flying_wedge's 2zzge AW11

[flying_wedge]

Nah not foam -> resin -> bolts, if the spoiler is hollow I would do resin/knead it then just expanding foam for fibreglassing over.

Not sure about reproducing end caps, I'm only marginally skilled, and the amount of time involved for me to do it proper would make $100 - $150 a pair not really worth it

Have chopped these down a bit further, just wanting to get a base shape now to work with, then blend them in nicer on the ends, and work out a way to brace the end that won't be clipped to the mud guard mounts.

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[Ash Kelly Barr]

Yeah I see! Unfortunately we all can't have pro set up shops
It being a small part though would leave it easy to make molds from
Plaster cast in a bucket maybe??

They good though man!!
Keep up the good work

[Malcolm]

We've got a couple of guys who do our composite work at work who I could talk to about making moulds when you're done. No hurry, but when you're done take some pictures of the parts and I'll talk to them about what they would charge to make a mould and a few copies

[Ash Kelly Barr]

I'd be happy to chip in for this ^

[flying_wedge]

Bonnet and spoiler back from panel and paint.
Just in time for a (wet!) trackday on Saturday at Ruapuna.
Must say I am pleased with the handling and feel of this AW11 on the track - with just my right foot I can modulate the line between understeer and oversteer, and use the throttle to turn the car. Been a while and many progressive changes, but its certainly a very neutral and predictable car to drive.
Wet trackday made for some good sideways action, and learning the front Wilwood brakes since installing. All I can say about those brakes now is they have much more ability than my current confidence level - especially in the wet! - they just bite in and pull up very quickly with no fade or even brake smell after 6+ laps.

Trackday was with majority of Subarus and there were 2 corners that they just couldn't get right. Following behind a Subaru at any given point in time on the track there was a 50/50 chance they would spin on either of these two corners
Example: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153134354999942
Not sure if vid is private by owner, but blue STI spins, allowing 2 ITR's and me to finally get by Black WRX had spun that corner in front of the blue STI the lap before, ha.
Downside of having a modestly powered car at an open trackday with passing only permitted under power means some of the bigger powered car's are just too difficult to get by on the straights and they just hold you up on the infield!

Anyway, pleased with outcome of 180mm widened WRX spoiler on stock bootlid and vented bonnet.
Pic dump below. No square on rear shot of spoiler, but this sits about perfect over the rear guards.

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Currently have an interesting part intended for another model Toyota on order for adaption to fit the AW11 - watch this space. Might be a while though with second child due in a week...


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[Logan]

Bonnet and spoiler back from panel and paint.
Just in time for a (wet!) trackday on Saturday at Ruapuna.
Must say I am pleased with the handling and feel of this AW11 on the track - with just my right foot I can modulate the line between understeer and oversteer, and use the throttle to turn the car. Been a while and many progressive changes, but its certainly a very neutral and predictable car to drive.
Wet trackday made for some good sideways action, and learning the front Wilwood brakes since installing. All I can say about those brakes now is they have much more ability than my current confidence level - especially in the wet! - they just bite in and pull up very quickly with no fade or even brake smell after 6+ laps.

Trackday was with majority of Subarus and there were 2 corners that they just couldn't get right. Following behind a Subaru at any given point in time on the track there was a 50/50 chance they would spin on either of these two corners
Example: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153134354999942
Not sure if vid is private by owner, but blue STI spins, allowing 2 ITR's and me to finally get by Black WRX had spun that corner in front of the blue STI the lap before, ha.
Downside of having a modestly powered car at an open trackday with passing only permitted under power means some of the bigger powered car's are just too difficult to get by on the straights and they just hold you up on the infield!

Anyway, pleased with outcome of 180mm widened WRX spoiler on stock bootlid and vented bonnet.
Pic dump below. No square on rear shot of spoiler, but this sits about perfect over the rear guards.

Can't view the video unfortunately. Car looks great though, interesting choice on the spoiler but think it works.

[flying_wedge]

Well, finally figured out the cause of no headlights after my daughter sat in the car and turned them off and on in quick succession 10 times about a month back...
Shorted out a main earth for the dash stuff and headlights and another short on the high beams? Anyway, what a pain to troubleshoot but headlights are back working again now.
I guess it comes with the territory of having an older car with aging wires and electronics

Ash was down from Auckland and popped in to say hi at the weekend, took him for a quick spin to see the 2zz at work

[Ash Kelly Barr]

Yeah cheers for taking the time to take me out
Big grin on my face for a good while after Haha

2zz's definitely a good swop for an AW!
Torque of a GZE, top end of a track tuned NA

And barrys front anchors sure do a good job!!

Just need a hondata Vtec controler to drop that changer over down to 5700-5800

[flying_wedge]

Long time, no update.
My son is now 5 months old, we're back into the swing of things with both kids in bed at 7. So time to get back out into the garage and into it again.
Have some big plans for this year... will be seeing some (decent) power gains, but staying true to form with aspiration au naturale

Anyway, will get to that in due course - just starting back into it with a small project.
I made the dual gauge pod I currently have last year, but with a wideband gauge winging it's way from America for the suggested modifications above I need one more slot. I also would like the gauges higher up, and always wanted the heater unit to be located at the bottom.
Dremel action and things are trimmed all round, heater unit located at the bottom

For the new gauge pod, the body of the gauges are ~59mm in diameter. I happened across an old olive oil bottle in the kitchen that was 61mm in diameter. That's close enough - I can make that work.

I rolled the bottle up so there were 3 layers of fibreglass around it.

Marked out the bits I will resin, so that once set I can just cut and have the 3 individual pods I need. Bit of masking tape to keep it from unravling.

Dried, and cut, and a little shaping. Temporarily glued to the stereo surround - will probably glass the pods in here permanently.
I pulled off all the pleather wrap of the surround too.

Should hopefully have it all complete in the next 3-4 nights.


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[Ash Kelly Barr]

Haha I like! I'm modding my dash to fit the same stuff. now making an intake manifold out of clay as a mold need to keep on point!
Nice to see an update

Will be even nicer to hear what cams n springs you use

What glass matt do you use? Looks quite thick?

[flying_wedge]

Ash, it's a 3ply weave, don't recall the weight and cut, but it's good for stuff like this that chopped strand mat gets quite messy for. Nice thing is it gives a very good smooth surface to work with after which often only needs a sand and no bog.
3 rolls of 3 ply gives 9 layers of fibre in these pod cups


Well, it worked out that I wasn't paying too much attention
The 2 x prosport gauges I have (one which sits in the drivers air vent) are only 51mm gauges.
One is meant for this cluster I am making, soooooo I found a can of spray paint that was 51mm in diameter and using the same method as with the oil bottle above I made the third pod for that too.
Got there in the end though. Opted for matty black this time instead of gloss white of the last gauge pod... fits the rest of the interior a bit better

I know how the gauges sit at look a bit odd from some angles, but I set the positioning of the faces of the gauges from the drivers seat for best visibility from there.
Looking at the angle I do from the drivers seat the gauges look like this:

As always with anything I make, there are a few blemishes that I would change for next time, but it ultimately comes back to how long I like to sit there with sand paper. So there will always be blemishes.
One other plus side is the whole thing is now very stiff and strong, and no longer has the two cracks along the top of the surround as the prefacelift ones are prone to crack there and flex and slowly deteriorate.
Will take a pic or two when this is fitted in place with relocated heater control unit so you get the feel for it in the car.

Onto other things now I have picked up a "Shifti" which I will mount just beside the hazard switch which is central to the drivers vision.
One thing I have found a bit difficult with a high revving (and quick revving!!) engine is how inconsistent my gear shifts are when the redline is up there at 8750rpm. When keeping eyes on the road and gunning it having split attention between the road and the tacho is a dumb idea. Rev too high and you're on the limiter. Short shift too much and the 2zz isn't on the high cam at the higher gear at 6300rpm.
Plan is for the indirect peripheral visual indicators of revs and the best shift point so not having to watch the tacho and can give full attention to the road.
Hopefully this shift point/redline will actually be 9k+ in coming months, but I will save that for another post


Have the front radiator and side vent fan on individual manual switches too I will grab a snap of when the interior is back together.
Just trying to make the drivers seat a better place to drive from, with a bit more information on hand.

A few pics of the complete car from a distance, as there arn't many of those in this thread. Club run a month back to a few points on Banks Peninsular.
Credit to Simon for the last 4

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2015-02-21 18.13.58.jpg (55.98 KiB) Viewed 1966 times

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[Mike n Rochelle]

Man its looking mint.

[Statek]

Yeah, it's coming along very nicely! Love the gauge cluster

[Ash Kelly Barr]

Ash, it's a 3ply weave, don't recall the weight and cut, but it's good for stuff like this that chopped strand mat gets quite messy for. Nice thing is it gives a very good smooth surface to work with after which often only needs a sand and no bog.
3 rolls of 3 ply gives 9 layers of fibre in these pod cups

As always with anything I make, there are a few blemishes that I would change for next time, but it ultimately comes back to how long I like to sit there with sand paper. So there will always be blemishes.

Onto other things now I have picked up a "Shifti" which I will mount just beside the hazard switch which is central to the drivers vision.

Cool man yeah I picked some up, works well, 9ply is heaps but would make it easy to sand back to shape

I found a degreaser can with 4 ply 200g tight weave makes 2.75" intake tube really nice
I'm yet to find a way to do curved tube well though

As for blemishes Ive found spray putty works well to fill I little bits
Just need to leave it over night to dry or it'll clog the crap out of your sand paper

I like the shift light idea. I have thought of doing something similar

Still going to run a de-mister?

[flying_wedge]

Still going to run a de-mister?

Yeah heater is still the same, just don't have AC or have drivers vent fan or the under steering wheel vents.

A couple of minor 'tweaks' with leather planned. Bringing a small bit of class back to a largely "functional only" interior.
First here is the flat piece above the stereo unit. I cut a piece of 2mm body steel to suit, drilled all around the outside at sewing thread spacing then sewed some red leather that has been in my drawer for about 8 years over the steel.
Will sew up another shifter boot with exposed stitching this week, and some pull straps for the T3 door panels for whenever I get them.
Need to track down a centre console so I have somewhere to fit the shifter boot though!

Yeah, stitching is off , but this is more about my hole drilling consistency than anything else

Gauge pod/stereo surround in better view installed too:

Note the location of the "shifti" shift light bar beside the hazard switch in clear sight between the steering wheel without impairing normal view of the instrument cluster in the pic above ^^


Time for an air filter change. Colour of the old filter is a bit off with age and use, but sourced new filter moreso for it's 6" back end. Came with a velocity stack of sorts - the black one - with a 3" outlet.
I plan on running 3.5" intake pipe soon enough to a larger throttle body, so ordered a very tidy aluminium velocity stack that has a 6" face down to 3.5" outlet from turbohoses.com
Very nice piece, very light. This intake velocity stack will net a few whp on it's own.
Camera doesn't pick up the inside graduation of this stack very well, but it is very nicely made.

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