Davros' Ke10 4age Project

[Jono]

i originally used a 1" clutch master cylinder which looked identical to your one, it was a cheap brand new one for a trailer. The problem was the pedal was too stiff. ended up getting an NG pajero master cylinder which is REALLY short and fits behind the manifold easily AND was the right diameter bore (i can't remember exactly, probably on my thread on here somewhere).

 

you are running dual circuit brakes aren't you?

[untubbed_20]

I have got my motor in now, how much clearance have you got with your rear water outlet?

I am going to try a ae82 one, but it looks tight down there still!, how wide is yours from the flange

to the furtherst point, did you still need a hammer:). They are bloody close to the brake master cylinder

aren't they, only clears by millimetres!

cheers

darren

Edited April 21, 2009 by untubbed_20

[Davros El Davros]

Hey Darren,

 

Late reply.. Been mad busy trying to sort out my brake headaches, and learning how to TIG weld as well as I have decided to do my alloy airbox and radiator myself..

 

Good to hear you are progressing. It sure is tight in the engine bay with the 4AGE in there.

 

I have about 5mm clearance at the back with a low profile RWD rear water outlet, but I can get a bit more clearance by adding a bit more spacing between the

 

gearbox mounting bracket and gearbox crossmember.

 

I don't have my gearbox mount up as high as it can go yet. By pushing the gearbox up, the engine tilts down and gives you more clearance at the back.

 

However pushing the gearbox higher will bring it closer to the trans tunnel, so some massaging may be needed.

 

I just bought a high density Cusco gearbox mount from Ebay to minimise gearbox movement once its all together.

 

Not sure what you mean by the width from the flange - if you can clarify I'll measure it all and get back to you..

 

And there is bugger all clearance between the intake plenum and the brake master cylinder.

 

I have decided to ditch the standard brake master cylinder and the clutch master cylinder that I have been working on and go for a Tilton Pedal box setup under the dash,

 

so this will eliminate the issue with clearance in the engine bay.

 

Happy to email you some pics if you like..

 

Davros

[untubbed_20]

Yep after piss farting around with mine for a week, and my wife looking at it and telling me

she is not driving it/going in it with a stock brake master cylinder i decided to put a tilton

pedal box in it to, so its back under a car cover in the shed till i can afford that..lol

 

i have no probs with tunnel clearance, i have a big tunnel welded in there to clear the supra five speed

but with the inlet manifold it just hits my brake master cylinder anyway. its mounted a bit to far back....

must of been fate..still not a lot of room for a radiator though.

cheers

darren

[benhachi]

Hey mate, this is the exact build thread i was looking for :) lol. ill be doing this soon ive got an ae86 donor car for it, should be fun.

[Prewer]

Epic thread, congrats

[Davros El Davros]

Thanks for the props. Been a bit slow on the updates lately, but work on the car has been going well.

 

I'm flat out with work for the next week but I'll have pics and progress updates up when I have some spare hours.

[Davros El Davros]

Long Overdue Updates...

 

Ok, even though updates have been sparse, work on the car has been fairly constant.

 

Brakes:

 

One major decision has been to quit dicking around with the Volvo caliper/honda rotor/custom caliper brackets that I was looking at previously for the brake setup.

I found that it was all too fiddly, and the rotors that I was planning on using were hitting the LCA. So, I made the call and bought a Hoppers Stoppers kit, which will give me 290mm slotted and vented rotors, with PBR twin pot calipers.

 

I thought this would be straight forward, but I have had a few hassles with the rotors from this kit hitting the LCAs as well. Seems they developed the kit for a KE20 that one of the guys that works there has owned for years. The LCA from the KE10 must be closer to the inside of the strut bottom than on a KE20. Anyway, to get around this, the guys at Hoppers Stoppers machined me up a few 3mm spacers, that slide on over the stub axles before the bearings are mounted, which brings the hubs out by a few mm, thus clearing the rotor from the LCA. It still allows the bearings to mount properly and the castle nut does up properly. I don't have the full brake setup fitted as yet because I need to sort a few other things out.

 

I'll post some pics of the whole setup when it's all done.

 

I'm also scrapping previous plans for the brake master cylinder and clutch master. I'm going with a Tilton under-dash setup, with a remote booster. I was thinking of mounting the booster in the boot, but have lately been looking at the idea of mounting it up under the front guard.

 

Anyone got any ideas on this?

 

Wheels:

 

The wheels are finally sorted. I'm going to run 15x5.5 chasers off a pre 1987 Saab 900. I have sourced 5 (4 are good, the other one is only fit for the spare), and have had the offset properly changed, so that they clear the front strut by about 10mm, and also will sit almost level with the guard. I didn't want to use spacers at all, so hence the extra expense with getting the offset changed. Also from rough measurements so far, with the offset change, the track stays within the legal limit for NSW specs.

