Sunday 28 December 2008

Build Day 18 - It Has Eyes!!!!

Headlight Bar and Units


The headlights are mounted on a beam that attaches to the top rail of the chassis. We positioned the headlight mounting bar as far forward as we could see from the manual picture and then measured from the scuttle and rocker arms to work out if the bar was dead centre and we marked this position on the tub. As our tub is raised above the chassis rail with spacers we had to make a hole in the tub the size of the rivnut tool so we could insert the rivnut to fix it down. We fixed an M6 rivnut on the chassis at either end as the bar will carry a fair bit of weight.


Then we drilled the bar to accomodate the M6 bolts and attached it with penny washers and thread lock. After a trip to the loft i found the C/F headlights and mounted them to the bars and fed the wire through to our wiring loom.


Were not sure if its cross eyed or just has one lazy eye


The connectors are different so i cut the ends off and opted for small bullet connectors.


Fuel Filler Cap


Whilst were waiting on some bolts and other bits to finish the rear my dad moved on with the fuel filler cap. We got the arch out of the loft and checked where it sits on the body as were thinking of mounting the cap on the rear drivers side. The position was marked and he then selected a nice central location. The outline of the cap was made and he chain drilled the hole to get a rough shape and rounded it with a dremmel.

With the cap in place he marked the holes for the counter sunk screws and drilled the holes so the key, upon locking remains vertical.

Once bolted in place the filler is connected to the tank with petrol filler pipe and two 50-55mm jubilees.


Coolant Tank


With the Scuttle in the garage for the tub fitment dad made some holes in the coolant tank bracket then transfered them to the scuttle so the tank could be attached with 4xM6 bolts, washers and nylocs.

Sunday 14 December 2008

Build Day 17

After the days spent fiddling around with the tub we finally managed to get the whole thing bolted down. We started with some tiger seal on areas the chassis would rub against the tub. Then we fixed the tub down with bolts after working out the correct order to do them up in as it turned out extremly difficult if we tightened the top front down first rather than than from the back first.



Rear Suspension Hole


Finally a new job after the fun we didnt have with the body. We started with making the holes as suggested in the manual. This didnt work to well as there was insufficient clearance for the coilover from what we could see. A bit of dremmeling and it had room to breath.


Rear Suspension


With the wishbone bushes all pressed and fitted from earlier we located them into there mounting brackets. After a few scuffed knuckles we had them in place so we fitted the bolts and found them too long so cut them to size. With both wishbones in place and the upright attached to the lower wishbone we both wishbones arent symetrical. The bottom one can only go one way round to fit the driveshaft central but the top needs to be fitted so there is enough room to fit the coilover at straight. Ours is fitted towards the front of the the upright so the coilver can be fitted behind as we found this was the best fit. Then its just a case of fitting a million washers and a rose joint spacer either side of the rose joint. Heres a picture with the wishbones and coilover to attached to the upright with a copper pipe, dont worry its not permanent.


Rear Assembly


With the suspension in place we can fit the driveshaft, caliper carrier, caliper, bearings, brake disc, hub and finally the wheels - hooray! To get the shaft in we removed the upright and pushed it into the diff splines untill it was fully seated. The grease caps are the slid on with the tapered bearing. We fitted the upright with the caliper carrier and hub carrier together with 4xM8 12.9 socket cap bolts with serated washers as theres no room to use nylocs.

Heres the assembled upright


The assembled upright is then pushed on over the drive shaft and re-attached to the wishbones. The next tapered bearing and the grease cap can then be slid on followed by the hub, washer and hub nut.


Handbrake Cable


We have our supplied handbrake cable which we think is a sierra item. We cut this in half and fitted the caliper end to the caliper and fitted the caliper to the caliper carrier. Our caliper is fitted to the back of the car as the brake pipe is too short to stretch to it if fitted to the front. The handbrake cable needs to be routed under the upright then attach the other side of the handbrake. We have done this with p clips and rivets to allow the cable enough room to flex for suspension travel. To hold it tight is secured to the handbrake quadrant with a metal U clip.

Sunday 7 December 2008

Build Day 16

Body Tub Final Fitment


The fitment of the tub is something I think we have both been avoiding. But now we have completed everything and more upto this point we have got to stop thinking about what and how to do it and just do it. We have decided to go with rivnuts to attach the chassis as it makes the body removable and stronger than rivets. We didnt have a rivet nut tool so ebay turned up trumps with a Laser(0979) item delivered next day and at the same time we got 50 rivnuts for next to nothing compared to specialists like car builders solutions with free p+p.

We started at the back end of the car as we know its going to stay exactly where it is once pushed fully forwards which will effect the rest of the fit. We started with four on the back and 2 on each side on the back section. Our manufacturer recommended a 14mm spacer at the rear for correct fitment so we shapped some wood and put it in place. We opted for M5 rivnuts requiring a 7mm drill hole and used M5 blts with large washers which were hoping will be strong enough without removing much strength from the chassis. Heres the first series of rivnuts completed.


We fitted the scuttle loosely by trimming it for our wiring and steering support beam. Then it was just down to aligning it with the tub angled section and we taped it into place.





The bonnets sagged a bit from when we bought it so were hoping when its left on the scuttle for a week it might regain some shape. This also required trimming for the engine mount and R1 temperature sensor. The water feed from the thermostat could also prove to be an issue as it touches the bonnet and there is little we can do about that other than relocating the thermostat. With the hose removed we could get on to the nose cone and front tub fitment. This involved lots of careful trimming to get a smooth edge as the tub has quite an overhang preventing the nose cone from going on.

As you can see left without support the body flares outwards which needs to be address by bolting in place


With a bungie strap around the tub the whole thing fits much nicer


Now everything is fitting well, with a bungie strap! were going to carry on with using rivnuts to attach the tub to the chassis before we make final adjustments as fastened down it could make quite a difference to panel gaps.