length is the same as OEM, you actually lose camber/track. the pin is angled quite a bit outwards, so to keep the same track/camber you have to lengthen the arm based on amount of correction.

 

$400 for the ball joints, another $200 for bump steer corrected tie rods to go with them.

that's also assuming your control arms aren't already pointed up... it might even out if the ball joints straighten out the control arm.

Looking at the comparison picture, they look the same length as stock.

 

I'm very curious to see if they still fit under 15" wheels... 25XP, how close are they to your 16s?

 

I contacted Tony over a month ago regarding these, I kept contacting him and gave him my deposit for the kit.

I paid $400 for the kit, I already had a bump steer kit from SuperNow, so just so people are not confused that is now AWR's BSK.

The AWR part is just slightly longer than the stock unit. I didn't measure it, as it was pretty minimal. The next time I lift the car I will check the articulation for you Josh.

The end of the ball joint is about 1/8" eyeballed to the brake rotor. They are tight clearanced to the rotor, I don't think you would hit a wheel.

25XP

 

haha, I wasn't complaining. mine were held up waiting for my rear Bilsteins to arrive. That and I'm on the east coast

good to hear they won't interfere with 15s... that might be the way I'm going with my hoosiers.

 

the bearing is a QA1 WPB12T

http://www.qa1.net/qa1_motorsports/i...el-series.html

it has a 13* misalignment angle. Are you using the same bearing?

 

probably lol. that 13* gets used up real quick, i'm assuming tony checked that..
based on my halfass measurements, and usable travel with 25" tires, stock BJ angle is about perfect. looks like thats how Tony's are. with shorter tires, the bearing might bind, it would be worth it to check IMO.

 

25XP: you aren't running that low on your 23" tires... you should be fine. you might want to check the bearing travel as the control arm pivots though.

if I end up switching to 23" A6s I would have to keep it pretty high too because i have to drive to events to 25" tires