Archive for the ‘AA Sport’ Category
Friday, June 11th, 2010
As AA Silencers is busy with Practical Performance Car Magazines racing efforts this year our Capri is not needed on track. We decided this would be a good time to give it a bit of a freshen up and try to squeeze out a bit more speed. As always the main item on the agenda was weight saving but also to improve the aerodynamics and get rid of the rust that can creep in to any older car.
The solution was simple, identify any bits of the car you don’t need and cut them off, especially if there’s any rust in them. The shell has been multipointed and the cag extended and a complete new aero underfloor has been designed. There’s a huge amount of work to do but it shoudl be worth it when the car gets back on track. Here’s some pictures for the mean time
Tags: Aerodynamics, Capri, classic, Race car, roll cage, shell preparation, weight saving
Posted in AA Sport, Race news, Track day toys | Comments Off on How to get rid of rust and make your car faster
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
No sooner had we completed the ZR than a ZS needed a rather large oil cooler fitting in to help deal with the extra power his new turbo was producing. Unfortunately on this one the front was already full of radiators and intercoolers. The solution? Put the oil cooler at the back.
A tunnel was cut to allow the air up to the cooler and vents were cut to duct to the rear. Pipework was easy this time thanks to a standard sandwich plate and plenty of room to run the hoses through the car. It still needs finishing off and painting but we need to give it a run and check to see how it controls the temperatures first. If oil runs too cold it’s worse than having it too hot.
Tags: MG, MGZS, oil cooler, Track day
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, MG Zedbits, Track day toys | Comments Off on Hot Oil Headache part 2
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
If you had spent lots of thousands of pounds on a shiny new race engine you’d want to keep it safe. When this ZR Trophy spec race car was fitted with it’s new 200BHP Janspeed built K series the owner was told he must be careful not to let the oil overheat.
Oil temperature has never been a problem in the past due to the oil/water intercooler fitted but now an extra oil/air cooler was required to satisfy Mr Engine Builder. Space behind the bumper wasn’t a problem but mismatched pipe threads, odd bore sizes and torturous pipe routes meant this job used a whole weeks worth of swear words in one day. It all went together in the end and now if the engine goes bang we know it’s the driver’s fault… Not that racing drivers ever make mistakes of course.
Tags: hoses, MG, MGZR, MGZS, oil cooler, Race car
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, MG Zedbits, Race news, Track day toys | Comments Off on Hot Oil Headache
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Ever seen a honda Jazz before? Not many people have because there’s not many around. Even rarer than Honda Jazz are parts for a Honda Jazz.
Most of these old jap cars have rotten away long before they reach the Retro Cool status that this little town car has achieved. It came to us for a little exhaust work and some of the inevitable welding that goes into owning an old car. To be fair it was in very good condition, just a patch or two here and there followed by a liberal dose of waxoyl. The main problem was the bottom ball joints in the front suspension. They are as rare as the preverbial teeth from a hen and when we did find some they cost more than the car did. The solution was to break out the parts catalogue and get welding.
We found that some Peugeot ball joints had the same dimensions so the lower arms were measured and moddified to take some bolt on ball joints. It takes a whole lot longer to do than it does to say but we’ve done this several times on track cars to get more camber on them and the results speak for themselves.
Tags: classic, Honda Jazz, suspension, Waxoyling
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, General | Comments Off on When no-one else can help….
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
The Morris minor having a zetec engine fitted is close to completion. Cooling systems, fuel system, exhaust, gearbox mounts, chassis mods to fit the starter and many other small jobs are all hugely time consuming but progress is slowly being made. There’s a few more small jobs then the car needs switching over to negative earth and the ECU needs fitting and programming. We can finally start looking forward to the maiden voyage!
