northstar spyder hits the road

After many long years of design and developement my northstar spyder hit the road today.I used a perry body(because of the size)however it is highly modified.It might have been easier to build my own body but I did not know that when I started.The appearance is much what I would imagine a 55 spyder would look like if competing in the can-am series.The chassis,suspension,steering is my own design or modified GM components.At this time the car is in prime as I will start to "flight test" and decide if changes are required.The engine is my favorite-300 hp northstar.I have dubbed the car a 950 spyder.If there are any northstar freaks out there they may know how the 950 is derived.Some have asked to see pics of the car so I will try to take a couple for starters and put them on the website over the holiday.

Yes, Pics, pics, pics, please
-=theron

Theron,what is the procedure for posting pics?thanks

Did you utilize the whole northstar drivetrain/cradle? Please show pics!!! angela

Well -- here goes -- first pic:

Angela,I actually designed a chassis and suspension around a kit that I sell along with a partner in OK.Our kit installs the Northstar powertrain in a Pontiac Fiero.The Northstar powertrain(engine,tranny,etc.)sits on a modified Fiero engine cradle which bolts into a Fiero with 4 bolts.I thought it would be nice to show people some of the possibilities of our kit outside its Fiero application.So the starting point for the chassis was the four attachment points for the cradle.I thought of doing an early VW pickup with the Northstar in the bed but then I have always thought the 550 spyder was the most beautiful body ever made.I will post more pics soon as I debug the setup.My hope is to have all sorted out by next summer so I can have the body painted.john

install a turbocharger on the northstar !!

www.redlineperformanceonline.com/northpackage.htm

Marcio,it is funny you should ask about the turbo.When I first met my partner we decided to collaborate on a kit to install the Northstar in a Fiero and then build a turbo kit for the Northstar.It took us 1 1/2 years to develop the Fiero kit however other priorities keep delaying the developement of the turbo kit.We have built our own dyno(almost),have the data aquisition system and the dyno engines-just need time to get to the project.My partner has been selling kits to turbocharge the 2.8 Fiero v6 for many years so the expertise is there.Looks like you are a turbo fan like myself.It is the most incredible power adder I know of.I have a GMC Syclone(second one I have owned)and used to have a Shelby GLHS Charger.Did you develop your own turbo or buy from some developer?Enjoyed looking at your pics-such is the pleasure of a well run forum.

Did you ever see Thunder Ranch's northstar eqipped street rod? Drivetrain in the rear, carbon fiber body. Absolutely exquisite. Expensive to produce, so there's only a few of them out there. Amazing drivetrain and vehicle.

I think your turbo routing could be a little problematic in this application (which I assume is transverse). Turbos are cool, but you can always talk me into a supercharger! Yeah, supercharged northstar spyder - whoo-hoo!!

Used to race my fiat x1/9 (port-injected rotary and fiero transaxle) with a couple who ran a Omni GLH-S. Their car was fast but had no top speed whatsover. Probably because it was rather brick-shapped. Seemed to me it topped out well under 120. GLH-S (Goes Like Hell - Somemore) was blistering fast in a straight line and a surprisingly good handling car. The early fiero transaxle I had suffered a terrible fatality. It just slowly twisted itself apart. There was a probably 30 degree twist in the input shaft when the tranny finally gave up the ghost one fast night drive home. The later getrag unit proved much more robust.

Thanks for the pic, but I REALLY want to see the motor please. angela

John, your car is amazing ! Great job. I have developed the kit by myself. The turbocharger is a regular Turbonetics .48/.60. The worst part of process was bending and welding tubes for the exhaust. There is not enought room in the Spyder engine compartment to put all the components in place. Agree with you that turbos are the most simple, reliable and funny way to increase power in any vehicle. This is my second try with turbos in this car. The first project was the same engine with two turbos, T2 size, each being propelled by one cilinder head. It's greate for competition but impossible to regular street driving, because peak pressure only comes after 4500rpm. Now it's running great producing 1.5kg/cm2 of pressure at only 2100rpm. I'm sure that Fiero plataform in your car can support more than 500hp with little modifications on the structure. Please, upload some Northstar pictures !! Cheers !

Marcio and Angela,thanks for the interest in my project.Only true gear heads can appreciate how much goes into a one of a kind project like this.I will take some shots showing the Northstar the next time I pull the tail off.That should be next week as I work on my creation daily.Angela,when you see the exhaust routing on the Northstar you will see that it is a natural for a turbo.Even though it is transverse,the two banks are routed together into a Y pipe which is where the turbo will install.Right now the big challenge is to hang the doors properly-looks like that will turn into a science project.Marcio,do you use EFI with your turbo or is it carburated.I did an early turbo install on a small car using a carb but I think what has made the turbo so attractive recently is the coming of age of computer controlled fuel injection.

