Our weekly visit to MK with the following agenda:

Collect Bonnet Collect Battery Tray/Bulkhead Collect modified 4x4 propshaft Gather as much information as humanly possible to remember ... arrive home and promptly forget 1/2 of the information just gathered!
We succeeded in a few of the items, namely the Battery Tray and information. The 4x4 propeller shaft apparently cannot be modified successfully enough to justify it's cost. So we collected a standard unit which although very, erm, err.... oxidized, was suitable.

	Also, collected was the bike/propeller shaft adaptor for connection of the propeller shaft to the engine (formerly the engine chain sprocket). The bonnet was available but it wasn't what we required, which was with 'bonnet bulge', so this will have to wait until another day.
Another excellent morning info-gathering as usual, and making acquaintances with fellow MK'ers... to all those we spoke to, thanx for the information so eagerly parted with. It's great to be an MK'er!

 

2nd November 2003

What was yesterday soon became today after a nights sleep... and today we have a whole new agenda:

* Attempt straightening of Fuel/Fuel Filter Pipe.
* Clean down and check Propshaft before assembling and finishing.
* Fabricate a 'Heat Sink' for where the Regulator/Rectifier, Coils and CDI Unit will reside.
* Complete fitting of Handbrake Cable.

Hmm... looking at it this way seems like we have made a 'tall order' for ourselves. Once we got organised we worked well into the night. Perhaps too late but... doesn't time fly when...

Anyway we attacked the Fuel/Filter pipe by heating it up in boiling water after inserting a 9mm drill bit to hold straight. This 'kind of' worked but gave birth to our next plan. Boil the pipe! After 10 minutes of continual heat, then allowing to cool. Removal of the 'bit' left a very straight piece of pipe... we then also fitted the fuel breather pipe and drilled a hole into the mounting plate for neatness.

Part II of our trio was busy making ferrous clouds outside, using our wire brushes on the Propshaft. He was performing a sterling job, probably the best value tools we have purchased was those Lidl Wire Brushes! (Yes... really!)

Propshaft Adapter for Sprocket end	Clean all rust off	Use Jenolite to dissolve rust and prime
	Dad brought some 'Jenolite' and with some of our trusted skepticism, his reassurances of "..of course it'll do the job!" and "it always works for me". We thought we would give it a try... WOW!!! It really does work, it gave us a shock by totally converting/destroying the rust and giving us a lovely clean surface to work with. On went the first layer of Enamel... hmm, looking good already!
Spray with black enamel

Next job after leaving the 'prop' to dry was completing the Handbrake Cable routing... after a long discussion on route which is pretty restricted for choice. We found a use for the rear chassis brackets (formerly for flexi pipe!) drill it out... insert a grommet and use it for securing Handbrake Cable like this:

Drill through the chassis mounted Tag	Insert a Grommet	Thread Handbrake Cable through
Hub Routing of Handbrake Cable	Hub Routing of Handbrake Cable	Handbrake Adjusters
Handbrake balance mechanism

3 November 2003

Agenda for what seems like 'not very long' since we left our new lodgings...

• Assemble Front Suspension in an attempt to get the chassis 'rolling' before the trestles finally 'give' way to what it almost 1/2 tonne!
• Complete Rear Transmission Assembly.
• Fit Brake Reservoir

  Whilst Dad and Part II began Assembling the Front Wishbones and fitting the Prop (as it was getting in the way!) I began finalising fitting of the Rear Transmission. Removing bolts, cleaning up threads of old 'Locktite' and re-assembling to correct torque's. Once I'd completed my task of Transmission I began taking pictures of other things possibly missed...

Off we go mounting the front suspension leg	All done	Fitted brake master cylinder
Fitted Micra Fan	Fitted Headlight Bar	Placed insert into upright (Note the insert hole is nearer the front!)

Assembly of upper trackrod insert - note position of leading and trailing edge. This is quite important for handling to face the machined diameters touching to the front of the car. as M. Keenan says himself it is made like this to rectify the angle of camber or toe away from the McPherson Strut as this suspension method uses wishbones so this angle needs to be as near to 0 (zero) as possible. It is a design feature to improve handling!

While this was happening - I was fitting the brake reservoir...

As bonfire night approaches - this will almost conclude this week's assembly.

