Adapters, wheels and reverse screens

We got all parts for the American car show by tuesday and the final assembly started so we could get the car ready for the show.

Changing the PCD from 5x112 to 1x0?. The adapters came from Tommi's billet.

Here's a shot of the wheels what they looked like before.

A picture of the lip after they were straightened. The end result looked like it was machined and brand new. They could be polished, but the end result wasn't evenly shiny and you could still see the deeper scratches. But you can't expect more from wheels that cost 30€ a piece.

The wheels were straightened by Amriff in Järvenpää, Finland.

Making the interior. The roof and dash screens have been installed and now it's turn for the rpm meter.

The screens and rear camera came from JJ-Tuonti. The reverse camera has nightvision, so you can see who is behind you even when it's dark.

Erno's friend Pete came to help us install the reverse camera and screens. Thanks for the help!

A better picture of the dash.

Washed outside. Our trailer had become too narrow during the winter, so we had to order transportation to the car show. Luckily Erno's neighbour came to the rescue with his truck.

At the Fair center, almost inside!

Photosession

We did a small photosession with the race taxi. We just got the skirts and bumpers painted black, so we wanted to see how it looks looked from a distance.




Looks nice. Square panda? The black skirts make the car look a bit like it's a bit higher off the ground than before. I guess we will just have to lower it more...

One week until it's ready. Two weeks until first test.

Battery mounted, midle seat row shoulder harness bar ready and wheels sent to be straightened

We made some progress on the car. We also noticed a new problem. One of our drivers thinks he can't reach the pedals with the current driving position. I guess we will have to get seat rails for the drivers seat so it can be adjusted...

The battery is mounted. The final position isn't the best with placement of weight in mind, but serviceability is good. The battery mounts will have to be showed at each scrutineering of the car, so it has to be easily viewed.

The mount for the middle seat row shoulder harness.

The wheels were sent to be straightened out by a tire company. We also got one set of centres painted black. When we got the straightness inspected on all wheels, we noticed by pure luck that one of the wheels was of an odd width. At this point we had of course assembled all wheels and taken them to storage. So we had to remeasure each wheel. There were four widths instead of the assumed three. The inner rings were 155mm, 185mm, 195mm and 205mm wide. There was only one wheel with the 185mm inner ring width.

The Race Taxi's first drive

We drove the car out from the garage, so it wasn't that much. We are still missing the brakes and the car needs a lot of finishing work. Not it can be moved by driving in and out from the garage, so it's a big relief.



You have to have two people driving if you don't adjust the idle high. One presses the throttle in the engine compartment and the other "drives"

Today we got the clutch working, which was a quite big job because we moved the work cylinder. The mounting point for the battery is also almost complete.

Update since a long time, the race taxi got wheels...

A friend told me that a sales site has 18 pieces of 15" center lock wheels for a reasonable price, so I was going to buy them for our locosts. I found the adverticement and called the seller right away. I didn't have the time to read the ad, and found out that they were 16" that isn't legal in the locost racing series in Finland. After thinking about it for a moment we decided to buy them anyways. If nothing else, we could put them on the race taxi...

The wheels are made by PLS in France and I was told they have been in a Mercedes Benz touring car. The weight is 9 kilos each. The wheels are three piece with a magnesium center.

When I got the wheels to the garage I quickly realized the problem of space required to store 18 wheels.. :-)

Most of the wheels are pretty badly damaged, so they will have to be straightened out. I think we can get a couple straight sets for the car. First we have to check the centers for straightness and cracks, and then check the outer halves too.

The wheels will be mounted in the same fashion as the 911 street car. The bolt pattern will be changed with an adapter.

A new guy got involved in the project, Erno. Erno has already brought energy and enthusiasm to the project which has rub off on to me and Mika. Most of race taxi's events this summer's will be attended by Erno.