Cheetah Mk7 [Archive] - PerformanceForums

xbgs351

20-07-07, 09:27 PM

I purchased the Cheetah last year after coming to the conclusion that trying to make a family car like my XB quick around the race track isn't a wise move.

My race car is the last of seven mk7 Cheetahs made by Brian Shead to race in Australian Formula Two. Brian designed and constructed his Cheetahs in a small factory at the rear of his home in Mordialloc, Melbourne. All up Brian manufactured almost fifty Cheetahs. The mk7 was originally a ground effects car, running venturi like side pods to pull the car to the ground. During the mid 80's ground effects were banned and the car was converted to a flat bottom format. The side pods that are now on the car are off a Cheetah mk8. I have yet to put the car on scales, but Brian Shead said that the mk7s were the lightest of the Cheetahs. I have been informed that it weighs in under 400kg. In Australian Formula Two the race weight including driver is 510kg.

The transaxle was made by Holinger Engineering. It uses a VW case and is similar to the five speed Hewland mk9, with most components being interchangeable, but the gear shift mechanism in the Holinger is considered superior to the Hewlands. The limited slip diff is a cam and pawl type.

The engine in my car is a 1.6 L Toyota 2T. The 2T is basically a 4 cylinder hemi, but with an alloy head. The Toyota motor was considered to be stronger and cheaper to run than the VW Golf motors that it raced against, but it is was also down on power. That isn't to say that a 2T is not a powerful motor. A standard 3TC head flows 147/135cfm @ 0.400" lift & 28" H20. Ported they flow 190/155cfm @ 0.500" & 28" H20. A strong 2T can make 180hp and I have heard figures of up to 200hp quoted. 180hp in a 400kg car makes for a very good power to weight ratio. My car has run 1:08's at Mallala, so it's no slouch. For comparison the V8Supercar lap record is a 1:08.1, F3 is 1:06.4 and F4000 is 1:02.6

21-07-07, 04:21 PM

'The ghost' - Mark at sascar dosen't happen to fiddle with that does he?

He often mumbles about a 2T powered jigger he fiddles with & brings in little bits of it for me to mess with.

TK

xbgs351

22-07-07, 09:37 AM

The engine was built by Doug Veale at Cantech in SA. There are a lot of custom made parts in the motor.

PHULL

23-07-07, 08:24 AM

gday have you got any photos of inside the cockpit of the cheeta by any chance? thats a fantastic car by the way.

xbgs351

23-07-07, 10:43 AM

gday have you got any photos of inside the cockpit of the cheeta by any chance? thats a fantastic car by the way.

I could take some photos. What areas are of particular interest?

PHULL

23-07-07, 01:25 PM

the front bulkhead, centre bulkead ( of the monocoque section) with the dash

xbgs351

23-07-07, 03:19 PM

Front bulkhead is a plate. Top rear is RHS.
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/1175/img0189vo7.th.jpg (http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0189vo7.jpg)..http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4112/initial005kt7.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=initial005kt7.jpg)

Rear lower crossmember is RHS as is the centre crossmember that supports the springs.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1025/copyofimg017911tj2.th.jpg (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=copyofimg017911tj2.jpg)..http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/194/img0105pn0.th.jpg (http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0105pn0.jpg)..http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9091/img0102ym4.th.jpg (http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0102ym4.jpg)

PHULL

23-07-07, 07:29 PM

fantastic stuff mate good photos

xbgs351

07-08-07, 11:16 AM

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5359/39tk.jpg
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9170/43zv.jpg

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2602/56va.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8333/66bj1.jpg

Cal

07-08-07, 04:42 PM

Too cool. Thanks for posting.

Cal.

PHULL

07-08-07, 07:46 PM

just out of interest where did you get the program for that?

Billzilla

07-08-07, 07:47 PM

just out of interest where did you get the program for that?

http://www.susprog.com/

08-08-07, 08:14 AM

Ahh, walnut glow xb gs fairmont...mine was walnut glow too....the memories!

edo

30-08-07, 11:43 AM

Hey XB...cool.

Where do you race it? What series?

