The Build
Preparation
Getting Started
The Chassis
The Bodywork
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
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Racing
Anglesey June '08
Cadwell July '08
Saturday 28th May 2005
Well, the big days has finally arrived! After a few hiccups it's time to collect the kit. A couple of key bits have been delayed, not I hasten to add because Martin at the Kitcar Workshop was being either over-optimistic in his estimations or unreliable in getting the kit together. All pretty unavoidable.
Anyway, 5.45am see eldest son David and I on the road on the way up to Northampton - we haven't hired a van, we're in our recently acquired Porsche Cayenne with Brian James Minno trailer behind. Plan is to get the chassis on the trailer and the rest in the back of the Cayenne. Hopefully a couple of the bits will be stowable on the trailer with the chassis. Despite a scenic little tour of Swindon as I came off the M4 a junction too early, we make good time and pull up outside the Kitcar Workshop in Rushden at 9.15.
The chassis's there in the unit, as is the Busa engine in a cradle, and a pile of boxes and bits on the floor. With a few cardboard padding strips the chassis is soon on the trailer and held down by some substantial tiewraps as well as the ratchet tiedown straps. We manage to wedge all four wheels inside the cockpit and they're soon held in place with a couple more straps. The wheels look really nice - black Compomotive CXRs fitted with Yoko AO48R tyres. I also managed to pack most of the ally panels on the flat bits of the trailer and stuck them down with gaffer tape.
Chassis on trailer with wheels wedged into cockpit area.
Pile of bits in workshop waiting to be packed into boxes.
First bit to go in the back of the car is the engine in its cradle, then as Martin packs the bits in boxes or wraps them in bubble wrap I stow them in the car. He's being very apologetic about the bits that aren't here yet, but I'm happy that I've got plenty to be getting on with. The main bits missing are the diff, roll cage, fuel lines and engine mounts. Martin reckons to have these in by the end of next week and he'll then ship them out to me. I haven't ordered the bodywork yet as Martin reckons he can have that ready with about three weeks notice.
We have a look round a near completed car in the workshop - it's a Busa engined car of more or less identical spec to mine, so nice to have a nose round it. Trouble is that until you start building you don't really know which bits you should be having a close look at! Martin reassures me that if I have any queries he can easily take a few photos of this car and email them to me. After a chat and the small matter of handing over a cheque it's time to get on the road - it's 10.45 by the time we leave.
The journey back was fairly uneventful although the roads were much busier and it took almost five hours. The Cayenne's a pretty handy towing vehicle, you wouldn't really know you were towing anything apart from seeing it in the mirrors, and because I'm going slower than usual the fuel consumption is actually marginally less shocking than usual ... it actually creeps over 20mpg!
Once home a quick tidy of the garage ensues and the trusty wooden trestles come down once again from the loft to support the chassis. It seems remarkably light - but then it would compared to the Ultima chassis! I'm also fairly impressed by the welding, all looks very neat and tidy under the powder coat. I only have time for a quick rummage through the boxes as we're off out but it certainly fires up the enthusiasm for the build ahead.
Tuesday 31st May
Believe it or not, but I haven't managed to make a start on the car over the weekend. Mostly it's been spent fitting a new liner in the swimming pool in the garden. After returning home from work at 8.30 on the Bank Holiday Monday evening it was a bit of a push trying to get some of the fittings sorted out. The highlight was fitting the underwater light at 10.30pm in the dark standing on the fairly steep slope of the partially filled pool. I only slipped and fell in twice, and to my youngest son's credit he knew better than to laugh. Nearly froze my nuts off!
Anyway, back to the build ... I spent a short while reading the build manual I downloaded from the main Fisher build website, then looked through some of the online photos on there. Then I remembered Tim Hoverd's build site which I'd spent quite a while reading a few months ago. It's nicely laid out, in a logical sequence, well written and has decent photos showing what's going on.
I decide to start with the floor panels, so enlist the help of oldest son again to flip the chassis over. As Tim says on his site the panels only bear a rough approximation to the size/shape they need to be, but it didn't take all that long to mark up the first panel, trim it down a bit with the air nibbler then tidy it up with the file. Next step is to mark the centre lines of the chassis rails on it then measure the 50mm centres for the rivet holes. Once the panel's drilled and deburred it's clamped in position and the chassis rails are drilled. A nice box of 500 rivets is supplied with the kit but they seem huge at 4.8mm - the Ultima rivets were mainly 3mm. I stocked up on drills from Screwfix last week and decide that a 5mm drill will be OK for the rivets, the panels will all be fixed with mastic as well. Once the chassis holes are deburred every other hole gets treated to a quick squirt of Waxoyl. Then that's it for the night - I'm not fixing any of the panels at the moment as I plan to get them all trimmed to fit and drilled then get them powder coated black. So, not a lot of progress but I've made a start.
