Got an exciting package from Australia this week. Just finished piecing it together for a mock-up to be mounted in the car shortly.
PE Racing Billet Pedal box, Nice looking bit of kit, and supports a DBW throttle using an "electronic" pedal setup.
Before ordering went over the specification of the car, along with details on brake calipers, pad type etc. with PE Racing, and they were able to spec me some master cylinders that would be a good starting point to suit the pedal ratio of the kit.
Can't wait to play with it, but I'm sure it will take some time to set up and optimize as there is a lot of possible adjustments that can be made on various points on the pedal box, brake bias ratios and master cylinder sizes. Haven't really done a pedal box setup in a Supra before, so looking forward to seeing how it goes.
Up at the crack of dawn again to head north to get the car from JP Cages. Thanks to Mr @Wheelynutz towing in true 90's fashion.
Covered 550miles round trip, and I was a useful passenger only falling asleep a few times throughout the long haul.
(This is my excited face)
Landed and ready for the next bout of work at Retro Road Sports
Josh at JP Cages was interested in making some front/rear strut braces for the JZA80. So after showing a few popular designs and features that they included, he came up with some test pieces for me to take back to SRD HQ and fit on various Supra's to see what fitment is like.
This front strut is just tacked together for testing, but is based on the TRD style that we all know and love. Only this one has adjustable height for the strut beam, so might be able to clear a big single and has a brake master support bracket.
Here is the TRD style rear strut brace which I think is very cool, never seen one for the rear before. This also has some height adjustment available and access to suspension dampeners.
Will see how these fit on a supra hasnt been gutted and maybe after a few revisions will be available soon. Cool to get some simple but new parts available for the platform.
Didn't have much time to test the pedal positioning properly, but threw them quickly into where they should be going and grab a quick photo. Need to adjust the pedals further back slightly, maybe mount the base slightly higher up the firewall and maybe move the seat back another inch and should be onto a winner. Will be back to RRS in the next week to continue with this. In the meantime, need to get a new driver seat sent to them so we can dial this in finally before the rest of the fab work on the firewall begins.
Finally, managed to get a sweet deal on a Motec PDM15 that I couldn't resist
This PDM hasn't got enough I/O to take over all the functions of the vehicle, but is large enough to control all the new & non OEM electronics that are going into the car. So rather than having to integrate my new systems into the OEM fusebox and wiring, I can now leave all that largely stock and run everything else from the PDM15 which is a relief as it will simplify my wiring a tad and make future additions/removals from the wiring system easier as I won't have to touch the stock wiring every time. I smell a large session in front of my wiring diagrams tomorrow as I integrate this little guy into it.
Supra has been at RRS for a week now and James & Kane have been making some good progress
It turns out me eyeing a set of pedals and thinking yeah that will probably fit was off the mark by a few inches, measure twice cut once and all that.
With the constraints of the cage and the pedal box position, the seat had to be moved lower, further back and closer to the trans tunnel, and the firewall needed a small extension built into it to allow the pedals to be mounted further back.
Luckily, James is similar in size to me, so he was able to place and fabricate all components in a location that suited him well, which ended up working perfectly for me.
Next the firewall inserts were welded into place
Fast-forward a week and I joined the party at RRS for a couple of days. Pretending to be useful with some of the prep work on the car and allowing James to dial in the position of a few bits with me in the car.
The steering column was mounted slightly too far to the right by the cage builders, so James on his favorite tool, cutting the column out.
Then welding it back into place after aligning it with me in the driver seat.
Speaking of the driver seat, changed from my corbeau to an OMP 400R after an evening of comparing dimensions between lots of available seats and opting for these as they seemed to be the best fit for myself and the available space in the cabin. Specced something right for once, and seat fits lovely for me & very comfortable to sit in.
With the seat, pedals and column in place, the final piece of the puzzle was getting the new 6 point harnesses installed.
Here's me sitting pretty whilst James contorts himself around the bars to get the straps mounted and tight. With the new seat setup I have tons of room between me and any part of the cage even with the padding, helmet and Hans device installed, so once strapped in should be adequately safe.
Here you can see the new framework and fabrication for the driver side. Opted to leave passenger side on the stock setup as there is more room that side so can use normal mounts and probably won't have a passenger seat installed most of the time, so not high on the priority list.
With the main interior parts done for now, the rest of the panels and parts still on the car were removed in order to start preparation for the upcoming paint job.
Next we moved to the paint booth to finish a few last jobs and start prepping
Master painter Kane was feeling the love for all my previous layers of engine bay paint jobs as he started prepping for the next round of paint. Should probably bare metal it at some point, but maybe on the next refresh.
After a day of preparation, we were left with
Engine bay prep is nearly finished. Had some 5'' holes cut out for the incoming intercooler & air inlet setup. Still some more work to do on them before they are completely ready, but the end is in sight. Also added some AN8 Bulkhead coolant fittings into firewall in stock location so can pass coolant through to new heater core.
I did a thing and started cleaning the interior of remaining sound deadening, bitumen and anything else that was not required.
After a few too many beers the night before, I was feeling the burn today, but felt like a new man after a few hours of moaning about the cold weather and cleaning up with some power tools.
Got another day of preparation and last minute jobs on the interior to go before its ready for its paint, so more soon!
Managed to squeeze in a few more hours of prep work on Saturday with Kane before I had to head home.
Kane sheeted up parts of the car that needed protection from the incoming paint job, and I removed the rear panel in the boot so I could get some more clearance for fitting some components in the boot.
Interior got its first pass with a sander and panel wipe to key up all the various panels and parts.
Hopefully the next large update will be with the new paint in place, but the guys at RRS still have some more time to continue prepping and doing some last minute jobs before that can happen. Looking forward to the paint being done as I won't have to worry about the cage or interior rusting out over the coming months whilst I piece together the rest of the build. If all goes to plan, then might be done by next weekend.
And we are white. Engine bay done.
Stage 1 of interior paint done, basically an epoxy layer for the next coat of paint to sit on
Going with a satin black paint layer on top of this. Although the car is white, and I like the idea of white interior, but every track car I've been in with white always gets filthy, and I can't be bothered with the upkeep on that. So black it goes, will make it easier for everything to blend in inside.
Michael Yazgic @ 0x33
Have had some slight damage to my front bumper frame support for many years. Luckily, it was just cosmetic and I've always worked around it. Also had some bonnet pins installed in a weird location due to the bonnet I bought many years ago that I wasn't happy with, so after some gentle persuasion by James it was decided to replace the whole thing whilst we were at it.
New frame installed, and now engine bay is primed ready for paint.