Bassett's Build Diary

A new year but the same challenge

2011-02-01T21:28:00.007Z

At the end of last year none of our major track day plans materialised and we just decided to enjoy the car when we could before the bad weather came along. Now its the new year we've given ourselves some new deadlines for modificationss and servicing. Summer might yet again not be a realistic target as I am in the final stages of becomming a qualified management accountant but before that kicks off I'll be doing what I can.

First job is fitting a new fuel filter. We're going for a completely new option as we are concerned about the longevity of the small plastic filter that is currently fitted as under extreme pressure and being near the headers it could split and become a real hazard.
Its replacement will be a stronger metal unit which is also larger giving it more filering surface area so we can leave it in there for tens of thousands of miles if we wanted. Only problem is we made the fittings specifically for the original and it will take some fiddling to fit in the small space available.

Second job was to remove the track rod ends as both had damaged rubber boots and with the geometry still on the to do list we thought it best to replace them now rather than later on.

Next up was the exhaust. There has been a drumming sort of sound when coming off throttle which we imagine is the silencer packing deteriorating as this apparently goes after around 2,000 miles. As the MNR silencer is so long we required two packs of pre rolled packing from car builders solutions which isnt cheap at almost £40. The job should be fairly simple requiring the end cap to be removed followed by the packing then the new stuff goes in and the cap is riveted back on.

Problem is we rammed loads of metal putty around where the end cap fits to provide an air tight seal as exhaust gases came out of every badly fitted piece. Sounded like a good idea at the time as we didnt think the packing would need replacing so soon. What came out was really burnt up in places with most of the wire wool gone so seemed like I made a good decision to replace it.

Once finally apart I got the new packing out of its delivery cellophane however this turned out to be a bad move as once unwrapped the packing expanded and was too large to go into the silencer.
From the photo you can see the wire wool wrapped around the perforated centre tube followed by the outer noise damping material to stop it being blown through.

Its still a tight fit but with a hand from my dad we squeezed it back in using a roll of duck tape.

Tough Times

2010-06-10T22:21:00.007+01:00

The week after the Detling show we decided to carry out a little maintenance on the kit car. We, I mean my dad took care of the front arches trimming them right back to make the wheel removal simpler and prevent rubbing on the tyre side walls. With the arches off I gave the brakes a good going over to make sure everything was tight and secure. Turns out one thing definitely wasnt, after I gave the passenger front disc a good spin i noticed a distinct wobble. First thought was this is going to be expensive and most likely a warped brake disc or worse a stub axle but following further investigation swapping parts from one side to another turns out its the alloy hub that attaches to the disc.

Here is the offending part, well what it looked like new anyway

Chris and Marc at MNR were pretty happy to do a warranty replacement on this item as I imagine the item left the factory like this as it surely isnt easy to distort a thick lump of aluminium. Only issue is this part seems exceedingly difficult to get hold and even harder to get quality items. Reason I say this is that the first set was too deep for the stub axle not allowing the hub nut to even go on. A week later and the second set fitted but the area where the races fit were a few thou too large so the races weren't tight. The third set arrived in the post today so we kept our fingers crossed and luckily it fitted. Only problem was new studs werent fitted and the new ones were too long. A bit of sawing and filing soon sorted that out.

The car has in total been off the road for just over a month and we've missed some of the best British weather ever but on the upside we've got pretty damn good at doing a brake, hub and bearing change - Rally style!

Detling

2010-04-04T19:25:00.006+01:00

Another years passed and its time for the annual Detling Kit Car Show. Its about 60miles from ours so we were glued to the tv and internet for updates on the weather. Turns out none of them know what they are doing and come Sunday morning it was raining heavily. We were meant to be joing the recently setup Southern Kit Car bunch (http://southernkitcars.com) at the 7 Indulgence HQ but due to the weather we sat indoors watching the GP. At gone 10 the near black clounds moved on and we decided to set off. The roads were still soaked with much standing water so I drove gingerly like Captain Slow. Halfway there and we hit the M26, my first ever motorway experience and instantly felt more warey of the other cars with the mirrors shaking away from the high frequency R1 engine. 60-70mph was tops after a few miles of beeing battered by the wind before we were slowed for a crash which luckily looked like nothing too serious. A few more uneventfull miles passed and we were there for the first time with the MNR. A great feeling after 2 previous years picking up parts to complete the car. Plus a grand saving of one admission having brought a kit car and as the driver I left Dad to pay for his passenger entry.

The show itself was very good and the effort from Southern Kit Cars was tremendous with a huge turn out. Also for the first time since we had attended the show MNR had turned up to promote several of their new items; the BEC Reverse Box set to be a Quaife beater, the LMP is complete after several chassis's and engine trials which i think is now set with a 500bhp hayabusa fire breather, the recent MX5 donor kit and the kids electic mini Vortx so things seem to be going very well for the firm. It was great to catch up with the MNR boys and George a fellow owner of a Kwak green MNR who managed to convince them down to the show.

Here are a few of my pics from the show.

One of my favourites of the day a rather unique looking Marcos Mantis

Track Day Prep - Part Two

2010-03-13T18:14:00.005Z

Clutch

Ross, my sisters boyfriend has sorted us out with a second R1 clutch spring. This is the cheap option compared to the Barnett clutch spring conversion but were hoping the outcome will be the same to reduce, if not eliminate clutch slip in high gears at full load. Its about 1/6 the price compared to the Barnett but reason is everyone doesn't go this method is because apparently you loose the feel of the clutch and it also makes the pedal action heavier. This isnt overly encouraging but we will never know unless we try and worst case is we dont like it.

Its a fairly simple job, mainly as we have messed around with the clutch a few times before. On one occasion it was the morning of the SVA when we overpulled the clutch and had to remove and refit at 8am before we even set off after some last minute adjustments the night before. With the cable disconnected and the clutch cover off I wanted to check the clutch plates that gives the clutch friction to engage drive. I checked the thickness of the plates with a digital vernier and recorded the differences which were checked against the manufacturer tollerances. I think the OEM thickness is 3mm and our plates came between 2.96-3.00mm so for the time being they look . I also checked the steels which shown below look slightly worn but agian ok.

Everything back together and it does feel different. The bite is lower almost near the bulkhead and the force required to operate the clutch has increased. I think the cable may need some adjusting so the bite is central within the pedal movement range. On the road and my first experience was not great at all as it is stiff and i did stall the first few times.

A few pics of a test run out

Track Day Prep - Part One

2010-02-10T22:20:00.004Z

Airbox

Today I have just received an original airbox from ebay. I was pretty suprised to open it up and find it has all the clamps and joiners, a used but perfectly good K&N performance air filter and an original air sensor. This is slightly annoying as last year when we were rushing to get the engine running prior to the SVA we bought a original second hand sensor by itself for more than the cost of the whole airbox including delivery.

I started with giving everything a good clean the air box was dusty and oily i guess from the gearbox breather so a quick clean had it looking like new. Next job was the filter starting with a light air dusting from the compressor to remove any lodged contaminents followed by a wash with some filter cleaning fluid and a tooth brush.

As for the fitting, soon as I had the bonnet off I knew we would be in trouble. Any how I removed the pipercross filter and offered up the original airbox. Straight away it wouldnt fit in the reverse position as its just too high, hits the cold start valve. To get it under the bonnet would require cutting and modififying the airbox losing the current air box properties and the filter that came with it. Or we could cut a whole in the bonnet to expose the top of the air box.

For the time being were going to leave the current filter as is and have a rethink until we have a proper rolling road session so we can see if there is a visible difference between the two options of piper open filter and closed airbox.

New Year and a new deadline

2010-01-01T18:36:00.008Z

Firstly Happy New Year to anyone who still reads the blog. With a New Year just beginning and with little recent driving or progress on the kit car we realised we need some deadlines to get the ball moving again. Dad has just ordered a new helmet and so we are going to be preparing the MNR Vortx for its very first trackday. Its currently a deadline without a date as we need to look into what events are available and when but we definitely have a quite a bit to get started on including the following

1) Trim the arches to stop contanct with tyres and make the wheels more easily removable.
2) Balance bar adjustment or New Mintex 1144 pads as there is so little feel from the current Wilwood smart pads.
3) Fit a second clutch spring to eliminate/reduce clutch slip
4) Check important bolted components are at correct torque and still in marked position.
5) Fit a more accessible fan switch
6) Bleed brake fluid and fill with 5.1
7) Modify an original R1 airbox to fit with performance filter and ducting to reduce noise for track days and reduce potential heat soak.
8) Have car professionally mapped for maximum power and reliability with and without new airbox.
9) Geometry set as accurately as possible at home or professionally if needed.

Hopefully it will end up reliable and more focused towards the track like this one.

Looking a few months back now and here are my snaps from a recent drive down to the chateau cafe. It was a hairy, wet drive down to meet the convoy from Sevenoaks but overall a great morning blast to catch up with some other kit car owners. A weird coincidence that we also saw Richard again after he introduced us to his yellow 1.6 pinto Tiger 2-3 years ago when we were looking at Tigers before selecting the MNR Vortx.

Dad has also made a great pair of wooden ramps as the new shortened pushrods make it even more difficult to get my jack under.

Lee, my Dads cousin has also been working on making our new paddleshift after the MNR one was only worthy of the bin due to a massive amount of flex. It looks great with nice smoothed edges and extra bracing welded to the back making it super strong. We couldnt be bothered to waste more money on spray paint so Dad brush painted it. It could be better but we really needed to get it fitted so it will do for now. As for shifting it is so much more direct as there is no movement unlike the MNR one.

Problems

2009-11-07T15:21:00.010Z

After the Kit Car Run to Lewes another MNR owner noticed we were dropping fuel on fast left hand bends. This is dangerous as it is released near an electrical circuit(although sealed) and costing us in fuel consumption. The problem we have is an injected engine like our FI R1 has a return line to allow the fuel pressure regulator to bleed fuel back to the tank. The fuel tank has an outlet to allow for air to replace fuel used and release air as fuel is returned. We had used quite a simply method of looping some fuel hose to let air in with the hope fuel couldn't get out from a high point. The problem is the tank is not heavily baffled so when on a left hand bend fuel is sloshed to one side and forced out the tank as the pressure rises. The only safe way we could sort this was to get a fuel tank vent valve from merlin motorsport at a whopping £40 but importantly it does the job.

For a few weeks now the car has been playing up. First problem was engine starting where it was hit and miss whether or not it would get going. Our thoughts were it was the battery but a good charge before a drive would sort it out. A few weeks from the initial issue we had charged the battery and headed out for a quick drive. We made it upto the petrol station a mile from home no problems but there was traffic so the fan had been running. With the tank now half full we went to start the car practically nothing just a faint whir as it tried to start. We were in slight predicament, we were at the top of a hill and had no phones or RAC cards. We were close to home so decided to push the car and jump in but at 400kg and even with the two of us pushing it was a greater struggle than we initally thought. Once we were at the very top of the hill we jumped in and let the car roll home as the unassisted brakes and manual steering means everything operates perfectly even when the engine is not running unlike a modern car. With the battery blatently at fault Ross ordered us a new one in at the dirt cheap price of £23 inc VAT which made us wish we had done it sooner.

Whilst fitting my Leon's new straight through exhaust I somehow managed to drive into the kit car whilst navigating the car into a good position to jack it up. Stupid I know but it was only a tap. Only casualty was the number plate light which has a crack around the frame.

Once removed it was very easy to sort with some superglue held in place with some duct tape - Phew!

The other new problem I believe is clutch slip as when on a fast run with your foot down the revs rise as if the car is being revved at stand still which i believe is the clutch not clamping with enough pressure to transmit to drive the wheels. At the moment its not massively noticeable unless your giving it some but its something I hope we can address shortly with some uprated clutch springs or by doubling up on the original.

Since new the refurbed 3.38 diff has had a very slight leak. It doesnt drip but we have noticed the back cover is oily at the bottom. After trying with a torx head socket to get the fill level bolt off i then realised it was actually a female hex bolt - DOH! Once this was off we began filling. We still had the bottle we initally filled it with when it took 850ml. Today it used the remaining 150ml before it was full. Were not sure whether or not to be worried by this but we did go round and tighten all the back cover bolts so we'll keep an eye on it over the coming months.

Other than this the boot box saga continues where we are getting closer to a luggage compartment but as fibre glassing is a slow procedure especially having several parts we are only just at the stage to attach the top to the box section.

I thought it would be difficult to find a way to bolt the box and top down as we will no longer be able to hold a nut from underneath. Dad had the idea of glueing some plastic blocks under the wholes that self tappers could be used with. It works for now but we had to ditch the black counter sunk bolts.

Finally a picture of the box lined with some acoustic carpet from my days of big car stereos. Its also the perfect width to get a halfords tool kit wallet in that currently resides in my Leons boot.

Southern Kit Car Run

2009-09-06T16:26:00.007+01:00

No building, modifying or adjustments today as I am off to join in the Southern Kit Car Run down to Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Musuem. Plan is an early start down to Sevenoaks where the South East owners would meet. I flew down to sevenoaks in an astonishing time as the MNR lapped up the cool air and empty tarmac. This made me rather early than most so I grabbed a quick snap of the freshly polised beast.

Jim and Tom turned up in there bike engined Fury's followed a few minutes later by Simon is his 7. We chatted all things kit car when the Riverhead church bell chimed so we kitted up ready for the arrival of the cars that met up from Wrotham. A healthy rumble bellowed from the surrounding area so we knew it could only be a convoy of kit cars. As the noise got lounder and louder the cars appeared at the mini roundabout in sleepy Sevenoaks and flooded the Harvester car park coming in one side and out the other so we jumped into the flow and started the 40 mile trek south. This wasnt a small convoy by any means, there were easily 20 plus mainly 7 type cars hurtling towards Lewes. The Sunday morning roads were still free so the taps were opened with the glorious noise of induction roar, exhaust boom and squealing rubber. To keep check on the convoy we stopped for a brief photo opportunity by Ashdown Forest

Back on the road and we went steadily for a few miles until we hit traffic, junctions and roundabouts bringing destruction to the convoy where it all went horribly wrong with everyone following someone else who was just driving witout a clue. Eventually though we found some directions and peace was restored with us all meeting at the target location in a quiet field by the cafe and musuem. Unfortunately my mini convoy had ended up behind the others which excluded mine from MNR line up which was a shame as its rare to see them at these sort of events.

It was great meeting everyone and especially good to have a dig around the other MNR's with the owners for advice, ideas and a chat about our builds as each one is so individual to the owner. Hopefully there will be another meet like this in the near future with an even bigger turnout and my copilot aka Dad can attend as he missed out on this one being being on holiday in the Lake District.

Post SVA Mods 3

2009-08-31T21:23:00.006+01:00

Still continuing with the post SVA mods its time to remove the weird looking indicator stalks from below the headlamps, fit the fly screen accompanied by the race tech mirror which was a bit too sharp for the SVA and fit a fire extinguisher just in case of a fire.

Fire Extinguisher

Being a lovely Saturday morning it started out as a pleasure to fit the 800g fire extinguisher made for liquid and electrical fires. It came with a mounting bracket so I lined it up with the seat and checked it could be removed without the seat getting in the way. The bracket has 2 pre drilled holes so these were transferred to the floor drilled and the job was done, easy!

Relocated Indicators

The indicators have been mounted on bars made from copper pipe and plumbing fittings - not ideal although they got us through the SVA test. To relocate them we removed the headlights and the associated wiring. Next the nose cone had to come off and we found a nice spot for the indicators to go which we chose as its inline with the headlight bar and as far back as possible to miss the radiator. At the same time I gave the front end a good clean down as its so hard to reach with the nose on.

Naked again with the nose cone off

Fly Screen and Centre Mirrors

The fly screen came with the kit but we were concerned it could cause radius issues because of its fairly sharp edge. This is the same for the rear view mirror as its got sharp edges and looks 100 times better than the current one. The screen itself started with a massive lip that when I sat in the car I couldn't even see over so it was trimmed to half its size. We drilled 8 holes and burred them out so we could fit flush bolts. The fitting of this part was a hell of a task because firstly the scuttle had to be removed for access, the position of the holes are right where the MNR scuttle comes back on itself and is really tight to get to plus most of the holes are obscured by wiring.

Fly screen and almost invisible indicators on

After this was on Dad had a crack at getting the new Race Tech centre mirror on. A fairly simple job of drilling a hole for the mount, fitting the lower part from the bottom and then the main part from the top. The mirror is a lot smaller and higher up which really helps with the view of the passenger side wheel and there's a night and day difference with the actual rear view. With the old unit, above 50mph the old one would fall back and give a nice view of the handbrake whereas the new one is vibration free and fixed in position.

The Start of New Mods That Might be Ready Before the Olympics

2009-08-23T22:01:00.006+01:00

Were now starting to use the car for longer journeys where some boot space would be really handy. We got an MNR boot box thrown in with the deal when the kit was picked up in December 2007 but whilst fitting the body work we test fitted it and realised it was never going to fit. Firstly it’s too deep, it doesn’t clear the fuel filler hose and the sender wiring, its also not long enough to attach it to the chassis by the seat belt brackets. We could have binned it but then we wouldn’t know where to start so instead we are attempting to chop the one we have and use fibre glass to remould it to the correct shape.

We started cutting out sections that were causing it not to fit. Once we were finished it barely resembled a boot box. We then used the off cuts to fill all the holes made and taped into postion ready to fibre glass over. Its horrible stuff so I wore gloves to do the messy work and dad was armed with a paint brush and lollipop stick to mould it into position. Resin is mixed with a hardener to make a quick setting glue. This mixture is applied to sheets of glass fibre matting until soaked and then it can be wrapped around the subject. It didn’t go 100% as planned with a few air bubbles but after it set it was incredibly sturdy.

It was a really long job so were leaving it till another day to finish off.

Next up is the weak flexing MNR paddles which can make it hard to get into gear. The current one is 3 pieces bolted together to be adjustable. As we knew our steering wheel size we decided we wanted a once piece. We used the existing one as a template and traced around it onto paper then hardboard. When we were happy with a design we dropped it off with Dad’s cousin to be made in thick steel.

First Video!!!

2009-08-18T22:02:00.002+01:00

Hi, Just a quick one to let everyone know its still going well and just to prove it heeres a short video of myself giving it some stick on the country roads.

First Drive

2009-07-11T13:37:00.004+01:00

With the DVLA inspection a walk over all I had to do was in my lunch break head down to the Wimbledon office and pick up our V948 and tax disc. I immediately ordered our plates from fancyplates.com which compared to the rest of the service for kit car parts was outstanding. Ordered one evening with a nice little slogan at the bottom and they were with us the next day and for £9 cheaper than Halfords without having to leave home.

Mum had called me earlier that day to say the plates had been delivered and myself and Dad thought the weather would hold out for the first drive. I couldn’t work all afternoon I was far too distracted with the final thought of getting a proper drive. I was in first so cleaned the back end up whilst still wearing my suit and then attached the new rear plate. Once dad was in we rolled it out with a real smile on our faces. Nerves started to set in – what if I didn’t like it or what if I couldn’t even drive it! I squeezed myself into the snug GRP seats and checked the pedals which confirmed they were all still there and working. I twisted the ignition key to hear the pump buzz into life. I reached for the start button and for a moment I thought it needed a charge but a dab of throttle hurled it into life. Dad gave me a push from the drive to the road and buckled himself in. Glasses on and mirrors checked and were ready to go.

Nerves now washed from my head I was overcome with a rush of excitement, my hands twingling and feet itching to go. Clutch dunked and with a tug on the paddle it bangs into first. I feather the throttle and lift, an inch of movement and … stalled it – Doh! first of many I am sure. Second attempt and I am off although slowly rolling down the hill to my first junction. Waiting for an unusually large gap in traffic I booted it and WOW the exhaust barks then screams as the revs erupt round the clock tearing up the hill. The rattles present at idle disappear and the odd stone flicks up into the cabin as the sticky R888’s attack the tarmac. I make an effortless lunge for 2nd, then 3rd and then find we’ve caught up to the traffic not even sure where it had come from. As we approach a round about I need to stop and gently lean onto the pedal, nothing, a bit further then i find a little response from the cold Wilwood pads as they start to grasp hold of the discs and just make it to a hault. Road clear and indicator on I take the round about feeling like im in a go kart with the tiny OMP wheel involving a mini arm and shoulder workout. Building up speed and with the indicator still clicking away I leave it in 4th to relax as we take on the downward slope. Its then I notice the smoothness of the ride, its firm but so controlled and bumps I crash over every day in my Cupra R are dispatched with ease. After following the traffic into South Croydon I make a break away up to my girlfriends with another steep hill but its clear so I reach for the loud pedal again not even using half the revs before a shift, it feels rapid as the rush of wind blows around my face. We eventually get on the purley way and an embarrassing stall leaves the traffic on the inside lane passing by. God they look high up as even a small hatch lords it over us. Quickly I get it up and running again and bolt off the line with a healthy amount of revs just to make sure I don’t stall. With the speed camera turned round and the immature thought im a race car driver I stamp the accelerator pedal against the bulk head and weave through the traffic with my dad shouting, with the wind and engine noise I cant really hear but I dont think he's happy with my road behaviour but all I can think is I want to go faster and the MNR delivers. With an immense full throttle blast past me I start to let the car wind down focusing on the brakes, steering and controls. As I pass the local dump I find the steering and handling are in another league. I simply cannot fault it even at this relatively slow speed after a quick right, left. I didn’t even need to brakes as it is so planted and grippy. With my arse an inch or two from the tarmac and with other cars around I felt as if I was in a very thin and short car but that long bonnet and wide front track are deceiving and will take a while to get used to. Were almost home, taking things easy I dip the clutch and drop the revs and of course with not enough I stall it one last time but this time the roads are dead and I think we both laugh as there was no need to panic this time. Pulling up the brakes are warm and have greater bite and as we come to a stop the gearbox pings into neutral and the green glow of the clock shows how dark it has become. As we roll it back to its home in the garage the exhaust crackles and incredible heat rises from the bonnet then it hits me, that was awesome and slightly overwhelming, a year ago all it was, was a box of parts and a jungle jim now its close to a formula renault for the road.

One last quick update - new original Yamaha emblems are on, hopefully nice and subtle. You probably cant read the slogan below the plate but it reads "MNR VORTX RT - BUILT BY BASSETTS"

MNR Vortx No.80 is Complete!!!

2009-06-17T22:06:00.003+01:00

SVA Re Test

This is my dads report as I was stuck in the office!!!

An afternoon off work last Friday with the sun shining seemed just right for the drive over to Mitcham VOSA for the re-test. Would it pass though? We had cleared the emissions hurdles at P D Motors with help from Paul Dunk and after one cooked emissions probe. Otherwise we were feeling happy with what we had done to correct our other eight issues, so long as the inspector wasn’t going to be too picky.

The battery was on charge for a few hours earlier in the week to make sure it started first time so 45 minutes to get there was going to be easy. I was on my own though as Adam was at work. I started to get nervous when my finger was on the start button for the third time and it still wasn’t firing – straight into panic mode!

Bonnet off, Pipercross filter off and a squirt of throttle body cleaner into each of the ports which quickly sorted that one – heart rate back to normal!

This doesn’t sound good but is reasonable considering we had to lean the fuel / air mixture to a dangerously low level to get the emissions right. This map also made it drive like a bucking bronco up to 3000 revs when the richer map settings kick in as there not tested at higher revs.

The journey to Mitcham was event free, excluding going the wrong way, getting stuck in a traffic jam with Croydon’s fuzz behind me looking at the place where our number plate was eventually going to be with a frown on their faces Then almost at the finish line taking the wrong turn into a small car park instead of the VOSA entrance in which I had to push the car backwards to turn it round (I suppose we are going to get used to that with a bike engine!).

Having arrived at VOSA and been directed to Bay 2, I waited for the inspector with the engine running to keep the catalytic converter hot.

From an onlooker’s view the rest was a breeze. The inspector knew it was Friday afternoon and I tried to look as though I didn’t care (that wasn’t how I felt though).

One of the fail points from the last test was the steering with the tester saying it was not collapsible hence we fitted the MNR item which has passed several tests without a raised eyebrow. First thing I heard was ‘Where’s the collapsible feature on your steering wheel?’. Trying not to sound too defensive I said ‘we bought (borrowed actually!) this wheel from MNR and they assured us this was SVA and IVA compliant’. Then the testers confusion came to light. ‘You don’t mean the collapsible feature on the column do you?’ I said pointing to both the telescopic column and the joint in it with a greater than 10 degree angle of deflection. ‘Oh yes’ he said, 'that’ll do’, which is the same thing we mentioned in the first test so we didn’t even need MNR’s wheel anyway and the point should never have been raised as an issue. However, as the emissions test was yet to come, I just smiled and left it at that.

Now onto our biggest problem to date, the emissions. I think I held my breadth for the entire 7 minutes while the emissions were recorded, at the end of which a nonchalant ‘that’s fine’ seemed a bit of an anti-climax for the hours of head scratching, research, trial and error attempts with different parts and several Saturday mornings at PD motors on the emissions tester.

At the end of the retest I didn’t dare ask him ‘does that mean it’s passed?’ and after a pause checking over his inspection sheet he said ‘wait in reception and I’ll write your certificate out’.

It’s all a bit of a blur after that.

Registration

With the SVA out of the way this final hurdle is just a mere technicality as the car will be registered no matter what but it just depends what sort of plate we will be allocated;

Brand new ‘09’ plate if the parts bar one are all new. Unlikely for us as the R1 counts as the engine and gearbox as they are bolted together and are 2nd hand. The only way around this if a reverse box is fitted ie a brand new MNR or Quaiffe unit as it is a transmission unit

An age related plate is what we are aiming for, for us it would be a ‘G’ reg based on the donor vehicles age. MNR sold us a V5 for a Ford Sierra 1.6LX which hasn’t supplied any parts at all but they are sierra based I think a 2.0 with abs for rear brakes and shafts and a 2.3D for the differential. With an age related plate we could always fit a personalised plate at a later date.

Then theres the ‘Q’ plate for everything else which we could end up with if we failed the inspection but its the only one we don’t really want. It doesnt detract anything from the vehicle and even has its advantages like for mot testing but its slightly frowned upon in the motor industry as it still maintains the image of dodgey rebuilt vehicles and is shown by lower resale values. We also couldn’t hide the cars age with a personalised plate.

We’ve heard this is quite a daunting task with finding out what is needed when going through the DVLA phone network but this is not a problem for us as my work is situated almost next door to Wimbledon’s DVLA office. So it was easy to have a chat with the only lady who deals with these requests at this office and now all our paper work is in awaiting the inspection date. She did say though that it has to be towed in and cant be driven which is frankly stupid since we drove it twice to and from the SVA centre and 2 times to and from PD motors but now we cant pick up some plates – as I said stupid!

Feels about right for a brief photo summary

Post SVA Modifications Part 1

2009-06-13T16:00:00.001+01:00

Time to get on with all the bits we wanted to fit but due to time, sva requirements or money we have held them off till now

Steering Wheel

The OMP item is back on now the MNR unit has been sent back up north. We also fitted the centre emblem.

Rear Arch Splash Guards

The front arches are black and without anything else black on the body work they look slightly out of place.

MNR supplied us with some carbon effect ABS sheet like that used for the interior, pre cut, pre drilled and ready to fit. However due to our body tub with is slight convex curve. Some minor tweaking and there a nice shape. We drilled the current holes out to 3.2mm and transferred these to the arch whilst being held down with duck tape. Using some black rivets were both really happr with the results and it makes quite a difference to the look.

A terrible photo but you get the effect.

LED's

Another interior item ive chosen LED bulbs for the dash gauges using resistors to reduce the ampage for the LED's as they only need a milliamp of current to run. Heres how the dash used to look at night with the yellowy/tungsten sort of glow which is different from the bright blue and white LED light from the clocks and switches.

The new LED bulbs wired in. They look even better in reality and are a great upgrade for a few minutes work and cost next to nothing.

SVA Rectifications

2009-05-23T12:00:00.000+01:00

After our SVA fail in Mitcham we have a few problems to sort out. First job was to replace a wheel bolt that when checked as part of our SVA test was buggered along with one other. The thread nuts thread was mangled and were still unsure why but it was a quick and easy fix - cleaning the stud threads then fitting a new nut.

Indicators

The bumper bar was completely unsuccessful so we have now mounted the indicator on shorter stalks from the headlight bar where they are fully visible.

Locking Bias Bar

The bias bar needed locking which we didnt want to do before the test as we were unsure where the correct point to lock was having not tested the braking system. Turns out it was fine where it was so we drilled the accesible clevis straight through the bias bar on the left and fitted a roll pin. This sufficiently locks the bar so it cannot be twisted but I've heard some examiners may ask for both ends to be locked. As the right clevis is not easily drilled we fitted a washer and nyloc nut then drilled straight through the nut and fitted another roll pin.

Other Bits

The rear reflector is going to be pushed out to a 90 deg angle with the help of a aluminium spacer my dad made covered with U trim to stop it scratching the bodywok

In the picture above you can also see the painted metal seat brackets as required by the tester, these 8, 100mm x 100mm x 4mm plates will spread the weight evenly on all 8 seat bolts so that in the case of an accident the floor is strong enough not to collapse. They are on the floor underside on the rear seat bolts and on the inside floor on the front of the seats.

Emissions

My good mate Dan and his dad Paul at PD Motors are letting us use his MOT emissions tester to get hit the magic figures to pass at SVA. It started out by going quite well adjusting the fueling to reduce CO2 at idle. Hydrocarbons were off the scale though and at fast idle everything was a massive failure like in the test. Paul adjusted the TPS to reduce the voltage at 0% from 0.76 to 0.61. It helped a little but after this the exhaust was running so hot it melted the regulation tester. At this point we stopped although we had achieved better figures we had our doubts about our catalytic converter which was sourced off ebay. For the time being thats it and were no closer to passing if this issue isnt resolved. Back to stage one again - maybe the cat is useless so our first stage is trying it without the cat fitted to see the engines base emission.

Detling 2009

With a bit more time on our hands we made the short journey down to detling kit car show. We needed a few bits plus its always nice to have a look over manufacturer and owners cars. We aspired to build a car as good as some of those we saw at the same show last year. Looking over the cars were really glad we chose the MNR over the Tiger which we very almost bought if you remember reading over a year and half ago! There is quite a difference between the fit and finish of both cars and the quality of the parts supplied is much in favour of the MNR. Although our car is not perfect and a little rough around the edges we were both really pleased to think when we saw alot of the cars there ours was better which really makes you feel good when you've put so many hours into a project.

A few pics of my favourite owner cars

I really do like this chaps Caterham Seven as the colour combo is wicked and for quality its top notch but i cant help but think it looks a tad dated with some of the interior/exterior fittings and pound for pound doesnt have anything on our MNR.

A great looking Avon from the manufacturer Tiger whom we almost bought a Six kit from.

This stood out for me with its tidy look, dark grey body work which is quite unusual and sporting a rear diffuser which is pretty rare. I know MNR have been developing one which id like to get my hands on as it looks cool and should offer some high speed stability and down force.

