The Monster......

[tdiplc]

A Simple mod means that the mats special Toms gear knob can now be used, as well as selecting reverse gear, which is helpful :)

[tdiplc]

In fact it's Banzai on Tuesday, not Fast car - my mistake.

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Mark, so the car's in the mag tomorrow, but it's got a problem?

What's happening fella, is it still going to be in there tomorrow or is that postponed now?

How serious is the damage? The first thing I thought of when you said the wheels were the wrong way was that I'd knackered it when I sat in it at JAE

What do you mean by they're in the wrong direction by the way, are they pointing out sideways like the Delorean in Back to the Future :P Or is the camber just severely out like mine was when I first had the coilovers put on before they settled down so they were like / --- \ ??

And if it was alright when it left Mat but it has a problem now where has it been - has anyone took it out or are you just extremely particular? Not a dig mate just wondering if you're picking up on something that would be within other people's spec?

And when it's in Girl Racer, will there be girl's draped all over it - can I come down too and let them all drape over my 'monster'

What does crabbing mean by the way? Sounds like something the doctor sorted for me, does it mean the car is constantly snaking side to side?

Thanks for any answers pal, a lot of these terms are over my head as you can probably tell

Looking forward to it finished, it was awesome last time I saw it, and it just keeps getting better :)

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Hi Aido,

The Banzai feature is still on for today.

There's no serious damage, just a bending of a standard bracket which should be rectifiable by reinforcement.

The rear n/s/r wheel was toeing out by quite a lot, and the o/s/r by a smaller amount which introduces some rear end steering.

It wasn't alright when Mat dropped it off (unless it happened when driving it from Lakeside to Barking - which is unlikely), I assume that it was just unoticed. In fact I didn't notice it when driving it back from Lakeside until it was poined out to me by Phil who was following me.

Girl Racer is a new publication apparently, so I don't know anything about it yet.

"Crabbing" is when the car drives slightly sideways, the way a crab moves, albeit to a very small degree. The old Mini's (showing my age now ) used to suffer from this badly when the rear sub frame broke or the bushes wore out.

[SHAHZ]

"Crabbing" is when the car drives slightly sideways, the way a crab moves, albeit to a very small degree. The old Mini's (showing my age now  ) used to suffer from this badly when the rear sub frame broke or the bushes wore out.

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Always wondered what was wrong with cars that did that :duh:

[Monster-Mat]

Mark can you get me a pic of the offending bracket....

as i know exactly which toe control arm bracket your refering to, i need to be sure though to effect a repair/modification to the race car bracket.

i am still 100% possitive that there was No issues with that car when it was brought down though, however as you say it isnt noticable from within the car, i will ask barrie, or hopefully barrie will pipe up, as he did follow me from MK to London.

[Bazza]

Mat, the car was crabbing on the way back from Lakeside where you dropped it off. Not much - only slightly, and is more visible from behind that you can actually feel on the road.

I am sure that TTE had done a marvellous job with the alignment, as one would expect.

I guess that there is just too much torque for the strength of the standard rear toe control arm mounts on the rear sub frame, as they have deformed.

I guess that's why the Supra is more substantial in these areas.

It's not the end of the world, it just means that this area will need to be strengthened.

If that's the only problem that comes to light on a substantial conversion like this, I would call that a result.

We have aligned the rear wheels to be neutral for the magazine tests, and will get to work on a solution.

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how noticable would this have been mark ?

because as you know i followed it back to london from milton keynes, cant say i noticed anything wrong

maybe it was the holes in river road that did it

or i need glasses

[Monster-Mat]

LOL.......as i posted you followed me, you also posted the same thing :D

[Maz]

Hope u get all this sorted out soon Matt, Mark, and great on getting The Monster into Banzai magazine... :) :) :) :)

[tdiplc]

Mark can you get me a pic of the offending bracket....

as i know exactly which toe control arm bracket your refering to, i need to be sure though to effect a repair/modification to the race car bracket.

i am still 100% possitive that there was No issues with that car when it was brought down though, however as you say it isnt noticable from within the car, i will ask barrie, or hopefully barrie will pipe up, as he did follow me from MK to London.

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Sure, but I doubt whether it'll show up though because everything is rather black under the car. Better off seeing it in the flesh really.

I don't think anyone can be 100% sure either way, but I reckon it's less likely that it happened in the 10 miles between Lakeside and Barking, than in the interim period since JAE last year.

It doesn't really matter when it happened though. The issue is that a weakness has become apparent even before the full power of the engine has been unleashed, that needs to be dealt with.

[Monster-Mat]

TTE didnt do the geometery, they had the car on there chassis set up rig, and checked the settings and showed me they were spot on! (the same chassis rig thats set up Countless WRC rally cars and other development and production Lexus/Toyota)

amazing as this may sound, i beleive the results that they found, this was only a couple of weeks before the car came back at christmas, the tracking was done end of August , so the settings had stayed stable for 4 months, covering 1000miles, i cannot see how they would go amis sitting on a 4 poster ramp in my workshop, or on a trailer coming back to the UK,

the only other journey the car then did was from MK to London........the car didnt produce enough Torque/power to bend a piece of tissue paper, at the settings it was at......., and the car wasnt even atempted to be used in Anger till everything was sorted........

as the mapping hasnt been done, i cannot see how this has happenedi agree if there is a weekness it Does need sorting, obviously my concern is where this weakness has come from ?

lets see the bracket and effect a modification that can be implemented without to much hassel.

going of this then, i would assume Si skippys car wlll be showing a similer issue, as would daves, as there cars are running more Torque than the Monster is at the mo.

Must admit, i have been having concerns with the point in question while i have been re-working the rear beam.......on the race car

Edited February 22, 2005 by Supracharged-IS340

[Dave-Ellen]

I will have a look at mine ASAP and feedback.

Be helpful to have a picture so I look at the right bit

[Monster-Mat]

Ok here is a picture i have pulled from TRD showing the rear subframe stripped down, for orientation the bottom of the picture is towards the front of the car..........

Mark i am assuming you mean the brackets marked with the red ARROW

here are the known issues , and therefore the known fixes for the

bracket

The bottom image(supplied by TRD) shows the problems that happen to the bracket , elongation of the holes and deformation of the upper face of the bracket, this is NORMALLY caused by the excessive lowering of the track Altezza Cup cars.

The top image shows the fix, double plating of the hole for the bolt that holds the track arm, also the removal of material on the top face to give a greater sweep/arc to the track arm.

can you confirm Mark that this is the area of concern, and show me an image.......

[Monster-Mat]

A Simple mod means that the Mats special Toms gear knob can now be used, as well as selecting reverse gear, which is helpful  :)

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excellent News on Toms knob............ :D

[tdiplc]

TTE didnt do the geometery, they had the car on there chassis set up rig, and checked the settings and showed me they were spot on! (the same chassis rig thats set up Countless WRC rally cars and other development and production Lexus/Toyota)

amazing as this may sound, i beleive the results that they found, this was only a couple of weeks before the car came back at christmas, the tracking was done end of August , so the settings had stayed stable for 4 months, covering 1000miles, i cannot see how they would go amis sitting on a 4 poster ramp in my workshop, or on a trailer coming back to the UK,

the only other journey the car then did was from MK to London........the car didnt produce enough Torque/power to bend a piece of tissue paper, at the settings it was at......., and the car wasnt even atempted to be used in Anger till everything was sorted........

as the mapping hasnt been done, i cannot see how this has happenedi agree if there is a weekness it Does need sorting, obviously my concern is where this weakness has come from ?

lets see the bracket and effect a modification that can be implemented without to much hassel.

going of this then, i would assume Si skippys car wlll be showing a similer issue, as would daves, as there cars are running more Torque than the Monster is at the mo.

Must admit, i have been having concerns with the point in question while i have been re-working the rear beam.......on the race car

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Pass on that one then Mat. Based on the balance of probabilities I doubt whether it happened between here and Lakeside but I guess it is possible. However, the issue is there there is clearly a component strength issue. If no other car we have done has suffered from this malady, then maybe you are unlucky, maybe your car has suffered more stress than the others, or maybe it's just a bad sub frame.

[tdiplc]

Ok here is a picture i have pulled from TRD showing the rear subframe stripped down, for orientation the bottom of the picture is towards the front of the car..........

Mark i am assuming you mean the brackets marked with the red ARROW

here are the known issues , and therefore the known fixes for the

bracket

The bottom image(supplied by TRD) shows the problems that happen to the bracket , elongation of the holes and deformation of the upper face of the bracket, this is NORMALLY caused by the excessive lowering of the track Altezza Cup cars.

The top image shows the fix, double plating of the hole for the bolt that holds the track arm, also the removal of material on the top face to give a greater sweep/arc to the track arm.

can you confirm Mark that this is the area of concern, and show me an image.......

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Oh I see, yes that's the bracket.

So it IS a known issue then.

Glad you're not the 1st to suffer.

The TRD fix is pretty much what we had in mind

[Monster-Mat]

i hear what your saying Mark, the issue does need sorting,

more stress, possibly................... the cars only done 20,000 miles!!,and is 3.5 years old, its only spent 1.5 years on the road, all with a supercharger, likely........not really, the cars are raced in Japan, with no other modifications to the subframe other than those shown above wjhich i have got from TRD direct.

ive asked a few guys in the US who are running high HP turbo charged is300 and none of them are suffering this problem.

i am awaiting an Email back from TTE regarding if the IS430 is showing signs of metal fatigue.

can you pop next door and get me the pic before i go down the garage to confirm we are on about the same part, and also so i can study the subframe i have in detail to try and determine the possible issues at hand here.

i am leaving in 1 hour, if thats enough time for you, i will post a pic later tonight of my subframe to compare.

cheers

Mat

[Monster-Mat]

It is only a known issue on the Track prepared race altezzas that are lowered over 50+ mm., and induce high lateral loadings to the suspension

You can see that with a high Torque load on the bracket that ovalisation could take place, but i think my point is, there has not been any high torque loading on my car as yet........lets see what the picture shows up, and my investigations later, on my race car beam.

we now know there is an issue, how we dont know, but it needs sorting

[tdiplc]

i hear what your saying Mark, the issue does need sorting,

more stress, possibly................... the cars only done 20,000 miles!!,and is 3.5 years old, its only spent 1.5 years on the road, all with a supercharger, likely........not really, the cars are raced in Japan, with no other modifications to the subframe other than those shown above wjhich i have got from TRD direct.

ive asked a few guys in the US who are running high HP turbo charged  is300 and none of them are suffering this problem.

i am awaiting an Email back from TTE regarding if the IS430 is showing signs of metal fatigue.

can you pop next door and get me the pic before i go down the garage to confirm we are on about the same part, and also so i can study the subframe i have in detail to try and determine the possible issues at hand here.

i am leaving in 1 hour, if thats enough time for you, i will post a pic later tonight of my subframe to compare.

cheers

Mat

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I saw a 2 month old car with 1000km that was absolutely slaughtered through abuse. It was the Crown Prince of Quatar's car that we turbocharged. My point being that things can wear out quickly regardless of age and mileage (not suggesting that you have abused it).

Unfortunately I have no chance of getting a picture before Friday, it may even be next week, but I can confirm that it is definately the same part.

The fix appears to be straight forward so I don't anticipate any dramas, but it would be nice to know if TTE had any related issues on is430 (I'm not interested in anything the Yanks have to say tho ;) ).

BTW the magzine shoot went well today, despite a horizontal snow situation :o

[Monster-Mat]

good news with the Photoshoot,,was it Joe who turned up?

i will report back what TTE say

[DaveEllen]

Unfortunately I have no chance of getting a picture before Friday, it may even be next week, but I can confirm that it is definately the same part.

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Call me naive but surely it would take no more than 15 minutes to take a picture ....if you are busy Nathan or one of the other mechanics could oblidge I'm sure

Then mats mind, and much less importantly other owners with more than 250 bhp, minds would be put at rest

[Rob]

Dont know if it is just me (highly doubt it) but there always appears to be something wrong/broken/damaged/out of limits etc ending up in another convenient delay- or maybe I am my normal sceptical self ;) so much for the 2 weeks worth of work eh.

Mat i reckon you would have this finished at least a year ago if u had done it all yourself!

as for the photo of the damage it doesnt take long to undo the bolt and move the arm out of the way for a proper photo, but as u say there might be one next week

[aido]

A Simple mod means that the Mats special Toms gear knob can now be used, as well as selecting reverse gear, which is helpful  :)

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Mark, was that a mod to Mat's knob or the gaiter? Heard someone saying he could do with some work on that! If it was the standard gaiter what did you do as I need to do something to mine and I'm scared I'll knacker it up!

Thanks mate

[Bazza]

well done on the photoshoot, sure wasnt the best weather to be doing it :o

when should we be on the lookout for it

mark is this problem one that could occur to say a basic supercharged 200,

i must admit to getting a bit paranoid as the car gets older

is it something i can check for myself

i have looked at mat`s pictures and they might as well be a map of the underground

would be grateful if you could pinpoint where to look, as previously said before a piccy would help

[Monster-Mat]

ok here are some pics to allow those to identify this area, However i would like to point out the pictures shown are those taken of a Rear beam removed from an Altezza 6 speed running an estimated 220hp.(Build date 1999) ..........................This is currently the race cars Rear Suspension.

pic 1, Shows the rear Subframe, complete with Differential and drive shafts

this pic shows the beam again, with the Tie Bar fram mounting brackets arrowed

The following 4 images are different views of the same area

[aido]

Mat, is it me or is the bit to the right of the left hole starting to go in this picture:

[Monster-Mat]

its you..theres nothing wrong with it........ive been over every bit of this beam, and the other beam like a fine tooth comb, as ive said, this one is from a 1999 altezza, my car is a 2001, the other beam ive fitted to the Altezza with the Torsen© differential is from the race car which is a 2003