RF40 ground up

jim ccc · #1 (**permalink**) 07-22-2006, 06:52 PM

Hi

Im new to this site.
I will put up some pics of my build.
Others are on my site www.mentalperformance.com.au
They are under our work.

I bought this car about 2 years ago.
I didnt touch it for 6 mnths then finally started.
It seems to be 2 steps forward & 1 back.

I bought a chassis ,body & suspension.
I have since made all new suspension arms & trailing links.
The body hinges I got with the car have since gone in the bin.
The front uprights I am going to make billet alloy units to get rid of a few issues.

Pritty much everything has been hand made for this car.

Ordering shocks in a week( now I know how my wife feels when she buys shoes).
An engine in maybe a month 4.6 modular.
Aplosterer should be finished with seats soon.
All the boby is fitted.
I will have a big push on it over the next month.

Jim ccc

oliver350 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-23-2006, 07:08 AM

Hey jim!
Welcome to this Site. I have RF15 turnkey here in the USA. I was the one that emailed you about he shift linkage for the ZF Transaxle. I got rid of the crappy Audi transaxle. You might want to do the same. There is another Rf owner in OZ who has a RF and did the same conversion. He is a brilliant chap "ROSS". He owns a comapny call ABBEY Sound in Sydney. If you have any tech questions he is very knowlegable about your car. I have reserched many cars before I picked a RF. I find the quality is top rate and I prefer the space frame chassis to the mono .

Regards
Oliver
P.S I want your peddel box for a good price!

jim ccc · #3 (**permalink**) 07-23-2006, 05:59 PM

Hi Oliver
Yes the zf is the choice.
Im not shaw if I can spend that sort of money at this time.
My intention was to get the zf but a major down turn in business due to souring fuel prices has become a major factor.

The project may stall if I go that way.
I can get a good ratio for the audi diff now & I havnt herd of anyone braking one yet.
Then later on doing a change over.
I am also happy with the RF the main reason I picked it was the chassis.
The rest is not a major as I made everything else so I can only blame myself if I dont like it.
PS my pedal box is a good price.(your 75c in the dollar bargin)
Jim

albanycobra · #4 (**permalink**) 07-26-2006, 05:58 AM

Hey Jim
You still selling those dash light tags?

jim ccc · #5 (**permalink**) 07-26-2006, 07:39 AM

There are switch tags & lamp decals
Let me now
jim

Pantera1889 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-26-2006, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim ccc

There are switch tags & lamp decals
Let me now
jim

What are you guys talking about?
Ron

albanycobra · #7 (**permalink**) 07-27-2006, 03:23 AM

Ron they are little stickers you stick on the dash lights, like
the handbrake symbol or the arrow for the indicator.
The tags are little written symbols like 'headlights' or 'fan'.
Maybe Jim has some pics which he can post. I've seen them
before and they are very nicely done.

jim ccc · #8 (**permalink**) 07-29-2006, 05:29 PM

They are in my site under products.
www.mentalperformance.com.au
Jim

rlearp · #9 (**permalink**) 08-01-2006, 02:08 PM

Hi Jim, I know you do a lot of your own fabrication and modifications on your own, sort of a massive understatement I think - nice projects on your site! Since you are in the build stage you might want to talk with these fellows regarding modifiying an RF that were posting on this thread:

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/showthrea...775#post165775

You might be able to take out some of the issues before you get to the driving point. Ross races his car actively and would know "what's what" on the car. He is well-aware of some improvements that should be made but depending on your intended use it may not be of interest to you.

I assume you are going 4.6L 4V on your build up, are you using the 01E? Al H. on the GT40 forum would like to talk to you probably about some parts as getting 01E stuff hasn't been so easy for the few RF customers that went that route before the demise.

Best,
Ron

FUNFER2 · #10 (**permalink**) 08-01-2006, 03:28 PM

Hey Jim, I clicked on your site above but, I don't get the site ?
Would love to see your photo's.

Thanks,

jim ccc · #11 (**permalink**) 08-02-2006, 07:46 AM

FUNFER
It might be your end because if I click on it I get the site.

Ron
Yes I read that thread and I find it rather interesting.
I have to admit I have made adjustable control arms to make doing a wheel alignment way easier.

To be honest I did expect Robert Logan to have done a bit more home work.
I have pritty much let it go but as time goes by I here more & see more hints leading to poor suspension geometry.

Tonight I sat looking at my car which is sheeted out & body is going on
& it is at a stage that I dont consider to far away.
I said to myself self you should never trust anyone always check for yourself.
I did do some basic measurements but I will go more indepth ,If i have to move suspension points then so be it .
Robert Logan did say to me he had a suspension guru from a very well known team(I will not name) work out all the geometry.
BULL****.
Making arms ect is not a big deal.
It should have all been worked out my chassis is 105 so that means there are 104 wrong ones before me.
There is plenty of literature out there on these subjects personaly I think the homework had been done & thats all it was going to get.

I have spocken to the new owners at RF ,I think these boys will do a good job they are engineers and seem bright and are aware of the problems and will be sorting it.
I will sort it out in time.
I am thinking the best approch for me is put it together drive it then I have a bench mark other wise I dont know if its better or worse.
It will go on the aligner without the shocks & springs & send it through the motions.
Track or street Ron it shouldnt have bump steer ,Robert got it in the front & rear by the look of it oh well at least he was consistant.

Ron the Audi box I think RF are making parts already for them I spoke to BOBSKI today & he got an adaptor plate & gear linkage.
Yes im going the 4.6 and the Audi box ,bought a c&p of mick from 40inches.com

Jim

rlearp · #12 (**permalink**) 08-06-2006, 04:21 AM

Hey Jim,

Since working with SCCA IT/SM cars I've been shown that anything, or just about, can be made to handle well if you put the time and effort into it. And the RF chassis/setup is much better than what we have to work with as a production car base. I've communicated with the new RF folks and it seems they are committed to righting wrongs and making a better company out of RF and producing an even better car to boot.

I think your plan is a sound one - build it, drive it, evaluate, and fix. You've definitely got the skills set to handle anything and I'm sure will come out with a superior design.

Ron

jim ccc · #13 (**permalink**) 08-12-2006, 07:12 AM

Through the week I dialed the rear end up on the car tho find it has 2.5mm toe out (bump steer)

I kept studying it through the week & went into work at 4.30am Sat and cut the problem off (lower arm)
The lower arm is an A style arm.
If any RF owners are interested.
I wasnt going to touch this but I lied.

The easiest way to explain is you are looking down at the car from above.
You string a line through the centre of the inner arm location point from the left to the right so you are 90deg to the centre line of the chassis.
The part of the arm that goes to the front location of the upright is pointing forward (a lot).
Now you have to look at the car from the side.
If the front location of the front link is high the trailing link will go through an arc as the rear is raised it will get longer untill it gets to the same hight as the front location point.

As it gets longer it pushes the upright back, because the lower arm pivots at the chassis from one pick up point(looking from the top again) it will push the arm back in an arc & make the upright toe out.

Looking from the top again.
If you run 2 equal length parallel links from the upright to the chassis instead of the arm.
If you imagine the chassis the links & upright make a box.
When the trailing link arcs and lengthens the box turns into a parallelogram.
Keeping the upright in the straight ahead position not like the A arm which will arc out.

Several days ago I put dial gauges on the rear end & checked for bump steer & was getting 2.5 mm of toe out through the working range of travel.
I did a dummy up using clamps & brackets, made some links ECT.
Straight away with an ordinary mounting set up it was down to .010” toe out.

So I cut the inner mount & did everything properly the out come is excellent & not what I would call major surgery.

The end result is at 2” of droop .010” toe in
1” drop .003” toe in
1” bump 0
2” bump 0
Toe in will add stability so its ok.
All these figures are with zero caster on the upright.

This is with zero caster
1.5-2 mm toe in.
1deg neg camber.

I have pretty much completed one side.
I have pics that might explain better.

This is how I went about it.
Pic 1 made a punch to mark the spot using bracket as guide.

Pi2 machined spud with thread & weld in hole.

Pic2 Make brackets.
Made aligning tool to locate rear brackets.

Pic3 links.

The front lower rose joint did go between the shock bracket & the upright.
To get it to line up to the chassis it had to be moved to the other side of the bracket & a spacer is fitted where it used to live.
I drilled all the link bolt holes in the upright to ½ “& put larger bolts.

If this can help anyone good luck.