The only MNR Vortx we saw today with a similar spec which was nice and good to have a little nosey around.

Emissions Part 2

2 months on from our first attempt at resolving this issue and we havent done much other than enjoying the free time we have had very little of from christmas to april. We've gone for a new set of NGK Iridium plugs to replace the Denso plugs ones which looked fine but had unknown mileage/age. Along with this we have some fresh castol fully synthetic oil to rule out overfilling and contaminents from poor running. We also sourced a new air sensor to mount to the air filter base plate. Reason for this is we were told by a BEC(bike engined car for the non techie readers) guru a suzuki one would be fine after we could not find an original. As for ebay special catalytic converter that we are still unsure of we thought we would test without it on to start,

We turned up bright and early at PD Motors and got the car into the MOT bay. Paul sounded pretty sceptical at first having found no useful information to get it through testing, as bike engined cars and there emissions are quite a specialised area as bike emissions have near no testing but cars when fitted in the car they do. Here are the figures we had to beat from the sva test; C02 around 3.0 - 4.0, hydrocarbons 250-300 and lambda 0.88.

After some fine tuning moving fueling from -20 to -24 the figures were all up from last time on natural idle but fast idle was really off. This left us thinking that either the changes we had made had positive impact or the cat was the original problem having got it off ebay. Paul was sceptical on whether the cat would be big enough to reduce the figures enough so i was starting to give up on getting it sorted today.

Dad decided to get the cat on just to see if it made any difference. We warmed the cat up with a nice rich standard map and as soon as the probe was in the figures were almost on 0 for everything other than lamda which held steady at 1.14 to decrease the lambda we richened the mixture from -25 to -23 and after the map was uploaded the lambda crept down until it hit 1.02. Result! although I had to look at the figures 2 or 3 times as frankly i couldnt believe the readings.

Dad was pretty chuffed and i was just gobsmacked so we thanked Paul for the use of the kit and packed up leaving everything as it was.

Steering Wheel and Pad

Only thing now is to fit the MNR loan steering wheel to bypass this collapsible boss issue. We received it the week before the test and its just what we have currently with a plastic pad not exactly a collapsible boss but every other MNR has passed its SVA and now some even there IVA tests without a problem so hopefully we wont have any trouble.

SVA Test Day - The Final Hurdle

2009-03-30T19:00:00.008+01:00

SVA!!!!

I cant believe today is the day we have both been working so hard for has finally come and all of a sudden it feels too soon. We've been so busy I've only just been hit with pre SVA nerves. I wont lie we want it to pass but if it fails it fails and we will make the necessary changes. I know Dad's worried about just getting there but i really think what we have built is a quality working car if not a little rough around the edges but thats just the aesthetics.

We both managed to get the day off so one of us can drive the MNR and one can drive a support car incase anything goes wrong and to carry all the bits and bobs we might need - basically the whole garage just incase a stupid fail can be rectified there and then.

Half the kit in the boot. The rest scattered over the back seats and front passenger footwell.

Mitcham is about 8 miles away from where we live going through roads that have some heavy traffic during rush hour. Were up at sun rise to get final bits prepared and be prepared to leave at 7am to hopefully miss the bulk of traffic seeing as the cars not been thoroughly test.

At 7am we were ready to leave with the Leons engine running and the MNR on the road. Dad strapped himself in and started the beast in the near zero temperatures. Started easily like it has since all cylinders have been working correctly. Dad went to lead, moved a few feet and stopped. I can hear his voice and "Oh shit!" comes into my thoughts. The clutch has gone as dad finds the pedal floppy unlike its normal feel. All systems go we got it back on the drive and in the air. Hoping it was the easier of the two faults we loosened the bolts that retain the clutch cover, release the clutch arm and rotate the lever till we have some feel. Bolt it together and check the clutch. It has feel half way down then doesnt move which means the clutch spring plate has inverted meaning full clutch cover, cable retaining ring and spring plate removal. Fiddly work with everything in the way but we complete both attempts in under an hour. To avoid the problem again we set our clutch pedal stop to the maximum. Not ideal but we couldnt risk it happening again.

Second attempt at getting on the move and were off but in busy morning traffic both fddling our thumbs and counting the minutes to hope we make it. Dad's clearly nervous as the indicators are staying on for a mile after the turn and im just praying every stop in traffic that the clutch quick fix holds out. We manage to get to a petrol station and fill it up with BP's finest but the restictor almost completly stops fuel getting in and only the lightest grip on the pump trigger gets fuel in. At the same time fuels dripping from the tank where the filler hose hasnt been tightened enough from the day before. For the time being we left it and kept on to the VOSA test centre. With 15 minutes to spare we make it and no longer care pass or fail as atleast we had made it as if we hadnt it would almost be a dead cert it would be rescheduled under IVA which for this car would be nigh on impossible or involve terrific expense.

After all the bad things i have heard about testers the chap that will decide the fate of the Vortx is very nice, laid back and chatty through out giving us the chance to make as many simple mods as possible. Unfortunately the very first test on emissions shows a fail at fast(2500-3000rpm) and standard idle and even 3 attempts later its no better. Being nothing we could change we started to feel a bit more relaxed taking in all the testers useful info ready for a retest.

Next up was the radius and safety tests. Our hugely wobbly bumper bar was an instant fail. A few odd nuts and bolts required covers which we luckily had. The tough foam surrounds for the clocks and seat mounts unfortunately failed due to unsuitable materials as thick rubber would be more weather resistant and absorbing in a crash. The OMP wheel with quick release boss failed as it needs to be collapsable - never knew about that! Pipe lagging on the dash bars wasnt needed as the alumium edge of the scuttle is filed down. The seats belts are fine to raise up to the seat but need to have thicker plates acting as support to spread the load on the floor - 100mm x 100mm x 4mm thick or the belts can be put around the seat for the easier fix.

The fog light failed on not being completely vertical which we tried to ammend with hose but it needs to be rotated at a massive degree to pass which we also left for the retest. The rest of the engine bay, lights, interior, underside, boot and suspension etc all passed fine. The fuel neck restictor was tested and passed - good thing we ordered one on friday.

Next is the speed test where the driver is asked to take the car up to 20, 20, 40, 50, 60, 70 mph to test indicated and actual speed. The calculation for the speedo healer worked great to accomodate the wheels and 3.38 diff. Up on the ramps we were asked to remove a wheel nut from the front and rear wheel - fine no problem although ive never heard of this being tested

Onto the brake test we had left the bias bar not locked, ready to adjust at the correct level. It went on the rollers and looked like only the front wheels locked and nothing else performed great. I was thinking this could be really bad so ask the tester hows its going and it needs to be weighted at the weigh in bridge to work out braking force needed. We made it round to the weigh in bridge which is an easy on off test then parked round the side for the tester to make his calculations on braking force needed - Sounded grim. 15 mins later and he strolled over say its fine. we could have locked the bias bar on the spot but thought theres no point and asked him how he wanted it done for the retest - he will only accept drilled clevis yokes with roll pins or welded nuts no split pins or nylocs like we had planned.

Mirrors were next and the tall 6ft plus chap climbed in to check the rear vision which was fine with CBS "sva ok" mirrors. Final item was the self centering. On test drives ive been banging on at Dad to test this works and he always comes back not sure having never let the wheel out of his hands. Prior to the test we pumped the wheels to 40psi and left the stock MNR geometry settings. The tester asked us to put the wheel at full lock and drive with hands off the wheel. It quickly self centred after only a few feet - Job Done!

We receive our SVA fail after 20mins of waiting and get back happy we made it with a couple of items to recifty.

Build Day 30 - Pre SVA

2009-03-29T18:48:00.011+01:00

Hi, Im going to sum up 2 weeks now as its been rather a rather hectic period getting everything ready for our March 30th SVA date. After an almost guaranteed MNR SVA loan kit comprising of bumper bar with indicators, catalytic converter and mirrors with indicators we were sadly let down by MNR to source our own. With 2 weeks to SVA this was a suprise and a problem. First up the cat - no one seems to sell these in the size of the decat pipe we already had in place so we ordered one with the same bore as the silencer and collector. This meant we had to weld an insert to the cat to make it fit. Dad luckly had a day off to sort this out and it came up really nice - minimal splatter making it a tidy fit. Being a few cm's longer we had to extend the exhaust bracket. To keep the SVA man happy on the radius side of things we have covered the lot in heat mat with wire or steel ties. The instructions recommend running the cat for 10mins at a fast idle. It popped and banged which was a bit uneasing but then started smoking- EEP!. This was put down to being covered in heat mat as it was all round the exhaust but after 10mins everything settled down.

New mirrors arrived from CBS whom although a little dear offer the excellent service we have come to expect from them. Centre mirror isnt too pretty but does the job.

The bumper bar is the one item we really wished MNR could have got us. The cats expensive but is pretty simple. The bumper bar is cheaper to make but does a lot more, basically it means the entire front suspension is exluded from radius testing which is great as there are so many sharp edges and it also gives a mount for the indicators at the right height width that is suitable. Dads made something up which is a bit temporary but does the job - SVA only i assure you! Along with this we covered the bolts heads and nuts with nut caps where possible incase the bumper bar doesnt exclude them. Also thick heat shrink used to cover the track rod end adjuster nuts supported with cable ties as i've heard inspectors like to see them.

In the first sunny weekend a few friends and neighbours popped round to see what we've been doing all this time. All was going well untill the engine started to spluttler and eventually die. Trying to start again we noticed the fuel filter was filling with air so assumed we just needed some more fuel - simple! Turns out that didnt sort it and we could no longer hear the whizz of the fuel pump prime when the keys were turned. Instantly put this down to the pump and ordered a new one but were suspicious it couldnt handle no fuel for a couple of seconds although ive never run out of fuel in a regular car im sure it doesnt need a new fuel pump every time. A new Bosch 070 pump fitted again by Dad cured the problem which was reassuring with the SVA getting ever closer and i can assure you we will never go lower that a 1/4 of a tank.

MNR finally sent us some new switches which is great if not a little late but turns out there not the ones we sent back? Why im not sure. new ones arent green indicators but just blue blank switches. Oh well they will do for now. So finally we could assemble the scuttle and all the switches for final fitment. Of course this wasnt as simple as it sounds and numerous problems arose but i cant remember what they were but basically wasted another day with things not working/going in right and running issues again!

A picture showing the sidelights working now the scuttle is wired and bolted in.

Now its the friday before the sva and i saw a concerning topic on Locostbuilders regarding the need for a fuel neck restrictor(a little flap that makes only unleaded fuel pumps from a petrol station fit). Having never heard about this from MNR i was a bit shocked it had never been mentioned. I thought there would be nothing we could do but luckily CBS came up trumps again and having ordered it at 4pm in the afternoon it arrived saturday - phew! It apparenlty only fits/guaranteed to fit the CBS own filler caps but after removing our current one it fits perfectly from the back of the cap which is just the good news we needed although easily took an hour.

There are loads of other bits(last weeks list started at 50-60 jobs some major some minor) we've sorted over the last two weeks which would take an age to cover but i wont bore the readers that are still reading anymore. Finally the finished car the day before we drive to the test centre for our SVA.

Build Day 29

2009-03-14T18:27:00.005Z

Minor and Major Problems

Having run the engine one evening we have a suspicion somethings not right. The engine doest idle great and is difficult to start which having not owned a bike I assumed might just be normal. But today having the car outside i can see the headers are different colours, 1 is silver like they left the factory and the other 3 have a distinctive golden tint which i think is down to running on 3 cylinders even though its sounds and runs quite well. To diagnose the problem i can the car in diagnostics mode 32 to check the plug but as i thought it was fine and there is no smell of fuel in the chamber which leads to the injector testing i run all 4 and there is no click from 37(cylinder second from the front). Injector problem it is then! Being annoyed with another running problem i whipped the throttle body off and dismantled it down to the fuel rail in double time. I removed the offending inector and abused it with throttle body cleaner before leaving it in a injector cleaner bath. Being impatient i only left it 2-3 hours then refitted it all. Running diagnostics again all injectors click and with the engine running it starts easier, runs smoother and has a lower idle.

Interior

As the seats and belts have been test fitted the interior can be put in. Were using sika flex to hold it in place with the tunnel being held in by 6 bolts attaching to rivnuts. A handbrake gaitor has been made by my mum as she was feeling left out not working on the car - unlikely as she rather prefers the warm indoors! it took a while but the finished item is very nice and we hope the inspector will accept velcro to attach it.

Steering wheel cover

To get through SVA there cant be any sharp objects incase some one cuts there little finger or something stupid like that. Because of this were making a cover for the centrally mounted clocks and steering wheel. Were using dense foam that we shaped with a dremel and attached with cable ties.

Boot Cover

Dads been making one out of mdf thats become unsuitable for the job after finding out during the SVA the inspector may ask for it to be removed which would not be possible with the one he's made. We had planned to make something nice and neat after sva but with not much to do it made it worth doing now. It took a morning although much less time than was wasted on the first attempt and it looks really neat if not super fiddly to fit getting around all the roll bars. The hole in the middle allows us to fit a door that we can lock and also use to bolt and unbolt the cover if needed for inspection. With some hinges from b and q and 2 locks from screwfix it can be put together and offer some security.

Thats it! theres really not much else we can do as the final assembly is out of our hands with our savage indicator switches still with MNR to be replaced for a 3rd time after 2 sets were sent out wrong both being momentary rather than latching so the indicators dont stay on. We also need the MNR loan SVA kit which was ok 3 weeks ago but now isnt - leaving us both annoyed as we've come so far recently and had the hope a first time pass was possible but what can you do.

Build Day 28

2009-03-08T17:48:00.004Z

Brake Bleed
Last week we started on bleeding the brakes - a nice simple process of getting air out the system by opening the nipple on a caliper whilst the pedals pressed. Or so it should be. Whilst pumping the brakes i realised the bias bar (bar offering leverage to the seperate brake lines) was locking as it had too much room to move around the pedal meaning at a certain point the pedal would go no further and the brakes wouldnt not work - plain dangerous really! Only option was to start again - unscrew brake hoses, undo mounting bolts for cylinder, unscrew cylinder from bias bar and then unscrew bias bar clevis from bias bar to remove. Using some large washers we refitted the bias bar and tightend the two clevis's closer to the pedal to remove the chance the bar could lock. Then we refitted the rest and could bleed the system knowing the pedal could move fully without locking.

A new problem arose when we went to bleed the wilwood calipers as being american use a 1/4 inch bleed nipple. Luckily one of the chaps up the road, keen on his cars had a couple to spare. We managed to get good pressure on the pedal but had sprung a drip at the front t piece so we tried some ptfe tape to make a tighter seal.
Brakes all done we rolled the car down the drive and it happily stopped once the pedals pressed and even the handrake worked as it requires some hydraulic pressure

Thermostat Outlet
After fitting the bonnet the other week we realised a pipe going to the thermostat was not going to fit as it faces straight at the bonnet with no chance to turn and get out the way. There were a few solutions but basically involved a lot more reworking(cutting, welding, new hoses, more money and importantly more time). Jim helped out again as he thought a R1 top thermostat housing off a 5jj model would fit and he had one lying around. We snapped that up and it fitted perfectly although it does change the top hose location and the nose needs a little trim to accomodate this but is a far better compromise.

Interior Trim
Were actually running out of jobs to do at the moment so we thought we would chuck the already trimmed side and back panels in now the brakes and handrake were ok and hopefully would require any more attention. For SVA and for a quick fit were using velcro and tiger seal as post sva we need to make adjustments before fixing for good.

