The EF9 journey continues...*14/8/11 LSD here*

[thompy.mark]

I've always wanted an ef9, and when Gudgen's car came up for sale it tied in nicely with the other project I've got going...a vtec mini

The plan at this stage is to use the ef9 as a test-bed for the fire-breathing engine which will eventually go in the mini, and then build another engine for the ef9. The mini will see the occasional track duty/sprint/hillclimb, while the ef9 carries out daily duties (not much really, work vehicles take care of most of that!).

A few pictures from tonight's effort-gotta love the day 1 enthusiasm!

As it arrived in Alexandra, almost yellow with pollen:




[/U]

And after a good wash, getting dark by this stage:






Am a big fan of doing things right, hence masking the b18c block for painting:


B18b block mocked up in the frame for the mini:




The beast:


Wheels which are going on the mini, should look pretty good with a set of big Wilwoods in behind


Thanks for stopping by, questions/comments always welcome.

[Gudgen]

Wow. This is a strange feeling right now. Certainly subscribed out of curiosity.

Is the front geometry and suspension set up in the mini subframe different from the 1960's version?

edit: Sweet carpet in the garage.

[thompy.mark]

Is the front geometry and suspension set up in the mini subframe different from the 1960's version?

edit: Sweet carpet in the garage.

Yup, the whole setup is completely different. Can see a bit more clearly in the pics below) trial fitting the frame, has a fixed lower arm, and an adjustable upper arm for both camber and caster. Both arms are pivoted on rose-joints. Upper pickup point for the suspension is via a fabricated bracket bolted to the stock location.


And in the living room at my old flat in Chch. The two 'legs' which stick out bolt to the front of the floorpan, where the firewall meets it. Horrible carpet here too...this is fast becoming a theme


Compare with the old frame which came out:


The new frame is so much lighter, can lift it up with one finger.

[thompy.mark]

Got a bit more done today, in between dodging showers of rain! Took the front end off to see how things looked underneath, hope to paint the inner wings+various brackets with POR15 tomorrow.




Also got the block painted up and looking shiny:

[H22AMIKE]

Nice man that EF9 is a very tidy shell

[Robbie]

Nice plans for this by the looks!!! so whats the plans for this 'monster' engine exactly? would imagine even a stock b18c would go like a bat out of hell in a min

[SiRedge]

Subscribed!

[thompy.mark]

Nice man that EF9 is a very tidy shell

Is one of the main reasons why I got it, as I didn't want to have to spend lots on the body in the short term. There has been a panel bonded onto the roof where a sunroof used to be, which is the only thing that bugs me.

Does anyone have any experience with replacing a whole roof panel in an EF?

Nice plans for this by the looks!!! so whats the plans for this 'monster' engine exactly? would imagine even a stock b18c would go like a bat out of hell in a min

I know a few others in NZ who have done the conversion, mainly with a B16A, and of the rides I've had even that was pretty looney. I'd always wonder what the extra power would be like if I didn't do it, if it ends up being too crazy then the ef9 will benefit!

Have been collecting parts for a while now, and in the goodies bag we have...

Hi-comp JE pistons on forged rods (running B18B crank in the B18C block).




Buddyclub adjustable cam-gears


Baller Toda C cams


Or might yet run Buddyclub Spec 3+


P1 retainers


PR3 head with full port and polish








Including new stainless valves, 0.5mm oversize on intake




Toda flywheel, + Exedy clutch


Haven't quite decided on what path to go down for intake duties, have got this:


Port-matched to 70mm Blox TB


or....
Jenvey manifold




With adapter plates to run either of these:
--The top set I got ages ago, from a Hayabusa have three long bolts which hold everything together, so would need to make up some 3mm spacers, as are currently 87mm centre-centre. Have already drilled these to suit Honda injectors.
--Bottom set are from a ZX12R. Got these after reading what dootdoot was doing with his frankenstein engine, as they looked to be easier to space out; all held together with two brackets (dark-green colour). Arrived and are already 90mm centre-centre, perfect for the Jenvey manifold and B-series! Shown with stock injectors, 290cc/min high-impedance if my memory serves me.


From the top. Hayabusa top, ZX12R bottom.


Is bucketing down outside again today, so no painting. Decided instead to see how the wiring loom goes together. I hate electronics with a passion, so will use this as a template to make a new one with plugs robbed from another couple of looms I have lying around.


Something else I've been playing around with is a set of floor-mounted pedals. Here's the first ones I had made, modelled on a fleeting glance I had of the ones in an Ariel Atom:


They were water-cut, and as I found out afterwards (logical if you think about it!), the jet can't be totally perpendicular to the surface, ending up with discrepancies in the profile from top to bottom of the workpiece. Not a major, but enough that it would annoy me.


Back to the drawing board then, and I found some dwgs online of some fancy AP Racing pedal-boxes. The budget will never stretch to a genuine set, enter Solidworks!


Am completely self-taught on Solidworks, so any comments/criticisms/pointers are welcomed

[Robbie]

dam that looks like some top notch work!!!! will definantly be watching this one with interest

[SiRge]

Subscribed, just remember never to count up how much you have spent on it! It gets depressing.

Good luck with the mini, who made the frame by the way? Mendoza or another place?

[thompy.mark]

Cheers, is always nice to know you're doing a good job.

Good luck with the mini, who made the frame by the way? Mendoza or another place?

Nope, was made by a place in the US called Minitec (hence the name on the front of the frame). Nothing against the Mendoza frame, but when I brought it into the country the it was still undergoing quite radical development and didn't look to to have bars in places where I thought it should have them. I believe their frame is now type-certified while mine is not, life is swings and roundabouts huh!

