Exhaust, fuel system and engine wiring ready to go

The car should be ready by 21th March, that's when the car has to go to American car show. So there's only a couple weeks to get the car ready.

A picture of the ready fuel collector tank. It's a smaller tank that comes between the fuel cell and the engine, reducing fuel starvation especially when the fuel level is low.

A closeup of beginning to make the exhaust tubing.

The same part as above, now with tubing extending to the turbocharger.

A picture of the fuel cell and collector tank.

The ready exhaust tube.

The location of the fuel pumps. We use two pumps to deliver fuel from the collector tank to the engine, and a smaller pump to deliver fuel from the fuel cell to the collector tank. The collector tank will be pressurized to 1bar.

The front brakes. Comparison of the old stock disc to the new T4 front disc.

The relays and fuses mounted.

The steering column lock is usually removed in race cars, so we had to find a good place for the startbutton and ignition switch. The six point safety belts made locating the switches a challenge, because you can't reach many of them when the belts are tightened. The fresh air system switch was mounted in the same spot as the startbutton. Blinkers and windshield wipers will be with the stock switches. The light and emergency flascher switches will be in stock locations and you won't need to and won't be able to reach them while driving.

The engine almost ready to start.

Rear brake adapter, exhaust and rear seat frame

What happened this weekend:

The rear brake adapters from the mill, still needs a bit finishing.

The adapter and other rear brake parts being installed.

The disc with calipers on the car. And to the left a picture of the discrete exhaust tip location, no twin exhaust, sorry.

We spent some time thinking about what way to draw the exhaust tube. We chose the shortest way.

The exhaust without the side skirt. The tube is 3" inside diameter, can't wait to hear how it sounds!

The frame for the rear seats, under which the fuel cell will be located. The fuel cell is a temporary solution, because we didn't have the time to make our own tank that will be located between under the car on the right side. The current location for the fuel cell will need a refill hole on the outside. Luckily we can use the refill hole for the dry sump system when we have the time to make the modifications to the engine.

Update, It's been a while since last time

It's been a bit slow on the bus front.
Two weeks ago I was four days in a optimumg seminar in Estonia, the subject was racecar vehicle dynamics and data acquisition. Feels like the more you find out about how suspensions work, the less you know. And last week I was sick. So I think it's time to become active again...

16th February was supposed to be the deadline for the car. We didn't make it. We were supposed to make the car driveable before the final target that is American Car Show (the biggest car show in the nordic countries, not just americans). We decided that it's not worth it to just try to get the car driveable. Building the car has progressed well. But the finishing of it, which we don't have time for, seems to take the most time.

Once in a while a pic of the whole car to the blog.

A picture of the enginebay. Just starting to make the wiring.

The upper mount for the front coil over.

We thought that this would be a nice spot for the fuse box. It's well hidden from outside, but still easy to access while driving. The dashboard will be kept as stock as possible, to keep some of the car's original identity.

The coolant lines are all connected and ready to go. The engine "just" needs a couple wires and fuel. The ECU doesn't really need much, if it gets + and - it's almost ready to go, so making the wiring for the engine isn't that a big job. But making a sense of the stock subaru wiring harness is difficult and time consuming, it looks quite intimidating when you pull it out from the donor car.

Some cool new parts

I tried to think of something more cool than a half meter long carbon fiber gear shifter, but couldn't think of anything.

A picture of the parts. To the right is the carbon fiber tube, in the middle the aluminium thread insert that connects to the shifter knob and to the left a stainless insert that will be welded to the gear shifter joint. This will be glued together once I get the right angle to drill the hole into the stainless insert.

Everyone who has driven one of these know how enjoyable changing gears is, hopefully with these parts it can be done in style.

Another gear box, installing the rear coil overs

The computer trouble has continued. I just broke another computer and the homepage ratataksi.com has been mostly down for over a week now because of the internet provider's server troubles.

RJES bell housing changed to another gear box that has a limited slip differential. We also cleaned and greased the other CV-joints that were luckily in good shape. I noticed that the stock drive shafts feel soft, so they will be monitored for twist.

The coil over installation at the rear. The lower mounting point is the stock shock mounting point and the upper point is relocated.

We had to make this special tool to remove the oil cooler. It's an 1/2 inch socket that has been lengthened with a piece of roll cage tubing.

Last Sunday another car joined the family.