In reply to Box4VIR :
I have upgraded 4 of my 5 Audis with red tops, they really do make a difference.
In reply to Box4VIR :
I have upgraded 4 of my 5 Audis with red tops, they really do make a difference.
What level of boost are you running here? Blowing out the spark with boost is a thing, but this isn't likely at lower boost levels. And for the record, the spark isn't actually being blown out so much as it can't form in the first place.
Damn I think I had spotted your thread here a while back but definitely noticed the car at hyperfest. Was running late for HPDE meeting but absolutely stood out to catch my attention.
In reply to Mezzanine :
I'm running 10PSI, the problem seems directly tied to boost and the mixture isn't that far off. Its hard to really tell how rich it is since as soon as it misfires the O2 sensors see all the unburnt fuel. I'm feeling confident the coils will fix it.
Seems unlikely that 10 PSI would be blowing out the spark, unless the coils you have in there now weren't intended for turbo applications. While you are in there make sure the gap is tight enough as well.
While I'm waiting for the new coil kit I thought I'd dive right into the next overly ambitious project. I have track events all summer so a bodywork project that let the car continue to run seemed like a good idea. The project started with just an extension of the front fender flares (each front tire is currently sticking 9"s past the bodywork as seen below)...
The first pass was to make an aluminum piece to push the flare out (below). I just couldn't get it right so I moved on
The current plan is to use tape, lots of tape to make a loose design, then fiberglass over it, then bondo over the fiberglass to create a positive mold. From that mold I'll wet layup carbonfiber. If anyone has some tips or better ideas please let me know.
I also went ahead and ordered enough material to replace all the body panels with carbonfiber
First layer of fiberglass down and I've already....learned a lot. The tape approach seems to have worked but I should have used a mesh mat instead of this pile of hay mat. Over all its close and I think its workable. I'm going to go right to bondo and see if I can't get it to the point where its good enough to be a mold for the carbon. Any advice is appreicated, I have no idea what I'm doing...
Take a look at the Easy Composites YouTube channel. They have some good material on working with these materials as they sell them.
Thanks, I'm suprized I haven't stumbled on this yet. I
So I'll admit I was feeling pretty cocky when I posted that first fiberglasss photo. 10 hours, 2 coats of fiberglass, one coat of bondo, and untold amounts of drywall plaster later I'm feeling back to my normal self. This. ins't. east. Its getting close, but this is only the mold..for the mold, which I'll make the actual fenders out of.
If you're thinking of trying this here are some take-aways I've had.
1) packaging tape is an excellent "realese agent", fiberglass doesn't even think about sticking to it
2) if you're making a mold there is no reason to use bondo, bondo is hard to work with. Quick dry wall spackle is the way to go. The slow drying stuff that everyone is used to can't go on thick or it will crack. The fast dry stuff can go on thick and can be sanded in hours (as apposed to days). It also begins to dry after about 5 minutes which allows you smooth it out like clay. Really neat stuff.
Yes thats right, packaging tape and drywall spackle are my advice. What were you expecting?
This project has been awesome to follow. I envy the point where you just said screw it to class rules and started doing whatever you want. Everything looks great. Very nicely done.
Curious why you aren't making the back of the flares/fenders open?
In reply to jfryjfry :
They actually are. The fender is pulled 4"s out in the back. These lay flat on the fenders but the fender itself is vented.
progress continues, man this is scary work. Every other minute I think I've ruined the whole thing. I kinda feel like I'm flying to close to the sun with this project but no turning back now. So far the front fender mold is done, below you can see a test run on the mold with fiberglass. If this works I'll lay down carbon. I also started on the rear fenders, which are a lot harder than I thought. Big areas are really challenging.
After four ruined test runs include 12 fiberglass glass and carbon layups, I think I've finally figure out how to work with carbon. The flare is roughed in (still needs a top coat to bring back the weave) but it's looking good. I started on the rear fenders last night and they went down without a problem. I'm finally feeling confident. I'm going to press on and try to complete the rest of the car by the end of August. My target is a 200lb weight reduction which will put the car back under 2500lbs.
Wow looking good. Are you going to make molds so you can more easily recreate them if necessary?
any plans for venting on the back of the flares to exhaust pressure in the wheel well?
In reply to Box4VIR :
How the heck have you gotten 500 pounds out of the car while adding 2 more cylinders, 2 turbos, and a roll cage?!? I've been staring at my Boxster for hours and have come up with maybe 100 pounds (A/C system, stereo and speakers, spare and tools, airbags). I'd love to know if there's places I can take weight out without affecting it's ability to drive to the track
In reply to jfryjfry :
The front fenders flares have positive molds that I'll keep, the rest of the car's panels will use the existing bodywork as a mold which I'll keep (for a positive mold). Not the best, but it'll work.
As for the vents, you can't really tell in any of these photos but the back of the front fenders are pulled out 3"s on each side. So the back of the fenders are vented.
In reply to Javelin :
In another life this was an autocross car that went on a huge diet. Pre-engine swap it had a race weight of 2600lbs with 200lb me and gas. Thanks to gutted doors, fiberglass hood, trunk and roof, no AC, all the way down to the smallest thing I could find, there was a time I would spend an hour removing something or cutting out steel to save a pound. The engine swap actually dropped the weight (pre-turbos), the audi v8 weighs less than the 2.5L engine, the single radiator removed 30lbs, I cut about 60lbs of steel out of the back of the car when I cut out the trunk, firewall and everything else behind the driver, it has basically no exhaust, has one seat, etc etc etc. The turbos added a lot of weight though. Over 150lbs I think (turbos, three large intercoolers filled with water, blowoff valve, waste gates, piping, etc)
For you I'd suggest the following
1) remove the power top stuff. The tops can easily be opened and closed manually.
2) put in the some knockoff Gt3 seats from ebay. They're supportive, comfortable, look at home in a Boxtser and save a tremendous amount of weight
3) remove the sound insulation from the carpet panel behind the seats and over the engine compartment (easily done, and easily reversable with a used carpet panel)
3) Stop here, all the other stuff I did was either minimal or really detracted from the streatability. You can do expensive things like light weight wheels and fiberglass parts but it gets expensive and the factory parts aren't exactly heavy.
another panel roughed in. Still needs a gloss coat and some trimming but man I'm hitting my stride!
Box4VIR said:In reply to Javelin :
1) remove the power top stuff. The tops can easily be opened and closed manually.
If driving to the track is the only requirement, just ditch the soft top altogether.
I don't know about the 986 specifically but the drawback to Porsche interiors being generally high quality is that they're also generally surprisingly heavy. As much of the interior as you're willing to live without is probably a pretty hefty weight savings.
Also the stock muffler is surprisingly heavy. Though good aftermarket replacements are super expensive and cheap replacements sound like complete garbage.
dps214 said:Box4VIR said:In reply to Javelin :
1) remove the power top stuff. The tops can easily be opened and closed manually.
If driving to the track is the only requirement, just ditch the soft top altogether.
I don't know about the 986 specifically but the drawback to Porsche interiors being generally high quality is that they're also generally surprisingly heavy. As much of the interior as you're willing to live without is probably a pretty hefty weight savings.
Also the stock muffler is surprisingly heavy. Though good aftermarket replacements are super expensive and cheap replacements sound like complete garbage.
Ditching the stock muffler is a good one. The muffler is very heavy for some reason.
Thank you!!
I'm sorry I don't have the strength not to post every panel. Now that I have this figured out I don't know why it took me so long to try this. It's so much easier than the aluminum body work I was making on the first pass.
In reply to Box4VIR :
Let me know when I can drop mine off for the second body! That looks awesome!
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