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1st December 2003
One down today... me (St). Things continued (as ever!) without me. However, it must be noted that in our case three heads are much better than two and one... we seem to decide (sometimes aggressively) on a better method or technique. It's all for the benefit of Hellfire so what the... So, things on the agenda were:
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We decided to fit the clutch cable first. We used the original clutch cable from the bike so the radius you see is standard using this method. It was very jiggery pokery fiddley and we discovered that the pedal retaining bushes were oversized on the external diameter. This held the pedal in the "too far back" position. So, to counteract this we filed flats on the bushes, this allowed the pedal to come forward enough to operate the clutch properly. We introduced an adjusting screw here to make for secondary adjustment of the clutch. |
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Once all coupled up including the brake cable banjo everything was tightened up nice and tight making sure there was no friction points to fray or otherwise jeopardize our cable. We then repeated the same process for the accelerator pedal... which was as easy as the clutch... not very! |  |
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The routing of the accelerator meant we had to fit the air-box as this was going to be one of the components that supported the cable... it ended up like this... I hope they remembered to remove the protective towel...
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Once the cables were complete we then decided to fit the pedal stops... looking at the pictures I think we omitted to paint them before they went on despite them being galvanized... the brown you can see is flux (as they were soldered on!) not the iron monster (rust!). So not I have to point out the omission! |
| never the less - all completed they look pretty impressive and not too untidy down there. The less there is to go wrong... the less chance there is for it to... |  |
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Next up the prop-shaft spacer to fix the centre Universal Joint. This was assembled and fitted using the two locating holes in the foot-well. We decided to use this amount of aluminium merely down to load displacement. We have all heard of the dreaded prop break and we figured that if we spread the load more (rather than washers) in the event of a prop failure, the chances of it impaling any of us are much reduced. |
| The spacing is pretty big but we feel that trying to keep the prop in a straight line is best for the joints and balancing properties of the relevant components. This picture is looking from the engine down the prop tunnel (in case you're wondering!) |  |
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2nd December 2003
Continuation of prop UJ Spacers. Continuation of wiring... sidelights (separate left right), reg plate lights, dash lights complete and checked. Connected to permanent live for facility to use 'parking lights' as required for SVA. Completion of Rear Fog light wiring which has only to switch when headlights are on (SVA) Problem with garage door and a 'click, bang whoosh thing which only happens at 22:20 in the evening - so we had to down tools and stand outside in the pissistant rain waiting for 'a sign'. Nothing happened!! Perhaps Dad and Ph have too much time on their hands when I'm not there! Probably... |
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4th December 2003
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6th December 2003
Visit MK - collect stainless exhaust and visit scrapyard for a Rover 200/400 header tank as they are low in height. Manufacture of bracket to mount it on had already taken place during the week. |
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nice little bracket that will hopefully cope with the weight of water in it. |
| mounting of the gear-linkage could take place, although slight repositioning of the brake pressure sender unit would have to be undertaken. The unit was awkward is so much as the sprocket bracket gave best results when mounted in a 'down' position. Location of the gear change lever was quite critical as the lever could very easily touch the propeller shaft which we decided wasn't a very good idea. |  |
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manufactured the lever/interchange link... with rosejoints either end to facilitate movement. |
| looking at the stainless exhaust was like looking at that rough diamond we all see down the street - looks quite poor at the moment... but the potential is limitless...so away I went to work brushing grinding filing polishing - re-polishing - re-polishing etc etc |  |
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while this was being done, the side panel hole was being measured and cut...
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once the exhaust was done, it could be trial fitted... |
| as you can see - the pipe's came up pretty well and the clearance around the side panel worked first time... |  |
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manifold and can all complete - now to complete the fitting of the side panels for us to secure permanently. |
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9th December 2003
Continue with fitting the gear linkage following painting and finishing... this picture shows the gear shaft highlighted, which is slightly bent to avoid contact with the propeller shaft. We used rivnuts to secure the lever bracket - all feels solid at the moment. Time will tell... |
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one of the guys from www.locostbuilders.co.uk has asked for more details on the accelerator/clutch detail so here goes...
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relocate brake pressure sender further out to go around the gear transition... |
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11th December 2003
Continuation of side panel fitting to include the sponge and vinyl cushioned inserts...
