Lola - Ke55 4a-gze

[ancullen]

Yeah, 87kW was in line with other stock 4A-GZE dyno figures I've seen on the net. It's a good power figure for the moment, but another 25% at the wheels wouldn't hurt either, but some of that should come when we delimit the boost.

Edited October 31, 2006 by ancullen

[ancullen]

Intercooler sprayers :) now you've got me thinking. How would you setup the sprays ?

 

Would you have them on a on/off switch or have them switch on when you hit a certain speed or rpm?

 

It will be activated by me pulling on the windscreen wiper controller behind the steering wheel. I'll just give it a pull as I go up the straight to try and get a bit more straight-line grunt, and keep the temperatures as low as possible. We may work out a better and more effective solution later on - whether it'll run off revs or a temperature sensor I haven't decided.

[ancullen]

I think that as I improve my driving ability and knowledge of the track I could definitely take a second (maybe two) off my lap time. My best was a 1min39.328, but I'm not sure how accurate this is as the laptiming constantly plays up, but it seems about right. This is the best lap I've ever achieved in any car (having taken my Galant, the Starlet, & Lola out), so I'm pretty happy.

 

If I can get down into the high 1min37's with my current setup I'll be very happy. However, before the next meet I'm going to finally put my new brake pads in (Bendix Ultimates) and we're going to fabricate a new passenger side engine mount (solid mount). These modifications alone should reduce my lap time a little, but I'm not sure how much. It shall be interesting to see.

 

Anthony's best for Sunday was a 1min37.2660, however he has got a lap in the 1min36 range previously. My first goal is to beat his lap time consistently.

 

Goal number two will take some more work (and money), but I think is quite achievable. There is an AE71 that competes in the Improved Production racing. It has a standard (aside from exhaust and chip) 16v 4A-GE (never found out if it's a bigport or small), but the interior is stripped out and it has a pretty mean looking suspension setup. It's best lap on Sunday was a 1min34.1357. I don't think that a 1min33 is an unreasonable goal for Lola (with standard engine, no extra boost, and a good suspension setup).

 

Interestingly the Sprinter did a best lap of 1min34.1410, so there's bugger all between the two cars (both are stripped out with wicked suspension, but the AE71 has only about 78kW ATW and the AE86 has 99.2). It shall be interesting to see how Lola's times improve over the next couple of years.

 

Goal number three will take even more time and work. This goal is to beat Brenton Taylor's KE55 coupe Improved Production car. His vehicle is stripped out to the max, has a worked 20v silvertop (he's only willing to rev it to 8500rpm, but it's got some serious grunt), a 4.875:1 Hilux LSD, Volvo disc brakes front and rear, lowered suspension (including Sigma/Scorpion lower control arms for big camber), and I think that's all the important stuff. He does low 1min28's almost every lap, and I believe he has got a high 1min27 before. I believe that eventually Lola & I will one day be able to achieve a 1min27. When I achieve this goal, I will know that it is time to begin work on an Improved Production car of my own.

 

There is only one slight issue with these goals: if a cheap AE86 or TE72 becomes available for sale I would be VERY tempted to purchase it and drop Lola's running gear into it. This is because of the greater availability of better suspension gear for AE86's. However countering this will be my desire to make Lola the quickest car that I can.

 

LAP TIME GOALS

GOAL 1: 1min 36sec (currently 3.5sec off)

GOAL 2: 1min 33sec (currently 6.5sec off)

GOAL 3: 1min 27sec (currently 12.5sec off)

 

Well, as you can see I've achieved goal number one with less work than expected. A 1min 34.94 lap time is better than expected, and there's a little bit that could still be knocked off that time with the car as is. The AE71 Improved Production car driven by Karla Karpenko was doing consistent 1min 32sec laps, so that is now my next goal. To achieve that I think I need practice, longer tierods for the rose-jointed lower control arms (for a little bit more negative camber as I've got bugger all currently), the back end lowered, and the brakes to be working properly. However, I will probably skip going to the Commodore Bendix Ultimate pads I've got sitting around and use the RX7 calipers straight away next year. So I would hope that I'll achieve Goal #2 in the first race meet next year.

