KatoKid

Hmmmm....please share.

Couldnt help myself.....its a GTP 70-52 http://www.avonaero.com/garrett70.htm

Engines like these were used as APU's (Auxiliary Power Units) to supply bleed air for air conditioning and electrical power for aircraft while they are on the ground. Also used for power generation by the military out in the field. Suspect this one is the later as it only had 75 hours on it, they could be bought ex disposals for very little and run reduction gearboxes to provide usable output RPM's. There's a whole on line community out there of guys that find turbines of all shapes and sizes and do weird stuff with them. Attached link is a good start http://www.turbokart.com/home.htm

I'm in! Looking forward to seeing everyone....and their cars!

Nearly sounds like the ignition timing is too far advanced. Suggest you do a static timing test.

Dog leg area...

While I had the sills off I wanted to add some strength to the chassis....see this thread for details and thanks to all for opinions http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,7610.0.html Engineers may still want more but it was easy to do and I believe adds some meaningful stiffening. Had some beads rolled into them and then used the borrowed spot welder to install them with full seam welds at both ends where it joins with the original sections. Particularly strengthens the rear dog leg area where 2 post hoist pads are normally placed to lift the car.

Shan, really like the way your going about this and the way you've written it as you're asking the same questions as I'm thinking. Well done. Have my own question to add....how would Vic Roads approved engineering assessor view coil overs? Are they legal...particularly with sectioning which requires cutting and welding?

Wooohoo! Congrats guys!

Didn't meet reserve last time, re-listed with a buy it now of $17,000. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320604525750&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNARL:AU:1123 Second car listed separately, buy it now $4,000. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320604526817&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNARL:AU:1123

Craig. Its not really a lot of work....just takes a heap of time to get right. I'm actually going to Robco tomorrow as the Z steering shaft from the column is too large in diameter to fit into into the Subaru universal joint so I need Rob to turn it down. I will take the assembled rack etc so Rob can have a look at it. I'm pretty sure the steering shaft will just touch the chassis rail once its assembled, will probably move the base of the steering column to get the clearance I need.

Finished..

As you try and position the rack in the crossmember and rotate it backwards to get the correct inclination and engine mount clearance it causes the ports for the inlet and outlet of the rotary valve to point down into the crossmember at the rear and the also causes clearance issues with the “ears” where the rotary valve bolts to the aluminium rack housing at the front of the crossmember. Remember the rotary valve (or power head) has been removed and rotated 180 degrees as this position is the lesser of the two evils when it comes to providing clearance for the pipes. Initially I thought I could get the clearance I needed by deforming the crossmember with plenty of heat and a hammer. I did get the clearance I needed at the front but there was no way I would get the clearance I needed for the high pressure line going into the rotary valve at the rear, in fact I actually bent the whole crossmember in the process and had to straighten it out again! In an effort to keep the crossmember as original as I could I decided to cut as small a notch as possible in the rear of the X member to provide clearance for the high pressure pipe to the rotary valve. I then used a section of 50 x 3mm tube to fill in the notch. To be honest the pounding with heat on the front of the crossmember isn’t that pretty when combined with the notch and inset at the rear so next time, and particularly if I wasn’t getting it engineered, I would just cut a large notch in the crossmember from front to back and fill it in with a larger diameter piece of tube (or just formed 3mm plate) to suit. I will likely run a piece of plate along the front edge of the crossmember where I’ve deformed it for more strength anyway. The rear is OK as is…I think, will depend on the engineers. By the way, the high pressure inlet pipe had to be heated and reshaped so it gave a nice tight bend right on the flare nut where it goes into the rotary valve.

What I thought would be a pretty quick and easy job ended up taking a fair bit of time as a small adjustment in positioning of the rack on the crossmember has a big effect on the position of the pinion shaft/universal and its clearance of the engine mount. Essentially the inclination of the rack is determined by the engine mount clearance required for the universal joint. I trimmed 10mm off the back edge of the engine mount and made a cut parallel with the pinion shaft so I could bend the side of the mount to provide clearance for the shaft. The Subaru universal joint is a pretty bulky piece which is a stamping and at its widest point I’ve allowed about 7mm of clearance on the underside of the engine mount. You need to keep the pinion shaft as high as possible otherwise it will cause the steering shaft to hit the chassis rail as it runs up to the base of the steering column. I’m guessing the engineers won’t be too crazy about the weakening of the engine mount so I filled in the back side of the mount that was previously just open. There is a big hole for access to the rubber mount nut on the front side. The Pictures do a better job…….

