SORRY!

Hi all.
Sorry that there have been no updates for ages.
Not much going on car build wise for a while though.
I have been working on other projects while trying to get the money to progress the build.
Snow is thick on the ground.Just relatively happy that the car is fairly well shielded for the winter.
Anyway,I will try to keep things a bit more up to date than i have recently!
Cheers,James.

Here are a few pics of the car port build...

So far so good

Lifting it into place was alot harder than I expected

But we got there in the end!!

Still got some extra bracketing to do,and then I have to find some polycarbonate sheeting.(Apparently Wickes have a special deal on at the moment,so I will check it out tomorrow.)
Cheers for now!!

Hi all. Just to let you know,I have finished the brake pipework at the rear of the car,and am waiting for my master cylinders and flexible brake hoses to arrive. I have also sent my front calipers off to biggred to be remanufactured.Cant be too careful with these things. I have also realised that rain is not my friend. And that building a kit car in your back garden has its down sides. My £60 car cover is ripped to shreds,and there is a permanent pool of water in the footwells and the centre tunnel,despite my best efforts at bailing them out whenever it rains. Also the brake disks are a nice shade of bright orange,and it is only going to get worse.
So I think it is time for phase II of the build area development. I am making a 4m x 2.5m car port which will extend out from the workshop and accross the back wall hopefully providing a much better enviroment for car building,especially as summer is over. I t will provide me some lighting possibilities as well for the winter months.
I will post some pics soon.
Cheers for now.
James

Here is a pic of the rad bracket installed.
I wont drill the holes for the rad just yet.I will wait and get some of the hoses to gauge exactly the best location.
Unfortunately my car cover has a small rip in it,and it has rained alot over the past few days.The drivers side floor filled up with water.I had to drill a small hole in the floor to drain out the water,and where there was small bits of swarf from drilling holes in the chassis,rust spots have formed all over the floor.Most of these have just wiped off,as I generously sprayed the floor with wd40 afted fitting it,but some might need a bit of a scrub!!
Not the end of the world,but it does look really messy.

Having run out of materials/money to continue with the brake lines,I decided to have a go at making some radiator brackets.
I have seen this done three different ways on three different cars.
Above you can see one bent to shape,and one ready to be bent.
Below is my bending setup.Sheet clamped into vice,using ally angle as vice jaws.

And here is the part after whacking it with a big hammer lots and lots of times...

Here it is after the second bend...

And after drilling the holes for riveting to the chassis...

All I have to do now is pray that it fits under the bonnet!!!
(I guessed the position using others pictures)

front brake lines

OK. I think I have the brake line theory sorted.
Here is my attempt at the front. I need to get the flexible hoses to go into the calipers,and the master cylinders. But the framework is done.
Please let me know if I have made any glaring mistakes!!!

bracket

The brake line T pieces come with 6mm bolt holes,and the usual way of attaching these was to use 6mm rivnuts in the chassis rails,and attach the T piece to it.
The IVA scrutineering procedure now deems this method not good enough,as far as I know.
So I have made some brackets out of 1.5mm aluminium,left over from the seat backs...


Here is the front one mounted,with the T piece
bolted through the bracket,using a nylock nut.


And here is the rear one,complete with stone guard,as it is open to the road...


Cheers James.

lines

I am collecting parts to run the fuel and brake lines...



Here is my first attempt using the flaring tool...


Not bad,I reckon?