Wednesday 1st June
Little trip to Machine Mart this afternoon where I got some fittings for a new airline I bought, and splashed out a whole £12 on a jigsaw to see if it worked out better than using the nibbler. Also called in local fastener suppliers to get some stainless 5mm button head screws for fixing the removable panels. I was going to get some rivnuts but all they had was aluminium ones and they advised against using these with stainless screws as they react.
Got the passenger side floor panel cut to size, marked up and drilled. Youngest son is helping so while he's doing some drilling I get on with making a cardboard template for the rear side panel which has to be made to fit around the side impact protection structure. By the time Chris has finished drilling the panel is more or less done. The new jigsaw proves excellent at cutting the panels, a vast improvement on the nibbler. So, by the end of the evening another 2 panels are done although I need to sort out a couple of issues with the side panel - I think it needs holes cutting where the harness bosses are as they are proud of the chassis side rails. Also not sure what to do where it joins the front section - whether to overlap it or butt it. Trouble with the factory build pics is none seem to show my configuration (IRS chassis with side impact protection) and Tim hasn't got any detail shots of this area on his site.
Thursday 2nd June
Another hour and a half in the garage. Cut to size and drilled the two sill support extensions - these are narrower and don't protrude as far as the overhangs on the main floor sections, but I don't think it will matter as they won't be visible once the sidepods are on. I can check with Martin anyway. With those done I got on with the front section of the side panel. This is much more straightforward as it's a plain rectangle with just a couple of cutouts to fit around the side impact structure, it also seems a good fit without trimming. More drilling, deburring and Waxoyl. Last job of the day is to nab oldest son to flip the chassis back over the right way up.
Saturday 4th June
The rear side panel on the passenger side is easy as it's pretty much the same as the driver's side one, then the longer front section is next. The panel that goes on the end of the passenger footwell is a bit fiddly as it needs a few bits cutting out to go round chassis rails. Next job is the tunnel side panels - I didn't drill those as I'm not sure yet whether to rivet them on or screw them on so they're removable. So long as the tunnel top is removable that should be enough but I'll have a word with Martin.
The pile of blank aluminium sheets is starting to look a bit less now, although the chassis doesn't really look any different as none of the panels are fitted yet. Once they're all trimmed/drilled I plan to get them powder coated in black, looks much better than bare aluminium.
The next one I have a go at is probably the most difficult - the rear bulkhead. This needs trimming to go around the tunnel tubing, and you can't get it even near to being in position until you've got it right! With a combination of using a cardboard template and some careful measuring I eventually get it in place. I'm partway through the drilling when it's time for end of play for the day.
Sunday 5th June
Got quite a bit more done today - basically more or less finished all the panels. Finished drilling the rear bulkhead, then cut the tunnel top panels to size. Temporarily fitted the handbrake lever so I can cut a slot for it in the tunnel top. I sent Martin an email with a couple of quick queries about the panels and he replied within about an hour!
Once the panels were done I spent 10 minutes or so having a clear-up - bits of offcuts, swarf and aluminium filings all over the place. The nibbler's a very handy tool but it doesn't half make a mess, and all the little crescent shaped offcuts fly all over the place and are quite sharp.
Really what I'd like to get on with next is fitting the brake and fuel lines which run the length of the transmission tunnel, but I can't really do this as firstly I don't have the diff and am not sure exactly where they should run to clear it at the back end, and in any case I don't have my fuel lines yet. I decide the pedal box would be a reasonable place to start so after a bit of rummaging I've found all the bits I think I need for that. The pedal box floor in the chassis is pre-drilled for the base plate the pedals are mounted to, and although I could move it forwards to gain a bit more legroom I don't think there's any need. The pushrods on the 2 master cylinders are different lengths, so I cut down the longer one to the same length as the other and fitted the bias bar assembly and master cylinders. I can't fit the reservoir yet as I'm not sure where it goes and I think I'd better leave that till I know exactly where the steering column goes. Tempting to get on with fitting the steering rack and column, but I think better to fit the front suspension first.
