The car has been lowered Ca. 100mm.
Wrong spacers, they are too wide for these rims.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Pictures with new rims
Mika just sent a couple pictures that were taken yesterday by email. Enjoy!
The car has been lowered Ca. 100mm.
Wrong spacers, they are too wide for these rims.
The car has been lowered Ca. 100mm.Wrong spacers, they are too wide for these rims.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Brake caliper adapter
I made my first cnc milled part, an adapter for T4 front brakes for our street car. It took about 6 hours to make it while learning to use all that there is to make such part from a cad model. I've milled some small pieces before, but nothing this complex and doing it independently still takes some practice.
I'm already comfortable using a cnc lathe, but the bill is so much more versatile and complex. I'll have to start milling every wee, so I won't forget the skills that I've learned.
The adapter looks horrible, compared to what it should. Luckily it's just a mock up piece. I didn't dare to make the thread (I'm sure something bad would have happened), so I made it by hand. That's why the part has some marks from clamping. The raw material I started with was just a bit too thin, there wasn't enough material to machine it smooth, this is why the surface looks dented.
I'll make it better next time...
It took about 9 minutes for the machine to make the part, so it doesn't take very long to make once you have made the code and set up the machine with the right tools.
A nice home studio. The edge of the A4 breaks the illusion in the upper edge.
Even when T4 brakes will fit with these parts to the RaceTaxi, we're not sure yet what brakes to use, so all suggestions are welcome. We have to use brakes from a car that weighs the same or more as ours, so there aren't many options available. We already had Cayenne brakes, but they required so much space that the rims you had to use made no sense.
I'm already comfortable using a cnc lathe, but the bill is so much more versatile and complex. I'll have to start milling every wee, so I won't forget the skills that I've learned.
The adapter looks horrible, compared to what it should. Luckily it's just a mock up piece. I didn't dare to make the thread (I'm sure something bad would have happened), so I made it by hand. That's why the part has some marks from clamping. The raw material I started with was just a bit too thin, there wasn't enough material to machine it smooth, this is why the surface looks dented.
I'll make it better next time...
It took about 9 minutes for the machine to make the part, so it doesn't take very long to make once you have made the code and set up the machine with the right tools.
A nice home studio. The edge of the A4 breaks the illusion in the upper edge.Even when T4 brakes will fit with these parts to the RaceTaxi, we're not sure yet what brakes to use, so all suggestions are welcome. We have to use brakes from a car that weighs the same or more as ours, so there aren't many options available. We already had Cayenne brakes, but they required so much space that the rims you had to use made no sense.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Lightening, lowering and painting the left side
After measuring the weight we were really motivated to work on the car, especially to lighten it even more.
First we removed the dash fresh air/heating system with hoses. The car has it's engine at the back, and the radiator and dash heater have their own hoses. So by eliminating the dash heater, we got rid of ca. 8 meters of hose.
Next we lowered the rear by removing the upper mounts for the rear springs. The upper mounts would just be excess weight when converting the rear to coil-overs.
When the rear was at the right height, we noticed that we didn't lower the front enough when the car was laying on it's side. So we had to of course also lower the front. Cutting the front springs was easy when the car was on it's side, but not anymore, so we decided to lighten the front floor and at the same time create access holes for the front springs.
The car is now at a decent height, both front and rear tires have about 5cm of room to travel, which should be enough for track use. We will still have to check the travel of the front suspension, probably the shocks are bottomed, and hopefully not the balljoints...
Rear end, springs and their upper mounting points removed. Resting on only the shock absorbers.
Lightening the front floor. The floor will be covered with aluminium.
A design flaw by the VW factory? When you lower enough the breather tanks interfer with the wheels.
The car lowered.
Left side painted.
First we removed the dash fresh air/heating system with hoses. The car has it's engine at the back, and the radiator and dash heater have their own hoses. So by eliminating the dash heater, we got rid of ca. 8 meters of hose.
Next we lowered the rear by removing the upper mounts for the rear springs. The upper mounts would just be excess weight when converting the rear to coil-overs.
When the rear was at the right height, we noticed that we didn't lower the front enough when the car was laying on it's side. So we had to of course also lower the front. Cutting the front springs was easy when the car was on it's side, but not anymore, so we decided to lighten the front floor and at the same time create access holes for the front springs.
The car is now at a decent height, both front and rear tires have about 5cm of room to travel, which should be enough for track use. We will still have to check the travel of the front suspension, probably the shocks are bottomed, and hopefully not the balljoints...
Rear end, springs and their upper mounting points removed. Resting on only the shock absorbers.
Lightening the front floor. The floor will be covered with aluminium.
A design flaw by the VW factory? When you lower enough the breather tanks interfer with the wheels.
The car lowered.
Left side painted.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Measuring the weight
We finally got the race taxi on scales. We measured the weights of two Multivans at the same time, the other one being without an engine. The results were quite stunning, because we had no real idea what to expect.
Multivan 1, without engine, 1384kg (3051lbs).
Multivan 2, 2,1wbx, 1616kg (3562lbs), with 10 liters of gas.
Gear box, 51,5 kg (113lbs), without oil.
Subaru engine on engine stand, 172kg (379lbs). We assumed that the engine stand would weigh about the same as the exhaust, flywheel and other missing parts. The factory says it weighs 147kg (324lbs).
The Race Taxi, 759,5 kg (1675lbs)! Without windows, doors, engine, gear box etc.
The goal weight has been 1300kg (2866lbs), but when quickly counting together missing parts, 1100-1200kg (2425lbs-2645lbs) doesn't seem too impossible. Getting the weight to 1100kg would be great, then it would weigh approximately the same as Mika's Porsche! When thinking about the weight, and how much hasn't been lightened yet, even 1000kg doesn't seem impossible if you do something radical... Maybe next year.
Getting the weight this low motivated us to lighten even further, and the first thing we decided was to remove the stock fresh air and heater system from the front, and replace it with a Caravelle rear heater to get some heat when going ice racing. Some lightweight fresh air system will be fabricated, so we can get the car through the inspection.
Rest of the evening was spent sanding and preparing the car for painting, it gets closer each day that passes by.
Multivan 1, without engine, 1384kg (3051lbs).
Multivan 2, 2,1wbx, 1616kg (3562lbs), with 10 liters of gas.
Gear box, 51,5 kg (113lbs), without oil.
Subaru engine on engine stand, 172kg (379lbs). We assumed that the engine stand would weigh about the same as the exhaust, flywheel and other missing parts. The factory says it weighs 147kg (324lbs).
The Race Taxi, 759,5 kg (1675lbs)! Without windows, doors, engine, gear box etc.
The goal weight has been 1300kg (2866lbs), but when quickly counting together missing parts, 1100-1200kg (2425lbs-2645lbs) doesn't seem too impossible. Getting the weight to 1100kg would be great, then it would weigh approximately the same as Mika's Porsche! When thinking about the weight, and how much hasn't been lightened yet, even 1000kg doesn't seem impossible if you do something radical... Maybe next year.
Getting the weight this low motivated us to lighten even further, and the first thing we decided was to remove the stock fresh air and heater system from the front, and replace it with a Caravelle rear heater to get some heat when going ice racing. Some lightweight fresh air system will be fabricated, so we can get the car through the inspection.
Rest of the evening was spent sanding and preparing the car for painting, it gets closer each day that passes by.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Homepage
We got our homepage running at http://www.ratataksi.com/
Please visit us and check out the photo gallery section, it has loads of additional photos not seen in the blog.
Please visit us and check out the photo gallery section, it has loads of additional photos not seen in the blog.
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