FreakyParts MX150R REbuild thread

[Stewart]

And my newly designed Supercharger brackets should be arriving tomorrow

[Stewart]

Wow. Long weekend.

Started 9am Saturday morning, got the roll cage back from the coaters and decided to stick it in the race truck out of the way. I don't need that cluttering up the workspace and banging my head on every 5 minutes.

Then the guys arrived. Darren to help build the exhaust and Micky to help with the intercooler pipes... well that was the plan anyway.

The front charger mount I designed didn't quite fit so we needed to do some modifications to that to get the belt running right. We finally achieved that around 2230 Saturday evening!

Darren meanwhile cracked on with the replacement exhaust. The clearance to the charger is really close on the manifold so we ended up opting for the Mk1 manifold. I might try swapping it in the week to see if the Mk2 will clear but not tonight! He's made it so the manifold and downpipe can fit to the mid-silencer regardless of which is used which is really good.





We dropped the loom on and fired it up and it RAN! Belt was spot on as well. Don't think the neighbours were too happy though as we hadn't got the downpipe fitted! and it was 2230!

So, Chinese, beer then bed ready to crack on Sunday and hope to get the intercooler pipework fitted...!

We did some eyeing up first thing and realised the outlet would rub on the underside of the bonnet, so left that and sorted out the downpipe. A quick cut and shut and all good.

Then the attention turned to the intake.
Because I've rotated the charger, the intake was on the piss. Also, the bypass pipework currently fitted poked out the bonnet and rubbed. So Micky made a couple of new flanges and we remade the intake so it sits at the right angle now and pokes out the side of the car. The bypass will sit nicely under the bonnet as well

Now, the outlet needed looking at before we started with the intercooler pipework. Lots of headscratching ensued and it was decided the TR Lane outlet was at the wrong angle for the pipework and we needed to cut and shut it pointing the outlet pipe lower. A brave decision was made easier with the angle grinder

So lots more fettling got it pointing in the right angle and the welder was put to work. It now sits nicely ready for the pipework to be made!





So now to get it painted up and looking nice and bolted back down.

Jobs for the week are:
Re-assemble and refit the pedal box and steering column after stripping and painting
Tidy loom (for now, new megasquirt loom will be built in the coming weeks but not in time for the first race )
Fit panels
Fit tank
Fit pipework for brakes and fuel

That should keep me busy till the weekend

[mikeeyboy]

Really like some of these upgrades, it doesn't look like its taking long either. I would be interested in a full braided brake setup, how much do you sell these for?

Thanks

[Stewart]

The complete braided hose kit is coming in around £120.00 delivered (UK addresses)
This comes with:

1x NSF MC to caliper
1x OSF MC to caliper
1x MC to Distribution block (located in the centre of the rear subframe)
1x Stainless distribution block
1x NSR Dist block to caliper
1x OSR Dist block to caliper
1x Clutch Bypass straight from Clutch MC to Slave.

All braided in any colour coating you like. Also includes new stainless banjo bolts and crush washers.

[mikeeyboy]

That sounds great, I will be at the stage to need this in about 4-6weeks so will be in touch shortly to order.

Regards

[mawdo81]

That's cost effective v hard lines too...

[Stewart]

Ok, so it's been a while since the last update, but things have been moving forward. Slowly.

I've been speaking to a company who make Carbon Fibre
Some nice new CF lower and upper side panels should be with me by the end of the week.
Now the price... the usual adage of if it looks too cheap? We'll find out but if not it could be a potential addition to all Exocets who want a bit of good looking lightness.

So, what have I been doing? Little bits. Annoying little bits which seem to take forever. Especially when the day job keeps getting in the way and not getting home until after 10pm

I spent one evening putting the steering column and pedal box back together. I remember how much fun it wasn't the first time.
It started well with me attaching the bottom section to the rack, threadlocking the bolt in and realising I'd somehow manage to feed the column through the brake booster hole!

Then spent the rest of the night trying to work out the spacing again to get it to sit back in the right place.
Many offs and ons of the pedals and column and I eventually cracked it.

