Project Norm

[waynne]

That sounds really cool and almost philosophical!

[fingers]

Its actually a line from the film Serenity.

[p4paco]

i hope yr porsche powered Baby is comming along mate.


By the time Saturday comes along, i'm Knackered,,, & come sunday, i want to take it easy, Because i know i'm sloggin it out all week.

SO i gotta Respect all the dedication,
it must be really hard doing something so Major in your spare time.
&workin in the cold.


Good luck, & show us a pic of something, anything,, to keep us satisfied.
:P

[fingers]

Hi all, As nathan is over a year old now and I'm getting a little more spare time I'm (trying) to get back with it. Norm has just been on a major weight loss programme. The bonnet, front wings, front grille panel and bumper have all been cut off and replaced with a much, much lighter one piece fibreglass nose. And the heavy steel doors have been replaced with ultra rare fibreglass ones. You can pick both of the new doors up in one hand and the other day I was resting the front on my head as I walked it down to the shed. By the time I have got fibreglass rear wings, boot and cut any excess/un-needed metal work form the car it is going to be a seriously light motor. My target is to get the vehicle weight down to 500kg (standard minor weighs 750kg) and get the engine to produce 200bhp, probably with the help of N2O.

That would make a 400bhp per ton car. Awsome. It's definatley having a cage but I'm not sure whats happening with the brakes yet though.

[HDi fun]

I remember one bloke I worked with years ago who managed to get a 1985 Cavalier SRi engine into a Traveller. Which was clever because the engine had to be mounted end on and drive the rear wheels.

And it went like the clappers. It was also a bloody death trap!!

[old-git]

Ah, a man after my own heart. Why do something easy when bloody difficult is so much more fun.

Have you thought about rebuilding the Minor engine and fitting it and the Minor suspension into the Porsche?

What is your target vehicle weight and BHP/Torque?

What are you going to do with the steering setup?

Are banded wheels still legal?

Might want to reconsider the ride height issue.

[old-git]

Originally Posted by HDi fun

I remember one bloke I worked with years ago who managed to get a 1985 Cavalier SRi engine into a Traveller. Which was clever because the engine had to be mounted end on and drive the rear wheels.

And it went like the clappers. It was also a bloody death trap!!

Back in the 80's Nick Mann drove a Rover V8 engined Minor to the Street Race Championships, won and then drove home again! Used to run 11s.

Plain white, slightly wider wheels and slightly lowered. Must have caught out many a boy racer, and many other drivers for that matter.

[fingers]

Originally Posted by old-git

Ah, a man after my own heart. Why do something easy when bloody difficult is so much more fun.

Exactly.

At the moment I think the steering is going to stay pretty much the same as it is now. Because the 924 has the engine in the front and the gearbox in the rear axle (if I have worked it out correctly) there is still enough room for the rack to stau where it is. I am leaving the standard skinny biscuit wheels on the front and I have a nice set of 15" alloys that can go on the back with some chunky rubber on them. Not really fussed about ride height or cornering ability as this is being built purely for straight line speed, hence the weight reduction. Not even sure if it will be road legel at the mo but I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. I have a chunky anti-roll bar for the front and the rear end will be all linked up to keep everything straight.
These engine are pretty equal with the bhp and torque figures as standard with 125bhp and 121 ft-lb of torque. Mine has a bigger throttle body, a high torque cam, K&N type filter and a 4 branch manifold. I should be able to get enough nitrous in there with out killing it to push both those figures close to the 200 mark. Being an old VW van engine block they are quite strong and take some abuse.

[old-git]

Originally Posted by fingers

there is still enough room for the rack to stay where it is. Not really fussed about ride height or cornering ability as this is being built purely for straight line speed, hence the weight reduction.

I didn't think that Minors had racks as standard?

Ah, right, then the higher the better for weight transference. However, the higher the centre of gravity, the worse the straight line stability.

[fingers]

Yes the later minor's had racks bolted to a crossbeam on the bulkhead, just under the battery tray.
I will be doing a few things to try and help the old beasts center of gravity. I will be sitting quite low down in the car and anything that can be moved to the floor and to the middle of the car will be (i.e. battery, fuel cell). And one of the reasons I chose the Porsche engine is because it is a slant 4 that sits quite low in the engine bay. The top of the engine certainly isn't any higher than the std minor lump. I would imagine the transmission being at the rear of the car should help balance things out a little too, but we'll just have to see when it's done. It can't be any less stable at speed than my Plymouth, that wallows all over the place

[pgarner]

Originally Posted by fingers

It can't be any less stable at speed than my Plymouth, that wallows all over the place

Thats what you get for having an american car.

So are both of these projects on the go at the same time?
ie project norm and rebuilding the near lee

[fingers]

Yep. I finish work at 1 tomorrow but will be in the workshop till about 6 rebuilding Near Lee's motor, that should then be about ready to drop back in the car. Then I will get the car recovered into work for next weekend and that should take care of that job. Norm sits on the drive so I nip out and tinker whenever get a chance. I will be at trinity park in suffolk for the NSRA summer nationals on sunday rummaging round the auto jumble for more lightweight minor bits. Once Near Lee is back on the road and running I will just put all my spare time into Norm as I would like to have it ready to put down the 1/4 mile next year.

I will be working on the chevette tomorrow too. It needs rear seatbelts fitting and its got real bad wheel wobble since I fitted a set of minilites to it. Its all busy, busy, busy at the mo.

[waynne]

Glad the project is back on the boil. I bet its been frustrating keep seeing the cars in bits!

Nathan will soon be able to help you - I hope you've taught him the names of the tools so he can pass them to you