Hi Everyone,
A year or two ago I decided to build myself a car from scratch. I have never donw anything like this but i though heh, it can't be too difficult!
I didnt want to build something normal, small or green as everone does that. I wanted to make something extreme, fast and exotic. I also wanted to do something that no one had done before.
I bought an old Jag V12 off ebay for 90 UK pounds and had a problem, its was so big and heavy I coundnt move it.. So it lay on my garage floor and i had to builda car around it.
I decided on a Zonda C12.. Why not :)
The Pagani website gives all the information of track, wheel base etc.. so I used a load of lasers and plotted out the dimensions on the ground. For a donor car i bought a 1994 Ford Granada 2,8i Scorpio, it had disks all round, ABS good electrics etc..
I stripped the Ford down and decided to use all the components, steering, driveshafts, ABS, brakes, cooling etc..
For the gearbox I bought an Audi 012 transaxle from a diesel Audi 90, these are very cheap and easy to get hold of. I had to change the torque convertor to an Audi flywheel, this meant machining it to fit the V12 crank, then I had to work out how to fit the starter I used a Jag XKR starter as it is small and very powerful, but I had to modify this by welding an Audi starter spiggot to it so it engaged with the new flywheel.. I then had to make an adapter plate so the new gearbox married up to the V12, this was made from 20mm aluminum plate. I had to cut this out using a hacksaw, and i ached for days afterwards!
So now I had all the components set out on the floor in the right places, and it looked right, it all sort of just fitted together, which was very strange. I estimated from pics of Zondas what the chassis would look like under the skin. I made a scale model out of wood, which looked about right and then bought loads of 51mm x 1.5mm steel tube, and set about welding.
After a few weeks I had the engine, transaxle and hubs mounted in the new chassis, the test came when i jacked the whole thing up, would it break?? No, it was so rigid it didnt flex at all.
Once the chassis was made, I then fitted custom TVR suspension all round and had some 200 lb springs made to take the weight. I bought a chassis simulator software package and worked out what springs, camber, weight, rollbar etc..
The exhaust is a custom made system piping through 3" pipe to to Garrett T28 Nissan 200 Zx turbo chargers and then to a Ferrari Mondial exhaust that i modified so the tail pipes exited through the centre.
The V12 had no electrics, ignition or fuel when i bought it, so i had to make the whole spark and squirt system. I decided to make that from scratch too. I went for a megasquirt, which I made from parts. The ignition is a wasted spark system running off 2 ford v6 coil packs and a 36-1 trigger wheel mounted on the crank pulley and a sensor., the fuel cells are 2 x 5 gallon dragster fuel cells and the fuel pump is a bosch unit.
The intercoolers are from a Nissan 300 zx, windscreen from an XJS, wiper motor from a merc, electric powersteering from an Opel , the wheels are Lexus 19" x 10"the front tyres are the rears off an M5 and the rear tyres are from a 911 turbo. The turbos have their own radiator from a motor bike and the intercoolers and twin fans again, from a bike.
To make the body I covered the chassis with polystyrene and molded it to the right shape, I then plastered the body with house plaster and made Zonda :D
I then bought loads of glass fibre and resin and started making the glass body.
A year or two ago I decided to build myself a car from scratch. I have never donw anything like this but i though heh, it can't be too difficult!
I didnt want to build something normal, small or green as everone does that. I wanted to make something extreme, fast and exotic. I also wanted to do something that no one had done before.
I bought an old Jag V12 off ebay for 90 UK pounds and had a problem, its was so big and heavy I coundnt move it.. So it lay on my garage floor and i had to builda car around it.
I decided on a Zonda C12.. Why not :)
The Pagani website gives all the information of track, wheel base etc.. so I used a load of lasers and plotted out the dimensions on the ground. For a donor car i bought a 1994 Ford Granada 2,8i Scorpio, it had disks all round, ABS good electrics etc..
I stripped the Ford down and decided to use all the components, steering, driveshafts, ABS, brakes, cooling etc..
For the gearbox I bought an Audi 012 transaxle from a diesel Audi 90, these are very cheap and easy to get hold of. I had to change the torque convertor to an Audi flywheel, this meant machining it to fit the V12 crank, then I had to work out how to fit the starter I used a Jag XKR starter as it is small and very powerful, but I had to modify this by welding an Audi starter spiggot to it so it engaged with the new flywheel.. I then had to make an adapter plate so the new gearbox married up to the V12, this was made from 20mm aluminum plate. I had to cut this out using a hacksaw, and i ached for days afterwards!
So now I had all the components set out on the floor in the right places, and it looked right, it all sort of just fitted together, which was very strange. I estimated from pics of Zondas what the chassis would look like under the skin. I made a scale model out of wood, which looked about right and then bought loads of 51mm x 1.5mm steel tube, and set about welding.
After a few weeks I had the engine, transaxle and hubs mounted in the new chassis, the test came when i jacked the whole thing up, would it break?? No, it was so rigid it didnt flex at all.
Once the chassis was made, I then fitted custom TVR suspension all round and had some 200 lb springs made to take the weight. I bought a chassis simulator software package and worked out what springs, camber, weight, rollbar etc..
The exhaust is a custom made system piping through 3" pipe to to Garrett T28 Nissan 200 Zx turbo chargers and then to a Ferrari Mondial exhaust that i modified so the tail pipes exited through the centre.
The V12 had no electrics, ignition or fuel when i bought it, so i had to make the whole spark and squirt system. I decided to make that from scratch too. I went for a megasquirt, which I made from parts. The ignition is a wasted spark system running off 2 ford v6 coil packs and a 36-1 trigger wheel mounted on the crank pulley and a sensor., the fuel cells are 2 x 5 gallon dragster fuel cells and the fuel pump is a bosch unit.
The intercoolers are from a Nissan 300 zx, windscreen from an XJS, wiper motor from a merc, electric powersteering from an Opel , the wheels are Lexus 19" x 10"the front tyres are the rears off an M5 and the rear tyres are from a 911 turbo. The turbos have their own radiator from a motor bike and the intercoolers and twin fans again, from a bike.
To make the body I covered the chassis with polystyrene and molded it to the right shape, I then plastered the body with house plaster and made Zonda :D
I then bought loads of glass fibre and resin and started making the glass body.
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