Master cylinders and pedal box fitted
After unwrapping all the wishbones and suspension parts it's easy enough to locate the correct bits for the front, but the fisher build site doesn't have any detailed shots showing a rose jointed suspension, and there are multiple mounting points provided. No time to get on with this now anyway as it's 5pm and time to go in, I'll email Martin in the morning with a few questions.
Monday 6th June
Having sorted out in my mind which bit goes where, this evening I want to actually get some of the front suspension together. First job is to get the bushes and spindle in the nearside rocker arm. As I've gone for the rose jointed suspension this is slightly different to standard, I have a pair of bushes each with a needle bearing in it. The spindle then goes through these. I also have a pair of long bolts labelled 'Front Rocker Arm' but these won't go through the shaft which looks like it has smaller threaded holes in each end. Confusing. Anyway, I try to fit the bushes but they're very tight, so the mini-drill comes out with a sanding drum to get rid of the powder coating from the inside of the rocker. I can then knock the first bush in only to find that the shaft now won't fit into the bearing. After a lot more sanding I realise it's easier taking a bit off the plastic bush with the bench grinder than it is taking metal off the rocker ...
I decide also I'd better get the shocks together. I have 4 AVO shocks and 4 springs, and a check of my spreadsheet confirms that the longer shocks go on the front with the 225lb springs. I've never fitted springs to shocks before and have visions of springs going flying all over as I try compressing them without the proper tool! Anyway it turns out to be a doddle as all I need to do is fully extend the shock, remove the slotted ring at the top and slip the spring on then replace the top bit. The shock bodies themselves are very light. I encounter another problem when trial fitting the shock - it won't fit into the bracket on the chassis.
A quick call to KCW and Ian confirms that they thought the chassis builder had this covered, but clearly not! He also says I'm missing a set of 3/8" UNF bolts to go into the spindle, so off I go to get some, along with a supply of 12mm washers to pack out the rose joints. Martin's confirmed via email which holes I'm supposed to be using and pretty soon the rocker arm is fitted.
I set to with file and mini drill with grinding wheel to take some off the offending brackets:
Before ...
... and after
Once both shocks fit OK a quick blast with some compressed air to get rid of the filings then a spot of black POR 15 and all looks OK again. Fitting the lower wishbone goes smoothly - clear the powder coat out of the threads with a tap and get the rose joints fitted using a bit of copper grease, then fit the shock and it's all ready for an upright. A large ball joint screws into the top of the modified upright and is fitted to the outboard end of the rocker arm, a knuckle joint screws into the end of the wishbone and goes into the taper at the bottom of the upright and it's starting to look like a proper front corner.
Front nearside suspension fitted
Then I move onto the other side which all goes pretty smoothly until I come to fit the lower knuckle joint which refuses to go into its thread. There's a small amount of powder coat in there so I first cut a small groove in the end of the thread to enable it to clear this. I try cleaning out the thread with a wire brush, manually tidying it with a small file but to no avail. I'll need to try to borrow a tap from somewhere to clean the thread in the end of the wishbone out.
Recalcitrant wishbone and front end of chassis looking a bit more completed.
Saturday 11th June
I've tried to borrow a tap but my local sources have drawn a blank. I decide to try swapping the ball joints to see if I can get the nearside one in there, but that doesn't work. I have another go and after a half turn it binds again, a bit more force (by hand only) and it goes a little further. On taking it out the slot I cut is full of black powder coat, so I have another go with the rotary wire brush and cut the slot a little deeper. It goes a little further this time, and I find that by taking it out, cleaning the slot and tightening again I'm making progress. Within 15 minutes problem solved, so out it comes for some copper grease and on with the upright. I haven't tightened anything up yet, I want to get some idea from Martin of how many threads should be visible on the rose joints etc as the alignment looks fairly interesting at the moment. Difficult to tell though as it's of course on full droop. The Ultima was easy to set up as they provide ride height bars to put in instead of the shocks.
I decide to fit the steering rack next, no problem there, a bit of glycerin to lubricate the rubber bushes and it's soon in place. The steering column is still as it left its Sierra donor - all the stalks, ignition barrel etc. still on it. 5 minutes with a screw driver has all the wiring and stalks off it, next job is to get rid of the excess aluminium - ignition barrel etc. I haven't got an angle grinder so had to resort to hacksaw and file but it didn't take long to get it nice and smooth. The column extension shaft was a bit of a bugger to fit as the splines that go onto the rack were full of paint, but it gave in in the end. The bracket to hold the column onto the dash support puzzled me a bit - the two holes are staggered slightly, and only lined up on the holes in the chassis bracket if it was upside down. I decided whoever had made it had folded it the wrong way, so I had to mark and drill 2 holes in the correct position to get it to fit. Not sure what's supposed to happen to the bracket/bush at the bottom end of the rack so I'll leave that for now.
I'd been away for much of the week, and had hoped to have had a delivery from KCW, but there was no sign. Martin says it was sent but the Parcel Force website tracking system doesn't seem to have a clue where it is. I'll have to chase it up Monday. I'd been hoping to have it for the weekend as it should contain the rear tunnel side panels and the rivnuts, so I could get the panels all finished and drop them off somewhere for powder coating while I'm away this week in Le Mans. I remember that I haven't drilled the forward tunnel side panels - Martin has confirmed that rivetting is fine, so I get those done.
I decide to make a start on the front brake lines. I can't find any decent pictures showing the routing, although Tim Hoverd has very decently sent me a CD with all his build photos in full resolution, and there are a couple of helpful ones in there. After deciding the approximate location I gradually bend the copper pipes into position and fit the T piece - can't really locate that till they're all fitted nicely. I hit a snag in that the fitting won't screw into the master cylinder - I'll need to try to get that sorted tomorrow.
Sunday 12th June
Much of today disappeared catching up on gardening and cleaning cars, but I got half an hour to try to sort the pipe fitting out, and failed. I take the master cylinder off and leave it to have another go tomorrow evening.
Monday 13th June
Martin's confirmed via email that my box of bits was despatched on Thursday for next day delivery, and has given me the consignement number. Unfortunately the Parcel Force website is unable to track it so early morning I head off to the local depot to investigate. Only to find that Parcel Force is a different organisation to Royal Mail, and their unit is further away. So off I trek again. They can't trace it either, so ring the driver on my patch who tells them he's just delivered it! Grrrrrrrr .....
My box of bits doesn't contain the rivnuts I'd ordered, so my cunning plan to get all the panels completed and dropped off for powder coating has to be abandoned. In the meantime I've found the Tifosi website offering a large selection of screws, nuts, rivnuts etc. They're quoting £4.65 for 50 steel M5 rivnuts which seems very reasonable. No online order form though so I drop them an email to check they do exist! Within 30 minutes I get a phone call back from a very helpful chap who confirmed all the bits I wanted, took my card details and said they'd be with me tomorrow. I thought I may as well stock up on the common stuff - stainless M5/M6 button head screws, M8 bolts/nylocks etc. Also some stick on and rivet on cable tie mounts, all very reasonably priced.
With the master cylinder off the threads all look fine, and I eventually realise that the pipe has a different adapter on each end. Doh! So once the cylinder's refitted and the pipe rebent it all goes on OK. Sadly no time for any more as I've a shed load of work to do and I'm off to Oxford on Wednesday to stay at my mate's overnight prior to driving down to the Channel Tunnel early Thursday morning on our Le Mans trip.
Tuesday 14th June
No building today but a quick plug for Tifosi - nice padded envelope arrived early this morning with all my shiny nuts, bolts, rivnuts etc. Absolutely delighted with their friendly, efficient service and value, in future I'll get my stuff from them mail order rather than going up to Swansea fasteners - probably costs me as much in petrol as their delivery charge! Highly recommended.
Saturday 25th June
First chance to get back into the garage since coming back from Le Mans - been a busy week with work and trying to salvage a bit of fitness (only 8 weeks to the Ironman!). I want to make a start on the panels which will be rivnutted on to the chassis, and decide to kick off with the pedal box cover as that's the smallest and is completely non-structural. I realise I've got too many screw holes so only mark and drill the ones I think I need and use the panel I've got as a template for a new one. I bought a good quality rivnut tool during the Ultima build - was a bit peeved at the time as I only used it a couple of times, but now glad I got it. Once you've got it set up right the rivnuts are fitted in a couple of minutes.
