There’s anything (relatively) new out there for term deposit investors. Numerous Australian banks are supplying Notice Saver accounts.
Notice saver accounts are equivalent to term deposits, but with a twist. How it performs is that you deposit your cash with a economic institution and get access to that cash not at contact, or at the end of a fixed term, but by giving a certain period notice –which is normally at least 31 days. If you do not give notice, the cash stays invested earning the notice saver interest rate.
Although the number of accounts on offer in Australia is not at present large, it is likely that this will modify in the medium future, thanks to APRA’s new Liquidity Coverage Ratio. This tends to make it more appealing for economic institutions to hold deposits which are there for at least 30 days (and for that reason not at-call). There may possibly be a push to encourage savers to ditch their at-contact account and head for a Notice Saver account alternatively.
So – what are some pros and cons of Notice Saver accounts?
Advantages of notice saver accounts:
One particular of the great issues about notice saver accounts is that you are not faced with getting to make investment decisions at the end of a term – the income will basically stay there till you supply notice.
You can add to your notice saver whenever you want. That means that instead of waiting until you have a decent sum of cash to invest in a term deposit, you best your notice saver investment up every time you have little sums of spare cash. This can help with cash management.
Since of the greater benefit to economic institutions in holding income that is not at-get in touch with, institutions could supply a greater rate of interest in comparison to at-get in touch with accounts.
Your money is out of attain as it would be with a term deposit and you can not commit it.
It’s a bridge among a fully locked term deposit and an on get in touch with account.
Disadvantages of notice saver accounts
It is effortless to become complacent and fail to check that the interest price is competitive.
The interest rate can adjust. Notice saver interest rates can go up or down anytime the bank chooses, whereas term deposit prices are fixed. If there is a main shift in interest rates this will affect you fairly soon.
You might end up leaving your cash in for a quantity of years and it would have been much better to take a greater interest rate term deposit for a longer fixed period. This of course can impact you if you’re investing in term deposits.
We expect to see a lot more Notice Saver accounts on supply in Australia over time. So watch this space.
Raise your Heinekens to the sky, esoteric sports vehicle lovers: Spyker is not and never ever was bankrupt. According to the Dutch supercar business, a nearby court has now overturned the company’s bankruptcy ruling from December and rendered the selection “null and void.” Spyker lives! B6 Venators for everybody, ja!
If it were only that simple. While Spyker now claims to have “bridge funding” from an unidentified supply and will settle with its creditors “in a matter of weeks,” the firm has not disclosed where it is going to create the B6 Venator, the $ 187,000 6-cylinder sports-auto notion very first shown in 2013. In response to our concerns about its vacated factory (it was evicted), meager cash flow (roughly the median worth of a U.S. property), a bond program to fund B6 development (don’t ask), and a random merger with a mysterious American electric aircraft business, Spyker told us that CEO Victor Muller “has selected to not give any additional comments at this stage besides the press release issued yesterday” and that “more info shall be provided in due course.” Excellent!
Muller’s current plan is to construct battery-electric Spykers in the “foreseeable future,” by which he may help with yet another bond scheme or stock sale to a Chinese company. Soon after reviewing Spyker’s public financial reports—which the business hasn’t updated in a year and a half—we’re thinking 2015 will not be the year any person methods into a new B6. (May we direct you to the nearest Porsche retailer?) On the flip side, kudos to Spyker for staying above water—for now, at least.
Scion’s annual Tuner Challenge, in which 3 tuners are provided a Scion, $ 15,000, and 90 days to customize the automobile for the SEMA show, has become anything we appear forward to each year. For 2014, Scion has changed things up: instead of handing the automobiles over to tuners, the automaker issued its challenge to 3 media outlets: Super Street, Speedhunters, and the GT Channel. Just days just before the automobiles (which are intended to take inspiration from the FR-S Release Series 1.) make their official debut in Vegas, Scion has just provided some information and a slick YouTube video of how every team’s ride is coming along.
GT Channel Scion Tuner Challenge FR-S
The GT Channel chose to keep the body of its vinyl-wrapped FR-S largely stock (i.e.: it didn’t fatten it) but it did add a sweet reduced physique kit, a modest (by SEMA standards) rear wing, and TRD HID headlights. The group also swapped in new taillights, side mirrors, and matte-blue 18-inch wheels. The hood, trunk cover, and rear diffuser are all carbon-fiber pieces. An HKS supercharger kit, a Ganador exhaust technique, and a slammed suspension add some go to the Scion’s show, while the interior has been dressed with a TRD steering wheel and shift knob, Recaro seats, harnesses, and of course an upgraded sound program.
Speedhunters Scion Tuner Challenge FR-S
Speedhunters’ entry is old-school in the ideal way possible. Think of vintage TRD, TRA Kyoto, Trans-Am, pro touring, and muscle vehicles, and it’s difficult not to draw a hyperlink. The team’s FR-S employs a Cosworth supercharger kit and a 3-inch single exit exhaust, among numerous other engine upgrades, and a suspension that drops the wide-physique Scion down on its custom Rotiform 17-inch wheels. The physique gets a new front splitter, fender flares, and hood louvers. The mirrors and door handles have been shorn off, and even the door glass was removed. The interior gets a 4-point roll cage, low-back bucket seats, leather upholstery, and a rapid-release steering wheel hub.
Super Street Scion Tuner Challenge FR-S
The group from Super Street chose to stay close to the general appear and color scheme of the FR-S Release Series 1. with its construct auto, only they cranked up the volume in pretty much every single way. The body wears painted carbon-fiber side sill and splitter extensions, hood and trunk, and massive fender flares, all slammed down on prime of ultra-wide 18-inch BBS wheels. The interior gets Recaros, a 6-point roll cage, a quick-release steering wheel hub, custom upholstery, and huge audio upgrades. Beneath the hood, the FR-S’ boxer 4 engine gets person throttle bodies and breathes through a Borla header and cat-back exhaust with quad tips.
October 24, 2014 at 6:14 pm by Jens Meiners | Photography by Michael Simari
Dodge has a fascinating history of building hot compacts, 1 prominent example being the Omni GLHS by Shelby, whilst the Caliber SRT4 marked a low point in terms of style and refinement. For the 2014 SEMA show in Las Vegas, the carmaker has taken its sensible Dart and tweaked it drastically to make it digestible to much more discerning enthusiasts.
Painted in bright orange with matte black as a contrast colour, and fitted with a prominent rear spoiler and diffuser, this Dart R/T notion appears pleasantly aggressive. But it also appears rather refined, thanks to a revised front fascia that turns the grille into a slit, whilst making a massive reduce air intake visually separated by a physique-colored strip. This feeds much more air to the intercooler, Dodge says. We say it just appears cool.
The flat-black aluminum hood incorporates a big duct that not only seems awesome, but also feeds added air to the unspecified engine’s intake box (the hood will be available as a Mopar add-on starting early next year). Fiat-Chrysler claims the Dart R/T concept seems “poised to strike worry in the competitors.” We wouldn’t go that far, but we will say that the package is an impressive improvement more than the already sleek-looking Dart. With 18-inch lightweight wheels, a huge-brake kit, and adjustable coil-over suspension from the Mopar catalog, it promises far better road manners, also.
Who knows—this notion might truly inspire a series-production variant and add another chapter to Dodge’s outstanding history of compact high-overall performance beasts. Offered the Dart’s common “meh”-ness, we feel such a auto can not arrive speedily enough.
Ever wish you could see some of the most iconic cars extant morph by means of their generations into what they’ve turn out to be today? eBay Motors has designed a series of GIFs that do just that, and they’re wonderful. Dubbed Visual Vehicle Evolution, the animations show the evolution of the BMW 3-series, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, and Honda Accord. We’ve included the Corvette and Mustang GIFs here, and you can head more than to eBay Motors’ weblog to see the Honda and the BMW. Be confident to come back and check out our personal (non-animated) history of the Vette, as well!
“We want to know what you feel,” said the polite fellows in custody of Infiniti’s lately completed—and only—Q50 Eau Rouge prototype. This is very flattering to a writer, the implication that my opinion might be relevant to some essential decisions in, say, the final suspension tune or even whether or not to construct the automobile in the 1st place. I told them I’m the wrong guy to ask about that, as I’m firmly in favor of sticking GT-R engines in almost everything that Nissan tends to make, such as its forklifts. So a 4-door Nissan GT-R? Yes, please. Build that.
Infusing a Q50 sedan with GT-R guts is not fairly as easy as fabbing up some new motor mounts, as I discovered at the Millbrook Proving Ground in England. The twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 itself fits fairly nicely, but every thing else is sort of an engineering nightmare. The GT-R, it seems, has a considerably longer nose than the Q50, so the Eau Rouge required all new front bodywork to accommodate the cooling apparatus for the 560-hp furnace pushed against the firewall. When I very first saw the vehicle, I believed it had some sort of police-style strobe lights behind the grille. It turned out I was searching at the intercoolers, which are tucked appropriate up front.
