3rd August 2003
Well……. they do say tomorrow never comes!!! An early start, (08:30 – early enough for me!) on a beautiful Sunday morning and the butchering continued. The V5 for the car had arrived in the post the previous day and the details on it showed we had acquired the 2.9i V6 as opposed to the 2.8i. Hopefully this might improve our prospects of selling the engine and gearbox on afterwards.
After a brief discussion about where to start, we jacked the back of the car up and commenced removal of the exhaust system from the end of the manifold, to gain access to the prop-shaft. This proved to be quite difficult, but we persevered and slowly, millimetre by millimetre, the exhaust parted company with the manifold. Great!! Exhaust removed, we could now start attacking the rear section of the prop-shaft where it connects to the diff. Removal of the four retaining bolts which connect prop-shaft to diff and then the rubber mounting bracket on the CV joint together with removal of bolts at the gearbox end and we had ourselves one number prop-shaft. Following the prop-shaft we then removed the steering column which was a straight forward job. Next we removed the rear brake callipers from the hubs. Disks removed, we attempted to loosen the large retaining nuts on the hub. They wouldn’t budge, and as we didn’t have anything bigger to try and remove the hub nuts we smothered them with WD40 and left it to do it’s magic as we next attacked the drive-shafts, where connected to the diff. The torx bolts on the offside drive-shaft were removed quite easily and the drive-shaft lowered. However, the nearside unit proved slightly more difficult and there was one torx bolt which simply would not budge despite copious amounts ofWD40 (as is always the case!) Eventually we used brute force to remove the bolt but unfortunately we snapped the torx bit, so we had to resort to sawing the head of the bolt halfway through and breaking it off with a hammer and chisel. This done, we then started to remove the bolts which held the diff. After lots of “To you, to me, to you, to me, to me, to you” The Chuckle Brothers eventually managed to lower and extract the diff.
We marked the diff and checked the ratio by turning the input flange and counting the number of revolutions required to complete one full turn of the output. This confirmed the diff ratio as 3.62:1.
As we no longer had the requisite torx bit to remove the drive-shafts from the rear hubs, nor the hub spanner to remove the hub nut, we disconnected the brake master cylinder and called it a day.
4th August 2003
We loosened the hub nuts with a big ‘f**k off’ hub nut spanner (courtesy of MK Engineering) and collected a steering rack from the local scrappers.
5th August 2003
Hub nuts loosened the previous day, we set about removing the drive-shafts completely. Straightforward job after soaking overnight in WD40. Once these were off, we removed the hub bolts connecting the hub to the carrier and slowly tapped the hubs off with a hammer.
ALL PARTS REMOVED, REFURBISHMENT COULD NOW BEGIN!
7th August 2003
Cleaned diff with diesel to dissolve oil and grunge, wire brushed rear hubs and rear callipers, steering rack and prop-shaft. We attempted to free a seized piston in the front nearside calliper, after soaking for a few days in WD40, but to no avail. Eventually we got frustrated and instead of blowing it out, tried tapping it out gently with a screwdriver and hammer. Unfortunately this snapped the ring off the end of the piston. As the piston on the other calliper was also in bad condition, we decided to save ourselves some time, bin the callipers and source some new or reconditioned ones.
8th August 2003
Rear callipers bead blasted.
9th August 2003
Another trip to MK engineering on Saturday and our front calliper problem was resolved. Martin had a pair of brand new front callipers complete with pads for £45 a side. We agreed these were the ones we would go for as opposed to reconditioned ones and left the prop-shaft with him for modifications.
12th August 2003
Having sourced some gold two-pack calliper paint from Larkspeed, we set about painting the rear callipers. Two coats later and they looked the dog’s danglies.
17th August 2003
We had arranged to go to the Harrogate Kit Car Show this weekend to hopefully pick up some bits and get some ideas/inspiration from other builders. We had also arranged to view a 1995 RRS Fireblade Engine in Leeds on the Sunday morning on the way up. The fella wanted £800 for the engine and we had set ourselves a maximum price we were willing to pay of £750. The engine looked very nice. It was dynojetted and fitted with a K&N filter. It had the entire wiring loom attached, together with fuel pump, airbox, coils, CDI, regulator/rectifier, engine mounting bolts and had done 11,000 miles. He showed us the V5 and we checked the engine numbers. Everything matched, even down to the mileage on the original clocks! (He was selling these separately, for £85). We found out the fella was going on holiday for a week that same afternoon and we were sure he would come down the £50 and maybe even throw in the clocks. How wrong we were. He wouldn’t budge on price and flatly refused to negotiate, so we stubbornly left in the hope that he would shout us back, or phone us, to accept our offer before he left for his holiday………………… He didn’t.
We arrived at the show and had a good wander around. There were a few component and parts stalls, but nothing to shout about and certainly not as many as we were hoping might be present. However, there was a good selection of kit cars there and we eventually left with a few ideas and a couple of magazines to show for the day.
18th August 2003
Engine paint bought and front callipers collected from MK today. We also viewed another Fireblade engine in Doncaster. It was a 1994 RRR. The guy was originally asking £750 but the engine was very sparse and didn’t have many bits with it. He acknowledged that lots of parts were required to get it into a kit car and said he would be prepared to accept £600. (And that was without even trying!) The mileage could not be verified but we were told it had done approximately 24,000 miles. We told him we would source availability and cost of the other parts required and let him know. We mulled over the two options available to us and decided that it would be too much hassle, just to save a few quid, sourcing all the parts for this engine and that the engine in Leeds was a far better option all round. So…….. Humble pie eaten, we contacted the guy in Leeds again to see if the engine was still available. Fortunately it was. We told him we would pay the £800 he wanted, but only if he threw in the clocks as well. He agreed. He told us that his mate had a spare set of keys for the garage where it was stored and if we contacted him, he would arrange for us to collect it.
