Supercharged 4 cylinder Land Rover Engine
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100" Land Rover 100 2.7
      Rally Reykjavik
History  
Technical Specification

NEWS

After mixed success and a steep learning curve we have come to a (hoped) temporary halt with the LPG engine. We simple cannot cure a heat build up near the manifold the LPG turns from liquid to gas and then the injector timing from the ECU is all a miss. In stage or on road there is no problem but the trouble is at stage starts, with that waiting and idle heat builds up. We can cure it but we don't have the resources to buy or build a fuel pump that can deliver over 250psi, thus keeping the LPG in a liquid state. If you know of one please contact me. In the mean time we have fitted a petrol tank and have remapped the ECU for petrol, the supercharger has been boosted to 10psi - everything else remains the same.

History Return to top of page

The vehicle started its ‘competition’ life some three years ago, when a bare chassis had Old Man Emu suspension fitted to it as a promotional centrepiece for GKN Driveline.

land Rover 100isgA roll cage and space frame designed to accept Land Rover 90” or 110” body panels were added by specialist developer QT Services. A 90” rear cross member was fitted, as were twin shock absorbers at each corner, top of the range Old Man Emu adjustable Long Travel Remote shock absorbers and a set of nitrocharger shock absorbers.

In this format the vehicle went to four shows and one event as a display.
During the winter of 1998/99 the vehicle was taken to Inverness where Ian Sykes undertook the work necessary to complete it with much burning of ‘the midnight oil’.

Land Rover 110 rear wings and a 109 hard top have been shortened to fit. The front bumper has been brought inboard by about 5" and the engine mountings are 14" further back than usual.

All the nuts and bolts (where appropriate) are stainless steel and the internal body is made of aluminium, fitted with stainless steel hexagonal-head set screws. All parts are new and the wiring loom is custom made to suit the instruments and fittings.

The laminated front screen is fitted into the roll cage and the other windows are made from police riot shield material capable of withstanding shotgun attacks!

The innovative front and rear bumper fittings allow for the quick fitting of a winch or tow attachments.

The vehicle is the culmination of over 3 years of work and has been on show at several Off Road and ARC events in its bare chassis form and at Billing in a near finished state.

By far the most prestigious presentation for the vehicle and a great thank you to all those involved was its appearance at the 1999 Scottish Motorshow as a center piece for their Off Road section. In a typical pose with one wheel up on rocks the Land Rover stole the display and also helped to promote the Scottish Hillrally in July 2000, with slide show and notices.

2000 leaflets, about the vehicle and event, were printed and distributed along with others that the SECC printed from our originals. Those of you who saw it at Billing will notice the colour change from blue and yellow to a sharper blue and red - Calor Autogas colours. We have been fortunate to secure a great sponsorship package from them as we promote LPG as an alternative fuel for the future and the Earth.

Technical Specification Return to top of page

I am indebted to Roland Marlow, who is Automotive Component Remanufacturing, and has designed, developed, built and tested the engine system himself, Automotive also carry out lead free cylinder head conversions. Look out for him and Frances in the Scottish Hillrally.

Automotive Component Remanufacturing, Chester. Tel 01244 520688

So what does 100 2.1 isg stand for?

Built on a Range Rover chassis the vehicle has a 100" wheel base.

The engine is 2.1 litres in capacity and has a huge Jeremy Fearn INTERCOOLER, just fitting in front of the 110 radiator, which cools the SUPERCHARGED air helping to provide plenty of oxygen for the engine.


Engine:
Our last yellow series III had an Automtive 2.25 litre Land Rover 4 cylinder engine, fitted with an Automotive head, manifolds and cam it produced in excess of 100 BHP, and proved to be great fun and also showed just how good Roland is.
Eaton superchargerWhen the vehicle was being discussed a 2.5 litre engine with his new racing cam was decided as a must. The supercharger came about by various experiences wild ideas and an excuse for an engineering project. Using gas came as an idea to save money and to be ahead of the environmentalists, Roland then came forth with the gas injection idea as it is by far the more accurate and powerful form of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) fuelling.
Use a `standard' 2.5 Automotive Power Plus prepared engine running on unleaded and you will have about 140 bhp (nearly double a factory sold Land Rover), however add a supercharger and you have over 200bhp with all the benefits of that instant grunt. (MSA rules require that the engine cc is multiplied by 1.7 to give a notional cc for a supercharged vehicle, our 2.1 falls within the standard 3.9 V8 class.) A supercharger unlike an exhaust driven turbo does not have any lag time, being driven from the engine directly, this gives boost across the rev’ range and consequently torque is not peaked. We are using an Eaton Blower.
A specially made
camshaft and new cam drive ensure absolute valve timing within the innovative remanufactured cylinder head to harness the full potential of the Eaton supercharged and intercooled air flow.
A bespoke mapped engine management system, from OMEX controls the ignition and fuelling, and with a laptop computer it would be feasible to make adjustments as conditions dictate. Being the one of the first, if not the first, to use LPG in Hillrallying we were successful and very fortunate to secure sponsorship from Calor Autogas.