The drivetrain presents a lot more challenges. In its existing guise, the Eau Rouge is running the 6-speed torque-converter automatic from the V-8–powered Q70, along with the Q70’s all-wheel-drive technique. Infiniti asked that we use the paddle shifters to manually adjust gears, in the interest of transmission preservation. And gearchanges were programmed to take a while—again, with the hopes that this transmission would final extended adequate to survive the attentions of a few writers turned loose on Millbrook’s alpine loops.
Until recently, the prototype was operating Infiniti’s steer-by-wire method, which was swapped for a conventional electric-assist helm to see how that would function. Therefore the steering-method warning light on the dash. It wouldn’t be a prototype without a couple of constantly illuminated warning lights.
The car has been fitted with a specially created restricted-slip rear differential—the only factor on the Eau Rouge not from the corporate components counter—since Infiniti rapidly concluded that open diffs weren’t going to cut it with 560 horsepower, all-wheel drive or not. Strangely, I kept lighting up the inside rear tire coming out of 1 specific corner, which could have been due to the track’s undulating pavement. Or it could have just been that the diff didn’t perform. Infiniti, for its element, says that it hasn’t replicated the behavior.
But you can not judge a vehicle like this the way you would a production auto or even a development mule. This is not intended to be the final word on Eau Rouge setup, despite the fact that its makers would do nicely to preserve the suspension—with new adjustable coil-overs up front—right exactly where it is. It strikes a excellent balance in between compliance and poise, which is acceptable for the 4-door audience. No matter how unholy quickly this point is in a straight line, sedan purchasers almost certainly don’t want their innards vibrated on the GT-R frequency.
So, the track: The loop covers about 3 miles, and it is created not for enjoyment but to torment cars into revealing their weaknesses. There are a few sections exactly where a brake-tap is mandatory to stop severe air, as on the “Jaguar corner,” so named because it sent a Jaguar airborne into some trees. And the section named “ski jump” is self-explanatory. As for runoff, there are a generous few inches of it right here and there, correct before the guardrail. Now let’s go drive that priceless prototype!
Searching out over the hood, with its GT-R–style vents, you can fool yourself into pondering you are in Nissan’s supercar rather than Infiniti’s feasible flagship sedan. Ditto when you roll on the throttle and get a true taste of the 3.8’s talents that signature intake whoosh paired with brutal acceleration tells your brain this is a GT-R. It didn’t constantly look to release full power—either due to traction handle or perhaps torque modulation in the name of transmission survival—but when it did, it scrolled the scenery as challenging as you’d expect.
So the energy was there. Putting it down is still a operate in progress, I consider. The Q70’s all-wheel-drive technique is not exactly functionality-oriented, so the Eau Rouge sends about 50 % of its energy to the front finish. A rear torque bias seems like a must for a car such as this.
The tires are an additional area that may require some tinkering. They’re 255s all the way around. A square setup is great for snubbing understeer—see: “Z28, Camaro”—but a 4000-pound auto with 560 horsepower probably requirements wider rubber than this, at least at the back. The Eau Rouge displayed fantastic agility with immediate turn-in, but I believe that may be an artifact of the rear-diff behavior along with the relative lack of grip at the back end. But that is the sort of point they’d sort out more than the subsequent 18 months or so, ought to this auto go to production. My takeaway: Please retain that agility but add some ultimate grip. Plus—big, wide tires appear cool.
I picture that in its production kind, the Eau Rouge will have a a lot more sophisticated AWD method, maybe a various restricted-slip rear end, wider tires, and possibly some sort of brake-primarily based torque vectoring, which can function wonders on all-wheel-drive vehicles. They should preserve the wonderful Recaros, hold the GT-R brakes, hold the suspension tune, and definitely preserve the GT-R V-6 (each the Q70 V-8 and a supercharged 3.7-liter V-6 were considered).
And that, Infiniti, is my valuable, beneficial input. Here’s to hoping that, come the 2016 model year, Infiniti’s initial real superstar is more than just a prototype.
So you’ve bought an old ASCAR on a whim, and it’s sitting next to an old tired Toyota AE86 Corolla that doesn’t run right. What do you do? Well, when you first suggest the idea that you will be melding the 2 into one, there are ‘some’ concerns from the worlds Hachi Roku fans. But as the build progresses, and the vision of Drif2rks company directors Phil Morrison and James Robinson starts to become reality, it quickly becomes one of the most popular drift car builds the world has seen.
So what is the goal of this build?
To create a unique and competitive drift car that allows the use of big tyres and a big NA engine, but is at the same time respectful to the original AE86 styling.
This is not the worlds highest budget drift build. We have recycled as much of the ASCAR as possible, and used our knowledge of building our past competition cars to hopefully keep this as simple as possible.
