Building a Q45 rally car (serious). Need advice

[2brokey]

turael, I think you have changed my opinion. I think I like where this is going... keep up the good work! If it survives this year, maybe you can try something crazy like building it to be AWD sourcing those easier-for-you-than-me to get 'JDM' parts... I think the madness has the front stuff pass through the oil pan. Weird. BTW - main-main SRS controller is directly under the center console, behind where the shifter is. Pull out all the ABS and TCS stuff, and that big crazy bosch pump up front if you haven't already :P It used to be on the battery-side of the engine bay, right behind the battery (if you had one). Depending on what you want to keep, you should be able to trim away at the body harness and wiring and gut the doors. It's always surprising to me how much wiring weighs when I pull out looms, etc.

[turael]

thanks man! You just wait, I have some big things planned for this - I just hope I have enough time to throw at it before Easter.

I'll be starting on the interior after I rip out the FAS.

ABS I'd like to remove, but not sure if I can be bothered figuring out how to make it work without the big ABS unit in the engine bay. It's all a time constraint at the moment - I'd prefer to gut the interior than fiddle with brake lines right now.

AWD would be great. But out of scope, for now and probably for ever.

[turael]

Had a few more hours after work for this. It's getting a bit exhausting spending all my free time on it, but it will all be for naught if I don't get it ready so...

Removed rear struts. this is easiest if you just pop off the rear lca, otherwise it won't drop down far enough to come out. If you need more room you can just lever the knuckle down as well, the rubber bushes have a bit of play.

Z32 rear vs Q45 active rear:



They are almost the same length but the studs are 4cm further apart on the q45 top hat.

Looks like this when you bolt it up with nothing else:


Luckily I have heaps of random s*** lying around so I made an adapter plate from 4mm aluminium plate:


Check out my creamy white hands. Aww yeah... wearing gloves is boss.

fitted:




I'm hoping it doesn't foul on the top arm, as I've offset it that way. If it does I just need to pull it again and swap the mount.

As you can see it pushes the hub down a little bit more. More ride height is OK with me.



tune in tomorrow for more of turaels adventures... should have it on the ground tomorrow on its own four feet.

[Unkn0wN]

looking good, cant wait to see this out @ the farm.

Hopefully you make a before and after video of the exhaust note.
with all that spare SS pipe are you going to make sidepipes like this?
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/a ... epipes.jpg

:P

[turael]

I can certainly do that since I now have a working video camera...
sidepipes... haha you wish :3

[Lokim]

Hack off that suitcase muffler under the trunk. It'll save you around 30 lbs. (~15 kg) and make the exhaust sound great! Did it to mine and am thrilled with the results!

[turael]

Will do
The exhaust I have plans for, just need to get my welder operational. You will not be disappointed.

[turael]

...

[turael]

I made a plate to go over the suspension hat. I needs a bit of work (needs an extra layer where the rubber goes for a tight fit) but for now its just for seeing how low the car will sit with z32 suspension in the front.


answer.. pretty low.



It looks like the rear is still jacked up. It isn't.




Clearly I need to do something about this. Will probably end up just making a lift kit style block to go in each strut to add say two inches in there. Currently I'm removing all the FAS.

Good news, organised my argon for the welder and got some steel delivered. Welder will be up and running pending a 15a powerpoint getting put in soon... and then the fun begins...

[turael]

Todays update:

There is a lot of pipes and s*** for FAS. The end

I'll do a big update after this weekend. Should get plenty done.

[turael]

Big update;

Finished removing FAS. Heaps of s*** here. When I get time (and can convince the missus to help...) I'm going to weigh it all.


Removed exhaust. Woops... I have to put this back on to run the coolant flush. Dammit!
Here's a before and after of the exhaust note. The after has no cats and no mufflers. It sounds mental! Didn't get a chance to rev it out as I'm concerned the neighbours will complain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAZHVUVfBzI

Removed all the interior I am removing.
Things I'm keeping:
- Top of dash
- Front door trims
- Parts of the center console
- I'm also not stripping out the wiring loom - can't be bothered and it takes too long.
- I'm also not stripping out the interior tar - can't be bothered and it takes too long (and don't have any dry ice).