What would a bloke expect to pay for something like that?

xbgs351

30-08-07, 05:53 PM

At this stage I'm looking at running in OZ Boss and perhaps Australian Formula Two in NSW. It's starting to get pretty close to being back on the tarmac. In the long run I intend to return it to it's original form and race in Historics. ie return it to this:

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/9076/small5wi.jpg

An Australian Formula Two will cost between $25k to $40K. Occasionally cheaper cars come on the market, but by the time they are up to scratch they are no cheaper. Here are a few on the market now:

ASP
http://www.my105.com/classified.asp?id=7512

Cheetah mk7
http://www.my105.com/classified.asp?id=6933

Elfin 622, built when twincams were allowed.
http://www.my105.com/classified.asp?id=7248

Cheetah Mk6, sold a few years back
http://www.race-cars.com/carsold/other/af2mk6/af2mk6ss.htm
http://www.race-cars.com/carsold/other/af2mk6/af2mk6ss.htm

Cal

31-08-07, 12:12 PM

ASP
http://www.my105.com/classified.asp?id=7512

A mate of mine who used to race a Formula 2 Kadaitcha sent me that link the other day. Was inspired to get back into it.

Cal.

xbgs351

31-08-07, 04:53 PM

A mate of mine who used to race a Formula 2 Kadaitcha sent me that link the other day. Was inspired to get back into it.

Cal.

I have seen that car numerous times at historic meets and it looks very neat and tidy. Within Group Q/R the old AF2 cars are very close. Lately the ASP, a Birrana and a Hardman have had great battles.

http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?27/05/2007.WINT.P8
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?27/05/2007.WINT.R39

xbgs351

29-04-08, 03:40 PM

Took the car back to the tub last week. Here is a photo of the front of the engine:

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/9273/033pt8.jpg

The front of the tub:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3720/021wz6.jpg

And just how light is the tub? Well it happly sits on two pieces of styrene.

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/6606/030ni7.jpg

Cal

29-04-08, 03:50 PM

Have you been racing it since you last posted in August?

xbgs351

29-04-08, 04:18 PM

Not yet. I pulled her apart to clean out the oil tank & deaeration tank and to get access to some hard to reach rivets. The oil tank had a little bit of sludge in it, but no foreign materials. Another mk7 owner lunched an engine from rubbish in the oil tank and I wasn't going to risk that happening.

I got to drive yet another mk7 at Wakefield last year, but modern fuels had made the foam in the fuel cell rot and bits of foam where blocking up the fuel filter, so it didn't want to rev out.

Beavis

29-04-08, 10:32 PM

Pardon my ignorance, but what's with the ridiculously narrow tires?

roadsailing

29-04-08, 10:43 PM

so you can push it around and get it onto trailers etc, racing tyres are wide, its done commonly with gokarts too.

and for skidz

PHULL

30-04-08, 08:27 AM

top stuff dude how do you find working with solid rivets. Also where do you guys get your nose cones from? no doubt someone in vic has moulds for them.

xbgs351

30-04-08, 10:13 AM

The transport wheels are also larger in diameter which makes the car easier to get onto the car trailer as this car is seriously low with the race wheels and tyres on. The narrower width of the transport wheels also creates a lot more room in the garage.

Yet to have a go with the solid rivets. The nose cone is made the same way as the rest of the car being rivetted aluminium, with a hollow tube passing through it which the front wings slide over. Most of the mk7s ended up with the narrow nose cone, not sure where it originated from. The wings are made of some kind of foam and I don't know where they where manufactured.

PHULL

02-05-08, 08:39 AM

sorry I was refering to the fibre glass nose full width nose cones that were also used before people started using proper wings

xbgs351

02-05-08, 12:11 PM

sorry I was refering to the fibre glass nose full width nose cones that were also used before people started using proper wings

The original wings are also made of rivetted aluminium sheet.

Gammaboy

19-06-08, 12:21 PM

Hey Rohan, just stumbled onto this Forum/Thread... looks good! can't believe how light the tub is!

xbgs351

19-06-08, 09:21 PM

Hey Rohan, just stumbled onto this Forum/Thread... looks good! can't believe how light the tub is!

Ben,

Yes it is pretty light. I have no problem lifting it by myself and it still has a fair bit of stuff on it such as the master cylinders, pedals, harness, coil, rev limiter and guages. I may have to weigh it at some stage. Maybe I should save up for some corner-scales to justify it...

Gammaboy

20-06-08, 12:27 PM

Given the lack of adjustability in the Falcon's suspension I'm having difficulty justifying the cost of corner scales to myself... I might just borrow a set to get my weighting right initially...

Seems like a pretty good forum here, might spend a bit more time over here - AFF seems like the wrong crowd for my Race car thread...