Below is a timeline / summary of the media surrounding the build of the car. There’s plenty of pictures and videos, and this page will be kept up to date with all future media, so please check back!. NOW LETS GET CRACKING!
A quick look over some of the ASCAR components as we take it apart: It’s an awesome bit of kit with it’s frock removed. LS1 engine, dry sump, Jericho dog box, Winters drop gear axle, AP brakes and some trick suspension parts.
For our international followers, and those too young to remember: An ASCAR is a low spec NASCAR built for the UK. It runs a very basic LS1 engine. The cars were built in the US by Howe Racing for a series held at the UK’s brand new (at the time) Rockingham Raceway. Aside from the engines they share a great deal of components with a real NASCAR. So as a donor car for an old live axle Toyota it ‘could’ work very well! Before we stripped it, we had to have a little blast in it.
Prepping the shell
The Corolla was stripped, and, Dynotorque, who are doing the vast majority of the build for us threw an LS block in to see exactly how much work we were looking at to get it in the hole.
Here’s a quick picture of the original 86 axle verses the Winters drop gear axle. There is a considerable size difference! It might be a tight fit.
The cutting out, and strengthening was started on the 86 shell. Phil had already had a lot of the car welded before it was ever intended for this project, but none of us anticipated how much prep and welding would have to go into this shell to make it structurally sound enough to handle the power and grip we intended to throw at it.
We mocked up the front suspension. The car uses Drif2rks CS2 Nissan S13 coilovers / Geomaster hub knuckles / Drif2rks lower arms / tension rods, all mounted simply using a modified original AE86 crossmember with an S14 steering rack fitted and some AE86 CS2 coilover top mounts. Then Craig set about clearance for the front tubs. We loved posting this picture on FB as people thought we were grinding into the actual block. In fact it is a cracked block Dynotorque use for mocking up LS conversions. I think that our AE86 is the 31st car that Dynotorque have converted to LS power!
Some slight clearance needed for the Jerico gearbox and prop.
New tunnel going in.
The car went on the spit so we could stitch / seam weld the underneath.
After many ear bleeding and lung filling days of grinding and welding it’s starting to look quite strong!
Nickson Motorsport take over for a beautiful T45 cage build and some further chassis reinforcement… One of the major criteria for Phil Morrison who will be driving the car, is that it’s safe. Which means a lot of metal has to go into a 30 year old shell. Yes you heard right. We’re not tearing every bit of metal out of this car to make it as light as possible, we’re adding a shitload in to make it strong and safe…. Luckily Nickson’s work is second to none, and he listened carefully, and delivered on this point. Nickson’s website is here Nickson Motorsport
The Throttle Bodies
The Jenvey Throttle Bodies arrived! We actually won’t end up using the carbon airboxes as it would need a huge bonnet extension which would suck!.
Here we’re looking at the rear tubs, so machine out the centre of some of our Rota MXR wheels normally used on the DW R32 to test it all.
And the other side, along with a new floor and mounts for the tank.
After getting ripped off by American Company: Thunder Racing for £3,000 of parts for the LS1, we decided to cut our losses and invest in a brand new crate LS3. Here it is with the dry sump and clutch fitted.
The engine sitting on its mounts ready for header fabrication
Here you get a small idea of the work that was involved in getting the engine low enough with the oil pan, whilst clearing the S14 steering rack that is custom fabricated to fit the AE86 crossmember.
The Winters rear axle came off the Nascar with 3.5* negative camber on one side, and 3* positive on the other (as it was designed to go round in circles). We really wanted to run it with -0.5 negative to have a good compromise between drift and track setup, which meant ordering and replacing the outer tubes on the axle. First they go into the freezer for a night to shrink the metal.
Then into the press! Or if your press isn’t big enough, use a 4 post ramp with your mate’s really sweet Camero on it!
Here it’s reassembled
And back in the car with it’s custom dropped brackets laser cut from stainless. These amongst other parts are made to help give as much traction as possible!
You can also see how huge the wheel wells are in this shot.
Some of the pipework is now going in along with the dry sump tank. You can also see one of our Drif2rks hydraulic handbrake handles!
We want to use the ASCAR AP brakes, but as we’re using Nissan 5 stud front hubs we had to make some new bells and brake bracket adapters.
Thanks to Rota Wheels for lending us some wheels to check clearances and offsets, We are one of the biggest Rota wheels dealers in Europe, and have a great working relationship with the guys.
Huge thanks to Samco for supplying all silicone hoses for the project.
