"Ray's AKA demonfire's XR4Ti build up"

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:55 pm

hahha, thanks. actually that day it was nice out. 34 and sunny.

worry not dear anglin - a garage is on the way. just need to sell this house to get it. and i agree about the paint - not only does it look extra fast (people often crawl under my car to judge how fast it is

) but it keeps the aluminum from cracking. it's MAGIC paint.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:37 pm

Wow. Snow. Again.

Pumpkin in the shed, view w/o

Eaton in, clearanced case, backlash about set (ended up at 0.006")

rackin' up the extra / spare parts now. (clutch is from my truck)

in. clearanced case. drain installed. (just to the right of the case is the tool i built for the side adjusters)

showing what had to be clearanced.

and to add some convienence, a drain plug

showing the springs and gears in the eaton:

special thanks to mc2racing for providing the rebuild service and pressing on the bearings. thanks to Joe (hEaT) for helping with getting this done.

Next up: rear disc conversion. I would have taken pictures of putting the diff back in, but when you're putting a diff back in a car, by yourself, in the snow, on gravel, taking pictures isn't really a priority. Anyway, it looks exactly the same as before, but with more better guts inside.

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 10:05 pm

Nice pics Ray - that thing looks pretty beefy!

I did some work in the unheated garage yesterday. After awhile, the cold just soaks up into your legs and torso. I came instead and stood next to the wood stove for the better part of forever.

I considered taking some pics, but opted out.

Post by **hEaT** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 10:58 pm

DPDISXR4Ti wrote: I did some work in the unheated garage yesterday. After awhile, the cold just soaks up into your legs and torso. I came instead and stood next to the wood stove for the better part of forever.

I considered taking some pics, but opted out.

Out of our time working outside last night, I spent a good 15minutes in front of the wood stove thawing. We were debating taking pictures, but it was really cold and who wants to see a chunk of metal anyway

BeefFajitas · Post by **BeefFajitas** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:06 am

Has anyone run a pattern on the gears, post-Eaton install? I would think if you match the backlash to pre-install the pattern should be the same, but I'm just curious.

Post by **Grayson** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:04 pm

The pattern is indeed the same once you're done.

What's more concerning/interesting to me is that the case should be smacked around with a rubber mallet after initially setting the backlash, just in case there is a little bit of binding in the bearings after assembly. The backlash can then be double-checked, and adjusted if necessary. One time when I installed a Quaife diff I set the backlash perfectly, and the axle whined. I pulled it out, did everything the exact same way, and there was no whine. The difference? The bearings probably needed to settle in a way that rotating the ring gear won't fix. You either need to drive it (the slow method), or knock the case around with a mallet (the fast method).

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:06 pm

My case was well aquainted with a rubber mallet - it didn't change the backlash for me at all.

DSPXR4ti · Post by **DSPXR4ti** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:57 pm

Hey Ray,

Your rear disc set up is on the way should be there Monday (sorry for the delay)also make sure you break in the Eaton LSD by doing a figure 8 three times in the parking lot before you run it at an Autocross event, I was told this by my Diff. guy.

Ben

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:16 am

Ben,

As of right now the car isn't doing anything other than sitting on blocks until spring rolls around. But i do remember what you told me for break in and i will try to approximate that the best i can.

Look forward to the rear brake bits. Might not get to that until spring, however.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:15 pm

Snow Day!

Joe (hEaT) and i started this last night. We ended up realizing that harbor freight chop saws aren't that long lived, as mine lit on fire. After a quick trip to the 'depot, i picked up a 14" abrasive rigid chop saw (lifetime warranty). Cuts were SOOOO much easier and quicker.

Anyway, what did we start working on, you might ask? Well, if you remember my car has that side exit open downpipe. Since i'm a fiend for losing weight, i figured why not just axe the entire exhaust, and make it side exit only? hEaT will be running my old 3" exhaust with the side exit, and i'll be running this conglamation of cuts.

Anyway, if you're not aware, we got some snow (it's still snowing) and since my office is closed i figured i'd work on this project some more.

As always, the "it only snows on work on merkur days" picture

fun working environment. luckily that was only needed for test fit / mark / get the angle / etc. the rest of the work was done in my shed.

downpipe to a couple 15 degree bends (out, down, up, out) to the oval transition i built to go under the frame rail. 2" tubing split lengthwise with 2" sheet spacing it yields 7.14"^2. 3" tubing has a cross sectional area of 7.08"^2, so it's about right. to blend 3" round to the oval, sheet metal, welder, hammer... and repeat.

Anyway

and slightly out and up, then back to get it level...

you can see how the down turn (again, three cuts with slight angles) is already ground out to be mostly smooth. it's not a show car but i figured i'd spend the extra 45 minutes grinding welds.

slightly blurry, but you get an idea of the amount of work that went into this

less blurry, showing the band clamp (for easy removal), oval, and most of the tubing.

To secure the rear portion of the exhaust i'm going to weld a bolt to the bottom (short bolt), then use some aluminum flat stock bent to go around the pinch and such, which will be secured to the floor pan. I might do this twice.

anyway, i masked off the resonator, precleaned, and painted the tubing flat white with VHT flameproof paint. To get an idea of the color, look at the oval transition.

next up - stainless braided brake lines and rear disc conversion (thanks to mike and ben)

BeefFajitas · Post by **BeefFajitas** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:41 pm

I'm probably going to do something similiar, only my muffler and cat are going to stay under the car. I'll use some oval tubing to get under the frame rail and then slash cut it by the pinch welds. Should look pretty sinister.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:20 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgbdDXmJ6Ao

still need to finish up the hangers and such, but here is the first fire up

Post by **anglin** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:51 am

Uh, it wasn't snowing when you shot that video. What gives?

Good stuff, BTW. That's one of the most entertaining Merkur exhausts I've ever seen. Just need video of it doing more than idling now.

Post by **hEaT** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:56 pm

anglin wrote:Uh, it wasn't snowing when you shot that video. What gives?

It's 60* today!

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:11 pm

Anglin - it's freaking GORGEOUS out today. I washed the wife's car, the truck, the subaru, vacuumed and cleaned my wife's car's interior, and waxed them.

I will get to mounting hangers later. Joe if you want to stop by we can shoot one with more than just idling. It's rather tough to hit the throttle AND hold the camera