Looks heavy.

What we added is less than what we took out. Plus, I need more weight in the front of the car.

-Britain

So, you really think this is gonna make you drive faster?

Ok guys, sorry for the slight delay in posting updates. I ended up breaking my nose playing basketball and had to get surgery to get it fixed which forced my to cancel one of my trips down to Cali to work on the car. I did however make it down there this past weekend and made good progress.

This first bit of work that I had completed before making the trip down was the inboard shock rocker assemblies. I had the plates waterjet cut and the bearing carriers machined locally.



Here are the rockers in place on the car. Still need to complete the pushrod to the control arm and get the shocks that I plan to run.



Here is the front suspension rockers viewed from inside the fender wells. I also cleaned up the sheet metal cutouts and made clearance for the steering rack where it passes thru.



Front fender well with the front suspension jig in place. I mounted this back in place to get the wheelbase measurements to the rear suspension.



Speaking of the steering rack, the steering shaft is completed. Had to interface between the Lotus splines and the Porsche splines. Both shafts where machined the same diameter and a metal sleeve was made and welded in-between. I had to section the sheetmetal to allow the steering shaft to pass thru when the steering rack is at the upper mounting location.

Now on to the rear suspension.

First up was to cut the front half of the trunk floor and shock towers out.



Next we cut out the old trailing arm suspension ears.



After lots and lots of grinding, this is what we ended up with...lots of space to work with.



To start, we constructed a jig that runs the entire length of the car and reference the mounting locations for the rear suspension to the front suspension. This allows us to put everything in alignment front and rear and side to side.



Side view of the location of the rear suspension in reference to the transmission. The custom axles are going to be around 23" long and require a custom outer stub-axle to be machined.



Here you can see the jig running from the front suspension to the rear.



The rear sub-frame will be attached to the car in 6 locations and will hold the complete rear suspension as well as the engine and transmission. This is the lower bar going into place. You can see in the foreground the bung that was welded into the chassis.



This is Teddy, the owner and machinist at Mavrik Motorsports, the shop where I am constructing this contraption. He is notching the tubing for the rear sub-frame.



Lower sub-frame bar going into place.



I will be back down there this coming Sat. and the plan is to complete the rear sub-frame and start working on the new cage.

-Britain

That's a lot of fab work I hope it all pays off. Looks like very nice work Britain.

Wowsers.

To damn cool.

Completely over the top. I bet J.P. had no idea what was in store for his baby when he sold it. (I bet you didn't either )

Yea, it is an adventure with no end in sight. I talk with JP all the time...we both knew this was coming eventually.

-Britain

Very cool man, yeah I know the shop Ted is way cool.

Just read your thread and starting from page one noticed the pic of the factory ported intake ports. I don't believe I have ever seen a port job that left the casting marks intact?
Great job! Awesome work!

I have to add these two simple comments:


*congrats

*one bad ass ride

I dont think horse power is his problem right now,,, keeping that hp bolted to the ground is!!

My understanding is that they were cast with larger ports as compared to standard 2.0L heads. I agree, they don't appear to be hand ported.

-Britain

I will be back down in SoCal this Sat. thru Tuesday...come by and check it out.

-Britain

Brit continues with the mantra of "It's never done" or continuous improvement ....pick one. My spirit was strong but my wallet was weak.
The car did OK for with my low rent efforts but Brit is moving to a higher level......but it still requires development. No instant gratification here..just a lot of hard work. I am confident that he will make it work.

Braved the 605 and the 5 Saturday to see the project. Amazing attention to "how stuff works". Gonna end up with an insane power to weight ratio in a chassis that should handle like a slot car. Impressive! I look forward to seeing it run some events.

The Cap'n

What's the schedule for the car Britain, i.e., are you planning any early events in 2012?

Excellent planning and execution.

The current goal to have the car ready for testing by mid-Feb. Based on the amount that we got done in the last few days, that goal is feasible. I fly back to Portland tomorrow and I will have some time to post some new pictures. Wait till you see what we got done on the rear suspension...it is amazing.

-Britain

Just got back from another 4 days in sunny SoCal working on the racecar. 12-15hrs days, but we got a lot done. Check it out.

Lower bars of the rear sub-frame completed. These two bars took 5 attempted to get right. They had to contact 4 points with two compound bends and angled cuts. They intersect the frame rails in the front and the transmission mounts in the back.



Side view of the lower sub-frame in place without the engine and transmission in place. Used an extra 901 nosecone to locate the transmission mounts.



Jigs in place to locate the proper pick-ups points for the upper mounts. The upper mounts are in-board 1/4" to achieve more negative camber compared to a stock lotus.



Rear suspension control arms in place at the upper pick-up point. Additional rear body mount added for the upper mount bar to hit the chassis.



Rear Lotus wheel mounted on the car.

The rear sub-frame will also be a cradle for the engine mounts. This will free up some much needed room in the front of the engine. These utilize the stock Subaru engine mount parts with a few modifications.



Engine in place in the new sub-frame and bolted to the car. There will be an additional cross-bar in place between the frame rails.



The sub-frame will unbolt from the car and the engine, transmission, and rear suspension will come out as one piece.



Side view of the sub-frame. The will be an additional bar across the front of the engine to support the turbo and other items that used to be mounted to the old crossbar.



Completed rear sub-frame in place in the car for final welding. Here you can see the new engine mounts.

I knew the day would come sooner or later, but here we are cutting out the old cage.



The old cage was 1.75" x 0.120" and weighed in at 92lbs. It was a bit heavy as you can tell from my expression here.



Pile of bars from the old cage. 92lbs of steel sitting here. I estimate that the new cage will be approximately 50lbs.



View from the rear without the cage. The new cage will tie in the frame rails as well as the two bars sticking up in the rear which are the upper sub-frame mounts.



