Down Under Trackday NSX
- Thread starter f1racr
- Start date
Careful, Fraser's actually a Kiwi, and it's common knowledge here in Aussie-land they can be kinda sensitive when you ignore their heritage :smile: :smile: :smile:
PS: just in case my jargon is too colloquial, Kiwis live in New Zealand, the "land of the long white cloud"
PPS: but yes, he's certainly not mucking around in the extent of this NSX build ! very impressive.
Last edited:
Geeeez you're lucky Sparky stepped in......... I was going to go all spider monkey on you........ !!! LOL
Calling an Aussie a Kiwi or a Kiwi an Aussie is like calling an American a Canadian or Vs versa........
Thanks for the comments on the car...... we're really rocking along with the bodywork this week and my fiancee is away for a week starting this weekend so I get a pass for the whole week to focus on the car so fingers crossed we should be panel and painting it by this time next week !!!
We've still got the undertray and a few other bits to go, but the core of the bodywork will be underway........ it'll start looking like a real car again !!
Calling an Aussie a Kiwi or a Kiwi an Aussie is like calling an American a Canadian or Vs versa........
Thanks for the comments on the car...... we're really rocking along with the bodywork this week and my fiancee is away for a week starting this weekend so I get a pass for the whole week to focus on the car so fingers crossed we should be panel and painting it by this time next week !!!
We've still got the undertray and a few other bits to go, but the core of the bodywork will be underway........ it'll start looking like a real car again !!
subscribed!
Well, just a small update......... I know it's been a long time between drinks as it were, but as mentioned earlier, a lot of work sometimes goes in for very little that will show up on a camera or is worth explaining so there hasn't been a lot to update you on till now.
Just a couple of shots of the rear bumper. This is a mix of the factory bumper, with the Taitec rear diffuser and a good chunk of some random Mitsubishi (sorry to those dedicated Honda followers) bumper I got from the local wreckers that matched the profile I needed to plug the hole of the factory number plate holder......... then once I did the centre I realised I would be able to cut up the sides and plastic bond those into a shape I really liked to run down to meet the diffuser. I'm not a very big fan of the way the Taitec diffuser runs into the rear bumper, so wanted to do something that would match the kit, but not look silly....... as a first attempt (plenty of tweaking to do) I think it looks great. We plan to run a flat bit of carbon from the edge of the diffuser to the bottom of the new rear bumper sides to complete the whole thing......
Part of the rear bumper setup was also the addition of a rear towhook, and in turn a front tow hook, so that if I .......... huh hum.......... leave the track unexpectedly .......... there will be somewhere to hook into easily !!!!
Zac has been making some great progress on the door skins so will post an update with that stuff soon......there will no doubt be other stuff that's getting done in the next few days also.
Just a couple of shots of the rear bumper. This is a mix of the factory bumper, with the Taitec rear diffuser and a good chunk of some random Mitsubishi (sorry to those dedicated Honda followers) bumper I got from the local wreckers that matched the profile I needed to plug the hole of the factory number plate holder......... then once I did the centre I realised I would be able to cut up the sides and plastic bond those into a shape I really liked to run down to meet the diffuser. I'm not a very big fan of the way the Taitec diffuser runs into the rear bumper, so wanted to do something that would match the kit, but not look silly....... as a first attempt (plenty of tweaking to do) I think it looks great. We plan to run a flat bit of carbon from the edge of the diffuser to the bottom of the new rear bumper sides to complete the whole thing......
Part of the rear bumper setup was also the addition of a rear towhook, and in turn a front tow hook, so that if I .......... huh hum.......... leave the track unexpectedly .......... there will be somewhere to hook into easily !!!!
Zac has been making some great progress on the door skins so will post an update with that stuff soon......there will no doubt be other stuff that's getting done in the next few days also.
nah, those red rings F/R are just an image thing, so people realise it really is a race car. Of course they'll never be used !
BTW where did you get the taitec diffuser and how much ?
BTW where did you get the taitec diffuser and how much ?
Well here's hoping you're right about the tow hooks !!! LOL But like Mario Andretti once said, "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." so I guess it's likely I will need them, but I hope not too often !!
The diffuser I got through Ross at STMPO. I think he might have got it through Titanium Dave possibly...... I honestly can't remember how it came about, but Ross sourced it from somewhere.....its not new, but was in reasonable condition.
Price wise, I'll have to have a look back through my pile of invoices as I bought it well over a year ago now....... There's other outfits out there making similar units and realistically given the level that most of us are at I doubt we'll ever really know the difference ! No idea if the official Taitec ones are still available new or not.