 

I took the wheels back to bare metal as shown in the pics below (no, they are not going to be chrome or polished....) and smoothed them out. They are off getting powdercoated satin black at the moment, and then as soon as they get back I am getting tyres fitted. Going to run 175/55/15s on the front and 195/50/15s on the back. I was going to whitewall the tyres, but I think I will paint the lip of the rims white. Not sure yet. Want to wait and see what they look like on the car. Pics:

 

 

 

Cold Air Intake:

 

I decided that with the amount of custom stuff I want in the engine bay, with the alloy radiator and mods, air intake, catch can, and other brackets etc, I should get off my ass and learn how to TIG weld. So I have got myself a little Unimig ACDC 200, which is a pretty good little rig and I have been learning how to use it. Having some experience with oxy Welding has helped, but TIG welding aluminium is darn hard! It flows like water when you have too much heat in it...

 

Anyways, after a few solid days of practice, I have started building a cold air intake box. It's going to sit in the front driver's corner, and I'm going to vent it at the front to let the air in. I have welded some lugs in the front panel, so that I can cut 2 big holes in the front of the box, then bolt a plate over the top to make it look like it's fully sealed if I need to.

 

The box is unfinished at the moment, but here are some progress pics. It's the first thing I have ever made out of alloy, so the welds are a bit rough in parts, but I would rather have everything in the car that I have made myself be a bit rough, rather than just getting it all done elsewhere. I have started polishing it a bit, so there is a bit of polish resin left on the welds.. Pics:

 

 

 

Gearbox Mount:

 

The custom gearbox mount that I bought along with the engine mounts a while back didn't fit for some reason, so I have modified it a little. I wanted to change the design a bit, so that the mount extended back from either side of the mounting plate, not just being welded at the back like the mount I bought. For a reference pic of what the mount looked like, go back a few pages in this thread.

 

Using the existing mount I had, I cut it down and then cut some more pieces to fit. I also added some spacer plates on the mounting surface of the bracket, where it meets the Cusco mount, so that the gearbox will sit higher in the tunnel. I have massaged the tunnel a little to allow more clearance. This sits the engine more level in the engine bay, and gives the rear water outlet more clearance from the firewall. I may put some extra 10mm aluminium spacer plates in between the mount bracket and the mount to sit the gearbox up even higher if needed.

 

I TIG welded all of the joints on the mount, and it has turned out pretty well. It will be nice and strong, and is pretty neat. I'm starting to get the hang of TIG welding.

 

 

Other stuff:

 

In terms of other progress, I have got myself an R31 skyline diff, with a 3.89 28 spline centre. I have cut all of the mounts off, and will be getting it shortened as soon as the wheels come back, so I can work out my distances. I'm going to go with a KAAZ LSD centre down the track.

 

The JAR alloy radiator has been purchased and is being modified at the moment. I'll finish that after I do a bit more TIG welding, as well as the alloy cooling pipes.

 

The whole car is being re-wired by Beerhead the guru at the moment. Alarm system, boot lights, hazard lights and a few other goodies are being added.

 

Clear cam covers have been purchased as part of Little Red Spirit's group buy.

 

And thats about it for now...

 

More pics and progress as it happens.

 

Edited February 24, 2010 by Davros El Davros

[StasIII]

Ive done excatly the same thing with my rims cause ive got the same brakes.

[Rolliac]

you have been busy.

[philbey]

Awesome. This thing is going to be cool.

 

Dare I ask what it cost to modify the offset on those rims?

[Davros El Davros]

Hey Philbey,

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

I think the offset change was about 55 per rim or somewhere around that price.

 

I definitely didn't want to run spacers on the wheels, so for me it was worth paying the money to have it done.

 

 

In other progress, I have received the wheels back from the powder coaters - they are now super smooth satin black.

I have fitted Bridgestone 175/55/15s to the front and Federal 195/50/15s to the back to give it a bit more rubber on the road.

The wheels look awesome on the car, but I am definitely going to paint the outer lip of the rims white, to break up the black.

Also going to lower the front when I get the coilovers on there.

 

Pics:

 

 

 

 

I am also making a custom set of alloy centre caps for the rims.

The R31 Skyline diff is off getting shortened at the moment and should be back by the end of next week.

 

 

Most of the cooling system is also hooked up. I finally got the top tank mods on the radiator finished, plus the 90 degree angles for the outlet and inlet plus the filler neck.

I am pretty happy with the welds on the radiator and cooling system, considering I have only been using the TIG for a few months.

 

Still got a bit of polishing to do for the radiator, and also have to hook up all of the heater hoses etc.

 

Pics:

 

Edited February 24, 2010 by Davros El Davros

[JOEKA]

Don't paint the outer lip of the wheel.

 

Just white wall the tyres...and maybe pop some chrome rings on the outer lip of the wheels...

[radrollaz]

Daveros, i love your work mate :lol: so much detail. Keep up the great work, i look forward to seeing this ke10 finished :osama:

[philbey]

Man that's nice pipework. I'm learning a bit of tig too, i hope I can get that clean a weld!