Bob's FuryBusa Site - May 2008

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Thursday 1st May, 2008

Not much to report really. I ordered a 41mm socket online from Avenue365 who supplied one for £9.37 delivered which undercut Swansea Fasteners by about £30 ... it arrived today. I maybe won't need it for a while but at that price it's worth having in the tool chest.

I've been doing a bit of thinking about the engine mounts. I got a torch and a ruler out to check on the situation - the sump currently hangs about 22mm below the bottom of the chassis, so raising by 25mm will be about right. I could just raise the top mounts up on blocks but the gearbox mount is going to need some welding/fabrication anyway so I decided it will be neater and probably better to fabricate new mounts, or at least part of them, for the top too. I've fancied having a welder for a long time, and it's likely that if I'm to race the Fury I'll be needing one for other jobs at some stage. So I spent quite a while doing a bit of research and ended up using a Machine Mart VAT free offer to order one online. Hopefully it'll be here for the weekend. I also called in a local steel stockholder and bought a length of off-cut steel strip - it's probably slightly thicker than I want (6mm rather than 5mm) but I'll see how I get on with it.

I made a couple of enquiries on the BEC list - one about the engine mounts the other about the dash/steering wheel situation. I'd been thinking of getting one of the steering wheels with a cutaway section in the top but thought it best to check it wouldn't fall foul of the regs for the RGB series. Turns out it would and advice is to fiddle about with location of DigiDash/steering column to get a clear view or get a bigger wheel.

This evening I removed the DigiDash from the car to send it back. I'll also order a lap timer module. A couple of the switches in the dash (2 redundant ones as it turns out) had come undone and fallen backwards behind the dash so OI retrieved the nuts that go on the front from the debris in the footwell - both footwells were full of bits of rubber from the trackday. I also replaced the brake pedal pivot bolt with a longer one and tightened up the clutch one which seemed to be suffering from the same problem. I removed a washer and applied some threadlock to it to hopefully prevent it coming undone again.

I also rearranged the bikes and stuff in the garage ready to get the Fury back up onto its axle stands ready to get the engine out again. I could probably do the top mounts with it still in the chassis but there's bugger all chance of doing that for the gearbox cradle and I need to look at that oil leak again. I suspect there must be a tiny crack or something in the actual alternator cover.

Even if the welder isn't here for the weekend I've got plenty to get on with - I need to sort out the left side rear wheel arch which is rubbing on the tyre, I also want to add a switch to be able to power up the DigiDash without the engine ignition - as soon as the ignition is on it runs the electric water pump which drains the battery. I should be able to do it with a double pole switch I think.

Monday 5th May, 2008

I haven't had time to do much tinkering with the car over the last couple of days. Trouble is it's spring and things start to grow - like lawns and stuff. It then needs cutting. Lots of other jobs need doing. I did quite a bit of online shopping in the early part of the week, sadly the welder hasn't arrived but the Parweld auto-darkening mask did. I've tried a bit of arc welding in the past and found it frustrating not being able to see a bloody thing till you actually strike an arc. This one has adjustable settings and is just like a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses in its natural state. I discovered even a 60w bulb in the kitchen makes it darken, it's really quite impressive, instantly darkens. I also ordered a clutch holding tool which arrived mid-week - it's like a large mole grip with prongs on the end to hold a clutch basket. Should make getting the clutch out a lot easier - I may as well whip it out when the engine's out to see if I can get the gear position switch working, although to be honest I can cope fine without a neutral light. I suppose it just bugs me that it doesn't work! I sent off the DigiDash to have its firmware upgraded, they can also look at why it won't connect to my laptop. I'll also get a lap timing sensor to go with it.

I had a very helpful exchange of emails with one of the current RGBers which has motivated me even more. He's suggested I get a move on with my ARDS. He's right of course. I was ringing Pembrey all week but couldn't get a reply, I'll have a chat with Alan who knows the setup there well and see what the best way of contacting them is. I'm prepared to travel further afield if needs be although I suspect Pembrey will be cheaper. I emailed my GP on Friday morning about getting the medical done and he left a message saying to call in at 5.30! So I got that done on Friday evening. He did raise an eyebrow at the 'evidence of a mental condition' bit but I managed to persuade him I was OK :-)

On Saturday morning I had a trip to the local Screwfix. My trusty old Black & Decker cordless drill is on its last legs. Well the drill's OK but one battery's completely useless the other getting that way. So I invested in a nice Erbauer 18v drill. For the anoraks out there it's really great - 13mm chuck, metal gears, pair of 2AH batteries that charge in just an hour. It's leagues better than my old one - the B&D was a pain in that it was difficult to tighten the chuck properly but this one automatically locks when the drill isn't running. It also has masses of torque - I tried it yesterday fixing my shed and putting screws in was a breeze. I also got a set of cobalt bits and hacksaw blades. I was thinking of getting a jigsaw but couldn't bring myself to splash out that much.

Out in the garage I got the car up onto axle stands again. A couple of hours later I had the engine out - managed it with a bit less fluid leakage onto the floor this time. With the engine out I removed the parts of the mounts I planned to re-fabricate then tucked the engine out of the way behind the car.

I made a start on the wheel arch. Basically when I stuck the left hand one on I boo boo'd and pulled the rear of it too close to the wheel so it's been rubbing. First I made a cut with the angle grinder to allow me to bend the rear part of it backwards. The first cut didn't help much so I added another, then removed some of the GRP to allow it to flex OK.