As I'm running an Otto DT100 dash this season

(http://www.otto-racing.co.uk/index.htm - I can sort out a discount if anyone's interested) I no longer need the standard dash, so I made a mount for this dash where the column bolts to the frame. Sits there very nicely (pics to follow, forgot to take them!)

Got all the new brake lines plumbed in and bolted down, so all that's left to do is bleed them along with the clutch

Micky came over again this weekend to lend a hand (read make) with the intercooler pipework. This was one of those jobs neither of us was looking forward to as it meant lots of trial and error, and lots more welding of aluminium pipework.

By the end of Saturday we had the structure in place and scruffily welded up, but it cleared the frame and ARB.

Sunday's job was to do the 2 man stuff we needed to do while I still had an extra pair of hands, as well as try and get to a point where the car starts again.

So the roll cage was collected and the interior panels were fitted along with the seat ready for the cage to go in. As any new builder knows, scratching the frame is mortifying so having 2 sets of hands to fit it made the process easier. Thankfully!

So here it is as it stands. With and without bonnet. The colour combination is very marmite. Some love it (me!) some really don't but the idea is to be different, and be noticed on track, and with 90% of the other MX150Rs being black, I thought I'd go different.





This week's job list looks like this:
Clip all pipework and wiring in the cabin area to the panels and tidy
Fit battery in passenger footwell
Make new centre console
Fit extinguisher pipework
Trim and fit new side panels
Make new rear view mirror to roll cage brackets as the original bolts sheared when removed
Sort out some new wiring for hopefully the new Megasquirt install next weekend

[mawdo81]

You've stolen my colour scheme! I like marmite btw...

[Stewart]

Heh wanted something different to the boring black everyone has in the championship.

Anyway, updated a couple of pictures.

Pedal box assembly back together:


Bracket for Dash mount:


And some lovely, complicated, pain in the ass intercooler pipework:

[gwnwar]

Can't really tell from pic Are you bolting the IC tube to the sway bar mount left side.. If so will you have enough flex in your rubber tubes for the torque roll of the engine. I would keep an eye/check on the tab after races..

[ikarl]

Where did you get those intercooler pipes? Did you get them made?

[Stewart]

The IC pipework isn't bolted to the frame, just to the outlet of the charger, the intercooler and the intake chamber so they'll move with the engine, not with the car.

The pipework was painstakingly made by Micky, one of the team mates who's handy with a tig. Given the amount of time and swearing, I'm not sure he'll want to attempt another

[Stewart]

So... this weekend's update.
After messing around all Saturday morning picking up a breaker for Micky's busted diff, we cracked on.
Main job was getting the car running and bleeding brake and clutch.

On the strip down I removed the brake booster and decided to give it a lick of paint. As the one fitted wasn't in great condition I grabbed one of the spares from the loft and gave it a quick blast and a couple of coats. All looked good.
Refitted it then tried bleeding the brakes... nothing. WTF?

Took the booster off and manually pushed the piston, that was working. Refitted it, nothing.
Only then did we spot the one I'd fitted was actually a different size to the original! It seems the Mk1 and Mk2 have different physical sizes so the pin from the pedal wasn't reaching the MC.

Dug the original and bled the brakes fine so then whipped it off and gave it a rub down and coat of paint and job done.

Next was the clutch. Again, cracked the nipple and nothing. Seriously, WTF?
Disconnected the hose and pushed piston, a nice shot of fluid straight across the garage. Right that's working. Remove hose from the slave and blow through, yep all works. Fit to MC and fluid comes out. But still nothing from the bleed nipple. However fluid was leaking from around it, so whipped it out and the nipple was full of crap! Cleaned out and all good.

Now the brakes we done we took the executive decision that seeing as though the car is booked into the tuners on Thursday and shake down on Friday, we were going to rip out the loom and rebuild a clean one for the Megasquirt.

[Stewart]

What have we done!?

[Stewart]

Meanwhile, I decided it was time to replace the centre console after I mullered the original one removing it!
So out came the jigsaw, masking tape and the BFH and some creativity and I had something made up.



It's designed to box in the rats nest of wiring and hoses coming through the bulkhead and into the loom tray, with the drivers side panel riveted in place and the passenger side removable for access (finger and thumb holes in view)

Gave it a couple of coats of satin black and all looks good