The extinguisher actually fit here with 2 bolt holes lining up to some random bolt holes in the chassis. Win! Solid as a rock. It's a plastic mount but that doesn't matter where I'm going.


I turned the park brake to be permanently released (so I can kick the pedal to use handbrake). This was done just by removing the spring on the return mechanism and then cable tying it in place... I've keep the original cable there as a backup and cable tied it out of the way. I also properly mounted my headunit been listening to some sweet tunes. All the airbag s*** is out of the car (except for some wiring under dash etc).

Since I removed the FAS, I have the FAS cooler spare. I flushed it out with some AT fluid and have remounted it to use as the transmission cooler (in line with the radiator). The other one I've removed and will remount it somewhere to cool the power steering. I will be disappointed if I have cooling issues with this car!

I'll be taking a break for a few days but before the week is out I should be right back into it, next stop coolant flush (pending arrival of coolant gauge) and hooking up the oil coolers properly.

I haven't really decided yet the best way to do my air intake. Considering I am running without headlights I have the opportunity to slice out the metal there and have a direct path for the air to travel into the air intake. I know the stock system works by being in a high pressure zone and sucking up that air, however I've changed the dynamic by removing the condensor so it won't be as efficient. I'd also like cooler air direct from the atmosphere rather than from near the radiator and oil cooler. I'm actually thinking of ditching the stock airbox, running a pod filter, cutting a giant hole in the car directly in front of it, and partitioning the pod filter off from the rest of the engine bay. This is how most "CAI" is done and is generally OK.

[turael]

I just finished up the video of the last rally we did. This is where the Q45 is going.

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

[Lokim]

Listened to the no-exhaust video, just had a Q-gasm!

[turael]

Vague Update - I'll post pictures probably this weekend after I have more stuff done. I have about 5 weeks left to work on this.

oil coolers: found some 8mm -> 10mm hose adapters (43 cents each!) so finished hooking those up. Mounted powersteering cooler in front of rad where that powersteering line is.
I still need to loop the old FAS lines that go into the steering pump... :\

coolant gauge I mounted directly on the steering column, front and center. Flushed coolant, turns out the bottom plug fitting is perfect size for 19mm reticulation hose and I had a roll of that sitting about, so could run the flush onto the grass out the back

Intake I've cut a hole where the light used to be and mounted a generic pod filter. There should be no air restriction and it should get cool air.

Welder is all set up now so I've started fabrication of certain items. Hopefully in a few days I'll have something more interesting to show.

[subtle_driver]

Hey, I like what I'm seeing! Another Q45 being built to race! I race rallycross and now run the events here in southern california sdclubracing.com

anyway, i almost raced my q45 at one of the rally-x events. one thing kept me from doing it. lack of protection for the stock oil pan. I just stick to Autocross, Gymkhana, Drift and Drag racing with my Q45. My e36 BMW is the primary Rally car, and the Datsun 240z is my secondary.

I love rally racing, If there were events like they have there in Australia over in my neck of the woods, i would be racing in them all the time! You are so lucky!!!

I dunno if you did or not, but making a thick and strong skid plate is your number one priority, and those aluminum plates look kinda weak from the pictures... and it was a good choice to ditch that active suspension, it was flawed from the beginning, too complicated and lacked capillary bleeds. My previous boss from my engineering job modified the stock system to address this ussue and made it work better and cured all the hydrolic problems and the system has not failed once since the car was new. But the car didn't sell well and no return from the investment. and he halted/scrapped the project, and worked on other projects. (can't say tho)

keep posting info, you must be having fun with the rally racing!

[turael]

I guess you're talking about the rear suspension plate? well, it is 5mm ally, if it bends I'll replace it with something stronger.

I've been plodding along with my build, next step is actually some form of bash protection. I don't have any plate handy (and limited budget) but hopefully I can get something under there to protect against hitting mounds of dirt (my only real obstacle)

I'll come through with some update pics soon I swear :P
Just want to get more done first!

