Strut brace

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Jonathan Lewis
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Re: Strut brace

#61 Post by Jonathan Lewis » Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:15 pm

Feeds to the air cleaner - on one of the World Cup (Mk1) survey cars, water was sucked into the engine via the standard, low-set intake hoses whilst fording a stream, so the actual rally cars had the hoses re-routed to feed from the heater intake plenum under the windscreen...
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Re: Strut brace

#62 Post by Mike Stevens » Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:36 pm

Thanks Jonathan. Obvious really when you think about it. Somewhere I have some original prints of rally 2000s. I shall investigate the engine bay pictures!

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Re: Strut brace

#63 Post by Jonathan Lewis » Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:40 pm

Mike Stevens wrote:Obvious really when you think about it. Somewhere I have some original prints of rally 2000s. I shall investigate the engine bay pictures!
...but only on the World Cup Mk2 PIs, Mike (i.e. WRX 902H, XJB302-305H), and betrayed externally by the presence of a large scoop/cowl over the heater intake grille. The Mk1 PI rally cars (and possibly the later works 2000s) had the feed tubes going to the normal location in the nosecone, whilst the original (1964-5) 2000s had triple Webers sucking their air straight out of the engine compartment (must have liked their beer warm... :lol: ). The 1972 East African Safari car I don't know about but, given that contemporary pictures of it don't show the scuttle air scoop, I suspect that this didn't have the re-routed supply pipes either...
Alec wrote:what I think it is that the tube is in three pieces with the centre section welded on top of the outer pieces to clear the rocker cover. All in all it doesn't look like a very well designed or fabricated item. Very clumsily done in my view and not exceptionally strong either
I know I've posted this link before, but Jason Chinn's album of competition 2000/2.5 pictures has a series of shots of Pat Walker's ex-Andrew Cowan WCR PI (http://picasaweb.google.com/JRChinn/XJB304H#) and these appear to show a strut brace made up from one single piece of square tube between the two yokes on the strut towers themselves. Although I think the engine bay picture in Bill Price's book is of the test car (WRX), the same book contains a shot of the Culcheth/Johnstone car on the Rally itself, and this also seems to have a bracing strut with the three-piece cross-tube... :?

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Re: Strut brace

#64 Post by Alec » Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:00 pm

Hello Mike,

cabin ventilation?

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Re: Strut brace

#65 Post by Mike Stevens » Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:56 pm

Alec wrote:cabin ventilation?
Hi Alec,

You could be right. I guess it would get pretty hot in there going at full chat with little (or no) insulation for sound or heat!

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Re: Strut brace

#66 Post by Jason » Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:02 pm

Afternoon gents

From my research the reason that works strut braces on the World Cup cars were 3 pieces of square tube welded was because they had their engines raised up on spaced engine mountings so the strut braces had to have that "kink" in them to get over the rocker cover. You don't have the same issue with standard engine mounts so a single piece brace is OK. The pictures of Pat Walker's car (304) were taken soon after he got it and show a one piece brace, that's incorrect and has been corrected now.

The privateer World Cup 2.5 PI - UKV701H was prepared by Brian Englefield and he managed a one pice strut brace
Image This picrure wa staken at the start of the WC Rally in Wembley. Brian took a lot of tips from the works but he was also his own man and made several departures from works spec.

I don't recall having and evidence to suggest the Works ever used a strut brace on a Mk1 but I'm open to enlightenment :-)
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Re: Strut brace

#67 Post by Jonathan Lewis » Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:29 pm

Jason wrote:the reason that works strut braces on the World Cup cars were 3 pieces of square tube welded was because they had their engines raised up on spaced engine mountings so the strut braces had to have that "kink" in them to get over the rocker cover
Hi Jason,

Thanks for the clarification - I had wondered whether that was the case, which would also explain that tiny little 'power bulge' part-way down the bonnet on the WCR cars. Presumably the engines were lifted to get more clearance under the sump? (and damn any propshaft-related vibration :lol: )

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Re: Strut brace

#68 Post by Jason » Tue Feb 02, 2010 9:46 am

That's about the shape of it yes - although the driveline must have been modified to avoid any prop vibe, these cars were designed to do 100mph+ for hours - and they did frequently. I can't recall any prop issues reported on the event. There were so many under bonnet changes on the works cars the raiding of the engine was a minor one. The Works sump guards appear to have been made out of battleship armour and used up teh space where the sump would normally sit.

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Re: Strut brace

#69 Post by CAR » Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:25 am

Jason wrote:That's about the shape of it yes - although the driveline must have been modified to avoid any prop vibe, these cars were designed to do 100mph+ for hours - and they did frequently. I can't recall any prop issues reported on the event. There were so many under bonnet changes on the works cars the raiding of the engine was a minor one. The Works sump guards appear to have been made out of battleship armour and used up teh space where the sump would normally sit.
Raising the engine, must have raised the gearbox a fair bit also. Even with the snow on the ground a few weeks ago my left leg is always warm, that's with standard clearance and carpet/underlay in place. Did the works cars have heatshields for the drivers or did they have asbestos trousers?
It must have been unbearable in the hot climates they drove in.

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Re: Strut brace

#70 Post by Jason » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:56 pm

I don't have much in the way of interior shots of the cars actually on the event so I'm not sure what was on the interior in the way of heat (and sound) insulation - normally a comp car would have bugger all. Mind you, feet would have been on the pedals not resting on the tunnel. Having said that, side exit exhaust coming out just under the driver's seat - warm :oops:

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