Seats
I cant remember if this has been mentioned before but we fitted the seats with the supplied spacers and trimmed where they would touch the tunnel and side panel. Attaced U trim to them and before they were fitted finally we made the holes for the seat belts and fitted them along with the seats. It is a bit tricky fitting the seat bolts when its on the floor so we opened the holes and used 2inch wide washers to spread the load.

SVA Covers
To get through SVA there cant be any sharp objects incase some one cuts there finger or something stupid like that. Because of this were making a cover for the centrally mounted clocks and steering wheel. Were using dense foam that we shaped with a dremel and attached with cable ties to the steering wheel and double sided tape to the dash.

Build Day 27 - Starting to look like a car!

2009-03-01T19:55:00.000Z

Final Fit - part 2

Back on with the final assembly were left with the nose cone. This never fitted well when we left it a few months back and well its the same now. We started with some trimming to clear the recently added water hoses and then shaped the lower chassis rail to get it within the nose cone. We trimmed the nose cone to accept the headlight bar and wiring. Like everything it went on and off 10-20 times untill it was as close as we could get it. It butts up to the side of the bonnet but for some reason there is a wider gap at the top of the nose cone. To secure it in place were using the 4 existing bolt holes at the top of the chassis and nothing else as its very tight.

Before fitting it all back together we refitted the headlight bar and headlights.

To finish off the nose cone were adding a black mesh grill. I shaped the grill with some excess to fit inside of the nose cone. I held it in place with a brick and then mixed up some P40(fibreglass paste) at sploshed it around the inside of the nose cone where it wouldnt be seen. Its very messy stuff and unforunately theres a bit of spillage that made its way onto the grill at the bottom.

Next up the bonnet and the catches. The catches are a two piece item a metal piece that rivets to the bonnet and the latch assembly and handle on the tub. We thought at first about using bolts and nuts but its far to fiddly for this. Rivets need to be used although the sound when they pop is worrying as if the whole tub has shattered. We are happy with the fit but with a bit more time we would push the scuttle forward and the nose cone back just to take up the 2mm gap.

Its really taking shape and its amazing that 1 days work can really make it look instantly more recognisable as a car.

Along with this ive wired the temp sensor, wired the switches to light up when on(hazard and fog) as required for sva as we dont want to drill 2 more holes and buy 2 more warning lights, wired and made a hole for the low brake fluid warning light, wired in the meter lights, fitted grip tape to the pedals. Dad tested the seats and they go in but the sides of the seat need some work to allow the tunnel and side panels to fit.

Build Day 26

2009-02-25T19:25:00.000Z

Front Wings

The front wings are complete wrap around pieces where the bracket starts at the stub axle which attaches to a sleve at either end and then to two "L" brackets which hold the arch on. This makes it all very fiddly and quite hard to get alligned rigtht and is probably why it took the etire day to sort out. First we started by removing the overlap weld from the rear of the upright. Dad had fitted all the brackets and arms together which required quite a bit of filling. The sleeves are bolted to the central bracket and "L" brackets. Holding the arch in place we marked where the arch needs to be trimmed for the bracket and where we wanted to cut the front at an angle to look similar to the rear. We then bolted the wing bracket to the arch with dome head bolts and rivnuts in the bracket.

Heres how it all looks

Bodywork - Final Fit

As we are nearing completion its time to get everything back together. Once all the wires are fed through the scuttle it is being attached with two locating bolts towards the front of the car and 4 bolts(existing tub bolts) reachable from inside the car.

The bonnet has been left a while again and whilst standing up its spread out again and not a great fit. Like the scuttle were using the existing tub bolts to give something for the bonnet to locate into. There are 3 bolts either side of the bonnet and we have drilled the bonnet to fix into the bolt heads. Once this was done we left it so that hopefully after a few nights it might fit around the scuttle shape a bit better so we can add the bonnet catches next saturday.

On the other hand the nose cone isnt looking too bad in the pictures but were going to try and reduce the gap further where it meets the tub if possible.

Build Day 25 - Its even colder but theres light at the end of the tunnel!

2009-02-15T20:10:00.003Z

Last week was cold but its nothing on the weather this week with 12 inches of snow! We have both been really busy with work, I've had interviews and of course the days of for the obligatory snow days!

Not much has been done. Now its saturday and we still cant open the garage door because of the snow so were going to try and work indoors. The main projects for today are more wiring and holes for gauges, R1 clock and switches in the scuttle.

Exhaust Tip

First off though we needed to finish the exhaust silencer. The tip has a much smaller diameter hole than that of the silencer. Dad used some thin aluminium to create a spacer and then tightened it up with the Mikalor exhaust band clamp. That finalised, we started the engine and wow the difference is night and day. It really has turned the roar into a mellow throb which were hoping will be enough for the stringent SVA noise regulations but we might want something fruitier to compete with the pink V8 cobra replica a few houses down once its registerd.

Wiring

I dont know how many times i have written about wiring but its too much so imagine actually carrying out the work. I had quite a few wires to extend then - illumination, earths, ignition and sensor wires. I have connected all the earths and lives into two parallel circuits based on a layout I remember from primary school electronic work.

It seems to work pretty well - the leds are activated once the side light button is pressed.

I completed all the wiring from the main harness to the savage switches with some guidance from Dave(DPD.net) on the difficuly hazard and indicator sub loom as the savage switches are a 2 pole switche which make it far more difficult than the stalk on the sierra was. Heres a simplified diagram of what I have carried out - hopefully it will help some others in the same situation although i havent been able to test it yet.

Now ive made all the important changes I thought it was about time to give something a try. Easiest to test are the side lights and fog lights. Plus the fog light only comes on after the sidelights are on its also an important test to ensure the wiring is correct. I reconnected the fog and side light and insulated all the open connectors I could see. I flicked the key and pressed the side light switch and a fuse popped so we had an open circuit withing the side light wiring. We eventually came to the realisation the number plate light wires were earthing so with a new fuse and the wires insulated we tried again AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! Ok it sounds simple turning on a switch but this is all part of work we started back in March so we were really chuffed it worked.

Now onto everything else so we have put the rear arches back on and both headlights in to test the horn, hazards, indicators, headlights, and main beam. The horn is ridiculously loud and I will be getting one for my Leon to replace its dodgey tooter soon as this project is done. Headlights and main beam are fine but dont seem really bright which I guess is just because its in day light. The main beam also activates the warning light on the R1 clocks as I spliced it into the loom saving the need for an additional warning light(black yellow). Indicators work on both sides and illuminate the R1 Clock warning lights(brown and dark green wires). Hazard as I imagined is the difficult one. Both lights flashed but something blew and then we only had one side flashing and before we knew it nothing was flashing and the relay didnt click so i checked the continuity over the diodes and they have definitly had it so il replace them in the week from maplins QL80 to QL81C.

Scuttle Trimming

With the components near finished (i say near as it never feels finished) Dad started making holes all over the scuttle to ressemble swiss cheese. Were going for 7 savage switches below the clocks in the centre with 2 on the tunnel for security and a nice symetrical layout if all goes to plan. Im glad he is doing this job as I would hate to cut the hole for the clock as you cant use a hole saw and there is no room for error as too big and it just wont fit and we need a new dash.

With something fitted to it

Number Plate Light

Only last week we realised we didnt have one as we were sure it was hidden in a box in the attik but sadly it was only a Racetech mirror. MNR got one to us pretty quickly and its just a case of drilling 3 holts and securing with nuts. Connecting it up wasnt too bad its got a weird way of connecting the wires. I used bullet connectors pusged into the sockets and clamped up tight with pliers.

Boot Cover

As a quick temporary measure Bassett Senior is making a boot cover out of MDF that we plan to stick in place and spray black. As its cold the kitchen became his workshop

Its proving a bit more trouble that we thought but should be completed sometime in the week.

Build Day 24 - Its Bloody Cold!!!!

2009-02-01T14:11:00.007Z

My god is it cold out today. With the garage space tight as the cars track is rather wide and needing to work round the car its got to be moved out onto the drive. For most Sunday morning its been cold with a freezing breeze but about mid day it starts snowing - its better than rain atleast.

Exhaust Silencer

As mentioned in a previous post we have an MNR exhaust bracket which were not 100% happy with and wanted to fabricate something the right sixe but with time pushing on we have kept it and made it taller and deeper to accept our silencer with the bobbin at the side. We also bought some proper mikalor style exhaust clamps that will go through the SVA. Dad spent the morning fettling it to fit and its bolt to the chassis rail with two bolts and two bolts to the floor. With everything put together it is fully supporting itselt.

Brake Caliper and Hoses

Fitting the pads to the Wilwood calipers is a real breeze with the push in retaining clamps. Its really nice find bits like this designed to be strong, functional and quick to fit. I then mounted the caliper to the mounting bracket with some loctite and then bolted the unit to the uprights with more loctite and spring washers. With the wheels off we attached the safety washers to the top wishbones on the nut side as apparently these are needed to stop the rod end being pulled over the nut. These aren't needed on the bottom as our wishbones are flipped over so the bearing cannot be pulled through so I have finished it off with just washer on the nut side before the spacer. Next up is the braided Goodridge hoses - As MNR had only just started supplying these when we ordered them the hose thread is m10x1 whereas the Wilwoods are 1/8 NPT so we got some rather unsightly adapters until we can get new hoses. They dont tighten up 100% so were going to use a little PTFE tape. Were not sure its actually suitable for use with brake fluid but we used it only on the last threads hoping it wont be an issue. The hoses went together really easy on the caliper side but on the tight and hard to get to chassis side its, er - tight! Eventually though I got them tightened up. I wont know if there tight enough untill we have actually bled the system but we will soon find out.

Rear hoses were easier with no adapters needed as we have stock Sierra calipers and with the wheel off we just attached one end of the hose to the caliper and the other to the copper union with a lot more space to use a spanner compared to the front. However they are very close to the wheel so may need tieing down to avoid chaffing.

Build Day 23

2009-01-25T20:54:00.001Z

After last weekends amazing progress its straight back to where we left off. Now we know the engine runs we want to check the power commander works(box of tricks that allow you to alter the engines performance with a laptop). Installation is pretty easy - disconnect the injector wiring and plug in the PC wires and attach the earth strap. I wired in the coolant temperature and oil pressure guages to check the engines status when running. For some reason our PC isnt working right and isnt allowing the engine to start. When disconnected, we are getting a healthy 5-6 bar oil pressure and water temp.

Rear Lights

While i have been busy with wiring Bassett Seniors been mucking around with the rear arches and lights and gone from nothing covering the rear wheels to this

I gave him an unhelpful hand by doing the wiring connectors and ending up getting the wires in the wrong way round and leaning with my hand on the solder iron - not pleasant. Once i sorted the wiring and connectors back out he could get the lights in. One thing remains though, the number plate either wasnt with our kit or we have misplaced it even though we have checked everywhere!

Suspension Setup

This is going to be a very rough set up as we dont have the correct equipment or time to do it 100% accurately. Were using wood and fishing line to surround the car in a box that lines up with the hub nuts. To start we set the ride height to meet SVA requirements for the minimium rear light height setting. For the front we went 25mm lower than the rear to MNR spec's. We then measured the difference of the front and back of each wheel to the fishing line. We then adjusted the front tracking rods and rear wishbone track rod ends to suit the guidlines Marc at MNR recommended of slight toe out.

Camber is tricky, both being negative we set the top wishbone track rod ends to the same amount and checked with a spirit level and left it at that. As for the damping were leaving all at 5 as it seems common with other MNR builders and we are unlikely to have time to test till before SVA.

Build Day 22 - Its Alive After Attempt One, Two ...

2009-01-18T18:31:00.000Z

Starting the engine was our next big step after having the car on the wheels. If you just want to see the video go straight to the bottom. If you want to hear me waffle on how it went, read below.

The engine needed a bit of prepping before we could start it so this is the process we followed.

Fill the battery with its acid and charge
Fill the diff with oil - long process with the small breather tube
Fill the engine with oil - 3/4 full in oil window
Reattach the radiator, top and bottom hose, coolant tank and fill with water
Filled the tank with fuel
Connect all the wiring and battery
We've never been sure what gear we had been in and always found it difficult to change so left it so we jacked the rear up and left it in neutral.

So were ready to start with a fire extinguisher at hand, dad in the cock pit ready with the clutch and accelerator pedals and me ready to connect all the wires getting electricuted or bringing the beast to life. I turned the cut off switch and nothing - good, then I turned the key and we had dash lights - real good!. One thing left - I hold I manually connect the start wire to the negative battery terminal and the starter jumps to life but so does the prop and driveshafts and the wheels start spinning - oh dear! Certainly not in neutral. We try going for some other gears and nothing then we hear a pop from the clutch and are left with plenty of slack in the pedal.

We played with the clutch cable trying to adjust it but nothing happened. Our next thought is the clutch, so we removed the cover and are baffled with what were looking at as ive changed car clutches but this is different its a wet clutch with several clutch frition plates. After some help from members on locostbuilders we determine we have dislocated the clutch stem from the lever. Lots of fiddling and several attempts later we have the clutch re attached with minimal slack so we connected the cables and finally its working as it should again.

Second attempt
Before we start it we now want to ensure were in neutral so we get the car back on the floor and rock it forward and back to help us change gear as the engines been sitting for over a year so we assume the parts aren't oiled and are just very stiff. After some head scratching we find neutral and its where I thought 5th was going to be so we mounted the paddles up upside down - Doh! so we go to start again. Lights come on, pump primes and the starter operates and this time the prop doesnt turn so were happy were in neutral so we put the plugs back in but the engine still doesnt fire.

Now it must be down to the wiring. First problem is we have a fault code - number 30 displayed by our clocks mean the bikes been overturned so the tilt sensors at fault. We had sealed the sensor at an angle to keep the wiring as yamaha intended to reduce chances of bad connections but turns out our solution hadnt worked so we replaced it with a 1/4w 510ohm resitor. With this in place we checked the clock and the fault code had disapeared - great so we try again but still no spark or smell of fuel from the cylinder which points to the ecu not sending the signals to either the injectors or the spark plugs

Now its getting technical so we checked the continuity of wires. Theres a lot so this took a while. There were a few randoms not being connected to something they should be which is worrying as the loom looks original with all the original coverings with printed Yamaha serial numbers. Im at the point of giving up as its getting more technical than i know and i had spent evenings and some of the weekends on it already. Jim kindly came to the rescue and recognised the room instantly from one of his own past builds. He quite quickly came to the realisation we should have a cycle lock connection(Immobolisher wiring for european R1's). Searching around he found nothing and also though the loom looked original but decided best thing to do was to rip it all up and trace wires to their components to see where the trouble was. Having spent a while tidying the loom up and routing it neatly we were a bit resilient in the idea but it had to be done.

Sheath off and we can instantly see the problem its been butchered with important wires being earthed, not connected or not even present. Jim started us up with the starter relay circuit checking and tracing each individual wire for continuity and what it went to. Loads of repair work and soldering left us with the starter relay done and Jim left us the rest to finish today - sunday.

Being a bit hungover I almost wrote the morning off but instead I hit the wiring again. Going over the whole loom; ECU, sensors, relays, fuse box and clocks i tidied the whole loom up. Feeling a bit closer I thought what the hell, lets try and start it. We got in to the whole procedure that we tried for the first time so Dad flicked the switch for the starter and amazingly we had sparks. Got the plugs back in and it was turning but with only one injector pulsing. I didnt fancy removing the injector rail so removing the fuel line fed some injector cleaner straight in and sprayed throttle body cleaner into the inlet by the injector. Again we went to start and POP, POP, POP then a BANG and another untill the roar of the engine fire could be heard all around us. The rest of the family ran out to the drive and couldnt believe it, neither could we so we turned it off and gave our selfs a pat on the back.

