Anaximander Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) Well, the journey to a complete car is progressing. Edited April 24 by Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Nice one Bob! I have never seen an IRS Stalker rear end design before. Intriguing design to reuse off the shelf parts. Looking forward to lots of photos on this journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) Edited September 25, 2022 by Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) Edited September 25, 2022 by Anaximander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted March 24, 2022 Author Share Posted March 24, 2022 (edited) Edited April 24 by Anaximander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted March 25, 2022 Author Share Posted March 25, 2022 (edited) Not a great deal of progress today. Unbolted the scuttle to see how the electric power assist steering was installed and looking at how the pedals were fitted to the car. I think I also may have lined up a single person shop that will be willing to apply paint to the primer'd chassis and also sand and paint the fiberglass components after I get them fitted in the next week or so. Also completely reviewed the build instructions on the installation of the front and rear suspension components. Tomorrow, I will be reading up on how to fit and secure the fiberglass body work. Edited March 25, 2022 by Anaximander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted March 29, 2022 Author Share Posted March 29, 2022 Wowser, building a car is not for sissies. I hope that my hands get work-hardened as time goes on. Today, we fitted/trimmed the scuttle and got the hood about 70% fitted. The race tires in the foreground are the size and brand that will be going on the back of the AXR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted April 7, 2022 Author Share Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) Happy to report that most of the fittings of the body panels have been completed on the initial construction. Edited September 25, 2022 by Anaximander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Hi Bob - What is the difference between an AXR Stalker and a regular Stalker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted April 7, 2022 Author Share Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) The AXR Stalker has the rear axle moved up 5" putting the weight of the driver more over the rear wheels. It is also designed to accept 13" wide rear racing slicks on the back and 10" slicks on the front. I will be running Avons front and back likely with Keizer 3-piece lightweight aluminum wheels. Edited September 26, 2022 by Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 The rear deck lid and side panels atop the rear clip were cut and fitted today which took a surprising amount of test fitting and trimming. With patience and some great tools, the job was completed. We removed the racing tires, put the car back on the roller wheels and will do a complete deconstruction of all the loosely assembled parts to get the car back to its native chassis and ready for paint. I will be very interested to see how challenging it is to remove the engine/transmission. It feels like the second phase of the build will be behind us when the components requiring paint go out the door. I am also pumped that my Aluma tilt trailer that I ordered a couple of months ago will be ready to bring home sometime late next week. I had planned to use that trailer to transport the chassis to the coater but may have to rent a trailer for a few hours to get it to the painter's shop. I have elected to not worry about scheduling a powder coat for the chassis because it would likely significantly delay the build/coordination toward completion and the paint shop will be using special hard automotive coatings that should withstand most of the potential abuse thrown at it with the reconstruction of all the component parts. Being that it is an open cockpit race car, it will not be subjected to rainy days if they can be avoided. I do not have any interest in learning how to drive with great precision on slick surfaces or with rain tires. That level of competition does not seem appealing to my old bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 (edited) With a lot of help from my racing buddy and a bunch of sweat and calculating, we finished the fitment of the AXR body panels, pedals, etc. and began the deconstruction yesterday and completed it today. The chassis and body panels will be going to the painter later this week. If it were not for my friend, I am afraid that I might have drowned in the deep end not really knowing the proper way to do things even though Stalker Cars provides excellent sequential step-by-step videos developed and presenting Scott Minehart as he explains the compartmentalized tasks. I have realized that there are many gaps in my limited automotive assembly capabilities and it is very helpful to get assistance from someone who is quite versed in construction techniques, especially with Stalkers and Miatas. I think if I had the opportunity to build several of these that the tasks would be significantly less daunting. Having owned a number of prior built Stalkers, I am extremely impressed with the quality of the chassis construction and how precisely things fit with each other. Edited April 14, 2022 by Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Bob....thats not a neat garage, its a cry for help! Man caves need a certain level of disarray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted April 17, 2022 Author Share Posted April 17, 2022 (edited) Car continuing to be upgraded. Edited April 24 by Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 I actually made that error this week. An email came in referring to "Myotherapist" I responded asking what on earth is 'My Other Rapist"? Clearly I knew my employee too well..... I would hang out your shingle here on USA7s. Plenty of nut jobs....like all of us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted June 5, 2022 Author Share Posted June 5, 2022 (edited) Building Edited September 26, 2022 by Anaximander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted June 24, 2022 Author Share Posted June 24, 2022 (edited) Edited September 26, 2022 by Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipergeek Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 Anaximander, Your build is looking great! What radiator are you using? I'm having some cooling challenges with my Ecoboost Stalker in this Texas summer. My radiator dimensions are 14.5" wide, 16.5" high and 3.5" deep. There is about 4-5" of open space on the sides of the radiator where incoming air can bypass the radiator. The top and bottom are pretty snug. My first step will be to fab some baffles to block air from bypassing the radiator on the sides and create a semi-pressure nose bowl similar to a recip aircraft cowling. My objective is to force most, if not all, of the incoming air through the radiator. If that doesn't help I may be looking for a larger radiator. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted June 26, 2022 Author Share Posted June 26, 2022 (edited) Vipergeek, I am using a Maradyne High Performance Fans M142K Champion Low Profile Series Fan that is 14" and reversible in front of a custom radiator sourced by Stalker Cars. Since I will be using this for autocross, I will be installing a 160 degree thermostat to get my engine warmed up quickly for autox duties. I am not sure what your EcoBoost needs for cooling? The nose area of a Stalker is fairly small and cooling is a bit challenging because the radiator has to be tilted backward for hood clearance. IIRC, your EcoBoost engine is mounted significantly differently than any M-Spec Stalker that I have seen or owned and so my setup may not be helpful for you? I know when I run LS3's in the Stalkers, the engines are designed to run hotter (about 200-215) than the older school engines. On this build, I am including an overflow tank (2.5L Universal Aluminum Coolant Radiator Overflow Expansion Tank Reservoir Recovery Water Tank Bottle) that you can get on Amazon. Edited June 26, 2022 by Anaximander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipergeek Posted June 27, 2022 Share Posted June 27, 2022 3 hours ago, Anaximander said: Vipergeek, I am using a Maradyne High Performance Fans M142K Champion Low Profile Series Fan that is 14" and reversible in front of a custom radiator sourced by Stalker Cars. Since I will be using this for autocross, I will be installing a 160 degree thermostat to get my engine warmed up quickly for autox duties. I am not sure what your EcoBoost needs for cooling? The nose area of a Stalker is fairly small and cooling is a bit challenging because the radiator has to be tilted backward for hood clearance. IIRC, your EcoBoost engine is mounted significantly differently than any M-Spec Stalker that I have seen or owned and so my setup may not be helpful for you? I know when I run LS3's in the Stalkers, the engines are designed to run hotter (about 200-215) than the older school engines. On this build, I am including an overflow tank (2.5L Universal Aluminum Coolant Radiator Overflow Expansion Tank Reservoir Recovery Water Tank Bottle) that you can get on Amazon. Thank you for this information. I'll let you know how the baffle plan works. I was surprised that your radiator fit inside our small nose area. I expect it pretty much fills up all of the available space... which should be good in that there will be very little incoming air bypassing the radiator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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