The diffuser I got through Ross at STMPO. I think he might have got it through Titanium Dave possibly...... I honestly can't remember how it came about, but Ross sourced it from somewhere.....its not new, but was in reasonable condition.
Price wise, I'll have to have a look back through my pile of invoices as I bought it well over a year ago now....... There's other outfits out there making similar units and realistically given the level that most of us are at I doubt we'll ever really know the difference ! No idea if the official Taitec ones are still available new or not.
Amazing progress. Always happy to check in on any updates that you provide.
All of this hard work and preparation will make for less on your mind come tracktime :biggrin: I am so jealous.
All of this hard work and preparation will make for less on your mind come tracktime :biggrin: I am so jealous.
Well as you'll all no doubt be aware, it's been a good while between updates, and in typical style we've got a whole load of stuff coming together at the same time !!
Today was awesome as what I hope was my final batch of gear arrived from the good ol' US of A with my airjacks, brake rotors and hats, accusump, onboard compressor, airtank and valves etc etc
Odyssey Extreme battery
Managed to mock up battery, airjacks and tank in place to make sure it's all going to fit............ it's not going to look pretty as it's all going to be tight in there, but it's more for function that looks I guess.......
Then I spent a good few hours machining up some mounting brackets for the rear airjacks and Zac was good enough to give them a quick tack so I could take a quick picture before we headed home. Hopefully we'll get them fully welded and in place tomorrow and I'll concentrate on getting the fronts mounted........... it's all coming together pretty quickly now !!!
I've finally finished the front ducting to take air to the radiator as well and I'm super stoked with how it came out !! Of course I say 'I', but I really mean 'we' as Zac helped with the fibreglassing but regardless I think it looks great even though it'll never get seen once it's all together, I wanted it to be clear we put effort in, even to the parts that don't get seen much !
I have to say a huge thank you to Ross from STMPO who once again helped me stockpile all of the stuff I needed from here there and everywhere and did me a good deal on some bits and peices too.....
And another bunch of huge thanks goes to Shad from Driving Ambition also for the great technical help and also great photo's which have saved me a lot of time reinventing the wheel !!!!! Thanks guys !!! it's very much appreciated on this side of the world and you both know that if you ever make it here, there's a spare room, cold beer and a hot bbq with your names on it !!
That's it for now, but I will have some more updates on progress with the bodywork side of things.........
Today was awesome as what I hope was my final batch of gear arrived from the good ol' US of A with my airjacks, brake rotors and hats, accusump, onboard compressor, airtank and valves etc etc
Odyssey Extreme battery
Managed to mock up battery, airjacks and tank in place to make sure it's all going to fit............ it's not going to look pretty as it's all going to be tight in there, but it's more for function that looks I guess.......
Then I spent a good few hours machining up some mounting brackets for the rear airjacks and Zac was good enough to give them a quick tack so I could take a quick picture before we headed home. Hopefully we'll get them fully welded and in place tomorrow and I'll concentrate on getting the fronts mounted........... it's all coming together pretty quickly now !!!
I've finally finished the front ducting to take air to the radiator as well and I'm super stoked with how it came out !! Of course I say 'I', but I really mean 'we' as Zac helped with the fibreglassing but regardless I think it looks great even though it'll never get seen once it's all together, I wanted it to be clear we put effort in, even to the parts that don't get seen much !
I have to say a huge thank you to Ross from STMPO who once again helped me stockpile all of the stuff I needed from here there and everywhere and did me a good deal on some bits and peices too.....
And another bunch of huge thanks goes to Shad from Driving Ambition also for the great technical help and also great photo's which have saved me a lot of time reinventing the wheel !!!!! Thanks guys !!! it's very much appreciated on this side of the world and you both know that if you ever make it here, there's a spare room, cold beer and a hot bbq with your names on it !!
That's it for now, but I will have some more updates on progress with the bodywork side of things.........
Last edited:
Thanks 
Slightly different take on things, but I basically saw what Shad did with a couple of customer cars and thought it made sense given the heat and load on the engine hidden back behind the driver so I think cooling the thing is going to play a big part in keeping it reliable !
No idea if we've executed things well I guess till it gets on the track but I love the way it looks at least so fingers crossed it works as well as it looks LOL !!
Thanks again for the comments.
Slightly different take on things, but I basically saw what Shad did with a couple of customer cars and thought it made sense given the heat and load on the engine hidden back behind the driver so I think cooling the thing is going to play a big part in keeping it reliable !
No idea if we've executed things well I guess till it gets on the track but I love the way it looks at least so fingers crossed it works as well as it looks LOL !!
Thanks again for the comments.
I love the radiator duct and the super bling airjack mounts!
It all really is coming together nicely! It is amazing to see what kind of results can be had when you pay as much attention to detail as you have. KEEP IT UP!
Thanks for the updates :biggrin:
It all really is coming together nicely! It is amazing to see what kind of results can be had when you pay as much attention to detail as you have. KEEP IT UP!
Thanks for the updates :biggrin:
3 is an option, but if anything it's best to have 2 at the back of the car where a good chunk of the weight is in my opinion so I don't have to reinforce anything to take all the weight in one spot, and also, on the NSX under the rear wheel arches where I've mounted them, there is a couple of what appears to be rear tow hooks which are bolted into the rear of the monocoque so there is already a factory mounting point for us to use, so didn't really seem sensible to make up a seperate mount elsewhere as there isn't anything that strong near the centre on the rear anyhow that is easy access.
Having 4 over 3 isn't really too much of an issue as the airjacks themselves only weigh 1kg each and the mounts are only about .5kg each so not a huge weight penalty for better stability. Hope that makes sense.
Having 4 over 3 isn't really too much of an issue as the airjacks themselves only weigh 1kg each and the mounts are only about .5kg each so not a huge weight penalty for better stability. Hope that makes sense.
Probably ok for the guy who only put 3 on there as he's probably not the poor guy who has to get under there from time to time
I think it looks a bit unstable !! I prefer to have as much support as possible as even the safety stands you put in before you get under are resting on the frames for the airjacks themselves so you've got to trust them !
I think it looks a bit unstable !! I prefer to have as much support as possible as even the safety stands you put in before you get under are resting on the frames for the airjacks themselves so you've got to trust them !
I think that those F430s definitely would look MORE stable with another air jack underneath them. For the cost of >2Kg you can insure that the car won't accidentally SOMEHOW land on one of your pit crew during a heated pit stop.
(has a small dog in this due to the fact that I often crew for many race teams)
(has a small dog in this due to the fact that I often crew for many race teams)
Then I spent a good few hours machining up some mounting brackets for the rear airjacks and Zac was good enough to give them a quick tack so I could take a quick picture before we headed home. Hopefully we'll get them fully welded and in place tomorrow and I'll concentrate on getting the fronts mounted........... it's all coming together pretty quickly now !!!
Fraser, very logical choice for your rear jack locations!....You're correct; the rear frame rails are considerably stronger in that location because of internal "wall doubling" for the tie-down anchors.
One simple suggestion though......it looks like you have clearance to incorporate a cross-link bar between the RR & LR jack brackets,which would obviously strengthen the configuration without much additional weight. I would make it a rigid attachment with a minimum 2 bolts per side (as opposed to heim joints).....also you might consider a small longitudinal "strut-gusset" from lower part of mount rearward & upward to frame rail.....could be tubular or maybe even sheet metal that has been "dimple-died" or bead-rolled (for all of your fans who want it to LOOK cool, haha)!
Keep up the great work!
True that, didn't think about the fact they were going to be factory..... I've got no doubt it's stable enough, I just prefer the idea of having 2 and it's actually the easiest config for us to fit to the car anyhow so all good !
Dale, I haven't finished the setup of the mounts for the airjacks yet as I alluded to in the description
I'm just going to copy what Shad from Driving Ambition did and put a bar between the 2 rear jacks to give it some extra rigidity, and then tie that bar into the car elsewhere....
Another good day today....... knocked up a battery box and measured up to make sure everything was going to fit properly !!
Also worked on a sensible place to mount the compressor........... I thought initially we were going to be able to mount it down by the tank, but it's just going to get a bit too hard down there with all of the airjack stuff so decided to mount it up a bit higher on the passenger side to offset at least what little weight there is onto that side instead.
A big thank you to Zac and Lance for the help on the bodywork front......... looks like we're on track to have it in final colour by next weekend !!!!
Also worked on a sensible place to mount the compressor........... I thought initially we were going to be able to mount it down by the tank, but it's just going to get a bit too hard down there with all of the airjack stuff so decided to mount it up a bit higher on the passenger side to offset at least what little weight there is onto that side instead.
A big thank you to Zac and Lance for the help on the bodywork front......... looks like we're on track to have it in final colour by next weekend !!!!
Do you know how this translates in American English? It means you got it pregnant. :biggrin:
