Belly Tank Build Diary

[Mike Brown]

This is a photo of the part with the fixture in the vise.  A stop is required to hold the fixture in the same location as the part is removed and replaced. 

[Mike Brown]

This is the part with mounting holes, tubing connector and nozzles. 

[Mike Brown]

A photo of fire suppression nozzles covering the firewall from behind the drivers seat. 

[Stainless1]

What fire suppressant are you using?  How many cubic feet of space does it cover when you are in there?  My concern is the nozzles look like they would release a lot of suppressant in a very short time, you actually want your suppressant to be flowing till you can get stopped and get out.
YMMV 

[Mike Brown]

What fire suppressant are you using?  How many cubic feet of space does it cover when you are in there?  My concern is the nozzles look like they would release a lot of suppressant in a very short time, you actually want your suppressant to be flowing till you can get stopped and get out.
YMMV 

I am using the aqueous system from Fire Fox.  The cockpit suppression system is 6-1/2 pounds.  Each nozzle has a #46 (.081") restrictor.  The cockpit is open.  The body is a not regular cone, there is a front bulkhead that the pedals come through to form the foot box however it is not sealed so I calculated the gross volume without me inside.  My best estimate is less than 15 cubic feet. 

I have an additional 6-1/2 pound system with 3 nozzles for the engine compartment. 

Mike Brown

[Mike Brown]

I purchased the LSA controller kit with the crate engine.  The controller included a wiring harness and fuse box.  To expedite the wiring process by eliminating adding additional fuses and relays I modified the fuse box.  There were already relays and 30A mega fuses in place for the fuel pump and fan.  I brought new leads out for the fuel pump and fan relays which I will use for my fuel pump and cooling pump.  These will be controlled with toggle switches in the cockpit.  The wiring harness also needed to be shortened for this application.  I solder each wire connection and cover with "moisture resistant heat shrink tubing"  I get the heat shrink from McMaster Carr.  It is some amazing stuff, it has a substance like hot melt glue inside so when you shrink it with a heat gun the glue sticks the tubing to the wiring.  You can see the glue oozing out from the end of the tubing in the photo.  It makes for some very secure connections. 

[manta22]

Shrink tubing with a meltable inner wall is good stuff. Nice, Mike.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Mike Brown]

I finished plumbing the intake into the LSA engine.  The intake tubing is 4" and passes through the cockpit behind my left shoulder.  The crate engine uses a MAF sensor.  The sensor installation is very specific, it needs to be in a straight section of at least 6" long and have at least 10" to the throttle body.  I had just enough room to make it fit.  Jerry Hoffman at DIYAutoTune could find some more horsepower in this combination using only a MAP sensor and a speed density controller when the time comes. 

[Mike Brown]

The cockpit is tight including the foot box.  I have successfully used Wilwood parts in multiple builds.  The master cylinders are located behind the steering rack so the pedals needed to be extended.  I started out by cutting up the Wilwood pedal.  I intended to weld a spacer in place but decided against it since is was cast aluminum.  It is good cast aluminum but I did not want to compromise the brake and clutch systems.  This photo is where I started. 

[Mike Brown]

I mocked up a pedal and then started fabricating it from 3/4" aluminum plate.  It would work but I wasn't pleased where it was heading.  This is a photo of the "rough" cut pedal from plate.

[Mike Brown]

I ordered a second pedal assembly from Wilwood and was pleasantly surprised when I received it.  The new pedal is a two piece design.  The pad that contacts your boot is beautiful stainless steel.  There are raised edges around the holes which grip your boots and eight mounting holes that allow the pad to be mounted center, left or right.  A fantastic design.  I machined four rectangles from 1/4" plate steel.  Two had clearance holes to attach to the pedals and two were drilled and tapped 10-24 to allow the pads to be bolted in place.  I used 3/4" diameter steel rod to make the spacers that I needed to get the pedals out past the steering rack.  This turned out great. 

[tauruck]

That looks great Mike. It is a beautiful design.
All the best. Top notch build.

[Mike Brown]

A photo of the lettering.  Dan Shaw in Milford Ohio has done hand lettering on all of my projects.  The name of the car is "itisforfreedom.com".  This is a great group of people who started a Christian school in the Dominican Republic.  The school is for the children whose parents harvest sugar cane on a 240,000 acre plantation.  I have made a few trips to help with their infrastructure.  The grid power is only on for a few hours per day with sometimes disastrous results when it comes back on.  They are now off the grid and use solar power as much as possible.  Check out their website, it is amazing what they have done down there mostly with manual labor. 

[Mike Brown]

A photo of the pedals installed in the car.  The next step is build a foot box.  The car weighed in total at 2,426 pounds with 1,045 pounds on the front and 1,381 pounds on the rear.  I plan to build the foot box from 11ga steel in an effort to get more weight up front.  I would like to start with a 50:50 weight distribution.  The throttle pedal is the factory drive by wire system that came with the engine controller. 

[Mike Brown]

I used an electrical panel from Joes Racing.  The panel was reasonably priced, had good switches and lights to indicate when the switches were on.  I chose to have very basic controls.  Ignition, fuel pump, water pump and a starter button.  The starter button is robust however to eliminate the need for heavy gauge wire into the cockpit I added a starter relay which kept all of the cockpit wiring at 18 gauge.  The chute lever and inertial switch for the fuel pump are visible in the photo.