heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[heinzboehmer]

Nice to have more more voices on the benefits of front end triangulation, as I kind of felt like a shill when writing up my Slon front brace review. But, it just is transformative! It's not shilling if it's the real result!

Ohh yeah, the improvement is very real. Everyone who's driven the car has immediately felt a difference.

One of my friends who drove it on the street was at the track day and we swapped cars for a session. I made him do the AB test and he was amazed by how much better the car behaved in the corners.

He brought his 981S on PS4Ss, so I drove that when we swapped. I was able to keep up with my non-braced M3 in the Porsche, but the braced car outpaced me.

(I'm sure the 981 would absolutely destroy the M3 on proper tires, that thing is crazy fast)

I have a bunch of data from the day that I still need to analyze. Will be interesting to see what the data says about braces vs no braces.

[Obioban]

Nice to have more more voices on the benefits of front end triangulation, as I kind of felt like a shill when writing up my Slon front brace review. But, it just is transformative! It's not shilling if it's the real result!

[heinzboehmer]

Some updates from the recent track day:

• Firewall plug survived!
  • I still measured 80C at the firewall even after a full 30 min session. Seems like PET-CF is more than adequate.
  • Intake is LOUD in the cabin with this printed version. Not complaining about that at all!
• Frenkit/Ohio Performance Solutions dust boots also survived!
• Car absolutely hated being driven hard at 95F ambient with the AC blasting.
  • We were allowed to run windows up cause of the heat (which was really nice, actually), but I had to forego the AC as the day went on.
  • Once ambient temps got to the high 80s, the coolant temps would climb after a few laps. AC off + shifting at 7k largely resolved the problem (but instigated lots of complaints from the driver).
• E86 braces are awesome on track.
  • Grip increase is immediately obvious. Braces give you soo much more confidence. Ended up doing a bunch of AB testing because it was so entertaining to feel how different the car was to drive with and without them.
  • For reference, with the braces installed, I was able to take turn 8 at 105 mph (indicated) without any drama. I had to be pretty damn brave to get close to 100 with no braces.

I really need to sit down and finish up the cabin air filter housing CAD so that I can finally call the E86 braces project finished...

[Bry5on]

Why do you say?

Allegedly the carbon stays on the inside, so you don’t run the risk of handling fibers after you print.

[Obioban]

You can always get fancy with the siraya tech core line:

Why do you say?

[Bry5on]

You can always get fancy with the siraya tech core line:

[Obioban]

It's pretty amazing. I'm curious to try PPA-CF as well, but that's significantly more expensive.

I'm also still unsure whether or not I like handling these CF reinforced plastics. Prusa ran some tests on their filaments and came to the conclusion that they're fine, but not all the other filament manufacturers are doing this: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/...prusament_lab/

I will absolutely wear a respirator and gloves if I ever need to sand any glass/CF reinforced parts, but maybe I should be more careful whenever I'm handling the materials.

After writing the post above, I've been researching filments till now... and ended up ordering Prusa's PETG CF. From what I gather, surface finish is a little better still, in exchange for heat tolerance-- so won't be using it around exhaust bits.

... going to save it for special occasions. Really went down this road because I want to print a bezel for the trailer brake controller I just ordered for the Land Cruiser.

[heinzboehmer]

ummm... ordering.

That seems amazing for parts in visible places. Tired of sanding/painting plastic :P

It's pretty amazing. I'm curious to try PPA-CF as well, but that's significantly more expensive.

I'm also still unsure whether or not I like handling these CF reinforced plastics. Prusa ran some tests on their filaments and came to the conclusion that they're fine, but not all the other filament manufacturers are doing this: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/...prusament_lab/

I will absolutely wear a respirator and gloves if I ever need to sand any glass/CF reinforced parts, but maybe I should be more careful whenever I'm handling the materials.

[Obioban]

Printed the firewall plug (no insert) out of PET-CF. My mind is blown every time I see this material get printed, surface quality is just nuts

ummm... ordering.

That seems amazing for parts in visible places. Tired of sanding/painting plastic :P

[heinzboehmer]

Oh definitely! Once it's 100% finished, I'll need to sit down and condense all the erratic thoughts I've written down here into some concise format. Will likely create assembly and install instructions of sorts.

Will be useful to anyone trying to replicate, but also to myself. There's no way I'm remembering all the nuances associated with this project a year from now

[Mike RT4]

I appreciate that it would be a ball ache to reproduce.

Once fully finished, would you be able to list all the third party places you used to supply everything needed and all the final iterations of the STL files etc all in one place so that any one can replicate?

[heinzboehmer]

Any plans to offer it as a kit ?

I'll be sharing all the design files when I've finished with everything. I don't really have the time/willingness/etc. to assemble a kit myself and sell it, but anyone is welcome to use/modify my design.

And what changes required for RHD ?

I think none! The windshield mount is the only thing that would be different between LHD and RHD, but I landed on a design that's symmetric, so it should work for both. Let me know if you want the STL to print out a prototype for testing on your car.

[Mike RT4]

Any plans to offer it as a kit ? And what changes required for RHD ?

[heinzboehmer]

Life got busy, so haven't had too much time to work on car stuff. I did manage to chip away at the HVAC plastics design, though.

Firewall plug is basically done. Here's what it's gonna look like:



Sealing is bit of a challenge with this design. This part needs to seal against the firewall, the removable insert (dark blue part), the filter housing and the braces. Gonna be printing out TPU gaskets for all of that. Here's a clearer view of most of the sealing surfaces and the associated gaskets (light blue and grey):



The removable insert still needs some work. Need to model in the gaskets for the braces and the fastening point to the cabin air filter housing. Should be fairly straight forward to do.

Plan is to have the insert be held up against the firewall plug with magnets, then fastened to the filter housing using the OE hardware.

Printed the firewall plug (no insert) out of PET-CF. My mind is blown every time I see this material get printed, surface quality is just nuts:



As mentioned previously, the whole thing is too big for the printer, so I sliced it up into three parts and printed some dowels to locate all the pieces together. I made the dowels separate parts so that they could be printed in a favorable orientation:



All glued up:



And installed (gaskets still to come):



This is where I should have stopped, but I'm doing a track day at Thunderhill tomorrow and it's forecasted to be >90 F, so I definitely want some thermal insulation. Cabin air filter housings are like $30 on eBay, so I horribly hacked mine up to fit:



Sidenote: I forgot to swap the blade on my oscillating cutter and accidentally confirmed that the material that the part is made of is definitely glass fiber reinforced



Absolutely does not seal, but at least it'll protect against most of the radiant heat:



Also, this is really cool. First sneak peek at the fully assembled engine bay:



I'm honestly really, really happy with how inconspicuous it is.

More to come...

[heinzboehmer]

Why not just use ASA?

What George said!

Another thing is that ABS/ASA are kind of a pain to print without deformation, so probably not the best for this test fit. Also not sure ASA would survive the heat, I measured 80 C at the firewall on a cool day with none of the HVAC plastics in place. I think it can easily get past 100 C back there.