What Happened to Victor's Roadster

[rp975]

Hi Rob,

Sorry I missed out on meeting you, so close.

I am glad you are coming to "Paul's Run"- The Putty Road in April, it should be a great day as people are coming from all over to participate.



Here is a pic of my new steering wheel.



Here is a pic of some of the cars at todays run.

We ended up with seven roadsters, one Z and three other cars.



Here is a video I took last week of what the front wheel does, around a round about fairly quickly, you can see the tyre flex.

Also the latest mod that I am sure is going to be a "must have" for all you roadster people....the new see through gyrating grease cap with red tip.

This video is in slow motion.

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This next one is longer and at normal speed.

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Rob

[eastmedia]

Nice steering wheel.
And the old one?? If it could make it's way back to the US, I'd be interested...

[Alvin]

Here is a pic of my new steering wheel.




Rob

Rob, I love you and every single thing you have done with the roadster but that wheel looks like it belongs in a Miata, E30, or air-bagged RX-7!

[rp975]

Ron, I will think about your request.

Alvin, I see what you mean, I went from Vics wheel to an older Momo wheel and now onto this 90's Nardi wheel.

You know where I live I have to drive quite a long way to roadster meets and the Nationals, a few weeks ago I drove 9 1/2 hrs home from a roadster weekend in Falls Creek so I am looking for the least fatiguing wheel I can get.

Vics wheel while looking great was very thin, it had no give in it and where your thumbs rest was hard sharp alloy.

The Momo was better but the age of the leather made it very sticky after hours of driving.

Here is the Momo wheel.




The Nardi is a more modern wheel so I understand that it may look out of place for some people but as far as comfort is concerned it wins hands down.

In June this year I have a 9 1/2 hr drive to Brisbane for the Nationals.

I love your work Alvin and appreciate your point of view.

Rob

[Alvin]

Rob,
Functionality trumps looks! I respect that. I do like the MOMO wheel too

[spl310]

I like the old hard plastic wheels... Sigh... but I would LOVE to have a wooden Silvia wheel!!

[rp975]

spl310, If I see one for sale I will let you know, I think I have seen one for sale in the last year or so, I also saw a Sylvia race car sell for $2,OOO as a rolling shell but I did not have anywhere to put it.

My latest update is that I have fitted Mk2 of my modified spring seats, this time around I have moved them up a little and in the last photo you will see the difference between Mk1 and Mk2.

In this photo you can see that I have put under the front wheels two vinyl floor tiles shiny side towards each other with some grease between them, this allows side movement of the front suspension while working out heights of spring seats and so on.



When letting the front end down, before the tyres met the tiles the tiles were lined up to each other but slide sideways about 1/2" at each front wheel.

This takes out the side tension between tyre and ground and lets suspension settle freely.

Here is the other side, you can see that the outer end of the spring seat is held by the two bolts loose, as a pivot and under the other end of the spring seat I have a jack which I can raise or lower the angle of the seat and compare to the angle of the spring, height of car, gap of bump stop and so on. I have the same kind of jack under both wheels at the same time.



I also noticed that the shock mounting plate needed to be rotated 180degrees by redrilling it so that the angle is the right way around for the new setup.



Here it is re-drilled.

Here is the comparison photo Mk1 on the right and Mk2 on the left in black with rotated shock mount.



I have also fitted Lou's latest Koni shocks and been for a 1hr drive, it is better again with these changes but I need more car time to fully work out what the differences are.

Bump is the same as my last Koni's but rebound is harder and I know the theory but need to know how this feels when driving. The spring setup is better as well.

We have this big run on soon where I will get to understand more about what is actually happening.

Lou also has another setup shock-wise that he wants me to try, they are not Koni's and I will keep you posted.

Next for me is working on lowered bump stop towers with standard rubber bump stops that should give a better more progressive bump.

Also I am working on an engine stabiliser that will be mounted at the back of the motor before I fit my new tuned length extractors. They look a treat and I will start fitting them after Paul's run in time for the Nationals.

I will also go to 37mm chokes.

Rob

[Down under 311]

Do the chokes before the exhaust so you can really tell the difference ... Although with the extractors you'll probably need to rejet again anyway
Either way the additions will put a smile on your dial

[rp975]

Well we are back from "Paul's Run" which was very well supported by roadster members in Australia.

I have started on the next stage and have removed the old extractors.



In this photo I have painted inside the extractor to show how badly they have been made, I find it very interesting that someone would make extractors and then restrict the way that exhaust gas can get into the extractors.

next photo is of the new extractors.



new extractors on the left.









The new pipes will be test fitted then ceramic coated before fitting.

I will post more pics as it progresses.

Rob

[spl310]

Where did you source those new ones? How much are they?

[rp975]

Hi spl310,

These pipes were bought from Lou M, they were made by Rod in the Victorian club, he made some for himself and then this set, but as far as I know will not be making any more.

Lou has some other pipes that are a similar idea that are limited supply for $2,000, on some cars they increase torque by 20 percent at 3000rpm tapering down to 5 percent gain at 6500 rpm depending on what they are replacing, Alvin posted pics of them in a thread titled "the extractor factor"

I have driven 3 roadsters with these kind of pipes and there is a very noticeable difference.





Lou has these on his car and I drove it again this weekend, you can go around a corner in the next gear up and it will just pull right out like it is a larger engine.

These pipes are hand made, time = money.

Rob

[nismou20]

Those are very sexy pipes! Very photogenic !

[spl310]

Thanks for the info...

[rp975]

Well I have been busy, I got both my extractors and inlet manifold ceramic coated.







here they are being fitted, I had three nuts welded on before the coating so that I could mount the new heat shield.



the heatshield has a backbone that mounts everything.



the 1st layer is 2mm think alloy with upturned leading edges and downturned trailing edges to assist in moving air from the radiator fan down away from the inlet.



the second layer is 1mm thick and is to keep heat from the inlet.



there is a vertical shield that runs forward to the fan shroud, back to just off the firewall and down to the chassis.It runs parallel to and 1cm from the steering column.





there is also a shield under the carbs and you can see a clean run to clean cool air from the front.

there is also a shroud that runs forward to the fan shroud to direct air past the exhaust.





I also made an engine dampener, it bolts to the top two bellhousing bolts and a hole in the shelf on the firewall.



the shield screws to the aircleaner baseplate.



The car is away atm getting a new exhaust system, I have machined the chokes to 37mm and fitted some larger main jets. I have had a bung fitted to the exhaust for a air fuel meter to be able to tune properly.

There is only a couple of weeks until we drive north to the Nationals in Brisbane.

Rob

[Skyman]

I just love that header. This is a hell of a project. I can't wait to hear it run.