We got the car on it’s feet and on the scales. It’s still got a load of parts and weight to go in, but it’s a promising first figure of 946kg in it’s current state. At this point we estimate a full weight of 1100-1200kg
Craig made the shroud for the rear Drif2rks SuperCool radiator using recycled interior panels from the ASCAR. This shit’s more environmentally friendly than a Prius!
James got stuck in to routing the rear perspex screen.
Craig then set about making the exhaust
The whole system has perfect ground clearance, and we used a couple of decent quality low profile Magnaflow boxes to take the edge off the inevitable volume.
Here’s Craig Taylor, the man himself from Dynotorque showing you that perfect ground clearance on the exhaust.
First fire up
We started the car for the first time – It’s on a generic map so won’t run properly yet..
And here’s the first time Phil ever drove it. Just onto the trailer on its way to Protuner – Still without a map so almost impossible to drive.
And here’s a quick cameo from Greg at Protuner, running the new engine in on the dyno.
Unfortunately then we got some not so great news: The second time we went to the dyno after changing the oil. The car was partially mapped, and it made 560bhp, which is very good for the spec. However it developed a small rattle. On investigation all of the shells are worn, and one of them had deformed slightly. Everything was spot on with the car with new oil and great pressure. The issue appears to be that the dry sump system is aerating the oil. So we are replacing the shells and invested in one of these.
The Arches
Magic Aero were the company we tasked with the aero on this car. You can check them out here: MAGIC AERO FB PAGE
Phil is incredibly particular about how a drift car should look, and lots of the many weeks of work done to the shell, were done to ensure that it could ride super low despite the 18″ / 17″ wheel setup. Paul from Magic Aero and Phil had many discussions, and it was agreed that they both had the same thing in mind, so Paul came to stay in Birmingham for 6 days for the original stage of the design process.
Expanding foam is poured into makeshift cardboard boxes to give a block ready to model.
When we first posted this picture, some people thought that this would in some way reflect what the arch would look like….
Many days of pouring and sculpting later, Paul and Phil had settled on the arch design, and are very happy with the overall look, which ticks the most important box of all: To be truly respectful to the original 86, despite the MASSIVE wheels…. “Hey everybody! Come and see how good I look!”
At that point Magic Aero pull the whole foam plug off the car, and take it away to make the first set of moulds. There are 3 stages to the moulding, then re-sculpting and moulding process before we will receive a finished product. Even at this early point Magic Aero have put around 60 hours work into the car.
So now the car has essentially been 95% built, and kind of driven. So it can finally be broken down for stripping and paint. So back to Dynotorque it goes:
And it was delivered to Soda-Blast-Systems UK to take care of removing all the remaining paint and mess from all of the welding. They are a Midlands based company, and you can check them out here: SODABLASTINGLTD
After blasting – How much better does it make all the fabrication look!
Because of the weather and a lack of an enclosed trailer to get the shell back to Drif2rks, we had the Soda-Blast guys prime the car too. They did an awesome job.
And the car was brought back to Drif2rks, where Phil would take on the unpleasant job of a few days of structural foam reinforcement and under sealing.
And Paul from Magic Aero’s back with the first set of moulds and overfenders
They still need a lot of work at this point.
The wheels arrived from CCW in the States! They are 17×9 ET-15 5×114.3 front, and the rears are 18×10.5 ET-15 5×5″. We received them unfinished as at this stage we were on an extremely tight deadline to get the car ready to show at Autosport international on the British Drift Championship stand.
The wheels would be powdercoated Satin black centre and gloss black outers. Sacrilege to some to paint a polished lip! But all part of the bigger picture of making this car look right. Phil felt making the wheels black would balance out the fact that they are effectively way too big for a car of this size.
We’ve obviously been contaminated by all these parts from the US that we’re using in the build, as we thought it’d be a good idea to change our rig for the 2014 season to a jacked F250 XLT SuperDuty and Pace trailer.
Time for paint
We had dropped off the shell at a local painter, who we have used for years. Collecting it was supposed to be one of the major high points in the build, as finally all the hard work that Dynotorque and Nickson put into the shell prep would be shown with it’s shiny covering of bright orange paint.
Unfortunately that is not what we saw when we arrived. The paintshop had possibly done the worst job possible to the most important car we have ever asked them to paint. See-through thin paint over the entire car. It looks more like brown than orange it was that thin. There were areas missing paint completely. It was an overall completely half arsed terrible rushed job.
After 12 months of more work / stress / cost than most people could have ever imagined, we literally could have cried. The worst bit was that he wouldn’t even admit it was a terrible job. His words “no, that’s the best that any painter could do. I won’t re-do it”. The car was promptly removed, and we set about finding someone to sort out this complete mess, as we were now put back massively on a ridiculously tight deadline to get this car assembled and to Autosport.
Our buddy Paul Jackson came to the rescue. He only normally does small smart repairs, and his ‘booth’ was our dusty freezing cold second unit at Drif2rks. We painted until the middle of the night, and pushed the car into our new Pace race transporter with a gas heater in there to cure the paint. It came out AWESOME! We can’t thank Paul enough for stepping up under such difficult circumstances.
After a night curing the paint, we got the car back into Dynotorque to start assembly (very gently).
Craig worked his ass off, and things started to go back together very quickly.
The Oil Aeration in the dry sump system had done more damage to the crank than we’d originally thought. So we decided to pull it apart properly and fit some new parts. It’s still a relatively simple spec of a standard balanced crank and rod setup, just with some forged pistons, a lairy cam, valve springs, pushrods and roller rockers.
The damage to the old crank.
And the new forged pistons going into the block. The crank, rods and pistons were all balanced in the states for us by a company called Nook and Tranny who are great to deal with.
At this point Phil started work on the fibreglass doors and the bootlid. They were ‘rally spec’ parts, and quite honestly we’d never seen fibreglass with such a bad finish before.
The TRD spoiler was glassed to the bootlid and Phil set about making it look like it was meant to be there.
I think this photo was taken about 2 days into the relentless sand/fill/sand/fill process. The patience was wearing thin.
All coming together
Meanwhile, the awesome Cobra Sebring Pro seats turned up. Huge thanks to Cobra for getting them sorted!
And local Alloy Wheel refurb specialists Speedwell Tyres are doing an awesome job on the wheels. They also did a great job of all of the general powdercoating on the car, like the crossmember, panhard rod, hinges etc. Check them out here: SPEEDWELLS
And to mount the rear wheels we had some custom wheel studs made that convert the ASCAR Winters rear axle to an M12x1.5 stud. Keeping the NASCAR style quick start dome heads that theoretically eliminate the chance of cross threading during our ever so frequent wheel changes.
We’d had Paul Jackson and another buddy, Twin, come in to finish the prep and paint on the doors and bootlid which came out very well again, especially considering our unideal paint booth (the toilet in our other unit).
Once again our temporary ‘drying booth’ came in handy.
They were fitted, and Phil and James spent an age drilling and mounting the NACA ducts in the bootlid to vent air into the front of the radiator.
Speedwells finished painting and assembling the new wheels!
The engine was back in, using some Pipercross filters on the Jenvey Throttle Bodies.
Phil had a go at the bonnet, and quickly gave up… Damn massive engine!
Off to the Dyno
So it was loaded up to go back over to Protuner. The stupid tall rear tyres fitted here are our dyno tyres. They are 275/40/18 and give us the ground clearance needed to keep the rear lower arms off the rollers.
It had a long running in session, then an oil change for some Motul 300v
Then a quick map. At this stage only taking it to 6900rpm. It made about 585bhp again, and 610ft/lb torque. After there’s a few more miles on the engine we’ll be revving to about 7400rpm, which will really bring the massively peaky cam into play.
A little throttle blip after a pull
Meanwhile, ‘oop north’, Magic Aero was busy making the second version set of plugs
And the moulds
Testing with smoke
Craig wasn’t looking forward to this job. The rear firewall between Driver and the hot radiator / oil tank etc. It’s made from thin aluminium shaped around the back of the seat (which sits through the main hoop of the cage)
It was then flocked by Speedwells, and although it’s difficult to see, there’s 3 pieces of perspex fitted and sealed around the cage at the top. You can’t see much in the mirror as the NACA ducts in the rear screen warp everything, but it was done so we didn’t make the cabin claustrophobic.
Here you can also see the extended steering wheel boss made that’s mounted to the Drif2rks Nardi steering wheel. The clear pipe is a filtered cold air feed that goes into the top of the drivers helmet.
We had a little smoke test to see where the leaks are that need filling.
One of the small things that bugged us that you can see in the 2 pictures above is the lack of black trim around the front side windows, so they were removed, some lines masked and painted in a satin to match the trim colour of the rear side windows. A set of carbon mirrors were fitted as well.
Magic Aero came back to Drif2rks to check the fit on the version 2 overfenders. These are still not the final items, they are just to get us to the Autosport show, but they look incredible!
Paul Jackson again came and painted them for us. Again he had the privilege of using our incredible spray booth: The bathroom in our second unit.
And the bumpers were sprayed black
Ready for Autosport
And the day after, after months of work by lots and lots of people, the car is visually almost complete and ready for Autosport.
