2139 replies to this topic

[neglectedtorana]

Wow, it looks like a lot of fun, well done for having a go especially in that car you have put so much work into and well done for making the to 60 hall with it!

 

I have been looking for some fun driving events for a while but am now looking more since you posted about the Optima event.

Unfortunately they didn't come to NSW/Sydney. I did try the rectangular motorkhana at a mini Summernats event a few years ago but it got taken over by the burn out crowd when the burn out pad was closed.

 

Great to see the car being enjoyed!

[Heath]

The orange hatch is Grant Grech's car, probably has a build thread on this forum somewhere. LS2/Tremec 6spd/9" with TrueTrac. He has done Drag Challenge with it and stuff like that, certainly drives the wheels off it.

 

I can't specifically advise that many events, although I reckon the Wilby Retrospeed Sprints we do each year are pretty good as a low-pressure motorsport environment. Cheap, lots of track time, good friendly vibe etc. but about 700km from the central coast.

 

So after I got the shits with the second Aeroflow compact starter playing up and making more awful noises, I decided to buy another OEX (Bosch replacement) starter motor.

The first one catastrophically exploded after minimal use, because I ground too much away in a rush to get it to clear the flywheel.

 

This time, I of course needed the same clearance, but I had an idea to hold it together. Out with the Cardboard Aided Design.

Dis-assembled the starter, ground away what I had to, and cranked out some sweaty, middle-of-summer AC TIG action.

Clearance is clearance.

 

Drilled and tapped some holes in the ally so I could add a heat-shield:

 

Okay, next problem now! When I raced it, this thing was filling the rocker covers with oil, suffocating the breather tubes and pumping it into the catch can/generally pressurising the crank case, leaking out the filler cap etc.

Out with the Cardboard Aided Design:

So the idea is to put a fitting really nice and high, and get rid of the existing breather ports, and baffles. Also, I marked out some little "baffles" which would make it even harder for any oil to get to the fitting.

My prototype airbox was full of suitable 2mm ally sheet that was ripe for stealing:

Scrap metal radius-bending tool in the vice:

Then folding with a few bits of flat bar.

Cut into the new shapes, and slipped the baffles into place:

 

Welded up the old fittings on the front of the covers, and drilled some breathing holes for the new riser boxes.

Fully welded with the new AN-12 fittings:

 

New wrinkle black:

Polished fins:

 

Cut off the AN-10 fittings and replaced with AN-12 on the catch can:

 

Bought some oil restrictor pushrods from Crow Cams and threw them in:

 

Made new hoses with -12 to match, and put it together.

 

Then realised that the O-Ring under the rocker cover breather cap was distorting out of position when you tightened the cap, so I cut a nice thick rubber ring "wad" to replace it. Feels much better when you tighten it now, as well.

[Heath]

Another thing I've wanted for ages is the fishnet headrests. I've just been too busy fighting fires with this car to focus on stuff that isn't actually broken. But, I wanted this to be a priority for Summernats.
 
I bought a pair of rough headrests in factory black cloth years ago. The cloth is all rooted, and the plastic bar at the bottom that the netting fastens to when you stretch it over the headrest frame was broken on one of them. Hmmm...

 
Well I know how to work with metal. So I cut out some big alluminium scrap plate I had lying around and started slicing it up with the angle grinder, because I don't have anything better.

I dropped some fat TIG welds down on the ends to "thicken" up the plate where it wraps around the round bar of the headrest frame.

Marked out a hell of a lot of holes so that I could turn this thing into a perfect curved lower bar, that would result in the mesh pattern being evenly stretched the whole way across the headrest opening. The mesh material I had sourced was also a lot finer than the original mesh, so I I needed little lugs that were much smaller and closer together than the original black plastic one.

Who needs CNC when you have basic power tools?