Fuel:
Many will remember our early days of competition running on LPG, we even rallied in Iceland on bottled propane. However after 4 years of development by the engineer he deemed enough experience had been gathered and our unique Liquid Gas Injection engine was converted to run on Shell Optimax 105+octane. We ran on this for the first time in Iceland in September 2003, and came 8th.
Rear wheel arch, note red gas tanks

Brakes:
Four-pot disk brakes are fitted all round. Longer-term plans to upgrade to AP vented cross drilled 4/6 pot racing units.

Gearbox:
In an effort to reduce weight we have used a 5 speed Discovery gearbox mated to a Series transfer box. We did this, with some effort it has to be said, with the use of an Ashcroft conversion kit. It arrived as one piece but had to be split to allow us to cut a space for the reversing light switch to protrude, we found some bolts had not been fully torqued, and when the 5 speed box's transfer gear leaver was removed (now totally redundant of course) an open space with no cover plate was revealed. Great idea spoilt (to my mind) by poor finish in the detail.
A 110 cable hand brake has been fitted to the transfer box and the speedo drive allows the Brantz Rally Trip meter to be driven safely.

Drive Train:
Basically Land Rover. The axles are from a Discovery but we are using race specification 24 spline half shafts made for this vehicle by GKN Driveline and the front axle has specially strengthened half shafts and axle case stiffening. GKN Driveline overload front hubs

Using Qt Services designed lower axle mounts, the LR 100 2.2 isg is controlled by Old Man Emu suspension.

QT Services designed lower axle mounts are used on both the front and rear axles and allow for twin shock absorber mounting.

Australian design and manufactured OME suspension is proven in many long distance raids both in the US and Australia.

Rear axleTwo shocks are used at each corner, the main shock is the LTR or Long Travel Remote (reservoir), similar in design to the Nitrocharger with a 19mm shaft the LTR benfits froman additional and remote oil reservoir which helps keep the oil cooler.

Additionally, the shock can be fully rebuild and gassed (Nitrogen) as required. Initially the gassing will be at about 80psi though we can adjust from 35psi to 110 psi. The other shock is a standard Nitrocharger and is used as a back up and to help control axle twist under acceleration.

Front axleSprings are Old Man Emu and are designed for the Discovery. We will be experimenting with different springs, 90, Range Rover etc and shock pressures to achieve a ride that allows hard vehicle landings yet controlling any rebound without an undue harsh ride or excessive bounce.

The axles are controlled from dropping when airborne by nylon checkstraps which we had made locally from the 110's seat belts. It's not only Ford who can claim to recycle vehicle parts.

Extra weight has been removed from the radius arms by drilling. This same system can be applied to road going 4x4's. Old Man Emu suspension from 4 All Fours, Polyurethane bushes, by Deflex (also for classic car race/rallying), have been used and we are testing new compounds at each event.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Deflex 01745 360070

A 110 power steering system is used with the pump being driven by the all new drive belt which drives the supercharger and alternator.

The Propshafts have been made specifically for the vehicle by GKN Driveline.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or GKN Driveline 0121 313 6237

The differentials are 4.7:1 ratio and to accommodate the new spline shafts the differential planet gears have been replaced with an ARB AirLocking unit. This allows for the conversion and a stronger 4 pinion arrangement but more importantly allows for a choice of either normal (open) differential action or for a manually operated locked differential within .05 of a second.
One use is to over come loss of drive from a  broken shaft as drive can be forced to the other wheel.
Both the rear and front axles have AirLocking differential, providing unrivalled traction in tricky conditions, when both Air Lockers are engaged.

The 5-speed gearbox is from a Land Rover 110 and is mated (uniquely) to a Series 3 Land Rover transfer box. This allows for two-wheel drive for normal road use and four-wheel drive and low-box for off-road use. In other words, the traditional, heavy differential unit of the modern Land Rover has been removed to reduce weight.

ARB AirLockers from 4 All Fours 01463 798404  

Bodywork:
Based on a Classic Range Rover 100" chassis. The rear has been cropped to accommodate a 90 cross member and the front bumper rails have also been cut back. The effect of cutting back both front and rear reduces the overhang and thus increases the approach and departure angle, allowing much steeper banks and slopes to be tackled.

Interior viewThe 100 inch chassis is considered the most stable length for off road rallying whilst maintaining good manoeuverability. Attached to this rigid base is a MSA approved roll cage for both Stage and Off Road rallying. Apart from the main hoop, made from 3" CDS tubing the remaining frame and cage is made from 2" T45 tube.