Heres the video of the second start as we didnt expect it to go the first time.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4jMFXMvojOE

Build Day 21

2009-01-11T19:05:00.009Z

Being on its wheels the car is now moveable so we thought we would tackle a few tasks in the brisk outdoors even though its in the minus figures but its just so much easier to move around. First thing you might/might not notice is following some advice from a fellow MNR builder and Marc from MNR we have flipped over our wishbones so the circlip is on the bottom which leaves the pushrod long but is safer, and the pushrod we can sort out after SVA.

Previously we had just had the wheels on when we have had the car on the floor so were starting the day with the rear brakes as the fronts are very easy. First thing was to tighten the hub nut as this brings the hub to the point where the disc will sit so the caliper can be slid over. This needs a 41mm socket and a lot of force to tigthen to 250-290ish lb/ft. This went on simply by cleaning the disc and putting it over the studs. The pads push into the calipers and can be fitted. Ours required a bit of the powder coating from one on the sliding bracket to be removed and the piston to be wound back which is a bit tough as it needs clockwise rotation and to be pushed in at the same time. Once in the calipers and pads go over the disc and with a washer between the caliper and caliper carrier we bolted them in place with serrated washers.

Here are some snaps and one with the wheel on which looks pretty good.

Handbrake Cable

The handbrake cable has been finalised using two sierra handbrake cables(sierra 80-90with discs, First Line FKB 1151 for reference). Why have we used two? well one side is longer than the other and only one side has adjusters. The MNR setup is not exactly made for the way we have mounted our calipers - calipers at the rear of the upright. Firstly it needs to be long which only one side was and secondly theres no way to hold the cable in place so were using the adjusters(plastic but we hope they will hold) to secure the cable throught the chassis hole. The cables then go through the MNR supplied quadrant and secured with small U clips.

Rear Arches

Finally we had a go at the rear arches. One side has a higher gradient slope which is the front so we got them the right way round and covered facing areas with masking tape. We started with a very high ride height about 18-20cm's but to get the arch fitted as close as possible we lowered it to 14cm's. Marked the arch position then worked out where it could be attached as there are a few chassis rails behind the tub which wouldnt let us use our short M5 desired bolts. Then we transferred these notes to the arches and drilled holes where we could about every 3 inches apart.

This could then be transferred to the tub, we drilled three, put the bolts in then marked the rest and drilled them. We arent fixing the arches just yet but il get a picture up soon. This is because we often take the wheels off to make getting round the garage easier as the car just about fits let alone with us two trying to work on it.

Build Day 20 - Its on the floor!

2009-01-10T19:18:00.004Z

We came to a point today where we realised we had nothing to do other than lower the car to the floor which felt great but also a bit daunting.

If youve been reading this is how the car has been for a while, launched in the air on 3-4ft tall tressles. We needed to get it down to our 4 1ft tall axle stands. To get stands on the front we had to trim the inner tub taking a substantial amount off. After some careful planning we hoped to raise the rear, remove the rear tressle then go for the front in the same manner. I had my doubts that being held at different angles the hole thing would slip over in a top gear style catastrophe. With the help of James, Pete and my mum we lifted it up into the air with beams of wood supporting the rear floor only and not the GRP bodywork. My mum swiftly pulled the tressle away and moved the axle stands into our chalk marked positions whilst us 4 lifting slowly felt the pinging of muscles in our backs. It all went smoothly and fell into the axle stands. Now its really at a steep angle - the front high on a tressle and low at the rear so James and Pete quickly lifted the front from the cross bar and me and dad rammed the stands into the planned position straight after my mum pulled the tressel away.

A timeline of todays pictures - up on tressles to finally holding itself up on wheels

Build Day 19

2009-01-04T16:14:00.007Z

Front Suspension

With the back end almost complete and only needing a 41mm socket to tighten the hub buts up we moved on to the front end. The body is tight now and we have had to trim some more off our original holes to get everything to fit in again so it has enough up and down clearance for when its on the road. It was a right pain to get everything back in but eventually it all came together.

Front Passenger Wishbones

Pushrod bar in place

Everything connected up again minus disc, caliper and hub so we can get around the garage as its all getting a bit tight.

Steering

We started this job by making the holes bigger for the steering arms as they are tiny. We dont know exactly where the rack will sit but other than undoing the tub we aren't going to get it into position. We've seen from pictures of finished cars that there racks lay almost horizontal so we mocked up a pipe to show us where the rack would lay then chain drilled out existing holes larger. Removing the rad and fan enabled us to feed the rack through the passengers side and then back through to the drivers when at full lock to the passenger wheel.

We then fitted the retaining brackets with some extra spacers to hold the rack tight and secured with M8 12.9 hex cap bolts.

The lower coloum can be fitted and we then checked that it worked and turned the rack from lock to lock with ease. Although we had resprayed it there is some that needs a lick of paint to keep it looking new like the rest.

To hold the lower coloumn in place we need to mount the steering column bushing. The bulk head panel really got in the way and has deformed the bush but the plastic bearing piece just about squeezed in with some grease. Then we could attach the upper column to the lower and it was now time to trim the scuttle to make it fit. Like the tub earlier in the build the scuttle came on and off many times and we made loads of measurements to get it right first time as it would affect the interior finish if done in the wrong position.
Heres how it finished up

Air Temp Sensor

The R1 apparently requires the airbox mounted air sensor. Were not sure why our engine didnt come with one but Malc from Yorkshire Engines sorted usa Suzuki unit out. Being a Yamaha and not a Suzuki id doesnt fit our original connection but is close. We thought about attaching it with bullet connectors but the Suzuki end is a bit mangled so I butchered it with a dremmel to fit the Yamaha end.

The green section was twice as long as it is now

Here it is fitting very snug and we really hope it works

Exhaust Headers

My dads mini bain of a project - the headers and collectors. He has spent hours of hard work on them which really deserves a pat on the back. If i havent mentioned it before none of the pipes went in more than a cm so he started sanding them one by one. One of the pipes went in half way and got stuck even after the sanding. It wouldnt budge for anything but a mate helped us out with an oxy accetaline welder massively heating it up then forcing it out from the collector end. It has left it a bit mangled but we can rotate this to the bottom. After lots more sanding were at today where he has had all his doubts put to rest when we finally bolted them into position with the gaskets Malc sent us. The headers were bolted to the collector first so we could pass it through as one unit into the engine bay. Its a very tight and a cramped area now so we bolted them in moving from chamber 4-1-2-3 as 4 at the very back is the most difficult to reach as the nut grinds on the header itself unless in at the right angle and even then my dad had cut a few threads of the stud off. We werent quite sure how tight to do this so with a 13mm spanner we did it as tight as possible leaving all 8 studs with the same amount of threads showing bar the one he had cut.

Build Day 18 - It Has Eyes!!!!

2008-12-28T16:26:00.008Z

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.

Build Day 17

2008-12-14T17:48:00.006Z

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.

Build Day 16

2008-12-07T17:29:00.003Z

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.

Build Day 14 and 15

2008-11-13T16:23:00.016Z

Two Build Days and a Few Evenings

Not much to say really just lots of really small jobs where we are tidying things up that will be easier now with the body off before we bolt it down for good. We have had the body fitting better now after we filed a lot more off the floor with a angle grinder, removed problem rivets along the chassis rail and with some sanding on the bottom of the tub but we still need to take more off which is really getting frustrating now. We've used some hard wood to fill the gaps at the front for the raised wishbone brackets and attached them with some tiger seal - very sticky stuff but we still managed to clumsily knock them off twice.

Coolant Hoses

After thinking about getting the engine running soon we thought we better finish the plumbing. Ordered some bits through Merlin Motorsport, who we would highly recommend as we had the parts the next day with spec sheets at a good price.

Frony hoses p clipped

Front T piece

We have had to re-route the bottom waterpump hose to avoid the propshaft and attached it to the drivers bulk head panel with the low oil sensor wire. We just need to finish the hoses to the coolant tank and the R1 is all plumbed in.

Fuel Filter and Pipe Work

With the engine in place this is definitely a tricky job as we have had to use 8mm fuel pipe to fit to the fuel filter to meet 10mm copper pipework making the fitment very tricky. We had to take quite a bit off of the flares on the pipes which is not easy when they are an inch away from a nicely painted engine. Once this was done we fitted the hoses with proper fuel clips and made a moutning bracket out of 2xM6 bolts(bolt of choice today!) with some nuts acting as spacers and with p clips on the end. The end of the hoses could then be pushed into the throttle body connections and tightened up. To secure the longest hose we attached it to the engine cradle as usual with p clips and rivets.

Rectifier

Without fully knowing where the scuttle would fit we had previously mounted the rectifier onto the scuttle. Having test fitted the scuttle were sure it will be in the way. We have relocated it using some aluminium sheet just like for the ecu/relays/sensors and fuses. 3 wires have been lengthened and then we bolted it to the new bracket with the M6's it previously used.

Battery Bracket Take 2

With the battery cables in we could finally finish this job we started early on, off. Because of the battery cables all routed in and now in the way we mounted it with bolts comming through the bottom to make easier to remove rather than using rivets like we had planned. Dad made a nice fitting top strap to go with the bottom one.

Exhaust

We had a look at fitting the exhaust today and for ease of fitment and replacement we have decided to make the cut out lareger in the bodywork to allow it to be fitted if all the headers are in the collector rather than fit them seperatly. The hole looks quite bad by itself but once the exhaust is in its really not that big plus it will probably be finished off with some edging trim. Although we had the exhaust together it is an almighty pain in the arse to fit. The headers need to slide in by a good few inches into the collector and the best we can do on one is an inch and even that is extremly difficult so all 4 seems almost impossible. We dont think this is just us as the collector pipes arent even straight or round plus we have general hand held tools so we are probably going to remove a tiny amount so they slip on easier and take them to a mate with a garage to see what we can do.

Gear Change Bracket

This was my Dad's big job of the day making a bracket strong enough to hold the gear change cable which pulls with quite some force. He bought some 3-4mm thick steel bar and has made two brackets for extra support by bending the bar in a vice with a rather big hammer. I had my doubts as the steel is not exactly thick compared to what i was thinking about, but as always he's always happy to prove me wrong and it seems to do the job although for a proper test we need the car on its wheels to check its operation.

Bracket attached to the bulk head panel

View of the cable going to the gear change lever on the engine

Horn

There are a few jobs now that really didnt need doing but seemed like the better choice between working on the drive fetling the body fit in artic cold winds or keeping the garage door shut - it was an easy choice! For the horn I've mounted it on the engine cradle as there was no where else near the horn electrics(fitted with the wiring) that wouldnt get in the way of the steering column. I've used M6 bolts tapped into the tube with large washers as the horn brackets are thin and flimsy so this might give it some more support. Then it was just a case of wiring it up, simple with two spade connectors.

Brake Fluid Resevoir and Hose

With the gear change bracket finalised and stealing as much bulk head space as possible we could attempt to fit the brake fluid resevoir to the bulk head panel. After another cheap buy from Merlin Motorsport and we had some Resevoir Hose in 6mm ID. We attached the flared copper tubes to the master cylinders with an adapter and then double flared the ends to enable us to fit the hose securely with a fuel pipe clip. This now allows us to attach the hose to the resevoir again with fuel pipe clips. First though we needed to make a bracket for the resevoir. This was made out of some aluminium with two holes in the bottom for outlets. To attach this I used M6 bolts throught the drivers bulkhead panel which is getting a bit crammed with stuff. To hold the resevoir in place on the bracket my Dad made an aluminium strap with some rubber padding to ensure it didnt pierce the resevoir as that definitely would not be good on the track! To tidy the bracket up its been painted with some satin black to match the chassis tubes.

I'l get a picture up soon as we have some fuel pipe clips that finish it off

Air Filter

This has definitely got to be one of my favourite jobs to date, no instructions included and none needed unlike the rest of the build :D Saying that we did have to wait a few months for the R1 air cleaners which are essential even though they are just a rubber ring to adapt the throttle body to the base plate. First up was cleaning everything so nothing got into the engine gubbins. Then I fitted the air cleaners to the base plate and tightened the jubilees to the throttle bodies. Its then just a case of fitting the 3 dzuz fastners to the base plate and locating the filter itself. The dzus pins then slot in and twist to lock. Very simple 5 minute job but looks great once fitted.

Filter mounted to the base plate

The fitted filter

Radiator Fan

For the rad fan we had thought about mounting this as recommended but fastning the fan through the rad with cable ties doesnt sound overly sensible. The rad does have 4 plastic tubes sticking out so we decided if we drilled them out and taped them to accept M6 bolts we could attach the fan with some aluminium brackets. Using some 2mm thick bar we cut 4 9cm sections them shaped them to size, drilled a hole either end then bolted the fan to them using cut down M6's with nylocs. Then to finish it off attached the brackets to the taped rad mounts and bolted it to the car

Heres the fan mounted to the rad

As you can see there is a fair bit of clearance and the fan doesnt touch the rad

Finally the fan and rad mounted to the chassis

We've put in an order for hopefully one of the last big expenses. We have ordered a set savage swithes(very popular in the kit car world) and a set of guages with matching sendors(smiths telemetrix series) for oil pressure, fuel level and water temperature. We found them cheapest from speedy cables. Reason we are buying another fuel sender is we didnt realise the one supplied wouldnt be compatible and as its the only one we received. We thought they would be universal but its only for Race Tech gauges but turns out they aren't

The reason there are so many spelling mistakes in the blog, family pet running wild!

Build Day 13 - "The chassis's been tango'd!"

2008-10-19T18:16:00.010+01:00

Back again after another big break post wise. Various things been getting in the way and we haven’t been in the garage much also what we had done; little jobs/tweaking or finishing jobs weren’t worth typing about.

Battery

We now have all our positive cables from our car loom and the original bike loom going to a manual cut off switch with the other end returning to the battery. The negative side of things is the same but go just to the battery and an earth point tapped into the chassis. We made all the necessary holes fitted with big grommets and attached to the chassis with p-clips.

From the top

Below the scuttle all the cables waiting to be secured

To hold the battery in place we have the bracket we made from our second build day some 7 months ago. We have bolts holding in the both sides that also attach the top bracket making the battery removable.

Body Tub

After loads of frankly crap boring jobs were finally fitting the body. There are a few things we would still like to finish but we need to do this to lift our spirits and get us back into the Sunday build routine. To start we cleaned the tub as it was filthy and had some giant spiders nesting in it. We masked the chassis and tub around any areas we thought might get damaged. On to the fitting, the first attempt was definitely the worst as it didn’t fit any where and the whole time we were moving it we thought it was going to snap or crack and ruin the finish but turns out its quite tough and flexible. The main thing holding it fitting snuggly, was the bodywork by the roll bar, the rear bulkhead and the steering support rail. For trimming, I used a dremmel which made mince meat of the glass fibre. The body went off and on several times before we were happy with the fit. We noticed there were 4 scribed round marks for the wishbones to exit the chassis in the wrong place but cut them out anyway as they stood out as it was. We then had to make the scribed holes wider for where they didn’t fit - bit pointless in having them really. Dad traced his templates onto the back of the body panels. We removed the tub again and then cut the panel by chain drilling close to the lines we had made. I then filed and used a rotary tool to smooth the area. Next fitting the engine cradle got in the way so we notched a semi circle for them. The tub started fitting quite well once this was done and then we moved onto the finer fitting of to body.

From the rear

The front passengers side where we have trimmed for the suspension, steering and exhaust

At the sides the body is wider than the chassis so we need to remove some from the section where the alloy floor panel overlaps causing a worryingly tight fit. The front wishbone mounts are also raised above the chassis tube level so that is going to need some spacing. It’s looking good now and to get it better were trying to force everything back into its original shape with clips, bungie straps and masking tape.