I then cut a little strip of aluminium and pulled the arch back to where I want it and pinned it in place with 4 pop rivets. I could then trim away the excess to minimise any step between the 2 parts. You can see from the first pic below that I now have adequate clearance from the tyre.

Next was to cut some strips of chopped strand mat (I'm sure weave would be better but I haven't got any), mix some resin and slap it all on. I ran a strip along the join on each side of the arch.

Once that had hardened I trimmed off the excess, removed my aluminium strip and set to it with the angle grinder with a flap wheel in it to get the contours roughly right. I then stuck another strip of mat along the outside and reinforced the bottom edge with a small piece folded around it. Yes, I know it looks pretty scabby but I'll sand it roughly to shape then add some filler and paint it all. It'll be OK, you'll see ...

Hopefully the welder will arrive tomorrow so I can get the engine mounts done during the week. I'm going to need to spend quite a bit of time practising and I think I need some thinner steel sheet - the heftier parts of the mounts are 5mm thick but some parts look like 3mm.

Friday 9th May, 2008

Well the welder did arrive on Tuesday so I had a play on some steel angle I'd got from B&Q for my gearshift bracketry. It was obviously a bit messy at first but I started to get the hang of it. I can see that it'll take a lot of skill and practice to get nice neat welds but that the kit's easy enough to use for me to get by. The helmet was certainly a revelation although I think my biggest problem was not trusting it and squinting quite a lot once the arc was struck! I probably did a total of about a metre of weld and in addition to still being able to see the next morning there was no eye discomfort so I guess I can trust the helmet and look directly at the arc as I'm welding. The welder comes with a disposable CO2 bottle but having read the really useful info on this MIG welding site I found I'd also ordered a bottle of the Argon/CO2 mix as this apparently gives a much better weld on mild steel. I decided to just use the CO2 while practising and to save the better stuff for the actual mounts. The only shopping during the week was a trip back to the steel stockholders for a length of 3mm steel strip 50mm x about 2m.

I got through to speak to someone at Pembrey eventually to find that they don't do ARDS tests any more as there's no instructor there now. This was a bit disappointing and I had to start considering a plan B. The next nearest place is Castle Combe so I gave them a ring on Thursday. They had a course next Thursday which I couldn't make because of work and one on the 10th July which is a long way off. The next phone call was to Thruxton who said they could fit me in either tomorrow or Saturday! I was due to be off on Friday so I thought I may as well go for it and booked in for 2.30 Friday afternoon. After parting with £270 for the half day course/test via credit card I decided to stop feeling guilty about the fees I charge for the medical courses I run!

So Thursday evening was spent frantically revising by reading my electronic version of the 'Blue Book', watching the MSA's 'Go Racing' DVD and scouring the internet for any info I could find on the ARDS test. There are quite a few threads on it in the Motorsport section on the Pistonheads forums, some of which are quite encouraging, others less so, particularly the one where someone went to Silverstone and they only passed 8 out of a group of 24 :-O The main factual knowledge concerns the flags and to be honest I already knew most of them - I did find a nice site here that showed them all with the actual blue book wording along with some additional explanation. I have to say I was really nervous about doing it - it's been on the horizon for ages but suddenly having it booked for the next day and parting with that much money focused the mind somewhat. I also found a couple of YouTube clips with onboard laps of Thruxton.

Come Friday morning I was up early and ... still very nervous! I'd decided to go on the bike as I figured getting back from Thruxton on Friday evening could be a bit of a nightmare in the car. I reckoned if I left at about 11.30 I'd be OK. I did some more revision then went out to the garage for an hour. I used the angle grinder with a flap disc on the wheel arch to tidy that up which produced a couple of small holes where the GRP was very thin. I then patched the back of that with a couple of strips of matting and some resin, It should be pretty much ready for some filler once that's gone off. I also made a start on the engine mounts - the front top mount is a triangular plate that bolts onto the chassis tubes and has a vertical U shaped bit into which the cylinder head mount bolts via a bush. I decided the easiest way to deal with this was to grind the U shaped bracket off the base plate and fabricate another which was 25mm taller and weld that on. After a bit of fiddling about I realised there was no way I'd be able to produce the 90%deg; bends in one piece so I decided to make it in 2 pieces. I got quite a bit of the fabrication of the 2 pieces done then it was time to go and shower the GRP dust off and stick the leathers on.

The ride to Thruxton was uneventful - it was warm and dry and although quite a lot of it was on the M4 I enjoyed it. the R1 really is a fabulous machine, it's just so easy to ride! Once there I got changed, signed on and sat with the small group of blokes looking as nervous as me. The place was absolutely heaving with people doing driving experience days, out in various cars from single seaters through to F430s and a Lambo Murcielago LP640. They were doing a nice trade selling the onboard DVDs and photos.