Expensive but strong and light for the volume used. The cage provides mounts for the shocks and the screen is incorporated within the front hoop. This design allows the flow of stress throughout the cage and not localising it in one place.

Receiver unit built into the rear cross memberThe side door bars allow the vehicle to be used in stage rallying. A unique feature, added my ourselves, in the rear cross member is the incorporation of a Class III US receiver system, for towing, recovery and winch adapters. A another receiver is built onto the front bumber.

As in most cases, a mixture of parts, but all Land Rover.
The front wings are from a 110 but the door bottoms are not, one is  a second hand one from Series II and the other a new Series III door, both door tops are new.
The bonnet is from a NEW 300 TDI model Defender.
The rear panels are cut down 110's with the fuel filler moved to the N/S to act as a filler for the small fuel tank. All the wheel arches are from the 110.
The roof is from a Series III 109, cut to size from the rear. The side panels were removed, stripped cut to size and refitted.
All the internal ribs have been removed were we can and the others have been attacked with a hole cutter to reduce weight.
The front screen is  from Auto Windscreens and is a laminated unit, the side windows are all cut from industrial perspex suited to bus side windows.
The rear door is a type of riot shield material.
The roof is held at the front by the use of  cavity foam.
All the inspiration and nearly 95% of the work was carried out by my friend Geoff Hind who has carried out many Rally and Off Road Services. Vehicle prepartion and painting is his forte.

Geoff Hind

Electrics:
Armtech battery cut offThe wiring harness was custom made and most parts are Durite obtained through the local Lucas agent.
All external connections are solder joint military bullet type (salvaged from the 110) and located within the main body work, out of the mud and wet. All components are fed via relays and the fuses will be replaced with circuit breaker types in due course.
Additional wires are in place for auxiliary lights and other uses.
Two heavy duty cables will run from front to rear to provide power to the de-mountable WARN winch, which can be slid into the Class III receiver slots on the bumpers.
The MSA FIA required Battery Cut Off system is an ARMTECH Solid State electronics system activated by push buttons. This works on the negative side of the circuit and there are no separate earth wires to the battery, just one to the unit.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Armtech 0181 901 2909 

Rally Trip:
Brantz tripmetersWe will be using the latest computer  based Brantz Laser III Rally Trip meter. The sensor is taken off the speedo cable fitted to the gearbox for this purpose. The unit allows for stop watch, trip distance, 0-60 times, standing ¼ mile times, auto stop watch, average speed etc as well as a fuel monitor.
A remote hand unit allows Frances to zero or step up the readouts to match the road bookBrantz trip meter.
A PC interface is available, but we have not used one.
Remote hand unit
The Laser III can be set to start a stage stop watch, the moment the vehicle moves from the start line.
At the end of the stage the time taken, average speed and highest speed can all be read off and all the while the trip meter is kept and the time of day maintained, previously set to match rally time. Cost? - p
hone me but sub £300!

In-car communications are provided via a Graytronics intercom.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Brantz & Graytronic, Brent Communications 01943 880499

Communications:
the navigators officeThe vehicle has fittings for both MSA and CB radio communication as well as space for my O2 XDA mobile phone, hopefully I won't loose this one!
A  GARMIN 12XL GPS and (when required) laptop computer can also be powered and carried safely. The later are used when exploring and mapping new stages for the Scottish Hillrally.

GPS from 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Sylaco 01224 733818

13 amp power:
150 watts of 13 amp power can be supplied to help run the gadgets when prospecting.
 

Fire:
LIFELINE fire extinguisherFire Extinguishers are supplied by LIFELINE with their  Zero 2000 system.
A hand held for off road and an electrical plumbed in system for rallying. We are ahead of the game and ready for FIA changes, however the MSA have given BCF a 3 year lease of life.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Lifeline 01203 712999

Seats & Belts:
Rally seats by QT servicesSeatbelts and roll cages work together, the cage can only protect you if the belts hold you within the seat and cage.
Willans Harnesses are used as they are arguable the best and the Silverstone 4x4 range provide 3" shoulder and 2" lap along with a crutch strap.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Willans 01264 810712

The seats are made by Qt Services and the leather covers incorporate air lumbar support bags.

From 4 All Fours 01463 798404 or Qt Services

Team Profile

Driver: Ian Sykes Co-Driver: Frances Sykes
Background: Background:
Ian is originator and organiser of The Scottish Hillrally, one of the leading events in the British Hillrallying calendar.  
Ian has competed in every hillrally in the UK and while not necessarily the fastest, he is a consistent finisher, with some class victories under his belt.
One of the most competent  and un-flustered navigators in hillrallying.  
Frances has competed in forest car rallies as well as hillrallies and tutors other successful teams.

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