HMS Broadside progress thread aka 'how to give yourself a headache'

[Matt]

You should have great handling in that car mate - the engine isn't hanging 2 miles over the front end like a 24v. Should be great weight distribution.

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh mate

[Johnny A]

correct blippi!

Another toy has arrived!


I was suprised when I read about how it works too, its more than a restrictor. It actually will give you 100% braking at the rear under a pre-set level is reached and then it will level off pressure! Graph explains it well:


John.

[Johnny A]

You should have great handling in that car mate - the engine isn't hanging 2 miles over the front end like a 24v. Should be great weight distribution.

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh mate

Actually the engine doesn't even make it as far forward of the start of the front wheels! Pots 2, 3 and 4 are mid, only pot 1 sits in front of the front axle (by a few inches).

First planned outing is Castle Combe in April.

[Johnny A]

sexy sexy sexy!

[Johnny A]

Been at work all week, also did a half day today (saturday). Went to the breakers yard today and picked up the rest of the black senator dash. The only thing I didn't take was the O/S front door card because it was pretty fooked! Everything else is here tho 

Tomorrow I will remove the brown Carlton dash and replace it with a spanking black Senator one, taking a few pics along the way 

[Johnny A]

Carlton brown dashboard is now on fire, replaced with Black leather senator dash!!!



Lotus Dials look at home:


More to come!

[Johnny A]

Ever have a day when loads of things go your way?

Well today it was my turn! First off a I get up a bit early than I usually would to catch the last few minutes of set of springs and shocks (lowered) for my carlton, which I win for naff all 

After feeling chuffed about that I go downstairs to get some breakfast, doorbell rings. Its the postie with a package for me  , he also hands me another bit of mail. The package is my Phase 2 chipset for the engine, paid £70 for the pair, not bad considering they retail at over £200, apon opening I find that the Chipset is brand spanking new and has never been fitted!!!

Also the other bit of a mail was the dreaded automatic renewal letter you get from your insurance company, last year I paid £516 which TBF isn't a bad price. This year same policy for £299 

At this point I am in uber good feeling mode with a dirty great grin on my face. Anyways I make brekkie and sit down in front of the TV.... doorbell again.... oh ello its Mr Courier this time with another package for me.... its my 7" TFT monitor for the car. This model is designed for Car-PC's and can handle VGA output so has a VGA port on it, I got it off e-bay. In the description he listed it as the model without the added touch-screen function and that model retailed at £120, I paid £66 all in. When I opened the box I discovered the chap hadn't mentioned it to be the touch-screen model which retails at £240!!!!!

I plugged it into the PC to see if it all works, this is 1280x1024 res too!

 

Turbo-chuffed now I am!

Anyways, after playing with the monitor for a good 30mins I thought I had better actually do something today. Only a few things done today, I decided to change the location of the bias valve from the armrest pocket to the fag-lighter cubby hole. I made a bracket and welded it onto the tunnel. Pipework was a bit of an arse but it all went in. I put the centre console back on and opened and closed the fag lighter cover. Then I remembered I had the valve wound all the way in, I wound it out and BUGGER the flap won't shut now!! After about an hour with some heavy machinary I had modified the bracket so the valve sat lower.

Apart from that a bit of wiring finished off the day outside, right now I have the centre panel on the floor with the monitor casing and a tub of fibreglass 

[GSI24VBONES]

good day all round then
i like the screen & it looks like it'll sit nicely in the senny dash  are you gonna have a small incar pc ?
just think of all the mp3's /movies /porn you can have 

[Johnny A]

good day all round then
i like the screen & it looks like it'll sit nicely in the senny dash are you gonna have a small incar pc ?
just think of all the mp3's /movies /porn you can have

yeah small PC in the boot

[Johnny A]

sort half done the centre panel, major redesigning going on!

Also get a lowering kit now, £31 off e-bay and also won a fighter-style toggle switch for 1p!!

[Pedro]

Gonna be one helluvva Carlton when it's done mate!

Senny dash - piss easy, innit!

 

[Johnny A]

fitted the front struts on the lowering kit last night, but it didn't lower the car 

[colonelk]

fitted the front struts on the lowering kit last night, but it didn't lower the car 

hmmm... given them time to settle?  Only thing I can of!

[Johnny A]

they arn't new

[colonelk]

yeah but Im guessing theyve been off a car for a while tho

[Johnny A]

yeah they have

[carlton_mad]

gsi springs or 2.0? gsi ones will sit higher cos of the lack of weight

[Johnny A]

said 2.2, which I though was weird as there wern't any Mk3 2.2's, Mk2 yeah. But he specified years 86-93 (Mk3 era).

[ian]

i have a set of 40 mm lowering springs off a 2.0 300 miles old 40 quid if you want em
2.2 is mk2 as you sed

[Johnny A]

feckin!

Ian, what make are they?

[ian]

g maxx there are still on the struts(makes life easyer!)

[Johnny A]

Right only did a little bit of work today as I had to do a half day at work!

Started on the Turbo-back section of the exhaust. First off to get an idea of the design here is the original turbo-back system (FWD config):


As you can clearly see there is a very sharp elbow bolted to the turbo (with the lamda on), this part is a major exhaust flow restriction for tuning the LET over 280bhp (infact it will reduce lag and increase BHP at any tune state). In any case it has to come off as its pointing in the wrong direction.

A few tuners are doing replacements which are much better for flow and even have a seperate pipe for the wastegate, again for FWD applications:


These are very well made but at a price... about £350! But I have read reviews from LET tuners using them and they recommend them!

For me its got to be custom, I got lucky a while back when a chap made a batch of plates that bolt up to the turbo, I managed to get his last one:


I started with the main turbo pipe using some stainless 2.5" mandrel bent stuff. After a few failed attempts at getting the angle correct I finally got it and welded it up on the inside. Then spent about 30 mins with a dremel smoothing the inside for added flow



John.

[Pedro]

Good work, Jonny.

Nice to see people's handiwork.

[Johnny A]

Well I had better show ya now, once it's on the car you won't see it, going to cover the 1/2 the system in heatwrap too!

[Johnny A]

Right, it's been a slow weekend. Mainly due to the traditional british weather (dry and sunny in the week when your working, wet, cold and raining all weekend). In fact the only time I touched the car was when I built to the car loom that runs from the big multiplug to the engine! Apart from that there has been a fair old bit of welding off the car. First I added the next section of the turbo downpipe, that is now on hold till I can get some 1.75" bends for the wastegate exit.

From work I sourced the gearbox exhaust hanger brackets and new bushes, these are for a 24v needed to be modded to suit my setup (my turbo downpipe is more or less a mirrored 24v downpipe (running down the n/s instead of the o/s), I cut and welded the main bracket, then painted it... almost looks like it was made that way too!


Carltontoy being the very nice men he is previously donated me an old pair of 24v CAT's. I got round to using them as templates for the CAT replacement pipes, I cut the ends off, cleaned them up and welded them onto some 2" Stainless pipe to the exact length of the original CATs.


Then added the heat wrap


John.