John,
Even with the two exhaust v'd together, seems like the forward bank would be REAL hot near the firewall. The turbo would go, i assume somewhere at/near the V. Would it be high enough that the heat would be an issue with the engine cover?

Where is the radiator on your conversion? Also, aren't the Perry cars pan-based? What did you do to change that from rear engine pan to a mid engine? Almost looks like you had to just build everything for the mechanicals from the doors rearward.

Axles and rear suspension. How wide is the northstar drivetrain, disc to disc? Too wide for this? If so how did you narrow it?

As far as the doors are concerned - fah-get-about-it. Just glass them shut and step over the top like a formula car!!!

I'm sorry to pester you with so many questions - but I LOVE the northstar drivetrain and am very intrigued that you have chosen such a worthy powerplant. angela

Angela,you have several good questions.Next week when I post pics of the powertrain some more will become clear however I can clariry more at this point.The turbo location(whenever we get to that phase) will be around 8 inches from the rear deck so I don't forsee any problem there.As I was trying to capture some can-am flavor,I went with 2 alum radiators-one on each side right behind the doors.That is what the scoops are for in front of the rear tires.The radiators are in series and each has a fan that is controlled by the Northstar computer.Since we burn our own chips I can program in the on and off temps for the fans(gotta love ECM's).The choice of the perry body was not made to use the VW chassis.I picked that body since it was the spyder body that was closest to the size I needed.Actually the entire chassis is my design/manufacture.As I said earlier,I utilized our Fiero kit when building my spyder and new axles are part of the kit.They are shorter than the Northstar axles and allow installation in a Fiero without changing the rear track on the Fiero.I just went out and measured the spyder and the outside to outside dimension for the rear tires is 70 inches.This required widening even the perry shell.I did this in a manner which made the rear fender bulges much more massive and muscular which was in keeping with the theme I wanted on this car.One of my pics shows the modified rear fender which to me is much more attractive than the original perry.Again thanks for the interest,hope this helps.john

For those that wanted to see the powertrain I have added 3 shots taken today.I had the back off the car as I was working on the glasswork for the cold air package(for every 10 degrees cooler the inlet air temperature there is a 1% power increase-free).john

holy moley, that is amazing.

John, just one word : INSANE !!! It's really an amazing project...

YEE HAWWW!!!! That is SO cool John! Very ahh, 'tight' packaging. Auto trans? LSD? Hope you take it out for a 1/4 mile run or two because this should eat it up. Always one of my favorite drivetrains, really impressed that you wiggled it into this wee car.
angela

Thanks for all the encouraging words guys(and gals).It is always nice when hard work is recognized.It is a very tight package,and the entire car was designed around the powertrain.You may note the exhaust which is 3 inch mandrel.It is designed such that both banks join into one(I am a big fan of single exhaust) and exit in the center.I felt this was needed to retain some of the spirit of the original spyder.Yes Angela,it uses the Northstar auto which is excellent and I have installed an lsd but have not tested to see how effective the lsd is-that fun is still to come.john

Where do you mount the fans which will be needed to suck it to the ground?
Seriously, That is really cool.
-=theron

Thanks Theron,and my compliments on an excellent board.john

That is soooo COOL:) !!!
Now if you put one (NorthStar)in a 904 body, I will be happy to take it off your hands. I know where you can get a body.

Dan,is that the 904 that you just posted a pic of?Cool car but right now my plate is full.That 904 would be something with a Northstar.Who makes that car?john

A friend of mine is developing a 904 as we speak. I had ask him a couple of weeks ago if he would consider a NorthStar engine option along with the current 911 engine and he said it would screw the project up, the power had to be Porsche. I just thought that the availability of the NorthStar, as you can buy a brand new GM crate 320 HP NorthStar for $4200 with warranty would be a plus, not to mention reliability. I am not the least bit bound up by "period correctness" or tradition, personally (but, have no problem with people who strive for period correctness). I know my replica is a "fake", I love the vintage looks but will accept any modern technology that is available. A vintage coupe like the 904 with hot water heat, A/C, roll-up windows, etc would really be nice!

I debated about where to post this message between here and the thread about telling someone its a replica.I decided here was best since readers here know about the Northstar Spyder.I have been slowly road testing the new car on very lonely roads but today decided to drive it to the post office-this is actually the first time people saw the car stopped.In short,a stop that nomally takes 2 minutes turned into a 30 minute car nut adventure.If you think it is difficult to explain to someone what a replica is,try explaining a custom built car that has a highly modified body which started out as a not very faithful replica.The experience was rewarding and although the car is just in prime and has no interior yet it does command a presence.I got comments like,"James Dean would like this car" and "I drove in and saw the front and thought it might be a 550 spyder but then I got a look at the width of the rear and said wow".The most interesting gentleman recently sold two Porsches,a 911 and a not street legal race car(I think he called it a type 63?) and now drives a boxter s.He was very complimentory about the Northstar car and I considered that quite a compliment coming from someone who until just recently raced a Porsche.