Confused's Long-Term Anglia Project

[Confused]

Although it's hardly happened so far, which I for one am exceptionally surprised about, something that we've done hasn't been quite right, and could be improved upon.

This something was the brake & clutch master cylinders.

The place we'd positioned them previously meant that the movement on the arms from the pedals wasn't entirely smooth, and there was little space between them and the throttle body, so getting some kind of pipework onto the throttle body would have proved very difficult.

Therefore, it was decided to move them, and do our most major bit of bodywork refabrication to date.

A section of the bulkhead was cut out, and a new bit welded in which will allow the master cylinders to be recessed slightly, and further back.




This brought the arms from the pedals to a more upright position, and is acting more directly on the pistons within the cylinders. It also gives more clearance between the throttle body and the pedal arms, which was then improved further, by a few modifications to the inlet plenum.




Due to the reorientation of the turbo and the inlet pipework, the plenum required a few brackets removing, and an end chopped off, so that it will sit fully down onto the engine. A small amount was taken from the end where the throttle body is, to angle the throttle body upwards slightly, again giving more clearance for the intake pipework to fit.

The plenum will be taken to be welded up fully soon.

Some water pipes were also made up on both sides of the engine for cooling of the turbos.

[crazydriver81]

this is so sick... I definitely like it. Good project! Kudos Garry.

[MarkSanne]

Great work again! Keep it up, really enjoying reading and watching this build.

[Wodjno]

How are the water feed pipes conected to the fittings? Brazed? Soldered ?

[Jesus-Ninja]

Oooh, I forgot about this. Glad it's still happening!

[Confused]

We've come to a point where the engine and gearbox being in the car is preventing us from moving on.

There's minor tweaks that need to take place to the inner wings with a large hammer, there's more pipework for the turbos to be made, and stuff like brake/clutch lines to be made up, and all of this stuff will be much easier with the engine and gearbox not in the way.

We disconnected the wiring from the engine, dropped the front crossmember down to allow us room to move the engine, and decided to see whether we could remove both engine and gearbox as one complete unit.

We couldn't.

There was not enough movement for the sump to clear the front chassis rail. We'd already decided long ago that we'd remove this and replace it with a bolt-in section, and now seemed the perfect opportunity to do so.

We made some measurements, and went about cutting this front rail out. It went with a small "ping" as the chassis, relieved of tension, sprung apart by about 5mm. Good job we'd measured first!

With the bulk removed, we continued lifting the engine and gearbox out.





(Excuse my dad's "I'm looking quite smug" look! I was actually sporting one too, but seeing as I was behind the camera, not in front of it...)

With the engine out, we moved it onto the bench, and could see better the oil filter in place on the side of the block (usually on a VR-4 there is a 90 degree adapter and it's lower down, facing upwards), the turbo coolant pipework, as well as the adapters to move the turbos to a more suitable location.





(Some blatant product placement again... but you can't beat a nice Hobnob and a cup of coffee to keep your strength up!)

With the engine and gearbox safely on the bench, attention turned to putting the strength back into the chassis that we'd cut out earlier.

We began by removing the remaining parts of the original front panel.



Then made up and welded in place some new bits, along with studs for location and securing.



The new crossmember was made up with brackets on the ends.



And bolted into place.



This is bolted both from the front, and the sides, and will pull the chassis rails back together to the same measurements they were before removing the original front panel.

Next, we added some mounts for the anti-roll bar.





The left-over time today was used to do a little bit of welding to tidy up a previously added panel - the driver's floor pan.



We also added an additional mounting bolt for the suspension crossmember, just behind where we'd added the support for the engine roll-stop mounts (not pictured, but just behind the support to the left of the above photo)

[MarkSanne]

Very interesting stuff Garry! Esp. the hobnobs of which I knew nothing of before started a google-investigation. Dangerous stuff if I'm reading it right: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...avoc-diet.html

[Confused]

Ahh, that'll explain why that packet lasted no more than a day!

[scott.mohekey]

I love your definition of "safely on the bench".. I wouldn't dare do that here in Christchurch!

[PaO'R]

mad project!!
i was hoping that you wouldnt use the ca18 engine as im a lover of the sr20... had mine producing over 420bhp.

is there a huge difference in weight between the ca18 and v6??

[Jesus-Ninja]

Again, so glad this is progressing

[Confused]

With the engine & gearbox out and on the bench, it's time to do some of the bits that are easiest done whilst the engine isn't in the car.

When I removed the engine from the Galant, it was late one evening and I had limited tools, and I was unable to separate the gearbox and transfer box, or remove the torque converter! So, in the limited time I had, I decided the easiest thing was to remove the sump - so this needs to be sealed up properly again. Whilst the sump was off being cleaned, why not give it all a little squirt of paint to tidy it up a little?




The very bottom sump pan isn't in great condition, so I'll be looking for a replacement - hence why it's not been painted yet!

Also gave the exhaust bits a lick of high temperature paint to cover the bare welds.




During storage, the original 200SX gearbox got slightly waterlogged, and it's no longer particularly smooth. I managed to pick up another gearbox in good condition, doing a swap for the 200SX engine. This then needed modding as the original did to fit the starter motor and the water manifold to the engine. As it was originally modded in the car, the cuts weren't the neatest, so with the new gearbox on the bench, the modifications were made again, neater, and with a closer fit. It then had a good clean down, and a squirt with some paint as well.




Whilst the paint was drying, another small patch on the chassis, this one to cover over the original holes for the pedals, and cleaned up and slightly enlarged the holes cut out for access to the coolant pipes in the bulkhead, and for ease of fitting the alternator in the inner wing. These holes will have small ridges welded around them for screw-in panels at a later date.

[Confused]

By moving the turbos from their natural home, the original oil and water feed & return pipes were no longer suitable. The water pipes have already been done, but the oil pipes required a bit of external help to ensure we had pipework suitable for the temperature and pressure of the oil. We contacted Hosequip who are based not far down the road, and talked to John who has made up some wonderful braided hoses.




With these in place, and the oil feed coming from the back of the block, we reassembled the rest of the engine and gearbox, and checked the fit of the starter motor with the new gearbox.





Before fitting this back into the car, we started to run the brake and clutch lines down the corner of the engine bay - access is a little tricky with the engine in place!





The new oil lines look great through the front.

We'd identified that the original gearbox mount we made was not quite correctly aligned, and was putting some twist into the mount - but it was done before the engine & gearbox were properly mounted, so it's not too surprising that it needed a small tweak. Once this was done, and the rubber mount sitting correctly, we attached the clutch slave cylinder to the side of the gearbox.




Taking some more of the stainless bumper bars, we continued working on the exhaust.




Using two corner pieces, and the centre section of the bit used for the bits directly off the turbos, we brought the pipes towards the gearbox, away from the steering column, and turned towards the back of the car.





From the side it looks a little low, but none of it is any lower than the front crossmember, which is the lowest point of the car - there's still plenty of ground clearance so speedbumps shouldn't be an issue I hope!

[kiteman]

This is an absolutely mega project, thoroughly enjoyed reading through it.
Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Louis]

I would like to hear it running just the way the pipes are at the moment, air straight into turbos and out through the short chromes, hmmm!

[Confused]

I would like to hear it running just the way the pipes are at the moment, air straight into turbos and out through the short chromes, hmmm!

I imagine it'd sound rather nice! I'm going to need to do something with the rear axle, the standard Anglia one is designed for 40bhp - the slightest sneeze on the throttle will likely just snap a halfshaft! Until the rear axle is done or thought about more, I doubt I'll do anything else to the exhaust yet - so that may happen - just have to be conscious of the neighbours!

[Adam.Findlay]

I imagine it'd sound rather nice! I'm going to need to do something with the rear axle, the standard Anglia one is designed for 40bhp - the slightest sneeze on the throttle will likely just snap a halfshaft! Until the rear axle is done or thought about more, I doubt I'll do anything else to the exhaust yet - so that may happen - just have to be conscious of the neighbours!

on the topic of driveline strength Ive heard that CA18DET gearboxes arent known for their strength.
But in messing around with putting a ca18det into a friends kp60 starlet I have found that the ca18 bellhousing fits over the front of rb20/25det gearboxes. so if you do manage to break your ca18 box. instead of changing your custom adaptor you can just use the back half and internals of a RB box with your already made adaptor and ca18 bellhousing

http://mylifeaccordingtoshoes.files....oreyouknow.jpg

[Louis]

A mate got a second hand Strange Axle from Jeff Hauser Racing a while ago, for a Ford zodiac Mk1 with a Ford V6 with a roots Charger. (It may still be kicking around a garage somewhere, I will ask around, check out:

http://www.hauserracing.com/Uploads/...der%20form.jpg

http://www.hauserracing.com/pages/Axles.aspx

[Adam.Findlay]

also for rear diff strength. my mate with the kp60 used a lsd hilux beam axle. got it shortened to the appropriate length by an engineering shop (common thing to do here In nz when uprating the power in old toyotas) and bolted it in
cheaper then buying a strange rear end from the above link and there are plenty of aftermarket lsd options for the hilux "G series" diffs as the G series lsd's are the same as the MK3 supras
you could easily get a hilux diff shortened to fit and weld on the anglia suspention mounts

[Confused]

Cheers for the links!

I've got the rear diff from the 200SX, and we're thinking of making our own "live axle" using this this plus maybe a couple of Sierra hubs, or going for a De-Dion setup or maybe even for full IRS