Okrasa Special

[Fasterbrit]

This is the coolest thread ever!
The car is looking more and more like a Porsche 904 - one of my favourite cars! Excellent

[Neil Davies]

I love the fact that you needed cheering up so you bought some real BRMs - for most people a pint will suffice, and its quite a bit cheaper...

car looks amazing as well by the way!

[Steve Wright]

Yes but once you drink the pint it's gone, a BRM you can stare at all day

[Wout]

Superb!!!!
Amazing design!

Can't wait to see it finished.

gr
Wout

[Steve Wright]

Okay, it's been such a long time in updating the thread on this, sorry 'bout that! too much going on…. well after much head scratching we've ended up with a final design. thanks to Al Brown, who has brought a real professionalism to the final design. Now we've just got to build it 





finally she has an arse worth looking at...


could probably tolerate a bit more curvature to the sides of the car:




Barry starts on the ally build next month. Here's the final colour scheme for the car too, obviously the silver strip will run over the roof. This is an early McLaren colour scheme, before Bruce changed it for the orange. A nice nod to a fellow kiwi I thought 

[Good-Old-Ragtop60]

Good to see it`s going on! 
I`d love to see the finished car live!!

[Jesus]

Cool shots of the model,

looking forward to seeing this in the flesh!

All my best dude!

[Lee.C]

very cool.....

[speedwell]

ohohoh look what i've found yesterday on the net

it was in the mid/late 60's  sporty vw based kit car , this one look familar to ours or very close  no ??

[Steve Wright]

So latest instalment. Lots of twists and turns like any good adventure. Second coach builder let me down (what an odd and ultimately unpleasant guy, happy to tell you via PM who NOT to use in England!). Anyway, I spent a considerable amount of time talking with Andy and Luke Robinson, owner and son of a fantastic race fabrication shop about the Okrasa Special when the 356 race car was in having a new roll cage fitted. Andy regularly creates roll cages for many front-running historic race cars, builds complete ground-up 3,000hp top-fuel drag cars, and does many one-off custom jobs. He did a host of jobs:

The first one was to install a period looking but FIA compliant six-point roll cage with the main hoop acting as a divider between the engine bay and cabin. It mounts to the top of chassis tube that divides the cabin from the engine bay and is flush with the roof to maximise headroom and space in the cabin. It will features two harness mounts for driver and passenger as well and the headrests on either side which simply attached to the aluminium bulkhead. The side bars were necessary to tie the front and rear hoops together and beautifully follow the contours of the chassis, but they do restrict entry to the car a little, so it's now a 'bum first, legs second' method of entry. Not the most elegant but then this is a race car, not something that requires knees together in a mini skirt.




Next the team installed a knee-bar and new steering column as the original steering wheel was too close to my chest and too upright. The original knee bar was part of the chassis but has now been swapped for a much more substantial version that is now integral to the roll cage to improve strength and rigidity. So it made sense to move it forwards at the same time to improve leg and knee room. While fitting a new bracket for the column Andy and the team altered the steering wheel angle to give better ergonomics, although they re-used the original ally panel to keep a period look and feel to the cockpit of the car. We realised as well that the front beam needed more caster as it only had two degrees worth. It's not a simple fix though as the torsion bars are welded to the chassis tubes like the 356 and 550 Spyder. The beam was removed, caster shims installed to give 6 degrees and then welded back on. While the steering worked fine it made for an odd feeling and a constant shuffle to bring the car out of the apex of a corner. The team also modified the drivers seat to lower it's position so I could get in with a helmet on, something I couldn't do with the way it was originally configured. They've also created side bolsters on the bulkhead to support your body from lateral movement. We'll finish the seat off by making up a foam insert and then cover in it period material.

]

The coil overs also had corrosion so we will replace them too. Finally they completed the petrol tank installation. The original tank was made by a tank specialist back in '59 but because the bodywork wasn't finished the tank spout was simply left as a open pipe without a cap or way of closing a cap on it. Andy finished the installation by adapting the spout to work with the '50's and '60's style filler car fuel tank neck and fuel tank cap. They also replaced the fuel outlet for a larger diameter version, replicating it on the other side so we can get the remaining fuel from the other side of the tank. Because the tank sits over the central tunnel of the car it acts as a natural baffle but means a proportion would always be left in the tank unused. While the car has been at Andy's I'm trying to get a host of other jobs completed. First up was to detail the original magnesium BRM's with flat black paint and the drown them in Gibbs, a rust proofing treatment used by the US Navy. It works wonders on keeping moisture out.



Second shorrock bought so we can one day run a twin supercharged motor…


lots of time spent drilling holes to lighten the car…






Lots of time and effort poured into making the brakes work: competition linings, lightened components, and as much ventilation as the drums and backing plates will take…


Notice holes drilled between cooling fins to exit hot gases from between shoe, drum and backing plate. It took 8 hours to drill two drums…


A helping hand from Paul at PRS with GT scoops, the pattern taken from a genuine car. We will probably make scoops in ally from these so they can be bolted on (and off), more on why later. Also Carrera GT ally brake shoe splitter bars which are amazingly light compared with the steel standard versions…


And another helping hand from Paul who kindly supplied a secondhand set of 356A seat covers that suit the car perfectly…


There is real momentum to the car now thank goodness. Specification of the motor confirmed with Ian Clark - tiny but mighty.

Gearbox goes to Cogbox next month for lots of work and some special bits.

And the new coach builders (Mouland & Yates) love the car - visited last Saturday - a long story but ultimately the best choice. They did the Auto Union and Mercedes Silver Arrows so know what they're doing, are enthusiastic about the car, 'get' what we're trying to build, and have a slot late in the year….

More drilling, this time to gearbox to allow for cooling of clutch…


And PRS also helped out supplying a second set of genuine 356 wheels. The BRM's will be used for the road, the 356 rims for racing. what was a bit of a surprise was to find a significant difference in the weight of one standard wheel to another. There was no rhyme or reason to it, it didn't depend on date, KPZ or Lemmerz, but there was 300 grams difference between lightest and heaviest. Paul kindly allowed me to choose a set within 5 grams of each other which were then all lightened exactly the same….

[RobtheManx]

Good to see the build back on track Steve . That cage is a piece of art .

Looking forward to more updates .

Rob

[Nico86]

Looking really great as always! Can't wait to see more (:

[speedwell]

want to see more , excelent project , can you post more on the brakes  scoop you've maded for more air to refresh them , are you cutting in the back plate??

[Steve Wright]

Good progress this month. a few giggles mocking the mounting of the twin superchargers for motor number 2…


Then more serious mocking up to ensure the Solex P11's don't foul the roll cage support for motor number 1…


Then motor out (thanks to Ian and Alex for the heavy lifting…) to see what an NOS Okrasa engine looks like…
 

And yes, it needs to come out the back window as the flat floor and chassis rails mean it can't come out underneath!


Pretty uninspiring as it turns out but look at the flywheel lightening, beautifully done and again evidence of the racer/engineering intent of the original builder…


Here's the motor we're chasing. Darrell Vittone's 170hp fixed pedestal Okrasa motor - more technology than we're allowed for historic racing but an inspirational motor nonetheless…


Speaking of inspiration, a recent visit to Prototyp museum provided an idea for cooling vents from the Auto Union cars, fortunately the replica's were built by the same guys doing the bodywork on the Special, so they still have the tooling from the first job!


Because of the Karmann Ghia roof we're able to use the original KG glass as templates for the Plexiglas except for the front windscreen which is a new one, which makes it a whole lot easier to draw up the shape of the windows. It's about the only time the roof has provided an advantage in the build - in every other element of the design it's been a complete pain in the arse. Here's original glass being used to mock up the vent holes…


I noticed the wheels on the RS61 when we visited the Porsche museum last month had an additional set of ventilation holes drilled in the hub (apologies for the rubbish photo, snapped in haste as it was being loaded on a transporter …


So… following the factory I did the same thing to the drums…


We've now taken almost a kilo from each brake drum assembly, which is a massive amount for rotating unsprung weight.

This weekend we have an 'Okrasa Special workshop day' with a host of mates and partners coming over, more soon…

[vwhelmot]

Cheers for sharing, great thread.

[So.Cal.Life]

 Oct 26 2016 , And Im on the edge of my seat . I truly love this project   

[Nico86]

This thread is seriously awesome!

[Steve Wright]

So good progress on the Okrasa Special despite a few things having got in the way recently: fettling other cars, hill climbing the 356 at Chateau Impney in England…



And in a moment of sheer madness almost buying another special, this time the completely knackered Nathan-Costin…



Thankfully the cabin was too small for me and the bidding went beyond my budget to three times its estimate at £90k  :shock:

There have been two big milestones recently. The first was the chassis going to Ian Clark's to wait patiently second in the queue while he finished the mechanical restoration of a RHD preA.





So the car is now up on axle stands with Ian going through each and every component to ensure it's up to the rigours of racing. First job was to strip the brakes. Ian managed to find a NOS master and slave cylinder rebuild kit even though everything looked fine. He also found a period catch tank…







He also located a few other bits and bobs:



And I've not been idle either. Firstly I got the 'seats' trimmed



Painted and assembled the lights



Sand blasted and put primer on the rims



Sorted the fuel filler cap as it was the only thing I wasn't happy with from Andy Robinson's, his looking too modern with a new cap, neck and lock. I've used a modified 356C filler neck…



I've also been experimenting with titanium to replace bolts and small components. I've found a supplier of grade 5 aircraft standard Ti and Nick Wright engineering has been machining everything. This guy is seriously good - does a lot of motorcycle racing and historic motor racing fabrication for the big boys but keeps a low profile as he doesn't need to advertise. Here's the wheel spacers and castle nuts now in Ti….





I also made templates of all the KG glass and sent them off to Plastics4Performance to replicate in Plexiglas. They even had the original logos which they etched into the windows. Here's me bending the Plexiglas to fit, the old school way with clamps and heat gun:





Out of sequence but I also finished the brakes, drilling, deburring, and painting the back plates once the GT scoops had been installed by Nick W.



And then finally last month we moved a step closer by taking the buck down to Gary and Vic at Mouland and Yates. It's such a pleasure working with these guys. They love the car, are enthusiastic about the project, are easy to work with and never short of a smile, and have decades of experience which will no doubt prove useful when it comes to solving the inevitable myriad of problems.



We will take the chassis to them 27 Jan and then Vic will be full-time on the car, so I expect we'll see some major progress on the bodywork which will be very exciting, plus Ian is getting stuck into the first of the two engines (the naturally aspirated one).

My new years resolution is to update this thread more regularly than I have AND to finish the car this year! Merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone

[vwhelmot]

Excellent update! It's going to be a serious racer when done. Love all the details!

[Nico86]

Every time this thread is updated I can't help but reading it from the begining all over again! It's great to see progress

[Lee.C]

Cool to see the progress

[Steve Wright]

We're now tickling along nicely with the mechanical refurbishment of the car. If this was driving we'ed be at 3,500rpm in top on a sunny day out  :wink:

So first up, the front suspension and brake assembly:





What's fabulous is to see all the thought, effort, time and money now coming together in a completed car. Here Ian has finished assembling the front end with new Koni adjustable shocks, and spanner checked everything before installing new flexible lines. All the original rigid lines were perfect. Ian coated everything with a liberal dash of WD40 to clean everything and also lubricate and protect it. Next was the rear suspension and brakes...



Note Ian has also removed the side panel to check removal of the gearbox so you get a sense of how the chassis is constructed. It's pretty rigid! Next is a detail shot of the rear brakes, again notice how much material we've removed from the various components to reduce weight and promote airflow through the brakes... Notice also the lovely titanium castle nuts



The only concession to modern components that we've made is to fit a modern lightweight starter motor in the interests of reliability and weight reduction. Painting it black at least hides it a bit but I'm not sure it will remain. We might have to revert to the original and find the 6kg weight saving elsewhere!



Ian has reassembled the rear suspension to make sure it's all screwed together properly - this is the last build before we start shakedown testing and driving the car on the road for assessment.



Last up is a couple of moody shots of the car in Ian's workshop. Next update in a week when the motor is installed and the car ready to fire up. Ian is also planning to complete a mock up of the twin Shorrock superchargers to confirm the installation/ set up, then we're trailering it to Mouland & Yates Friday....

[Zach Gomulka]

I don't know what else to say other than it is stunning!

Is that a modified early karmann ghia front sway bar?

[Steve Wright]

Hi Zac, good spot...

[Stevo_L]

awesome work! 
but i think your front brake cylinders are mounted wrong 

[WPS]

Thanks Stevo L

You are correct.....I fitted these back in 2009 as a mock up and only noticed when I was about to put the drum on!!......shouldn't have sent Steve that pic

[Steve Wright]

Ah, I posted that to see if anyone would notice  

[Steve Wright]

Well a momentous week: a running car and finally delivered for coachwork. Approximately six decades after first being built it's finally getting dressed!

But first a few photos of Mr Clarks handiwork. The first is a simply beautiful shot of the early Okrasa TSV1300 motor in all its glory. I just love the simplicity and symmetry of these motors. A huge thanks to Ian who has done three straight weeks without a break to get the car ready for M&Y. Thanks Ian.



For the observant who wonder, the metal loop between the magneto and generator pedestal is for lifting the motor out the back window....

Ian has gone to great lengths to ensure everything on the car is period correct for the 1950's: all the hoses, fittings, and components, right down to using correct nuts, bolts and washers are as they would've been in period.

Next is just a couple of fun shots of the blower mocked up to run one either side of the engine. There is a serious purpose to this though: we needed to know the set up was going to work in the car. Here Ian has laid up the blower to ensure there is physically enough space, that it lines up with the crank pulley, that we can get the blowers nice and low, and to check how mounting of them will work. We've landed on a steel cradle which will have to be bolted to the chassis as the two blowers weigh quite a bit. The motor is solid mounted so this set up should provide the rigidity we need to avoid constantly throwing belts.





The twin SU's will be mounted at an angle as per the photos to give a better angle to the port as well as putting the inlet directly in the airflow to ensure the air is as cold as possible.

Right, onto the main event of the week, delivering the car to Mouland and Yates. Vic is going to be building the car: a lovely chap (that's him on the far left of the photo chatting to Ian) who like his partner Gary has only ever worked on metal.... With a lifetime of experience I feel extremely comfortable the car is in good hands. There outfit is unbelievable - just look at the machinery in the photo of the car as unloaded. In the photo you'll also see the box with 'lights' written on it - we took every single component with us so Vic could begin to visualise some of the details:



We bolted up the buck made by 3D Engineers four years ago and stepped back to look at the little car. It looked good! There's a purpose and purity to the design which should really make it stand out.



Vic's first observation was that the very detailed and painstakingly researched 2,000 word specification I'd written up last year was going to result in a very fussy and horribly expensive car! In that polite but firm way good people gently guide a novice Vic and Gary explained how the car was simply beautiful proportioned as it was (thanks Barry and Al!) so didn't need a host of grills, vents, creases, and details I had specified. They also highlighted that this was where vast amounts of time gets sunk.



What we agreed was the they would build the car without any of the details and Ian and I would then start driving and racing it. If it needs something then we'll bring the car back for the modification. That way the car only gets what it needs and nothing superfluous, but it also evolves as all race cars do. I love old unrestored cars that show the passage of time and evolution that inevitably occurred: thinking evolved, original ideas didn't work, things broke, parts overheated or things proved ineffective. Because we're not painting the car this approach works really well and also shortens the build time (and cost!).



The final shot is a lovely photo of one of the original boxes parts came in: I'd forgotten I had this, but we will have to put the Okrasa logo somewhere on the car - it reminds me (and may very well be inspired by) the Pegasus logo:



Although sign-writing is some way off (!) it's always good to be thinking and planning these things. The next instalment will be in couple of months - Vic warned me that the car will very quickly look like it's almost complete but that's false. As Barry highlighted, it will be all the things you can't see that will take the time...

[Nico86]

Amazing, as always 

[speedwell]

awesome ,  ready to read the futre post