Back from Daytona and Jag IRS work begins!

[TR7/8 TPI]

Hey guys,

Just got back last night after spending the weekend with Hillary in Daytona Beach. I had a great time!
This was my first time in Daytona and I would have to say that I prefer it over Padre Island or Myrtle Beach.
The beach was cleaner, larger and the water was clearer. Hotel accommodations at Hampton Daytona Shores
were excellent and in bringing Hillary, the company was superior. They no longer rent jet skis on the ocean side
beacause of the high surf which sucks because high surf is the only reason I wanted to rent the skis but you can't have everything!

Anyways, back to the TR7. I pulled out the Jag IRS and started disassembling it today for rebuilding and
repainting. I did some more measuring and found that I won't have to shorten the stub axles or the lower arms!
From hub to hub, the Jag is only 3.5 inches wider that the TR differential. I am going to be flaring the rear
fenders about 4 inches per side like the early versions of the Grinnall cars and this will allow for about a 3inch
outer lip on the Compomotive wheels that will be custom made so there is some room to play with in the
offset of the wheels. With the flare on the fenders I am currently planning to use, a 16" X 9" wide wheel will
fit the rear with ease but I might just go a hair more on the flair and stuff a 10" wide wheel out back.

The Jag IRS came out of an 89 XJS convertible with less than 70K miles so I think I will just replace the
U-joints on the axles and the clutches in the LSD and be good to go. The hubs feel tight and smooth and
will usually last well over 100-130K miles so I will leave them alone, also they are a pain to rebuild, heh.

 

[Mark Beiser]

I wanted to see how you end up mounting the thing because I was thinking bout putting one in my car. I decided against it because its a significant increase in the overall and sprung weight of the car. Since I'm sticking with a 4 cylinder power plant, weight is a greater enemy to me than it is for your project.
Looks like a fun project though.

 

[James in Michigan]

That beats my weekend....I was sick !

What motor do you have in the car , and were you able to use off the shelf parts to install it, or fabricate them?

 

[TR7/8 TPI]

Mark,

I would'nt really say it's a fun project cause of all the work and fabrication but it's one that I have been wanting to do since my first TR7 in high school and am now just determined to complete it. The overall and unsprung weight is very true as this sucker is HEAVY but I will need as much weight as I can get by with on the ass end of this thing.


<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mark Beiser:
I wanted to see how you end up mounting the thing because I was thinking bout putting one in my car. I decided against it because its a significant increase in the overall and sprung weight of the car. Since I'm sticking with a 4 cylinder power plant, weight is a greater enemy to me than it is for your project.
Looks like a fun project though.<hr></blockquote>

 

[TR7/8 TPI]

James,

Sorry to hear about you being sick this weekend but If it makes you feel any better, I came back with a cold. heh!

The motor that will go in the car and that I am still trying to find a good deal on, will be an LT1 5.7L V8(300hp) from a later model Camaro Z28. Virtually none of the parts will be off the shelf so lots of fabrication will be involved. In the beginning and to get the car driveable, I will be using the stock LT1 but as money will allow in the future, I will pull the motor and prep the internals for twin turbos and a TEC3 stand alone engine management system.

I am a total power junkie so an extreme power to weight ratio is what I want to achieve.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by James in Michigan:
That beats my weekend....I was sick !

What motor do you have in the car , and were you able to use off the shelf parts to install it, or fabricate them?<hr></blockquote>

 

[Mark Beiser]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by TR7/8 TPI:
I will need as much weight as I can get by with on the ass end of this thing. <hr></blockquote>

Very true considdering the motor your going with, the Jag rear end should be a nice counterwight for the rear end.

I noticed in another reply that you were planning on using the Tec3 system. I just wanted to toss another option/complication into the picture for you. Considdering the power your going to be trying to put on the ground, and the wheelbase of the car, have you considdered a traction control system?
The DTA engine management system I have decided to go with for my sprint conversion will also do traction control, launch control and full throttle shift limiting. You just have to find a way to mount the wheel speed sensors, plain old ABS sensors will do.

https://www.dtafast.co.uk/

I don't know if the Tec 3 system will handle all that, it seems like when I was investigating the stuff that it did not. Part of the reason I settled on the DTA system is because its British, and I have decided to keep my project all british.

 

[TR7/8 TPI]

Mark,

Thanks for the info on the trac control. I didnt realize any of the stand alone's offered it. I will definitely look into the DTS product.

What is the cost difference between the TEC and the DTS?

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mark Beiser:


Very true considdering the motor your going with, the Jag rear end should be a nice counterwight for the rear end.

I noticed in another reply that you were planning on using the Tec3 system. I just wanted to toss another option/complication into the picture for you. Considdering the power your going to be trying to put on the ground, and the wheelbase of the car, have you considdered a traction control system?
The DTA engine management system I have decided to go with for my sprint conversion will also do traction control, launch control and full throttle shift limiting. You just have to find a way to mount the wheel speed sensors, plain old ABS sensors will do.

https://www.dtafast.co.uk/

I don't know if the Tec 3 system will handle all that, it seems like when I was investigating the stuff that it did not. Part of the reason I settled on the DTA system is because its British, and I have decided to keep my project all british.

<hr></blockquote>

 

[Mark Beiser]

The P8Pro ECU with connector and serial cable runs around $1600. I'll forward you the email of the price list I got from Ducastel in CA, the US distributor. You can use litterally any sensors you want, including all types of O2 sensors, crank triggers, etc, so you can adapt it to anything, and use cheep standard sensors you can buy at Auto Zone, etc. It can be set up for just about any type of ignition. There are a lot of options for inputs used to determin fuel mixture, and with the correct MAP sensor, will work with turbo/supercharger systems.

I like it because once I have it, if I decide to change engines/configurations, I will only have to change/add the sensors for it without getting stuck with an ECU that won't do what I want.

Its a pricy ECU, but it does a lot more and is much more flexible than any of the others I have seen other than the Alpha. There are no Alpha dealers in the US and only the dealers can program them though. The DTA systems software is free, and from the playing with it I have done, its easy to use once you get a grasp of the principles involved with mapping a FI system and ignition system. Like any of the other FI systems though, you will run into some time and $ spent at a chasis dyno.