TheRD86...Build Story!

There isnt a whole lot more to say at this point, except that we just got our heads down and finished the build.

There was much to do, such as;

-Throttle cable and linkage
-Clutch and throttle stop
-Finish all the plumbing and fill with fluids
-Mount the driver screen, rain light, make boot supports
-All the software for the PDM and ECU and dash

The list went on, but bit by bit we made progress and at some point in late summer 2021 I powered the car up for the first time and began to commission the electronics.

This was completed, followed by an initial fire up. Once all this was done, were somewhere close to going to the dyno.

Dyno runs completed, the car behaved and some of the videos i'll post online at some stage.
 
The first (and so far only) outing for the car was to be Castle Coombe Rally Day in September. Nothing like a public event for a shakedown!

Before that however, we arranged a photoshoot in at Motion night club in Bristol. This was a really special day, the first time I had really stepped back from the car and properly looked at what we had created, in an amazing venue and with a great photographer. Thanks Jo :)

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Swampy having the time of his life, then we found the smoke machine in the club...

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Finally me, who can't quite believe the first time I drove my car was inside a nightclub!!!
 
There were so many people who helped out in so many ways, and without all of them it would never have been possible to build something like this;

Mainly;

-Dobby and Swampy who went above and beyond in everyway to make this work
-Autosportif Engineering. I borrowed tools, used equipment, ran ideas past them, had help with aluminum welding and so much more
-EDM. Elliot knows how to put a car together and I was lucky he agreed to help on this one
-Oluminium. To have Ollie so close by and again agree to work on this with me got us off to a great start
-Heritage Engineering. So many 'can you just' requested from me for random machining tasks. Some with drawings, many without!
-Motorsport Services. So much completed by them to strip and paint the shell to an amazing standard. And the flocking!
-ITG. Made me a custom air filter and hosted the car on their stand at Rallyday at Castle Coombe
-Joe_Hayhow_photography for the amazing shots at Motion, (and access in the first place!)
-Chaydon Ford for more great shots at Rallyday, and for helping track down Corolla parts

And many more!
 
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A couple more photos I didn't upload yet, specifically the exhaust.

The car used a standard S2000 tubular manifold, I wanted a side exit exhasut from the outset, but knowing that it couldnt be used most of the time due to noise restrictions at most tracks, it needed a 'quiet' version to go with it.

So, talking to Elliot again, we came up with a plan. We would build a system that could be swapped to fit the 'side pipe' for shows and places where noise limits weren't a thing, then the normal, rear exit option that could be fitted for all other times.

Elliot had the car back and got to work. A fully stainless systems, using a V-band at joins. The lower part of the manifold was re-angled to run parrallel to the gearbox, and also with the addition of a wideband lambda, and an EGT sensor.

Now I need to find somewhere to use the side pipe in anger!

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I love just going through an entire god tier build like this. The quality here is insane, amazing work bro.
 
A few from Silverstone yesterday, Japfest was busy and the sun was shining!

Great chance to run the side exit exhaust, but its way to loud both inside and out :)

More going on my instagram over time; @Robbie_Durant

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Another great event at Curborough sprint course a few weeks ago, managed to take the 'win' by 0.1 sec from a well driven Exige, it was a fun battle all day!

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At this point, and with a few miles under its belt, one thing was becoming clear to me. The back of this car is too stiff.

The front turns in so well that it gives you confidence to turn in really quickly and accurately, but when you do the back just cant follow. Either it just snaps straight away, or it breaks away as soon as you try and get on the throttle. Often it was both, which is a really nasty combination, especially around copse corner at Silverstone....for example!

I disconnected the rear roll bar for the sprint at Curborough, and it was better. But still the back was not staying in line and I was giving away time by having to go into corners slower than I would have liked.

So, looking at the spring rates and weight distribution front to rear after a quick session on the corner weights, I ordered some softer rear springs and when I had a spare evening, I swapped them over. For those that are interested, I went down from 425 lb/ft to 350 lb/ft.

I then booked an evening trackday at Donington to try and do some miles and figure out if this change had made any sort of difference

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Things didnt quite go to plan, after a couple of slow laps then a couple to build up the speed, I started to feel something odd happening. After another half lap or so, I had to pit.

It turns out that would be the end of my day. A couple of the inserts in the chassis, where my 'horseshoe' bolts in, to locate the tension struts, had strippped and the bolts had come loose. The front end was essentially not connected to the chassis. The front roll bar mounts also use these inserts. Game over


In the attached image, I highlighted the inserts in the chassis that have failed, and caused the front end to come loose. In a perfect world, I would have anticipated this during the shell build, but this is the excuse I needed to improve this part of the car
 
I got the RD86 home, and after some chat with the guys we think we understood what happened. So, how to fix it.

Although no more events are planned for the car at that point, I didnt want to spend weeks trying to engineer and make a fix. A call to Eliot at EDM and we agreed on a plan. I would take the car to him, and with a bit of discussion, a white board and a couple of beers, we had a solution.

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Some great fabrication as always by EDM, and the car back together

Eliot also remade the roll bar mounts so that they located properly into the chassis

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Amazing build!
Can l ask who welded in the front turret reinforcement plates?
I need some doing on an '86

Thanks
 
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