Hi guys
Well my dad didn't waste any time and has already located, and now delivered, a new shell for me. The Shell looks really good, Can't find any accident damage at all, rust repairs in the normal spots all appear to be good quality (sills, floor, boot ect). doors are pretty average so am on the lookout for 2 more doors with the cable window winder wheels bonnet is good, and boot is average, but probably the only panel that survived on the old car
It's not going to be a quick build as I'm going to use the opportunity to improve on a lot of stuff, including
2 fuel tanks mounted under/in rear seat area
Rack and Pinion steering
Seam welding/chassis strengthening (particularly around the front shock mount!)
New Cage
Strengthen the brake pedal box area
With all the welding that's going to happen, was thinking about getting the interior, engine bay and underside media blasted, anyone had any experience with this or now were to get it done?
I lost most of the trim in the accident, and after stuffing around endlessly with original door rubbers with the last car I don't want to go down that road again, as anyone found any modern soft rubber profile that works around the doors, obviously originality is not a massive concern here
Anyway, stay tuned, plenty more photo's to come!
Good stuff Colin! I just had my car media blasted at Rat Rod Industries in Lilydale, Dennis is the guy. Well worth getting in touch with him to talk about options. I had mine soda blasted, but there were a couple of areas the needed sand blasting as the Soda wouldn't cut it. He knows where he needs to be gentle etc so as not to warp panels.
Maybe Look at E30 BMWs for fuel tanks - they're a twin tanks under the back seat type setup...
The latest batch of door rubbers from Alfaholics/Classic Alfa work well - no endless stuffing around required.
Fantastic to see your both straight back into it and looks like a good donor.Will look forward to your updates.Good to see well done
Hi Col, I will have some original OK condition door seals for you. Consider them yours.
Sad to read all about you while I was overseas, and was bit pissed off at the comments on AlfaBB.
Had I had a better internet connection when I was at Monaco Historics. I would have posted a picture of a 1972 Ferrari 312 f1 car (ex Jacky Ickx) that the driver wrote off doing just what you were doing. Following his passion.
I might have one door also but not sure. G.P.
Thanks heaps Gary, your a legend! yea some funny comments on alfaBB but most we're ok
Anyway, the old car is now stripped, and the new car shell has taken it's position in the workshop,
Thanks for the lead on the BMW tanks, but think they'll have to be custom to get into the space. Particularly due to the offset tunnel, just measured it up tonight and looks like i can get at least 60L all up
Got some good leads on the steering rack too
This is how you get a non-rolling shell out of your workshop
I wouldn't worry too much about PSK - he gets all uppity about historic racing and modified GTVs... he seems to think GTVs are rare.
I think it's awesome that your Father helped you out Colin. My old man wouldn't talk to me for ages when I rolled the Sprint. Can't wait to see Version 2.0. Great to hear your straight back into it, full bore! I like the idea of the fuel tank under the rear seats, just like the good ole Sprint.
Quote from: LaStregaNera on June 04, 2014, 08:26:05 AM
I wouldn't worry too much about PSK - he gets all uppity about historic racing and modified GTVs... he seems to think GTVs are rare.
"ps: Remember it's all just opinions"
>:(
*LOL*
Hi Guys
just got the car up on a Rotisserie that I managed to grab off Branko,
It orignally mounted to the front suspension, but i wanted acces to that so modifed it to mount to the lower ARB mount and part of the engine bay.
the rear mounts to the trailing arm points and the spring/shock locations.
should make the build a bit more easier on the back!
also tracking the build here
http://105rally.wordpress.com/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/)
Got the car back from the sand blasters on friday, came up a treat, very happy with the result. So got stuck into the Pan-hard rod mount on the weekend, and trialed my new ali welder with a new radiator overflow tank
heaps more photo's here
105rally.wordpress.com (http://105rally.wordpress.com)
New tanks came up a treat!
bit more info and photo's here
https://105rally.wordpress.com/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/)
Tanks nearly mounted and covered up
http://105rally.wordpress.com/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/)
A few more shots of some floor repairs, taking much longer than i expected, but getting there
cheers
more on the blog
http://105rally.wordpress.com/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/)
Some chassis rail fun this weekend!
https://105rally.wordpress.com/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/)
A few shock mount improvements this weekend
https://105rally.wordpress.com/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/)
How thick is the RHS Colin ?
... and do you have any pics of how you used it for the chassis braces in your previous coupe?
(Apologies in advance if it's secret squirrel racer stuff, I'm new at this) ;D
It's mighty encouraging and motivating ... I formed a few patches myself this weekend after seeing your floors, thanks !
Hey Craig
The RHS is 25 x 75 @ 1.6mm Wall thickness, the end buts up against the firewall and i intend to tie the roll cage to the other side of it.
Couple of photos of the fix on the old car with RHS inside the chassis rail
a few brake Master cylinder upgrades on the chassis this weekend
also will probably sell my old twin master cylinder bracket setup(picture on the blog), so PM me if interested
https://105rally.wordpress.com/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/)
On to the rear shock mounts now, cage next,getting there
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/dogs-are-the-leaders-of-the-planet-if-you-see-two-life-forms-one-of-thems-making-a-poop-the-other-ones-carrying-it-for-him-who-would-you-assume-is-in-charge/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/dogs-are-the-leaders-of-the-planet-if-you-see-two-life-forms-one-of-thems-making-a-poop-the-other-ones-carrying-it-for-him-who-would-you-assume-is-in-charge/)
Got started on the Cage this weekend, coming along very nicely
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/when-you-look-annoyed-all-the-time-people-think-that-youre-busy/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/when-you-look-annoyed-all-the-time-people-think-that-youre-busy/)
More cage pics
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/when-you-look-annoyed-all-the-time-people-think-that-youre-busy-2/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/when-you-look-annoyed-all-the-time-people-think-that-youre-busy-2/)
Love your work Colin. Roll cages are important, as you've well proven.
Here's an example why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBbz38EeJ5c
Hey Colin, I sent you an email at
colin@Idontgiveashitaboutalfastuffthatdosntwork.com.au
but it bounced strangely.
I believe it should be
colin@Idontgiveashitaboutalfastuffthatdoesntwork.com.au
Anyway, good work.
strange that spell check didn't pick that up....
Welding is a more practical skill than speling.
Bad speilers of the world untie!
haha, nice one
Once the cage is complete, the next job on the list is to look at this rack, mmmmm rack
Anyway, in order to check clearances, i'm going to need to fit the engine and gearbox, normally this would not be a big deal, but unfortunately my gearbox mounting plate (the one that bolts to the chassis) is no longer straight, in fact it appears to represent some type of post modern art rather than an engineering bracket, so I'm on the hunt for another bracket, anyone got one lying around?
more cage pics, got it all welded in and have started on the bracing to the body
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/when-you-look-annoyed-all-the-time-people-think-that-youre-busy-3/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/when-you-look-annoyed-all-the-time-people-think-that-youre-busy-3/)
Looking forward a little bit, Colin, are you going to replicate your old car? 2000GTV front grille and Alfa red?
Also, what's the reasoning behind the steering box change?
Hey Evan,
yea just for something different the car will be 501 red (exactly the same as my old car) and 2L grill, tail lights ect, i have to make it into a 2L so i can run the engine, and diff within the regs.
Couple of reasons for fitting the rack. the first and most important is I like making my life as difficult and complicated as possible. Second reason is the steering box and idler arms arm attached to a very weak point on the chassis creating significant compliance in the steering. The idea is to attach the rack to the super strong engine cross member.
The old steering box's are getting a bit worn now too, so doesn't matter how many times you re build them, they will always have some slop. I've found a rack specialist in Queensland who can fully rebuild the rack I've chosen, even to the point of adding special arms with the correct thread for my rod ends.
a rack is generally more efficient, i'e less steering force required, and there are also less tie rod ends to keep track of, should be a bit lighter too.
cheers
got onto the brakes this weekend, coming up well
Also will be putting my original brake pedal box up for sale so let me know if your interested
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/the-cat-mrrreeeooowww-is-out-of-the-bag/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/the-cat-mrrreeeooowww-is-out-of-the-bag/)
Quote from: Colin Byrne on October 06, 2014, 09:37:52 AM
a rack is generally more efficient, i'e less steering force required, and there are also less tie rod ends to keep track of, should be a bit lighter too.
cheers
Hi Colin -
Have you worked out a location for the rack that allows good steering geometry?
The Ricciardi has an Alfetta rack mounted on the 105 crossmember, and uses the standard 105 uprights (with shortened springs), tie rods and steering arms. The bump steer has always been pretty bad, and the Ackerman doesn't seem to be correct either - very bad understeer at extreme steering angles, which doesn't affect me on the track, but would be a pain in motorkhana events. The bump steer was significantly improved by installing "quick" steering arms (I think they're Vin's design, but can't remember for sure now), but it's not completely cured. I think the rack would need to be moved to fix it properly, but there isn't really the scope to do that with the Ricciardi chassis layout.
as you can imagine there's not a huge amount of options for rack location, but from preliminary fitment it looks like it will end up in a very similar location to the steering/idler outside points but a bit lower. This may actually help with bump steer as it will be in a closer arc to the lower arm, but i'm sure there will be much adjustment to get it right
very early on i did look at an Alfetta rack but from memory it was much much wider than the outer pivot points of the original system so not really suitable, maybe this is were the Ricciardi runs into problems with ackerman? The rack i have selected is from a Ford laser, i got into contact with a very helpful guy in Queensland who helped out with the selection
http://www.ultimatepowersteering.com.au/ (http://www.ultimatepowersteering.com.au/)
although this will help with geometry, it makes for difficult fitment as the output pinion is very close to the relatively wide ali block, but if it was easy everyone would do it!
Ah - I'd never thought to check the rack width, but I daresay you're right.
I should dig out the suspension modeling software and set up a few scenarios to try....
nearly finished off the brake pedal assembly this weekend
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/the-cat-mrrreeeooowww-is-out-of-the-bag-2/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/the-cat-mrrreeeooowww-is-out-of-the-bag-2/)
Quote from: tjb0274 on October 22, 2014, 04:10:20 PM
Ah - I'd never thought to check the rack width, but I daresay you're right.
I should dig out the suspension modeling software and set up a few scenarios to try....
Happened to be thumbing through my copy of "Tune to Win" the other day, and re-read the section on Ackerman. Interestingly, according to Carroll Smith quite a few race engineers in his day would modify steering geometry to dial the Ackerman correction *out*, in order to avoid scrub in medium and fast corners. Smith's view was that it wasn't a big enough deal to worry about.
QuoteThe old steering box's are getting a bit worn now too, so doesn't matter how many times you re build them, they will always have some slop.
I will disagree on that one... If they are reconditioned properly, not just selecting the best bits available and shimmed to suit: they will have NO play. 40 odd 105 steering boxes over 25 years under my belt including 10 this year says I have the authority to state that. It is a very cleverly designed steering box that apart from wear in the sector shaft bushes/shaft and ball races in the column shaft self adjusts itself.
But yes, the mounting is not as rigid as it could be. Sorting out positioning to dial out bump steer is fun stuff with rack conversions is callenging though if you want complication. I've only done it a couple of time myself... plates, dial indicators etc......
I agree re Ackerman: I remember from reading Milliken and Milliken (race car vehicle dynamics) that race cars normally had minimal Ackerman. But I think we are talking full purpose built circuit racing cars here.
Quoteapart from wear in the sector shaft bushes/shaft and ball races in the column shaft self adjusts itself.
The wear in the ball races themselves was what I was sort of referring too, do you find this isn't an issue?
The actual bearing running surfaces (cone and cup parts) can both be resurfaced. The case hardening is very deep (> 1.5 mm) so will cope with this. I used to have this done in engine shops on crankshaft grinders, but since have made tools to do this on my own lathe.
The 9/32" (shudder - imperial!) balls are about 10 cents each (~$5.00).
The lower shaft race is the first usually to wear, which while is a bit dearer than resurface is easy to replace with a tapered roller bearing which will outlast most of us. The top is more tricky.... It is possible to do this and retain the steering lock or just delete the steering lock (OK for race and rally applications). Non-steering lock cars are a snap to add tapered top and bottom bearings.
To confuse the Ackerman thing even more, some go to a reverse Ackerman to reduce the drag from the very lightly loaded inner front, given that the outer will be working at a couple of degrees of slip angle....
I was more concerned with the ball race within the actual re-circulating section, pretty much impossible to fix that up once its worn?
QuoteTo confuse the Ackerman thing even more, some go to a reverse Ackerman to reduce the drag from the very lightly loaded inner front, given that the outer will be working at a couple of degrees of slip angle....
From my experience, Ackerman is very much tyre dependant and whilst it can make a big difference at lower speed tighter corners, isn't as critical at higher speeds. In our Formula SAE car we ran over 200% Ackerman due to the tight "motorkana" style course
Latest update to the build here
http://105rally.wordpress.com/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/)
Excellent video Colin, and you only dropped the f-bomb once!
QuoteI was more concerned with the ball race within the actual re-circulating section, pretty much impossible to fix that up once its worn?
I have never seen significant wear here... Only time I have seen one unserviceable nut was from one that was left in the weather with no oil or filler plug. But then, the only part of the whole box that was useable was the aluminium casing.
Apologies for the long winded explanation, but I will try to explain for general info: The axial load on the recirculating ball nut when turning is the same as that on the shaft cup and races. However, whereas the races have only several bearings each over 360 degrees (I can't remember what actual number top and bottom), the nut has 540 degrees of balls (at a larger diameter). My guess is that the force transmitted through this part is shared over about 20 balls. The result is that this part never gets pitting on the bearing faces. Likewise the worm on the shaft (and that the loadings are constantly shifting along the worm).
The shape of the actual bearing surfaces (worm and nut) do not mirror the bearings (i.e. radius ½ 9/32"). While the groove that the balls run in looks like a "U", it is a bit closer to a "V" than a "U". The result is that the balls bear on the side of the "V" not in the root of the "U". Inspection of the bearing marks on the worm confirms this. This shape gives that advantage of when the nut is loaded from above (by the spring under the small elliptical cover on the top of the box), all play is removed between the nut, balls and worm. The clever thing is that where spring load is (the top of the nut), is where there are two rows of balls. This is why I say the box "self-adjusts" itself.
One a box develop play, it is wear in the bushes/sector shaft and or the column shaft bearings. Removing shims (as some people attempt will not solve the real issue).
When setting up a Burman box, the final adjustment is the clearance between the top of the sector shaft and this elliptical cover. Alfa specified .2 mm. I set them up to even lower, as long as there is no bind anywhere from lock to lock. This prevents that sector shaft riding the up the nut under load.
One of these boxes set up with ~.001" clearance on the sector shaft bushes, slight preload on the worm shaft bearings and the top cover adjusted as above will give a box that is silky smooth and no perceptible play.
I initially started rebuilding these boxes by using the best parts on hand from cars I had parted out. Now I find this is near impossible. Besides, I now use a superior synthetic lower bushing material.
haha, thanks Evan, thought i'd "edited" all those out!
thanks for the info Luke, yea i guess the loading would be relatively well dispersed with that many balls
Got the rack in over the last couple of weekends, for a little while there i thought it had beaten me and i'd be stuck with the steering box, but eventually managed to slip it in...
another video on the blog
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/mmmmmm-nice-rack/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/mmmmmm-nice-rack/)
I hope you're enjoying making these videos as much as I'm enjoying watching them. ;D
The videos are fantastic. :)
thanks guys, the videos are good for me as they don't require spell check...
also a good excuse to cover when i begin to talk to myself after countless lonely hours in the workshop!
seat mounts are coming along well, should be finished by the weekend, the steering boss for the new column should arrive by then, so i can mount the column as well, hopefully somewhat easier than the rack
With the column in i can finish off the front of the cage, and then it will really be time to start bolting things back to car!
Seats and steering are in, currently working on the air intake and oil cooler mounting, both coming along well with the help of a bit of holiday time!
more photo's and a new video here
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/take-a-seat/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/take-a-seat/)
smashed out a few jobs over the break oil cooler, air box and most of the rear diff
more photo's and video here
http://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/work-sucks/ (http://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/work-sucks/)
Awesome work on the car and video :)
cheers brad
next job on the list is to rebuild my phone and replace the mic so I can keep making the videos
it never ends!
I want a refund for the last bit of video... 8)
Good work Colin, as someone who can't even drill a straight hole it's great to see the fabrication work in some detail. Days of work compressed into a few minutes of video!
been a while, but have updated the progress, check out all the details here
Quotehttps://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/im-back/
plenty of jobs knocked off the list, here's a few pics, plenty more on the blog
Lots of clever design and fabrication and funny twist on your definition of CAD. Neat location for battery, terminals in image face outward. In case of a bump in that area is it worth facing terminals towards the centre of the car?
Great work Colin.
Hi John
yea good point, i had it that way around to help out with the cable routing, i always insulate the terminals but I'll have a look at spinning it around
cheers
Yeah, neat mounting spot.
2 questions - what's the steering rack from, and what are the mudflaps from?
steering rack is out of a ford laser
Ford Laser KC/KE 10/1985 - > 03/1990
pretty nice unit actually, nice compact ali body, and reactively lightweight, you thinking of a conversion?
the mud flaps are just an ebay special, the fit reasonably well
Quotehttp://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=221688083514
Quote from: Colin Byrne on March 17, 2015, 09:39:42 AM
steering rack is out of a ford laser
Ford Laser KC/KE 10/1985 - > 03/1990
pretty nice unit actually, nice compact ali body, and reactively lightweight, you thinking of a conversion?
the mud flaps are just an ebay special, the fit reasonably well
Quotehttp://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=221688083514
Well, probably not on my current car, but the steering box has always been the issue with trying to put a v6 in the rhd cars with a decent set of pipes...
So got some more done over Easter, all the doors boot and bonnet are on the car, and actually open and close! Considerable time was spent by my dad and myself getting the doors fitted, and although the passenger door was very troublesome, we're both very happy with the fit we finally achieved, only a few more small jobs and she'll be ready for paint, good thing to as I've got to get my entry in for Targa high country by the end of this week...
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/the-true-meaning-of-easter/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/the-true-meaning-of-easter/)
Quote from: Colin Byrne on April 13, 2015, 08:45:22 PM
So got some more done over Easter, all the doors boot and bonnet are on the car, and actually open and close! Considerable time was spent by my dad and myself getting the doors fitted, and although the passenger door was very troublesome, we're both very happy with the fit we finally achieved, only a few more small jobs and she'll be ready for paint, good thing to as I've got to get my entry in for Targa high country by the end of this week...
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/the-true-meaning-of-easter/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/the-true-meaning-of-easter/)
Look forward to seeing the final product Colin :).
Still not red yet, but getting there
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/can-i-please-paint-it-now-please/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/can-i-please-paint-it-now-please/)
and another quick parts request, I'm after the SS trim that sits on the top of the passenger door and holds the window felts in place anyone got any lying around?
cheers
wheel wells are in, cage is done, seam sealer applied and we are ready for paint
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/ready-for-paint/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/ready-for-paint/)
MMMMM, Shiny
Well it had to happen eventually, got a call from the paint shop on Saturday saying they didn't have much on for Monday so if I could get it over there they could get started. So I put the trailer on the car dragged the rotisserie onto the trailer strapped it down and drove the 20m from my house to Eltham collision care across the road. I barely had time to sweep the workshop floor before it was time to pick it up again, and pretty happy with the result!. So basically all the pits I had sandblasted have now been painted, so inside the cabin, the boot, the engine bay, underneath the floor and inside all the guards. Sorry about the quality of the photo's I'll try and get some better ones when I get more light
So the plan is to get it off the rotisserie (requiring some sill stand construction, more welding....), put the suspension in it and then send it back to get the outside done, but I can also throw the engine in and get started on the dreaded wiring harness, and get the brake and fuel lines in, so plenty of work to do from this point!
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/mmmmm-shiny/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/mmmmm-shiny/)
Had a bit of fun in the last couple of weeks bolting bits and pieces on
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/welder-down-toolbox-dusted-off/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/welder-down-toolbox-dusted-off/)
I'll be looking at the tail shaft soon, does anyone have any leads on getting a tail shaft balanced in Melbourne?
Looks like it's really coming together now!
Certainly is, so nice to be bolting things on for (hopefully) the finale time, I'll look at putting the engine in this week so I have it there to run the wiring, that's always a landmark point in a car build!
Ready for a test run at the Phillip Island sprint? ;)
mmmmm, that might be pushing it....
Looking very good Colin, you must be keen to get back behind the wheel!
yea, getting pretty sick of being sidelined, one rally on the service crew side of things was enough for me!
So it had to happen eventually, the car is painted, very happy with the job, color is great and the car is super straight, now on to the fun job of bolting everything on
https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/717/ (https://105rally.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/717/)
Stunning work!!!
Moar video !
Looks great Colin :-)
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
thanks guys, and yes even I'll en devour to make some more video!
managed to get the 4 x O2 sensors installed and wired in, so once i fill it with water, i can start it, will probably wait until Saturday so i can roll it outside, finishing off the door rubbers at the moment, then I'll probably mount the toolbox in the boot
Good times!
So no pictures this time, just a quick report,
THE ENGINE LIVES!!
Fired up pretty much first go, and after mucking around with the idle jets etc, it purred away like nothing ever happend
A few electrical gremlins with the data logging stuff, but mostly sorted now, all 4 O2 sensors appear to be working well (which makes tuning the idle mixtures pretty easy!) unfortunately 1 of the EGT probes is playing up, but have ordered a new one.
The Arduino Controlled electric water pump I've used appears to be working very well, the car will idle indefinitely without the thermo fan coming on. and with the mechanical pump out of the way, I've managed to fit a really big electric fan in. Looks like the welding around the old water pump is sealing no problem also. Everything appears to clear around the engine, exhaust, steering rack, intake ect. Got a small fuel leak around the pump fittings (Stupid American NPT fittings), and a small water leak around a plug I welded up for the old heater outlet (Some porosity in the metal), so I'll sort that out this week. Rest of the panels went over on the weekend, so should be back soon and then the final parts to the build will be in
then i can finally drive it!!
Great to hear Colin. Look forward to the video :)