Off Road Racer after 3 long years

[discokid]

Hi Guys

I hope Ive got the right section here as I havent posted onto the site for such a long time


After many years of racing a LS1 powered Defender it was starting to show many weaknesses and after the 2009 Safari (3rd one it finished)plus 4 full seasons of local competition it was time for a rebuild which has taken just over 3 years to complete

Many of the good points from the old were taken to the new

The main difference in philosophy was to build a race car first and foremost and not a compromised street registered rig like the old

To this end the biggest change that was needed was to the suspension and roll cage design. Although the old rig had enough power the standard suspension design let it down to the point where the power was unusable

Enter a new chassis to start from scratch

The new chassis was braced from top to bottom as we wanted to eliminate any flex and let the new fox coilover and bypass shocks do the work

The suspension geometry was re looked at so longer links front and rear were fabricated

The engine was moved back and a new fire wall constructed to allow easy access to the gearbox and rear of the engine. The fire wall also intergrates into a sub frame to help stiffen the main chassis rails

Power now provided by a fresh LS2

All brackets was been laser cut and either MIG or TIG welded

(Ill update this as time goes on and I get access to the photos but heres a video link of some recent testing)

881 Dave Fong testing 2013 - YouTube


Its goes out for its first local event this weekend at Yearlering. We are treating this as more of a test to iron out any build bugs we get under racing conditions

[isuzurover]

Definitely have to make it out to watch you race one day...

[discokid]

Picutres of the new chassis

Work to make a brace for the transfer case, plates to brace the chassis, A frame mount (we destroyed the standard one in the last car)

Theres been a lot of work done over the last few years!

[justinc]

Dave, that looks fantastic!!!

What trans are you running now? Didn't you have a TF727 for a while?

JC

[rick130]

It's a real race car now :D

Did you contemplate a four link and Watts link or Panhard at all rather than the A frame ?

[uninformed]

how much longer did you go with the front links?

[discokid]

To answer in order

Still using a torqueflyte
I looked into 6 speeds etc but $ to buy and maintain we're just to high
Besides trophy trucks are still running 3 speed autos
The gearbox has got a few more good bits in it which Ill cover later
The auto really protects the rest of the driveline

Considered alternative suspension designs but still came back to an A frame for ease of keeping the sals rear

4 link wouldn't fit with the fuel tank position etc

I had to draw the line on mods as well otherwise it just wouldn't be a defender anymore hence no independent suspension

The front links are only 150mm longer but mounted much lower to get my castor back length can be adjusted on the rose joints as well

The engine is 200mm further back so a much longer front tail shaft

Rears are much longer and are based on giggle pin arm lengths they measure 1085mm so 300mm longer

[discokid]

Pictures of the cab being built up
Panels are mostly from the old car except for a puma fiberglass bonnet

[discokid]

Picutres of the moulded rear being fitted, removable transmission tunnel and plumbing, The last photos show the general geometry of the car, chassis and links

[discokid]

Random pictures of the build

Ill now have to fill in all the tech gaps. Im just not sure where to start. There are different reasons for just about everything that has been modified on the car

Happy to answer most questions as I go

[discokid]

Well to start on the tech

After 3 races in testing (destruction mode) we had several small driveline related issues


Fist was a broken front tailshaft. The front shaft is a double cadan joint on both ends, with orignail TF spec skinny shaft in the centre, all be it longer

The joint on the diff end let go. Which was an early Hilux spec joint

After inspection at the tailshaft place they determined it broke due to rock strike and so we repaired to the same spec and havent had a problem since with nearly another 800 race kms under its belt. So hopefully problem solved. I was suspect on double cardans at both ends but there doesnt seem to be any binding or vibration issues at all, even at high speed


Second was the front crown wheel let go, we came very hot into a river crossing and landed under part throttle. Bang it went!

The crown wheel wa a 4.1 KAM product Ive had for years (3 cars at near 10 years to be precise) so we have swapped in a later 4.11 from ashcroft that I had as a spare and seems to be no problem

The gearbox has been the last issue as I stripped a set of planetary gears in the box (driver error) selecting 1st instead of 3rd flat out will do that!!

Teh planetaries were in an ally case so we have ordered a steel cased set
just in case

More to come.....

[isuzurover]

Any updated vids???

[rangieman]

With that sort of power at least you should have the front diff pegged if you have'nt yet:cool:

[discokid]

Hi Guys

No updated video, Heaps of photos on Facebook under Western Australian Offroad Racing Championship

Havent pegged the front diff at all

Ive done some reading on it and my concern would be that if the front diff really needs to break (due to abuse) Id rather that than spit a gearbox out

Driving in 2 wheel drive is heaps of fun anyway

Id say I should be right with the auto cushioning the shock loads the front diff will get

Time will tell

[discokid]

The steel cased planetary gear set has arrived and been put into the auto

Im hoping to race at 3 Springs (local race) in Septemebr and the Gascoyne Dash in November

No Aust Safari for me this year as everything si going to be ready a bit to late

Ill report back once the gearbox has had a good workout!

[Skiboy]

Discokid

That is one very nice truck! Jealous!

Hey I see you had 2x double cardan jointed tail shaft - I am looking at the same for Bumblebee (see sig) and was worried about the toughness around rocks etc.

I note you had a rock strike issue - any more issues?

Skiboy

[discokid]

Hi Skiboy

I havent had anymore issues. But having said that I dont know that Ive wacked anymore rocks right on the DC joint either

In a racing environment theres a lot of things that I go over and you dont think another thing about it until something gets damaged, then you have to ask yourself whats the chances of that happening again

Im happy with the 2 x dc shaft to the point where I consider that part of the car done!

[DasLandRoverMan]

Looks a very well built car. Gonna have to research Australian Off Road Racing now, I suspect it's a bit different to UK Comp events, although some of the machinery run over here may well be competitive?