Next up are the side panels for the rear end of the transmission tunnel - these aren't cut to size yet. They're a bit fiddly as they need a fold in the rear edge to butt up against the rear bulkhead, and need holes drilling to clear the harness mounting bosses. I decide to space the fixing holes out as I've decided to use the 5mm rivnuts for this, which need a 7.5mm hole. The tubing along the top of the tunnel is only 25mm wide, so it's quite a big hole relatively, so I don't want too many of them weakening it. Once it's marked, drilled and tidied up it's clamped in position with the front section as it overlaps that and I'll need to drill holes through both. Once the holes are enlarged to 7.5mm the rivnuts are inserted and I test fit it with some screws. Then it's end of play for the day ...
Tuesday 23rd August
Yes, it's ages since I've written anything on here. The build has been on hold as I was away at the end of June and early July working, and after that trying to get fit for the Ironman has been the main priority. The Ironman was last Sunday (21st) and is now out of the way so I can crack on again. Sunday's race was the first ever Ironman UK, and the short version of my story is that I didn't finish. for the longer version click here
Monday 2nd January, 2006
Finally made it out into the garage this morning :-)
The project has been on hold for ages partly because of time but if I'm honest mostly because I just lost inertia and found it difficult to get going again. The garage accumulated a load of rubbish that needed clearing before I could resume the build. So, today I nade it out there and cleared up a bit of the junk so I could get to the chassis and my bench etc. As expected, as soon as I started making a bit of progress the enthusiasm started flooding back.
I couldn't do any more of the actual building till I panelled the floor, and I was waiting till I'd cut/drilled the final panel so I could take them all to be epoxy coated. The final panel is the rear tunnel side panel on the driver's side of the car. I'd already marked it so this morning I dusted off the jigsaw, cut it roughly to size and set to with the file to tidy it up. Once done it didn't take long to mark and drill the holes, clamp it in position and drill the chassis. Fixing the rivnuts was a trivial job. So, finally the panels are ready to be coated. There are a couple of places in the Yellow Pages locally so I'll stick all the panels in the car tomorrow and see if I can drop them off in my lunchtime.
Tuesday 3rd January
Not done a lot but thought I'd update the site just to make it clear I'm still on the case :-)
Just dropped off the panels at the powder coaters in Swansea. Been quoted about £120 plus VAT which equates pretty closely to the £150 Martin had quoted for them to get them coated. They should be ready by the end of the week, so I'll try to pick them up on Friday afternoon.
After a bit of thought I've realised there are a couple of things I can get done before fitting the floor panels - I need to run the brake and fuel lines down the tunnel. Since the floor of the tunnel isn't panelled it doesn't really make much difference, I can fit them just as easily afterwards. I also need to get the diff back to Martin as Muffett have made a couple more changes since mine was built.
Actually managed an hour or so in the garage this evening. Tried to sort out the brake pipes and what routes they should run. Got a bit confused in the end as they can of course take a few different routes, but the lengths didn't match the route I tohught I was going to use. Time for a quick chat with Martin methinks. Also discovered I'm missing the rear T connector for the brake pipes, so will ask for one of those. Just as I was tidying up I found a panel I'd missed before so I'd better drop that off at the powder coater's in the morning on the way into surgery. Sent a quick email off to Martin with my queries.
Wednesday 4th January
Yep, back again :-)
First off no reply from Martin by lunchtime, and in any case reckoned probably better to have a chat on the phone about a couple of the issues. Basically up to me where the brake lines go (but best not to mix fuel lines and wiring loom), and maybe give me a bit more flexibility if I get a pipe flaring tool. Couple of bits of good news; firstly Muffett are going to send me a new diff and collect the old one at the same time and secondly the HiSpec rear brakes are finally actually available! So I ordered a set of those.
Discussed gear shifts. Firstly I have no mechanism for the reverse shift, which you'll recall is situated within the diff. Martin's going to send me a couple of pics of what they've done. Secondly paddle shifts. When I initially spoke to Martin he was pretty negative and steered me towards the conventional tunnel mounted lever. Tim Hoverd has however gone to great lengths converting his to a paddle shift, so there must be something in it. Anyway, Martin does now offer a paddle shift mechanism, and is also sending photos of that for me to make my mind up.
Priced up pipe flaring kits in Machine Mart and they're less than £20 so I'll probably go for that. In the evening got another hour or so and routed and clipped the main front to rear brake pipe and formed the pipes from each rear corner ready to clip once I've cut and reflared the pipes to suit wherever the T-piece ends up.
This page is getting a bit big so we'll move onto the next page