Joel's BRZ - Low Budget Time Attack Build

[DIY]

I have finished welding the top of the roll cage now. I was having some difficulty getting flashed with bright light when doing the final welds.
Turns out that because I was looking through gaps trying to get the last few welds that sometimes I was blocking the sensor on my auto-darkening helmet. Another rookie mistake I guess.



After I had finished I quickly ran over all the welds with a wire brush so they would be super clean for painting. I also wiped the whole thing down with some wax & grease remover.



Finally I gave the whole top part of the roll cage a coat of weld through primer so I don't have to worry about it rusting any more.





I ran out of argon today so I will have to go pick up a new bottle when the shops are open. Then I can get the cage back up into position and push on.

[redlined600]

Thanks for sharing! I love seeing builds involving actual fabrication.

[BigFatFlip]

Love the updates. Keep on sharing!

[DIY]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your support.

[Surok]

this is super cool! What do you do for a living that enables you to be so adept at fabrication?

[DIY]

Originally Posted by Surok

this is super cool! What do you do for a living that enables you to be so adept at fabrication?

When I left school I did a trade making signs, it was called signwriting but it was more like sign manufacture. I used to run the flat bed router to cut out large letters and I also did a lot of the spray painting. Toward the end of my 4 years I was heavily involved in the installation side of things. We did everything from small corporate signs in building foyers to large scale shopping centers, Sydney Airport etc.

I then went back to school at a technical college as a mature age student, following that I did a chemistry degree and now have a masters in scientific research. I work in a material science and engineering research position now and specialize in the use of electron microscopes and focused ion beam.

[Surok]

very handy! i really look forward to seeing you run this car when complete.
it is a great chassis and works well with a lot of power.

[DIY]

I got a bit done on Sunday and again today. The roll cage is now permanently attached to the chassis, all the tubes are completely welded and I have primed everything to prevent surface rust.









I will leave the door bars and main hoop diagonal off for now for easy access whilst I am building the rear suspension cradle.

[BigFatFlip]

Originally Posted by DIY

I got a bit done on Sunday and again today. The roll cage is now permanently attached to the chassis, all the tubes are completely welded and I have primed everything to prevent surface rust.

I will leave the door bars and main hoop diagonal off for now for easy access whilst I am building the rear suspension cradle.

Sweet progress! Now that cage is mostly done, what's next?

[DIY]

Originally Posted by BigFatFlip

Sweet progress! Now that cage is mostly done, what's next?

The roll cage now gives me a solid foundation for attaching the tubular rear suspension cradle I designed and did FEA on last year. So I will remove the welding jig and start building the main trapezium shaped part which all the control arms bolt to on the bench inside the jig. Once that is done I will bolt it back in the rear frame rails and start attaching tubes from it up to the main hoop of the roll cage. Once those tubes are in place I can remove the jig.

The photo below is my mock up of the rear end which will give you some idea of what it will look like.
I plan on having 2 - 3 bolt hole options for the control arms to attach so I can adjust the ride height without affecting the suspension geometry. I need to do a bit more thinking about the lowest position before I start fabrication.

[mhiscott]

Loving the progress - been watching for a while. Did you take any pictures before you took the body panels off the shell? The origin of the car fascinates me.

[DIY]

Originally Posted by mhiscott

Loving the progress - been watching for a while. Did you take any pictures before you took the body panels off the shell? The origin of the car fascinates me.

This photo is the day I picked the car up, it had been sitting on a farm paddock under a tarpaulin in QLD for about a year as the importer ran out of space at there warehouse. It was a 12 hour drive each way for me to go get it but I took the family with me and we made a holiday out of the trip.

It came with doors, fenders, boot and bonnet only. I have since bought a front and rear bumper.

[mhiscott]

Cool stuff that's great! Did the subframes come with it too or did you pick up the rear one used for mockup seperately?

It's great that a chassis never destined for use will see the track!

Edit! Nevermind I see you mentioned early on you needed to source the subframes.

Keep the updates coming!

[DIY]

Originally Posted by mhiscott

Cool stuff that's great! Did the subframes come with it too or did you pick up the rear one used for mockup seperately?

It's great that a chassis never destined for use will see the track!

Edit! Nevermind I see you mentioned early on you needed to source the subframes.

Keep the updates coming!

So far I have had to buy both front and rear subframes with control arms and hubs, front and rear bumpers, rear diff, tail lights and I also picked up some rear brembos as they were going cheap. I will probably buy some front brembos too as they should be good enough given the car will be pretty light when done.