19th August 2003
So, off we went to Leeds again! We arrived at 19:30, waited for the guy until 20:00, parted with our hard-earned and loaded up the engine, together with as many other bits as we could get for free including; radiator and hoses and various nuts and bolts, which we probably don’t need and won’t use (You just feel as though you’ve got more for your money!) and set off back down the M1.
21st August 2003
Paint out again and two coats applied to new front callipers. Rear hubs wire brushed again and then dismantled and soaked in paraffin to dissolve old grease from bearings and generally clean them up ready for loading with new grease. Diff still looked a bit grubby and was not quite ready for painting. The trouble is - it is such a damned awkward shape to clean. It is quite difficult to remove the grunge, lurking in the various hollows, with a wire brush, so we decided to obtain a wire brush drill attachment set (Lidl’s special offer of the week at £1.99 for a set of six) and tackle it with these.
23rd August 2003
In order to accommodate the MK during its build, it was decided that as we only had one garage between us, this would have to be the place of construction. It was our only option, and with delivery of the chassis looming, now was the time to tackle the job of renovation. The roof had been totally replaced a few weeks earlier, so at least it was dry. The place however, was full of clutter, so we set about sorting out all the junk and taking it to the local dump-it site. It’s always difficult when throwing anything away (More so when you’re a Yorkshireman!) So to make the task easier, we agreed that if an object hadn’t been used/needed for the previous three years and had no immediate future use, we would bin it. The remaining clutter would then have to be either stored away neatly, or found a new home (i.e. Loft, other people’s garages/sheds etc.) When the garage was empty, we sprayed the interior with white paint and installed three additional strip lights to provide more light.
24th August 2003
Work continued on the garage, spraying the remaining areas white and then giving the walls a second coat of paint. This is when we discovered a rare ‘albino wood louse’. Just as we were about to phone National Geographic to report it, we realised it was just a common wood-bug sprayed with paint! Anyway, I digress!!
We had attempted to source some drawers for storage, from a local car boot sale that same morning but had no joy. However, later that day we discovered some wardrobes and a set of drawers on someone’s front garden with a sign, stating “Free for collection”. What a stroke of luck! .... A quick measure up revealed that they would need butchering in order to fit under the workbench in the garage, so we arranged collection. Three hours later, we had them chopped down to size and fitted neatly under the workbench providing storage. Next job…….. Carpet floor painting!
26th August 2003
Floor paint purchased. Strip lights wired, powered and switched on today. (You may have noticed your lights dim during an episode of Eastenders, due to the power surge on the national grid!!)
7th August 2003
Rear hubs and diff painted today – Starting to look good.
28th August 2003
Drive-shaft boots ordered. Front callipers re-assembled. Work continued in garage, putting up shelving unit and ANOTHER strip light over the workbench.
30th August 2003
Continued working on the garage, connecting light over workbench, installing another double power socket and making the whole place as weather-tight as possible. Where the metal garage door met with the concrete floor, there was a gap which ran from half an inch on one side, to about two inches at the other, and due to undulations in the concrete drive, rainwater would pool just outside and slightly into the garage. This had always been a minor problem, ever since we had moved into the house, but now that the garage would be our home for the foreseeable future, we decided to do something about it.
We screwed a length of wood to the floor just inside and about half an inch higher than the bottom of the garage door (After packing it with spacers to make it horizontal) We then applied PVA to the surfaces, mixed some mortar and formed a four inch ramp, either side of the timber. The remaining mortar was used to infill the slight hollow just outside, to prevent rainwater from ponding.
31st August 2003
With the garage now watertight and vastly draught-proofed, we left the mortar to cure before painting the whole floor and continued with refurbishment of the drive-shafts. After wire brushing the whole assemblies to remove any surface rust, dad set to with the circlip pliers and before we knew it, had removed the constant velocity joint, without having first marked its position in relation to the splined shaft as described in the maintenance manual. DISASTER!! We looked at the other drive-shaft unit to figure out if we could replicate the positions of the constant velocity joints. Our conclusion however, was that at some time in its past, the driveshaft outer gaiters had been replaced and the drive-shaft re-assembled incorrectly (although we couldn’t be sure for certain) so there was no point in replicating the positions.
After a lengthy discussion about how CV joints should work, we continued and marked the other three joints in relation to the shaft and stripped them. We then cleaned out the old grease inside the units and rinsed them out with paraffin. Whilst the shafts were bare we sprayed them up silver. Next job was to repack the housings with grease, as supplied with the kit. We’ve never laughed so much for years………. We took it in turns, using our fingers, to poke 80 grams of grease into the orifices. After our first attempt, we reckoned it was virtually impossible to get all the grease into the unit, but by the time we’d completed the fourth we had perfected it…………. Typical! We re-assembled both drive-shafts complete with new boots and decided to get advice on the positions of the constant velocity joints at either side in relation to each other.
The Sierra donor vehicle had been advertised on e-Bay the previous week and had sold for £110. The guy was collecting it today. As the vehicle wasn’t rolling, we came up with the idea of inserting a length of old scaffold tube through the rear hub carriers and placing the wheels on the pole through their centres. This required drilling the tube and inserting a piece of steel bar to retain the wheels. This worked a treat and when the guy arrived, it was easily winched up the ramps, onto his trailer, and away it went. Not bad, we reflected…………… the car cost us £125, we sold it for £110, so the cost of all the bits we now had was £15.