The Rwd 2Az-Fe Thread.

[LittleRedSpirit]

Now I'm wondering if I should add a metal neck to clamp the silicon hose on, Problem being I need to order a 5 inch intercooler pipe to cut up so it would mean no glass today.

[oh what a nissan feeling!]

Hey man i was reading this yesterday, was written by a guy who does it for a living. Thought of it now seeing your thread. Maybe some small tips in there to help at all.

 

1) I made a cardboard model to estimate location, size and shape. I then transfered this to a block of foam. Use styrofoam as it is cheap, easy to shape but most importantly you can disolve it when the fibreglass has cured.

2) I just used a horse file to remove the majority of foam and some 40 grit sandpaper until the basic shape was formed

3) use some finer sandpaper to smooth out the foam and refine the shape, checking against the car and the cardboard template to get the dimensions close. I also made a cardboard template of the filter based on the online dimensions so that I could make it fit correctly.

4) Theres is two ways you can do the next step, either use epoxy resin to laminate 2 layers of 150g/m fibreglass cloth over the foam or you can coat it in PVA or similar that will create a barrier between the polyester resin and the foam. The styrene in the polyester resin will eat the foam and you will loose the shape you have formed. When this has set sand the fibreglass smooth, apply filler and get it fairly straight while the foam is still in place as it will be stiffer and easier to work with.

5) when you are happy that there is enough stiffness in the fibreglass and its smooth enough cut a hole where you need one and sprinkle/spray/drip acetone onto the foam. It will disolve fairly quickly but you will need to scrap it out (it turns into something that grossly resembles sprog)

6) then you can trim edges, cut holes etc and apply paint etc. I used a layer of white gelcoat over the epoxy to make sure the niki/pink/body filler bog would stick to the surface. Polyester resin and fillers will not stick to epoxy resin but gel coat or vinyl ester will. By putting the layer of gel coat on I could sand it smooth and then fill with bog wherer required.

7) I used Marine King Star board as the mounting panel on the throttles(a plastic product used widely on boats that is used a bit like plywood, fibreglass wont stick to it). I just sat the part on the kingboard and applied some Fibreglass where I needed the flange, let it cure and then pulled it off when the glass had cured. This way it had perfect shape and fit against the mounting panel.

 

Notes: I nearly ran in to trouble because I didnt have enough glass on the flat surface when i dissolved the foam. It sagged a bit and the trumpets nearly didnt fit. This also ment that I needed to add a fair bit of filler/bog to get it flat. I also painted a full coat of epoxy on the inside of the product when i had finished giving the inside a sand and smooth out so that no loose particles will get sucked into the engine. The small fairing that hold the filter on the front was also made from foam but I left the foam in it because it didnt need to be hollow. I had a few pin holes in the resin though and the fillers/primers started eating the foam. It also took a fair bit of iller to fill these soft spots. The hole things is probably 2-3kgs but could of been half that if i hadnt used all the filler/bog. I wasnt worried though because I wasnt sure it was going to work.

 

Hopefully that explains it a little but let me know if you need more 

[LittleRedSpirit]

Thanks Matt I hadnt read that but its more or less what I am doing. I built the foam in layers area by area and got all the space i could, then the other day added a lot of little areas around the rear throttle trumpet and booster and moved the whole box 20mm back towards the firewall, so i have the ability now to run the long trumpets inside.

 

I was wondering about maybe concealing a couple of thin metal strips inside the fibreglass to stiffen some of the broader areas, and thats what I think Ill do, especially the lid, having read his feedback, and Ill take time to put enough resin in. I'm using epoxy resin so I think it should be pretty strong when done but not too brittle. I'm using this fibre as my reinforcement, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramid

 

Materials:

 

The pieces essentially ready for glass.

 

Rear view mated to lid.

 

You can see I took all the space available by the freaky shape of it:

 

Front side view

 

Top view

Edited July 30, 2016 by LittleRedSpirit

[LittleRedSpirit]

I have now test fitted the tape encased lower piece in the bay, clears everything well. Put the lid on and had an interference issue with the bonnet so it has been shaved down enough to rectify it and just generally cleaned right up.

 

Room for air Filter:

 

Side view:

 

Top View:

 

Left enough room to make heater and fuel connections easy under here.

 

Engine side clearance

 

Clearance underneath

 

 

About a handwidth from the firewall seam without glass.

 

Booster and vac hose:

 

Brake master clearance:

[LittleRedSpirit]

Ive also now got a piece of 5 inch intercooler pipe and a 5 inch rubber joiner on the way to attach the k and n filter. By my estimates it will fit and almost touch the radiator support so hopefully I don't need to slightly re align the filter funnel to make space.

[ke70dave]

Very nicely done. Great to see the progress.

 

I'll have to come have a catch-up one of these days Matt. The lovely people at department of transport gave me some number plates for the beema today ;)

 

 

[LittleRedSpirit]

Very nicely done. Great to see the progress.

 

I'll have to come have a catch-up one of these days Matt. The lovely people at department of transport gave me some number plates for the beema today ;)

 

Youre always welcome David.

[LittleRedSpirit]

 

I have done a little proof of concept idea and the tape came away perfect so I'm happy with my method for release. I decided to use a vacuum bag system while curing so I bought some peel ply as well to even out the resin. I am going to try and use a storage type vacuum bag to cure it and remove air from the layup. I read the thing reed posted above and after seeing how the un-vacuum cured manifold had lots of pinholes and got bogged up I decided that would suck donkey dicks so I will be using the vacuum method and maybe up to 3 layers of cloth to make it thick and strong.

 

My darn 5 inch pipe didn't come so no glass laying today. I did receive the air filter which is awesome looking and the silicon hose I needed though. I still need a breather medium to squish over the peel ply and absorb the extra resin that bleeds out of the layup.

[LittleRedSpirit]

Today I removed and painted the headers.

 

I also fitted the factory oil cooler. I did an oil and coolant change.

Downpipe here under the headers. Had to bend it around the mount and extend the straight piece of hose.

 

Fitted the sender for the oil temp gauge through the second sump plug.

 

Maybe tomorrow I can fit the carter lift pump and make it a heck of a lot quieter. Have to recalibrate the o2 sensor as its gone to hell since being removed.

[altezzaclub]

Do you think there is some volume ratio between the airbox and the cc of the motor?? I remember someone at Popular Mechanics or similar chasing flow constrictions in an intake system using a manometer.

 

I'm dying to see it in fibreglass!

[LittleRedSpirit]

I'm sure there is, but in general terms, the ideal volume is more than what fits in most engine bays, hence the size of the box on a 20v which is quite large but quite good for performance. Scaling thos volumes up another 50% for the 2400 cc engine gets very volumous indeed. I was putting some of my ideas together in my thread on ae86 dc and a member contacted me who had done fairly good testing on itb airboxes for his beams. He said it was all about the air being as still as possible so it can easily be drawn up to the bellmouths and that the volume should be large and the opening as big as possible. To slow the air I have used a 5 inch inlet that will come in at 5 inches than immediately flare to a larger diameter for a reverse venturi effect.

[ke70dave]

Thanks for the drive yesterday matt!

 

This things rocks.

[LittleRedSpirit]

So I scaled in the 2gr factory vvti settings for the inlet cam and it works pretty well. Sent my cruise afrs rich and made more torque all over so there's a win. I've trimmed up the fuel to suit and highway economy seems what I would expect now. Had a couple nice drives one to Dayboro and one around the hills loop from Samford to Waterworks road. Oil temps are observable now as I connected the gauge up and installed it in place of the faulty oil pressure gauge. Takes about ten minutes to raise the needle above 50 and then it got to 102 on the way up the steep side and eased to 97 on the way down. Whats a healthy oil temp?

[ke70dave]

I emailed penrite years ago enquiring aboit oil temps, i'll see if i can dig up the numbers they suggested.

 

Nah can't find the email. Must have used work email at the time. If i recall it was something like 120deg+ was cause for concern.

Edited August 28, 2016 by ke70dave

[Taz_Rx]

I had a conversion about it years ago with a mechanic (who also raced) he said you don't need to stress until you're up around 120-130 degrees. I did see that a couple of times with some spirited hills driving so eventually hooked up my oil cooler. Now I don't get any higher than water temps.

Volume would also make a difference in how hot you get.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Taz_Rx