Eventually our instructor for the afternoon appeared and shepherded us off to the teaching room. Pat Blakeney is the chief instructor at Thruxton and spent most of the afternoon going through key bits of the MSA DVD with us. He was very good, a nice relaxed manner with a bit of humour but gave us some very nice explanations around the key bits. Again there was very little that was new to me but he did provide me with some additional insight and understanding particularly around the weight transfer stuff. At about 4 o'clock the classroom stuff was done and it was time to go out onto the circuit. I recognised one of the instructors from the 2 trackdays at Pembrey and started chatting to him - I can't remember his surname but his first name's Rupert. Pat sent us off together and Rupert led me out to a little Mazda hatchback. The format was to be him driving 3 laps followed by me driving 6 or more laps, the final couple of which would be without instruction. He's a really nice guy and I really enjoyed it, I've never been on the circuit at Thruxton before and the back part of the circuit is very fast and pretty featureless - I was grateful for the entry, apex and exit cones! After just 2 sighting laps we pulled back into the pit lane and it was my turn. The little Mazda was surprisingly powerful - it's a turbo with 260bhp and really had terrific midrange push! The name of the game was building slowly and smoothness. Rupert's a really good instructor and it was pretty clear was there to help rather than trip me up. I was told to just stick to 3rd and 4th gear which suited me just fine! After 3 or 4 laps he said he's stop talking and just watch me drive a couple of laps and I was pleased I managed to get the tricky bits - the right-left-right complex after the start/finish straight and the chicane just before it - nice and tidy and smooth. Rupert was clearly happy with me as we came back into the pit lane.

Just the flags and the test to go then. Pat spent quite a while going through all the flags then handed out the test papers. Page one is pictures of all 4 flags, page 2 is 14 questions asking you to identify the correct flag for each situation. You have to get all these correct in addition to the next 3 safety questions - one was about what to do if you drop your helmet and crack it and to be honest only an idiot would choose the 'cover it with a sticker' or 'sell it to a fellow competitor' options! The next was about fire extinguishers and did tax me a bit as although I thought the correct option was to make sure it was 'serviceable and the gauge showing full' there was another plausible option which was that it should have the manufacturer's label on it. I decided the latter was the scrutineer's concern and was actually about dates rather than manufacturers and that I was more interested in it working and being full! The last one was as easy as the first - when would your car be scrutineered. The remaining 8 questions were all easy. At the end I'd got them all right and Pat stamped and signed my licence application form and I got back into my leathers at 6pm to head home. Unfortunately I left my folder with all my paperwork including my driving licence there only realising 145 miles and 2 hours and 12 minutes later but that's another story ...

Saturday 10th May, 2008

I was absolutely knackered last night - I wasn't hanging around on the R1 and 300 miles takes its toll on neck and shoulders. Anyway, I did get through to Thruxton eventually on the phone this morning, they found my folder and are posting it back to me on Monday :-)

I managed to more or less complete the first engine mount bracket -finished off fabricating the 2 upright parts, drilled the holes for the 12mm bolt then clamped them in position with the bolt in and welded them on. I decided it would be better to brace them a bit so filled in the space between them with some fillets of 3mm steel cut to size. the welds are pretty messy - I suspect I've had the wire speed a bit too high for the current leading to piling the weld material a bit high and probably not penetrating very deep. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

Sunday 11th May, 2008

Much of the day was taken up with golf and mowing :-(

I did get the bottom engine mount fabricated - it's a large inverted U shaped section with 2 3x25mm strips welded underneath it that slip either side of the bottom chassis tube. I just cut them off with the angle grinder then cut a pair of 3x50mm strips, drilled holes in them and welded them on instead. Again the welding's pretty messy, I stuck a small fillet underneath as a brace. I'll clean it up with the flap wheel before I stick some paint on it. The only one left to do now is the top rear mount and I just plan to use a flat plate to raise this. I might even cut the piece ready and wait till I can lower the engine in situ to tack it together - since it's the third of the 3 mounts I can then make sure they all fit and hold the engine in the correct position.

I didn't have time to make any more progress with the rear wheel arch. I think I'll wait till I can drag the rear tub out of the garage so I cut down a bit on the dust in there. I also need to do a bit of work on the arch on the other side - there's a crack between the body and the back end of the arch extension. I'll probably reinforce it inside with some GRP and refill it. I may just try to get a couple of aerosols made up instead of using the spray gun, it's not a big area I need to do.

Thursday 15th May, 2008

I haven't got much done in the garage this week - the evenings have been taken up catching up on the garden and getting the swimming pool ready for the summer. I've more or less got the wheel arch ready for painting - I applied a layer of filler and got it back roughly to shape with the drill and flapwheel then applied some more filler and sanded back with wet and dry. With various layers of GRP and filler it's quite difficult to see how good or bad it is and I think I might slap a coat of primer on which will make it easier to see what's what.

My folder came back from Thruxton on Tuesday morning so I completed my competition licence application and got that off to the MSA. I got an email acknowledgement of receipt yesterday. I sent off my 750MC club application and got my membership card back although there's no membership number on it. I also bit the bullet and sent off my series application form. They emailed me back a race entry pack and informed me my race number's 33. I haven't sent a race entry off yet, I think I'd better wait till I get my MSA licence back.

I was reminded on looking through the entry forms that I'll need a transponder - so far as I can gather this little device picks up strips laid across the circuit and does all the lap timing. The one I needed was this one from HS Sports which cost me the sum of £226.05 direct from them. I did look around for a second hand one but couldn't find any at present. It seems they change hands for upwards of £180 used anyway so there wasn't much of a saving to be had. That arrived yesterday.

