INFLUENCE ? - ah 'BAD INFLUENCE' - Yep can certainly help with that - come to think of it 'BAD INFLUENCE' was one the primary reasons we set this forum up in the first place
Nah, I'll take ownership of my own crazy ideas ( some better than others )
Those twin blowers had me thinking, though.
Size wise, they are a pretty good match.
I wouldn't have space for an intercooler without changing the grille area but I could do methanol injection ( I've tried that before, it works really well )
But to drive the blowers I'd have to do twin staggered drive pulleys, or one pulley with some sort of link between the blowers.
Either way, I'd have to completely redo the Alt, waterpump, and drysump drives on the front of the engine, the strut brace, the radiator, and all the sheetmetal that seals it.
It's not illegal, immoral or fattening and doesn't involve small children or furry animals. Until they walk past as you hit the starter button!
When I was running my ITB'd silly compression rover\buick v8 on the street, there was a old girl that used cover her ears even if the car was parked, used to make me chuckle, must have made her jump once
As for the blowers it would be ridiculous to leave them on the shelf gathering dust and deteriorating, they look perfectly at home in that engine bay shot, in fact I think you owe them a duty of care, they must be used its the law!!
As for the blowers it would be ridiculous to leave them on the shelf gathering dust and deteriorating, they look perfectly at home in that engine bay shot, in fact I think you owe them a duty of care, they must be used its the law!!
Like most lowered Capri's ( and/or most radically lowered cars...), my car had bumpsteer.
To correct that, I had to find a way to accurately measure it first.
The problem is, the wheel doesn't move straight up and down.
Due to the geometry of the strut and the TCA, the wheel moves in and out, as well as front to rear.
Those changes I was not interested in, so I wanted to find a way to measure just the bumpsteer in a way that automatically compensated for the ones I didnt need.
The bumpsteer gauges that are available seem very expensive for what they are, and do measure some of the unwanted changes.
Which you then have to compensate for.
So I made my own...
It works well.
I adapted a hydraulic ram to move the suspension through its range, so you can quickly see the effect of any change you make.
I wanted to go to powersteering because the steering was a little heavy, which made quick corrections tricky ( like when the back end steps out )
You can buy a electric power steering through Burton but those are kind of expensive, and a home made junkyard version of it was not an option because that car wasn't sold here in the States.
Also, I wanted to go to a quick rack and those are no longer easily available for a Capri.
A Ford power rack seemed like a good starting point, they use the same basic rack on a lot of cars including the Mustang II which is used a lot in Street Rods.
So there is good aftermarket availability, and knowhow.
Lengthwise it was sort of in the ballpark compared to Escort ( 1 & 2) and Capri racks ( both different width's )
The one I got was a quick rack out of a Thunderbird Super Coupe.
So to avoid complications I decided to use the rack as is.
Mount it in the car where I had space for it ( it had to clear the dry sump pump, etc )
And make my own TCA's in a custom width ( with new pick up points on the X member as well as the strut to correct the rollcenter that was not ideal because of the lowering )
I already had a compression strut kit on my car ( changed the pick up points on that too ), and for the custom TCA's I got a unwelded TCA kit from Motorsport Tools.
Which I changed with some Oval Track racing parts.
I got a set of Billet steering arms from them as well, because I knew the loads were going to be higher.
I got a used electric pump out of a Volvo S40, and I put that under the right front fender.
Nice to see the car evolve from the start. Looks nice and rust free as well. Looking forward to see where there cars at now.
Thanks.
This is pretty much where it is, right now.
There are some small things I didnt take pics of, like a much better racing seat to replace a cheap parts store bucket.
( the adjustable backrest failed, and also, that would probably have been a really terrible seat to crash in.
If that would ever happen...)
I'm not racing because of Covid, but just before that I was able to take it out for one day.
The suspension worked nice ( a bit compromised because the front slicks were on their last legs, and canvas just isn't that grippy...)
But I do have a problem with the steering.
The problem is, when you put any steering lock into it, the power assist doesn't come on right away.
There is a delay ( it feels like an eternity, but its actually less than a second), where you turn the wheel without assist.
Because of the slicks, the weight, and the quickrack, the steering is heavy without any assist.
So you have to kind of put your shoulder into it.
When the assist then suddenly comes on you are still putting a lot of force on the wheel, so you overshoot the steering angle you need.
Its super annoying, and pretty much makes it impossible to choose clean racing lines.
At first, I thought it might be the long hydraulic lines going to and from the pump.
But after seeing where other racers put their pumps ( some even have them in the trunk, so their lines would be even longer )
So that is probably not it.
The pump is just hard wired in limp home mode ( in the stock Volvo configuration it has speed sensitivity, throttle position, etc).
When you do that ( according to the info I've found ), it runs at 80% max pressure.
Which happens to be the correct pressure for the T-Bird rack.
The pump is made by Ford for Volvo, so things like hydraulic fluid should match too.
My gut feeling its not the pump either.
I had to tilt the rack a little ( probably 20 to 25 deg ), to clear the Dry Sump pump.
So I'm wondering if that could make the rack not bleed correctly, and trap some air inside it.
Or something could be wrong with the metering of the power assist inside it.
Its a low mileage rack out of car that was modified to get something else, but it has been sitting on somebody's shelf for a number of years.
My plan right now is to get a gauge kit, so I can measure what I'm doing.
And start with the rack.
If any of you guys have any experience with this ( I dont, this is my first power steering setup I'm playing with ), I'd love to hear your thoughts on it...
Have you checked with the car stationary how long it takes the pump to react when you start to move the steering? Thinking out loud the car it came out of would have had a steering angle sensor fitted to the column that gives the pump a signal as soon as it sees the angle change so it reacts quicker/ correctly. It may just be because the pump is running in backup mode looking for a pressure change that it’s being slow?
Have you considered using a modern EPAS steering column? This would clear up space in the engine bay and also make fine tuning potentially easier.
From what I can find, in limp home mode the pump acts like a conventional belt driven pump.
Which means ( I think, but please correct me if I'm wrong ) that it runs at a given volume, and builds pressure by closing the orifice of the metering unit in the rack.
So it should be instantaneous.
What would be possible though is that there would be some pressure bypass on the pump, and that it is stuck open or not working right.
Edit. The actual delay time ( stationary or driving, that doesn't seem to make a difference ), is about 1/2 a second or so ( which is an eternity on the track...)
I know you are a way down the line in engineering this now but from scratch i would have thought an electric assist column would have been a good call.