Tags: classic, Engine swap, Exhausts, ford zetec, mainfold, Morris Minor
Posted in AA Sport, Exhausts, Garage Services, Track day toys | Comments Off on Moggy 2000- nearing completion
Friday, March 12th, 2010
It might not look like much has happened on the moggy but there’s hours of work happened to get the zetec engine to fit. It’s now been mated to the type 9 gearbox and all of the associated clutch issues dealt with. Engine and gearbox mounts have been made and some more chassis work done to accomodate the final assembly. The radiator just fits into the front panel so now we have lots more fianl dressing of the engine bay and then the endless task of wiring and piping. Next on the build list is the prop and exhaust manifold!
Tags: classic, engine mounts, Engine swap, ford zetec, Morris Minor
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, Project Cars | Comments Off on Moggy 2000 update
Monday, February 1st, 2010
If you have an old classic and love the character but get tired of the gasping little engine you have 2 options. Modify the engine which may cost a lot to return a little or modfiy the car the take a better engine. I favour plan B as did our customer when he brought in his Morris Minor. Various options were discussed but a Ford Zetec 2.0l from a Mondeo was the power plant of choice. Rear wheel drive conversions with this engine are well documented and it’s a nice tractable and readily available engine so all we had to do was work out how to make it fit!
There were a few small problems such as the steering rack being in the way and the engine bay not being long enough but as each challenge develops so do the solutions. It’s lovely watching a project like this grow. There’s still a long way to go but here’s a few snaps of the story so far.
Tags: classic, Engine swap, ford zetec, Morris Minor, shell preparation
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, General, Project Cars | Comments Off on Moggy 2000
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Another Mk1 Escort joined us recently and this one had already had all the welding done on it. The shell certainly seemed solid and it was built to a simple, honest, budget DOES matter standard and I loved it. It’s so nice to see one that hasn’t just had thousands heaped on it and is too valuable to use. This car will see some road rallies and maybe some stage rallies in it’s future. The owner wasn’t happy with the seating position or the seats so we made some subframes to fit some mazda mx5 seats. It also needed an alternator to solve a charging problem and some brackets making up. Nice easy jobs and a great car.
Tags: classic, MK1 escort, seats
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, Project Cars, Track day toys | Comments Off on A Mk1 that didn’t need welding!
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Our old friend the solid Mk 1 escort came back for more work. The list was endless although jobs were small. We had to remake the exhaust, make some brackets for the navigators trip computer, adjust the door hinges, fit a lower temperature thermostat, make pipes and t pieces for a capillary oil guage and lots more litle jobs on top. Most of these I think the owner could have sorted himself but it’s far too cold for working on cars at the moment and we love working on these cars no matter what size the job. The car went away a little closer to reaching the rally stages.
Tags: classic, MK1 escort, oil guage, trip computer
Posted in AA Sport, Garage Services, Project Cars, Track day toys | Comments Off on More MK 1 Mods
Monday, January 25th, 2010
It’s amazing that a car built in such relatively low numbers and with such striking styling should still be so cheap. The Scimitar was such a departure for Reliant and has carried it’s age well thanks to the fibreglass body. There may be nothing groundbreaking about the mechincals but thanks to some very strong parts being carfully borrowed from other manufacturers they are tough and pretty reliable as classics go. This car was bought for only a few hundred pounds but since then we’ve done some serious work done. Cosmetically it’s had a full respray, new carpets, the seats have been leathered and the headlining replaced to match. On the mechanical side of things it’s had a rare South African motorcraft 3.4L engine fitted. We’ve added some custom stainless exhaust manifolds and a full stainless system. It took 6 exhaust boxes in total to quieten everything down! It’s had lot’s of other bit’s a bobs like a dose of waxoyl and a full brake strip and reseal. Parts aren’t available for ars this age so everything had a clean up and new seals. In the end the master cylinder was modified to take one from a transit. I’m sure there wll be more improving to be done soon.
Tags: brake overhaul, classic, Engine swap, Interior trim, mainfold, paint, Reliant Scimitar, Waxoyling
Posted in AA Sport, Exhausts, Garage Services, General, Project Cars | Comments Off on Cheap classic