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I needed a break from the rust repair work on my shell so decided to tackle the final installation of the WRX rack onto the crossmember. As I need to get the car engineered for rego I wanted top keep everything looking as stock as possible so this shaped the way I went about the installation, if I wasn't getting the car engineered then I would do it differently. The WRX rack is larger in diameter than the original rack and I know I will have sump clearance issues so the WRX rack needs to be mounted as low as possible and this creates its own set of complications with pipe work and clearance around the engine mount. In addition the taller pinion shaft and the angle it sits at positions the universal joint higher and further outboard which brings the shaft going to the base of the steering column very close to the chassis rail. I used the original Subaru rubber mount insulators as they are reasonably hard and can be replaced with aftermarket poly versions if desired. Using 30mm wide strap I made a 90 degree V section and a semi circular section to support the insulators and then cut corresponding sections out of the crossmember. Care needs to be taken here to get the rack as low as possible, level from side to side and on the correct inclination to give the necessary clearance between the pinion shaft/universal and the engine mount (more on this later). Sounds easy but it's a case of taking small cuts and checking position many times. The top brackets were bent with lots of heat from 5mm plate and drilled and tapped for the original Z mounting bolts. Once I had dummied it all up and was sure the rack was positioned properly I welded the bottom V and semi circular sections into the crossmember.

LOL Simon!

Some questions out of curiosity but also to help with my build...... Its pretty common knowledge that the engine and trans in 240's and 260's are offset to the drivers side but Ive never seen an explanation for it. Does anyone know why? I'm guessing its for clearance for carbs/airbox or even something to do with providing exhaust system clearance for the LH drive cars? I measured engine/trans position in my car before I pulled it and crankshaft nose is 20mm closer to the drivers side and the trans output was 5mm closer to the drivers side so this raises a few questions and bear in mind I didn't check the diff location before I pulled it: 1/ Above measurements would indicate the engine /trans is installed on an angle IE. not parallel with the centreline. If this is so, logic would say that the diff is also slightly angled to maintain the correct tailshaft alignment? 2/ Has anyone checked if the diff pinion is in the centre of the car or if the diff is parallel with the centreline or angled ? 3/ Have I measured my car incorrectly and the whole drivetrain including diff is actually parallel with the car centreline, just offset to the drivers side? Reason I ask all this is that I'm contemplating using a non Nissan/Datsun diff and CV shafts and want to understand what to look out for when it comes to positioning the new diff so I don't have any NVH issues. Cheers.

Thanks guys. I don't really have much experience with this sort of work and I find it takes a long time to complete just little fabrication jobs. Gets a bit frustrating sometimes and Ive got to remind myself to take the time to do it properly. Ive got impatient with a few things and ended up starting over as I wasn't happy with the end result. Next up is installing the strengthening sections that run the full length of the rocker box. Ive got them made and cut to size so will hopefully get them installed in the next few days. David.

Once I had the sills off and had a look at the rust inside I was extra glad I had made the decision to replace them. The front of the rocker box ( I think that's the correct term) on the RH side was in good condition but the LH side had rusted through so I had to make a new section and weld it in after cleaning up and prepping the metal underneath. I managed to borrow a spot welder from a family friend and this made it a heap easier than using plug welds. The spot welder is only a single phase and doesn't have a lot of punch but for this simple two layer weld it was good enough. Once I have the new sills tacked on I will take the shell to a panel shop that has a full size 3 phase spot welder as most of the spot welds will be over 3 layers and the single phase just wont cut it in my mind. Since I'm going to all this effort it didn't make sense to put it all back together without some additional rust proofing measures so I decided to go the full POR-15 route. Don't know if it really works but figure it cant hurt and besides it makes me feel better! Most of the rust in the rocker box was just surface rust which clened up pretty well. I followed the POR-15 clean and etch instructions and finally gave it 3 coats of grey after masking the edges that will be spot welded.

The actual removal of the old sills was pretty easy. Take the time to ensure you drill the spot welds out properly and they pretty well fall off, probably took about 45 minutes of drilling each side. I used these P&N Spot Weld Drills, about $30 each and ended up having to use one each side. Keep the speed low and the pressure up and they work really well.

So once I had reconstructed the lower sill edge and inner guard sections on both sides it was time to tackle the actual removal of the old sills. The reproduction sills are not an exact copy of the originals, not far off but they require trimming of the edges of the pressing so you really don't have good references when installing the new sills. I had some advice that it was critical that the new sills were welded back on in the correct location, otherwise the panel gaps between the doors and the sills would not be parallel. I tried hanging the doors and checking the gaps prior to removing the sills but this is a PITA as it takes ages to adjust and get the doors in the right location and then you have to remove them anyway to work on the sills and then refit them to check position of the new sills.....all seemed too hard so I decide to make some templates to ensure the lip of the sill that determines the lower door gap was in the correct position. Pictures explain better....

After cutting away bits and pieces I realised how bad the RH Dog Leg was....the rear section of ridge that forms the bottom of the sill was completely gone where the sill joins the rear guard. This section is made up of 4 layers ....the inner sill, a strengthening piece, the outer sill and the 1/4 panel all needed to be reconstructed and the LH side was just as bad. I tackled the reconstruction of the basic inner sill and inner guard before I removed the rest of the sill. Damn its hard to get a good looking weld without burning holes in the original steel! And that's with cutting it back to good metal too.

This cars a keeper and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do as much as possible to make it rust free so I bought some full length reproduction sills and plunged into the removal and replacement. I haven't done this sort of structural panel work before so I was apprehensive and also concerned about the shell bending once I removed the old sills so I decide to take it off the rotisserie for this work. I needed to build a trolley for latter panel and paint work anyway so I picked a couple of convenient points as mounting locations that would also ensure the shell was well supported while the sills were off.