How we have left it for today

To give us an idea of how the car will look we got the scuttle, bonnet and nose cone into the garage. Looks like they will require a lot of trimming as well and the bonnet has definitely sagged as its a few inches, yes inches!!! wider than the body so were storing it up right, taped in position till needed next.

Heres how it will look with the nose cone on, looks like we've got lots of trimming ahead of us.

A real hard days work but it is such a big visual step we both can’t wait to work on it next - just what we needed.

Build Day 12

2008-09-07T21:18:00.010+01:00

Today we are going to get started with the pedal controlled cables.

Accelerator Cable

We had already attached the engine end so for the pedals we drilled a hole into the bulk and pushed the cable through, attaching it with the two nuts. We removed the accelerator pedal, drilled a hole it to house a M5 bolt. With a threaded sleve to accomodate an M5 bolt we drilled a central hole in it. This is so the cable can be threaded through then the M5 bolt can thread in and hold the cable in place. It just needs to be adjusted however as currently the pedal sits on the floor.

Clutch Cable

We need to start with the clutch cable from scrath. After a hand from Kriss with his recently finished MK Indy we know where to locate it. Its routed from the bulkhead in a sweeping arc to pull on the clutch lever from the left(if sitting in the car). The R1 comes with a mounting bracket but its much smaller than we need. We re-bent the bracket to accept ours but we would like to fabricate something soon to not allow the cable to detach from the bracket as on the road this could be a problem with vibrations.

The end to the pedals needed a hole to be drilled to attach the cable. we then drilled a hole in the pedal and attached the cable with a m5 threaded rod end bolted to the pedal with an m5 bolt and nyloc. Pictures of both cables in the bulkhead panel and pedals

EXUP replacement

As we stated in an earlier post the EXUP motor is being replaced with a circuit to fool the ECU, so no fault codes and dash lights are pop up. Following some help from locostbuilders yet again we bought the necessary components from Maplins for about £5. We soldered the components to a copper circuit board - very fiddly work, and then joined it to 4 wires on the loom that operate the EXUP motor. Heres the finished article, its tiny so the picture is rubbish but hopefully should do the job.

We have a small creamy white ABS plastic box to house the circuit that looks like this.

Its not going to fit in so i've decided to tart it up by rubbing it down then giving it some light coats of satin black paint. Once the circuit was in the box we padded it out with some small strips of foam and sealed the box and wires so no water gets in. We mounted the circuit with some aluminium and fitted it just by the wiring loom using the smallest rivets we had. Its held in place by some velcro as we couldnt think of anything neat enough to secure it plus it weighs nothing. Here it is all finished up. In the picture you can see we also p-clipped and riveted the wiring loom finally to the chassis.

The gearbox earth strap has been earthed just below the circuits mounting bracket to keep it looking as tidy as possible.

Scuttle Wiring

In past posts you will have seen the wiring on the scuttle is a mess. To tidy it up we made a aluminium bracket to house the relays, sensors, fuses and the R1 ECU. Its going to house quite a lot so we secured it neatly with some rivets to the top chassis rail and the scuttle panel.
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My dad set about making holes, sub brackets etc for all the pieces as some, like the pressure sensor arent flat and the R1 relay needs to be mounted to a tab as it has no mounting holes. Here they all are mounted in place. I think it looks great!

After having the GRP scuttle cover down from the loft we realised the rectifier and the starter relay wouldnt quite make it under so were in the process of moving the rectifier. For the starter relay we have made a "U" shapped 2mm ally bracket held in place by two rivets on the scuttle panel.

In the picture you can also see the black negative wire going through the scuttle and that is earther to the chassis bracket beneath it. We taped the chassis to accept an M6 bolt and sanded the chassis to make a good earth. The other end of the negative wire is being connected with the car negative loom before it attaches to the battery. More on the battery next time as we have almost got it all sorted.

Build day 11

2008-08-21T22:42:00.005+01:00

Just an evening on the car today so a small update. A few of the engine sensors are at the front and side of the engine so to tidy them up we are extending them to fit into a large wiring tube to securely fix it to the chassis rail that runs parallel to the engine frame. Just needs p clipping in place.

Here's how it looks next to the engine

There was no way we were going to get the wiring into the tunnel so we have routed it as one section entering the scuttle panel. We have now fixed the Rectifier and ECU in place; they won't be visible once the scuttle is in place. The components by the ECU, the fuses and relays will be attached next time to the support bar with a fabricated metal holder.

Build Day 10 - Back in the garage

2008-08-11T17:48:00.004+01:00

Time to get back on track with the kit car now my exams are over and I have my results - got a 2.1; well chuffed. To remove the need for speed urge and a graduation treat I bought myself a Leon Cupra R 225

No more time on that so back onto the kit car and to start with back electrics - AGAIN!!!!

Engine Electrics

There is no information on how to do this in the MNR manual as there is such a huge variety of engines owners could fit. Members of Locost builders have been a great help and Rob Collingridge's site http://www.robcollingridge.com/kitcar has so much information on it I dread to think how long it's taken him, but sites like this make us glad we chose the quite popular R1. Once everything is connected like sensors, same coloured /size connectors, we can now modify the loom to be fit for the car. We removed anything to do with the lighting including relays, horn, AI systmen and fuel gauge wiring etc. We then went through the rest piece by piece.

We started with the blue 2 pin side stands switch and soldered the black/blue and black together. The clutch switch which was connected to the white 10 pin connector needs the blue/yellow and black/yellow wires connected. The fuel pump wire was lengthened to our pump and then earthed. As this was left out we fed this into our tunnel loom in the protective covering - not easy as its p clipped in place and very tight!

We recreated the EXUP servo motor by a making a small circuit to replicate it. An explanation of how-to and what to use can be found here http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=70703. The lean angle cut-off sensor, the one with "UP" on it needs to be modified to be used in a car. We took it apart by disconnecting the wiring then releasing the clear plastic connector inside. Then the sensor can be pulled out. We superglued the pendulum in place away from the red dotted pick up points(or so we believe them to be) and then put some clear sealant around it in case it shakes free. For the fan we wanted to use the wiring from the bike to make sure the fan was used when the bike knew it was necessary so we cut the blue wire comming out of the fan relay and lengthened it to the front mounted fan and covered it in some protective wire covering.
The important parts of the wiring are next (with help from Chockymonster's site) http://vortx.chockymonster.co.uk/content/view/36/69/
The main switch on ours (a red 4 pin connector) needs the blue/red and blue connected.
The main switch (thick cables to 2 pin white connector) needs the red and brown/blue connected.
The right handlebar, (ours blue 8 pin) needs red/black and red/white connected.
Then the blue/white from the starter relay needs to be connected to the starter switch or ignition key with a black earth wire to create the starter circuit.
We have also had to modify other parts of the wiring to route it properly and hide it round the frame to make it look slightly tidier. Still needs a tiny bit more work and some more fastners so I'll save a picture till next time.

Tunnel Cover

My Dad's been working on the tunnel cover as a solo project as its not something we can both work on at the same time. I'll leave it here for him to add a write up - whether he will or not is another question.

OK Adam, here goes - I unwrapped the shiny black GRP tunnel cover moulding supplied by MNR and it was soon clear that it wasn't going to fit in place until it was exactly the right size. No easy marking and cutting job that I was hoping for then! First, height needed measuring to check we could operate the handbrake correctly (that looked OK). Second, the scoop in the moulding for the handbrake grip needs to be in the right place so I decided that any excess by length was coming off the front. Even when it looked the right length, there are four or five horizontal chassis tubes at the floor which prevent a trial fit until the moulding is cut to fit round them (both sides). I wouldn't really know if the angle of the cut at the back of the moulding was going to align with the back panel it butts aginst, until it was in place, but when I had finally trimmed it to the right size it looked pretty good. It even got a grunt of approval from Adam. Cutting a hole for the handbrake was a pain (hole saw, hacksaw blade and file) but eventually got it to the right size although I think it will need enlarging for a gaiter.

We also fitted the handbrake to check for clearance with some M6 bolts and had to use quite a few washers at the front as the mounting left the bracket surfaces completly unalligned.

Cooling

In the kit, MNR supplied two hoses (one for the top and one for the bottom of the radiator). Again no instructions and having seen others we're not completly sure on the set-up. Ours connects the bottom hose to the water pump with a T-off to the oil cooler. Top hose to the thermostat housing with a threaded nut for what we presume is for a temperature sensor. The small hose from the thermostat housing will go to the expansion tank along with the small hose by the waterpump which T-offs to the wax stat that also leads to the bottom of the cylinder head below the throttle bodies. Whilst my dad was doing the tunnel cover I fixed the radiator into place. The brackets were filed out to allow the radiator studs to locate and then the brackets at the top were filed to allow the radiator to be mounted with bolts. The hard plastic in the radiator was tapped out to accept a M6 x 1mm bolt and it all connected rather nicely once the hoses were trimmed.

For the missing bits I'll be adding some more pics in the next few weeks.

Mini update

2008-05-21T18:20:00.001+01:00

Its been almost 2 months but being in my final year of my degree the work load is really taking a toll on the rest of my life. Weekends in the garage have been replaced by weekends in the library which I'm sure will be worth it but at the moment it's as fun as it sounds. The wiring's quite involved so I've given up on that untill I'm finished in June. My Dad's been doing a few solo projects like trimming the final interior panel, tunnel cover and making templates for when the bodywork's fitted. He's spent ages (few hours most weekends!) on all of it so I'm sure it's going to look good. Also I haven't got the patience for these sort of things so gets me out of a boring job later on :) To get the suspension in correctly he has had to open up the brackets on the chassis (to the size of the crush tube), fit the crush tubes and bushes to the wishbones. From a recent issue on MNR's front lower wishbone, as a recommendation we've had to fit it with the circlip at the bottom to avoid the spherical insert being pulled out. It's great to see a few bits on the car, its pretty wide so were having trouble getting to the beer fridge!

Suspension mock up

Suspension cut out template to transfer to body tub

Build Day 9

2008-04-13T19:06:00.005+01:00

After taking yesterday off for the show I should spend today revising. The car is like a bug though so a few hours won't hurt right?

Engine components

With the engine in place we can move on and attach the throttle bodies. I gave them a quick clean up with some carb cleaner and they were ready to go. Once pushed into their rubber sleeves they need to be tightened with a 3mm allen key which is qutie a fiddly task on the middle two. Next up is the bike loom. I started with the easy bits like the wiring to the clocks, ECU, coils, sensors and colour coded connections. We're now left with this mess;

This, as you can see, needs some tidying up and we're going to hide as much as possible to leave a clean looking engine bay. There are also loads of spare connections as the car loom takes over from the bike loom with the lights, horn, etc. The rest is pretty boring as I had to check it all through with the Haynes wiring diagram to make sure we weren't missing anything - FUN! After as much as I could stand with that I decided to get the power commander out. It's a small ECU like device that we can use to upload maps to the car controlling its performance and can up the power. This actually has instructions, YIPEE! all be it black and white but it's simple to work out as the the power commander jumps in between the black connections above the gearbox, infront of the throttle bodies.

Cables

After this we wanted to have a look at all the cables. For our paddleshift system it looks like we need to get or make some brackets to attach the rod ends. The clutch cable needs some modifications to the mounting bracket and the bracket it attaches to the clutch lever. The throttle cable however can be fitted. Unfortunately the throttle bodies need to come off which means we need to undo the fiddly jubilee type clips. We attached the throttle cable end to the throttle mechanism and then passed it through the cable bracket and tigtened it up with a 10mm spanner.

Heres how were leaving it today.

Detling Kit Car Show

2008-04-12T16:23:00.010+01:00

Instead of building away for hours in the garage we've taken a day out for the Detling kit car show. Other than seeing the new manufacturer cars and other owners cars there are also a few trade stands. As the sun was out we first had a look round the owners cars section. There weren't half as many cars as we saw at Donnington but there were quite a few Cobras. As for 7's there was a big group of Dax Rush's and again only 1 MNR. After seeing the MNR we're starting to realise our drive is quite steep and the car is very, very low. It may never leave the drive but either way we can't stop building now!

Here are all the pictures I took as I spent most my time looking at how everything compared on other cars to ours.

All the trade stands were inside and packed full of people trying to get bargains early on. Later in the day we managed to see what was on offer and we got a few bits and made some good savings on nut and bolt covers, U trim, foam strip, a horn, rivets etc. By the time we came out at 3 after the torrential rain most of the cars had gone so we made our way home following a convoy of full weather gear 7 replica's which sounded great.

Build Day 8

2008-04-01T11:18:00.002+01:00

The engine has been in the way at the back of the garage tripping one of us up most weekends for the last few months and today we can finally get it fitted. Before we can fit the engine we wanted to tidy it up a bit.

Engine Covers

We had previously cleaned the engine block with a wire brush but now it's time to respray some of the scratched engine covers.

The engine cover bolts are removed with a 5mm hex socket, 1/4 of a turn at a time. They vary in size so we marked their positions on some card. To keep the engine internals clean we covered the openings with cling film. The covers have very thin gaskets so we took care in removing them and cleaned them up. With some 400 grit wet and dry we removed the gloss from the paint finish and tried to get the most of the scratches from the metal out then degreased it with white spirit.

To paint the covers we're using Hammerite special metal primer applying it with a brush and then sanding it (800-1200 grit) once dry (after 2hrs) to give an even finish.

We sprayed the covers with a few coats of satin black and they ended up looking like this.

We aren't replacing the gaskets so we're using Loctite 5920 high performance silicon gasket which is rated upto 350oc. We can now torque the bolts up in the same sequence to their rated 12Nm.

Engine Fitment

To make it easier to fit the engine we took the chassis outside and placed it on blocks to raise the chassis to give the sump clearnance. We bolted the cradle to the engine using the original 3xR1 8mm cap head bolts. The top two bolts were left loose so that we had some movement to jiggle the engine to get all the other bolts in.

On the first engine fitment we found our fuel pipes were uncomfortably close to the timing chain cover. Knowing the SVA test is quite anal we decided it was best to move them now and be on the safe side while it was a simple task. We bent the return pipe and re-located the send line (picture highlighted below in sump fitment). We then lowered the engine into the chassis and pushed the 4xM12 loctited engine mount bolts with washers into the block with only a couple of threads. The cradle can then be secured using 4 shortened M12 bolts with washers and nylocs. With everything in position we could loctite and torque the botls upto their rated 45-55Nm.

The prop can then be attached to the bike engine sprocket adapter using 4 shortened M8 socket cap bolts with spring washers, loctite then tightened to 30Nm. With the engine in we can now fit the sump baffle, but first we need the chassis back in the garage and on the tressels. It's starting to get awkward and heavy to lift ourselves now, so with some help from friends Pete and Tom we got the chassis back home.

Sump Baffle

As the engine is mounted the wrong way round in cars like ours (compared to the bike setup) the engine needs a baffle plate or dry sump so the pump is not starved of oil when cornering at speed. A dry sump is the best way to go but R1's seem to respond fine to just the baffle which is a few hundred pounds cheaper and lighter; bonus! We started by removing the 5mm hex bolts in sequence similar to that of the engine covers, 1/4 of a turn at a time in an opposite to opposite cris cross manner.

Like head bolts to keep check of them we secured them in place on some card board as they're all different sizes.

After some beating with a hammer and a stick the sump comes off but at the same time ruining the gasket; I think a new one is needed. We looked at our CNC'd baffle plate and to fit it we need to remove the oil strainer (with the mesh and 2 bolts) the oil deilvery pipes ("U" shaped pipe with 2 bolts) and vertical pipe with 1 bolt). The plate has holes made for these items so that once the bolts are put back in they hold the baffle in place. There are also two other holes that have 'engine metal' behind them which I have circled below. These are just metal webs that we can drill, tap to size and use bolts to fix the baffle more evenly and thus more securely.

After a little trimming of the plate and the holes made we can attach it. We cleaned then fitted vertical oil pipe, delivery pipe and strainer back in place and added the new bolts.

We fitted a new gasket with some sealant after we removed all traces of the old gasket. Then we re-fitted the sump and did the botls up to 12Nm in the same sequence as before.

Build Day 7

2008-03-23T22:39:00.001Z

Now its Easter sunday the weather is shocking, freezing cold and snowing in March! Whilst revising in the morning I heard some sawing thinking that's a bit strange. Looking out the window I see my dad trimming the second interior panel outside whilst it's hailing. He used the first notched panel as a template for the other side, marked it up and then trimmed it.

Thats all for the interior panels as we're not permanently fixing the panels until other components like rear suspension and throttle and clutch cables are in.
With the interior panels pre fitted and my Dad having bought some more bolts, washers, nuts, tools and wiring clips we can finish previous stages.

Finishing the Fuel Pipe

My dad picked up a pipe bender from Screwfix so we can now bend the pipes. The prop needs to come out first to reach into the tunnel. We tried to bend the pipe with the tool, but as most of the pipe was secured half way down the tunnel it was useless as you need a lot of space to maneouver it. We were now back to stage one, simply bending the pipe by hand with cable inserted to stop it kinking. With the engine cradle in place we moved the pipe to where it could be secured without hitting the engine.

Once both were in position we could centre punch, drill (5mm), file, seal, p-clip and rivet(5mm) the pipe into place. The pipe bender did come in handy bending the pipe ends though. We then flared the ends for where the flexible pipe would start.

Finishing the Wiring

The new wiring clips we have are 20mm ID and use a m6 bolt to secure them. Using two of these clips we secured the wiring to the top of the tunnel by drilling two 6mm holes in the tunnel panel. Using 2xm6 (HT 8.8) bolts with washers and nyloc nuts we secured the clip in place.

Propshaft Refitment

After a good clean of the tunnel the prop can now go back in place. We tightened the loctited diff bolts to 69Nm. The centre bearing bolts were loctited to 76Nm.

Thats it for this weekend, time for me to watch the Grand Prix re-run as no one watches it half way through the night, except for my Dad that is. Keep checking for updates as next weekend the engine goes in!

Build Day 6

2008-03-22T22:00:00.001Z

Being the long Easter weekend we're going to try and get two days work on the car in and make some good progress. To start with is the front suspension.

Front Coilovers

We're meant to be fitting the propshaft first if were following Marc's build stage instructions. However I really couldn't resist getting the dampers, springs and rockers in place for the front inboard suspension as it's been lying in sealed boxes for months! This is our starting point.

The rockers need to be assembled first. We greased the rockers up and found everything was a very tight fit. To make this easier we put the rockers in the oven at 200 degrees centigrade (whislt my mum wasn't looking) and the cylindrical bearings in the frezzer for 10 minutes. After this they both slid together easily. 1 cylindrical bearing goes in each side of the pivoting point of the rocker, so in total there are 2 for each rocker. Then each side of the rocker needs a thrust washer, then a radial thrust bearing (a thin washer with bearings), then another thrust washer. This is repeated for the other sides. Now they can be fitted to their mounting brackets using m10 bolts cut to size, washers and a nyloc nut. To space these evenly we opened up the bracket by twisting some wood in between the bolt holes. This worked a treat and the washers could be slid into place instead of being jammed and unalligned. Heres the passenger side rocker in place.

To fit the spring to the damper we lowered the bump stop and removed the collar then the spring can be pushed over. After everything was greased up we fitted the lower coilver and bolt can be fitted. With the bracket spread apart like the rocker we fitted the m10 bolts with washers, a nyloc nut and special rod end spacers surrounding the rod end of the coilover. The coilover needs to be fitted with the adjuster facing inwards. Heres how the passenger side unit looks fitted.

This is the complete front assembly waiting for the pushrods to be fitted to the front lower wishbones.

Propshaft

As we dont have a reverse box our propshaft has a centre bearing to take the drive from the engine sproket and transfer it to the rear differential. To start the prop needs to be bolted to the diff. The diff uses 4xm10 fine bolts with serated washers and loctite.

The centre bearing needs to be fitted with 2xm6 cap head bolts (HT 12.9) with a spring washer and penny washer to spread the load. After making some markings with the prop in place we could drill the holes and then filed them out. To do the bolts up, access is gained from below through the aluminium floor. Being careful to avoid the fuel and brake lines we drilled a pilot hole first then a 12.5mm hole. We can now get the bolts in place then push the socket in to tighten the bolt up. Tool of the day here was using a telescopic magnetic pen to hold the bolt in place so the hex socket could locate the bolt into the centre bearing's thread.

Interior Panels

The next stage should be to fit the engine and connect it all up. Were not doing this as we're waiting on a last prop-to-diff bolt, we need to get a pipe bender to bend the fuel pipe into position as the bend is far to tight for us to do by hand now and our wiring is still hanging freely in the tunnel, needing to be secured. The plastic rear panel needs complete adjustment to fit. Room needs to be made for the tunnel and at the corners where the chassis meets the back. After a lot of filing and sawing here the result of the back.

Next is the interior side panels. We taped ours onto the outside then marked where it needed to be notched. We can't do it all now as we need the tub in place as the rear does not follow the chassis lines.

More to come tomorrow.

Build Day 5

2008-03-11T23:52:00.013Z

Wiring stage 2

Before the diff and prop shaft can be fitted we need to make sure the wiring is secured so it cannot interfere with them. So to start with I had a bacon sandwich. Now onto the car starting at the front we checked both sides had the same amount space going to the headlights. As usual we masked where we wanted to drill, centre punched a hole with a hammer then applied the rivets and p-clips with sealant. This is how the front turned out.

This is the wiring in the tunnel. We left some slack to allow for the handbrake to be fitted easily.

At the front the rear gets a little more complicated. We need to avoid the diff, suspension and wishbones, brake lines and the fuel tank. So we know what room we had we fitted the tank and diff.
This is the wiring comming out of the tunnel

Here is the wiring that splits behing the diff to go the rear right and left lighs.

Finally from the split the wiring ends up at the rear of the chassis.

Differential

Having got the diff in place a few times we knew this job wasn't going to be easy. The reason being is that the diff is very heavy for its relative small size and the bolts don't allign. For starters we checked we could remove the drain plug using a 10mm hex socket and then we left it slighlty loose for when we fill it with oil. The diff mounting with the holts for bolts is made of thick steel taking a long time to file these obscured holes out. For the fitting, the diff went in from underneath with the nose pointing into the tunnel first. Once in position we held the diff roughly in place with two pieces of rope. We then fitted the shortened 2xm10 (ht8.8)top 19mm head bolts first. Then with a bit of struggling we got the bottom standard length m10's in.

We fitted the diff first without nylocs and washers so we could get it in easily and make sure it was central to the prop. Now we can take one bolt out at a time and fit the nyloc nut and the correct amount of spacers. Well that sounds easy doesn't it, as we found it definetly wasn't. Getting nylocs and washers wedged in when the other side had already been tightened was really diff-icult, excuse the punn. Three bolts went in ok but the last one was too tight for 2 washers and too loose for 1 so we had to file the diff marginally. Then we had to pull tight on the ropes to get it all to allign correctly. We used grease to hold the spacers to the diff and nut. Once in we loctite'd the threads and then torqued the bolts up evenly to 60 lb/ft and marked the bolts to chassis points with red paint to check they maintain their position. All we need now is some satin black paint to cover up the little chips from fitting and where the web was removed.

Here's another picture of the diff looking at the back of the chassis with the fuel tank fitted.

Build Day 4

2008-03-10T00:10:00.010Z

Today is our second rather short build day. With looming deadlines for 2 pieces of courswork and an exam, presentations and a hangover from my mates 22nd party the night before, nothing was really going to get done. My dad started early and sorted the tank out and I gave him a hand with the fuel sender.

Fuel Tank

Using all the supplied aluminium on the battery and fuel pump brackets my Dad got some more 2 mm flat bar from B&Q. He spaced the tank so it wouldn't hit the rear brake 'T' piece. Then he began to bend the flat bar giving a few mm gap for the rubber foam as it doesn compress that much.

With 2 brackets made he drilled 4 holes into the chassis. The chassis rails were then lined with foam to stop vibrations and wear.

The tank can then be bolted down with 4 M6 bolts with a standard nut, washers and a nyloc at the end.

Fuel Sender

To know how much fuel is in the tank we need a sensor with a float on the end to give tank level readings. With the unit supplied from MNR we found a location for the sender, checked the movement for the float and cut off any remaining metal.

Using the 38mm hole cutter we drilled through the tank at the front(the deepest section to give the most realistic fuel gauge ratings). 5 holes then need to be drilled to accomodate the rivnuts. These are basically threaded insterts so a bolt can be used in thin metals that can't be tapped. Only problem is you need a rivnut tool to attach them which is a bit of a pain as we don't have one and they're about £20-30 from specialists. To get around this we threaded a nut to our m5 bolt that would go in the rivnut. A load spreading washer was then put on and we screwed the assembly into the rivnut and pushed it into the hole. Using 2x8mm spanners we kept the bolt head steady with one spanner and then clockwise turned the lower nut about 3 times. The effect of this is that it pulls the shaft of the rivnut towards the inside of the tank to hold itself in place almost like a rivet.
The seal is then put on with some sealant, the sender can then be fitted and the 5xm5bolts tightened with some loctite.

Build Day 3

2008-03-02T23:57:00.007Z

Scuttle panel part II

Being Mothers day my Dad went to see my Grandma so we started later than usual. As we started the scuttle panel last Sunday we wanted to get this job sorted out first. Before we permanetly riveted it down we wanted to check the battery cables could be routed to the battery and that the battery would fit. Bending some flat bar aluminium we made a battery craddle. It's held together by some 5mm rivets as although its a small bike battery it still weighs quite a bit. Where the battery would sit in the craddle we covered the flat bar in rubber stick foam strips.

With the battery live and earth in the tunnel we needed to route it to the battery. We did this by drilling 2x12.5mm holes in the tunnel panels, filed them to size and fitted 2 large wiring grommets. Then in the aluminium scuttle panel we drilled 2x10mm holes and attached 2 smaller wiring grommets. We could then feed the cables through where they would meet the battery. Minor problem with the earth as it's too short but easily sorted at a later date. Once this was done I could rivet the panel in place

Fuel pump

Today's new stage is to start with the fueling. We're starting with the pump; the Bosch unit needs to be mounted externally of the fuel tank. From having the diff in previously we knew where the pump could be mounted. Ours is going to be mounted underneath the left drive shaft on the chassis. To start with we used two pieces of ally flat bar and shaped them around the pump leaving space to put bolts through. We then used some 6mm thick rubber foam strip and laid it on the inside of the brackets we had made so the pump is held securely and can't be damaged by the bracket.

We drilled two 6mm holes through the chassis to locate the brackets. Then we passed the m6 set screws through the bracket and chassis with nuts and washers to hold it in place as tight as possible. This is how the pump looks bolted in place.

To get the fuel hose over the flared pipe I immersed them in boiling water for a few minutes then connected them up to the car with some jubilee clips.

Build Day 2

2008-02-18T00:58:00.011Z

Wiring

Car wiring is one of most builders least favourite stages as it's a mass of complicated same coloured wires all operating different components. Becuase of this we're going to tackle it over a few evenings as we don't want to be pulling our hair out over the build just yet.
Heres the R1 engine loom

We need to wire all the lights, switches, sensor units, clocks and then meet the engine loom. This is how it looks positioned and labeled. If you're wondering what that massive copper tube is sticking out, that's the fuel return that we haven't cut and p-clipped in position yet.

To secure the wires into place we're using rivets and p-clips but we're waiting on some larger 12mm p-clips as we just have 10mm ones at the moment.

Pedal Box

Next in is the pedal box. We have a slight concern with this as the diagonal on the bulkhead gets in the way of the accelerator pedal. Marc has assured us that it won't need to be pushed back that far but we're going to file it down to allow it to be fitted centrally. I haven't got a before shot but it was completly rounded and we've added that "v" looking section.

We're going to paint the exposed metal once were happy that everything's in place. Moving on, we marked holes where we were going to put the cylinders and bolts through the bulk head. We also marked 4 points to attach the pedals to the floor. With a 38mm hole cutter we made the brake cylinder's holes, for the bolts we used an 8mm drill bit. We then attached the m8(12.9) bolts with two washers and a non-nylocked nut. This is so we can take the box out if we need to for the clutch and accelerator cables. The bias bar (a component giving more braking force to either front or the rear brakes depending on adjustment) was fiddley to get in and isn't in the right place but will do for the mock up. This is how it now looks screwed into the brake cylinder push rods.

On the engine bay side the brake cylinders are in place with the m8 bolts, washers and nuts ready to be linked up with the front and rear brake pipes.

With some baby p clips delivered in under 24 hours from Car Builder Solutions(frankly amazing considering it came via royal mail) we were able to complete the brake pipes.
We checked everything alligned properly and that spacing was under 6 inches. Then we attached the pipes with rivets and p-clips and it now looks like this.

Scuttle panel

Like the bulk head panels we cut and shaped the big piece of aluminium to make a scuttle panel with the chassis number on. We clamped it in place, centre punched points evenly around the edge of the panel then drilled holes through the ally and chassis using a 5mm drill bit.

Build Begins Take 2

2008-02-10T19:59:00.002Z

Bulk Head Panels

The build can finally start again as the new chassis has arrived. Onto the first job, we need to rivet the bulkhead panels in place. To start with we covered the chassis in masking tape to protect it (not shown in the pictures as they're from the first attempt on the original chassis).

The two ally panels were notched and trimmed to fit exactly.

We then used a centre punch to mark rivet locaions as close to the frame as possible. Using a 5mm drill bit we drilled holes through the panel and frame in one go.

Before inserting the rivets we applied a hefty amount of clear sealant to all frame to ally points.

Then inserted 4.8mm rivets apllying quite a bit of force on the gun pumping it 2-3 times.

Here's how the two panels ended up with the protective film still in place. This time round we also riveted the diagonal piece on the drivers side to give it some extra strength for the pedals.

Brake pipes

Second job was routing the brake pipes. As ours is unlike the manual chassis, as Marc has made some more improvements :) I made a cardboard temlate then fabricated it out of some ally to to make a mounting point for the front brake 4 way "T" piece and riveted it to the chassis. Its held down by a small bolt, washers and a nyloc nut.

For the rear "T" piece we thought it would be best to get the diff and tank in position to look for the best mounting location. To get the diff in the web at the back needs to be sawn off.

We mounted the diff but behind this there isn't much space for the "T" piece. So it had to be attached on the other side in front of the tank. With the chassis masked up and hole punched we drilled straight through and applied some sealant.
We then routed the copper brake pipes to it. There are going to be two cylinders for braking; a 0.625 for the front and a 0.75 for the rear. A good idea that my Dad uses is to feed thick cable through the pipes so when bending they can't kink.
Bending the brake pipes is easy so we routed them into place by hand. To hold the pipes down we covered the area in masking tape, measured a point no more than 6 inches for the p-clips to hold the pipe down(for SVA requirements), centre punched a hole, drilled, filed, filled with sealant and then attached the p-clip with a rivet. So heres how the front and rear "T" pieces turned out.

