Uh, shouldn't this avatar be forbidden on this site?

I have just had another look at my set up
The engine mount has a 'U' shapen cut out on the back edge of the standard engine mount then it is reinforced with another set of plates folded and welded to the mount to strengthen it. So it's a standard engine mount that's been cut and braced. I also modified the 'stand off' that comes up off the engine crossmember, the one that holds the engine mount. They are also plated and braced because I think they were a weak point in the set up and I had herd from others that they can crack.

Hope this helps.

What you describe is a common problem when fitting big diameter pipes to the 1200's. I cant actually remember what a standard engine mount looks like
Your ideas do sound OK and obviously you are aware of the strength issues associated with engine mounts in a rally car, they do cop a pounding and your suggestions sound OK as long as you keep in mind the strength issues.
My engine/pipe set up has the same problems with the pipes interfering with the mounts so new mounts have been fabricated with cut outs in them for the pipe then they are reinforced. Every bit of metal that can be retained has been retained. There is about 2mm clearance around the pipe,I even have to jack the motor up to allow enough clearance to remove the pipes.
My car won the NSW championship in 2000 and has been rallied hard since and I still havent had to replace the engine mounts.
It's very difficult for me to give engineering advice over the web all I can suggest is that you just keep things as strong as you can and as with any new mods, keep checking them in service.

Good luck.

Its great to have some one like your self 1200coupe on these forums especailly with your depth of knowledge. People like Michael and myself can really benefit from your ideas seeing as we are into rally.

I have one question about engine mounts. I have just dummied the setup of my 1200 motor and Hurricane extractors in the rally car. I have found that the extractors foul on the engine mount. I have breifly spoken to one of the rally guys down here about it and still have to check out his setup. He had the same problem. I used one of my spare mounts to check what amount of metal I needed to cut out of the mount so the extractors dont hit. Turns out I cut most of the rear vertical part on the engine mount out so the extractors would fit (instead of being a channel U its now a L). Seeing as you are an engineer can you tell me if this mount will still be strong enough? Should I design a new mount? I thought about utelising the mount without cutting it by turning it upside down, so instead of the channel being open from above (ie "U") it was up the other way. I am going to kick myself that I didnt get this car going sooner. Once the engine mount is sorted we can make a gearbox cross member, then the tailshaft can be made up, then it will move!

Cheers,

Simon

No worries, I understand your problems with the budget, thats why I make everything myself.
Dont worry about only doing novice events at least your out there having a go and that's heaps better than other are doing.
Never give up on the idea of getting into the forest in a well prepared car and having the best time of your life.

thanks for the info mate,
i guess im waiting for the funds to come round then

actually my biggest prob at the moment is that i dont have a roll cage or harnesses so i can only enter a few novice events

are you using the standard strut?

NO, lots of mods.

i have stanza struts in my car, with stock 1200 springs and some pedders gas inserts
it sits higher than standard as the struts are longer than 1200 ones and therefore has positive camber

NO OFFENCE BUT THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING. The geometry of you chassis will be changed for the worst. Its a good idea to use longer shocks but the length must be allowed for up top not down at the lower control arm.

i need to get lower springs (possibly harder too) to bring it back to normal height, but then need a way to adjust camber and castor, are you in the habit of making and selling stuff?

Be careful that once you have your new springs that they dont bottom out in the damper because the damper stroke might crash because the damper is already preloaded in your possible set up.
I sometimes design and build stuff for others but I'm sorry to say that I'm flat out with my ARC committments for this year anyway.

are th LJ toro castor rods bolt in? or do they require a bit of mods, i was thinking of getting an extra 10mm thread machined in my castor rods shank for a little castor but though this will probably just load up everything else by pulling it forward and make it weaker, thats why im after the strut tops

LJ rods need a little work but not much, just redrilling holes to large size and do a little cutting. Once you have a pair in your hands you will see what I mean. They are hard to find so good luck. They are also longer and have longer threaded ends for better adjustment.

ive also been told to just redrill the botom arm mount about 10mm out and weld up the old holes to hide em, to achieve some camber

I wouldn't do it that way, why dont you get rose joints fitted to the inner lower control arms, this will give you the camber and its a much better way of doing things. The rose joint will take any adjustments you need for you cambers as well without placing undue load where it shouldnt be.

i hate it how the legal way is soooo much more expensive

Yep me too mate but thats just how motorsport is.

Your suspension travel needs will always depend on the condition of the stages you compete inn. 1200 rally cars like having their ass lower to the ground because it helps with rear wheel grip. Remember you are limited to useing the shock rear beam arrangements under the rules of rally.

oh yeah sorry one last thing for now

if i lower the springs i will have less travel right, do you think this is a serious issue for rallying?

are you using the standard strut?
i have stanza struts in my car, with stock 1200 springs and some pedders gas inserts

it sits higher than standard as the struts are longer than 1200 ones and therefore has positive camber

i need to get lower springs (possibly harder too) to bring it back to normal height, but then need a way to adjust camber and castor, are you in the habit of making and selling stuff?

are th LJ toro castor rods bolt in? or do they require a bit of mods, i was thinking of getting an extra 10mm thread machined in my castor rods shank for a little castor but though this will probably just load up everything else by pulling it forward and make it weaker, thats why im after the strut tops

ive also been told to just redrill the botom arm mount about 10mm out and weld up the old holes to hide em, to achieve some camber

i hate it how the legal way is soooo much more expensive

Hi 1200rallycar,
My front suspension uses 40mm Bilstein inserts into custom tubes. I use adjustable strut tops but they dont mount the top of the insert/damper like stock because the 40mm strut tubes are actually 50mm longer than normal. As you probably know the oil in dampers heats up very quickly and can take hours to cool back down so by running longer inserts means that the damper has more oil to act as a heat soak, in short better suspension in stages that are very long.
This means that once my bonnet is open and you look at the strut tops you see a thing that looks like a stainless steel tophat that extends up past the strut tower of the body by 50mm. All this means that I can run longer front dampers and still close the bonnet with about 10mm clearance.
I used to run rubber inserts in my extended strut tops but found when landing after big jumps that the rubber would flex and drive the damper ends up through the bonnet, not a good look
I use LJ Tonana radius rods which are much stronger than stock and have the strut tops set up so I have good cambers and around 5.5 degrees caster. The idea is to have everything super strong and fully adjustable.
I have just finished redisigning and building all this.
The stainless tophats have spherical bearings fitted and the lower control arms are all rose jointed.
I will get off my ass and organise some photo's after the next round for the ARC because I'm chief engineer for one of the teams.
Oh yeh, i almost forgot, I rally in the Canberra region.