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Manta A Series V8 Supercharged


Paul Barrett
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Had some time today. Finally put some castors on the spit to move it around, had a mishap with the weld cracking where I had welded an old flywheel to use as the locking device, it totally separated from the pivot tube! Could really badly damaged the shell if it had fallen, luckily didn't.

Anyway got some progress going on the rear end, built up

Other hub and welded up too arm so I can start looking at the coilover mounting positions, think nice settled on the last option as being the best as it gives a 30 degree angle on the coilover which is a correction factor of around 0.75, with the springs I have that's around 200ft/lbs, which I'm hoping will work out. May have time over the weekend to get them installed.

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Hope the readers (if any) can work out from pics what's going on, any input at these stages greatly appreciated as I'm only using info I've gathered from the web, not personal experience!

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Dismantled a shaft last night to check it out for shortening

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And it's a no go. The spline ends are wider than the inner shaft material so cannot extend the splines and shorten that way .

I really don't want to just cut them and sleeve as heard too many hit and miss attempts. So I'm going to have to go the custom route which means £££! So they will have to wait for now .

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Template made for a brace and dropped off to my steel man to cut out as I don't have any 4mm plate in and he prob won't charge me. Will sit between the suspension turrets to stop any potential flexing or twisting of the box section they are welded to.

I've had quote so far of 275+vat each for custom shafts! May have to cut and sleeve as a temporary measure.

Have ordered some studs for the rear wheels to bolt up, and some press in longer studs for the front hubs. Have been in the fine to my engineers who are modifying the senator discs to get a move on as I'm ready for them,

I can then get the two subframe laid out and start measuring up for the chassis rails.

Most important job on the list now is TO TIDY UP!!!!! The workshop looks like a nuclear war head has been dropped on it lol

Edited by Paul Barrett
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Paul, sleeve the shafts as a temp measure so at least it verifies the correct length and the plunge needed. We used to sleeve many project car shafts with a slash cut tube (for more weld area) and they held up fine.At least you can get it driving and then decide if its worth the spend on custom shafts (which im sure it will be :) )

Tony

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Yes its worked well for us. The turning of the sleeve is important ie the id of the sleeve needs to be too tight for the shaft so needs boring to obtain a snug fit (mallet tapping snug). Turn the od down too and get the same angle of slash cuts both ends and balance wont be far away, certainly enough for a cheeky test drive :)

Tony

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As I'm waiting for brake discs to be machined still and only have one hub, started looking at engine placement today and tenuous sump issue that seems to be the main issue with most engine transplants, I think I'm going to just but the bullet and make one and have it tig'd up in ally, that way the engine can be out exactly where I want it without compromise. Did manage to get an oil filter take off plate made up rest for welding

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Needs a few tweeks, I want to move the -10AN bosses apart slightly but it come out lovely, bloody hours if work for small part!

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Sumps are always a mare with these sort of things. If you make a new one keep the lowest level a fraction above the crossmember and make up any volume required by adding wings. just make sure that the bottom of the wings are angled so that the outer edges (wing to wing) are higher so the oil can naturally run to the main sump. If you go with steel first it may be easier to make and to add attachments inside like a baffled box etc- worth a lot of thought is a sump :). If you need any input on this I'll pop over and give some ideas if you want. (i need to collect wheels at some point :))

Tony

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lots of good work going on there, one thing that may be of some info re the irs , depending on the power you will be putting out the rear tires could chatter due to a single upper arm, the earlier heidts irs setups were like this and we found it was common for chatter or wheelhop to occur especially with wide tires like yours, it happens as the hub is trying to rotate at launch and the poly bushings deflect then bounce back which seems to increase with speed, we found the upper poly joints were prematurely failing and all we did was turn the upper arm into an a -arm, it looks like you have room to add another bushing even if it is turning the upper arm to look like a capital Y, this helps to take out harmonics and twist, you may not need it but as you are still at the stage that it could be added easily i thought it may help, better now than when its all finished and painted etc, be good to see this on road and to find out how it performs as i will be going mx-5 irs in my build, regards, mike.

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Hi mike, this has been suggested by quite a few for varying reasons, the mount is there already. The single arm really helps for an exhaust route, but I'll get round this. I will be A framing the upper arm, also may need to make adjustments to gain a better roll centre by shifting the lower arm mountings up to gain more angle on them.

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Got my discs back from local man Dave, started building up tonight. Studs pulled in, bearings inserted and making spacers from caliper brackets for position I've settled on

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Should hoepfully get the front end on wheels this weekend, and hoepfully sump off the engine to start looking at mounts and steering rack clearances etc

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Been mulling over the steering rack situation, I don't want to use many more parts from other vehicles lol, so I reckon I can remount and modify the original rack to work without changing too much of the geometry but gain enough clearance for the new sump.

An inch or so lower should do the trick with some alloy block and trim I can trim the subframe, keeping it all bolt on for ease of dismantling and not having to dismantle the whole subframe again for welding

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But the pinion shaft has two 'ears' on it that will foul the subframe,

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I have a spare rack, which I'll dismantle and whack this part in the lathe and turn it down so I can slide and weld a sleeve on it then a long shaft, keeping its diameter for torsional strength and hopefully will clear the subframe, or maybe need a slight scallop for clearance.

------------

Been on a spending spree!

Picked this up from Buckingham way today as was working near there, needs some tlc. New blade, clean down, belt tensioner sorting and setting up properly

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And got one of these coming, ac/dc machine. I can't bring myself to get someone else to tig up some bits for me knowing I can do it myself! Always wanted a proper machine (had cheap Chinese one that didn't get used much) now I've got the setup for it. Very good reviews from this outfit and backup spares etc

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Edited by Paul Barrett
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Hi Paul great fabrication work looks like its coming on well. I'm sure you have thought of it but if you lower the rack you will also have to lower the track rod end onto the hub, as I remember Paul doing it on his V8 and created some bump steer issues. Can't wait to see her finished.

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