Off to Autosport it goes:
So we made it to the Autosport show, and the car went down very well with our friends. But it is being used competitively this year, and as we all know, new builds have their teething problems and bugs to be worked out. So again we push to complete the mechanicals and electrics so we can actually test the car.
We weigh the car with half a tank of fuel, (we haven’t set the corner weights yet) and we’re very happy with the results. We always knew it was going to be quite a heavy car, so 1193kg is okay, but the balance is what matters, and a perfect 50/50 weight distribution should make this perform incredibly well.
First burnout test
You know what we were just saying about bugs to iron out? Well this was the first burnout test (an essential first test before heading to the track).
The first burnout went okay, the second not so much. We smashed the original ASCAR propshaft UJ which took out the nose of the diff, and a large portion of the exhaust. But heyho, at least we got to do one burnout
Some of the damage. This is what’s left of the bracket which mounts the UJ onto the front of the diff:
This was ‘inconvenient’ not least because we’d just received a parcel from Winters Axles in the US, so had to order again. However they are a great company to deal with and quickly we had everything we needed to repair the front yoke, replace a slightly leaky seal, and at the same time replace the unpredictable detroit locker LSD with a spool (a completely locked diff)
It’s easy to forget how massive this axle is when it’s hidden underneath the car.
All apart, ready to get complicated!
Phil and Craig fitted the ring gear to the spool, then set about shimming it. Doing this is quite tedious on a live axle, and even more so on a massive heavy one. They had to call upon a third man (James) to stabilise the one half while Phil lifted the other half on and off, and Craig did the shims…. Fun!
It came back together nicely though, and was shortly back in the car and mated to a new much stronger propshaft made for us by Dave Mack Propshafts.
Dry sump change
After the rather quick expiry of our first engine in the car, we still had that little question in the back of our heads: “Have we completely solved the issue with our dry sump system?”.
We fitted the Spintric air oil separator which we’re confident has solved that part of the problem, but after speaking with Gary from Armstrong Race Engine Systems for nearly 3 hours while he was over at the Autosport show, he showed us some potential other issues with the Moroso oil pan setup we’d used from the ASCAR, and we decided to eliminate this doubt from our minds and take the plunge by replacing the sump, pump and a few other components.
The new ARE dry sump parts are beautifully engineered.. Unfortunately we’re going to have to modify the sump to clear our crossmember as we suspected, but this will be done while bolted to Dynotorque’s dummy block to eliminate the chance of warping while it’s TIG welded.
Craig loves the thought of milling brand new very expensive parts.
While Craig was in the mood for some fabrication, he got onto making a drop mount for one of our tow hooks to come through the original hole in the bumper.
The front was a lot easier and just bolts to the chassis rail.
We’d had some issues getting the coolant to bleed, so we made a huge filling pot for the highest point of the pipework, this obviously is removable, and has worked perfectly.
And Paul from Magic Aero’s back (He can’t stay away!) to make the final plugs and moulds.
We’re giving ourselves a little more clearance on the rear arches, not to have more of a gap between arch and tyre, but so we have the ability to run bigger tyres at a later date if we need to.
Paul’s then done a lot of prep work, and is taking final mould actually on the car, which he will pull and take away to create the final arches in some posh semi flexible material.
Here’s the car as it stands with the gel coat layer of the mould applied. This will be left to go off a little before the fibreglass is applied. Then the lot will be left overnight to cure, and will be removed tomorrow.
The moulds finished and cured:
It takes quite a lot of effort to release them. The plug (completed overfenders) come off with the mould, as Paul has to complete the finer parts of the mould on the bench, like the edges around the lip. This is much easier to do on the bench than upside down while on the car.
Back in Fabricationville (Dynotorque) Craig’s making a mount for the Race Technology Dash2 – This is a great dash. Check them out here: RACETECHNOLOGY
While fitting the dash, Craig’s also wiring the Cartek wireless steering wheel buttons.
Craig wired in the front facing brake light required for the 2014 regs:
Does it drift?
We then managed to get a very last minute first test session in at our local track Birmingham Wheels. The car is brutal! A rear caliper bracket span on the axle so we lost 90% of our braking on the first run, but thought we’d carry on anyway, and managed to do 2 new sets of 285 Federal RSRs to the cords.
Delivery from Mr Magic Aero. The final overfenders! Made in a semi flexible and very strong Kevlar weave. With a nice touch on the back as well!
And we found a new local painter to prep and paint them in a bodyshop instead of the toilet here
. Looking at the quality of the ‘out of the gun’ finish, I think this one’s a keeper!
Craig has had the car next door again for a few days. The new Alcon clutch is in.
