V8 Mk1 6 speed with power steering

[PW@Woodsport]

To be honest the "perv" bit is a tad worrying there.

Yes some SC's had no ARB, but they also didn't have an Audi V8 and 6 speed box shoehorned in the rear either, i'm guessing i need one

[Lauren]

Didn't the USDM S/c have no rear ARB?
Alex

It's not specific to the SC. It's more that UK cars always got rear ARB's and oil coolers whereas the JDM cars (who cares about US specs seeing as they are pretty much non-existent in the UK) didn't until 1988. This would apply to NA's and SC's. People only think it's the SC because there are so few imported NA's.

UK always got better spec suspension because there was an inference that the cars were driven harder here, hence oil coolers being standarad but never being fitted to JDM cars.

[PW@Woodsport]

Today saw the old TVR exhaust system removed (just too loud!) and the start of fitment of the Audi R8 system starting with removing the upright supports to my crossbrace (yellow), these were right in the path of the new manifold to silencer pipes.

I will redo these to miss the exhaust pipes and repaint them, sometimes you have to undo a bit of your hard work to progress, such is the nature of an evolving project i guess.



Also i removed the last of the old boot floor (red), the Audi R8 box sits over the transmission in this area, i figure i'll have much better airflow around the silencer to keep things cooler anyway.



Here is the Audi box in place, i have removed the tail pipes, these will have to be rerouted behind the box, down and out the rear, a bit of fancy pipe navigation and flanges will do it, and the actuated valves will be staying, they're pretty cool and will help with low end torque... yes cos that's the one thing i need more of





So the boot is now totally dedicated to exhaust, bang goes my small storage area, oh well!

[Lauren]

There's always the front boot, Paul!

Keep up the good work!

[craig]

I love this thread. I take my hat off to you Paul, this really is a fantastic project!

When the MK1 came out, I bet Toyota never thought it would one day be installed with a 4.2 V8

[MartG]

the tail pipes, these will have to be rerouted behind the box, down and out the rear,

Why not run them down the pockets at each end of the boot and out behind where the mudflaps are/were - that would leave the whole centre part of the rear underside free for a diffuser

[PW@Woodsport]

the tail pipes, these will have to be rerouted behind the box, down and out the rear,

Why not run them down the pockets at each end of the boot and out behind where the mudflaps are/were - that would leave the whole centre part of the rear underside free for a diffuser

I did consider that as an option Mart, but i have already cut my rear bumper to suit the original exhaust position, it would be a load of work for me to change that now, but a good idea all the same.

[PW@Woodsport]

I love this thread. I take my hat off to you Paul, this really is a fantastic project!

When the MK1 came out, I bet Toyota never thought it would one day be installed with a 4.2 V8

Thankyou mate, the reality is i don't think it will be as quick as a well sorted 1.5 or even the 2gr-fe Mk1s so it's just about building something outrageously bonkers, Toyota would probably frown

Lauren as long as i can get a tent and some beers in there i'll be happy, i'm rapidly running out of places to put stuff in this car.

[PW@Woodsport]

Today saw some good progress made on the new exhaust system, just to recap, i'm fitting an R8 rear silencer to get this thing sounding more like it should, the old TVR system was just deafening.

I made a mounting bracket for the R8 box and bolted that to the gearbox, the system moves with the engine so no need for flexi sections. Next i cut off the Audi V-band clamp and i tacked on the new V-band clamps complete, then made fresh sections to go from there to the manifolds, everything is just tacked for now.



Once the inlet pipes were made i started work on the outlets, tricky little buggers these, one pair has a vacuum operated butterfly which is normally open with engine off, and shuts when the engine runs on full vacuum at idle, this means as the load rises and vacuum drops these valves will open up gradually bringing the other pair of exhausts into play. Or i could snap them open with a VSV running from a programmable output on the Vems, so basically i could decide when the valves open, but i think i'm going to leave them plumbed straight to the manifold.

The bottom pair of outlets are just straight out, so i just needed to kick these 180*...





The symmetry here for me is important, it bugs the xxxx out of me if one side doesn't look like the other, so i spent ages telling Jay how wrong he was

With the bottom two pipes done i did the top two with the actuators on them....



I've staggered the overlap between the top and bottom pipe to make seam welding them easier, it also looks better.





This thing is fast becoming nuttier than squirrel xxxx, but i love the madness of it all.



From this position both pairs of pipes need to go straight down, have flanges put on them for three reasons...

1) Easy removal of the whole system later on if need be
2) I can change tail pipe design in future as the mood takes me
3) There is no 3, 1 and 2 were good enough reasons.

The next time i work on it should see the tailpipes tacked in position and i can start seam welding, we're looking forward to hearing it!

[PW@Woodsport]

A nice diagram showing the stock R8 exhaust setup versus mine, practically identical pipe lengths from engine to silencer, loving what's going on inside that silencer too, should sound exactly like an R8.