Additional structure related to the old suspension cut out of the front. Material will be added back to the wheel wells and the cage will extend forward to pick-up the front suspension assembly.



Lotus steering rack in place and excess 914 sheet metal removed.



Lots more room in the car with the cage removed.



Next step is to construct the new cage and start putting the car back together.

-Britain

wild
Do you think the new "system" will accelerate or slow engine or transaxle removal?
Critical decision: paint the new cage to match the suspension sub-frame, or in a contrasting color?

The removable sub-frame should make the engine removal much quicker since the I won't have to disconnect the axles or any of that stuff. I plan to add quick disconnects for the brake lines, but I will still have to deal with the radiator lines.

-Britain

Awesome

You will be running the porsche wheels with the new tires correct?

Nope. The Lotus stuff is 4x100 so I will be ordering all new wheels...which are wider

All my old wheels are for sale if you are interested....see the classifieds.

-Britain

Where are you doing the build? I'd love to drop by and see it in person...

It is at Mavrik Motorsports in Fullerton.

-Britain

Heading down to Costa Mesa R&D on Saturday so I'll be driving right by there (well, close anyway). Let me know if it's acceptable to drop in. Not sure I'll have time, but just in case...

I am sure it won't be a problem, I won't be there...but the car is.

_Britain

Is it ok to stop by and see the monster

Never mind- just noticed your response - thanks

Just booked another flight down there for Jan 7th thru the 10th....maybe we should hold a BBQ or something.

-Britain

Sounds great to me! I'd be happy to host it in Pasadena if we need a spot.

We would just do it at the shop...I can't spare much time away from working on the car, I am only there for 4 days.

-Britain

If time allows I will be shooting the event....

Ah great, gotta get the car done so there is something good to look at!

-Britain

I will be returning to So-Cal this weekend for another few days of car-building fun. On Sunday we will be holding a Part-Out Party for my co-owners '84 Carrera, you guys are welcome to come by and check out the racecar and/or get any 911 parts you need for "other" projects.

The shop is:

Mavrik Motorsports
3811 Artesia Ave
Fullerton, CA 92833

This trips plan is to get the cage done and hang all the suspension on the car to make it a roller.

-Britain

Sounds good Brit! Keep those pics coming

Hey Britt.

I will be there to help as well at the end of the month.
And I am bringing some tools, clamps and magnetic angles as well.

Thanks for letting me touch your car. That was serious fun bro.

Clayton

No problem Clayton...you were some serious help...I owe you a 6-pack. I will be there Feb 2nd, we will be in touch.

-Britain

Sorry about the lack of updates. I have since made two trips back down to California to work on the car and have made pretty good progress. As always, I had hoped to be further along at this point that I am but I am about 90% there.

First off, the new cage is coming together nicely. The regulations to get my head under the cage and to meet the broomstick rule forced me to mount the seat lower and farther back and raise both the main hoop and the a-piller bar under the windscreen.

Here is the cockpit area.



You can see how high the front a-piller bar is now.



The raised main hoop and the rules around the downbars forced me to either cut the targa bar or go over it...I decided to go over it and pick-up the rear suspension point.



In the front, two bars extend from the top of the a-piller to the front suspension sub-frame. There will be two additional bars from the lower part of the a-piller forward that still need to get done.

Back on the rear sub-frame. Additional bars added to the rear lower subframe to strenghten the structure and triangulate everything.



And the other side.



A bar was added over the transmission and tie in the two sides of the rear sub-frame.



Another bar under the rear of the transmission that can also serve as a jack-point.



And finally a turbo mount bar that snakes up above the header and will help tie together the subframe.

It is always the small stuff that takes up all the time. I had to make a new seat bracket, relocate the pedal assembly, make a hold for the dash off the a-piller bar and a couple of other small things.

Here is the relocated the ECU to the passenger firewall. I will need to construct a nice cover to keep it out of the elements. Fortunately I only had to rewire a handful of the wires to move it and the old panel worked perfectly.



Fuel tank relocated to the passenger footwell with the fuel pump mounted right under it. This will keep it out of the heat from the radiator. I will need to construct a bulkhead to comply with the rules.



New front trunk floor. This panel is structural to hold the front of the car together.

And now to the good stuff.

Front suspension geometry completed and shock mounted for fitment.



Front suspension with two bar in place to simulate shocks. We will use the to get the approximate corner weights and get the new shocks valved.



Outboard struts for the inboard rockers. These are adjustable so we can play with ride height.



New Bogart wheels with some old slicks mounted. Front weighed in a 38lbs with tire. These are 11" tires on a 10" rim.



Now that is what I am talking about...front meat!



Bogart wheels look great...might have to do a little bodywork mods.

I love this shot...looks like the rear of a Porsche 908 with all the exposed suspension parts. Both rear toe links completed and everything bolted up. Need to complete the shock mounts and this thing will be on the ground.



Lots and lots of work put into this rear sub-frame assembly. You can also see the new battery mount.



Rear Bogart wheels mounted. These are 12" slicks on an 11.5" rim. These weigh in a 42lbs with tire.



Inside of the rear wheels. Still need to get some custom axles made.



Custom rear toe links that a combination of Nitron outboard heim joints and custom toe link bars



Approximate location for the rear shocks. Ran out of time to get them mounted so I will have to make another trip down to finish things up.

And you are???

Insanity Brit! Holy crapola what a job. Nice work man. It's looking great

Just outstanding Britain. Can't wait to see it run.

Nice job recruiting NARPsters for your NARP
Have you ever seen another 914 before this one go OVER the targa bar on both sides with the roll cage?
AWEsome work, appreciate all the sharing of the race car development

Nope, never seen the cage over the targa bar and honestly it is growing on me.

-Britain