Back at Dyno Torque, Craig cracked on with
the cutter and welded, fabricating the arch tubs and a new boot floor to
accommodate the ASCAR’s fuel tank. The positioning of many of the components,
including the fuel tank, were in pursuit of a perfect 50/50 weight distribution.
Toyota
Corolla Trueno AE86 wheel
It was then time to start fitting all the
running gear. It would be stripped down again in order for the shell to be
soda-blasted, prepped and painted but with the clock ticking it was important
to at least get the car running. After an unfortunate incident with an American
company ripping Driftworks off for thousands of pounds of LS1 parts, the guys
decided to cut their losses with the ASCAR’s original LS1 engine and instead
opted for afresh 6.2-litre Chevrolet LS3 V8 crate engine. This was later
rebuilt with forged pistons, custom cam, valve springs, retainers and pushrods.
There have been various trials and tribulations in arriving at this final
setup, but with an ARE dry sump kit and clever air/oil separator (modified to
fit) in place, Phil is confident they’ve got the reliable platform they need to
compete and build upon. Incidentally, the oil tank (which from some angles
resembles an upright atomic bomb from the Cold War) was also prised from the
ASCAR and is mounted in the boot, with all of the lines fabricated in-house at
Dyno Torque.
Atop each head is a bank of voluptuous Jen
vey independent throttle bodies. These were originally going to run equally
sexy prepreg carbon air boxes but with bonnet clearance already looking
sketchy, foam Piper cross filters have been adopted instead. There’s therefore
very little to soften their bark, so when combined with the coarse V8 backing
track and free-flowing custom exhaust(designed by Craig), the result is a
glorious crescendo of immense power and purpose.
Toyota
Corolla Trueno AE86 nose
Keeping the setup cool is a boot-mounted
Driftworks 350Z alloy radiator, with a custom shroud to separate it off for
maximum cooling. It may initially seem odd mounting the radiator out back but
James has carefully inset NACA ducts into all three rear Perspex windows, and
with the Toyota spending most of its time seriously sideways, it’s actually
here, well away from everything hot, that it will provide the most effective
cooling treatment. To aid in this yet further, the car is also running Evans
waterless coolant, a product countless competition cars are now transitioning
over to. Not only does the Evans formula not boil but it’s also been found to
offer slight horsepower gains. Find out how in our full tech feature on the
product next month.
The setup was mapped by Protuner via an
Emerald ECU and custom Dyno Torque loom and produces 585bhp and 610lb ft of
torque. While that’s probably only half the power of what some of the big
competitor cars will be running in 2014, the immense torque should certainly
keep Phil up at the sharp end of the table.
Like the way it looked, Patrick had clear intentions
about how the Trueno should to drive and perform too. That’s something that
goes a long way in explaining some impressive hardware lurking under the
lid…
Transmitting all of that clout to the
Tarmac is the responsibility of that Jeri co four-speed dog box from the ASCAR,
reworked with a Quarter Master and Alcon triple-plate clutch setup and super-lightweight
flywheel. These work through a custom Dave Mack prop shaft to the 10” Winters
Competition axle, again from the ASCAR, with a new spool (locked)diff. Hearty…
yes. Street-friendly… no. In fact, it’s an accurate description to say the
collaboration sounds like a sledgehammer each time a gear is engaged and it’ll
certainly give Phil a workout throughout the season.
As far as the chassis is concerned, we’ve only
really begun to scratch the surface of the custom fabrication that’s gone in to
the setup, so it’s worth reading through the comprehensive blog report build)
for a more in-depth account of proceedings. But there are a few other ingenious
inclusions we really wanted to mention, like the hugely expensive AP Racing
six-pot front and four-pot rear brakes setups, for examples. These too were
sourced from the ASCAR, although custom front bells were needed to make them
fit. It’s a Wilwood pedal box in the foot well but a familiar Driftworks
hydraulic handbrake and Knuckledusters handle at the disposal of Phil’s left
hand..