Actually after studying that silencer in detail it's quite a work of art, at idle and off load with the flapper valve shut the gases are forced to take this route and have to enter every chamber within the system before exiting just one of the tail pipes, it's a very complicated exit path...





Now under load with the flappers open the bulk of the restriction is bypassed, some gases are still going into all chambers but there is a direct route out...





No wonder they sound so quiet at idle and howl on full chat, lovely stuff.

EDIT: It looks like both catalytic convertors are built into the rear silencer...



So it will pass any emissions thrown at it, or i could remove them by cutting open the chamber they are in, taking the CATs out and welding in straight pipes instead. The only problem there is that if it ever does need to meet stiffer emissions regs i would need to buy a new rear silencer, which i really don't fancy at £3500 a pop!

I think i'll keep them in there.

[PW@Woodsport]

Today saw more exhaust work, making this R8 system exit out the back of the car has been tricky to say the least, but it's finally done. Jay and Phillis were on hand to help me align the quad pipes, it was a right nightmare getting them all in line as i needed to make double sweeping bends to get from the silencer outlets to the bumper, a total of three 90* bends and two 45* bends per tailpipe.

Work started by taking the outlets down to the old boot floor, and adding flanges to them, these flanges allow the tail sections to be separate and changed in future if needed.





From these flanges i made the tail sections...



With the whole lot fitted it looks like this...



Almost mm perfect alignment, made possible by Phil and Jay using a pen to get the gaps between the tails and a Costa coffee stirring stick to get them level! I wanted to sight it all up but they insisted on using their patented Pen Alignment Nano Technology System, or PANTS! as it's known, couldn't have done it without them so thankyou chaps.

With the system fabricated i removed it all for seam welding, i only got as far as seaming the tailpipes but here is the rejigged R8 silencer just before welding...



So as soon as the system is fully welded i'll get to hear what she sounds like.

[pk_090]

Wow paul! I mean this thing is crazy! What a fantastic project! Have you got a pipe bender or are you buying ready bent bends?
Alex

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks Alex, i do have a pipe bender but i prefer to buy in pre mandrel bent pipes and then cut them to suit, so i have boxes of 45* and 90* pipes in all sorts of diameters for exhaust/intake/intercooler work.

[pk_090]

I take it your pipe bender crushes the walls when bending? Our one at work does or else i would have made a manifold by now. I honestly cant wait to hear this. That exhaust certainly does look a maze what does the whole system weigh roughly?
Alex

[PW@Woodsport]

Yeah my pipe bender is just one of those hydraulic ones with a former, it creases them if you go past say 30* of angle, so i use that for heavier work like roll cages etc which it does very well.

That R8 silencer is heavy, i'd estimate a good 25kgs in the whole system, but i'm well past the point of caring about the weight of this car, i'd estimate i'm probably at Mk2 weight right now, so heavy for a Mk1 but no biggy in the scheme of things.

[pk_090]

With that in mind what are you planning in terms of suspension settings? i.e. mk1 suspension might not be able to deal with the weight/ torque that will come from the rear end.
Alex

[PW@Woodsport]

It actually already runs with a complete Mk2 suspension fitted, Tein superstreet coilovers all round with the EDFC system installed. Only a slight modification is needed to the strut tops on the rear to fit Mk2 stuff and on the front i've cut the original Mk1 strut tops out and welded in Mk2 turrets, so this car will always run Mk2 shocks/springs from now on.

In many ways it would have been a lot easier to do this to a Mk2, but that wouldn't be anywhere near as challenging or fun.

Braking has been taken care of with Porsche 996 Brembo four pots up front with BMW 330 discs, and Mazda RX8 front discs on the rear (325mm), the whole system is fed via a Toyota truck master cylinder, that's 1" bore, so a lot more fluid being moved to the brakes.

It sounds simpler to say let's build a Mk1 Mr2 V8, but the reality is the whole car/chassis needs a major rethink and upgrade, a lot of it is guesswork on the engineering side, i mean who am i to design and build a baby supercar from an old Aw11 shell? I could have got it horribly wrong, time will tell, but the fun for me is in the building of it even if it handles like a whale on acid it is a very special/unique car.

[pk_090]

How much of a job is it to fit super streets onto a mk1? i have a set sitting in a mates shed. A whale on acid sounds fun...but also so does a baracudua on speed!

Alex

[PW@Woodsport]

The rears just need a slight hole elongation and the Mk2 coilovers will fit, they will even fit the Mk1b hub perfectly without modification, the fronts however are miles off.... i suppose you could easily change the coilover topmount to a Mk1 fitment, but it was cheaper/easier for me to weld in Mk2 strut tops. Again, on the front it will fit the hub perfectly without modification.

[pk_090]

Would an adapter plate changine the stud patern from mk2 shape to mk1 shape on the front?
Alex