Hindsight's build thread

[Hindsight]

No not yet but I have thought a lot about it while doing the shifter. I will have the same issue as you, however, the solution I have been thinking about going with is routing one cable on each side of the e-brake. Most of the e-brake mounting is in the middle of it, which leaves room on either side for a cable. The exception is the right side of the e-brake which has the support leg that sort of sticks out at an odd angle. I was going to cut that off and weld something a little different to provide support, while allowing room for one cable to pass to the side of it. This is all with the e-brake mounting flush with the top of the tunnel, like I did with my shifter. Have you considered that option?

[Hindsight]

Also, does anyone have as much slop in the internal shifter linkage as I do? I'm talking about the shaft that comes out of the rear of the transmission. For the front to back movement, it seems there is a good 1/8" to 3/16" of play before anything real starts to happen. Makes the shifter feel more sloppy than it is.

[FFRSpec72]

Also, does anyone have as much slop in the internal shifter linkage as I do? I'm talking about the shaft that comes out of the rear of the transmission. For the front to back movement, it seems there is a good 1/8" to 3/16" of play before anything real starts to happen. Makes the shifter feel more sloppy than it is.

I'm still trying to get mine adjusted, not sure why it's soooo hard to shift

[Hindsight]

Tony, what rear bracket are you using? The FFR supplied one? If so, that may be part of it. Could also be the ratios.... the shorter the throw at your shift knob, the more effort will be required. Are you routing your cables over the engine or around it? That may be part of it too... over the engine should work better with less friction and lash.

[Mechie3]

I had an issue with a really short MR2 shifter lever making it feel like I was pulling on the trans by hand without a linkage. I made the lever longer and it feels really nice now without being vague.

[Hindsight]

Craig, here is a pic of how I am planning on routing the shifter cables around the e-brake. There is also enough room to run the left cable through the inside of the e-brake bracket, or even to go under it and back up out the back. So, a few ways to go about it.

[Hindsight]

Decided I am definitely going to mount the ebrake base just below the square frame tubes. Will weld on some steel plates to the bottom of the ebrake base plate, then will bolt those to the frame. That will leave tons of room for the shifter cables to go around and will put the e-brake handle at the right height.

[Mechie3]

I made my cable mounts a little differently. I'll have to go out and play around with a few things as I don't remember exactly where they sit. Thanks.

[FFRSpec72]

Tony, what rear bracket are you using? The FFR supplied one? If so, that may be part of it. Could also be the ratios.... the shorter the throw at your shift knob, the more effort will be required. Are you routing your cables over the engine or around it? That may be part of it too... over the engine should work better with less friction and lash.

I'm using the K-Tuned shifter and bracket from Wayne and have longer cables, these go over the engine

[RM1SepEx]

Also, does anyone have as much slop in the internal shifter linkage as I do? I'm talking about the shaft that comes out of the rear of the transmission. For the front to back movement, it seems there is a good 1/8" to 3/16" of play before anything real starts to happen. Makes the shifter feel more sloppy than it is.

Mine is the same

[Mitch Wright]

Mine go over the engine as well.

[Hindsight]

Thanks Dan, makes me feel better.

Tony, not sure why the shifter is stiff if you have Wayne's setup, since it's doing all the right things to combat stiffness: Cables going straight back, good shifter mechanism up front, and well-designed bracket in the back. The only thing I can think of is that I believe the VCP shifter makes one of the cables do a 90 degree bend into the linkage at the back. It's not a sharp turn by any means but I'm not sure if that may be creating some drag on the cable or not. Most all of us who have gone the MR2 route and made our own linkages have used bell cranks in the back instead so the cables stay as straight as possible, but again, since I haven't compared the two setups, I can't say that the extra bend in the VCP unit is actually causing any drag. Have you contacted him?

[STiPWRD]

Also, does anyone have as much slop in the internal shifter linkage as I do? I'm talking about the shaft that comes out of the rear of the transmission. For the front to back movement, it seems there is a good 1/8" to 3/16" of play before anything real starts to happen. Makes the shifter feel more sloppy than it is.

That kind of slop seems excessive. My shift fork shaft feels like it has not play at all, in fact 3/16 feels like roughly the amount of travel needed to engage the gears.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Also, does anyone have as much slop in the internal shifter linkage as I do? I'm talking about the shaft that comes out of the rear of the transmission. For the front to back movement, it seems there is a good 1/8" to 3/16" of play before anything real starts to happen. Makes the shifter feel more sloppy than it is.

Hindsight,
My transmission have about 3/4" of travel from 1st to second.
So 3/8" from neutral to 1st.
The first 3/16 is used to engage the synchronizer. The second 3/16 of movement puts it in gear. If the synchronizer is already aligned. It just falls through the syncro. That might be the internal play that you feel.

Tony,
Don't forget that the transmission is full 90w gear glue. Once you get the trans warmed up. I will loosen up a lot.
Bob

https://youtu.be/NLPjJnvYMAM

[Hindsight]

Thanks Bob... good points.

[Hindsight]

Ok, holes drilled in the firewall, grommets installed, and I measured for new cables. 81" and 79". So now I can get those custom length cables ordered. That means the shifter is officially done.

Next up is exhaust. I'm going to fabricate a 3" collector that looks like the picture below. Originally, I had bought a Kinugawa SS collector but it is turned down and I am planning on a high-center exit where most people would put their license plate, so the turn-down wouldn't work for me. I'll have to run my plate down in the lower venting area instead up higher. After the collector, I will have a ~45 degree bend, then a straight-through Kooks muffler (which will sit at an angle over the transmission), then another ~45 bend pointing straight out the back, above the transmission, followed by a SS dual exhaust tip right in the center of the upper rear vent. I haven't fabricated and exhaust before and I think that getting the alignment perfect is going to be tough. I have no room for a flex joint in the setup, but I see I can tweak the turbo mounting brackets a bit to give me a little bit of wiggle room if the tip ends up being close, but not perfectly centered (a small amount of adjustment at the turbo will translate to a big adjust 2.5' down the system). I'm planning on welding 3" V-band clamps to each end of the muffler so I can swap it out as needed. Pics to come.

[Hindsight]

Got started on the collector and also radiused and cleaned up the shift linkage parts.

[Tamra]

Very nice!

[xxguitarist]

Fair warning, our exhaust exit is as you describe, and we wind up with a bit of exhaust perfume after a drive. It's fine for autox, but we're considering changing things for street use.

[Hindsight]

Interesting thank you for the input! Are you certain it's due to the exhaust exit location? I guess with all the negative pressure the windshield creates, the higher the tip, the more likely the exhaust is to be pulled into that swirl. I wonder if people with lower exits are having the same issue?

[RM1SepEx]

Thanks Dan, makes me feel better.

Tony, not sure why the shifter is stiff if you have Wayne's setup, since it's doing all the right things to combat stiffness: Cables going straight back, good shifter mechanism up front, and well-designed bracket in the back. The only thing I can think of is that I believe the VCP shifter makes one of the cables do a 90 degree bend into the linkage at the back. It's not a sharp turn by any means but I'm not sure if that may be creating some drag on the cable or not. Most all of us who have gone the MR2 route and made our own linkages have used bell cranks in the back instead so the cables stay as straight as possible, but again, since I haven't compared the two setups, I can't say that the extra bend in the VCP unit is actually causing any drag. Have you contacted him?

The loop causes drag due to friction and adds to the "slop" because the inner cable has to move from the inside of the cable to the outside of the cable's inner sheath. The cables that Bob and I bought have almost zero inner clearance and less of this "slop" in a curve of the cable run (Teleflex Extreme control cables)

Andrews exhaust comments may be explained by the turbulence behind the car due to airflow, at low speed you can expect the air to cascade back towards the cockpit. Have you ever sat in the back of a pickup? I made my exhaust exit low behind the tire where the airflow should be backwards due to a smoother airflow

[Hindsight]

I'm not sure if the custom-length cables I ordered are "Teleflex Extreme" or not, but I think they are Teleflex. The guy I spoke with at Custom Cables in California was very knowledgeable and said these were the best cables for shifters and that he sells a ton of them so fingers crossed.

[brian b 36]

my ext is under the diff and get no smell at all

[Hindsight]

Well.... after putting the body on temporarily and trying to see how things fit, the high center exit is going to be REAL tough to make fit. Hardly enough room for bends. I could do a hidden dump between the rear lower lateral link and the bumper, just outside where the diffuser would go. That might be better for exhaust fumes......

Decisions decisions.

[Tamra]

Why do you think our exhaust ended up with so many bends - it's tough to fit for center exit! If we did it again we would probably exit under the bumper to reduce exhaust fumes. We like how it looks as center exit though...

[RM1SepEx]

Well.... after putting the body on temporarily and trying to see how things fit, the high center exit is going to be REAL tough to make fit. Hardly enough room for bends. I could do a hidden dump between the rear lower lateral link and the bumper, just outside where the diffuser would go. That might be better for exhaust fumes......

Decisions decisions.

You can see why I went down, 90 to the side and out low behind the wheel

P1120739.JPG P1120274.JPG P1120261.JPG

[Pearldrummer7]

Is the exhaust a need or a want? My AJW exhaust exits above the transmission, in the center (ever so slightly off center, perhaps?), and it isn't THAT loud. It passed NY inspection

[Hindsight]

Just too loud for me without a good sized muffler.

[RM1SepEx]

I can't get it on the road w/o a cat and muffler. It sounds pretty mean with the high flow cat and straight thru 3 inch muffler

[Hindsight]

Yeah Dan, looks like I will probably end up with a similar setup as you. I don't need the cat though so I will skip that, and will probably opt to just dump the exhaust out the bottom instead of going through a body cutout.

[svanlare]

I've just got the Cat and it is loud, going to wait until I try it on the road to see if I need to add both. Are you going to mount both the Cat and the Muffler?

[Hindsight]

No just the muffler. I don't need the cat so I can skip it.

[RM1SepEx]

Hard to understand "not needing a CAT" it's Federal law... Maine is simple, no testing just visual inspection. Too bad it isn't enforced with Harleys, they are OBNOXIOUS

[Buzz Skyline]

I have a cat, but I'm not sure homebuilt cars need to pass emissions in Maryland. So in that sense, I don't need one to be legally on the road.

Even if it does need to pass emissions, we're an OBD-based emissions testing state, and it's very easy to fool the OBD into reporting the cat as properly functioning even if there isn't one installed. Legally, you need a cat in Maryland, practically speaking (for scofflaws anyway), not so much.

[tmoretta]

I am using a small cat and then the FFR supplied chrome end exiting behind the rear tire. I have mounted a Supertrap adjustable plate silencer to the pipe. The Supertrap allows me to change the tone/loudness very easily by varying the number of plates. I did find that too few plates will "snuff out" the turbo with the back pressure.

[Hindsight]

Hopefully wrapping up the exhaust tonight. I'm going to have to wait until the body is fully fitted, the real wheels and tires are mounted, the deck hinge is on, and the splash guards are in place before I fabricate an exhaust hanger to support the end of the muffler because all those things are going to have to factor in to where I can mount the support brace.

After the exhaust, I just need to bolt the seat in, set a very very rough alignment, tighten the suspension bolts, and install the custom-length shift cables which get here tomorrow, then it's first go-kart.

[Hindsight]

Here is the final rear shift linkage after cleaning it up and cutting off the bits I didn't need. Have the new custom length cables on it as well. They look a little different than others I have seen, but they work great and have nearly no slop. The length was perfect too. 79" on one and 81" on the other. Can't wait to test drive it and see what it feels like while the gears and synchros are turning. I got high-temp cable housings but also wrapped the cables in heat sleeving as well for added protection.



Here is the exhaust. I just need to add a bend or two and a short pipe dumping the exhaust out the bottom via hidden tip, and add a wide-band bung to the bellmouth. Hoping for go-kart this weekend.

[FFRSpec72]

Interesting ...

[RM1SepEx]

Did you check your rear inner fender clearance?

[Hindsight]

Thank you for asking Dan! Yes, I have been checking it obsessively... but it's difficult to be exact since I can't be 100% certain where the inner splash liner (the piece that hangs off the frame) will be until I get my new wheels and tires mounted. I currently only have the wheels, not the tires. But I eyeballed it, assuming that the tire would be as far inward as possible before hitting things, and even then, I do still have room for the tip. The angle of the pic makes it look like the corner of the muffler is closer than it is, but there is about 5-6" between it and the donor tire.

Here are some pics of the cables and the final implementation of the shifter (still need to install my fancy new knob).