4 November 2003

Exchange bolts for suspension as the ones supplied were strangely not long enough. Perhaps we had used the sussy bolts for shocker bolts, maybe.

Ordered 4 brake disc's from Car Parts Direct. Front (260mm) Vented, Drilled and Grooved. Rear 253mm Solid, Drilled and Grooved. Manufactured by Rossini, they certainly look the part, but time will tell if they perform good or not. For the same price I could have got some Black Diamond equivalent disc's. With hindsight, I should have gone for the Black Diamond disc's due to their reputation and market leading performance. We all make mistakes... depends how bad the mistake goes through time, as to whether I'll be 'black balled' for my place on the "Hellfire Board" or not ;-)

Although these are sales pictures it gives some idea what they look like. Later I will be posting the actual pictures on here! I eagerly await delivery!

6 November 2003

Disc's arrived today - great now we have something to do tonight! Hehe.. together with a few other things like:

Sierra Rear Disc	Sierra Front Disc	Upright Fitted
Rear Caliper Assembly Fitting	Rear Braking System Fitted	Front braking system fitted

• Complete assembly of front suspension - exchange bolts collected from MK.
• Fit front and rear disc's
• Complete Handbrake Cable fitting.
• Complete Steering Rack Assembly

Dad decided he couldn't work tonight due to his back having 'gone', so just the two of us tonight then. We decided to get cracking with fitting the disc's and calipers as we really need to lower the car off of the tressles. We are becoming increasingly worried about the stability of the Car (?) on these items. So on we went... assembling the front suspension units:

8 November 2003

Our usual visit to MK Engineering with our very small agenda:

Picked up front upper ball-joint locknut. A special size of thread not available off-the-shelf. Enquire about the lower ball-joint castellated nut as we didn't get these off the donor car, silly lads! So, it's back to the scrap-yard for these or buy new lower ball-joints - which @ £18/pair was our last option.

We also discussed with Mr. MK the problem of our broken engine lug. As a thoroughly nice guy, he suggested we remove engine and take it down to him, he would sort it out on Sunday being as he was designing and building his new GT2.

I know he reads this site regularly so thanks Martin you're a star!

So following the T.I.G., drill and tap we should be in a position to replace our manifold studs properly.

Being as Dad has done in his back and brother had a hangover, I had to relent to working today until 3~4pm when we could put our car on milk bottle crates and get rid of the very insecure trestles.

3:00pm - saw us lowering the Car onto the milk-bottle crates which made it a whole lot more stable. It's surprising how strong the crates actually are. So strong in fact two people could sit in the chassis in situ!

9th November 2003

	Out with the worms this morning... taking the engine down to a 'close personal friend' who offered to rectify the broken exhaust manifold lug. Things moved on at quite a pace, but we were very anxious when out came the angle grinder and totally removed the lug. It wasn't what we expected at all! However, we knew the remainder of the existing manifold stud had to be removed as much as possible so this seemed to be the easiest way.
Grinding took place until all was left was a small 'ring' at the bottom of the lug.
	We then attempted to remove what was remaining of the steel stud by drilling further into the lug.
Then came the T.I.G. welding with Magnesium/aluminium alloy which we think was for increase strength whilst retaining the lightness of aluminium.

	This is the broken stud in it's rebuilt state...
This could then be ground down to make way for the core drilling to suit an 8mm tapping set.
	Once the core drilling had taken place - we then proceeded to tap out the remainder of the mounting lug
Until we finally return to where we were before the stud split...

	Following completion of the exhaust manifold lug the engine could now be dressed up to a presentable state...
It didn't take an overunthusiastic dresser to discover a weak oil cooler branch!!! This simply came away while wire-brushing... although upon examination it was evident that it had been leaking quite badly before we broke it off. So, another job to do - remove the casting and replace with a new/2nd hand one!
	Once this task was complete - starting on mounting the CDI Rectifier/Regulator and Coils was next... mounting them on our specially designed 'Heat Sink' for maximum cooling.		We positioned the coils so as to allow easy routing for the HT Leads whilst also getting some of the cooling from the 'heatsink plate'...

10 October 2003

Not lots to do tonight as we need plenty of bits now... could not find a replacement Oil Cooling Casting. All my searches did not come to fruition... but on my travels I did come across one 'bad a*se' bike dealer, one called Ken Urwin - based in Thorne, Doncaster. Maybe he had experienced a bad day, 'cos he treat me like I was something stuck to his shoe that smelled very badly. If he reads this (which I hope he will!) maybe he will treat his customers much better in the future... maybe?

I asked for the said Oil Cooler - he said "...new £40, second hand £1000 as the Kit Car boys want these badly. They break all the time, so I'll sell it you with the engine. I'm not taking it off the engine. Weld it up..." I replied, "it is quite badly corroded", his answer of "you're not listening are you - I said weld it up"... by the time he had said this to me a few times to be honest I had heard enough. I walked out with the thought that I would never set foot in that place again if my life depended on it. So, anyone around this area beware...

Many, many chat's about the method we were going to employ for retaining the clutch/accelerator pedals and we have arrived at a novel idea which is easy, quick, light, virtually invisible and adjustable. To be posted soon...

We re-tightened the front wishbones and placed locknuts...

Final coated the pedals to look something like better...

12 November 2003

Exchange XR4x4 disc's for XR4i disc's from the friendly man at Car Parts Direct, treated us very well. Recommend this guy whole heartedly!

14 November 2003

By the time the main men had arrived... said personage had decided he could "twiddle thumb" no longer. The front disc's had miraculously decided to 'fit' themselves - apparently! Must admit though, looked pretty darn good... all fitted and correct. Correct offset this time and they even had a fixing screw which we could not fit due to the hubs being original standard sierra's, so I guess the XR4i hubs had the mating screwed thread. Never mind...

...so tonight what was on the agenda - hmm, not much. We were waiting for the side panels and rear panel still so other things had to be done. We were also having difficulty locating up-rated clutch springs manufactured by Barnett, as most people seem to swear by these, so we thought we could not go far wrong using that experience.

• Manufacture brake pedal reinforcing plate.
• Manufacture bracket to mount fuse box(s) and relays.
• Discuss plans for our usual visit to MK.

Began to fabricated a bracket wide enough to accept our 8 fused box. Mounting the bracket from scuttle under-brace to front of front bulkhead/battery tray. These were placed here to hopefully keep away from flying knees, also to avoid wiring being caught by awkward boots/shoes. Within easy access in case fuses actually blow, it seems a popular place to locate the fuse box for obvious reasons it being behind the battery! Whilst I was fabricating these brackets, Dad and Ph were manufacturing a reinforcing plate to go underneath the brake pedal tag.

	...okay so this picture is mid-build, but you get the drift of what they were trying to achieve! This was blind riveted from underneath so as to retain the smooth surface of the under-floor pan. Also this protects the steel pin which remains in the rivet. It may also increase our Coefficient of Drag by 0.000001 which may give us 0.0001 mph more - maybe? Maybe not!
for some strange reason Ph seemed to have lots more time on his hands than maybe (?) the rest of us - in true Ph style he decided to take his perfection levels to an 'all-time-high' by manufacturing a special rubber foot - come softener, to go on the brake pedal adjuster. Not that I'm complaining you understand; but I ask you: Is this the work of a busy man? Hmm... I'll let you answer that one yourselves!
	ok then - time taking a beating and more discussions than working. But, this is a good thing as to plan is to succeed, and succeeding only comes with a plan. Our fuse box mounting bracket's were almost complete and looking good. Also, the fabricated bracket mounting's would hold our relays...
like so... This allows for minimal cable routing and keeps all the wiring central and within easy reach. Following this we began to discuss the MK visit and requirements for the next phase of build. Dad had to manufacture bush's and spacer's, whilst I went shopping for other bits and pieces required: HT Leads Internal lining material Exhaust Manifold bolts Spray Adhesive Should keep me busy... for a while!

15 November 2003

Our regular visit to MK on Saturday always fills us with joy. Today, was no exception! We collected and made loads of things... due to Dad being ever-so-slightly good at turning, he bagged for that! So on today's agenda was the following:

* Collect Side Panels
* Collect Rear Panel
* Make spigot adaptor ring
* Make 'top hats' for clutch and accelerator foot-well tubes.

All this was being done while I St; was 'shopping' for other 'car bit's':

* HT Leads
* Internal lining material
* Exhaust Manifold Bolts
* Spray Adhesive

Had a cracking day in Doncaster whilst doing so...

16 November 2003

We managed to (hopefully) re-claim our oil cooler casing by a 'close personal friend' who welded it all up after much to-ing and fro-ing. With all our newly acquired bits - we could once again start on anew, and get things really moving... the end of the tunnel was finally in sight despite our little set-back's!
	So armed with our 'top hats' we decided to fit these to complete the pedal linkage... however, things as usual didn't quite go to plan. We had to mount the drill in our vice, spin it up and remove the excess material with a file... not a proper engineer's job - despite the digital vernier. But, how else could we do it? We persisted doing it this way until it finally fitted and then we repeated the process for the other pedal...

before we even knew it - Ph had slipped on the side panels and was admiring the result... it was beginning to look more and more like a boat!

finally we had both units in place...

next job up was to complete the rear bulkhead panel... this comes already 'rough-cut' all you need to do are trim it to your own standard of fit. As we like to do things to excess perhaps... we we're going to use large head rivets to secure the said plate into position... so we placed the bulkhead into position and marked out the rear chassis spar's so's we could easily drill into our target material easier...

to make things a little easier we tried to 'bend' the rear bulkhead in position with a length of timber... it never really did put a crease in but then it fit the top chassis member better and this would reduce buttoning of the aluminium when riveted.

next we began marking out for the rivet locations... to keep rivets equi-spaced, the rivets worked out between 88~120mm spacing. Once completely marked out we drilled all holes 5mm followed by deburring. This was then offered into the chassis whereby we could mark out and drill the chassis. We noticed that to the rear centre of the bulkhead the section above the transmission tunnel was very weak as there was no support to it - so we fabricated a piece of 3mm thick aluminium to fasten to the chassis and support the bulkhead by means of an additional rivet and Texflex... the only problem being we had to shorten a rivet...

once this was complete we began 'popping' the rivets in... things soon began to drift nasty again, as we noticed the rivet-gun had begun to protest with a small tell-tale crack around the head. It's such a shame really about the rivet gun as this has been a pain in the *aris* since we bought it. Considering it has only rivetted 150 times we did expect better - never again will we buy an eclipse rivet gun - they are truly NAF when faced with hard work!

...however, the reinforcing bracket was secured and operative - it makes the rear panel much less flexible. Needs a good fettle and paint, but idle hands make for...

a result - the rear bulkhead was fixed, secured and in place - albeit to a few rivets where the rivet gun eventually won it's argument and resigned from service! The rear bulkhead now look's the business, shame it's going to be covered with seats!

now onto cutting out the side panels - using a hacksaw we began cutting out for the roll-bar screws... this saw together with a 'tile saw' for cutting around corners gave us the perfect fit...

nicely done it - all the side panels were then clipped up and secured for us to begin cutting out for the interior trim... we decided to use leatherette (plastic/vinyl to you or me) - and some type of padding. I was advised by a 'foam man' against using standard foam as: It rot's It's terrible to glue straight without creases. The skinned type which we required was quite expensive. It doesn't like being glued to anything. ...so even though he was a 'foam man' he advised me to go over the road to "Army Surplus" and buy two camping mats... the flat roll up kind! They (apparently) are much better for bonding and easier to work with. He has fitted this onto dashboards in car's and all sorts of odd mouldings to flatten profile's... who am I to argue? so away we went cutting out the sponging and trim until it was almost Monday...

time had really flown by - so we decided to clear up a little - fitting the rear panel was just one way of putting it together for a photo opportunity... ;-)

16 November 2003

Ordered heavy duty clutch springs - following extensive research and advice, we decided to replace the standard spring with one from the USA made by Barnett. These were supplied by a company called PDQ in Maidstone for £13.76 including P&P+VAT.

17 November 2003 Springs which I ordered yesterday arrived today - fantastic service PDQ!. Completed the cutting of trim and sponge ready to be fitted. Re-placed the oil-cooler casing after cleaning up and rubbing down the mating surfaces... refitted the engine into position... rubbed away at lumps and bumps on the inner surface of the fiberglass for it to sit correctly... As you may be able to see the 'masking tape' on the picture above... this is where the rear panel will be SPLIT. The rear panel is approximately 25mm too wide, which will create an angle between this panel and the side panels. By splitting the panel we can remove the 25mm and gain a flat surface on which our rear wheel arches will be fitted. This should hopefully negate the need for piping etc to fill the gap... we shall see!

Drill to suit Rivnut	Check Rivnut fits	Compress Rivnut into place	Check Rivnut has pulled down
		After removing all relevant panels we could fit a rivnut, file a nice 'U' shape into the side panel then offer up the panels. With a little mechanic's license (half round file) we adapted all panels to fit flush. Repeat the operation on 't other side. Offer up the battery tray/bulkhead and discover there is 1" too much intrusion into engine bay - after some discussions, we arrived at a plan, which we can't tell you here as it is still top-secret!
Relieve Scuttle around Rivnut Heads	Until the scuttle sits flat on the chassis

21 November 2003

YELLOW Spark Plug Leads which I ordered yesterday - arrived this morning. Excellent service PDQ... can't say it enough to recommend them high enough.

Drain oil ready for replacement of new up-rated Barnett Clutch Springs and relocation of sump-plug.

22 November 2003

Tried to quickly fit the Plug Lead... hmm looks like it's not suppressed. Not good for Mr SVA man! Also the diameter seems to be too large to fit into the coils/boots. Our assumption that 7mm and 8mm will fit into the same coil/boot appears to be wrong... now there is an alternative - order some 7mm we know is suppressed too! Maybe another mistake - but not such a costly one... we hope!

Remove oil sump ready for modification of the drain plug. As clearance is by no means "4x4 like" we preferred to relocate the said plug to the side of the sump so giving us a valuable 12~13mm extra. Once again "close personal friend" came to our rescue - as always - a BIG THANKS!!!

23 November 2003

Sunday morning, and a cool one at that. The winter temperatures are now dropping down to a level where outside working is painful... good job we're inside then!

On today's agenda:

• Fit bulkhead
• Paint none friction part of brake disc.
• Drill, Tap and generally clean up and paint sump pan.
• Fit up-rated clutch springs.

Cleaned up gasket paper from oil sump and clutch cover plate faces. What a job! Lot's of scratchy scratchy... taking care not to deform or gouge out any material. Then generally clean it all up internally and externally ready to have the external side HT painted, ('cos we had some left). Then set to work on de-gasketing the mating parts on the engine!

Remove sump of Fireblade Engine to relocate the oil sump plug.

So once the old plug had been welded up it could be replaced on the side of the sump. This helps increase ground clearance

Whilst we had the oil out and some covers off we made use of the situation by replacing the old standard clutch springs with the uprated one's we had bought some time ago. The uprated springs were longer at 47mm and the wire diameter was increased from 2.5mm diameter to 2.7mm diameter. This increases clutch pressure thereby reducing the slipping problem normally associated with using this engine in a car of this type.

Now to fitting the bulkhead... as the cable's are renown to cease up in the outer sheath's due to the heat drying up the grease etc it is becoming common practice to split the bulkhead to allow for easier repair of the cables. So we marked out the rear-side of the panel using marker,

Using a pad saw we began to saw along the marked line following the line closely as it was effectively the centre of the chassis tube. Once split we put back the panel ensuring the gap was closed again...

then we tape is all up again using masking tape... looks great eh? once this is done we began to profile the outside to the scuttle line making for a clean presentable edge which would eventually become two parts of the same panel.

keep filing away until the desired shape has taken effect... marking out for the stainless steel button heads next, making them equi-spaced again of high importance for the good overall effect we required. We then proceeded to drill 3 hole along the split line, so that when it was secured the bolt and washer would hold down both halves of the panel.

As the down-split was going to be unsupported we thought it best to manufacture a small plate which would restrict lateral movement of the bulkhead, This could be supported by the chassis cross member and scuttle. Ph came up with a novel idea of making a simple low stress captive nut system which would work for our application in hand. Firstly drill a hole 0.5mm larger than the "Across Flats" diameter of the nut.

Tape the nut onto the back of the metal, using the tapered corners as a lead in	Place taped unit into the vice and tighten up until strong resistance is felt	Remove the unit, identify the nut has been punched into the metal.	Remove tape and check integrity of nut inside the metal.

Following on from this - we marked out the rough centre of the sump plug location and drilled through using a suitable diameter drill to suit our bolt. Ensure the drill is flat and square to the face being used to seal.

Using white spirit to lubricate it didn't take long for the drill to break through.

Once completely through we then tapped the size for the bolt we required. We also made up an aluminium sump disc to help seal the sump plug.

Following this we then used up some of the golden caliper paint left over from the calipers... this will help protect the sump from corrosion.