Joel's BRZ - Low Budget Time Attack Build

[DIY]

Building this car during Covid has been very difficult, not so much the fabrication side of things but getting parts can take a long time! For example I ordered my wheels back in November and they are still not here, the dry sump kit was ordered 12 weeks ago and it just arrived yesterday.


The thing is I only have enough money to buy one thing at a time and I have to choose in order to keep the build moving forward what part is required next many steps in advance.


Right now I'm trying to decide which size turbo to run so I can get to work on building the turbo manifold straight after the steering rack is done. Maybe there will be none in stock by then, who knows? so I need to order pretty soon or the build comes to a halt again.

[DIY]

I installed solid steering rack bushings from Diftech yesterday. I don't want any rubber bushings in this car.

[fika84]

After watching this build thread for this long I think that's the first "normal" mod I've seen you do!

Excellent work on this my friend! Keep it up!

[EdBoy]

Glad to see you're still building this, good work

[DIY]

Ok mega update time! this work has been going on over the past few weeks but I was saving it for one big post.

The steering rack is finally mounted in the chassis, here is the process...

First I wanted to have the ability to raise or lower the steering rack vertically just like the inner pivots on my control arms. This will allow me to fine tune the bump steer and also adjust the bump steer if I choose to move my control arms up or down.
To do this I would need some large and long bolts and something strong to mount then to.

Materials cut to size for the mounts



Tacked together



Fully welded



How they mount to the rack



Then I decided to cut the frame rails further back to line up with the upper control arm mounts





Cut out some end caps using CAD from 3mm plate.



Welded the end caps on using Tig.



Then I created a bit of a jig to align the steering rack with the existing lower control arm mounts.



Then it was just a matter of cutting and notching some tube to connect the frame rails to the steering rack. I wanted to make the steering rack removable too so the engine could come out more easily. This required some extra work and captive nuts.









So these bits of tube can bolt together



Then the part of the tube with the captive nut inside was welded to the frame rail



Then it was just a matter of some paint and bolt it all together.



Looking at the detail you can see how the rack can be moved up and down. Some spacers will be required. Note the rack now has solid bushings too.







I've tried to keep the design as simple and light weight as possible, I am kind of using the steering rack as a large brace to stiffen up the front end some more. I do have plans to add some kind of a vertical x-brace that can be bolted on to tie the whole front end together but I need to finish mounting my oil pump first so I know what space I have to work with.

As it is now though the steering rack is mounted very rigid as one mounting face is in the horizontal plane and the other is in the vertical.

[DIY]

I have put some panels back on the car so that I can measure up the available space for the cooling package.





It's nice to see it like this, almost looks like a car again.

The amount of space in front of the engine is very good. I want to try and do a side by side arrangement for the intercooler and radiator if possible, if not then stacked will be good too.

This is just an old radiator from an Impreza for mock up purposes only.





The airflow will be ducted in through the bumper and exit out the bonnet (hood). Entry and exit about 1/3 the size of the cooling package I believe is best practice?





I have also received and installed a large shipment of parts from TracTuff in the USA. Not everything is shown in the photos, some of it won't go in until later.


Water pump delete with integrated alternator bracket





I'm using a small D-series alternator but I might need something more powerful eventually.





This housing cleans up the back of the engine and directs the radiator hose in a more favorable orientation for a RWD car.





This one deletes the water bypass since it is no longer required with an electric water pump.





These smaller fittings give me a place to remote mount my oil temperature and pressure sensor and provide a water feed for the turbo.
The larger fitting was part of my dry sump kit.

[Dzmitry]

Not going to use a pretty 2017+ bumper??

[DIY]

Originally Posted by Dzmitry

Not going to use a pretty 2017+ bumper??

I'm only using this one to make a mould from, the whole front end will be carbon.

[DIY]

My new wheels should be here within a week or so and to make sure I can get them straight on the car I had to fix a problem first.

The front Mazda RX8 hubs I'm using have a different size thread than the BRZ hubs on the rear. Luckily the RX8 wheel studs are smaller so I can drill them out and press in some BRZ wheel studs.

BRZ left, RX8 right.



To do this properly the The drilled hole should be 0.20 - 0.25mm smaller than the knurl diameter of the wheel stud being pressed in. A 14.0mm drill made my hole 0.35mm smaller but considering the holes will be drilled in a press and not using the precision of a mill this was acceptable as the hole would end up slightly larger using the drill press as some movement will occur.

Holes drilled



BRZ studs in the freshly drilled holes, I started them in the vice and then took it over to my 12 tonne hydraulic press.



and done.



So now I don't have to worry about using different size wheel nuts at each end of the car. Ultimately I will buy new front RX8 hubs and press in some ARP wheel studs, this was just a proof of concept and allows me to put some wheels on and start the body work required to make them fit. The car is at least 80mm lower than stock so there is lots more cutting to do around the wheel arches.

[DIY]

My new wheels are finally here after 7 long months of waiting!

So happy with how good these look.

[Dzmitry]

Originally Posted by DIY

My new wheels are finally here after 7 long months of waiting!

So happy with how good these look.

Beautiful!!

[DIY]

Things are really coming together now!

[DIY]

New walkaround video

[DustinS]

Originally Posted by DIY

Things are really coming together now!

For some reason I could stare at this forever. Car is coming together and looks amazing