Sorry for no update.
I have been busy.
I have added the front hubs to the uprights,and ordered a torque wrench.It then took ages to find a 27mm socket for a 3/8 dr torq wrench!! In hind sight I should have ordered a 1/2 inch dr wrench!!
I found one eventually,it cost more than the wrench!!I am waiting for it to arrive.
I have spent most of the time "fettling" the seat back panels. I drilled holes at the top and bottom of the panels when I didnt need to.So I made new panels. The corresponding holes in the chassis,I filled with sikaflex,smoothed level with a knife blade,then keyed with wire wool and painted with hammerite. I then bought a strip of self adhesive 4mm thick neoprene strip. A strip along the top,and one across the bottom attached to the chassis,and all is well. I found that getting the hang of using rivnuts took a little getting used to.The first few had to be drilled out as I had used too much force installing them,and the bolts fouled on the pinched rivnut section.Also when drilling the holes for the rivnuts down the sides of the seat back panels,the drill had to be held at an angle due to the side chassis bracing,this resulted in the holes being drilled at an angle of +/-30 degrees. the rivnuts however attached to the chassis square,which meant that the holes in the panels did not line up as well as they should.So I took the opportunity to address this when making the new panels. All has been test fitted and all bolts are square,and freely bolt in and out. What a pain,but I feel much better knowing it all fits nicely now.
I have ordered the fuel lines,and brake lines,along with appropriate insulated P clips and fittings,and have finally got my grubby mitts on a draft build manual,whch has already cleared alot of the confusion that was taking up alot of time.
Cheers for now,James.

Ok,my daughter and her friend wanted a go,so I couldn't resist the photo op...
My daughter is driving.I dont know where she gets it from! ;-)

A quick post to show the workshop...



I am so happy that I seem to have got the perfect size,it is small,not enough room to swing a cat,but has just enough to swing a guinea pig in!
The car came off the saw tables today,and onto a couple of concrete blocks,with some old 4x2's on top. It is just as well no one was there to take a photo of me sitting in her,holding the steering wheel in thin air!


She looks completely different now,so close to the ground.
My son's latest purchase has grudgingly been given a temporary patch on the sacred patch!


Still trying to get my head round brakes.Master cylinders to be exact. Leaning towards integral wilwood ones at the moment.

Quick update. I have put a couple of new panels on thew chassis,and I have been trying to get my head round the braking setup.
Jeremy has said that he will hopefully have a build manual ready soon.


Over the weekend,I am planning on getting the chassis on the ground. I will rest it on two wooden planks which will have a couple of bricks under them. It should give me a better idea of the size of the car,and also give me a chance to sit in her and make brrmmm brrmmm noises!!! I cant wait :-D

Got my drilled fiesta hubs back from the engineering firm yesterday.
It turns out,the owners son built a one off hillclimb car,and the owner is a modified mini fan.
So he was happy to help and offered any further help I might need. Could come in handy!!
The lower hole has been drilled to accept a half inch bolt now,rather than the 12mm original.






Here is a pic of the rear suspension...



And here is where the hub attaches...



And here is the hub attached! Nice.



I will tighten everything up,then I have some more panels to play with,and I am thinking that the brake lines might be next. Once that is done,I will have to find some wheels so that I can put her on the ground.

Installed the steering rack,it is a 2.4 quick rack for precise steering...


I am using some after market ally brackets for mounting without bushes,this is supposed to give a more direct feel to the steering,although I have heard mixed results.


Look good though!!
Laters.

Latest accessory for the car...


A moustache!! :-)
Should keep my face warm while driving!!

Car naming.

I like the idea of cars having names.
It makes them more personal,and along with the name comes other features,like a personality,and character...


My car is called Louise. I thought it only right to have the name on the car,and in keeping with her character,I thought that hand painted rather than a stuck on graphic would be more appropriate.
I know,I know.You could call me cazy,but I prefer the term,"eccentric!" :-)
Off to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood tomorrow, bbrrmmm,bbrrmmm.

work suspended.

Captains log...
I thought I would take a look at the rear suspension yesterday,and in doing so I found that one of the supplied bolts did not fit through the fiesta hub. Looking into the problem,I discovered that the reason was that the other end of the bolt was captured by a bush that was 1/2" inside diameter,but the hole in the fiesta hub was 12mm. A whopping difference of 0.7mm,which is plenty big enough of a difference. I had a go at drilling out the hole,but got nowhere fast. I checked with Jeremy that I was doing the right thing,and he suggested that taking the hubs to a local engineering firm might be the way to go. A trawl round the local industrial estate found a likely suspect,and sure enough,they were only too happy to help. I will pick them up on Monday.They are going to charge me £15,which is the same as 2 high quality drill bits,so not too bad.
So I switched my attention to the front suspension today,and trial fitted the components...






All went together perfectly. I love the rocker arms an inboard shocks setup.
I will get some nice alloy brackets from ebay for the steering rack and fit that next.
Cheers,James

More panels

Once the floor was on,I got a bit carried away and attached the other panels that I had made...












I am really pleased,the car is now something that you could sit "IN",rather than a skeleton.
It seems like a substantial thing now. Brilliant!! :-)

Floor on

Floor attached.
Took me about 2 hours.
A job well done,I think.

Finished the drilling for the floor today...



But I found out that I am 19 rivets short!!.
I have ordered some from e-bay.Hopefully they will arrive quickly,as I would like to have the froor on at some point over the weekend.
I am going to paint the drilled holes with hammerite to seal them,and use sikaflex to help fix the floor to the chassis.

I have attached the drivers side end plate,and drilled the tunnel side too.
Today I started on the floor. I have drilled the front half. I need a new drill bit for the rear half!!



So far,so good though!! :-)

get stuck in.

I got back from work today,and for some reason just decided to attach a panel.
So I painted the inside face of the passenger footwell end plate.Then I drilled the chassis for the rivets.
Then I realised that I had to drill the passenger tunnel side rivet holes before attaching the end plate,so I did this too. Then I riveted the panel onto the chassis,hooray!!
Then I covered the passenger tunnel side holes with masking tape to stop moisture getting into the chassis,as the actual tunnel side wont be attached for a while.
I will try and do the drivers foot well end plate tomorrow.











Cheers James!

I have painted some of the cockpit panels with gloss black spray paint,and they have come out perfect. I am waiting for a job lot of black spray paint to arrive from ebay,as buying from halfords is expensive. I also re-made the drivers tunnel side panel,as I wasn't happy with it. It fitted OK,but was made using the passenger side as a template,and I know that it would have niggled me that it wasn't great.

I am nearing the stage where I am going to drill holes in the chassis.
Some of the holes are going to be drilled and hot filled immediately,ie: the tunnel sides.
I have been worrying about leaving exposed holes in the chassis fr any period of time,as the chassis lives outside,albeit under a weatherproof cover. All I can think of doing,is covering all holes with electrical masking tape once drilled,hopefully that should keep any moisture from getting inside the chassis until I rivet the tunnel sides into place.
Anyone have any better ideas? Or think that this will be sufficient??
Thanks alot,James.

SKCC

Just addad a link to the Southern Kit Car Club...


A very friendly bunch,with whom I plan to hook up with once I am on the road.
They plan some great outings,including trips to france,or just a blast round some local b-roads.
I cant wait!! :-)

panels

Just as a note.
I have used my trusty jigsaw to cut all the panels.
I bought some snips,but found them slow and awkward.Also the clean cut edge from the jigsaw is much better than from using snips.
I have quite a few hours racked up using jigsaws,and if anyone else is thinking of using one,and you want a few tips,using a slightly worn blade means that the saw doesnt run away from you,and when marking out cutting lines,mark an inside edge,and cut upto the edge of the line,rather than cutting down the middle of a marked line.You get a much more accurate cut that way.
Cheers James :-)

Black panels

I would like to have black panels in the cockpit area.
I am thinking at the moment of just spraying them with halfords best.
I know that powder coating would be longer lasting,and give a nice smooth finish.But if it chips or cracks,it could be difficult to repair. Where as a sprayed panel could be just gone over again.
Any thoughts gratefully recieved!!
James

Progress

Hi all.
Back from holiday.

I have been fairly busy prepping the workshop.Here are a few pics...








It is working quite well. Cosy but not too cramped.

I have been cutting panels,and have enough to get on with...



I will get some 4mm rivets from CBS and get stuck in.
Although I am debating whether to pre paint/powder coat some of the cockpit panels.