1975 LA Lancer Buildup - Current Status - Page 9
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5th February 2009 - Major Changes!
After many years of working on the 4G32 DOHC, it has been sold. This was not an easy decision to make and one I had been contemplating for a long period of time. Unfortunately the rarity of the engine made it difficult to get useful information, especially when it came to modifying it for more power, and parts availability was always a concern for me if anything in the head needed replacing. From what I can tell, very few people had modified the DOHC engine and a power output of 170hp at the wheels was a huge jump over the stock engine, but still not enough for my needs! At this power level, the driveline was very much at it's limits, to the point that the LSD was overheating on the track and I have either bent an axle or broken a wheel bearing in the diff as well. The axle/bearing issue was the catalyst for the engine sale, fixing the current diff problems was only going to temporarily resolve any issues, I am certain that I would of broken something if I had used nitrous at the drag strip. When "shopping" for replacement diffs, the amount of changes that it was going to need became apparent, basically, everything from the tailshaft to the rear suspension would need modifying or replacing. Also, fitting the bigger diff was going to make the car slower due to the extra weight and possibly give me clearance issues between the leaf springs and chassis rails with the larger axle tubes. Spending a lot of time and money to go slower was not something I wanted to do...
Whilst investigating a lot of options, one thing kept on getting in the way, the class rules that I had built the car to. Under the rules, I am not allowed to change suspension type and pickup points and must continue to use an engine from the same manufacturer. This limited the changes to the rear suspension to adding two links to control the leaf springs, something which would take a lot of trial and error to get right, a 4-link setup would get around most of the issues with a lot less hassle and more adjustability, but was outside of the rules. The limitations around engine choice had been causing some concern, I had known for a while that the 4G32 was going to need to be replaced with something with more power potential, sticking with rear wheel drive Mitsubishi engines was not easy. Whilst there is a lot of information around about converting the 4G63 from it's east-west orientation to a rear wheel drive setup, it is not a simple process and gearbox choice is limited. Also, unless I went to a turbo setup, getting parts and information about power increasing modifications, is difficult. I briefly considered using a 2.6 Astron motor but in the end came to the same problem as the 4G63, gearbox choice is limited unless you go to the expense of a Toyota gearbox conversion. Looking outside of the rules, a Nissan SR20 looked to be a logical choice, it has huge aftermarket support for both turbo and non-turbo applications, comes in a RWD setup with a strong gearbox and is readily and cheaply available. Spare parts are also easily available as it was available in locally delivered cars for many years.
Knowing that a change to the Nissan engine would change the racing class, I started looking at the "Sports Sedan" rules to see what else could be done. To put it basically, you can do almost anything in this class! Whilst it is dominated by big dollar tube chassis cars, I'm not out to win the class, I simply want to go faster and the freedoms of the class rules would allow this. A 4-link setup is allowed along with the engine change and I can use rose-jointed suspension setups with adjustable pickup points making for fine-tuning the setup much easier. It would also allow for easier more permanent fixes to some of the other problems I had encountered with the front suspension rubbers and being unable to replace them with something more durable (the inner control arm bushes lasted one track day..)
So the decision was made, sell the current 4G32 DOHC engine and gearbox, LSD diff, rear springs and shocks and replace it with a Nissan SR20de engine (non-turbo) and 5 speed gearbox. This would be joined up to a locked Hilux diff with either 4.8 or 5.1 gears on a 4-link setup, possibly a satchell link. Once this decision was made, things happened much quicker then I thought the would of! I came across a smashed S13 Silvia on eBay and to my surprise it went cheaper then I thought it would and I won the auction. Advertising the engine/gearbox combo on a couple of forums saw it sold in a few days, again, much to my surprise. I soon had a smashed and partially stripped Silvia on the driveway and an empty engine bay in the Lancer. It was rather sad to see the engine go, but also exciting as I knew the new engine combination was going to make me go faster without concerns of driveline strength or parts availability.
Given that I had an empty engine bay and the new engine sitting in the garage, I was rather keen to see what work would be required to make it fit, talking to people that had contemplated the conversion, clearance for steering, brakes and the clutch master cylinder were the main concerns. After much manhandling, removal of the front sway bar and drag link, the engine was in the Lancers engine bay. A few issues were then noticeable (click on each picture for a larger image to load in a new window):
Engine in the Lancer engine bay.
Note the offset of the engine to wards the passenger side of the car.
Even with the engine offset, there is no clearance for the brake booster and master cylinder
There is no room to move the engine further back in the bay as it is hard up against the firewall
The sump is in the space previously occupied by the steering
The gear lever is underneath the battery cutoff and nitrous switches
After looking at the lack of clearance around the inlet side, I decided to purchase a different style inlet manifold of eBay, here are the pics of it being trial fitted (click on each picture for a larger image in a new window):
Inlet sitting in place, note that the back of the manifold is not sitting down where it should be
New plenum is much higher then the old manifold and clears the master cylinder, but not the reservoirs.
Brake booster inlet pipe is stopping the manifold from sitting in place properly, note the "lump" under the inlet manifold for the idle control valve
This has left me with a list of things to do to get the engine and gearbox to fit properly
1. Recess the firewall so the engine can be moved back to allow for the steering to fit
2. Delete or relocate the brake booster, rotating it will remove the issue with the inlet pipe, but possibly not give enough clearance once the engine is in it's final location.
