darrenjlobb's Adaptronic Managed Compound Blown Derv Bus Build

[Adam CD P1]

Followed this build on youtube and seen a lot of your field car videos too along with the dyno's and Cummins project. I really like the home brew engineering that goes into your cars. My own upcoming xud build is partially your fault haha. Any updates on this build ?

[roland rat]

Read all 11 pages and have to say the results you've got from spraying at home are outstanding! Love the colour scheme too

[darrenjlobb]

Afraid no updates, the car hasnt moved from its spot, and the few mm's of dust have turned into few cm's!!

Every time I think about moving it into the workshop, something else crops up / other peoples projects take priority.

One of these days ill get on with it!

[Adam CD P1]

Afraid no updates, the car hasnt moved from its spot, and the few mm's of dust have turned into few cm's!!

Every time I think about moving it into the workshop, something else crops up / other peoples projects take priority.

One of these days ill get on with it!

Yeah you'll definitely have to get back to it, it's a pretty sweet build ! I saw the 305 video's that thing's epic haha

[darrenjlobb]

Have just got one more engine to build / fit to car etc for someone and then should hopefully be able to push this one back in the 'shop!

Hopefully!

[Adam CD P1]

Have just got one more engine to build / fit to car etc for someone and then should hopefully be able to push this one back in the 'shop!

Hopefully!

Sweeeet ! This should be good

[Piggy]

Don't tease if you don't mean it!

[Dum-Dum]

Wasn't that what you said about this time last year LOL

I love how you have at least a dozen of us in utter suspense with this.

[Magenta Sunset]

will the column mount be getting paint?
think the under painting is a great idea.

[bashbarnard]

Wasn't that what you said about this time last year LOL



I love how you have at least a dozen of us in utter suspense with this.

Id love to say I'm not one but id be lying. Cannot wait to see what's happening.

[darrenjlobb]

Sorry, sadly still no updates to report, so thought id take a photo and share to show it looking fairly sorry for itself under a few mm of dust in another car shed....

Only a couple other projects to tie up now and should be able to get it back in the 'shop

[zx_volcane]

#epicbarnfind

[Piggy]

No genital drawings in the dust!?

[Dum-Dum]

No genital drawings in the dust!?

I was just thinking that.

So weird to see something that dusty without a massive phallus drawn on it.

[Jonny81191]

I reckon Darren would have your balls for that, it'd scratch the paint..

Can't wait to see it getting built up, it's gonna be awesome!

[dr_jekyll]

Updates please!

[darrenjlobb]

Sorry none to report....I think this project is just cursed at the moment! Having issues with another project at the moment....The car is also blocked in by a 10 tonne pile of rough sand at the moment, so must be for a reason....

[Adam CD P1]

Ahhh wanna see more of this build, I watched your 16v m tdi xud build looked pretty cool

[Piggy]

Pathetic excuse.

Rhys...get on and use that sand for something good

[Mattcheese31]

ahhhh Lobb, stop the teasing and crack on we it, you're too long gone, what's the chances of it making a show in some form this year? . .

[darrenjlobb]

ahhhh Lobb, stop the teasing and crack on we it, you're too long gone, what's the chances of it making a show in some form this year? . .

I would say a pretty certain 0, given the chassis isnt even finished yet....and the things engine wise going on in my head are a long way from reaching metal.....Maybe next year....Always good to have a goal / target!

[Mattcheese31]

ahhhh Lobb, stop the teasing and crack on we it, you're too long gone, what's the chances of it making a show in some form this year? . .

I would say a pretty certain 0, given the chassis isnt even finished yet....and the things engine wise going on in my head are a long way from reaching metal.....Maybe next year....Always good to have a goal / target!

slow and steady wins the race anyway fella, best to do it how you want to first time rather than messing about lashing up various setups just to get it out . .

[darrenjlobb]

Time for a little update (for a change!) As some people may have seen in a previous video on YouTube, I finally got the car out of its dusty shed last week, and moved it into my workshop. However some slightly sad / bad news is that the thick layer of dust, has done a little more damage than I had first thought, It turns out dust from putting bags of cement into a mixer next door has been blowing in over the car, and has built up a thick layer of cement dust..which has sadly now gone rock solid on the paint!

After some advice from several people on here / youtube, I ended up using some acid brick cleaner and water to try and lift it, along with the pressure washer etc.....After getting rid of the majority of it, I then was able to use a claybar and lots of water to try and remove what was remaining...Sadly this has put a fairly large amount of shallow scratches into the paint, and also not managed to lift it all... Not sure what to try next to remove what left, from a distance you wouldnt know, but up close you can see it, and if you touch the paint, it feels rough on the back of your hand, whereas it was smooth before.... So this is a bit of a shame, but no one to blame other than myself for leaving it parked where it was so long un protected.... Good job it was only a home paint job and not one I payed thousands for!!! Bledy job!

So ignoring this problem for the time being, as think its just something I will have to live with now...I pushed on and pushed the car into the workshop over the pit, ready to be able to continue working on it.

The car inside in the background awaiting some attention:







The next little thing I wanted to sort out on the car after sorting out the wiring inside, was the clutch linkage situation. As I have said before, I am trying to sort out everything on the car before I make a start on the engine!

So previously on most of my engines, I have ran a 4 paddle unsprung clutch from CG...Which in all honesty, has worked very well, and given me very little grief....However I sold it a few years ago when I built up the 205 VNT'Bus for Tom, so I needed something new either way. I have noticed the quality of some CG items to have dropped somewhat over the last few years, and have seen several clutchs with very poor spline / hub manufacturing, leading to alot of "slop" on the input shaft of the transmission, which isnt something I like, A - because it can make a horrid noise when the shaft is unloaded, and B - because I can see this slogging out / stripping it right out when abused with lots of torque, which is something I really don't want happening! 

So off the back of that, and the need to upgrade ideally to support bigger torque at the flywheel, I decided to order a 4 paddle disc from Helix (lets hope mines ok as think Piggy has been having similar issues with his ?!) and also an uprated pressure plate, with a higher clamping force. 

Because of this, I have concerns about the stock clutch cable, more so the plastic ends, which I have seen fail before under extra strain from aftermarket pressure plates. When coupled with the problems I have had in the past with manifold / turbo's partly melting the cable, or at least constantly drying them out / making them stiff and squeaky, I decided now is the time to convert to a hydraulic setup to avoid these problems and give more reliability / release force on the clutch.

Obviously no 306's came with a hydro setup from the factory, so needed to make something up custom, and after having a little search around online at what other people had been doing (for V6 conversions etc) I didn't really see anything that I felt I would be happy with, infact most involved using a cable anyway, and then converting to hydro remotely, which to me just somewhat defeated the point / added alot of complexity and mess that I don't think I would  have been happy with.

So after much thinking, I came up with an idea in my head, so set about making it, so started out by ripping the dash / pedal box etc all back out the car:




Then removed the brake servo and master cylinder to gain access to the bulkhead:




My plan was to have a pivot system mounted in the rear corner of the engine bay, as to hopefully avoid being in the way of anything else, yet still be directly actuated by the pedal itself. I decided I wanted to be able to remove the entire system rather than fabricate it directly on the car, meaning once the engine is in, if it requires modification / changing, I am able to unbolt it, and remove it, without having to pull the entire engine out to get in there with the grinder / welder or whatever is required!

So step one was to make up a mounting plate that sat on the rear chassis member area, basically 3 bits of plate cut / bent to shape, and then welded together:



Which sits in here like this:



Next up, I needed to modify the stock clutch pedal, so that I could mount a rose joint at one end of it, to actuate the pushrod through the bulkhead:








Next up I needed to drill and rivnut the car, so that the plate could be bolted to the car securely. I also remounted the old brake servo as to make sure we retain clearance during the build:



This is what I came up with for the clutch lever system, the far back bit holds an OEM style PSA clutch master cylinder for simplicity:



And with a lick paint:




And assembled to give an idea of how it all works:






And then fitted / bolted back in the car:




And inside:



And with booster re mounted to confirm clearance (tight!):




And a video update for anyone who likes to watch these to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjSyhF5xIOw


Thanks for reading as always!

[Eeyore]

Eugh epic work as always. Bit of paint in the engine bay whilst youve got the engine out i reckon!

[Piggy]

Nice work man...as always!
Did you take a look at the xsara by any chance?? Same chassis/engine bay but with hydro clutch.

---

I had issues with the organic one, not paddle. Yet to see if helix resolved the clutch bite point with their new cover...but tbh, with your setup, you can adjust and get it just right

[darrenjlobb]

Did you take a look at the xsara by any chance?? Same chassis/engine bay but with hydro clutch.

No have never looked at a Xsara...didn't know some of them were hydro, could no doubt have just fitted the setup from one of them then! Oh well

[zx_volcane]

lovely bit of engineering / fab work there

[allye]

Seems very complicated! Is there adjustment in it to get the pedal bit correct? This is what I did with my V6 goodwood. Had the Benifit of a base model servo which allowed me to mount it on the box. Seems 306's don't have that luxury.

[darrenjlobb]

Seems very complicated! Is there adjustment in it to get the pedal bit correct? This is what I did with my V6 goodwood. Had the Benifit of a base model servo which allowed me to mount it on the box. Seems 306's don't have that luxury.

Indeed, there are adjustable rose joints at both ends of the push rod....And have made lever bar oversized to allow for changing falcrum point in case of issues, but its 1:1 atm, giving same pedal stroke as OEM car, so in theory should work....he says!

[pioneer DJ paddy]

Good to see this back on track again good work man keep at it now lol so we can see the end result :-)

Have u thought about turbos yet interested to no wat u use this time lol