We peaked at 370hp at the wheels at 18psi!  Woooh!

We could have wound it up even more, intake temps were still really good – but I didn’t want to risk it just to get a number.

The only thing we broke today was the 300hp mark, which had eluded me in all my previous cars until today.

We’ve wound it back to 15psi – 350hp and that’s how its going to be raced.  I’m not convinced how long a stock motor will last for at 370hp and 18psi of boost, and I can’t afford to find out.

The boost solenoid is playing up a bit, will try play with a few of its settings on the track and see if that changes things, else I might need a new one :(.  Running in closed loop (aka smart mode) its producing a big spike in the mid range, then a big dip – so at the moment its running open loop (no automatic feedback, aka dumb mode)

But considering that I have changed absolutely everything on the outside of that motor and fitted cams inside the motor, I’m so happy that everything worked, and nothing fell off!

Will it be victory, or total destruction?

Its only two of days until the tune – so a lot needed to be done…

Got the glass all back into the car.

Put the fenders and stuff back on

Finished off all of the electrics to the dash, including the steering wheel buttons to change screens on the dash display.

Finished the floor on both sides of the car.

Just have the little bit around the exhaust to finish yet (bottom left corner of the pic above)

The next pic is the floor from underneath.  The front under tray extends down the tunnel to fill the gap between the two sides of the floor.  I wanted it removable like this so that I could access the bottom of the trans tunnel.  The floor sections shown here are glued in place (as well as bolts and rivits) to seal the inside of the car off from the outside – so they are not easily removable.

The new exhaust.  The inital plan was to run no muffler at all.  The muffler that was on the car was one that I had made myself, I figured how much difference could it have made.

Well it turns out that it made a big difference.  Without any muffler, the noise was loud, obnoxiously loud, even at idle.  So, if I was going to run a muffler, it had to go on before the tune.  Another 4 hrs work that I really didn’t need at this stage, but….

I’ve cut out the sil panel and the muffler is tucked in where it used to be.  Once I have made the side skirts, they will cover the muffler and only the exhaust exit will be showing.

More soon….

The maiden venture out of the shed under its own power!  It didn’t have a floor or anything, but it drove…..

I looks so tuff that low – you just can’t drive over anything…..

Needs a wash (and a paint job for that matter…)

I’ve got the seat down so low, I look little….

Most of this time spend on the work in this update actually happened underneath these photos.  Getting there slowly…

Under the dash all of the firewall is complete, including the bolt-on section that allows be to get access to the back two cylinders of the engine, for changing spark plugs etc.

The new fuel

This is what the V8 supercars have been running – Yes JC, I’m still trying to be like a V8….

This will enable me to get a little more HP out of the motor.  Next Tuesday is the day that we’ll know how much – Dyno Day!

Got the gear shift completed – well phase one of it anyway.  I’ve already got a few changes planned for the next event.  I just don’t have enough time right now to start it again.

The shifter money shot…

I’ve also now got the ignition coils, wiring and spark plug wires all finished.  Cranked her over and she fired right up, that’s a relief!

Started work on the passenger side firewall.  Here it is partially completed.

Also cleaned up all the cabling that is going to the rear of the car.  This is now just the brake lights, fuel pump power and the fuel guage wires.  Everything else is gone.

More soon…

This is the start of the remoter shifter that I’ve been building…  The motor has been moved back so far the gear stick comes out level with my back, and with the race seat you can’t reach it.  So this device will bring it back in front of me.  More to come on this one as manufacturing progresses.

The inside is coming together.  The seat and transmission tunnel are now in.

Another view…

My little friend who seems to be sitting on the step outside the shed every night…

Last Sat I was feeling very unmotivated, so I decided to do something that for me was more “fun”.  Even though at this stage the aero under the front of the car is not on the critical path for the engine tune, I still wanted it done before the first event.  So, in order to aid motivation, I started it ahead of schedule – despite being behind on most of the other tasks 🙂

So, the picture here are showing the floor of the engine bay area, from underneath the car.  There are tunnels on each side, extracting the air out behind the front wheels.  These diffusers work with the air underneath the car, causing a low pressure area under the floor, which sucks the car down onto the road, creating more grip.  The reality is a lot more complex than that, but I’m not sure its worth the pages of text to explain this complex subject (of which I still only have a moderate understanding of, despite many books and research)

Who knows if these will actually work…..  When I get some time to test the car I will run it with and without the floor and see what the handling differences and lap time are like.  I also want to buy a pressure sensor and hook it up to the data logger, so that I can measure the pressures under the car to see if these things are working, and how well.

At the meelup hillclimb at the end of 2010,  the cheap, not very good wing that I found and put onto the rear of the car made a difference that I could easily feel in the car – so hopefully these tunnels that I have actually designed will do an even better job.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Its almost drivable…

Throttle body mods and drivers side intercooler pipes are complete.

Fuel lines are all done.

All of the brake and clutch lines are done and have been bled.

Just more pics…  New floor and tunnel sheeting.

Hopefully some day soon I’ll get a chance to add more words…

Yes, it really did take that long…

New brake adaptors

Lots and lots of nights wiring…

Time for a catch-up series of posts.

Very few of the following posts will be in chronological order, but here they are anyway…

Started on the passenger side intercooler piping…

Cut the ends off my brand new intercooler

It runs!  First attempt and she fired right up!

Jo took a video – just need to work out how to post it here…

Now I just need to do another months worth of work to make it driveable 🙂

Just had no time to come in here and do an update…..