Kept drilling and cutting and then sand-blasted to soften all the sharp edges between the features, as I didn't want the mesh material to be cut by anything sharp:


Mum helped me stretch some of the orange mesh over the fixed up headrest structure:


Sent them off to Brad at Dr Stitch and they came back less than a fortnight later with this beautiful tight long grain vinyl around them:


 
Oh yeah, and in other kind of huge news, which was the whole point of busting my arse to do all of this stuff in an awful hurry, I drove the car to Summernats and got judged in the Elite class, and got the car into the Top 60 hall.
 
Big wash in a mate's driveway once I arrived in Canberra... about 20 hours of cleaning inside, outside, and underneath with the wheels off, between mick74lh and myself.

 
Shining like a diamond baby.

[Adz1604]

I seen your car in the in the hall and it certainly was not out of place amongst the others in the top 60. There were a lot of cars in there that have never seen the tar and some that have never been started. The quality of your car is a credit to you.

[76lxhatch]

I bet your car was the only one at both the driving event and in the top 60 hall, that's a great achievement!

 

I imagine in terms of show judging they concentrate a lot on finish quality but to me what stands out about your car are the functional modifications. Well-engineered improvements interest me a lot more than perfect shiny stuff. How is that rear suspension working for you?

[axistr]

Good work once again Heath. I can remember back when I was doing my apprenticeship and gas was gaining attraction, when all of a sudden there was a massive increase in broken starter motor drives. I asked my boss what the deal was with gas and broken starter motors. He explained it was kick back when starting due to residual gas in a cylinder which burnt early pushing the piston in the wrong direction and combined slow cranking speed busting the Bendix drive. He also advised me to check the ignition timing particularly at low engine speed. You generally don't get Pinging on gas engines as an indication. Never bothered to investigate and took my bosses word for it.  

[rexy]

I bet your car was the only one at both the driving event and in the top 60 hall, that's a great achievement!

 

I imagine in terms of show judging they concentrate a lot on finish quality but to me what stands out about your car are the functional modifications. Well-engineered improvements interest me a lot more than perfect shiny stuff. How is that rear suspension working for you?

 

The Porsche 911 that was grand champion this year was a top 60 hall car and did the driving events. You cant win Grand Champion without doing them.

 

Thats Heaths goal for next year

[dale]

Hi Heath always look forward to your updates. you should be very proud of what you have done and continue to do with your hatch.Question I have the same rocker covers and they need painting. What did you use to polish the fins. Thanks Dale

[Bigfella237]

~ What did you use to polish the fins. Thanks Dale

Elbow Grease?

[Heath]

I seen your car in the in the hall and it certainly was not out of place amongst the others in the top 60. There were a lot of cars in there that have never seen the tar and some that have never been started. The quality of your car is a credit to you.

Thank Adz. Yeah, the cars that literally don't drive (like... no heat marks on the exhaust) make me feel a bit funny about the place, but it is what it is! Haha. I appreciate your kind words.

 

I bet your car was the only one at both the driving event and in the top 60 hall, that's a great achievement!

 

I imagine in terms of show judging they concentrate a lot on finish quality but to me what stands out about your car are the functional modifications. Well-engineered improvements interest me a lot more than perfect shiny stuff. How is that rear suspension working for you?

I actually didn't do any driving events at Summernats! Because of the format of the event, my car was supposed to be locked up until Sunday. I actually managed to get it out a touch early and do some cruising and burnouts a little early but I got booted on Sunday morning, and we were ready to head home. To do the grand champion events, I think you have to place in the Top 20, mine wasn't judged that high.

 

Good work once again Heath. I can remember back when I was doing my apprenticeship and gas was gaining attraction, when all of a sudden there was a massive increase in broken starter motor drives. I asked my boss what the deal was with gas and broken starter motors. He explained it was kick back when starting due to residual gas in a cylinder which burnt early pushing the piston in the wrong direction and combined slow cranking speed busting the Bendix drive. He also advised me to check the ignition timing particularly at low engine speed. You generally don't get Pinging on gas engines as an indication. Never bothered to investigate and took my bosses word for it.  

That's interesting. I don't know if an injected LPG motor behaves any differently to a carbureted LPG engine, in that way, but the previous mod made the starter really weak, so I can't act surprised about what happened. The starter actually broke prior to the tune, so the start-up conditions in the computer could have been worse vs. how they are now, also.

 

The Porsche 911 that was grand champion this year was a top 60 hall car and did the driving events. You cant win Grand Champion without doing them.

 

Thats Heaths goal for next year

First bit is correct, but no thanks! Haha. The car just is not showy enough to be competitive at that level of stuff and it's not like the driving events are awfully exciting. I'm going to have a break from Summernats. I will show it at MotorEX but otherwise try and focus on some other stuff.

 

Hi Heath always look forward to your updates. you should be very proud of what you have done and continue to do with your hatch.Question I have the same rocker covers and they need painting. What did you use to polish the fins. Thanks Dale

Thanke Dale. 

 

I just linished and de-burred everything on the rocker covers before painting them (and welded up the un-necessary holes), then sanded the rocker cover fins and hit them with some scotch-brite with some metal polish on it after they were painted. Make sure you let the wrinkle finish paint set really well before you get it dirty with anything else, as if it's a bit wet, you will never clean it.

[Rockoz]

Perhaps you should have a look around for some engine bay pics from Group C racers.

Just going from memory, they always had issues with lots of oil up top.

And there just isnt enough oil return to sump happening with the existing holes in the heads.

From memory they had large hoses coming out of the front and rear of the rocker covers.

Some had feeds directly back to the sump, and others to a catch can/breather then back to the sump.

Use enough revs and add some g forces into the equation, and the rockers got a huge amount of oil hanging around in them.

Restricting the oil up to the top might be worth exploring too.

 

Cheers

Rob

[dale]

Thanks Heath for the rocker cover painting tip. Makes perfect scene. Thanks Dale

[76lxhatch]

I was talking about the Optima driving event, I imagine that's a bit more advanced than the Summernats ones

[Heath]

Oh! Well and truly more advanced. None of those Top 60 cars would have done a trackday since being built. I'd hope some of them may have been down a drag strip at least, but even that would be rare.

 

Regarding the rear end, I haven't done much work on it yet. Fitted a different breather to it and changed a hub seal that I was having issues with... oil/grease hasn't been staying inside the hubs when I flog it around corners, unfortunately. I think the rear swaybar is a bit stiff, and the rear dampers are a bit stiff as well, I haven't had time to have them tuned yet. I should test it without the rear swaybar but also haven't done that yet.

Also, the rear tyres are still shitters. I'm sure it can be improved a bit but don't want to judge it too much until I've tried changing the above. It is very nice and accurate, I think the lateral location is much better than a standard Torana. I don't know if the roll centre is all that much better.

 

Perhaps you should have a look around for some engine bay pics from Group C racers.

Just going from memory, they always had issues with lots of oil up top.

And there just isnt enough oil return to sump happening with the existing holes in the heads.

From memory they had large hoses coming out of the front and rear of the rocker covers.

Some had feeds directly back to the sump, and others to a catch can/breather then back to the sump.

Use enough revs and add some g forces into the equation, and the rockers got a huge amount of oil hanging around in them.

Restricting the oil up to the top might be worth exploring too.

Yep, so I did already fit oil restrictor pushrods like I said in the post to reduce the amount of oil that gets up top.

 

I think the COME 600 heads drain a little better than the standard heads, but whether that is "enough" or not, I do not know.

 

This is Version 2.0.

I made it breathe from much higher, and have effective baffling, so hopefully draining back to the sump from the catch-can is not necessary.

 

Those steps regarding the external drain-backs to the sump etc. may be Version 3.0 after I try racing it again. I would rather avoid having external drain-backs, they are kind of ugly, lol.

[MRLXSS]

Congratulations again mate - huge effort to not only make the Top 60 at Summernats in a car that you built completely yourself, but also drive it there and back! Absolutely awesome mate - you should be so proud.

 

I do know that you would be even more proud of the fact that you took out 3rd place in the coolest car on The Render Garage's campsite for 2023 - congratulations!

