Just a quick update, I've been trying to sort out a roll cage and thought I'd got a decent deal from Balance Motorsport who sent me a link to the website with the agreed discount on, which I couldn't get to work, so I called them up again and the guy I spoke to told me he had reduced all his prices on the site as he wasn't selling a thing and he'll go bust soon I now don't feel very comfortable paying up front for the cage that will take 4 to 6 weeks to arrive, will he still be there?

I think I'll get the tube and build it myself, I've got a pipe bender and notcher, It will obviously just take me longer to do.

The best price I've found so far for 45mm CDS tube is £70 + vat for a 4 metre lenght, does anyone know any better?

Are you going to be TIG-ing the roll cadge? No reason It would be stronger than a good MIG weld I suppose but most the neat welds on this sort of stuff are TIG.
If you trust your welding to be at say 100mph upside-down go for it.

I'll be using a MIG welder as that's all I've got it's a pretty good one though, so I'm confident it can do the job.

I've got my City and Guilds in welding, albeit obtained as an appretice many years ago!!! but I have done a fair bit of welding over the years (I've worked in Bodyshops most of my career) so I'm also confident in my own ability and we've got some good guys at work that I can call on if I'm unsure of anything

Interesting one, It'l give you something to do anyway !

Air to water coolers aren't so good at holding temps down at constant speed, thats why most use the air to air I/C as the abundance of ambient air at 60 mph is many times greater than the charge air. What they are better at is slower air speeds and short bursts like drag and sprint etc. Just use ducting to feed the intercooler (and it's exit) in the back of the car. When I say ducting I mean full size not bendy hoses, keep the entrance to the duct around 60% of the area of the I/C and that will be the best you can theoreticly get other than an ice packed charge cooler (which has a tendancy to melt obviously).

Forgot to say, a freind has a (not italian I know) twin turbo V6 from a nissan 300 zx for sale complete.

Thanks for that advice tricky, very usefull indeed, I've found a few projects on the net relating to air/water coolers and they all seem to point to your conclusing as well.

Before water/air coolers were mentioned, I had thought of having a large box section going straight down the middle of the car (as there won't be any interior anyway) picking up air from ducts at the front and blowing straight onto the cooler.

The other idea is to have two smaller IC's, one either side of the engine at the back being fed by ducts in the rear wings, not sure how the plumbing would work yet though.

I've nearly stripped the interior out now so I can start making some more accurate measurements.

Thanks for the engine offer, but I'll stick to the fiat engine thanks.

I don't blame you, maybe we'll fit it in a micra someday

Well ducted intercoolers are always going to be better than non-ducted, even a big open front mount can be improved with a simple shroud to stop the forward coming air 'spilling' over the edges.

If your planning on the mid engined idea and depending on your funds you might wanna take a look at ''z cars' they do a nice little rear subframe unit allowing you to mount anu engine in the rear of your car not only saving you a shi! load of work but really do look stunning and allowing you to actually make the car go round a track clicky>> http://www.zcars.org.uk/univkit.php

Thanks for that Trebor, a nice idea and a lovely bit of kit, but £7476 I'd struggle to find £74.76 at the momment let alone 7.5k never mind, part of the fun for me is actualy making the parts anyway so I'd only be cutting out some of the fun

You might want to put this through a translator, or at least look at the pictures.

http://www.squadra-tuning.nl/autos/categorie/196/auto/198.html

It's a twin-engined GTV, working perfectly now. You might want to steal some ideas from that.

The most difficult aspects (narrowing down to rear/mid conversion) were:
- cooling of the rear engine
- rear suspension calibration
- rear suspension geometry
- brake balance
- limited slip diff

Apart from that THEY (for two engines) are using two gearboxes, two different engines, two ECU's, routed exhaust, two fuel tanks, two ECU's, cruise control (via the ECU, so they're linked and the software in the ECU is adapted as there were a few problems),... etcetera.

Makes for good reading and will surely offer you some extra insights.

Thanks for the info Kayjey, the pictures are helpful on their own I'm pretty confident I've got all my initial problems sorted:-

Cooling I don't think will be an issue with a decent radiator at the front and the heat loss through the pipes to the engine at the rear will be more that enough.

Rear suspension wise I still intend using a fully adjustable top wishbone and coil over connected as per the picture that way it's all nice and compact and I can adjust all angles.

Brake balance can be sorted by using a bias valve for the main system in which I'll use the original brembos and for the hand brake I'll use the original rear caliper (provided it will fit over the front disc) on an additional bracket like the Ferrari we had in the other day
I can also use this caliper with an additional hydraulic hand brake

I'll hopefully do the final measurements at the weekend so I can start cutting

Alfa GTV V12...

You're going to have to do one shinyshoes

I have been toying with a Coupe project in my head for ages, the engine would be a V8 though...

The rear calipers do not fit over standard front discs. They are too thick.

Yes, I had a measure up at the weekend, I had intended modifying the slider to give me the extra width but I'm not sure there's enough metal there now.

If I can't use the originals I may have to try something like these :-Spot Calipers that little concern is a long way off though

I've updated the main thread BTW

Just found these Handbrake Calipers. Handbrake problem solved

Great project, have intention to do similar job with Fiat Punto chassis and Alfa 156 2.0Ts engine i had in parts.....

That would be a good conversion Ferrarist, I always liked the Punto Rally
with one of those shells and the mid mounted 2.0 litre it would go extremely well especially as it would be so light.

Mind you, the back of mine is getting pretty light The fun you can have with Photoshop

intercooler ideas

Many thanks for that jonone, I have seen a few conversions like this, but they are all hatchbacks and end up with no rear window or big scoops on the roof.

I don't want to spoil the standard lines of the Coupe so I was thingking along the lines of:-

1. Air duct at front of car running along the centre tunnel of the car to the intercooler mounted in front of the engine.

or

2. Twin coolers mounted at the same height as the rear 1/4 lights and then having perspex ducts replacing the original 1/4 lights.

I need to get the engine in place to see which would work the best.

Thanks again for the link though, it certainly gives a few pointers

A rear wheel drive coupe!
Sounds like a great project.

Looking at the area that you marked in white.Once you remove it how will you then fix the anti-roll bar to that area ? Or are you just going to worry about it later ?
Enjoying the project.

Hi Magooagain

Glad you're enjoying the project The anti roll bar attaches to the cross member and wishbones as below and I'll be using this as part of the rear frame. I've also decided to use my original front KW coil overs at the back to save a bit of room and use standard struts at the front.

Great job.....first thing to do when logged in here is to check if there's any updates on this topic.
More picture of any updates welcomed....

MrT, I think MagooAgain meant where are you going to mount the rear of the rollcage if you are cutting the rear wheel arch off

Yes.

Oops, sorry Magooagain, I feel a bit silly now, it's obvious what you meant now I've read it again

You're right though, I'll worry about that bit later, but I'll probably use a wedge shaped box section welded to the side panel and then bolt the cage to that.

I should have called it an anti roll cage really, Yes once its all in you should easily find an anchor point.