And he’s currently working on the optional rear silencers. These will not be used unless absolutely necessary for track DB limits.
And we got our air tank back from testing. It’s now filled with 4,000psi. Lets hope that’s enough to lift our heavy car.
Turns out it is enough pressure! Airjack test video!
Mr Magic Aero’s back in the DW house today! This time to have a look at the bonnet! Phil didn’t want a hole and was worried about a bonnet bulge being too big. There is a plan though! It involves cutting down one of the fuel rails to give much better clearance, and creating a subtle bulge. We’ll see whether it works out!
The plan for the bonnet worked! It was a rushed job so needs refinishing at some point, but Magic Aero did an awesome job! Looking at previous pictures you wouldn’t believe that the massive V8 is underneath there!
Finished article
We got the car back to Birmingham Wheels for the Banzai Magazine photoshoot, which was a lot of fun! Here’s some of Rich’s photos.
With just 5 days before our first round of the season in a brand new car, we finally got to properly test the car. Of course it being a brand new very complicated build, it wasn’t long until we broke it. But that’s already being fixed, and over all the test session was very useful. As this video shows, if it’s possible to learn to tame this wild thang, it might end up being quite competitive.
Warning, it isn’t a great quality video, but the soundtrack makes up for it.
Thanks and Spec List
Thanks to all the people that went the extra mile to help us make this car what it is:
The whole staff at Drif2rks
Paul Jackson and Twin
DW86 Specifications:
Engine:
Chevrolet 6.2L LS3 V8, Balanced crank, rods and Mahle forged pistons, 259/275 .624/.624 Comp camshaft, Comp Cams rocker / trunion upgrade, springs retainers & pushrods, ARP head and rod bolts, Clevite bearings – Spec and Build by Dynotorque.
Jenvey independant throttle body and linkage kit.
A.R.E. Dry sump kit, modified pan by Dynotorque, custom AN12 Aeroquip lines and fittings, A.R.E. Air Oil Seperator
Dynotorqe custom stainless exhaust with Magnaflow low profile boxes, and optional additional Silencers.
ATI underdrive Harmonic Crank Pulley
Samco Silicone hoses throughout.
Dynotorque custom hard pipes for the water.
Engine Mapped by Protuner
Drivetrain:
Quartermaster / Alcon triple plate clutch and super lightweight flywheel
Jerico 4 speed dog box
Winters quick change Nascar axle. 10″ spool diff.
Custom Dave Mack propshaft
Chassis:
By Dynotorque: Stitch and seam welded reinforced chassis, enlarged front and rear wheel tubs, fabricated transmission tunnel, engine & gearbox mounts, Panhard mount, Airjack mounts, rear upper suspension mount, all custom brackets and fittings. Rear bulkhead. Towing eyes. Petrol Tank cage.
By Nickson Motorsport: T45 roll cage, Nascar style doorbars, additional turret reinforcement and lower Apillar leg protection, seat and harness mounts.
Blasted and primed by Soda-Blast-Systems UK ltd.
Aero:
Magic Aero Drif2rks edition wide arch front and rear kevlar overfenders
Magic Aero custom fibreglass bonnet.
Fibreglass doors
Fibreglass bootlid with TRD spoiler
Bodywork, foam strengthening and paint by Paul Jackson, Phil and Twin.
Powdercoating by Speedwell alloys.
Suspension:
Dynotorque modified front crossmember for Nissan S14 steering rack
Howe Racing rear 4 link alignment arms with adjustable pan.
Dynotorque lower dropped links.
Brakes:
NASCAR AP Racing 6pot front, 4pot rear. Custom front bells.
Wilwood pedal box
Wheels:
CCW Classic – Custom finish by Speedwell alloys
17 x 9 ET -15
18 x 10.5 ET -15
Custom wheel studs.
Electrics:
Complete custom car body loom by Dynotorque
Emerald ECU. Loom by Dynotorque.
Race Technologies Dash2 dashboard
Cartek wireless steering wheel controls
Interior and Safety:
Custom steering wheel spacer.
Dynotorque fabricated dash mount.
Driftshack Stiggy flocked dashboard
Cartek electronic battery cut off
Filtered air pump to feed air to drivers helmet.
Modified standard heater matrix /screen demist.
Dynotorque fabricated rear firewall made from alloy and perspex.
Weight:
1193kg with 50/50 weight distribution.
Power:
585bhp and 610ft/lbs torque (first map before the revs are raised)
Written by Phil – Drif2rks Posted on March 26, 2014. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Written by Phil – Drif2rks Posted on March 26, 2014. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry