ZX10 Engined Onyx Mongoose

2009-08-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

Just thought id put up a few pics, no real progress today but i had to put the car on its wheels so i could move it out of the garage as i'm digging out my pit. First time its been on its wheels in about a year so was nice to see it back rolling. forgot how low/small it is.

Got a few parts coming next week so i can get the jack shaft built up and have the diff mounted.

2009-08-18T11:24:00.001-07:00

Right spot the difference lol

BEFORE

AFTER

got bored of only 1 engine and decided to give myself a real challenge. there now mounted with only the rear lower mount to make/fit. I'm a bit skint at the minute so cant get much done right now but it will moving along slowly as the funds allow. I'm aiming now for a sub 500kg final weight which is still a realistic target.

2009-06-09T10:46:00.001-07:00

Did a little more on the diff

With its new frame

the ends of the tube needed threads so i did this by welding 2 small square blocks together with an 8.5 mm hole and this was then taped with an M10 thread.

The diff can now be bolted in place

Over the next few days i will have the lower tensioners fitted.

2009-05-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Got a bit of work done over the last few days.

Made some new bearing mounts for the rover diff. I was going to use pillow block bearings but the mounts were too wide and would have fouled the diff so i made these at work.

Mocked up

All welded up and placed on the end of the diff to check that it wont foul

Now fully fitted to the diff

All together with drive shafts and uprights, just making sure everything turns without catching.

Custom made uprights and brackets to take Saxo front calipers

The new rear lower engine mount

Front lower engine mount

And the front upper mount, still to be welded on.

Over the next week or so the engine mounts will be complete, the mounts for the diff will be welded in and the diff/shafts etc will all be painted and fitted.

Little update

2008-06-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Not much done at all and will be moving home soon as me and my fiancee are in the process of buying our first house.

Progress has gone back wards lol

Engine has been removed as i wasnt happy with how id installed it so im going to build a new engine cradle.

Empty engine bay

The chain diff i designed and made has been sold to Chris Gibbs and is being used in a new book he is doing for a 60's style racer but with bike power.

I have a new diff which is a LSD from a PG1 box (rover) and i will be turning this into a chain diff soon enough

Mounted dash panel and warning lights.

.

Will update again once the house move is complete and new garage is kitted out with my crap.

Its now rolling

2008-01-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

It on its wheels at last, not got a great deal done in the last month or two been too idol lol.

Lot of random pics

2007-11-18T04:07:00.001-08:00

Here's a quite a few pics of some progress over the past few weeks, no real order just lotta pics.

I'm now looking at a realistic finish time of about febuary, march now so will be done in time for the summer.

Quck update

2007-11-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Ive recently decided not to turbo charge the engine. This was brought on by been given a passenger ride in a 900cc fireblade engined locost. After experianceing how fast a 440kg, 120bhp is i decided that 350kgs and 137 bhp will be enough to kill me lol, so for now the turbo is been left alone.

Turbo Time

2007-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

Right Heres a small update, after a few weeks of research ive decided to turbo charge the engine. I already had a garrett t25 laying around so i stripped this down and gave it a good clean but unfortunatly its no use for what i need. Good job id not ordered the rebuild kit yet lol.

The problem i had with this turbo was that the turbine housing and wheel were larger than the compressor which on a bike engine will not spool up fast enough so i now need to get either a T2 from a Renault 5 or a TD04 16T from a Volvo. both of these turbo's should give me a turbine housing that is smaller then the compressor for a faster spool up. I will update as soon as i get the turbo i need. Hopefully not long now.

Small update

2007-09-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

small update. moved house few weeks ago so not got a great deal done but heres a few pics of how the car is right now.

Chain diff completed, used the rear diff from a sierra 1.8

fabricated rear uprights/hubs

fabricated front upright

Column attached

my current ride, 2.6 V6

Chain diff

2007-08-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

Thought id put up a few pics of the chain diff ive made.

heres the diff from a 1.8 sierra

one side welded

side mounting plates cut from 5mm 316 s/s

I made the bearing housing from 3 rings of 6mm mild steel with a 2mm end plate.

The bearings im using

All together

Ive made this diff from s/s and mild to start with but i plan to make it from ali once ive tested it to make sure it will be strong enough. Once its all ali it will drop a kilo or two. The parts are now ali see below for other pics.

Fuel cell

2007-08-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here is an Ebay find. a 4 gallon Jazz fuel cell, cost me £46 the other day. Its a perfect fit.

And part of the rear suspension mocked up today

Hoping to have it sat on its wheels by the end of next week. My front suspension are currently been made and should be here soon.

And a bit more progress

2007-08-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

Floor and side panels are fitted and the engine is now in and im sorting the loom out. rack and column are also fitted. I have all the suspension in a box out the way for now.

Sorry some of the pics arnt too good, done a 12 hour night shift had 4 hours sleep then been in the gym for 2 hours so im a bit f**ked and cant hold the cam still lol.

Exhaust headers fitted, these are stainless ones that were off the bike. i will have to have a custom collector made but i will also reuse the end can on the car as its a road legal Micron can.

Starting to sort out the loom. Im using the loom from the bike and modifying it to suit the car. Most of the loom is ok but i will have the extend it for the front lights and a few other bits like the light controls etc.

The chain diff can also be seen fitted in these pics. I will do a seperate section showing the chain diff in a day or 2.

Steering column and rack fitted. The both come from a Metro but the rack is shortend by a few inches but the column is straight from the car. It has a lock-to-lock of 2.5 turns.

Here is the pedal box which is still to be completed. The pedals and brackets are taken from the design by Chris Gibbs which feature in the new Haynes book "Build a sports car on a budget" but i have made the pivot holes larger (now 19mm) A piece of round tube is then welded in and a 16mm bolt is placed through and held in with a split pin. The back plate which the master cylinder will mount on has yet to be fitted as i need to pick up a cylinder from a rover 416.

Engine trial fitted

2007-08-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Engine is in but not fully fitted yet, its only in so i can mount the chain diff and other components. The mounts are made from a mix of 25mm and 19mm box section. The bolt holes are sleeved with 3mm thick wall tube to prevent them crushing when the bolts are tightened up.

The diff built up but not fully complete it still needs the side shown welding up and a grease nipple fitting so it can be topped up with grease when needed. The diff is out of a rear diff of a ford sierra. It has sealed bearing fitted on each end and mounted in a custom made housing made of ali ans steel.

Sat in place in the chassis, will be making the mounts this week.

Will be fitting the steering column and rack this week, just need to nip to the scrappers to get a Metro column.

It begins

2007-08-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

Right starting a build diary for this little monster. The chassis is an Onyx Mongoose item which i bought from www.Onyxsportscars.f9.co.uk near Grimsby. There own car is powered by a rover 1.4 K series lump producing 100bhp and weighed in at a little over 400kg and was quite impressive on the road and track but like most people i wanted more power and less weight. After contacting David at Onyx i was offered a bare chassis at a reduced price as it was all i needed as the engine mounts are different to a car engine.

My first plan was to fit the Mongoose chassis with a Yamaha XJR1300 engine but due to issues i would have had with cooling a mid-mounted air/oil cooled engine would have been more trouble than it was worth. So after a couple of days searching i found a 1988 Kawasaki ZX10 at MP Motor cycles just at the side of the M606 Bradford and got it for £600 with T&T.

The Chassis

The bike

It actually rode quite well and it was sad to break it.

The bike after about 3 hours

All the parts now all over the place

XJR engine now straped to pallet awaiting collect. Its going to Ireland.

The ZX10 lump stripped of its casings and cleaned up. Had 19 years of shit to remove

A few parts removed cleaned and painted up.

Stripping and cleaning the carbs

3 already done just need to polish them up now

The exhaust will be reused. Had a nice stainless system on it with a Micron can

My 3yo nephew liked the bike. He was in tears when i stripped it

The finished product will weigh around 350kg and have around 140-150bhp. should be fun.