 

 Summernats-Heath.jpg   395.22K   8 downloads

[SHEEL]

Awesome updates!!! loving these finished pics... so good to see it getting driven

[Rockoz]

Howard Astill had a couple of nice words about your car too Heath.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[S pack]

Congrats Heath, awesome build and well deserved recognition.

[myss427]

Congrats Heath, it's all about timing, I won Top Tudor (Coupe) at Summernats 29, finished painting and assembling the car 2 weeks before displaying, so no chance of chips, scratches or diss-colouring. You find that when you first drive the car after the build that's the best it will ever be, as it goes down hill from there. I have a habit of repainting my car every 6-7 years as I hate it not being blemish free, or get sick of the colour! On my 5th colour change, 4th rebuild now!

[Heath]

Hell yeah. I'm spewing I didn't meet Howard Astill, I would have loved to, but yeah I am frothing to FINALLY be out and enjoying this car, flogging the pants off it, etc.
 
 

Congratulations again mate - huge effort to not only make the Top 60 at Summernats in a car that you built completely yourself, but also drive it there and back! Absolutely awesome mate - you should be so proud.
 
I do know that you would be even more proud of the fact that you took out 3rd place in the coolest car on The Render Garage's campsite for 2023 - congratulations!
 
Summernats-Heath.jpg

I'm humbled mate. lol
 

Congrats Heath, it's all about timing, I won Top Tudor (Coupe) at Summernats 29, finished painting and assembling the car 2 weeks before displaying, so no chance of chips, scratches or diss-colouring. You find that when you first drive the car after the build that's the best it will ever be, as it goes down hill from there. I have a habit of repainting my car every 6-7 years as I hate it not being blemish free, or get sick of the colour! On my 5th colour change, 4th rebuild now!

My car was a bit of a shitbox when I first drove it, but that is probably because I am learning this stuff as I go. Yours is a very showy car compared to mine! But yes, if the car is a road car, then timing re: judged showing events vs. paint of course makes a lot of sense. I love Ultra Blue but there are other colours I may also consider in the future... I certainly don't want to paint it again for a good few years. It already has some little fibreglass and bog cracks, ripples in the glass, stone chips, etc. and I'm trying to not be too precious and just enjoy it. That being said, it is still a tidy car.
 
During the build, I welded a UC horn onto an LX horn bracket, and thought that would be the go, it seemed to work fine at the time.

 
Anyway, after a little use, I found it wasn't very loud and sounded like something was choking it, so I bought some Hella Twin tone horns, and started designing a little bracket up to mount them. Re-fashioned a bit of Torana weight reduction back into the car here:



 

 

 
I already had wiring to the LHS (and the bonnet cable is in the way of adding it on the RHS) so kept it all in the same area. Just ran an earth wire and put it to a DT connector rather than the ground through the bracket, this time.




 
One less thing on the list.

[FLY_LX]

Another Congrats here.

I don't wont to repeat what everyone else is saying, but great job making the hall. I bet none of them drove there and back.

And its good to see your car is for driving not looking.

Truly you (& others) inspire me to push forward with my build trying my best  

[SHEEL]

Hey Heath,

 

is there any way for you to get access to the Judges notes from Summernats? I reckon it'd be really interesting to see how they rated the build and area's where it might have scored strongly...

[knoath]

Hey Heath, you've come a long way from that green 4dr I last saw you in... come to think of it, I don't think you even had your licence! Congrats on the nod at Summernats mate!

[Uncle Chop Chop]

G'day Heath, it should come as no surprise to you that I have a tyre question. Initially you fitted some old 285/40 Pirellis on your foot wide rims just to get it moving. I get that. For whatever reason, you now have 275's on there. Is there room for a pair of 315/35's on the back?

[Liam S]

G'day Heath, it should come as no surprise to you that I have a tyre question. Initially you fitted some old 285/40 Pirellis on your foot wide rims just to get it moving. I get that. For whatever reason, you now have 275's on there. Is there room for a pair of 315/35's on the back?

I think in a video Heath made, he has room to run 335/35’s if he wanted due to his clearances he created.


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