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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 1:19 am Post subject:

Well the side rails are finally finished and the support bars are in except the rear ones.

I am currently working on the frame work for the dash support. unfortunatly I got side tracked watching the Formula one race ( on TV ) so didnt get the supports finished.

The cabin is starting to look good, I will hopefully do all the welding on this next weekend, and if I can buy the tube start the DiDion.

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:18 am Post subject:

Welds look like they have good penetration. You are getting to the stage where it's going to start looking like a car very soon!

Don't tell me about the F1 race, I recorded it and am going to watch it later!

Steve
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:03 am Post subject:

The build is progressing more slowly than I would like , but " life " gets in the road of the project. Sad

The cabin is basically finished, all it needs is to be fully welded, it is all tacked at the moment. I will be making the top cross bar of the cabin at the back in roll bar material 38mm x 2.5mm wall round tube. This will allow me to use it to mount my seat belt to without any doubts on strength and it also has the benefit of strengthening the cabin.

I sat the drivers seat in ( you will think on the wrong side ) to see where the pedals and steering column locate. As I have to move the seat further back, this means I will have to lenghten the column, not a major problem but just something extra to look at.

I am much happier now to actually see some progress for the work involved. Very Happy

Another issue I will have is that the fuel tank advised in the plans will not fit behind the seat as the seat is tilted back quite a bit, as well as mounting further back than the plans. This should not be a major problem as I am thinking about mounting a smaller tank in the passenger footwell for better weight distribution. Smile

The top rail will be replaced by the round roll bar material and sit about 3 inches higher than the 1" tube is now.......I am also thinking about having the diagional braces running in the opposite direction to the plan.

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:22 pm Post subject:

how come you had to move the seat so far back? their is a ton of leg room.are you that tall?just curious.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:50 am Post subject:

No I am not that tall !!

As I said in an earlier post this La Bala is being built as a competition only car, as a result I have to comply with the regulations of the motorsport governing body the " Confederation of Australian Motorsport " CAMS.

The CAMS regulations state " The main roll bar must not overhang but must be within 150 mm of the drivers head " So....as a result I have to have the drivers seat so far back to be within this 150 mm measurement.
Ideally I would like the seat further forward to aid with weight distribution, but I need to comply with the reg's in order to obtain a "log book" for the car to compete.

The main hoop of the roll bar is 44.45 mm dia instead of the 38 mm as listed in the plans. This is a CAMS minimum diameter requirement.
As a result of this pipe size variation the notching of tubes was different to the plans.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 4:49 am Post subject:

Work has been progressing quite well over the last few weeks. I have had a couple of set backs mainly with the bars inside the roll bar......the design was 'finished' then it has been modified again !..to the photo below , but it still needs some more cross braces and a bar for the seat belt straps to mount on. These will happen this coming weekend.

Below is what I thought was the finished bars inside the roll bar , but due to the vague CAMS specs on roll bar cross braces I now have to have the diagional brace as per the above photo from the top corner to the bottom corner, not as I was going to have it from the top corner to the corner of the straight cross bar........ahh well what is a bit more work ! Shocked

The engine box is finished and was tack welded to the cabin but I have since removed this so I can again finish the bars inside the roll bar.

I have added a temporary cross brace on the top and bottom engine bay frames to make sure they stayed square when I was welding it all together as shown in this photo, they will be removed when it is fully welded to the roll bar.

China decided to check out the comfort level of the race seat.... Rolling Eyes

It must be ok as she stayed there for 1.5 hours !

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 3:34 pm Post subject:

Most interesting about the 150mm rule for the rollbar. The head must be closer than 150mm? And how far away?

An alternate suggestion would be to create another rollbar forward of the current RB (twin rollbars!) at the point where the side-rail bends back to the frame. It may be too late to make such a large modification and I don't know if that would change where you could place the seat either. I have seen drag cars with this type of halo cage structure.

Steve
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 5:35 am Post subject:

Steve the rule reads that the back of the head can be no further away from the roll bar than 150mm and the head must not be able to pass under the roll bar in a rearward direction...so a plate/bar to stop the head going further back in case of an accident. I dont know what the reasoning for the forward distance is.....just CAMS being there normal helpful self !! Some of there decisions leave a lot to be desired, that is why they are generally called...Confederation Against Motor Sport Rolling Eyes

Yes, I thought about making a second roll bar further forward but decided against this as I was to far progressed with the build. If I build a second La Bala when this is finished I will make that modification and several other mods I have thought about.

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:01 am Post subject:

Been a while since I last posted. work on the car has progressed a lot slower than planned, due to job issues, but I am plugging away.

The 3 sections are all joined, the front suspension is fitted but just tack welded, I will fully weld it soon, the Di dion is almost complete, I am altering the design to suit my needs so it will look a bit different from others.

The steering is fully finished both coloum and rack mounting, along with the gear shift location.

I have bought a Black Top 20V to fit to the MR2 and the 16V that is in the MR2 will go in the build car along with a 6 speed transmission. The 16v is as powerful as the black top, and there are a lot more parts available to get more power out of it.

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:31 am Post subject:

Getting close! very very close to engine time! cool!
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 3:51 am Post subject:

Got my latest parts Very Happy

a nice floor mount pedal set Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:57 am Post subject:

Just a few shots of the De Dion build.......

Just getting everything lined up with zero camber and zero toe in/out, the reason being I will be having wedges between the hub and the De Dion to allow me to adjust the camber with different degree wedges.

This is the plate that will go where the bottom ball joint used to be, the 'peanut' shape will allow the hub to turn to a different setting.

This is roughly how the set up will look with the support bars back to the main tube. Sorry about the blurry photo...I should have used the tripod.

The trailing arm mounting brackets will now be behind the De Dion tube to allow extra length for a smoother ark.

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:10 am Post subject:

Most of the parts in the photo's above and below are not finished , there are gussetts to add to various pieces.

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:02 am Post subject:

More work in progress.....i still have to triangulate the arms with a plate.....

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 3:34 am Post subject:

Work has progressed at a slow pace but it is progressing. The De Dion is finished along with the spring/shock mounting I am working on the WOB link that i will use to locate the De Dion.

A front end shot ...for something different.

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:44 pm Post subject:

I am glad to see you are still working. I understand the slow progress. It is interesting to see the way you made the upper A arm attachment. Do you have enough travel with the heims turned that way?

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:12 pm Post subject:

Good progress Wayne. I like how you you have massively braced up the inner cockpit area, and your deDion bracing too.

It appears that the front suspension is in a 'bump' condition in that photo. There should be plenty of travel available with those heims.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:42 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the comments, the front shocker is full droop and the wishbones full bump, yes there is plenty of movement with the wishbones mounted that way, it comes from my formula driving days to mount wishbones like that......I still need to get the correct link lengths, this coming weekend i will measure it all up, as i need new rear ones also then order those. I will be running a 90 mm ride height, I might adjust the angle on the tabs to suit that more.

I have had to redo the 2 engine bay support braces where they run close to the top trailing arm, i moved them in and used 16 mm tube instead of 25 mm to gain the extra space, I dont believe that will cause any strength issues (no photos of that mod yet).

Steve, yes I decided as it was a race car only the extra bracing would help with rigidity and safety at minimal weight.

I am working on the WOB link at the moment and should have that sorted in the coming weeks , when that is done it will be on it's wheels. Laughing

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:43 am Post subject:

Work is progressing, I have mounted the fuel tank and obviously need to plumb it, the pedal assembly is also now mounted I just need to drill the mounting holes to secure it to the floor.
There will be a panel seperating the two as I will be having a 'tube' for my legs to be in so they wont flop about in hard cornering.

This weekend I will mount the radiator and make provision for the battery.

I am waiting on some machined bits for the DeDion before i can drop it on the ground......but very close to that happening !!

Let sleeping dogs .....after a hard day helping with the build... Very Happy

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:44 am Post subject:

Glad to see you are making progess. Have you decided what engine/transmission setup you are going to use?