PHULL

15-07-08, 08:47 AM

The original wings are also made of rivetted aluminium sheet.

I might give it a go since I really hate working with fibre glass so much. BTW I have a place down the road from work thaty sells the west system stuff and kevlar/carbon fibre sheet and supplies for vacuume bagging

I am at the stage where I am attempting to space out the ribs on the outer skin. does the cheata have any place for access to the inside voids?

I mean access to the space between the outer and inner skin of the monocoque.

xbgs351

18-07-08, 08:45 AM

I might give it a go since I really hate working with fibre glass so much. BTW I have a place down the road from work thaty sells the west system stuff and kevlar/carbon fibre sheet and supplies for vacuume bagging

I am at the stage where I am attempting to space out the ribs on the outer skin. does the cheata have any place for access to the inside voids?

I mean access to the space between the outer and inner skin of the monocoque.

There is limited access where the inboard springs are, but there is a bulkhead just in front of the lower rear control arm mount.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3734/023rv9.jpg

At the rear on the right hand side, the end plate is held on by fasteners and this allows access to the oil tank that is in there. Remove the oil tank and you can see almost the entire length of the void. I don't recall how many bulkeads there are. I believe the mk8 had more. On the left hand side the end plate is rivetted on by blind rivets. You can see that in the photo below.
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7200/025jz3.jpg

Also have a look at the following mk8 photos. This was the first clean sheet designed Cheetah, but the tub is still very similar to the Mk7. The biggest differences to the tub are that the driver has been moved forward and the front suspension has rose joints on the inners. To allow access to the lower rear rose joint there is a round access hole just above it.

http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll281/xbgs351/Penrite%20Cheetah%20mk8/

xbgs351

03-11-08, 07:08 PM

Brian Shead has been busy at work on my Cheetah. He has given the tub a bit of a tidy up, repaired the original ground effect side pods and manufactured all of the missing hardware for mounting the side pods to the tub. He is in the process of fabricating up another nose cone as the original had a few cracks. He will then manufacture the original hardware for mounting the front wings and end plates. Soon the car should be back to it's original appearance, which will allow me to pursue a CAMS Certificate of Description and give me the opportunity to race the car in historics.

It should prove rather easy to change the car from ground effect to flat bottom configuration and back again. It is hard to say what the difference in performance will be between the two aerodynamic set ups, but I suspect the benefits of the narrow nose will be greater than the benefits of the ground effect side pods.

xbgs351

04-12-08, 08:56 PM

She is ready to be picked up, so looks like a trip or two down to Melbourne is in order. It is always cool going down to Speco as it is an Aladdin's Cave of race cars. Brabham, Cheetah, Dallara, Elfin, Elva, Lola, Palliser, Ralt, Spectrum, Van Dieman - seriously cool.

bigmuz

04-12-08, 09:31 PM

Pictures of everything or ban! :D

xbgs351

04-12-08, 09:43 PM

Most are under covers, in bits or in the truck. The Elva is a bit beaten up after an incident at Winton earlier this year. Fixing the chassis is one thing, but the bodywork is a bit harder.

EfiOz

15-12-08, 08:06 AM

Ahh, the memories. We won the AF2 Sportsman trophy in '95(?) with one of these driven by Chris Coombs.

http://www.compsystems.com.au/images/Customers/cheetah17.jpg

I'll have to check the year of that. I've got a pic of that car and Sambo at Winton.

Zac

15-12-08, 08:29 AM

Great thread :) What year is the car?

PS if you push alt-print screen you capture the selected window rather than the whole screen ;)

EfiOz

22-12-08, 07:33 AM

xwavgas

03-01-09, 06:46 PM

Great stuff!! Love the chassis pics all stripped back.
Those early Toyota motors are great, I remember years ago servicing an old ladies Corolla and it must have been running for ages with about 500ml + filter of oil in the thing, fresh oil and off she went again.

Has the XB got an adjustable front bar?

xbgs351

04-01-09, 08:06 AM

Great thread :) What year is the car?

PS if you push alt-print screen you capture the selected window rather than the whole screen ;)

That last photo is a Mk8 Cheetah. I think it is the Ransberg Cheetah which was the last Mk8. It would have been built in 1987 and holds plenty of AF2 lap records.