I've been in email contact with one or two of the racers along with the 750MC competition secretary and the Formula rep for RGB. The Formula rep's Steve Robinson and it turns out we've encountered each other in previous lives as he was competition secretary for the Westfield Sports Car Club when I raced in 2003. I was trying to remember why I only did the one hill climb (Llys y Fran in July 2003) and I think I only really got the car ready towards the end of the season and missed a couple of the events through work, Ironman Austria etc. I then got distracted with the Ultima build which started in June 2003. Anyway, I've been asking about getting the car looked over by a scrutineer locally to try to identify and sort any issues before I trek off to my first race. Turns out there's a list of scrutineers in the Blue Book but Steve's advice was to not worry about it too much as there'll be plenty of help on hand from the other guys to get it through. The next race is in Anglesey the weekend of 7/8th June and is a double header, i.e. races on both Saturday and Sunday. There's also a test day there on the Friday which it would be a really good idea to get to. So, that's what I've got my sights set on at the moment. Although Anglesey is in Wales it's in north west Wales and I'm in Swansea sort of in the middle of south Wales and there are no motorways between north and south Wales. According to Tom Tom it's about 170 miles and over 5 hours but it could be longer than that with a trailer, so in actual fact some of the other circuits like Oulton and Donington are easier to get to!

I also of course need some new kit - I've previously used my bike helmet for trackdays but it isn't MSA approved since bike helmets, apart from using different standards, aren't fireproof. My Sparco race overalls are still in date but it's sensible to get some nomex undergear, socks, balaclava etc. Buying helmets and clothing by mail order is fraught with problems so I'm planning an expedition to Demon Tweeks - also in Wales but in north east Wales this time! fortunately I'm running a workshop for educators next Wednesday which happens to be in Wrexham and should finish at lunchtime so I'll take my credit card there then. I'll need race numbers, novice sticker etc. as well.

So, the Fury's almost finished but the expense is racking up! Here's a break down of what it's costing me to go racing:

And then there will be the race entry fees - Anglesey's £225 for the two races, so by the time I do the test day and add this to the little list above I'm looking at over £1500.

Today I got a bit of shopping done at lunchtime. After I'd done the spraying I was talking to Andy about wiping the panels down beforehand and he helpfully told me there are things called tack rags ... so I called in Livermore's and got a box of those along with a tube of cutting compound.

This evening I cleaned all the black underbody stuff off the inside of the right wheelarch ready to fix that. what's happened is that it's flexed when I'm pulling the rear tub off and on - ideally it's a 2 man job but I'm on my own most of the time. Once that was done I mixed some resin and stuck a few strips of mat over the inside where it's cracked. Tomorrow I'll rub down the outside and fill the crack ready for some paint. I should get quite a bit done this weekend - I lost most of last Friday cos of the trip to Thruxton.

Friday 16th May, 2008

I fabricated the final engine mount - the easiest as it's a simple steel bar that bolts onto the head. I was previously using some spacing washers so I just cut a length of 6x50mm, drilled it and welded it on. Once that was done I gave them all a clean up with the flap wheel and a wire brush and splashed some of the POR15 metal preparer stuff on there. It allegedly has some zinc in it.

I sanded down the crack on the outside of the right wheelarch, filled it and sanded again. I took the tub off and propped it up ready for spraying. After turning most things in the garage blue last time I sprayed I had a cunning plan ,,, I used a decorator's sheet and a roll of polythene I bought at Screwfix to screen off a part of the garage. This should also prevent some of the dust getting onto the paintwork. I mixed up the filler primer and gave it a good coat. So good I had loads of sags in it again! Grrr ...

While that was drying I had some other errands to do, mainly investigating getting some decking timber.

Once the primer was dry I got going with the 240 grade wet and dry to remove my sags. This actually went OK and I managed to sort the surface out without having to apply any more primer. I also painted the engine mounts with black POR15.

Once the primer was sanded back I cleaned it up with one of the tack rags I got then mixed the blue paint and sprayed that. I got this much better with no sags or runs and quite a good finish - certainly better than it was before! While waiting for it to dry I was clearing the stuff up and realised I'd used the wrong activator for the blue paint - I hadn't spotted that there was a different one for top coat and for primer. It seemed to be going off OK anyway so i decided not to panic and to see how it turned out.

That was that for the day. I did get an email during the day from the MSA to say my licence was done and had been sent for printing. They reckon I should get it within 6 days. So I'd better get some race applications in now.

Saturday 17th May, 2008

First job this morning was to check on my paint. It had hardened absolutely fine and looked good, I seemed to have got just the right amount on there to get a good finish with no runs etc. I stripped off all the masking tape and paper and got to work with the 600 grade around the edges, once the bodywork's back on the car I'll use some of the cutting compound to sort it.

I had a bit of a clear up next, I hadn't swept the GRP dust off the floor as I hadn't wanted to disturb it all for it to settle in the paint. I then pulled the engine out and took off the alternator cover and cleaned up the mating surfaces and inspected them carefully. I really can't see any reason why it leaked, both surfaces look fine, there are no cracks or holes in the casings and the gasket's intact. Once it was all cleaned up I tried it in place without the gasket and initially it was rocking a bit but I realised it was just the rubber bung where the alternator cable exits and a bit of pressure compressed it enough to make the casing seat nice and flat. I applied silicon to both surfaces and refitted the casing and gasket. I can't see any reason why it should leak but we'll see.