[turael]

Slowly getting there


Screw it, I'll post all the pictures I have.

finished the front suspension 2" lift. It's tube & plate steel all welded together and feels like a brick and should be strong as.




put in a fully hectic air filter, cut a hole in front of it, this is my air intake. I'll get some sort of fabric filter over that hole to stop too much crap getting in the engine bay.



I have no excuses if it overheats.


power steering cooler in.


linked up FAS cooler to the AT instead. BTW, I looped the FAS lines from the pump and put some fluid in the line. hope its OK...


Front strut brace. Has a deep angle to get around the throttle. Doesn't hit engine or bonnet, made from 1" square tube.



Rear strut brace. pulled out the existing brackety-brace thing, welded some tube onto it. Not happy with the ends where the bolts are, hopefully will have time to reinforce that.


Currently working on the exhaust, then the roof brace (doubling as sunroof attachment).

[turael]

With only 2 weeks left, s*** has gone into hyperdrive... This is a big post, sorry!

- Water pump is leaking after doing the coolant flush. Ha. Pump I sourced locally was the wrong type, so hit up ebay for a pump, hoping its the right type, hasn't arrived yet.

- Picked up some snow tyres (actually quite rare in this part of the world). Deep angled tread, should be awesome.


- Finished the exhaust. I've made 2.5" sidepipes, and put on a trans pan guard. Hopefully good enough to stop trans pan from taking any hits..










- Finished the sunroof solution. turns out the sunroof panel is aluminium, so I couldn't weld it to the steel brace I made. I used silicon to glue it in instead. Oh I also removed the rear door window motors and siliconed in the windows there.








- Made a s*** 4 point halfcage. There's lots of issues with it, being the first cage I've made its pretty bad, and only about half welded. Considering I'm using 1.6mm wall tube, I don't think that matters... also my bender creased the bends. While this probably won't save my life in a rollover it should at least add some rigidity to the chassis (where I'm going doesn't require cages).










Still to go;
- fix water pump, refill etc
- find the window lock switch in the pile of interior pieces so I can have the passenger front window working
- thoroughly test operation & suspension before driving it ~250 miles to take it dirt racing.

[d.bright]

I could really see some Mad Max modifications being done to that thing, just needs an oversized brush guard on the front and a huge (fake) .50 Cal machine gun mounted to the roof Looks good man, make sure you take video of the run!

[turael]

To follow up on this, I received the water pump and fitted it on Monday. Car is ready and I leave tomorrow morning.

I'll put up some pictures once I get there

[turael]

Fried the gearbox on the second day
Doesn't move forward in D, does roll forward in 1,2,3 but feels like a clutch is slipping. Since these boxes are rather rare over here I think I'll get a rebuild kit and new torque converter and rebuild the box, cheapest option.

I did promise pics but could only find this one crappy one. I'll go and take proper pictures of the car today, and see if I can upload some video (the internet here is crappy)..

[elwesso]

I'd be thinkin for a rally car what you're doing. Go 5 speed.

[turael]

Honestly it has so much torque and low down power that auto is fine, I just left it in 2nd. Which is probably what shagged the box :|

I'd love to go manual, but from what I can find out the manual conversion process is a bit expensive, needing z32tt box, custom tailshaft, bellhouse adapter etc. If I was going to put a manual behind the vh45, I would take it out and use it to power my buggy.

Here it is going around the technical side of the track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W6VFXTdebg

[turael]

Launch in the dirt

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vGkMtJ_ArQ[/youtube]

[elwesso]

You don't need a custom tail shaft (unless that's Aussie for driveshaft). You don't even need a z32tt box the n/a version will be fine. I sell adapter plates so all you'd have to do is fabricate up some pedals.

[turael]

Yeah aussie for driveshaft... from gearbox to diff. What about custom flywheel, or does the z32 one bolt up? Going manual would still send me into 1000+ $$

If you wish take this to email - send me a price for your adapter plate! [email protected]