My car was built in 1981 and was the last mk7.

xbgs351

04-01-09, 08:11 AM

xbgs351

12-02-09, 07:29 AM

The tub is back home, but I have been struggling to do much with it due to a severe lack of space. I really need to sell the FB and repair the clutch master cylinder on the XB. The master cyclinder repair would be easy if I had room to open the door - which I don't, could move it over - which I can't because of the FB, could back it out - which I can't because I have no clutch and it is parked in by a tub and two other cars.

Due to the lack of space, all I have done of late is clean out the schwarf and old rivets left over from when the tub was tidied up. I have also polished one side of the tub.

The next step is to learn how to do rivnuts so that I can easily add and remove the brackets that support the flat bottom floor and sidepods, but clash with the ground effect sidepods.

Below are some photos of the tub fitted with the original nose and wings:
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/2804/img1897xp1.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9015/img1898ut5.jpg
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5812/img1899fb0.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2391/img1909au8.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6888/img1910bu1.jpg

Here is the nose and ground effect side pods:
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6829/img1805qv0.jpg

Gammaboy

12-02-09, 07:47 AM

You're making more progress than me!

xwavgas

17-02-09, 05:48 PM

Good progress,

I use my workshop style trolley jack under the diff of the Xdub to move it around the place as it looks like you have smooth flooring there so should be ok?

da9jeff

17-02-09, 05:55 PM

spend $200 on some car dollys (or whatever there called) we got the cheapie non lift up ones and there still pretty good.

xbgs351

17-02-09, 09:00 PM

The tub is now about 90% polished. Every scratch, dint and rub mark on the aluminium leaves unsightly black marks that are very hard if not impossible to polish out. Given that the tub is 28 years old, there are a lot of marks. When that is done it will be time to start polishing the nose cone and the coolant pipes that run up each side of the car. Oh the fun of it!

I am planning on getting some of the lifting car dollies, but until I sell the FB there isn't all that much point. I will probably just lift the tub over two cars to get it where I want. Normally I would just get my wife to help me, but as she is 7 months pregnant I may have to get a mate to give me a hand.

Selling the FB hasn't been smooth sailing. I have had some people who have decided not to come at the last minute which has left me in the lurch. I have even had one person who arranged to come last Sunday, completely deny speaking to me at all, even though his phone number was the same as the one he gave me and in my phone records and his name was the same.

gxxr

23-02-09, 06:52 AM

Having a yack on the weekend about the old formula 3 race at Amaroo Park where all 3 of the Cheetahs were out within a couple of laps after one of Sheady's suppliers got a bit carried away lightening flywheels - 2mm thick in the mounting area! - not sure how accurate it was, but he mentioned Brian was not well, possibly a stroke. Heard anything to that effect?

Hard to tell from the access holes, is there a collapsible steering column in there?

xbgs351

24-02-09, 12:53 PM

Brian Sampson was doing the engines back then, so I wonder if it was one of his suppliers? The Cheetahs absolutely dominated Formula 3 back then. Just look at Shead's race record. According to one of the articles I have, Shead competed in 293 events, from which he achieved 112 wins, 228 podium places, 85 fastest laps and 30 lap records.

Brian looked fine when I saw him a month ago and I recieved an email from him two weeks, so I assume that all is still well.

The height of the steering column is adjustable, but it isn't collapsible.

gxxr

25-02-09, 06:30 AM

Sounds like a Mark Twain moment from this end.

Adjustment via spacers or something more complicated? Doesn't appear you have to contend with a 4ft spear aimed at your chest at any rate.

xbgs351

06-03-09, 03:20 PM

There are just three levels of holes that the steering column can bolt to. The length of the steering column is also adjustable.

xbgs351

10-04-09, 03:36 PM

Well, I have sold the FB, purchased some Gojacks, moved the Hardtop, and moved the tub alongside the rear half of the Cheetah. I have also fitted the front suspension and done a dummy assembly of the nose and sidepods. Seeing a bit of progress is actually giving me some new enthusiasm for the project.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7659/img2047n.jpg

bigmuz

10-04-09, 04:08 PM

That looks better- tripping over piles of stuff is a miserable way to play with cars..

Go for it!

msmola2002

10-04-09, 04:29 PM

I can't for the life of me remember. That pic was taken at Calder Park circa 1995 as part of it's shake down prior to being purchased. Actually must have been 1994 because it was red when it was ran in 1995.

WTF alt-print BS?

Only just noticed this!

looks like the ransberg cheetah that kevin lewis was running a couple years ago - brick red colour. Last check it was still here in newcastle.

