Open Wheeler Toy

[Roy928tt]

And then things changed again! Gerry Duyvestyn has got back to me, he has the other DFX block and he wants a pair of oil/water pumps and a set of cam drive gears in exchange for his block and cash my way.

I'd rather forgotten that his block has also suffered a blow up, but still has 6 good liners in it, that would get me up to the required 8 liners and there may be other pieces on the block worth having, like piston squirters. Maybe this can forge it's way forward.

Meanwhile on Racecarsdirect someone in Holland is selling a Lola Indycar roller for 4500 Euro, the tub and front end seem complete, steering column & rack, front shocks & suspension arms all looking very good to fit a Cosworth and F1 rear end to......It's all a bit early after importing the engine, I can only put up with that stress so often. But otherwise would seem to be an ideal package.

Green! Green is nice!

[rowdytoot]

You know what you are meant to do now I think Roy! Lick the stamp and...

[PXL265]

You know what you are meant to do now I think Roy! Lick the stamp and...

+1 by 11ty......

[doctor ed]

*ed trailers the Lola home and proceedes to lowball roy on the collection of engine parts*

[Roy928tt]

Yeah, yeah, I know......It gets worse, this also popped up, it really is a sign.

990 euro, brand new Reynard F3000 tub

[mrniceguy]

Some DIY F1 shit going on here.

[Roy928tt]

*ed trailers the Lola home and proceedes to lowball roy on the collection of engine parts*

I enquired, they will not ship to Australia......

[Roy928tt]

Right now I'm feeling that I should just step back from this 'project', stop trying to move it forward, just campaign the car as it pretty much is, and take in more of life. Less stress trying to find money to try to find parts for really no great purpose, apart from 'because I could'.

I've been crook for the last week, and that has meant I've not been up to doing much, and I quite enjoyed just being about home without wanting to do something in the shed. It also reduces the money I think I'd like to spend, leaving more in my pocket.

A large part of this malaise is the lack of response to emails, emails to vendors in Europe and Australia, never mind America.....I know and understand these here are crazy times and maybe I just have to accept that It's not the time for some things to be done.

Let's see where it all heads to, but right now I feel I'm putting too much effort into something and not getting commensurate effort back from those I presumed had a vested interest in unwittingly supporting me. Ie. If you're trying to sell something and I'm trying to buy it, some communication would benefit us both, no? So time for me to step back and step away. Do something else for a while.

[Roy928tt]

My friend, John Lemm, caught David catching a little slide at the State Championships this year, on his way to 5th outright.



It brought a smile to my face.

[Dingo745]

I was only watching youtube videos of open wheeler's last night to gain some knowledge of the layout of Collingrove and saw some of your videos
which made think why a Cosworth V8 for such a track ?

[Roy928tt]

No, No, No you're overthinking it.

Sensibly a BEC is the answer.

But if your heart desires a big open wheeler with better than F1 power to weight and if that can include the greatest racing engine ever built, what are you to do?

[Komdotkom]

Hi Roy, what about an interim engine solution? I've always thought the Duratec V6 was underutilised here in Australia and you can get them from the Mazda Tribute SUV things. Cheap, relatively powerful, light, some sort of racing pedigree (I'm clutching at straws now) but without having to worry about turbo's and other things to add weight and fail prematurely.
Although my race car is also turbo, I would infinitely prefer to have an NA car for drive ability and simplicity.
It sounds like the Cosworth tax makes the GTR tax look insignificant.

[Roy928tt]

Hi Roy, what about an interim engine solution? I've always thought the Duratec V6 was underutilised here in Australia and you can get them from the Mazda Tribute SUV things. Cheap, relatively powerful, light, some sort of racing pedigree (I'm clutching at straws now) but without having to worry about turbo's and other things to add weight and fail prematurely.
Although my race car is also turbo, I would infinitely prefer to have an NA car for drive ability and simplicity.
It sounds like the Cosworth tax makes the GTR tax look insignificant.

I had contemplated the Duratec V6 when I started the project, but there were few of them at U-Pull-It so went with the KLinstead. As the years have passed I do see more Duratecs at U-Pull -It and if I were starting now would likely go with it.

Whilst I may be bitching and moaning about Cosworth, I do just need to adjust my attitude and knuckle down and make it happen, It's just an engine made of metal and I will persevere.

I have a great percentage of the parts required and can source some others, the few remaining ? I'll just have to be creative.

It's really just a bit of a circle jerk "I've got a twin turbo Cosworth V8" The car is very much where it sits in the scheme of things, it really is something built by a bloke in a shed. It has Nissan Navara shock absorbers for goodness sake! all of my competitors have multi way adjustable coil overs. If the Cosworth fails to deliver, ie. they are rated at 840 hp, lets say it delivers 400hp....it will make the car a bit quicker, considerably more scary and it will still sit in the same position in the field. It will still however be the single most potent vehicle anybody who drives it has ever driven at circa 800hp/tonne.

And I will go to my grave knowing the ins and outs of the legendary Cosworth V8 and having owned and driven one.

I've done many things in my automotive life, and the only thing I would still like to do is to see a Mclaren F1 in the flesh. Dabbling in Cosworth, I'm just doing because it seems I can.

[Backmarker]

Dabbling in Cosworth, I'm just doing because it seems I can.

Seems a good reason

[Roy928tt]

Gerry got back to me with photos of his block. . . .hmmmm not much to it, it is stripped further than mine even, I wasn't sure that was possible but it is missing the head studs as well....

He valued it at $1500 in exchange for parts and cash my way, so I added a bit to my value of my parts and sent him my proposal, he has come back and decided he doesn't want my parts but I can have the block for $1000. He has apparently bought a complete fresh engine from the U.S. for U.S. $25 k ......

That's all fine, I'm happier at $1k for what will likely be only 4 liners that I will use....there is still the likelihood I'll assemble a dummy engine with the block also.

Meanwhile I had sourced a mild steel BA Falcon 6 cyl. fuel rail and started messing with it to fit 8 EFI injectors to the Penske inlet manifold, I got all of the injector 'caps' welded onto the fuel rail and started trying to fit it all to the manifold, it is very close but not quite (can you believe the bore spacings must be damn near identical between the Barra and Cosworth?) at the moment the width of the injectors and fuel rail is just a poofteenth more than the space across the manifold for it. Closer inspection reveals I should be able to machine a little more from the inlet runners to find the space for the injectors.

One of my next missions will be to add fittings for fuel into the fuel rail. I've not dealt with anything with such a potential thirst. With the intention of running E85, I'm presuming I'll need to start with 8 x 1000 cc injectors. What size fuel hose will I need to supply them with? Can I continue to use EVO Lancer rising rate fuel pressure regulators x 2 ? I can't remember if they are 1/4 or 8mm return hose each? I don't suppose I should stress too much, if it maxes out whatever I fit, it will be stupidly scary anyway and the way forward will be obvious.

Let's see if I can get the fuel rail sorted tomorrow and post up a picture of it.