The car interior is a mess with GRP dust, I should have put a cover over it before attacking the wheel arch with the angle grinder. Half an hour with a duster got it looking respectable again.

While having breakfast the postman arrived with a package from the MSA - my blue book and my licence! Very quick work, I'm well impressed.

It was time to get the engine back in, so I pulled out the hoist and hooked the engine up and got it into the engine bay. Raising it had made the clearance between the chassis and the gearbox cradle tight in places and I had to move some bit of wiring loom out of the way. I initially tried bolting the rear mount onto the chassis but couldn't get the cradle's bush to drop into the right place and ran out of time as I was due to play golf with David. I made sure the engine was secure and left it.

When I got back I lifted the engine out and fitted the mount to the cradle before lowering it in and this worked better. I managed to just drop the bolts for the frontmost top mount in but had to redrill for the rearmost one, not surprising really as it was pretty difficult getting the configuration of the mounts absolutely spot on without some sort of jig. Once it was in place I had a look around to make sure everything was going to fit - and it did seem OK. It looks like the exhaust headers should fit on OK and the sump is now a couple of mm above the bottom of the chassis rails. I also checked the bonnet clearance and it's just OK - there's a little clearance over the sausage filter and there's a bare couple of mm over the cam sensor on the head. I didn't get any more done as at this point the decking word reared its ugly head and I had to go and make a start with David. The pics below show the top mounts in situ - the flash makes them look much dustier than they are!

Sunday 18th May, 2008

My only opportunity to get on with the car was early morning as I had golf scheduled at 9.30 and decking construction after that. Raising the engine was always going to have a few consequences, especially in terms of anything rigidly fixed to it, like exhaust, propshaft, gear linkage etc. I started by having a look at the exhaust. It was clear some adjustment would be required - the back end of the silencer is fixed via a rubber bung on a bracket, and although I could get it into a position where the headers were lined up with the ports the silencer then fouled the sidepod. So I spent a little while fiddling with the bracket and trimming the GRP back with the dremel sanding drum. Once that was done I bolted the headers onto the engine.

The propshaft fortunately wasn't a problem and just lined up OK although I want to have a look at the prop angle, it may be sensible to add a couple more spacing washers under the centre bearing. The gearshift is via a push/pull cable and this will be fine but I'll need to refabricate the bracket an inch shorter. I didn't have time to make a start on that unfortunately.

Here's a pic of the decking so far ...

Wednesday 21st May, 2008

I've been away since early hours Monday in Warwick, then over to Wrexham for a meeting Wednesday morning giving me the opportunity to call into Demon Tweeks to get a load of stuff. Pat at Thruxton had discussed helmets with us and had recommended getting one that at least had holes for fixing HANS posts - HANS devices are the things you see the F1 drivers wearing on their shoulders with straps that clip onto their helmet. In a big impact your head gets flung forwards and in race harnesses your body's very firmly fixed so instead of merely getting whiplash you risk a basal skull fracture. Not usually painful as most don't survive it :-( Anyway, they aren't a requirement but there's a risk that either I might decide later that it's worth investing the £700 the device costs or the MSA might make them compulsory. After trying on loads of helmets I ended up getting a Sparco Challenger which was very comfy and at the lower end of the price range. Main difference between these and bike helmets apart from the nomex lining is that the visors are much thicker at 3mm and none of them were as snugly fitting around the cheeks/jaw. Oh yes, and they're much more expensive ...

While I was there I also got some nomex underwear, an iridium visor, some tear-off visor strips, race numbers and backgrounds and a wide rear view mirror for the roll cage. Big dent on the old credit card but at least this stuffs pretty much non-recurring cost and my 750MC membership card got me a 10% discount.

Friday 23rd May, 2008

Prior to today all I've got done in the garage was a half hour tinkering - managed to torque up the 2 remaining prop bolts and reconnect the oil and coolant hoses. Sadly despite being off today I didn't get much done with the Fury. I had a hospital appointment this morning and Chris was 17 on Thursday so he drove down followed by a trip to Livermore's for some finishing compound and the Fiat dealer to order a spare key for his Punto. After that most of my day was spent doing the decking which came along nicely, should get it finished with a few more hours work.

I did get my wide rear view mirror fitted to the car - it's pretty amazing giving a really wide angle view of what's going on behind. It's much more rigidly mounted than the old one and is a vast improvement. I also made a start on fabricating a new bracket for the gearbox end of the gearshift cable - basically identical to the old one but an inch shorter.

The DigiDash also came back via Special Delivery from ETB with a note to say the firmware's been upgraded to the latest version and that they had no problems with the comms link. I think I know why I had a problem - I'd been connecting my serial lead to the spare RS232 port on the back of the dash unit and only when I removed the logger unit did I remember there's a comms port on that ... I suspect when I connect to the correct port it might all work fine! Also included in the box was the lap timer sensor.

The weather forecast for the rest of the weekend isn't so good as today and in any case I've got the bulk of the work done with the decking. Also David's hurt his shoulder digging the turf out where the decking went so golf might be off too. Every cloud, as they say ...