The last time I saw it run was probably a good 3 years ago now, did something like snap the timing belt off the start line, and kevin was running in the CRD after that... and he droive edward gavin's mk8 a couple times after kevin finished rebuilding it - that was around the last time I was out at an F2 round tho - early 07. :(

xbgs351

11-09-09, 08:29 AM

Geez looking at this thread reminds me that I haven't even touched my Cheetah since the last post and that was five months ago. Any coincidence that my daughter is about 5 months old?

evil_weevil

11-09-09, 02:52 PM

yeah slight coincidence!!
car does look good, so does XB! first time Ive seen the thread!

Whats the old girl in one of those photos, where the bike is leaning agaisnt it?

xbgs351

14-09-09, 11:34 AM

yeah slight coincidence!!
car does look good, so does XB! first time Ive seen the thread!

Whats the old girl in one of those photos, where the bike is leaning agaisnt it?

This is the 'old girl'. It was my Grandfather's FB. Earlier this year I sold it sight unseen to someone in Western Australia.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll281/xbgs351/FB/PasFuneral017.jpg

xwavgas

15-09-09, 10:34 PM

Yea I recently revived my build the other day, have a deadline of Feb as will have a similar new responsibilty to look after.

How's the XB going also?

xbgs351

16-09-09, 09:06 AM

Since the XB went to alphabet track day in October last year it has backed out of the garage, driven to the end of the court and backed back into the garage. Given that October is coming up again it may be time to overhaul the master cylinder and machine the discs so that it will be ready for this years outing. If the XB goes anything like it has every other year, it won't be the fastest car there, but it will spend far more time on the track than any other car there.

xwavgas

17-09-09, 05:50 PM

Yea cool and atleast it got started and driven even if it was only for 3minutes 45s.

xbgs351

25-10-09, 08:55 PM

Yea I recently revived my build the other day, have a deadline of Feb as will have a similar new responsibilty to look after.

How's the XB going also?

I was at Winton today and it was going very nicely, but just before the end of the day it broke the distributor gear and to top that off it had also blown a head gasket. So with no ignition it was impossible to fire up the engine to drive any water out of the bores. I think I know what caused the head gasket to go and if I'm right I will definitely need another set of heads. I just tried looking up the CHI website, but it appear to be down.

xwavgas

25-10-09, 11:50 PM

Ah spewin about the motor, so what the distributor jumped a tooth and made it ping which pushed out the gasket?

The CHI business was sold recently but that shouldn't stop the site I suppose, I grabbed the 2V's which was awesome as a straight bolt on, the thing that struck me the most was actually the turn in improvement with the reduced weight.

xbgs351

26-10-09, 06:15 AM

I purchased the heads off a friend of mine about 6 years back. Unfortunately when he opened up the chambers he came a bit too close to the fire ring in a few places. He got away with it on his car for years and years, but I suspect that I have fallen foul of the issue.

The turn in is another reason to consider the alloy heads. Resistance to detonation is also another big one, even though I'm certain that it isn't detonating. Being able to run without any valve seat lubricant would also be nice.

The other thing is that a lot of the Falcons at these fun days have had $20k thrown at the motor, so you are all over them under brakes and around the bends and instead of them being polite and letting you through down the straights they want to drag race. So my poor little 351 with home ported heads and a quiet exhaust has to try and compete with a stroker in a straight line. It does pretty well and they don't pull away, but I don't get to shoot past them like I did a few years back either.

xwavgas

26-10-09, 12:28 PM

Yea that makes more sense than my theory,

The Alloys are an easy 50hp bolt on with more comp plus more low end torque...mmmm

Gammaboy

26-10-09, 06:42 PM

Yeah, I do miss my old CHI headed motor... should have kept it as a street car for alot longer.

xwavgas

27-10-09, 04:01 PM

I was talking to Leon at A1 highperformance today and we were looking at some sweet Edelbrock Victor heads for Wheezors and I started talking about my heads and what could be done to them.

He basically said to get a solid roller cam instead...oh dear!!

xbgs351

27-10-09, 04:20 PM

Found out why the distributor gear broke. The oil-pump pickup broke off flush with the oilpump and some pieces of the pipe thread went inside the oil-pump and seized it. This in turn twisted the oil-pump drive shaft, broke the distributor gear and stopped the motor before any damage could be done. Looks like there has been zero damage to the engine. Very lucky.