Mini Tec Home
For those of you who are interested, here is the Minitec site. They now do AWD B-series and K-series, as well as FWD B, D, & K. If money was no object I still think I'd have a race-spec Z-cars mini...

zcars.org.uk

[bezelboy]

cant wait to see how this all turns out. subscribed

[thompy.mark]

Another fun-filled weekend on the car. Decided not to go to the car show in Naseby yesterday and pottered around in the garage instead.

Got some BB4 brakes on Friday, so started to refurb these. Before I pulled the MC off the booster so I could repaint it-typical brake fluid damage.


Got a refurb kit for the calipers. Pulled everything to bits and painted the calipers & carriers silver.


Got some new 282mm discs from BNT (also supplied the refurb kit), just need to get these re-drilled to 4x100.


Also got a package from the US earlier in the week, filled with ARP goodness

Mains studs dry installed:


Stainless studs installed on both sides of the head, as well as on the Jenvey manifold:


Looking flash!


Down the runner of the manifold:




Here's an indication of the amount of room I'm playing around with in the Minitec frame for the header. This is the B18B block, the B18C block sticks out even further.


I did a lot of searching to see if I could find an aftermarket header which performed well and would still fit in the space available. The RMF Narrow seemed to fit the bill from the photos I could find, but is actually nowhere near to fitting Have since done some more hunting, and think that I might be able to modify an SMSP replica to squeeze in the gap.

Can def see that the block is tilted forward when looking at this photo, the tubes are meant be vertical once in the car:


This afternoon's effort when the rain started, started designing an adapter for the ZX12R throttle bodies:


Also shown with the Jenvey manifold:


Questions for the day:
1. Put a tiny scratch in one of the pistons as I was getting it out-how big does a scratch have to be before the piston becomes useless? Couldn't get a good photo because of the reflections.
2. What's the usual method for spacing the discs out on a 282mm conversion?
3. Anyone got some decent photos of an SMSP replica header installed before I blow another wad of cash??

[mr.sky]

nice progress. As an answer to #2 most people mill the caliper down rather space the rotor out. That way you dont reduce the thread on your wheel studs.

[starlet]

Have you researched Toda header clearence? They fit on an ef9 without modding subframe which is quite a squeeze, may be worth looking into

[MPOWER]

Awesome stuff Will keep an eye on this thread

[thompy.mark]

Bit of an update of what I got up to over the long weekend:
Pulled off the exhaust, wire-wheeled off all the surface rust, painted black:


Couldn't for the life of me get the back section out to paint that as well, no matter how I twisted things around. Even took the rear sway bar off as the hangers were catching on that at some stage.

Removed the old 15/16" MC and booster. Stripped and painted the new booster, and installed. What a job! Would hate to have huge hands and try doing this.


Cleaned up the new 1" MC, and went to install it onto the booster to find...it hits the proportioning valve!


Can kinda see here the small gap between the booster and the MC that the prop valve is causing.




And tonight's effort:
Pulled off the old calipers and rotors, re-drilled the new rotors to 4x100 at work (forgot to take pics). Binned the dust shields as they were trashed anyway, and gave the knuckle a good wire brushing. Part of me is itching to take the whole thing right off and give it a good coat of POR15, but will resist for now


Am sending the files to the water-jet cutting place tomorrow to get the bits made for mounting the ZX12 ITB's.

Questions for the day:
1. Has anyone had problems with the 1" MC/booster swap in an EF hitting the prop valve? Link to my tech help thread: http://nzhondas.com/forum/tech-help/...ml#post1542669
2. Are there any tricks to getting the back section of exhaust out in an EF? Did a search but couldn't find anything...

[paddles h22a eg]

great work on both projects the ef9 looks amazing!!!

[starlet]

I havent had any probs with EF boosters / mastercylinders. I run BB4 prelude calipers and have no trouble with stock mastercylinder, 1inch is an overkill in my opinion. My brake pedal is mint....its track proven so i havent touched it.

Rear exhaust, just have to get rough

[mr.sky]

Nice progress. If you cant wrangle the exhaust out, drop the LCA.

[Gudgen]

Either drop the rear LCA out of the RR shock absorber will give you enough to swing the pipe around.

[thompy.mark]

Decided to attack the booster/mc issue tonight, got it sorted in the end after a bit of stuffing around. I changed the prop valve so it blts to the bottom of the bracket rather than the top, and hey, presto! enough room

For those that are interested, here's what a brake proportioning valve looks like on the inside:


Had to drill out the threaded mounting holes on one half of the valve in order for the bolt to fit through. Could have possibly turned the valve upside down, but didn't know what effect this may have; better to play it safe!

Final install (still needs to be bled), lines re-bent:


Can see the valve on the underside of the bracket:


Got the 282mm disc onto one side as well, will do the other tomorrow.

Off with the old...


And on with the new! (checking runout):

[Joule]

Sweet build(s) will keep and eye on this thread.

[fangaC]

hey mate im also self taught on solid works an really admire your work ive made some headers (amongst other things) on it and dont see why you wouldnt be able to do the same then youd know that theyl fit instead of buying some an cutting them up.

awsome project your doing top effort. wish i had the time to do something like that.

[thompy.mark]

hey mate im also self taught on solid works an really admire your work ive made some headers (amongst other things) on it and dont see why you wouldnt be able to do the same then youd know that theyl fit instead of buying some an cutting them up.

awsome project your doing top effort. wish i had the time to do something like that.

Thanks PM'd re part/assembly files