Saturday 24th May, 2008

It was only 7am when I got out into the garage and a bit too early to make much noise so I couldn't get on with the gear cable bracket. One of the other things on my to do list has been to rewire the power supply to the DigiDash - at present it comes on with the ignition but that as soon as the ignition's on the fuel pump is running, along with the water pump and even the rad fan if the engine's hot, and this draws quite a bit of current from the battery which isn't huge - bikes don't have terribly powerful alternators. The problem with simply providing a switched supply is that that would also then energise the ignition circuit. So my plan involved a double pole toggle switch which in one position would connect the DD2 to the ignition circuit and in the other position provide a 12v supply while isolating the unit from the ignition circuit. That way I can have the dash on to look at data, download to the PC etc. without running the battery down.

After thinking through how to wire the switch in I soldered some wires onto the switch and got it installed. I plugged in the logger box and dash unit, connected the laptop to the logger box and Voila, it all worked! I've never previously been able to access any of the PC tools before so I spent a little time seeing what it could display. Here are a couple of pics of the virtual data display and the system sensor check. Using the latter I checked the lap timer module worked - I just tried it with one of our TV remotes and it worked fine.

Now I'll have lots more to play with - the system can log all the inputs shown on the displays in addition to having dual axis g-sensors. There are some sample logs on the disk that came from ETB but I haven't had time to have a look at them yet. The decking beckoned after I'd finished fiddling with the dash.

Sunday 25th May, 2008

I initially got on with a few fiddly jobs - fitting grippy stuff to the clutch and brake pedals, fitting the transponder at the front of the car, modifying the bracket in the middle of the steering column to lower it and hence raise the steering wheel end a bit.

Next I set about calibrating the fuel tank sender - the numbers it was showing me at Pembrey meant nothing! So I pumped all the fuel out of the tank, took the sender out and bent the arm till it was showing zero when on the bottom of the tank then set about filling the tank a litre at a time and recording the fuel gauge reading. It gave a pretty linear reading till it was full showing 63% reflecting the fact that it's a shallow tank.

I finished fabricating the gearshift bracket and an aluminium bracket for the second fire extinguisher release handle just ahead of the engine bay bulkhead on the driver's side. I'll need to cut a hole in the bonnet later. I also cut out an aluminium piece to blank off the hole around the steering column as the scrutineers are apparently quite keen on this area. Once these were done I painted them.

I then got on with all the other bits and pieces required to get the engine running again. Reconnected the clutch hose and bled that, refitted the gearshift cable and lever, sorted out the electrical connections then filled it with coolant and oil. I'd damaged the hose for the remote oil pressure sender so I made a new one of those.

Eventually I was ready to start her up again. This was without drama, the engine started straight away and ran fine. For some reason the coolant sensor is showing as not connected despite the connection being fine and the wiring intact and checking out OK. I ran her until the oil temp was in the upper 20's and stuck a light underneath to check for leaks. There was a bit of seepage from the oil pressure sender hose cos I'd reused the olives on the braided hose but that'll be easy enough to sort. I soon noticed a drip from the alternator cover. I could have wept! I lay underneath fro a while trying to see where it was coming from - previously it had looked like it was coming from the screw hole. I'd wondered whether it had been my fault for not applying the gasket sealant properly. At some stage the casing's been painted so I started scraping the paint away and found that there was actually a big crack in the cover that had been filled and painted over. The oil was then leaking out through the crack but seeping along under the layer of paint and coming out through the screw hole. So mystery solved. This engine's definitely been fairly unloved by it's previous owner. Unfortulately the alternator cover is about an inch from the passenger footwell so no way I can get it off in situ. I'm really not keen to get the engine out again so I had a look and decided that I can probably drill out the rivets holding the aluminium panel at the end of the passenger footwell to allow the cover off. Of course I'll need to get a replacement cover but to be honest the cost of that's the least of my problems.

I did a bit of clearing up then and stuck the rear tub back on. I used the cutting compound and finishing compound to blend in the paintwork around the passenger side rear wheel arch then decided to stick the number background on that side of the car along with the numbers. It's nice seeing the car back together again and the numbers set it off. Must get some pics tomorrow.

Monday 26th May, 2008

Quiet jobs to start with this morning so I cleaned up the bodywork and stuck the other number backgrounds, numbers and the novice cross sticker on the car. Definitely looking like a racecar now :-)

Once that was done I stuck the jack under the engine and removed the engine mount from above the alternator. Then got the air powered 90° drill out and drilled out the rivets holding the passenger footwell panel in place, some were difficult to get to but eventually it was out and I could remove the alternator cover.

With the cover on the bench I removed the stator and set to with the Dremel and discovered there was a good thick layer of filler on it - probably up to 5mm in places where the cover had been worn away and partially indented. On the inside there were a couple of cracks including a crack across one of the little raised web reinforcement - these hadn't been visible with the alternator stator in place. I plan to get another cover but in the meantime thought I may as well have a go at repairing this with some JB weld or similar. I used a little grinding bit in the Dremel to cut grooves along the cracks and got rid of all the paint from the inside of the cover. There's been no attempt to fix the damage from the inside, whoever did it has just plastered filler on the outside and painted over it. A***hole. Once it was all cleaned up I gave the casing a good wash in paraffin then dried it off followed by a good spray with brake cleaner.

Once it was dry I used some Plastic Padding Super Steel (same as JB Weld) to smother the insides of the cracks and left it to dry while we went out shopping.

When we got back it was nice and hard so I reassembled the stator and crank position sensor, cleaned up the gasket and refitted the cover with some silicon. With that back on I pop-riveted the bulkhead back on. There were only 2 rivets I couldn't get to - the oil hose was in the way and that end of the hose was a real bugger to tighten due to the restricted access.

With that done I reconnected the wiring etc. and fired her up. Everything seemed pretty normal so I left her running to get the oil nice and warm to see if it was going to leak. I got it up to 35° and the casing was bone dry :-) I'm well chuffed - I'll still get another cover and swap it over when I've got a bit of time but to be honest the epoxy should do it. Over 5 years ago my Dad's Merc windscreen wiper died - one of those fancy single wipers that has an eccentric gearing system. One of the gears had stripped off its shaft and a replacement was about £400. I fixed it with some JB Weld and it's still going strong!

So I've come in this evening a happy man. Lewis Hamilton won in Monaco yesterday, England won the test against New Zealand today and now I'm confident the engine's ready for action. Oh yes, and I finished the decking this morning just before it started pissing down. There are a few minor jobs to do before she's ready to race but nothing critical so I'd better get that Anglesey entry off. After I've had a beer.

Wednesday 28th May, 2008

Yesterday I didn't get much done. Since I stuck her back together for some reason the dash has been showing 'NC' (as in not connected) for the coolant temperature. I assumed it was probably a dodgy connection so checked out the wiring which all seemed to test out fine. I tried swapping the wires from coolant and oil temp sensors round and still got NC on the coolant display which meant it wasn't the sensor or wiring. I carefully checked the wire going into the logger box, re-crimped a connector onto it and still no good. I rang ETB this morning who had no ideas - I did wonder if there was a software configuration that made it look for a different sort of sensor but that wasn't the case. I arranged to send it back and they'd turn it round quick for me. I also fitted the bracket I made up for the external fire extinguisher pull. I did also get the car off the axle stands and back onto her wheels again.

This evening I decided to do a bit more checking on the coolant temp sensor front. I actually removed the sensor from the aluminium adaptor it's screwed into, connected a wire to the logger and held the body on the battery negative terminal. It worked fine which was strange. So I tried it again with its original wire and it was still fine. So I just reinstalled and reconnected it. Very puzzling but at least it's working.

I'd realised while sitting in surgery in the daytime that the fire extinguisher bracket I'd made and fitted is no good. It's at the back of the engine bay just in front of the bulkhead and if there's a good fire in the engine bay no-one in their right mind would want to grab a handle that's protruding through a hole in the bonnet ... doh! So I drilled a hole in one of the dash support brackets, fitted the handle and cut a hole in the front of the bonnet. Much better.

Another little problem that's been bugging me since I first got the car together is the headlights. They work, but main beam is like candles in beer bottles, and I've realised the main beam warning blue light comes on on the dash on dip beam as well as main. So I investigated that first and all the wiring checked out fine. I disconnected the headlights and it then only came on with main beam ... so I decided I'd got the wiring for the bulbs wrong. Checked it out and indeed I had. After a bit of cutting and soldering etc. I'd swapped round 2 of the 3 wires going to each headlight bulb and all was working fine, nice bright main beam and dash warning light.

One other modification I made is to the rain light. At present it's running off the standard fog light wiring - i.e. will only come on with the main lights. A quick fly lead from ignition switch supply to rain light switch soon sorted that so it can be put on on its own.

Very pleasing to get 2 problems solved in one night! Not much left to do now - the remote oil pressure sensor hose I remade is leaking as I had to reuse the olives. Replacements are on their way from Rally Design. I need to lock wire the sump plug and oil filter and picked up a roll of lockwire from Buster's today. At Pembrey I got wet as water was running in over the sidepod so I plan to stick some foam tape on that. I also want to recheck the ride height - I'd previously wound it up as high as I could to keep sump off tarmac and to try to keep the rear wheel arch off the tyre but both those problems are now fixed so I can drop her down to the 75mm permitted by the RGB regs. I also need to fit the lap timer onto the roll cage but that's only a quick job.

When I came in I checked the 750MC website to find they'd published the 'finals' for Anglesey. I downloaded the PDF which gives all the timings etc. as well as listing who's in what race and indeed my name's on there! The plan is to travel up there very early on the Friday morning to do the test day, camp overnight, practice and race on Saturday then second race on Sunday. There's also a test/trackday at Pembrey this Friday so as long as the bits arrive from Rally Design tomorrow I'll try to book onto that. Apart from general shakedown I want to get to grips with setting up the dash display now I can connect to the PC, also suss out how the lap timer display works and make sure the data logger works OK - there's a little switch on the dash to switch it on and off.

Thursday 29th May, 2008

I did manage to sneak an hour in the garage this morning before work. I got the foam tape done then cut a block of wood to 75mm and checked the ride height. It was about 85mm all round so I actually left it alone. It probably is worth me lowering it a bit but I guess there's little to be gained. I pondered about where to fit the lap timer sensor - most guys fit them on the roll cage and the beacons are on different sides at different tracks so ideally it needs to be around the centreline of the car and swappable. I'm not keen on having it at the front as it would need to go at the top of the cage above the mirror whereas at the back the cage has diagonal cross braces. So I stuck some velcro on at the back and cable tied the lead in place allowing enough to swap the sensor box around to face either side.

I then brought the laptop out and checked that all was working OK which it was. The logger switch on the dash is working fine and I ran the engine up to make sure it was recording everything OK. Neat to be able to watch all the dash info on the PC screen in real time!

The alternator cover arrived later in the morning and looks like new, I'll probably try to get that swapped over some time over the weekend. Funnily enough it's got the gasket still attached to it and it looks in good nick too so no need to buy another one of those. A little labelling machine also arrived that I'd ordered off eBay. My to do list for today includes ringing Pembrey to see if they still have spaces for tomorrow but I can't really book it until I'm confident I can sort out the oil pressure sensor hose. I rang them anyway which turned out to be worthwhile as I was helpfully told only 20 cars were booked in in total and I could just turn up either for the briefing at 8.30 or later on if I wanted which gives me the option of fixing the hose tomorrow morning then going over there. They're running 30 minute session, one session for road cars the other for MSA licence holders. The lady I spoke to didn't know whether timing was allowed or whether the circuits infrared beacon would be on but I would guess if it's being run as a test session I should be able to persuade them to stick it on - I really want firstly to see how well the timer works and how easy it is to use but secondly to see what sort of times I can do - last time they were at Pembrey (2006) Gordon Griffin set the class A pole with 1:02:10, 10th on the grid was just over 1:04. The winner's race lap times were generally around 1:05. Interestingly in race 2 there were 14 exclusions due to failing ride height! I have absolutely zero aspirations other than staying out of trouble in my debut at Anglesey but it'll be interesting to see how far off the pace I am.

When I got home in the evening I decided to have a look at the hose anyway. I took the fittings off and whacked the olives with the pointy end of a 6" nail to open them out - the reason it had leaked is that the olives weren't over the end of the PTFE core properly. This actually worked nicely and although the olives were now looking decidedly second hand they did now slip over the PTFE and looked like they would crimp onto it OK when the fittings were tightened up. I refitted the hose and ran the engine up. Success, not a trace of oil :-) I then used my new labeller to label all the switches on the dash. By then it was time to head over to the pub with Jen for a pint. Early start for me tomorrow!

Friday 30th May, 2008

I ended up in a bit of a rush this morning, it takes ages getting all the tools, jacks, jerry cans etc. into the car, loading the car onto the trailer etc. I arrived at Pembrey a few minutes late but was still in time for the drivers' briefing. Turned out that although they were checking licences and giving out red or yellow wristbands/car stickers accordingly the day was just run as an open pitlane trackday. The track was pretty damp for quite a while with some standing water around the Hatchett's hairpin. Basically the car was fine all day - I was getting some low oil pressure warnings in the afternoon on Dibeni, a long left hander, but adding more oil to the sump tank seemed to cure that. The car was filthy when I got home from spray and bits of rubber but she was intact. We weren't allowed to time and there was no timing beacon out, I don't have a manual timer button on my dash so have no idea what times I was doing.

There were only about 20 cars there, most of them were there for a sprint meeting over the weekend so the vast majority out on track were race cars. Most were quicker than me, but in fairness they were generally fairly high powered Caterhams, R500s etc. The two guys I spoke to were running 250+ bhp engines, one was on huge slicks with big carbon wings front and rear. So I didnt feel too bad! I remember doing the sprint in the Westfield and it all seemed a lot of effort for a few short runs, all on cold tyres of course!

I was keeping a careful record of my mileage eachs ession and recording the fuel level - I was generally doing about 13-14 miles per session, so about 9 or 10 laps which seemed ot be using about 4 litres of fuel each time. When I totted up at the end I did a total of 96 miles on about 30 litres of fuel, so about 15mpg which is roughly what I expected. I've turned off the low fuel warning on the dash as it's a pain in the derriere, even setting it to 5% had it coming on at parts of the circuit even though the tank was about half full. Knowing the consumption and having calibrated the gauge mans I'll know how much fuel I'll need in there for each practice session and race.

I had a missed call in the morning from Robin Knight, the 750MC Competition Sec, it seemed I was entry no. 33 in a maximum field of 32, so I was first reserve. I reckoned there was a good chance, probably almost a certainty, that I'd get in but he did say I could practice with RGB and if there was no space for me I could race with the Bikesports - mostly Radicals I think and on slicks. I'm sure they'd welcome me there with my little novice cross ...

Anyway, it turned into a non-issue as I had a phone call a couple of hours later to say someone had rung to withdraw so I was definitely in.

The other positive from today on reflection is that I wore my new helmet and basically ddn't notice it all day. Apart from the last session that is wheh it started to rain and I was out with the fairly dark iridium visor on. It's really comfy - a nice snug fit without flopping about on my head.

When I got home the car was pretty grubby from the wet track along with loads of black marks/streaks from all the flying rubber so I gave her a wash before putting her away:

I now have another to do list before next weekend. I want to get the tunnel panels off and double check the propshaft bolts, check the drive shaft studs etc. Also I need to move my mirror over to the centreline of the car as I couldn't see stuff directly behind me in it. I've also downloaded a load of log files onto the laptop that I can peruse during the week. First glance tells me I was pushing less G's than last time I was there which is probably mostly weathr related, but I ddn't really want to push the car too hard today, I'd have been gutted to have broken it and not been able to do Anglesey next weekend. So basically the car's pretty much good to go and I'm really looking forward to it!