3. Fit remote reservoirs to the brake master cylinder
4. Cut a new hole for the gear lever, due to it's location, a remote gear lever may also be needed.
5. Fabricate new engine and gearbox mounts
6. Fit the clutch master cylinder
Once it is fitted in place, I can then work on getting the wiring and plumbing sorted out before moving to work on the rear suspension and diff. There is plenty of work to be done and I don't think it will be done quickly!
8th February 2009 - Engine Mounting
Had a closer look at the engine fitment today, originally it was to mark out where the firewall needed to be cut, but I started having other thoughts. By removing the heater hoses from the rear of the motor and moving the brake lines that are on the firewall out of the way, the engine can be moved back about 3cm's further then the original pics. Combine that with sump cutting of the sump, I think it will fit without needing any major mods. Red line is where it needs to be cut, yellow line is backup cutting if I need it.
I have a couple of concerns, firstly is the couple of longer bolts arrowed. Hopefully I can cut it so that shorter bolts can be fitted. Secondly is the internal shape of the sump, will I end up with a gaping hole I need to fill? Thirdly, I have no experience with sumps on alloy blocks, if this was an iron block, I would have no concern over the strength, slightly nervous with the alloy stuff..
Overall, modifying the sump should take a day, recessing the firewall will take a month of weekends by the time I move everything out of the way and then put it back after the mods.
11th February 2009 - More engine mounting
After looking at the design of some of the commercially available dry sumps and seeing that they had no connections to the gearbox, I got out the grinder and cut the sump:
I got caught out by the angle of the sump and nicked a tiny hole in the back of the sump. Shouldn't be too hard to fix if I can't get another sump to cut. Put the sump back on with a couple of bolts and put it back in the car, it's on more of an angle then last time, I think this is close to what is needed:
Crank is close to the centre of the car, just a bit to the passenger side
The brake booster is still in the way of getting it any further towards the drivers side.
Heaps of clearance for the brake master cylinder:
Heaps of clearance for the steering as well:
It's tight for the gearbox, it won't go up as far as needed until the hole is cut for the gear lever
Not a lot of clearance for the exhaust, but I should be able to squeeze something in there.
Next step is sorting out the gearbox mounts, need to wait for a eurothane mount to arrive before I can do that.
24th April 2009 - Another new engine!
So a minor change occurred when I upgraded the S13 SR20 to a S14 SR20 with Microtech LTX8 ecu, Microtech dash and quad coil setup courtesy of a friend writing off his rally car. Had a spare couple of hours tonight and did a quick trial fit:
It took a couple of straps to be able to hold the engine in the correct angle without the gearbox helping to keep it all still.
Clearance between the brake booster/master cylinder is tight, but workable unlike the S13 setup. I will cut the booster pipe so it is straight and that should do it.
Looks like there will be enough room for the S13 clutch master cylinder as well. Was planning on a smaller RX7 cylinder, but if I can use the one I already have it will make life easier.
Of course everything can't be perfect... This is the height I set the engine at, just above the crossmember so it is not the lowest point of the car:
However, at that height, the bonnet won't close, I will need to move it down about 15mm which is going to put the sump below the crossmember. I want to put a brace between the chassis rails in front of the engine so I should be able to incorporate a very small sump guard in case of some infield excursions.
5th July 2009 - Even more changes
After the 2 engine changes, you would think that I would leave the rest alone, but more changes have started to be actioned.
Firstly, the bolt-in roll cage has been removed and sold. The rule changes to Sports Sedan puts some extra requirements on the roll cage, most notably two intrusion bars on the drivers side and a diagonal in the roof section. These are not easily fitted to an existing bolt-in cage due to the need for custom clamps to suit the angles needed. The decision was made easier by a friend kindly offering to assist with the installation and completing the crucial welding, which I would not be comfortable completing. The design should be completed shortly and the main hoop and front legs made up by a commercial roll cage builder in the next couple of weeks. After that we can complete the remainder of the install . In preparation for the installation, the interior of the car has been stripped bare, the only remaining contents are the wiring loom, handbrake lever and steering column. The front and rear windscreens have also been removed so they do not get damaged by the welding splatter. Fortunately as the rubbers were relatively new, nothing was damaged during the removal and re-fitting should be straight forward process.
Secondly, I have moved away from having a Hilux/4-link rear suspension and diff setup. The main deciding point on any changes to the car is ease of finding replacement parts suitable for track use, I do not want to be in the same situation as before where parts where hard to obtain, often had to be custom made and did not always survive as long as I would of liked. There is a certain model of Hilux diff that was the required width for the Lancer when flares are fitted to cover the extra track, due to the age of that particular model, parts are extremely hard to find and very costly for what is a 30 year old second hand part. The effort that I went through to find one diff for sale concerned me should either it not be in good enough condition to use or should I break it in the future, it could take a considerable amount of time to find replacement parts. After going through several alternative diff options, I started looking closely at the Nissan S13 Silvia/180SX suspension setup. Yet another eBay purchase of a smashed Silvia ended up in my yard after finding that wreckers were reluctant to sell the entire rear suspension and diff assembly, preferring to sell it in parts to get more money. I also wanted a specific model S13, a CA18DE manual version as it had the best option in diff gearing and sizing. With the parts already sold, it has worked out to be a much cheaper option then buying everything from the wreckers. The rear suspension cradle including the rear brakes, 4.375:1 R180 diff and all suspension arms in sitting in the garage waiting for trial fitment to the car.
So with these changes, I now have a lot of parts sitting in the garage awaiting fitment:
With the impending purchase of the roll cage to add to the list, there is a lot of work to be done, of course more parts will also need to purchased and added to the "to be installed" list.