Our very own Reliant Robin, or the Flying Pig as it’s become known, took to the strip at Santa Pod recently. This was just a test run for the newly turbo charged engine. We fitted the turbo to blow through the standard carb with a few modifications. The test ran well although it was on very low boost so the car is now ready for Practical Performance Car magazines show at Mallory Park. The Robin draws a crowd wherever it goes and is a challenge to drive. We wanted to build a car to prove we can make anything handle. With a modified double wishbone front suspension set up it corners and brakes as it should now. It just goes to prove anything is possible. Check it out on our you tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3exKXBlqFY
Posts Tagged ‘turbo conversion’
The Pig flies again
Friday, April 27th, 2012MX5 Hillclimb car
Friday, April 27th, 2012We’ve been building this hillclimb car for Practical Performance Car Magazine. The full details of the build will be available to read over the next few months. PPC mag have an event called the 999 challenge. The idea is to build the best MoT passable car you can for 999 quid and carry out a timed quarter mile and handling course. The fastest car wins. We decided to take the concept a step further and see if we could build a hill climb car for full competition still sticking to the 999 pound budget. The list of modifications is massive. We reduced the weight by about 20% which is hard going on a car that’s so light to start with. With all the weight stripped out we built a cage that not only keeps the driver safe but adds to the shells rigidity. The engine received a turbo and anti lag system including launch control and flat shift. It also features a hydrogen gas system for better combustion and a cold water spray for the intercooler. We carried out a few suspension and brake modifications and thoroughly set the cars geometry to give it perfect handling. The aerodynamics were last to be addressed and are controlled tightly by the regulations. We designed an aero package that other than the allowed rear spoiler didn’t change the cars silhouette. We achieved this with a flat underfloor, undercut splitter and a rear diffuser than uses a cut out into the rear bumper. The rear aero is fed by the exhaust gases between the spoiler and the diffuser which aid flow attachment. There’s still some fine tuning to be done but it should be an awesome package on a very tight budget
Awkward Alfa
Thursday, July 28th, 2011This beautiful looking GTV had been giving it’s owner headache and heartache for months. The owner wasn’t shy when it came to getting his hands dirty and certainly know’s his way around Alfa’s. Everyone needs a little help from time to time though and we’re more than happy to work alongside the owners efforts. The car has a pretty big turbo blowing through twin 40 DHLA carbs with a Canems ECU controlling the sparks. Every part of the system had faults that interfered with each other making the task of getting it running like trying to knit spaghetti. We did a little rewiring and resetting of things which improved the situation. Sadly as hard as we tried the carbs wouldn’t work sweetly, although it was healthy enough for an MoT. These projects are rarely a quick fix, more work in progress. The owner has new carbs on the way and we’ll try again when they arrive. Despite the challenge it’s a pleasure working on such a beautiful and special classic.
Sick Saxo
Monday, November 29th, 2010This Saxo was due in for some preparation work as it’s owner was heading east towards the Nurbergring in Germany. We had various things to look at including brakes, a bit of welding ready for a roll cage and to check over the turbo install. The turbo had been installed by a previous owner and They’d done a pretty good job by all accounts. If Citroen had done it themselves it wouldn’t have been any better. Unfortunatley the day it was due in the Saxo was driven into in a car park casuing a fair amount of front end damage. The clock was ticking as the date for track day was set so a few late nights were called upon. It all went back together and the car made it to the nurbergring on time.
Full of hot air
Friday, June 11th, 2010We do lots of development work on this customers track day car. Work is always done on sensible budgets so it’s enjoyable engineering solutions to a cost and often using parts which aren’t quite meant to fit. It seems more fun trying to engineer a way to fit a round peg in a square hole rather than spend 2 thousand pounds on a brand new billet aluminium square peg or a carbon fibre round hole.
This time we had to make a few adaptions up to mount a larger turbo. All of the flanges and pipes need making for air, oil and water. Next on the list was to pipe in the largest radiator we could squeeze between the chassis rails and not infringe on the intercooler. Once this was done we decided residual underbonnet temperatures would be no good for the air intake so it had to be moved. Fortuantely this car hasn’t been seen by an MoT tester for some time so lights are an unecessary luxury, and a perfect place to scoop up some cold air.