Thread: Tomcat Style Build

yeah, i heard back, he said they have only sold one tomcat to an australian and it went to sydney so that is all he knew about, rough cost was 2000 GBP, bit rich i reckon

my plans have changed anyway due to some common sense, for my first season of racing at least i am going to use the range rover as it is body wise, might make some fibreglass copies of the bonnet, tailgate, and roof and make polycarbonate windows to save weight

does anyone else have any weight saving tips?

it will be kept at near standard height, with maybe a rear radius arm conversion to aid stability at speed

the class i will be racing in allows a capacity of 6000cc or less, if you use forced induction, you must multiply your capacity by 1.7, so the 3.5 just scrapes in under forced induction rules (calculated capacity 5950cc)

i was originally considering an m90 supercharger to begin with but would rather do something different by setting up a remote mount turbo placed up into the floor of the rangie behind the passenger seat, with a side air intake (maybe a panel pre filter to protect from dust)

i will be converting it to megasquirt with EDIS coil packs as i have done in my disco, much better for tuning than carbies and a distributor,

i am also trying to work out how to mount the radiator in the back also, with a ducted inlet and exhaust for the air passing through the radiator as well as a set of thermo fans

they call the class extreme 4wd so i may as well do something far from normal

i am attempting to get the beast roadworthy so i can register it before i transform it, so it is not totally illegal to drive out to the local national park or whatever, and id avoid a $550 fine for unregistered driving.

the idea behind the turbo, is to give the 4wd a bit more poke but not enough to send me hurtling into the nearest tree whilie im still learning how to race properly, a 350 chev would be more likely to see me rolled over etc in my first season

if anyone else has any suggestions about the racer id be glad to hear it

To save weight cut it into a ute. Put an external cage and twin turbo it.

i would but tray back vehicles are not allowed for safety reasons, i could put a fibreglass tub on the back but they look terrible i reckon

I think that is a much better idea, if it gets trashed then there is less outlay to cry over.....

With better and tuned suspension set up it is possible to go faster than bigger engines because you are smoother and more / better contact with the ground.

personally, the thought of all the effort to put in a big engine does not appeal due to the volumetric size and the brackets, mounts etc, me, I would stick withe the 3.5 V8, overhaul it, tune it, twin turbos and intercoolers.

super chargers require power from the engine to run and you have to mount them some where, which is extra weight, so do turbos, but its sort of using wasted energy and then passing the air through intercoolers will increase the volume of the air intake system

also you need to improve your engine air filtration, maximum air availibity with as much filtration as you can (dont use K&N). the air box can never be too big.

the remote turbos sound like a good idea but will the weight of the ducting brackets etc make it worth while from a weight saving exercise?

do every thing you can to save weight, weight is only useful on road rollers. remove glass, sound proofing radio system, un-needed electrical wires. fibre glass type panels will be good. interior stuff that does not need to be there, rear seat.

they say that vehicle balance is important too

you are going to keep the body standard at the moment, me, I would give a really good clean and polish up, with the engine mods above and running gear it could turn out in to quite a sleeper that in town looks as though it never goes off road.

does that give some ideas to start with?

oh yeah, 2000GBP, that must have been for a complete vehicle,
yeah a bit steep considering

Oh yeah, and another, a 350Chev is likely to be heavier than the 3.5 V8 so will increase the difference between axle loads front and rear making it harder to balance, to get a better balance you would need to move the engine aft, towards the center of the vehicle and that would bring all problems.

also, wil be heavier so the front suspention system will require more work, more cost, more tuning due to the extra weight, I imagine that it would be harder to steer due at speed, needing to change the dirrection of all that inertia.

you could improve the balance by carrying spare wheels in the aft

Hay Ewe - trying to work but thinking about this

Hay there,
how is your progress going?
how did you go with the tubo matching and placement?
Interested in teh radiator set up as well
any photo's?

Hay Ewe

hmm well i come from derbyshire and know drew bowler and have built a few tomcat style cars in the past with a friend dave horrabin and he won the welsh hill rally in one. i don't get it over here the laws are stupid in the uk there is no problem at all to build such a car and they are a lot less trouble than you'd imagen. i would love to build another over here but as it will be a complete arse to get it registerd i won't bother. the only way round it is to build a 90 style but then you have the cage issue's all over again. in the uk all you need in a sva test to register this kind of car thats if you want it on a q plate. all the ones we did kept there oringal ID plates and took it for the mot (saftey cert) and away you went as long as it was up to spec. australian laws suck big time for the moded car also the import laws are just as bad all this to save the aussie car market from competion meaning that cars here are behind the times in so many ways including safety due to the goverment stoping the competion importing far better cars. so no competion 1 airbag 2 if you are lucky