Nose job

[Bville701]

Looking good.

Does the carbon fiber go on the same way as the glass?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

I used a woven glass as the base, and then a few layers of unwoven build matting for some thickness before the CF so the CF is going in the same direction as the glass base.

While the CF will provide some strength to the box its primary purpose is to look cool.
I figured sense I was going to build a "larger than stock" airbox for the busa motor why not cover it in CF….plus I got a deal on some from Ebay.

The new airbox should be good for a few HP over stock (larger volume for better resonate frequency tuning, even a stock 1300 will gain a few HP with a larger box volume. I had someone more knowledgeable than I am run some calculations on my 1507cc busa motor and what size the box should be).

[Jonny Hotnuts]

The airbox on the motor. It is not finished, needs a few more layers of CF and a nice clear coat.
You can see from the sides that when your epoxy is gelling....dont try and slap it on so you dont waste it. Now I have much more sanding to do because I rushed the glue, would have been better mixing a fresh batch.

This is the motor cage around the motor (note the hook points for a clevis chain to pull the motor at the top). The cage allows us to have all the mounts located in a square package that drops in the car between 2 sections of angle iron mounted at the base of the engine bay. This forces the motor to be aligned and allows for 20 minute engine swaps (providing you have another motor with a cage ready to go in!). You can see the turbo motor in its cage on the side waiting for its build, we will bring it as a back up motor this year, with our without boost.
I had to pull this motors entire clutch assembly out, including basket to change the gear position sensor to a modified unit. The modified sensor de-restricts the motor and allows the LED gear position indicator to work. Because I had the clutch out I installed the mega heavy duty springs......maybe now I should get the clutch slave support. Pulling the entire clutch out....what a pain!

Check out the neat gear postion indacator (many people asked me where I got it last year)

www.boostbysmith.com

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Homemade air shifter.....same one we used last year with good results (the install is cleaner this year).

[Sumner]

That looks nice  .  Are you using air or CO2?  ........ and where is it stored, bottle, tank, frame, etc...??

How about a couple more pictures (closeups)??

Thanks,

Sum

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Posted on: May 08, 2008, 12:34:41 PMPosted by: Sumner 
Insert Quote
That looks nice  .  Are you using air or CO2?  ........ and where is it stored, bottle, tank, frame, etc...??

We use a tiny on board air compressor made by Viair http://www.viaircorp.com/
I installed a pressure switch that shuts off the compressor off at 130 psi and use a Wilkerson mini regulator to trim the pressure to around 60 psi. The system line pressure alone lets us shift about 3 times before the compressor re-charges (no tank).
The shifting is done by paddles on the steering wheel and with the "kill box" allows us to do WOT clutchless shifting (up) just by pressing the paddle on the wheel.
This may sound complicated but in truth it is all very simple and reliable.

What close up pics are you looking for?

-JH

[Sumner]

Posted on: May 08, 2008, 12:34:41 PMPosted by: Sumner 
Insert Quote
That looks nice  .  Are you using air or CO2?  ........ and where is it stored, bottle, tank, frame, etc...??

We use a tiny on board air compressor made by Viair http://www.viaircorp.com/
I installed a pressure switch that shuts off the compressor off at 130 psi and use a Wilkerson mini regulator to trim the pressure to around 60 psi. The system line pressure alone lets us shift about 3 times before the compressor re-charges (no tank).
The shifting is done by paddles on the steering wheel and with the "kill box" allows us to do WOT clutchless shifting (up) just by pressing the paddle on the wheel.
This may sound complicated but in truth it is all very simple and reliable.

What close up pics are you looking for?

-JH

Thanks, and maybe another picture of the bottom of the ram where it hooks to the linkage.  Did you make your own "kill box" or buy one.  I'd be interested in info either way there, a link, or a picture and schematic.

Thanks,

Sum

[Jonny Hotnuts]

SUM: Will post more pics of the shifter soon.

I was not going to post pics of the sheet until it was further along but decided to post a few anyway. This is my first time working sheet. The bends were done by hand over a 8' section of 6" pvc.
This guy was going to charge me a 1k to do this at a shop. I opted to save my green thinking how hard can it really be......in truth.....it wasnt. Now I only wish I had a break, power yoder and planishing hammer!

On another note Dennis Murray of the "Chili Pepper" VXO car is making a sidewinder header for the new motor. As soon as I get it the motor is going in the car.
(Hello DM if you read this.....[I hear he reads a few threads every now and again!])



Where the "hood" over hangs the bottom will be cut off even with the bottom and a glass nose will be put on.

I made some supports that hold the tires off the deck about 2", you can just see the tire poking out from under the wheel pants.

[Stainless1]

On another note Dennis Murray of the "Chili Pepper" VXO car is making a sidewinder header for the new motor. As soon as I get it the motor is going in the car.
(Hello DM if you read this.....[I hear he reads a few threads every now and again!])

Dennis does very nice work, his first Busa Sidewinder was in the MSA Lakester for the H/Gas work.  He has made several pipes for us over the years.  Great guy to work with.... our exhaust systems qualify as "non-standard" and the big names don't do custom, he makes them look and work great.

[Sumner]

That looks good.  I like the new nose over the old one.  I think it will work good for you.  I need to do some bending like that also, so I'll try your pipe deal.  Harbor Freight had their larger $200 planishing hammer on sale for $99 not too long ago and I got one.  Seems to work pretty good.  I don't know if it is still on sale or not.  I think next week I might be trying to start on my body also and see how it goes and if I should send my money in or not.

Keep posting the pictures.  They will help me.  Is that 20 gauge cold roll you are using??

c ya,

Sum

[Dr Goggles]

Nice work Jonny, love the nose, love the work...you have a great "get in or get outa the way" work ethic...like the air-shifter too.Now , is it still gonna be green?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Dennis does very nice work, his first Busa Sidewinder was in the MSA Lakester for the H/Gas work.  He has made several pipes for us over the years.  Great guy to work with.... our exhaust systems qualify as "non-standard" and the big names don't do custom, he makes them look and work great

We met Dennis about 7 years ago when we were crew for the VXO Tubby Racing Hudson. Gene and Dennis are both from the Eugene Oregon area and as with all flat head guys are thick as thieves. Its nice to know that if I needed the header modded I would only have about a 2 hour drive.

Is that 20 gauge cold roll you are using??

18 cold
I opted for a slightly thicker material (weight forward and all, but all of the sheet on the nose weighs only about 50-60 pounds). There are compromises between 20 and 18. 20 gauge is easier to bend….but also burns through easily and requires more bracing for stiffness. 18 is heavier but is also more ridged….good once formed, harder to form.

My thinking that there would not be a noteworthy gain in weight reduction by using thinner material with more bracing then slightly thicker with less.

It was really not that difficult to bend, even on the wide sections as long as you had ample tail left on the work for leverage. The left half section of the hood I had tons of stock and was easy to bend, and then I trimmed off the excess material. I decided to use the bent and trimmed left half section as a template for the right side……this gave much less remaining overhang. Needless to say it was much harder to bend!

is it still gonna be green?

Green is the fastest color 

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Air box complete (wont make scoop until it gets in the car).


foam blank with dog


Side. I did not want to be too aggressive with the shape profile until the juncture between car and nose worked. I still have to refine the profile but this is the basic idea.



Test fit


Test fit 2 and you can see that I am now in desperate need of a shop, working in a 16" trailer is getting to be a joke.

[Sumner]

I like it and you are giving me encouragement that maybe I can make my body by August.  One question, is there a reason you didn't drop the front of the nose further and maybe blend it right back into the sides of the wheel skirt.  I know from my own build that sometimes what people see in pictures is not practical in real life.

Keep the pictures coming as you finish this off.  Great stuff,

Sum

[Jonny Hotnuts]

One question, is there a reason you didn't drop the front of the nose further and maybe blend it right back into the sides of the wheel skirt.  I know from my own build that sometimes what people see in pictures is not practical in real life.

The pictures are a bit deceiving; in truth the body is lower that what you can see. While the sides and “hood” are relatively flat the belly pan has a concave profile. Because I made the body fit tight to the wheels the wheel skirts “ride” up on the lower radius making it look higher than it is in reality and had to de-bend some of the lower radius just to get the wheels to have some turning clearance.

In the pic you can see the wheel skirt is bottom is about 1” off the deck (it is less, I couldn’t get the jack out from under the frame because it wouldn’t get low enough!), this means that the lowest part of the body (at the apex of the belly pan) is in reality only about >3-3.5” from the salt.
The measurement of 17” at the top of the hood is done only slightly in front of the wheels meaning the nose section breaks over at about 15” (15” only seems like a number, once you put a tape on the ground and SEE 15” it is crazy low).   

At this front height the body remains somewhat level front to back but is still higher in the rear. I can not lower the back without doing some serious mods and if I was to lower the front the rear would be considerably higher, I have already made pre plans for next year regarding this matter. One of the many items that I changed this year was:
1.   HUGE amount of positive camber in the rear. This was only able to be change by fabing some crazy H beam linkages.
2.   Because of the billet flat bottom oil pan and sidewinder exhaust on the new motor, I was able to lower the motor 1.5”……but more importantly I was able to raise the bearing-axle 2” making the axle angle almost dead level laden. (Last year my CV to wheel was like 25 degrees, even the guy in tech said “are you sure this is OK?”. I could not lower the rear without pulling the CVs out of there sockets. I could hypothetically new lower the back 2” to match the raise in the rear end and retain the bad angle…..but opted for an improved drive angle instead. I can raise the drive even more IF I cut and shorten the Rx7 axles (pushes the CV joints past the motor supports, this means I could raise the assembly about 1” allowing me to lower the car 1” in the rear.)
One thing that I still laugh about is my buddy Rich from the Hudson Boys http://www.thehudsonboys.com/   (a great LSR site) mentioned after a discussion about why it was handling so bad and giving the car a good look over said: “If you want drama…..you are set up for it!”
Needless to say those words hit home, and I vowed that next year I don’t care how fast the car goes….as long as it goes straight

BTW:
I really thought I could get it all correct my first time, I understand now that it will take a few years to get all the bugs worked out!

-JH