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September '99
In early September I spent most of my time finishing the main part of the chassis structure so that I could get in to the details of the rear end design to fit the Silvia's rear sub chassis and center tunnel dimensions.
Once that was done I decided to strip the Silvia and get into the detail a bit more. You might ask where the car is at this stage and you would be right to assume that I was paying a high price for it sitting in the car port, Rule 3. So to that end I had to erect yet another tarp to give me a strip down area that was outside "The Car Port". Having a second work area became a mute and technical point but was not strictly in breach of rule 3 because it was outside car port area and besides was only going to be needed for a short while.
The first to come out was the rear end. 4 bolts, two cables two hydraulic hoses and with the assistance of a hydraulic jack, out it came complete with coilovers the lot. Quite impressive. The whole sub assembly and wishbones are made of pressed 16 gauge metal with an all up weight including wheels, tyres, coilovers, hubs, shafts and diff of 140 kg.
Accurate measurements were taken of the mounting points and this allowed me to finalize the rear chassis design for the sub assembly attachments. I had to modify the existing chassis slightly to enable me to position the front location studs for the sub assembly in such a way that allowed the correct chassis height and keep the wheel base as close to the design as possible. I wanted to minimize variation so that it wouldn't complicate the manufacture of the panels later on. As it turned out my wheel bade length is 168mm longer than the book even though the main body part of the chassis is identical.
With this in place it was time to start on the details at the front which met removing all the paraphernalia in the engine bay. I have come to appreciate how beautifully the Silvia is put together and am enjoying stripping the car for that reason. The other reason is that it's helping me give life to my clubman. While I was removing the engine I was making note of all the other bits and panels I will cut out of the car to later weld in to the clubman to make assembly easier. Eg seat anchors. Inter cooler mounting, battery box, seat anchor points, rear coil over upper chassis mounting etc. Its great having a source of bits that you know will fit when the time comes.
With the engine/gear box out I was able to finish the center tunnel and remove other (Continued on page 11)
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