Jose's Rail Version 1 (toyota powered)
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Red Rail V2 (Turbo Subaru Powered)

 

 

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We recently picked up a rail frame from one friend and are building it for another.  The advantage of building a rail for another person is that they get to pay for everything and anything you don't want to do you make them do.  That is my kind of fabricating.

We got this thing as a big pile of parts.  After taking inventory we decided that it was a good candidate for the Toyota motor I had laying around.  It also was a shortback rail and we decided that it needed a rear section to help protect the motor.

After some assembly we cut the back off and replaced the original swingaxle torsion housing with an IRS one.  The motor and bus tranny were installed and the argument then ensued about how to build the cage.  After much deliberation and measuring I just started to bend stuff and weld it in place.  It turned out very well and everything is symmetrical.

 

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The rear cage was made out of .095 wall welded tubing.  It is the same material the rest is made of so it should work out just fine.

 

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The shift shaft was customized to attach to the bus tranny.  It was a precision modification that required almost two minutes with a conduit bender and some beer.  The radiator was tossed in to check for placement and some bracing was added.

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The 2x3 rear arms were built and installed.  We discovered when installing the axles that the trimming to the springplate was too much and some limiting straps will need to be made.  We also found that one springplate was installed with more pre-load than the other (heavy sigh).  After taking it apart and putting it back together a few times we got the rear suspension done.  Some cross tubes were added to mount the radiator and gas tank to and welded in place.

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The 280ZX disc brake conversion was completed and installed and calipers checked for installation.  An extra bar was added to the passenger side to locate the upper radiator mount.  We found that the radiator only had three mounts.  We will have to see if this works ok or if we will need the fourth for stability of the radiator.  Wouldn't want that thing flexing and blowing hot water on the back of our necks.

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The test run left a little to be desired.  Mostly power.  The motor just doesn't have much in the way of compression.  It ran great and has good bottom end but wouldn't rev up like I would expect.  We have another motor laying around so we are going to put it in and see how it goes.

 

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Last updated: February 27, 2014.

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