Dirty
Thanks matey, I'll drop you a line.
Meanwhile here's another update (it's been a while)
I've been down to Sydney recently and got out to check out the Jag.
Last update mentioned that Gaz bought a couple of spare cars for their engines, it also made it apparent that the car he has is very good. The 2 spares are little more than rust held together by paint and dirt. They are also handy for spares that may be needed down the track.
Work is still in progress on the roll cage! Just when you think he's finished on it, paranoia sets in and more bar work is the end result. He's cross braced the roof bars and has put in the side impact bars. Here's some shots of these:
The second photo also shows a bit more of the tailshaft tunnel / centre console that has been fabricated. It is quite large but needed to be as the tailshaft and gearbox now sit higher in the car as it has been lowered so much. It also adds to the strength of the car.
and here's a shot of the rear bar work that has been finished. I think the last photo I posted of this was when it was still in progress:
Gary is going to add in a support to the front header bar as demonstrated here:
but this won't go in till later. A bar is going to be fitted across the dash and tie into the front upright bars. Once this is in place the front support will go in. The bar across the dash will be welded to the firewall and could be used to mount bits and pieces (steering column, electronic dash, etc). Another bar that will be fitted will go from the base of the central hoop, next to the driver and up to the roof bar. This will have a few straps also welded to it and back to the central hoop to keep the drivers head contained in the car.
Here's a couple of more photos that may help visualize this:
In the first image if you can imagine a bar coming up from the bottom left and going up next to his head. Ignore the helmet, this is also for testing purposes.
In a previous post I mentioned using an SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus). Here's a shot of it as well:
Gaz was thinking it would go next to the seat but it will go in the boot for safety reasons. The regulator screws into the top and a hose will go through a bulkhead in the rear firewall and get connected via another hose to the helmet. The pressure out of the reg is very low. One area to still be worked out is the fire extinguishers. There will be two for the engine bay, one for the cabin and possibly another one for the boot. If we go for the Coldfire system the SCBA may not be needed but would be useful if the cabin fills with smoke.
We talked some more about ventilation for the cabin and an idea is to run fresh air into the car via the frame rails which would be sealed. A throttle body at the front could be opened to let air in but could be sprung shut in the event of fire and the fire bottles being triggered....
The diff is finally finished, check it out:
Does it look strong enough? The car will get some time on a drag strip as well as the salt just for fun. It will also get used wherever else it can. So the diff is probably overkill.
The diff centre is currently set up with a 4.11:1 on a spool for when the car finally gets fired up and a test drive happens, these will be swapped for 2.5's for the lake. So the diff is ready to be fitted and the car will be on the rear wheels soon. He's got a set of front hubs that need to be fitted with bigger studs that will also allow the front discs to be mounted before the front wheels will go on.
There is another discussion on the Aussie board at the moment regarding front brakes and whether or not to fit them. The Jag will get them as they will cause minimal drag, the weight doesn't matter, the car will be used for other purposes and in case anything goes wrong with the chute.
One more thing is the front air dam. Gaz found a rear bar off a late model Falcon which looks soooo good:
This may or may not get used depending on the rules for this class. It may be that the standard front bar gets used over the top of this one or this bar gets cut to allow the standard bar to be used or it is modified in some other way. The way the rules are, we have to use a standard front bar but can't protrude anything in front of this....
One more thing is ride height. Under advice from Bob Ellis (200+ MPH in an aussie falcon C/GCC), we'll have to lift the rear a bit to get air out from under the car to prevent lift. It was always going to come up a bit but we may have to keep an eye on this. The car will be getting a bellypan which will also double as a skidplate to prevent hooking up when the car gets loaded onto trailers and this arches up at the rear of the car. The car may also get a spoiler but this depends on what was available for this model car (under the rules for MS) and if it suits the purpose.
So what's happening at the moment...
Assembling the diff to fit it
Work on the front hubs
Finish off the cage........
Organise the fire system
Decide on a new engine management computer
Order a tailshaft