 

Goal #3 will still take a fair bit more work, getting the car setup just right, and most likely will require more power. Also, the car currently feels like it's getting a fair way through the rev range in fifth when going up the main straight. More power may mean that I'll have to revert to a 4.111:1 diff ratio (vs. my current 4.3:1 ratio). Luckily I have one of these diffs, already welded, sitting in a parts car. If I could achieve a 1min 27sec lap on street tyres (as I'm using now) I'd be stoked, but it's probably not a realistic goal. I'm going to see how quick I can get the car on cheap street tyres (currently Goodyear Eagle F1's), before I go to Yokohama Advans or similar. Proper racing tyres such as these have been known to take two-three seconds off other peoples' lap times, so I want to wait until I've explored most other options before I spend the $250-300 per tyre to take more time off. If I could get Lola down to a 1min 25sec lap (about equal to the Lotus Exige that is lapsprinting), without going to a turbo, I'd be stoked. When I go turbo, I'm hoping to get under the 1min 20sec mark, but that may be hoping for a bit too much considering the lap record for an NT Improved Production car is 1min 19sec and is held by a VERY nice RX3. I can dream though, can't I?

 

EDIT: The AE71 Improved Production car mentioned in my earlier post actually runs a mildly worked 20v, not a 16v. The owner is now looking at going for a 4A-GZE in the hopes of later converting to turbo, so it should get pretty damn fast.

Edited October 31, 2006 by ancullen

[Jono]

i don't know enough about drivetrain losses. i would of hoped you got more than 87rwkw. what is the standard output of the 4agze? 120kw?

[ancullen]

Yeah, 120kW. I always estimate power at the wheels should be approximately equal to 75% of the engine power. Or more simply, the kW at the engine should be approximately the hp at the wheels. Therefore 87kW at the wheels equals about 117hp at the wheels, equals about 117kW at the engine, equals about 157hp at the engine. So it's about right for an engine which has been treated like shit and is 12-15 years old.

[love ke70]

id go with d/t losses being closer to 30%

but who really cares, get the car running the times you want is the only important bit :jamie:

[ancullen]

The times are what matters to me. I'm not trying to build a dyno warrior. If I was I wouldn't be bothering with a 4A-G based motor

[ancullen]

Finally got some pics from the race meet. There's one of me taking the sweeper, and it's a good comparison of how the car used to look while cornering to how it corners now:

 

Before front end lowering - 19.3.06

 

After front end lowering - 29.10.06

 

Work that suspension!!!

 

Me parking it off track when some intercooler piping came loose, making the engine act like it had a wide open throttle. :jamie:

[anastasios]

hey mate did you rose joint the standard 55 lcas?

[ancullen]

I didn't do the rose-jointing myself, but yes, they are standard KE55 LCA's that have been rose-jointed. I swapped them for a chrome bonnet trim. I'm now looking into some adjustable camber strut tops to get more negative camber, as the rose-jointed arms haven't provided enough, and there's not enough length in the rose-joint tie rods to make them any longer. I'm also going to see if I can just get longer rose-joints. I haven't found any on the net (they're all the same length), but I'm going to try some industrial machinery places around town to see if they keep any.

[ancullen]

UPDATE: There is a fun day on at Hidden Valley this Sunday, which will include some lapsprinting (or at least some fast laps of the track) up until about 1pm, then a motorkhana/khanacross in the car park behind the pits. This should be extremely fun. This will be the last meet for the year, and the next meet won't be until sometime in February. So over the next three months I plan on making the car quicker. The list of jobs is:

 

- Flare the wheel arches - currently my front tyres rub the arches under load

- Get the rear suspension lowered

- Install new brake master cylinder - I'll probably go with a Pajero item (thanks Demuire), I'm also looking into a new brake booster as the current one is extremely rusted and is worrying me

- Upgrade front brakes - I'd like to see this happen, but it will depend on funding, as I estimate it's going to set me back about $500 to buy the new rotors, plus get a mounting bracket made up.

 

With any luck I'll have enough money to get the rear end lowered before Christmas, but I'm still paying back some money I borrowed for when I had the car tuned. I'm still working out how I'm going to flare the wheel arches. My father-in-law reckons we should just pull them out, but I am certain this will warp the metal and make it look even more shit house than it currently looks. My preferred method is to cut the arches and weld an inch wide piece of steel in to make the arch wider. This will give it a slightly boxy look, but I think I can make it work. I don't seriously see the RX7 brake upgrade happening within the next couple of months, but we'll see how we go.

[anastasios]

have you thought of running sigma gh lcas? or do you want more?

[ancullen]

I was originally going to use the shorter of the two types of Sigma LCA's, but I did a deal to get the rose-jointed ones, so I may as well stick with them. The adjustable strut tops should make a fair bit of a difference to the negative camber as well.

[ancullen]

Mmm, Tein adjustable camber tops. They're to suit an AE86, but to make them fit the KE55 I just have to drill a hole in the body to match the camber top. As I'll be saving $150 over KE55 items, I think it's worth it. Haven't placed an order yet (no funds), but when I do I'll be ordering a TRD 0.5mm metal head gasket too.

[Des]

Will the head gaskit make it an interference engine or still plenty of space between valves and pistons ?