Turbo Type 4 Tube Frame Drag Race Oval Project

[Andy Sweeney]

Had a chat with Paul at Bears Transmissions this afternoon about some hurdles and solutions.

As it was, with the car being LHD, the shift rods for the sequential shifter which exit the box on the left hand side would have had to go through the centre of the seat, as my seat is mounted more centraly than normal to give me sufficient leg room.

We've overcome this by making a custom billet shift fork mounting system that exits on the other side of the nose cone so the shift rods will come down the right hand side of centre and clear the seat.

Paul also advised that due to the rear suspension design, whilst we can use the Corvette stub axles, we can't use the Corvette drive shafts as they won't work with the output of the spool and our need for a slip joint. As strange as it may seem, the best axles to use in our application are from Ferrari which according to Paul are rated at over 800 bhp as a pair which should be more than up to the job.

Rob has also been busy and will be along with an update soon.

[Boardpaul]

Thanks for the little update, looking forward to more pictures.

[Andy Sweeney]

Thanks for the little update, looking forward to more pictures.

Robs got some of last weeks work, but what with him moving workshops, he's up the wall and hasn;t had chance to upload anything yet.

I'm visiting Smull on Sunday and will take my roof spoiler up there to use his car as a template to cut my spoiler to size, curve and shape.

I'll try and remember the camera.

[Boardpaul]

I guessed he would busy. Let us see the pictures when spoiler doesn't fit

[Andy Sweeney]

With the car being over 150 miles away, it was difficult to guess the correct curve of a Beetle roof to set the exact profile of the rear spoiler so I can skin it in epoxy GRP.

To this end I made a visit to my good friend Mr Smull on the basis that he'd let me meddle with the roof of his Beetle as long as I meddled with the set up of his engine whilst I was there. Done deal.

Firstly, I measured and marked with a small section of masking tape where the top of the rear window on an Oval beetle is which can be seen near the top of the rear window in the first picture. Then it was a case of examining the flow data from Volkswagens wind tunnel research which shows that the top of the rear window is where the air flow begins to separate from the roof causing turbulence and drag, so just above this point was chosen to position the roof spoiler. This is a little below the level that the rear wing will sit to ensure the rear wing is fed with the best possible, least turbulent air flow.

The positions were marked with tape and the copper tube 'bone' of the spoiler was carefully bent to match the profile of the roof.










Once happy, I inserted the tube into the spoiler and offered it up to the roof.













It needs final trimming and a load of work to skin then finish it, but as a concept I'm really pleased with the results.

[Andy Sweeney]

Not much news, but after looking at several off the shelf cams, we settled on a custom grind from Webcam which should work with the rest of the engines components and set up.

Once this arrives in 6 weeks, the last of the case machining can be completed by James at Sateside and then assembly of the bottom end can start.

[Andy Sweeney]

Latest update of progress in three areas.

Firstly, a 'oval' switch panel has been fabricated from ally sheet and fits into the corner of the roof like a glove allowing me to keep the original oval dash as nature intended.






Secondly, rear hub carries have been designed and fabricated to work with the Corvette rear hubs and suspension design. Don't want these moving around under the combination of 500bhp and 9" slicks, so they need to be 'substantial'...






And finally, regulations require rear engined turbo cars to run with a 6mm steel flywheel sheild in case it lets go, so this as been added to the rear frame.








I must say, I'm particularly fond of the switch panel!

[Boardpaul]

Andy, is that all uk drag racing?
Just one for me to remember if it is.

Cheers

[Andy Sweeney]

Andy, is that all uk drag racing?
Just one for me to remember if it is.

Cheers

Anything mid or rear engined with a turbo longitudinally mounted engine/transmission according to Rob. There must be some caveats though otherwise a 911 Turbo wouldn't be allowed to run etc, so it might just be a tube frame only thing.

I'm not 100% on the details to be fair, although Rob should be able to chip in with the details.

[Chip Birks]

Might have to do with intended ET. I think the magic number is 11.50 here in the US, for a turbo car.

[Andy Sweeney]

Might have to do with intended ET. I think the magic number is 11.50 here in the US, for a turbo car.

That's a possibility, as the frame will be tagged to 8.50. I'll ask Rob and report back....

[judge]

Its more to do with it being turbo than the numbers it can run, same with running meth or gas.
not unpacked my rule book yet after the move so cant look it up for exact details.

[Wally]

I think Chip is correct: The flywheel shield is a NHRA mandatory rule for running under 11.5 or 11.99 iirc.
As our dutch orginisation uses the NHRA rules, the same 6mm flywheel shield is now mandatory here as well. More and more tracks around the world are enforcing this I noticed.
So I also bought a 4 inch (10cm) wide steel strip of 6mm thickness to wrap around my bellhousing one of these days.
That size plate is impossible to bend with even a rather big bench vice I found out... haven't thought of a way yet though..

[Boardpaul]

Well I need to get hold of a copy of the rule book anyway really.
Thanks for advice.

[Chip Birks]

That size plate is impossible to bend with even a rather big bench vice I found out... haven't thought of a way yet though..

HEAT, lots of heat! And that big vice.