Fuel pipes

Next up is the fuel line. Being an injected R1 engine it needs a send line (tank to engine) and a return line (engine to tank). The diff and tank need to be in to check where the pipe needs to be routed to. Not knowing the central point of the diff we just put some bolts in to hold it roughly in place. Just like the brake pipes we inserted thick cable to reduce the chance it would kink and bent it by hand. It's much harder to bend but by taking it slow and using flexible fuel hose for the tigheter bends it's achievable although it took a while. We made sure the hose type and brand were visible for SVA as the SVA man needs to know the hose is fit for purpose. Just like the brake pipes we covered the area in masking tape, measured a point every 6 inches(for SVA requirements), drilled the hole to the size of the rivet, put some sealant in and riveted the clip in place.
This picture shows the central tunnel that the propshaft sits in looking towards rear of the car. If we were to do this again we would definetly do the fuel line first as the brake pipes are easy to route around the fuel pipes and not the other way round.

This picture is from the rear looking forwards where the differential will be mounted.

Thats it for this weekend, during the week were hoping to get started on the wiring, EEP!

New Chassis and mini update (with new pics)

2008-01-20T14:00:00.002Z

Richard Hill kindly delivered our new chassis today. It looks great like the last one with the minor adjustments we required and Marc just can't leave these chassis alone, it's only been a month and it's already changed again with some new brackets and structural support. So heres how it now looks, bare again!

Also a few other bits have been unpacked so here are the front calipers and discs.

These are the aluminium hubs without the bolts in. To get the bolts through the tight holes in the hub we are going to use washers over the thread, and tighten a nut on the top to pull the thread through.

Whilst the new chassis was being built we've begun cleaning. I bought some cleaning solution (swafega metal cleaner and rust remover), basically acid to clean the engine and other bits up. We started with the steering column. I haven't got a before shot but it was rough and rusted. Applied the solution, slightly diluted and using some wet and dry we attacked the column. It ended up looking like this.

We're going to put some Kurust on the slightly deep pitted bits then give it a thin coat of Hammerite.

The hubs and carriers arent too bad with just some surface rust. With the cleaning solution and a wire brush I spent quite a while removing as much of it as I could.
I got most of it off but it is heavily pitted so I'm going to use some heavy duty rust converting gel to make it paintable and stop the problem reoccuring.
This is the finished articles sprayed in smooth black Hammerite

Using the cleaning solution the job was taking ages with not overly impressive results. So instead with wire brush drill attachments we tried again. Now we were getting somewhere!

From the top the engine is looking really good and just needs to be finished up with some Autosol.

New pics
The new steering wheel arrived after only 4 months!!!!! At least it was worth the wait. The real leather feels much better than pleather and feels great in your hands. Only issue will be wiring the wheel's push button horn and we might need to have it on a dash mounted button instead

The drive shafts before and after with fresh grease, new gaitors and a lick of paint

The differential before and after with some matt paint

The Sierra rear callipers before electrolysis, new seals, bolts and paint

Build Begins

2007-12-23T14:15:00.001Z

After seeing how much kit there is we've made a big attempt to reorganise everything so it now only fills the garage, garden and loft. This is our starting point with our chassis and it's ally floor pannels riveted and sealed up.

It's got to be said the chassis looks fantastic and the guys at MNR have done a top job. Before we get started on the panels we read through the brief 120 page build manual. The chassis we have is not the original MNR design used in the guide but has seen years of continuos improvement being tweeked to make it better and stronger.
First thing we noticed is that its more of a rough guide leaving quite a lot up to the builder of the kit. Bolting piece A to piece B in a Mechano style wouldn't be challenging and we're glad ours isn't and we quite look forward to this other than the wiring. Eager to get started we riveted the ally bulkhead panels in place. Before long theres already a big concern. The roll bar looks much taller than we specified.

After measuring up the chassis we've decided the roll bar is just too high from what we specified. Me and my Dad arent exactly tall so have 9 inches head clearance. With my helmet on it's still 7 inches so were going to reduce this but still at a safe level incase of a roll. MNR have been great with this as I'm sure this will mess up their schedules and take them a while to pick up, remove, re-weld, powdercoat and return. So the build will almost stop and everything we had done; panels, brake lines, cylinders, pedals, fuel line and tank has to be removed. We can't do much as everything at the start is fitted directly to the chassis. However we're going to keep ourselves busy so that once it's back we can move at a much quicker pace, including;

Attatch the sump baffle and clutch springs

Full engine clean

Repaint the clutch, camshaft and timing belt covers

Full engine service - plugs, oil and filter etc

Assemble suspension, hubs, wishbones

Buy additional small bits and pieces

Prepare wiring

Recondition donor parts

Christmas has come early!!!

2007-12-21T17:42:00.002Z

Today's the day and 4 months certainly have flown by for me, not for my Dad though as he's dead excited. The build has come at a great time really as we both have time off to participate in the build and the family are around to offer an extra set of hands.

The garage is the cleanest I've ever seen it in over 18 years! Usually packed full of cement mixers, 4 bikes, compressors, my tools, gardening and decorating gear, rubbish and all sorts of bits and pieces. Now you can even see the carpeted floor that I never knew existed! The work bench is considerably shorter after it met it's match with a saw, the frezzer and racking have all been moved to the sides so here's how it now looks with some home made tressels.

This morning we were up way to early considering im a student on christmas break. We picked up the Van from Rent a Van and of course the one we requested (very long, LWB Renault Traffic Master) was not available so settled for a New Transit which was a fair bit shorter leaving us slighly annoyed. Not a great start but anyway we set off to Yorkshire at about 9.

Reached the MNR premises about 2ish and had a quick chat and a cup of tea. The guys have worked extremly hard and got our kit, name "No 80" completly ready in time.
A picture of Vortx No 80 inside the MNR workshop.

Here is the Van jam packed full ok kit. It took a while but everything was covered in bubble wrap and cloth. Luckily the Transit was just about long enough.

Everything fitted in the van rather snuggly and we began the trek home which wasn't that bad albeit 5 hours long. We got some of the kit in the garage then realised just how big the chassis was. There are so many parts I could barely believe it. Seeing it at MNR it looks quite small inside a huge workshop. However it wasn't going to fit as we need space to work round the chassis so we started filling other rooms including the utility room, back room my room and even the garden. A module kit buying parts as you need is definetly something we would consider and recommend if we were to do this again.

Its a great feeling having it all home with all the planning and patience over. Onto the build being such a well built kit, thought out thoroughly, other MNR owners believe the build can be done in less than 200 build hours. One has even been done in a short few weeks but with the added luxury of building it at MNR and working non stop. However the only target we are setting ourselves is to build a car as close to immaculate as possible. We're both the sort of people who are never happy with that niggly bit that went a bit pear shaped so prepare to stay tuned to quite a long build! Although we're hoping to get a couple of drives out of 2008.

The wait is almost over

2007-12-07T16:40:00.001Z

It's been a long although expected wait but a collection date of the 21st of December is now floating around. We were hoping for a quicker turn around but because of summer shows like Donnington, MNR have had a few fully paid orders packed in whilst our exact specification was being decided. So we've just booked a van and ordered our own choice steering wheel, alloys and tyres, sorted the engine out and the paddle shift. Got most the tools from the local Machine Mart, they don't look like they will last the build but are cheap enough to replace if need be. Also found a great bike shop, Hein Gericke in Purley to get a helmet and gloves for karting in the Britsh University Karting Championship (BUKC 2008) at a reasonable price(comparable to demon tweeks) and they can also get plenty of bike parts in.

The first detailed spec of the car came close to that of Tiger so weve taken out some expensive luxuries. We've gone for the MNR Vortx RT(road and track) with the better inboard suspension. The setup is similar to that of MNR's track focused car without the complete adjustability of rose joints which would make an amazing handling car but we couldn't see ourselves tweaking it all that much. An inboard has the advantages of using the Cortina front uprights with the shocks and springs mounted inside the chassis operated with push rods. This offers lower unsprung weight and there is less movement in corners as the shock and spring don't have to travel far as they're closer to the pivoting point of the wishbones.

Right boring stuff over with and onto power :) we chose the Yamaha fuel injected R1 engine(5PW). Its not the cheapest (especially compared to car engines) but should be very reliable, easy to plumb in and fly through the Single Vehicle Approval scheme(SVA) as emissions can be controlled through the power commander on a laptop. This should be a brutally fast car weighing less than 400kgs packing over 152bhp. This equates to a power to weight ratio of more than 380bhp/tonne which is truely into supercar territory. However it's only 998cc and will be as cheap to tax as a vauxhall corsa. The gearbox is sequential to save weight and make shifting faster. Instead of an H pattern arrangement we have 1st - down to neutral - down to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th then up to go down the gears. We're going to make or adapt our own paddle shift so our hands remain on the wheel. We have ditched the reverse box(£700) in favour of pushing the car as it's extra weight and effort on the engine and gearbox. This might not turn out to be a smart move, but after all it isn't going to be used in the usual supermarket situations.

We almost opted for comfy leather padded seats but after testing the variety of seats on offer we opted for light GRP seats. They look hard and uncomfortable but once you're strapped in you wouldn't even notice and are also significantly cheaper being a single piece item. The only options I think we added are wind deflectors, a boot box and splash guards on the rear arches. The car is almost a standard RT inboard spec, bare of options to keep it as light as possible but it does have all the important bits; a highly recommended chassis and an amazing light power plant, what more do you need in a 7.
The brand new black Team Dynamic 1.2 pro race alloys, only 6.2kg each

Toyo Proxes R888's road legal track tyres (GG compound) in 195/50/15's

Side picture of the alloys and tyres to show their depth at ET23

I havent seen any MNR's exactly like ours so heres a little traced sketch (I was very bored this afternoon whilst revising tax computations) to show the overall effect of the car in orange with black parts.

Donnington Performance and Kit Car Show

2007-11-21T13:18:00.001Z

Having talked to the guys at MNR the collection date for the main parts of our kit looks to be around christmas time. Slightly later than we expected but its probably for the best seeing as the dinning room is completly bare (no flooring or wall paper), we still haven't bought any vital tools (ie rivnut tool and a new tap and die set) and I have various exams, presentations and karting meets filling up my schedule. So I thought I'd update the blog with a couple of pictures from the Donnington kit car show a few weeks back where the MNR Vortx was really sold to us by Chris and Marc. It was a really good day albeit very windy outside. Nice to see the diversity of the Kit Car community including some very strange creations that I probably didn't take pictures of, a huge swarm of Caterhams, Robin Hoods and Westfields. I think we saw one or two MNR's, is that a bad sign? we hope not.
A couple of Tiger kit cars

An orange Tiger with black wheels which was our initial choice when making the kit car decision.

A WORK OF ART!!!!

If your wondering who these two are in the car, its myself and my dad having our first sit in an MNR Vortx.

An MNR Vortx fitted with a bike engine, a Suzuki GSX-R Hayabusa 1.3 lump looking very tidy!

The Ultima GTR, the fastest car in the world setting record breaking 0-60 and 0-100 times.

R1 clocks

Cobra's

One of my all time favourite cars. If ours pans out i may try to build one of these beasties in the future.

Summer 2007

2007-09-01T15:49:00.004+01:00

Now our kit's ordered I thought it may be interesting to keep our friends and family updated with our progress. It will also be a great help in creating a build diary to aid getting through the SVA to make the car legal as we've been told they're getting sticter by Chris(MNR). So here's how it started. From a young age I've always been into cars and at 16 in 2002, I joined an established motor spares company. Lazy evenings in the shop and I came across the Haynes "build your own sports car for under £250" book. The manual went through how to weld, cut, chop, mould, fabricate and paint your own lotus 7 based car. Doing a diploma in motorsport engineering with all the skills I was taught I thought this would be a great side project to test myself. So I bought the book and tried to get started. Unfortunately nothing came from this, as for myself the £250 target for a donor car, materials and tools would be near impossible.

5 years past and we're in 2007. After loving my first single seater track day experience I had to get more, so with my Dad we got into talking about kit cars to get more track action. Thinking nothing would come of it my Dad surprised me with a real interest in getting one. With the idea planted in my head from the Haynes book and recent TV shows like "A Racing Car Is Born", based on the Westfield built by Mark Evans we were inspired to get one. We both liked the Lotus 7 style car as they have a real classic shape that we both really like, many spares and upgrades are available and ultimately they are relatively cheap, or so we thought!

Kit car selection

The budget started at about £4-5k and our first thought was to go for a second hand Caterham 7 being a well known name in the industry. This instantly proved unrealistic looking in kit car magazine classifieds where even some 90s cars were coming in just under £10,000!!! New models aren't that bad at £12,000 but the engine options are a bit on the weedy side and for quicker models they are over £30,000 and it's a similar story with Westfield. Our attention then turned to less well known cars that filled the rest of the 'for sale' sections like Robin Hoods and the Tiger Sports Cars. They dont quite have the status and quality of mass production but the cars are much cheaper especially if you build your own. This was starting to sound like a plan; all I had to do was convince my Dad we could turn a bare frame into a living, breathing car.

First kit we looked into was the Tiger Cat purely on looks so we went to see their premises in Cambridgeshire. The initial engine choice was a Ford Pinto thinking it would be the least expensive and easiest to maintain. We were really impressed with some of the cars they had and were lucky enough to be taken out in a 2.0L zetec engined Cat and were shocked by just how quick it was and the ease it went sideways. We both liked the company and its cars, all that remained was to get some detailed kit prices and then hopefully seal the deal. We had decided on a full kit so there were no donor cars left rotting on the drive which would annoy my Mum further as redecorating had already taken a back seat to save towards the kit car fund. The kit came in well over £10k(after VAT).

Before making any deals I scoured the forums and a few recommendations for MNR, MAC#1 and MK came up being superior to Tiger (I believe a member of the Tiger Owners Club even recommended them!). It was noticeable that Marc Nordon Racing Ltd was making a real name for itself for top quality with realistic prices and an excellent reputation for customer service. Their press articles are very impressive for someone relatively new to the industry and we were really taken by the way they advertise very little and let their products sell themselves. MAC#1 sounded and looked quite nice but we simply prefered MNR. We also saw MK and their Indy at a show which looked great in white with black but there was something I didnt like. We both felt the MNR's also look better than the norm with the shaped bonnet and scuttle although we would still have to have the traditional nose cone over the MNR item. So we had changed our minds yet again(who said women were picky!) and the next week we visited MNR at their workshop 260 miles away in Yorkshire. A few hours of discussion and we're sold on a MNR Vortx RT (Road and Track) inboard as the quality of components was fantastic, mostly brand new and has a stronger and lighter tubular chassis. The Vortx also uses independent rear suspension being superior over the cat and six and was in fact even cheaper! The lads at MNR recommended a bike engine like a Yamaha R1. To be honest we were very sceptical about this at first. The main BEC (bike engine car) points being light weight (60kg v 150kg), massive power to weight ratio, sequential gearbox, newer and low mileage engine (newer reg plate with reverse), amazing sound and no expensive modifications i.e. dry sump for it to be ready straight out the box. But they do have some drawbacks basically they're not made for the stress of being in and operated in a car. We really had to think about this one as we had only ever considered a car engine.

There was only one way to decide between a car and a bike engine; to go for a drive in both. A local locost builder (http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/) member Des kindly offered to take us out in his really tidy MK Indy with an R1 engine. My Dad went first, half an hour later he returned with hair full of wild life and the largest smile you've ever seen. I couldn’t wait and WOW!!! The car feels completely manageable round town and once it gets past 6,000rpm it goes ballistic! After that experience we had to get an R1 even if it was an expensive addition to an ever increasing build budget. At the end of the summer with the specification finalised we then placed our order with an estimated collection of date in December 2007.