Damnation: The Cynos Project

Quick introduction to this infernal project, I bought this car in December 2005, after selling my white 1997 UK-Specification Toyota Paseo Si a day before going to collect this one.

Proceedings have been tumultuous to say the least - after 3 eventful trackdays between January-April 2006, I suffered the first engine failure, followed by another in February 2007. This paved the way to the 4E-FTE Transplant, as I deemed the 5E-FHE too much of a money pit at that point. Though I am a purist and would much prefer an N/A Setup, I decided that whilst having a Turbocharged powerplant, I may as well apply my typically anally retentive attitude to it. In short, I want to have a car that is both optimised for regular track duty, yet endure Daily Driver use as well...Currently however...

The car has almost permanently been plagued by several niggling issues, which is always...fun.

Progress is very slow, for example; I was meant to have my gearbox swapped along with several other tidbits (braided clutch and brake hoses, a working speedometer cable, a Racing Gear clutch that's NOT about to disappear in cloud of pulverised clutch components...) but the window has since collapsed as I received the wrong gearbox mount for the installation...a year or two on, still not in.

Typically, I don't like to give too much away...but, seeing as it's a blog, and it's very aim is to document the events and occurences with said car, I will reveal a bit. My aim for my ideal comprise, includes utilising an HRF Turbo kit-style Manifold and Downpipe (sans the turbo) paired with a GReddy TD05H-16G Turbocharger, combined with a 5E powertrain, HRF Power FC ECU and my HRF Pistons/Connecting rods. I'm not aiming for any particular power levels, as they don't matter to me...but suffice to say, this combination will rise to any potential I will require.

I plan on optimising 4 core areas of the car:
- Powertrain
- Suspension
- Mass & mass distribution
- Aerodynamics

- Pretty much from that slightly pretentious list, I want to optimise the running of the engine, and not just squeeze a pint out of a quart sort of thing, but rather, work away the inherent flaws of a standard powertrain in order to improve efficiency: reduce the sources of friction, and optimise heat transfer.
- Suspension - my area of major interest, or rather, the area I'd eventually like to specialise in professionally. This entails going beyond your standard "bolt-ons" components - there's a lot more to achieving the ideal setup, and again, reducing friction will play a big part, as well as reducing unsprung mass to a great degree.
- And finally, weight - short of shorning the car of most non-essential "mass", I would like to eventually optimise the bias as well - there's a bit more research to do rather than to jump to the conclusion of a 50/50 distribution front/rear so it'll be a long road to discovery via quite a bit of research...but yeah.
- Finally, I'm also intrigued by the advantages brought on by optimised aerodynamics, be it for reducing drag and hence improving performance characteristics, to improving positive aerodynamic attributes like downforce, as well as optimising heat escape and whatnot, and starting from a car with a remarkable (for the modern times as well, yet alone a late 1995 design!) stock aerodynamic profile - coefficient of drag of 0.31!

Sounds like an awful lot of hassle for what is essentially my first car, and, a lowly econo-Coupe' but, I guess it comes down to the fact that I've had a passion for anything Automotive and Motorsport related since I said hello to the world, and this is my moment to experiement and put my passion to practice, and for the foreseeable future this will be my chosen path for my life - being an engineer in essence, and applying it as much as possible.

So keep checking back, because whilst big updates are few and far between, they will arrive...one day...some day...

Oh, and, pending setup: