The Build
Preparation
Getting Started
The Chassis
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January 2007
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Racing
Anglesey June '08
Cadwell July '08
Silverstone Aug '08
Oulton Park Sep '08
Snetterton March '09
Friday 6th January 2006
Day off today, spent the morning in Cardiff getting the Cayenne serviced, as soon as I got back I went in to town to collect the panels. Got there about 2.30 to be told they'd locked up the workshop and could I come back tomorrow! Really not amused and I did try to persuade the guy to unlock it but he wasn't having any of it. I'd really been hoping to crack on with the panels in the afternoon/evening, but it wasn't to be :-(
There wasn't really much else I could get on with, but I did get my oldest son to help me flip the chassis over so I could make a start on it the next morning.
Saturday 7th January
Got down to pick the panels up at about 8.30. They'd offered various finishes, but I just went for black satin, and was well pleased with the result. Bare aluminium panels are a problem on a kitcar - when you build it they look great, but it's impossible keeping them looking good - they get scratched and marked, and those facing the weather oxidise. I spent ages on the Ultima panels making sure they looked pristine when I built it but after a while they looked a bit manky.
After a quick wipe with some solvent I stuck a thin bead of polyurethane sealant on the chassis tubing before fixing the first panel. The powder coating didn't seem to have shrunk the holes much and the rivets went in fine. Once on the panels look great - couple of pics below don't really do them justice, to be expected though I guess - black panels on a black chassis in a dark garage!
By the time I'd done these my hands were going a bit numb from the cold. I do have an electric heater in there but it isn't really up to the job. I decided to pop up to Machine Mart with a view to getting a propane space heater. They didn't have any of their smaller models in stock, so that was a bit of a wasted journey. I got the pipe flaring kit and a pipe bending tool while I was there though. Called in another place on the way home but their heater was £150 compared to £90 for the same size jobbie in Machine Mart. I decided to put up with the cold!
By now David was up so it was time to go and play golf. We'd arranged to go out with friends fairly early in the evening so I only had an hour and a half or so when I got back. I managed to fit the rear bulkhead, the front tunnel side on the passenger side, and the two panels down the outside of the passenger side. I made a start on the driver's side but then ran out of time. Also my camera battery's a bit crap and had curled its toes up in the cold so I couldn't take any pics. I'll have to take some in the morning.
Sunday 8th January
First job was fitting the tunnel side and the outer panel on the driver's side, which didn't take long. I'm using the polyurethane sealant not because I have any illusions about making it watertight (after all these things fill up from the top!) but mostly to prevent the panels buzzing.
I was then going to fit the panel down at the bottom of the passenger side footwell but couldn't find it ... definitely not among the panels I had powder coated. Eventually found it along with the front tunnel top plate hidden behind the compressor. Grrrr ... I'll need to take them to be powder coated.
Since it's been standing in the garage for a while the bare metal on the front end has started to rust - steering rack brackets, track rod ends and ball joints. I took off the steering rack clamps but will paint the other bits in situ. The fuel tank straps are bare mild steel too, so I decided while I'm painting I may as well get them bent into shape and drilled. This turned out to be a bit easier than I'd expected. Once they're all painted and hanging to dry I'm a bit stuck so far as the front end of the car is concerned.
The front brake lines need clipping - the clips supplied are a bit of a loose fit, so I grubbed around my boxes of bits from previous builds and found some that were exactly the right size. It's fiddly getting a drill in the chassis, but I've got a nice right angled air drill which is just the job. Also had to drill and rivnut to mount the T-piece.
The paint on the bits is still not dry so I decide to make a start on the rear suspension. I can't fit the diff yet, but it looks like it shouldn't be too difficult to get to. None of the wishbones are labelled, so I need to look at a few photos on the Fisher website. The lower ones are obvious because of the shock mount, but the upright and upper wishbone aren't quite so obvious, particularly since my suspension is fully rosejointed, and there are no pics on the site of this setup. I eventually work out that the upper ones can only go on one way round otherwise they impinge on the chassis. After clearing all the threads of powder coat with a tap I set to with my tub of copper grease. Of course none of the rose joints with their top hat bushes are exactly the right width to fit in the suspension mounting brackets, so they need spacing with washers. Most of them are about right with one washer each side, but when I try to fit the upright it's obvious that this is no good as the upper wishbone needs to be as far forwrd as it can go and the lower as far rearward. I get there in the end, and it's obvious that the whole setup is almost infinitely adjustable, but it's going to be a bugeer to get it set up right with so many variables! Also I don't have any ride height bars to stick in place of the shocks like I had on the Ultima which meant the suspension could be set up with the chassis on stands. By the time I've got all this done it's 4 o'clock and I have an appointment over at the pub ...
I've got a few queries now for Martin - I also had a look at the fuel tank sender that comes with the DigiDash. It's a six hole mounting but with no screws and I'm not sure how to mount it onto the tank.
Wednesday 11th January
Shock horror, no progress for 2 days! In fact I did drop the panels off for coating on Monday, but was in London all day Tuesday. Went to pick up panels today - not ready :-(
Got planning permission for an hour in the garage this evening, refitted the steering rack brackets which was easy once I had them on the correct sides! Just had time then to clean out the threads on the rear driver side wishbones and fit the rose joints ready to fit the suspension.
Thursday 12th January
Popped to Machine Mart to see if they had got any more space heaters in stock, but they say they can't get any - they'e also not available on the website. Called in another tool shop who had just one left on display and did me a good price on it, but they couldn't find the gas regulator/hose so I'll have to wait a few days while they get a replacement in. I ended up forgetting to call for the panels.
Jen's out this evening so plenty of time in the garage. First fitted the rear suspension on the driver's side but it looks like the mounting lugs are welded on in slightly different places as using the same washer combinations as on the other side the upright ends up in a completely different place. I'll leave that for now. Next up was fitting the little bracket that goes on top of the pedal box to support the steering column. After drilling this was fixed on with two 8mm bolts.
I marked up the fuel tank ready to cut a hole for the fuel guage sender but couldn't find any self tappers of a reasonable size so I'll have to get some of those. Decided next to have a go at fitting a front hub. At the moment I've got oodles of toe-out so I'll email Martin to find out how best to sort that - either wind out the rose joints or chop a bit off the threaded ends of the steering rack I guess. Took me a while to dig out all the bits - nice alloy hub, caliper, bearings, studs and disk. First off a bit confused about which disk, initially presumed the thicker, vented, pair but later checked Tim's site to find I was wrong. Spent a while working out how the bearings and seal fit, then spent ages hunting as I can't find the hub nuts or any bolts to fix disk to hub. According to the spreadsheet Martin sent they were delivered in June, but I can't find them. I'll have another look in the morning. I did find loads of other bits whose function I haven't got a clue about, I think some relate to the dry sump and it looks like some are alternate gearing for the diff. I'll nag Martin when I think I might need to know about them. I also emailed Muffet today to ask about swapping the diff, I can see it holding me up if I don't get it fitted soon as I want it in before I start routeing fuel lines, loom and handbrake cable.
Friday 13th January
Long lunch break today, first of all went to pick up the last 2 panels to find their workshop closes at 12 on a Friday. I'm off to AutoSport early tomorrow morning so can't collect them till Monday now. Went to get some bolts which went OK-ish, got the disk mounting bolts OK but I also wanted some more washers for the rear suspension but they didn't have any that size plated. Plain ones will just rust. Once back home I decided to try to get a hub assembly together. First job was sticking the wheel studs in which is a bit of a bugger without a hydraulic press. I think I got them right in but will need to remember to keep checking those for tightness once the car's built. I had been worried about fitting the bearings but that turned out to be fairly straightforward as there's only one way they can go together. Next job is to fit the disk - I hadn't been sure which ones were for the front. I'd assmed the larger, vented ones, but on Tim's site his are definitely fairly thin unvented ones. Martin confirmed the vented are for the front - my car will be a bit heavier and quite a bit faster than Tim's so needs heavier duty braking. Not sure which way round to mount the disk so tried the way that I tohught looked right to find that once I fit the hub onto the upright the disk is very close to the caliper mounting lugs but is actually rubbing on the rubber boot for the track rod end. So, took it off again, fitted it again (more threadlock) to find that the other way round the caliper doesn't come near it. Went back to work a bit frustrated and sent Martin another email. Martin confirmed the first way round is correct but that it shouldn't rub,so he'll await some pics before offering further advice. I hadn't mentioned the padded envelope with 3 Suzuki exhaust gaskets previously but when I did mention them Martin said they'd been wondering why they had a single one floating round there!
Saturday 14th January
Didn't expect any garage time today as I went up to AutoSport International at the NEC in Birmingham. Took my younger son up in the GT3 and thoroughly enjoyed the drive :-) The show itself was good, but it has to be said that it's a bit samey year on year. This was the first year when I wasn't really going looking for anything specific. The drive home wasn't quite as much fun as the blast up there as the roads were busy, although it did wake Chris up when I got the GT3 sideways coming off a rather greasy roundabout near Merthyr :-)
Anyway, got home before 5 and wasn't going out till 6.45. After my experience with the first hub I decided to try another tactic with the second. The hub went in the oven and the studs in the freezer (I'd actually put them in there on Friday). This worked nicely and they were much easier to fit. I then bolted the disk onto the hub. I'd got some more self tappers on Friday so could now fit the fuel gauge sender. I just used a hole cutter in the drill for the main hole then some little pilot holes for the screws and it was soon fitted.
Sunday 15th January
Started to fit the fuel lines this morning. Ran one along the driver's side of the tunnel along the lower rail, but couldn't do the return as not enough P-clips. Got the wiring loom out of its bag to have a look and this looks pretty simple as it's quite nicely labelled and all the branches are supplied overlength so positioning not too critical. I've just positioned it on the chassis with some tiewraps for now. Decided then to have a look at the rear hub/upright assembly. Managed to work out how I think it goes but the bolts appear to be too long so I suspect I'm missing something. I'll await further advice from Martin. Running out of things I can get on with now, but decided to fit the radiator. Fitted the fan switch to it first, then held it up against the brackets on the front of the chassis to find that the little cutout in the bracket to accommodate the fan switch was in the wrong place. Took about half an hour cutting/filing another one, then tapped the holes in the bosses on the radiator's plastic sides and marked/drilled the holes. That was it for the day - a bit frustrating really, didn't actually get any jobs completed although I am quite a bit further forward in working out some of the next steps.
Monday 16th January
Picked up the remaining panels today, also rang Tifosi to order a load of p-clips etc. Very helpful again and excellent value. First job of the evening was to fit the passenger footwell panel which didn't take long. Then revisited the radiator - the screws I'd used were a bit too long so swapped them for some shorter ones and tightened that up.
I was going to fit some cable tie mounts down the tunnel for the wiring loom nxt but hit a problem. The hole for whatever you use to fix them is recessed so the nose of the rivet gun can't get right in there, the result being that you pop the rivet and find the thing is loose and can flap in the breeze. I do have some adhesive ones which will be OK for where I've got single cables etc. but I don't think they're up to mounting anything more substantial, especially where it's fairly critical (like within inches of the propshaft!). I'll have to get some self tappers.
Had a quick look at the oil cooler which will need to be mounted in front of the radiator. I've no idea how this will be fitted but intend to have a look at Tim's pics to see if I can copy what he's done. Martin replied today to a couple of emails I sent off over the weekend and it seems the bolts I've got for the rear hub are for a Freelander diff fitment where they use two of the spacers, hence the bolts being too long. He'll replace them so I need to measure up to tell him the correct length. He also suggested using a tiewrap to compress the track rod end rubber boot to keep it off the disk.
Tuesday 17th January
Went and got some little self tappers at lunchtime, while I was there I nipped into the tool shop round the corner where I got my heater. The hose had arrived, so on the way home I called in and got a propane cylinder. I'm not sure what the practical differences between butane and propane are, but the fittings on the regulators are different. Anyway, tried it out and it certainly seems a big improvement over the old heater I was using.
It only took 10 minutes or so to drill and screw the cable tie mounts in the tunnel, then I moved on to the oil cooler. I'd had a look at Tim's pics, and he'd basically made a couple of little brackets to hang it off the bosses on the front of the radiator, so I decided to do the same. Essentially it's an angle bracket top and bottom on the nearside, with a strip of aluminium running underneath the cooler to a bracket on the lower offside mount. Despite a few early doubts, when I tightened it all up the cooler was reassuringly solidly mounted. It had taken quite a while fabricating the brackets etc., and by now it was past 10pm, so time to call it a day.
Wednesday 18th January
2 parcels arrived today, first the one from Tifosi, then the one from KCW with my brake t-piece, hub nuts, clutch master cylinder, reverse lever, etc. So lots to get on with this evening.
Decided to finish off the brake lines first. Rather than trying to jig things to fit with the existing lengths I'd decided to position the T then chop the copper to the right length and flare the ends. This all went OK apart from a problem getting the main front to rear pipe to screw into the T. I'd had a similar problem at the front end until I'd realised the pipes had different fittings on each end. This wasn't the case here though, and I eventually got it sorted after a lot of faffing about. After a quick practice run with the flaring tool I fitted the remaining 2 pipes then set to with the drill, p-clips and rivet gun. All nice and solid in the end.
Now I've got loads of p-clips I can fit the return fuel line down the tunnel. This is run roughy parallel to the feed but making sure I minimise its protrusion into the tunnel. I tend to be paranoid about avoiding the prop, when in reality I'm working in the corner of the tunnel and the prop won't be very close. Important to get it right though, especially as the plan is still to try to get the car through SVA.
I'd sent Martin a photo of my upright steering arm/track rod end which is rubbing on the disk mostly because it's been drilled off centre. He agrees it's miles out and is getting another one to me :-) Also had a little exchange of emails with Tim who helpfully pointed me in the direction of Race Leda who make very sexy looking uprights etc. Slight problem is that they cost money ...
At 10.35 it's time to abandon proceedings for the evening, but I'm feeling reasonably satisfied with the progress I've made. Always nice when you can actually finish off a couple of jobs. There are now a load of things I can be getting on with, although I'm still somewhat limited till I've got the diff. These include:
- Fit the clutch master cylinder
- Trim the lower edge of the dash to fit around the supports
- Separate the scuttle from the main rear section of bodywork so the rear section can be removable
- Trial fit the scuttle (but can't fix anything till I have the car on its wheels
- Put the roll cage in position and drill the mounts so that can be fixed
- Finish off the rear end of the fuel lines and fit the fuel pump and flexible hoses
Friday 20th January
Yep, I know, Thursday didn't happen. Worked all day in the surgery then until midnight in the local out of hours service :-( Anyway, off all day today, and apart from a load of mail to get through I've got the day to myself :-)
It's a lovely sunny day here, so I can move the GT3 out onto the drive and leave the door open and have a bit of natural light. The rear body section can then be moved to the GT3's space so I can chop the front off. I used my minidrill and some (quite a few!) cutting disks followed by a hacksaw blade where the GRP was thickest.
Once this is done I can have a look at roughly where the scuttle will go:
I can now start to visualise what the area between dash and engine bay will look like. I decide to make a start on the dash next. After I've trimmed some slots in the bottom SVA-friendly return I can mark and drill the dash, followed by a trial fit to mark the lugs on the chassis dash rail. Once these are drilled it's out with the trusty rivnut tool and the dash can be fitted. I suspect it might need a bit of trimming ...
Another parcel arrived from KCW with the replacement upright. I've been having daily emails from Martin and have been really pleased with the support and service he and Ian have provided. It needs painting, so I dismantle the oil cooler bracketry first so I can paint it all together. The bits in the pic below are actually the fuel tank straps which were already painted.
Quick visit to local motor factors to get some fuel hose and clips ensues, and I pop into B&Q for a nice sharp 8mm drill as my old one is far from sharp any more. After lunch I decide to crack on with the roll cage. This has 3 mounting points on each side, and each needs 3 bolts, 10mm on the rearmost and 8mm in the others. First I placed it on the chassis and made some marks with a centre punch where I want the holes. Then removed the cage and drilled all the holes - sounds easy but actually took quite a long time. Then stuck some masking tape on the chassis so I can mark the right places for the holes, remove the cage again and drill for the rear mounting point holes. Once the bolts are popped in holding it in place I can drill the chassis for the front mounting points. These need to be gently sprung into place so the bolts are going to go roughly through the centre of the chassis/side impact rails. By this time it's almost 5 o'clock and it's time to call it a day.
Saturday 21st January
Nipped out early to get some 12mm bolts to mount the front calipers to the uprights, also got some more 8mm bolts for fixing the roll cage. First job in the garage was to tighten a bolt each side on the rear mounting for the roll cage to pull it down into position to drill the middle mount which sits on top of the chassis side rail. Once the holes are drilled and deburred the roll cage can be lifted off to drill the last remaining holes at the front as I couldn't get the drill in previously.
With that done I then fitted the new upright on the nearside. It's certainly better but the track rod end rubber still just brushes the disk. I'm fairly confident it'll compress out of the way. With that done and the hub nuts on I tightened the nuts at top and bottom of the upright so the whole thing is more secure. Now to fit a caliper ... and hit another snag. The holes in the upright are definitely 12mm (and are threaded), but the 12mm bolt won't go through the holes in the caliper. The obvious solution is to drill out the caliper to 12mm, but I'll wait till I hear back from Martin. Haven't got a 12mm drill anyway ...
Next on the list is the oil cooler - I'd dismantled it again to paint the bracketry. Looks better now. Also provides a bit of protection for the rad when I'm walking round the car - these lightweight rads are fairly fragile and the thin aluminium vanes are exposed on the edges, unlike the oil cooler which is more robustly finished.
Into the pedal box next to remove the clutch pedal to send it back for modification. Also fitted the clutch master cylinder - I'll need to speak to Martin about fittings to connect it to the fluid reservoir (I think the plan is to share the brake one) and to the slave cylinder.
The dash and scuttle need drilling for the steering column. Always tricky working out where to drill. In this case it was easy enough to hold the main yoke in place and sight throught it and make a mark in the centre with a felt pen. Then drilled out with a hole cutter and slowly enlarged with the minidrill and sanding drum. Job done but the whole car's covered in dust now :-( While doing it I also bushed the holes in the yoke with some rubber hose I had left over from a previous build.
On to the rear uprights next. I've been in a quandary about how much to get done here before the diff is fitted. Muffett emailed me on Thursday to say they'll send it out to me by Tuesday. I reckon to get the drive shafts in I'm going to need to remove the whole upright anyway, so I may as well bolt up the hub carrier and spacer. Once this is done I trial fit a drive shaft and am worried that they look quite a bit too long ... I can gain some room by screwing out the rose joints but don't want to do that too much. Check with Martin ...
Anyway, it's now public apology time! While grubbing round trying to find the rear hub nuts I emptied out a bag which I thought was just bits for the engine as it had a pack of clutch springs in there. Turns out it also has the rear hub nuts ... and then I spot the front hub nuts!! So, I'm really sorry Martin and I'll send them back with the other stuff. Still can't believe I missed them after looking in that bag 3 or 4 times.
After this it's time for a general clear up. The inside of the car has become fairly cluttered so it gets a clear out, followed by a vacuum to get rid of the dust. Looks much better now and is looking a bit more like a car. :-)
Sunday 22nd January
Spent the first couple of hours earning brownie points this morning - tidying the study, sticking some stuff up in the loft and made a couple of trips to the tip. I dedided next to have a look at the diff to see how it mounts in the chassis and how much room I'm left around it at the back end of the tunnel. It came with 2 mounting plates with it, 2 lengths of threaded bar and 4 short bolts. It's a heavy little bugger to lift on your own but after sticking some gaffer tape on the chassis for protection I managed to get it in place and slide a threaded bar through the chassis mounting points and hold it in place. At which stage I realised that I don't need the mounting plates but I will need a couple more lengths of threaded bar. I'll also need to drop the lower wishbones to get the lower studs into place. Also clear that I'll need yet another large supply of packing washers. I then made the mistake of popping in the house to get a cup of tea to find that Jen had found me some more stuff to take to the tip. I thought I'd kill 2 birds with one stone and call in B&Q to get a drill - Martin had replied to my query about the calipers to say that I'd just found another Ford anomaly, some Escort uprights take 12mm bolts whilst others take 7/16UNF, and that I should drill the holes out.
So, I called in B&Q for the 12mm drill and just thought I'd have a look in their fasteners section. What do I find but nice lengths of plated threaded bar, along with lengths of steel tube which will be ideal to use as spacers. Also loads of plated 10 and 12mm washers. Well pleased!
Back in the garage I'd decided I'd probably learned all I needed from trial fitting the diff and took it out. I adopted the cunning plan of using a luggage strap to take the weight which worked well, also allowing me to lower it down slowly. I should have the replacement diff tomorrow or Tuesday, so I can get it fitted properly then. I'd just tripped over a box and realised I hadn't fitted the radiator fan - bit worried I might need to remove the oil cooler again, but it turns out to be no problem as the plastic mounting skewers go above and below it - only took 5 minutes fitting that.
On to the calipers next. With the 12mm drill in my pillar drill and a block of wood under the caliper it was easy enough drilling them out, followed by a quick deburr. I'd gathered that I was going to need to shim the calipers out from the uprights to get the disk centred in the caliper, but this proved a doddle as a single washer was spot on. I dug out the box of Mintex race pads and fitted them then bolted the calipers onto the uprights. I've used spring washers but used a squirt of threadlock as well, don't really want them falling off. Very pleased now, the front corners are more or less ready to actually stick the wheels on - just need to connect the brake hoses and tighten all the brake line connectors.
I decided to tackle the fuel lines next. The plan is to have the fuel pump near the tank with an inline filter just before it, and a swirl pot and high pressure pump in the engine bay. I need to take the fuel lines around the bottom of the tunnel than take them up above the tank where I can then connect to them using the flexible hose. Getting them right took quite a while, but I was pretty pleased with the result. One of them has flattened ever so slightly on one of the tight corners, but I reckon it's OK, I can certainly blow through it without feeling it's at all restricted.
Martin's sent me some pics of a fuel pump installation in which the pump is on an additional bracket directly above the tank. I fancy sticking mine in the compartment just in front of the tank and had already decided on this when I read in the instructions with the pump that it's supposed to be mounted vertically, not horizontally. I decided to carry on as planned and check wth Martin, not too big a problem to remount it. I plan to stick a couple of rivnuts int the chassis tubing then screw the rubber bobbins supplied with the pump into those. This is looking good until I find that the bobbins are 6mm and my biggest steel rivnuts are 5mm. I decide the best bet is to re-tap one side of the bobbins down to 5mm. Once this is done I drilled the chassis and fixed the rivnuts. With the fuel pump in place I could then make a start on the flexible hose. This is a tight fit on the fuel pump spigots and then I found my hose clip was too small to go on this end. By now our firends had arrived and were heading over to the pub so it was time to go.
Monday 23rd January
Not much activity today. My friend said all the Facet pumps he'd seen had been vertical so I decided to change mine. Made a small aluminium plate and mounted it to the fuel tank support strut. Got a little bit of the flexible hose done but need to pop back to the motor factors to get some more. I did have a quick look at the steering wheel quick release boss - this is now supplied with a bush/sleeve to fit it to the steering column, I think I'll take it to the same chap who welded the one on the Westy. He made a nice job of pinning and welding it, and it's important it's done properly.
Hopefully the diff will arrive tomorrow then I can make quite a bit more progress.
Tuesday 24th January
Bit frustrated today as the diff didn't arrive. I rang Muffett who reckon they're sending it out today and I should have it tomorrow. Trouble is I'm away to London tomorrow and won't be back till late and I'm working till 11.30pm on Thursday ...
Picked up a couple of bits and pieces from the motor factors at lunchtime - a litre of diff oil, a couple of metres of fuel hose and some more hose clips.
I'd been hoping to fit the diff this evening, but since I couldn't I decided to have a tidy up. I haven't been able to see the bench for ages, and although I know where everything is it looks a mess. I've accumulated a nice collection of stainless and plated screws, bolts nuts and washers, p-clips etc., and they got sorted into a couple of nice plastic boxes with dividers that I inherited when the kids threw out some Meccano. Quite satisfying having a good tidy up.
Once that was done I finished off the bit of fuel hose I was doing - I've managed to utilise the 2 rivnuts I put in for the fuel pump for p-clips to hold the fuel hose in place reasonably neatly. Can't really finish it off completely till the fuel tank is in and can't fit the fuel tank till the diff's in ...
I then connected up the front brake hoses and tightened up the unions apart from the ones on the master cylinders - I left those as there's a good risk I might need to remove them again at some stage.
Still waiting for a reply from Martin on a list of queries I sent him on Sunday. I got a rather desperate sounding message yesterday evening saying he'd reply today as he'd had a bit of a mad day. It looks like today probably hasn't been much better! Or perhaps he's sulking over the hub nuts ;-)
Wednesday 25th January
I have a meeting in London at 4pm but I've decided to drive as the M4 should be OK going into town that time of day. I've taken the whole day off so I have a coupe of spare hours before I need to leave. One thing I've been leaving because I reckoned it would just get in the way (and in any case should only take a few minutes to sort out) is the handbrake cable. Unfortunately when I come to fit it I'm a bit stumped as there are no bosses on the chassis to hold the outer cable to pull against. I'm halfway through typing an email to Martin when white van man arrives with my replacement diff.
This at least gives me something to play with. It's fairly straightforward to get into position, but the studs need a little gentle persuasion to get them all in. There's a slight problem with the lower ones in that it won't be possible to undo the lower wishbone mounting bolts with the nuts on the end of the diff studs. Which doesn't matter terribly right now but will when I get the beastie onto its own 4 feet and try to get the wheels pointing in the right direction. Not really much of an issue though, I can just leave those nuts off till the suspension is done. It took a little time trimming the steel tube into the right lengths to act as spacers, but it looks a lot neater than about 20 washers would!
Got back from London - Martin's replied, it looks like the chassis fabricator has forgotten the handbrake cable bosses :-( He'll be sending me some bolt on ones, I just hope they don't mean moving my fuel lines ...
Saturday 28th January
Bit of a frustrating day today :-( Had a few bits of work to do early on, so got out to the garage at 8.45. The plan today was to get the drive shafts fitted, I could then fit the rear hubs and get the car onto its wheels.
I had to assemble the tripod joints and rubber boots. These went together fairly easily with liberal amounts of grease. Each joint is held onto the diff output flange by 3 8mm studs which needed to be secured using a couple of spare nuts and some threadlock. I found it easier to assemble the tripod joint on the diff studs then slide the drive shaft into place than assembling it all on the drvie shaft and trying to slide it onto the studs.
Martin had said I should be able to get the other end of the drive shaft into the hub by undoing the top rose joint and hingeing the upright downwards, but I found I had to undo one of the bottom rose joints as well. Then I hit a problem in that the drive shaft was quite a bit too long to get the upright back in place. I hoped I might get there by winding out the rose joints to effectively lengthen the wishbones, but it wasn't enough even with only about 10mm of the rose joints' 40mm of thread screwed into the wishbones. I'd arranged to play golf with David and my time was up so I sent Martin a quick 'Help!!' email with some photos and went.
By the time I'd got back he'd replied suggesting I check that the shaft was fully seated in the hub (it was) and to see if the other side was the same. Also to send him the measurements of the wishbones.
So, back out in the garage and I repeat the process on the offside with the same result. I'm clearly not going to get any further with these so decide to move on to something else.
Now the diff's in place I can fit the reverse lever. This is quite a neat little affair with a lever and mounting bracket, threaded rod with little rose joint on each end and a lever for the shaft on the diff. This was pretty straightforward, the only issue being that the lever wasn't a very snug fit on the square peg on the diff. There's still a bit of play even after I've packed it with a couple of strips of thin aluminium cut from a drinks can. Works very nicely though, much slicker than the old reverse box on the Westfield.
Sunday 29th January
On my Westfield I'd raised the steering column to get a bit more clearance for my knees, and I read on Tim's site that he did the same with his Fury. So this morning I hopped in the car with the steering column in place and with the steering wheel in position to check it out. It's fine with plenty of room - the cockpit is quite long and my legs end up fairly stretched out in there. So that means I won't need to redo the holes in the dash and scuttle.
Since I can't get on with the rear corners I have a look at a few smaller jobs on my to do list. I decide to fit the steering wheel to the quick release boss. I've got a Racetech boss, the same as I used on the Westfield. These are splined and fit very snugly, I'd been told the hexagonal shaped ones can develop a bit of play. You can't directly mark the holes as they're concealed behind the release flange, so I used a cardboard template to get the holes in the right place on the Momo wheel. Once it was done I removed the wheel again as the boss will need to go to the welders.
The wiring loom is the next area for attention. The first part is deciding on fore/aft position of the dash subloom, then securing it with cable ties on the saddle clamps I fitted a week or so ago. Then I could make a start wrapping the loom with the non-adhesive tape I got. The rear loom is very long, and held together with small cable ties every 5 or 6 inches. I removed all these so I could separate out the speedo sender wires at the rear of the tunnel so I can fix the sender to the prop flange.
Once the loom is wrapped and secured above the diff I need to stop and think about how I'm going to proceed. There are a few spurs to take off for fuel gauge sender, fuel pump and the rain light which will be mounted at the top of the roll cage. The plan then is to take all the rest of the wires on to the rear left corner of the chassis and get some sort of multiconnector so I can easily detach the bodywork. The loom also has no earth wires in it, so I need to make up enough of those, solder them onto eyes for connection to the chassis earthing point just above and behind the diff. Doing all this takes a surprising amount of time, and work stops for a few hours again for golf. When I return I carry on getting the loom wrapped and secured in position.
before calling it a day.
At 4.30 our friends call round and I'm informed it's time to down tools and go to the pub. Last job before calling it a day is to crimp/solder the connections for the fuel pump.
Over in the pub meet up with a chap I don't see often and get talking about the car. He's into bikes and currently has a GSXR1000 which he reckons is terrific. I haven't ridden a bike since 1986 having promised my wife while lying on my sick bed after getting off a Kawasaki Z1R at three figure speed. He of course reckons I should get a bike again, echoed by our other friend who has a big Suzuki custom bike. Another friend then pipes up that if I get one he'll get one too - seems like he's looking for an excuse to have another bike, he used to have big British bikes. I'm explaining about my lifetime ban when Jen announces that she doesn't mind if I get a bike again. I didn't think she was serious but it seems she was. Oh dear ...
Monday 30th January
Another parcel from the KitCar Workshop this morning - handbrake cable bracket, prop restraints and the paddle shift kit. This has a powder coated steel bracket and the actual lever with a couple of rose joints. I'll try to get a couple of pics of it tonight.
Rang and spoke to Martin after lunch about the drive shaft/wishbone problem - they've sent a couple more spacers but during the course of the conversation the reason for my problem became clear. I've assembled it wrong! I've rather stupidly got the hubs on the inside of the upright ... doh! Ah well, I'm happier it was me being a numpty rather than something wrong with the hardware. With any luck I should be able to get the rear suspension and drive shafts sorted this evening.
Dismantled the first hub, spacer and upright, reassembled the correct way and yes, of course everything fits nicely. Had to wind the rose joints in to a much more sensible looking 4-5 threads showing. Once I'd reassembled it I started thinking about brake calipers - I haven't bothered fitting these as I'm waiting for the lightweight HiSpec ones I've ordered. Glad I did think about it now as I realised I can't see anywhere to mount them! Looked in the boxes with the standard Sierra calipers and of course there are a couple of mounting hangers plates which clearly fix using three of the bolts holding the hub onto the upright. So, undid those again and fitted it to find that the bolts are now a bit too short -they reach OK but the tip of the bolt isn't reaching through the nyloc bit of the nut. I could use threadlock but all I need is an eagle eyed SVA inspector (and they do look for stuff like that) so I'll get some slightly longer bolts. I'll just need to check with Martin that the HiSpec calipers don't come with a lighter weight bracket.
Halfway through the above I'd realised it would probably be sensible to check I can get the handbrake cable bracket in without removing the diff. It turned out I could, and with a little persuasion I can get away without relocating my fuel lines. So I drilled the holes to bolt this to the chassis rail then removed it again and painted it.
Time then to sort the upright on the offside. This didn't take long but by the time I'd done that it was 9pm and time to go in and watch Life on Mars :-)
Tuesday 31st January
I managed to get some of the bolts I wanted at lunchtime, so when I got home the first job was replacing the bolts holding the hubs to the uprights. Then I fitted the handbrake cable boss/bracket which didn't take long at all.
I decided then to fit the gearshift lever partly because I wanted to see what it looked like on the car but mostly because the easiest way to avoid tripping over bits and damaging either them or yourself is to fit them to the car! The bracket's mounted securely but the lever itself is only loosely attached at the moment, hence the wonky lookng rose joints.
Next it was on to getting the bushes/spacers and washers etc. in place on all the rear wishbones. This is a bit of a pain of a job as they're all a bit of a tight squeeze and it would be much easier if I had an extra hand to wiggle the wishbone while holding the bush and pushing the bolt through. After just over an hour they're all done.
I did have a go at sticking some oil in the diff but soon found out that you need the output flange in place to keep the oil in ... oops! I realised that I could now be confident the diff wouldn't need to come out again so it was time to stick the K nuts on the inboard ends of the drive shafts. These are only fairly small 6mm nuts and didn't take long once I found a mini socket that fitted them. After that I moved on to tightening up the nuts on the studs holding the diff in place. Three of the four are fine, the rear lower one however is a bit of a pain as it impinges on the wishbone mounting bolt. I'll need to sort this out, probably involving cutting it down to length. Getting the nylocs on evenly is tricky too, you tighten it up and only one nyloc tightens. I solved this on the upper ones with a spare 10mm nut used as a locknut, but the lower ones seem to be imperial and I don't have a nut to fit. A job for another day as I've run out of time.
Wednesday 1st February
No activity in the garage today - unless of course you count me nipping out there in my slippers this morning to grab the steering column. Managed to nip over to the welders I've used before to drop it off to have the QR slug welded onto the end. They did a few things for me on the Westy - steering column, engine crankcases and rollbar. His first concern today was that although the slug has a machined sleeve which fits very snugly onto the splined boss, the other end of it is a sloppy fit on the threaded end section. I suspect if I chopped that bit off it might well fit onto the hex section, but I want to retain all the length I can to gain height and to keep the wheel as close to me as possible (this was something I learned in a lesson with Ed Moore who pointed out that you've got much better control with the wheel very close to your chest. Have a look at the Touring Car drivers next time you see them). So, he wants to get another sleeve machined to fit accurately at each end which sounds like a Very Good Idea to me :-) Should have it early next week.
Thursday 2nd February
I'd been half planning getting up very early this morning to press on but that went out of the window after hitting the snooze button on the alarm a few too many times! By the time I'd got home from work and eaten it was 7.30pm. The plan for this evening was to finish off the diff mountings, fit the wheels and try to lower the whole caboosh to the floor. First job was to sort out the diff mounting stud. To get it out means undoing one of the lower wishbones from the upright and dropping it - sounds a pain but in fact took no more than a minute or so. I then withdrew the stud after marking it, stuck one end in the vise and applied the nut to the other end using some threadlock. I then chopped it to length and tidied the thread before replacing it. I didn't tighten it immediately to allow the threadlock to go off.
Next job on the list was fitting some wheels. At this stage I realised I had a little more work to do as the drive shafts were loose in the hubs, I needed to tighten the hub nuts up a bit. These are huge, 36mm across the flats if I remember correctly. I haven't got a socket so managed to get them tight enough with an adjustable wrench to cut out the slop. Then I could put the wheels on. These have been stacked in the corner for yonks and it was nice to get them out, they're Compomotive CX's finished in black, 185/60 front and 205/60 rear, they look vastly nicer than the minilites I had on the Westfield. By the time I had all 4 wheels on it was time to tighten the diff stud up.
At this stage I reckoned I was about ready to lower her down, so started to devise a cunning plan to do this. I used to be able to lift the chassis with ease, but it's gained a bit of weight now and it's a bit tougher! I placed my axle stands with 4"x2" spars across, a pair at the front and a pair at the rear.
Time now to enroll the help of the boys to lower it down. I first lifted the roll cage off as there was no point lifting that as well! Next step was for me to stand inside the engine bay and lift the front end while David withdrew the wooden trestle, then he could hold it at the back to stop it sliding down and forwards while I lowered it onto the stands. So far so good ... next the rear, which is considerably heavier. This time David and I lifted while Chris pulled the trestle out, then we could lower it down. No dramas so far so next to repeat the process but lowering her onto her wheels. This also went fine, and I now have a rolling chassis!
At this stage I'm feeling even more pleased than I expected. It's lower than I'd somehow visualised it, it actually looks tiny. What pleases me is that the wheels look as if they're pointing in roughly the right directions - there's quite a bit of toe out at the front as I'd noticed before, I'll just chop down the ends of the steering rack, and there's a little more negative camber than it needs. The back wheels don't look too bad at all - I'd basically just tried to get the wishbones perpendicular to the chassis and the uprights near vertical. The next job is to get it roughly aligned. I plan to use the same technique as I did with the Ultima - I'll clamp aluminium angle irons across the front and rear of the chassis and tie some string lines equidistant from the centre to get the tracking right and use a spirit level to get the camber right. I don't have any settings to use yet, but I'll plan on a couple of degrees negative camber front, about one degree at the back, a few mm of toe in at the front and the rear wheels parallel. Once it's roughly right I can make a start on getting the body positioned on it.
Friday 3rd February
I have a day off today, but am away this afternoon to a meeting for the weekend :-( I also have a game of golf arranged for the morning, so won't get much done on the car. I got up fairly early though and did manage to make a start on the geometry set-up.
The plan was to temporarily fix a pair of angle irons across front and back of the chassis, then on each accurately mark the centre line, then measure outwards an equal distance on each side about a centimetre beyond the outside of the wheels. A string box can then be constructed to give a parallel guide, and all you do is simply measure the amount of millimetres of toe-in by measuring at front and back. A bit of trigonometry will then give you the angle.
The rear was going to be straightforward as there's a nice rail acros the back, but at the front it's a bit trickier as the radiator and oil cooler are there. I realised the answer was to fit the little hingeing subframe at the front that the body section mounts onto. This was done in a few minutes and I could stick some masking tape on it and mark the centre line. After marking the centre line on the length of aluminium angle I could then fix this on with some gaffer tape. The same process was repeated at the rear, then I could measure out from the centre and place marks on each side. I also marked the angle at the ends of the rails they were fixed to so that if I want to check or alter the geometry later it's easy enough to slap them back on.
Sunday 5th February
I got back from Oxfordshire just before 3pm after a very entertaining drive back. I avoided motorways and took the A40 across past Gloucester and then the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road back home. The roads on the first half were really greasy and the rear tyres on the GT3 are getting worn down a bit making the back end a bit lively. Highly entertaining :-)
So, I managed a little spell in the garage before being dragged across to the pub. All I needed to do on the nearside was tighten the lower ball joint nut and the camber was done. I'd ended up with a measurement of 11.5mm deviation at the point I was measuring, and according to my calculations that gave me 1.65° - Martin has recommended 1.5° so that's fine. I've reproduced my spreadsheet calculations on this page. Now to look at the toe-in - the wheels were previously pointing well outwards and I'd expected needing to lop a bit off the track rod ends, but on checking now the nearside wheel seems to be toeing in quite a bit as a result of moving the pivot point outwards. I decided to leave this till I'd done the camber on the offside.
I already knew roughly how far out the rose joints and ball joint needed to be from the other side, so setting up this side was a doddle and I soon had pretty much exactly the same camber as the other side.
Adjusting the toe-in is much easier as it just requires undoing the trackrod end and in my case unscrewing it slightly and refixing before remeasuring. Measurement is a little more tricky as the string box is well below the wheel centre line, so I needed to use my spirit level across the rim to project down to the line. With the steering rack as near centred as I could get it I got both wheels toeing in equally by about 5mm which gives me 0.72° (Martin recommends 0.5° but I may need more to get enough self-centreing to keep the SVA guys happy).
The front end now looks much better, and I decided I may as well tighten everything up now as I shouldn't need to dismantle any of it again.
Wednesday 8th February
Day off today, but planned a game of golf with David this afternoon, and have a quick trip to see a man about a dog during the morning ...
I made a start on the nearside rear suspension. This turned out to be fairly easy as it wasn't a million miles away to start with. Pretty soon had just under half a degree toe in and about a degree of negative camber, then set to tightening all the bolts and rose joint lock nuts.
I made a start on the driver's side, but this turned out to be tricker as I ran into the issue of getting the wishbone length right to have a bit of free play in the lobro joint. I had to stop partway through as I wanted to nip over to the bike dealer in Port Talbot. I'd spoken to my brother about my two wheeled green light, and his immediate response was 'get a Ducati'. He still has the last bike I owned, a 1976 Ducati 900SS, he bought it off me when I crashed in 1986. I was on his bike, a Kawasaki Z1R which were renowned as poor handlers. Despite having two steering dampers fitted it had gone into a full lock to lock tankslapper on me at triple digit speed and spat me off. Anyway, his other comment was that I might find them a bit small due to my height. So I'd gone over to Kickstart Motorcycles in Port Talbot on Monday to have a sit on a used Ducati 999 they had in. I could see what he meant, but decided it would be OK. Had a chat with the dealer who was keen to show me some nice shiny Aprilias he has in stock. Oh dear ... the RSV 1000R Factory is gorgeous and is really heavily discounted at the moment as they need to be registered by the end of the month.
So, I went back to have another look and, erm, well, I left a deposit on it.
In the evening I nipped round to collect my steering column which is now ready, and made a bit more progress on the rear suspension but didn't get it finished before having to down tools to go to work for the evening.
Thursday 9th February
By the time I got back home from work this evening Jen's just about speaking to me again. It seems that saying I can have a bike doesn't actually mean I can have one ;-) Anyway, she came round eventually. I can see it's going to cost me though ...
Out in the garage I get the driver's rear corner sorted. This takes much longer than the other side, but eventually I'm there and can tighten everything up.
Fitting the steering column takes only a few minutes, and makes it clear that I'll need to alter the bracket the gearshift paddle is mounted to as it's too far behind the wheel - I can just about reach it with my fingers but want it closer. The welding job is superb, they've machined a new sleeve then pinned and welded the whole lot together.
Before going in I get all the bodywork out and rest it on the chassis to see how it looks. It's clear getting it to fit will be tricky, I'll make a real start on it at the weekend.