Mechanical Daydream

New dreams.

enderw88 — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:18:35 +0000

The SuperStalker is tearing up the race courses in California driven by its new owner and my trusty BMW K75 has found a new home as well. My new ride is 2004 Moto Guzzi V11 Sport Ballabio. I LOVE this bike. Isn’t isn’t the fastest, or the best handling but it just SPEAKS to me.

Taking the SuperStalkers place is a Black 1995 M3. No pictures yet and it is already on jackstands with the interior torn out for a new stereo.

Stalker 72 is Sold!

enderw88 — Fri, 06 May 2011 17:37:51 +0000

Brunton Super Stalker

The Brunton SuperStalker is the closest thing America has to a Caterham. The kits are very well thought out and professionally done as were the Caterham and previous Lotus Seven kits. This particular Stalker is driven by a blueprinted L67 Supercharged 3800. The entire car has a very high level of finish. This is chassis number #72. Ownership includes an invitation to join the Stalker mailing list where current and past owner/builders congregate.

Features:

Powder coated frame
Freshly rebuilt 1998 Buick L67 Supercharged 3800 with < 1K miles since high performance rebuild

ARP fasteners through out
Clevite 77 Bearings throughout
New timing chain/gears
Yella Terra 1.6 Roller Rocker arms
Port matched lower intake manifold
MultiLayer Steel head gaskets
Stainless Steel Valves
Viton valve seals
balanced to better than factory specs
Blueprinted block and heads

Full complement of Autometer gauges
Driver side seat on sliders (I am 5’4″, has been driven by 6’4″ people).
One piece Lexan wind screen installed (two piece Laminated glass windshield is available if necessary for registration purposes.)
Camaro T5 transmission with custom remote shifter
Detroit TrueTrac torque sensing differential with 3.42 gears
Summit racing aluminum rear end cover, makes it easier to maintain differential fluid.
4 Wheel Disk Brakes with fresh rotors and pads.
5zigen FN-01RC 15 inch wheels
Professional Paint job with Dupont paint, color is Lexus Ultrasonic Blue
Polished side and rear panels
Carpeted interior
Electrohydraulic PowerSteering using Toyota MR-2 Spyder pump and Chevette power rack
Polished Mark Scott high performance cooling system

It runs!

enderw88 — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 03:41:03 +0000

After lots of head scratching after the fuel pickup was fixed, I replaced the ICM and it ran!

Starting the engine

enderw88 — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:28:56 +0000

So I finally ran out of excuses to keep me from starting the engine. Then it wouldn’t start. Turns out that the fuel pickup line was eroded to the point where it was only picking up air. Engines don’t run on air alone. I read that somewhere… Since I have had this problem with the pickup lines before I am remaking them out of hard line, which means another few days waiting for some AN-tube adapters…

Power Steering Pump Electrical Connection

enderw88 — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:46:28 +0000

I was surprised when the pump arrived that it had 3 connectors, one heavy duty connector, obviously for power to the pump motor and two other connectors with light gauge wire for some sort of control functions. Luckily there is lots of information on using this pump for alternate applications.

The only mistake I made was thinking that the main power supply connections would drive the motor without any additional “help”. The 12V ignition pin must be hot or the pump won’t run. I did not use the speed sensor or the relay ground pin, I placed the relay under the scuttle and grounded it there.

A switch on the dashboard allows me to disable the pump. It is really only useful in slow parking lot conditions (I have heard some people refer to that as “autocross”).

DIYectriccar.com has an excellent post on using the Gen 3 pump in an electric car conversion
Especially useful are the schematics and pinouts:

Here are the Toyota part numbers for the electrical connectors (these part’s get the plastic body only):

Large connector 90980-12068

Middle connector 90980-10897

Small end connector 90980-10942

There are two part numbers for the wiring. They come with the plugs, rubber seals, & about 6 inches of wire. At $6.55/ea they aren’t cheap for what you get, but they are made to fit.

Three pigtails for the small & middle connectors P/N: 82998-12440
Two pigtails for the large connector P/N: 82998-12500

Power Steering Pump Plumbing

enderw88 — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:33:05 +0000

Building a “frankencar” is particularly interesting when you are mixing manufacturers in the same system. In this case plumbing the Toyota electric power steering pump to the GM Chevette power steering rack.

The Chevette power steering rack fittings are metric, and the location of the EPS pump will require custom lines. I elected to adapt everything to AN-6 fittings since they are easy to come by and making up hoses is trivial (really, see the video at the bottom).

The fittings on the Chevette rack are:
Pressure Port: -6 AN to 18mm x 1.5 Male O-Ring, Aeroquip FBM2609
Return Port: -6 AN to 16mm O- RIng, Aeroquip FBM2608 with a -6 AN to Barb fitting, Derale Cooling Products 98200

The Fitting on the Powersteering Pump outlet port is -6AN to 16mm x 1.5mm male, Earl’s Performance 9919DFJERL

To make up the pressure hose I used Russel Powerflex Hose, -6 size with two 90 degree fittings. The fit is tight but workable. The low pressure return line is just 3/8″ ID rubber hose.

Earl’s Performance has a good video showing how to make up hoses, including the best way to cut braided hose (hint: hack saws are lame!). The Russell PowerFlex hose fittings are slightly different, but the video shows the principles.

Polished panels and interior carpet

enderw88 — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 02:34:16 +0000

Polishing the aluminum turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. I used a standard paint polisher with wool bonnets and Rolite aluminum polish.

Driver's side bare aluminum panel before polishing

Passenger's side polished aluminum panel

I spent a lot of time on the interior this time around. The bare aluminum was very “racerish” but not very attractive. Previously i had painted the console top and it got chipped up a lot from the safety harnesses when getting in and out of the car. I covered it with a combination of truck bedliner and automotive carpeting you can buy in bulk from any auto parts store. The same carpet is used inside the side panels to prevent buzzing.

Carpet on back panel, console top and floors.

Carpeted console top

Carpeting inside passenger's side rear panel

K75 Hannigan

enderw88 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:16:19 +0000

For some reason I never bothered to take pictures of the paint job I did on my K75 last year.

Engine Installed Again

enderw88 — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:25:28 +0000

The engine went back in. This takes me about 35 minutes working slow on my own…

Yes it will actually fit...

I have installed new polished side panels since this picture was taken…

See!

EPS Pump

EPS Pump Clearance

Installing an Electric Power Steering Pump

enderw88 — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:13:47 +0000

Now that the rack is in I have to have a pump. Using an engine driven pump is problematic because you have to give up the alternator belt tensioner and there is very little room for a reservoir. I chose to go with an electric hydraulic power steering pump. I managed to a find used pump from an MR-2 Spyder (go eBay!).

Mounting the pump is pretty straight forward since the three mounting locations are essentially in the plane perpendicular to the pump axis. So no complicated bracketry is required.

Bracket made out of 1" RHS Steel.

Electric power steering pump installed above steering rack

Close up of installed pump.

View of installed pump from front of frame.