Gherkin Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Well I introduced myself a couple of months ago in the "tell us about yourself section" and now have my car on the road. This car has been through a lot before I picked it up from Dick Brink. I'll try to give a brief history... The car was being used by Dick as a sales tool while he was working on selling it. It car was being run at a track event in Arizona when the engine failed in a permanent sort of way:(. Dick hauled the car (I still working on a name) back to his Texas shop for a look-see at the engine. While up on the rack, about 6 feet, the car was knocked off by a van being pulled into the service bay:eek:. I purchased the car as-is taking a bit of a gamble on the condition of the frame. Dick supplied a lot of pictures but was careful to not promise that everything was fine. The car did come with a good donor engine to replace the bad unit still installed. It took me a few weeks to pull the engine/trans and strip the rear of the frame in prep for repairs. I have taken lots of pictures, partially to help in reassembly but also to document the repairs. Once the car was as stripped down as I felt necessary I brought it to a highly respected local race car fabricator for measuring on his surface table and repairs. To my great relief, with the exception of the right rear corner, the frame was still within less then 1/8 inch of being flat and square :hurray:! Even with the great initial measurements he did do a little pulling to get it even closer to perfect. Once I got the chassis back from the fab shop it was on to reassembly with the replacement engine. With my day job getting in the way of this all important task it took almost a month but I finally had the first start on Monday (I feel bad thinking this is a long time knowing some on the forum have spent years on their cars). The build of this car was started a couple of years ago by another forum member that decided to go another route, Dick Brink finished the car and used it himself for a while as mentioned earlier. A few specs for those that will ask... 2010 Birkin chassis Duratec engine ('08 donor car) Stage two cams Supercharged Haltech ECU Water injection Dyno'd on Thursday at 250.0 HP (Dynapack dyno) (The guy that tuned the car set the rev limiter at 6,500 since that is where the injectors hit 100% duty cycle but it was still building power, bigger injectors and fuel pump will soon be installed) T9 Close Ratio Limited slip Carbon fiber nose, fenders, dash, tunnel Lotus Isotope Green paint Oh ya, regarding the name, after my first couple of stints behind the wheel I'm think of naming it "HOLY CR4P!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 ...after my first couple of stints behind the wheel I'm think of naming it "HOLY CR4P!" A very suitable name! Congratulations on making it this far! Sounds like it was a bit of an ordeal to pull it all together. The green on black suits the car really well. I am sort of surprised that it only made 250hp with that set up but I guess it is the 6500rpm limit that is causing that as 2L Duratecs should rev higher. I will be very interested to see what happens when you increase the injector size. Where/how is the supercharger mounted on the engine in this Birkin installation - top right of your engine pic? Also which supercharger - rotrex? I am sorry for all the questions - I am curious how this all gets packaged in a small Birkin chassis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayseven Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 It looks fantastic! Congratulations on finishing. It is a route I would have taken had it been an option for me where I live. Instead, I burned myself, and my wallet, out on a bigger project that I wish to sell, so I can finally start driving more. Be aware of very bumpy roads, speed bumps, potholes etc because it can get bad when you hit those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanG Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 It looks very nice. I have a suggestion - shield that poor alternator from the heat of the exhaust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gherkin Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 Croc, The supercharger is a Pro-Charger unit "reverse" mounted to the front of the engine. It is a very tight fit but also a very strong and rigid mount. I was told the car was running 10 psi boost and close to 300 HP (I never saw a dyno chart...) with a 2" pulley before the engine failed. I went to a 2 1/4 pulley with the expectation of about 8 psi and at least 250 HP. On the dyno the new pulley was producing 10 psi at 7,000 rpm but that was when the pump and injectors were getting beyond their max. The HP was still climbing past 6,000 rpm but started to fall as the injectors maxed, I am hoping for another 15+ HP with better fuel delivery beyond 6,500. I'm finding that the 6,500 rpm rev limit comes on pretty quickly in lower gears:D. I suspect that the smaller pulley, higher rev limit, and shortcomings of the fuel delivery led to the demise of the last engine. Here are a couple of shots taken during the tear-down. Thanks, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gherkin Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 It looks very nice. I have a suggestion - shield that poor alternator from the heat of the exhaust. Thanks for the tip, I have noticed that it does get a bit toasty around the header. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 My Brink built '09 Duratec also suffered an engine failure at the track. Dick said, oops, ya need to modify the Raceline wet sump with a trap door or you get oil starvation on cornering. Worth ckg into if you plan any track work. With so much huge, flat power, I cant imagine needing more? You are running abt 100 hp than mine made and I thot mine was scary fast. Mine weighed just over 1100lbs which contributed to it's speedyness. Car is beautiful, esp like the carbon fiber dash and the color combo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Do you have an intercooler plumbed in there somewhere? 10 psi without some method of charge cooling is on the risky side of engine life which may be what caused the failure of the original engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gherkin Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 Scannon, No intercooler but the car is running a water injection system that comes in at about 4psi to cool the charge. Kitcat, At this point I don't have plans for tracking the car but the occasional autocross is in its future. I did have to install a new Raceline sump, probably should have found out about the mods before engine assembly... The hottest days of summer are on the way so if it's too hot to drive maybe dropping the pan will help pass the time. I haven't weighed the car yet but there really hasn't been any lightness added yet so I'm expecting over 1,300#'s. (that's 1,300 pounds not 1,300 hashtags for the younger readers out there, go'n oldschool) Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gherkin Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 OK, so I set out for the local Radio Shack to find a heat sink for my ignition module, a drive of about 8 miles one-way. Can someone tell me why that took close to two hours and put almost 70 miles on the car?? Pass the sunscreen... Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Seven owners, once behind the wheel, seem to have an extremely poor since of direction. This often calls for a rather lengthy stretch of road to clear the head. A good rule of thumb for 'Seven' distance for any given leg is to multiply the actual distance to be driven by 5 and then add 59% to that figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 OK, so I set out for the local Radio Shack to find a heat sink for my ignition module, a drive of about 8 miles one-way. Can someone tell me why that took close to two hours and put almost 70 miles on the car?? Pass the sunscreen... Chris You are perfectly normal - men never stop to ask for directions resulting in fantastic meandering driving opportunities. :jester: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now