Ralph II - Wide bodied V8 RX7

mph_saab · May 22, 2010, 01:34:59 PM

Quote from: johnnymolloy;694962haha i do own an fd didnt know if it was as good as this place so never bothered but ill do it know

I\'ll try and get you a contact for him

Will do an update with the build monday

johnnymolloy · May 23, 2010, 11:58:03 PM

cheers for that mph_saab

mph_saab · May 24, 2010, 01:08:00 PM

Round 1 with British Drift Championship (BDC) - Silverstone

Full on exciting weekend, from the minute I arrived to the minute I left for home (even though I was nackered and in serious need of sleep) I was buzzing. First competition and everything was going well

We was on the Stowe circuit at Silverstone - looking/walking the track it looked easy and very flowing, I couldn\'t have been further from the truth. First corner was very fast and you had to get it spot on the clipping point to get round the corner as it tightened and then back on the power so you could link the second transition for the final S.

Had so much fun and a few little gravel moments getting the line right but found it in the end

So much so I qualified 6th on the Saturday to go through to top 8 on the Sunday!!

Adreniline was pumping for the top 8 battles, specially being my first time twinning. First battle with Ian Phillips had a little issue with my door and was very close so they ran one more time. I went through, followed by an awesome run with Mike Cooper and then found myself in the final - but due to a tyre issue ended up spinning out on the last run.

So happy with 2nd place for my first event and will be getting the car all sorted to give Jordan a proper battle at Llandow

Round 1 with JDM Allstars - Manchester

Track was very technical, had a few jumps that some people had all four wheels off the ground lol. First corner was a fast right into a tight left with both front and rear clipping points

was a brilliant track and was having some fun with it on Saturday.

Started developing a problem late saturday that we thought may have been down to the heat but first practice Saturday morning and the problem was still there and the car was now feeling really under-powered and kept stalling. Found a fault with the fuel system which ended up me missing out on any further drifting Sunday

still looking into the fault/damage - hopefully we can get it fixed for round 2.

Still had a brilliant weekend and was good to watch the other drivers battle it out.

Top 4 battles were EPIC!! :thumbs:

check out www.MPHcustoms.co.uk for further updates....

L18M · May 24, 2010, 01:36:44 PM

awesome car, awesome results

good luck with the rest of the season

mph_saab · May 24, 2010, 03:40:25 PM

MINI UPDATE:

Right been a little while since I\'ve done one of these due to being ridiculously busy and having loads of hassle with the car

Round 2 of the BDC @ Llandow was very disappointing, we already knew we was going to be slightly down on power but though what the hell we still got about 450bhp so it\'ll be fine lol. But unfortunitly first practice run out and as soon as I tried to power round the bus stop fuel pump cut out GRRRR. Trying to diagnose the problem was a pain as the problem only happened under load but we later found the wiring inside the tank had burnt out and broken down from the pump over heating.

So we hard wired the pump and seemed to solve the problem. Next issue was learning how to drive the car again lol. As up until now I have been running with a manual rack and manual steering, which is great for not going down to the gym but a nightmare for getting out of difficult situations and really not good when twinning. So as all the settings on the car where all set up for Manual steering and we now had super light power steering the car really didn\'t like it and was throwing me all over the place. Managed to qualify 6th but really didn\'t feel comfortable in the car.

Managed to get out for a couple of practice runs before top 8 and was actually starting to get a feel for the car so I started pushing myself and the car, maybe a little too much :p

As you can see I tried to modify the car to take some proper bad ass tyres to help with traction but they didn\'t quite fit under the wheel arch lol. So yes I went off track slightly and caused a little scratches to Ralph but we had her patched up and back out for top 8 but the tracking was out and the heaven\'s started to open which didn\'t help and on my first battle it was a draw so we had a one more time.

I was holding back on the first battle due to the conditions and car not feeling right but thought sod it go hard or go home is my moto so I went in hard a just couldn\'t keep the car from spinning so was out.

Well done to Ian Phillips for coming out victorious, he really deserves it, he was on form all day and the 33 is going well.

Thank you to Jord (drifted.com) for the picture - full write up -
http://www.drifted.com/jordan-butters/british-drift-championship-round-2-semi-pro-llandow-wales/866/

Progress:

Right well been working hard order parts and making changes to the set-up of the fuel system to try and solve the current problem and making sure we stop it from happening again. So this time we\'ve changed things round and going for an external swirl pot/pump set up that should be more than upto the job.

Also made a few changes to the geometry with thanks the guys down at Wheels in Motion - one of the best alignment guys in the UK :thumbs:

Will get a few pics of the new fuel set-up later and will also update you all on how the car performs on the test day @ Donnington this weekend

mph_saab · May 24, 2010, 07:03:16 PM

Quote from: johnnymolloy;694495where did you get them lights and how much they are

Contact Laeeq

m_laeeq@hotmail.com

Grant Monkhouse · May 24, 2010, 10:33:01 PM

Really like the v8 conversion. Have just been looking into how much they cost and the work involved, really interesting. Can the v8 conversions be carb\'d? or are all the ls1\'s fuel injected? what made you choose fuel injection over carbs? Keeping it simple would be my approach to something like this as setup for power can be the same with carbs and f/i.
Good luck with the season and hope that spare tire buffs out! Would be good to see a battle between yourself and Pete Barbers ROTARY POWERED rx7, comparisons in handling etc.
Do you run the car on pump fuel?

mph_saab · May 25, 2010, 07:07:42 PM

Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;695572Really like the v8 conversion. Have just been looking into how much they cost and the work involved, really interesting. Can the v8 conversions be carb\'d? or are all the ls1\'s fuel injected? what made you choose fuel injection over carbs? Keeping it simple would be my approach to something like this as setup for power can be the same with carbs and f/i.
Good luck with the season and hope that spare tire buffs out! Would be good to see a battle between yourself and Pete Barbers ROTARY POWERED rx7, comparisons in handling etc.
Do you run the car on pump fuel?

Hey Grant, thank you for your comments

Never heard of any of the LS\'s running carb\'s tbh the FI side of things works really well, specially once yoy get rid of the fly by wire throttle body system. Heard of a few guys running throttle bodies but there just isn\'t the room under the FD bonnet.

I know Pete very well and would be awesome to battle or just drive beside him but he drives that RX7 very well and is an awesome driver so I\'m sure there would be no comperisson. Would if it ever happens I will let you know how it goes

Keep an eye on www.mphcustoms.com for updates

Grant Monkhouse · May 25, 2010, 08:50:55 PM

Quote from: mph_saab;695724Hey Grant, thank you for your comments Never heard of any of the LS\'s running carb\'s tbh the FI side of things works really well, specially once yoy get rid of the fly by wire throttle body system. Heard of a few guys running throttle bodies but there just isn\'t the room under the FD bonnet.

I know Pete very well and would be awesome to battle or just drive beside him but he drives that RX7 very well and is an awesome driver so I\'m sure there would be no comperisson. Would if it ever happens I will let you know how it goes

Keep an eye on www.mphcustoms.com for updates

I will keep an eye on updates and things, I was trying to find a carb\'d ls build but seems they don\'t them then, fi is the way forward for definate as I am putting an fi 13b in my rx4. Makes sense for power and tweeking things really.

Did you get your engine built to a specific spec? Or just take the standard lump?
What did you do with the steering rack as there are two ways of installing the engine from what I have read and one involves altering the rack but it compromises the near perfect steering geometry of the rx7.

I wen to oulton park and gave pete a hand for the day, spent a lot of tome explaing to people about the rotary and Petes car more than anything as more people were interested in his car than the others. It was the first time I have seen drifting for real and was impressed with Peres driving, seemed to have qiucker entry speeds than others.
Would be awesome for both your cars on track together, a roaring v8 and a high revving screamer 13b T.

Spartacus · May 25, 2010, 09:47:04 PM

There are carb\'d LS\'s around but mainly in the US, have a search over on http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/ for all the ins and outs.

mph_saab · June 23, 2010, 07:01:38 PM

Right sorry its been a while since I\'ve done an update been so busy trying to get the car sorted and getting MPH Customs up and running.
Finally got this little fuel dilema sorted with the car and the car is on fill song once again

still down slightly on compression and power but will have to get that sorted at the end of the session - for now just changed the diff so it has the power once again lol

Leading upto this weekend has been very up and down for me, one cause of the fuel drama and antisipation to see if the car was actually working again but also cause I\'ve been wanting to drift Lydden Hill ever since I started drifting a year ago so I was really excited but at the same time apprehensive.

Took it easy on the first practice session just trying to find the lines and playing with the camber on the track and was starting to get settled but I only got two runs - one being a sighting lap. Second practice session wasn\'t much better, so many people were hitting the kitty litter that it took time away from everyones practice time. Once again upto the front of the que ready to go and another person hits the gravel session over GRRRRR!!

Back to the pits and general check over the car ready for qualifying after lunch. Was sitting in the que to qualify and watching everyone\'s runs and then comes beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!! Defi alarm - car is over heating - luckily it was just a popped fuse but I didn\'t have any spares as they were back at the pits and we wasn\'t allowed back in. So thought ok thats fine we can cope with this, just start the car and go once the flag is dropped. Then came the rain, just wasn\'t going to be my day. Wrong tyres and wrong settings for the wet weather but again put in my best efforts to get a good enough score to qualify.

The car was a handful and just trying to stop it from spinning was hard enough let along avoiding the gravel lol. Anyone managed to put in a good run but unfortunitly wasn\'t good enough and ended up qualifying 10th. Currently running in 6th in the championship which is a bit gutting as I was running 3rd but still got two rounds to go

So bring on Donnington :p lets see if we can knock Mr. Philips off the top spot!!