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the vinyl was stuck to the sponge with furniture spray upholstery adhesive, then stuck to the side panel using the same. When the side panel is pushed up to the chassis it will give the effect of buttoning (we think!) |
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once stuck the panel was offered up to the chassis and behold it looked pretty good...
while all this was happening I was routing wiring and testing all relevant circuits. Headlights - relays, fuses, indicator, loom, switching complete Began stripping 'blade loom to bones... to extend and adapt for our purposes. Utilising many of the blade safety features as our security features. |
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14th December 2003
Our progress seem s to be dwindling now. However, it isn't our motivation that's lacking, it's just the amount of time it's taking to complete tasks. On the agenda today is:
I continued work on the electrics, stripping down the 'blade loom and removing unnecessary wires. Dad and Ph set to task fitting the rear panel... |
| We were made aware that the fitting of the rear panel was a bit choice. In other words, depending how good you wanted the fit depended very much on the work involved. As we want a very good quality fit we knew we would have work to do. Due to the nature of fiberglass the tolerances are not precise. Therefore a little jiggery pokery was called for. We discovered the panel is too wide to fit around the chassis correctly so we decided to split the panel to obtain a perfect fit to the chassis and provide that flush fit we want for the rear wheel arches. |  |
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As you can see from the picture we made a bit of a boolox trying to get the rear panel to fit so the rear line was horizontal, it simply would not go! To cut a very long story short - we are currently trying to adapt the panel to fit, with some nifty design work!
A number of errors have accumulated to make slow us down - well we were proceeding pretty quick (we think! :-) |
| The roll-bar stays are in a strange position - again we will have to adapt to fit... |  |
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...so, carrying on we used our piece of "T" section aluminium from B&Q we cut off the upper and lowermost section which allowed us to bend the form around the panel. We drilled across the remaining rear section "T" to provide us with more of a key for the PU adhesive to secure to. Once it was filed and made good we decided to failsafe check. Using PU adhesive we began gluing up the panel. |
| we manufactured some flat aluminium to further strengthen the panel on the top most join. After providing the panel with a flat surface we pressed and held everything ion place to allow the PU to seal and make it's presence felt. |  |
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once the PU was on - all that was required was to remove the excess so's it didn't spoil the effect!
Whilst all this was happening - I was busy wiring and relaying the system... happy happy!!! |
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18th December 2003
Agenda for today:
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So now we knew the rear panel was secure and shapely - all that was to do was the other side :-(...
Isn't it great fabricating a part that you know; if you make a mistake; it will hit you just where you need it least at this time of the year - in the pocket! so continuing in now almost traditional style - I continued with the wiring after buying an additional fuse block and indicator relay. The wiring is now probably 70% complete. Ph and Dad continued with the rear panel. |
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anodised aluminium strip gives the car an almost wider look to it - for now. |
| ok, now to the other side - the strip down this side is purely aesthetic, therefore all we need to do is insert the "T" section into the panel. After drilling and sawing we then... |  |
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...make the mating bracket to suit the sawing. |
| once made to suit, we insert the strip into the panel. We need to finalise bending yet and then complete it by PU adhesive once more... |  |
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19th December 2003
After allowing the adhesive to cure following our attempts to ensure the panel lay flat.... was complete we removed our technical weights! With both sides now complete it was time for the final stage of securing the panel together - a layer of fiberglass to further retain the sides which were split! I continued with the wiring (still!) |
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so after mixing up some fibreglass resin and laying down some matting - we were on the final stage of fitting for the rear panel.
Our schedule for Saturday - (MK-day) is to visit and collect information and pay more money for more bits which as yet I don't know as Xmas looms and parties to go to are becoming forever more frequent... ho hum!
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20th December 2003
I know something happened today but as yet I know not what! |
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21st December 2003
On the agenda for today is:
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| Making best use of the garage walls to provide a basis on which we could generate a flat and even force we PU adhesived up the panel then pressed it all into place nice and snug like... |  |
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securing up the front of the panel to the hidden support (a piece of secured aluminium for strength) as this will house the brake flexi-pipe (the small hole in the panel). We used engineer's vice's for this purpose. |
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again I (St) continued with the wiring... seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now... all things are beginning to fall into place... honest! Maintaining our usual high standard of tidyness - we try to keep as much clutter as possible out of the way... |  |
| visited Heathcoates again for a additional 8 way fuses box... the more fuses the better/safer. |  |
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complete rear panel - including this dummy split... just to match up t'other side... PU'd into place makes it all look asymmetrical... me thinks! |
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23rd December 2003
Things on the agenda today:
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first job first - secure roll bar into place permanently using rivnuts bolts and PU adhesive... just to be sure! |
| PU'ing all the way down to the rear stay's... |  |
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once the rollbar was secure we then began marking out for positioning the PU and rivets ensuring the centre of the chassis was hit with the rivets... once all marked up and proven we then... |  |
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PU'd it all up... |  |
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then stuck it into place using clamps, ties, wood... and basically anything else we could hold it into place with whilst the PU adhesive set... and in sub-zero temperature's - it could well be a while... |
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24th December 2003
Visit Heathcoates Auto-electrical for some 20mm2 battery cable for the battery to starter relay, relay to starter motor in red. Also, some of the same in black for earthing chassis to battery negative. Purchase a brake warning fitment as required by SVA for 'low fluid' and 'handbrake'. |
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drop off the cable and use the opportunity to take a few pictures whilst no-one is in the way! |
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27th December 2003
We were on strict instructions that Christmas Day and Boxing Day "THE GARAGE" was off-limits... not that we're under the thumb or anything but - well, you know. We just like to 'go with the flow' - don't rock the boat and all that... so today back to it - full day minus one member - St. We didn't do much today as we were feeling slightly off it - one of the many Christmas bugs going around. So we visited MK... who was open due to his build requirements for 2004! So we called as usual for help and advice and to machine up some top-hats for our headlights which were rather small on the bolt size 3/8" BSF by the look of it and the bar has a 12mm hole so to make it properly we thought we would take this route. We also extended the wires as they were a little short. |
Ok then - on the agenda for today:
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After marking out for the headlight bar - we then proceeded to cut out the U which would eventually fit over the headlight bar. Out of all the tools we have in our arsenal; not many for this purpose; we ended up using the good ol' tile saw. It cuts around corners admirably and the abrasive nature of the glass-fibre doesn't affect the cutting action. |
| Once complete, we have a nice little U which does fit over the headlight bar very well. |  |
| Once this was done - we continued with fitting the headlights using the previously mentioned "top-hats". The headlights used are the chromed little numbers from GTS Tuning - not SVA proven as yet but are E marked so we're hanging our hopes on compliance. |
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30th December 2003
Now everything was coming together we decided to permanently fix the front brake flexi's, we thought they were too long and when the manufacturer lives only a short distance away, and after a call discovered he was open; we decided to have the hoses shortened to 14.5" which gives a little slack on full opposite lock and less slack on full lock. This done and a fancy hose connector and, and, and we cracked on with the snow cone. |
| This picture is of the fitted headlight complete with the yellow "shrink-wrap" tubing in what other colour but yellow... it's not been shrunk on yet as you can see but now everything is in place for this to be done. The flexi's which you can see in the background are the 14.5" one's with the wheels in the dead-ahead position. They have been suitably twisted to allow for them to miss the upper suspension wishbone whilst not twisting under tight lock situation. |  |
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only disadvantage will be the crap picture reflected in the highly polished chrome! |
| We then set to work on securing the front of the Snow Cone - using plain 2mm thick aluminium. This was shaped and bent and cut and formed until we have a neat looking little spoiler type thing. It will indeed have a small spoiler to - which you can see well enough in the picture! The centre section is the securing part which we will be using rivnuts to secure. It seems such a shame that this fine work will eventually be hidden by the front number plate - when we finally obtain one!! |  |
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So with the snow cone in position we can now proceed with drilling the chassis in the correct place to suit the rivnuts/bolts. This will almost complete the front section. However, it will need to be removed again for fitting of the engine cooling pipes and maybe the front indicator's. |
| After our journey to the Hose place, we also picked up some petrol size hosing and some fancy industrial stainless jubilee "type" clips. This together with our fancy aluminium machined petrol lockable fuel filler - we have run into our next dilemma - where to mount the filler cap... after much discussion with MK we arrived at the conclusion that due to the angle/curvature of the pipe bend it was advisable to mount it in a straight up position. MK and a number of other people have experienced difficulty filling when mounted on the rear panel... |  |
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we also managed to find a fancy hose connector for the front fuel hose... |
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so that is basically that for this year - it leaves me with a wish to you all that read this
HAPPY NEW YEAR carry on with your project - don't loose heart or motivation. Without doubt, the three of us have supported each other in a project which we knew wasn't going to be easy. I hope I speak for us all by saying it has enriched our lives knowing now what we didn't know then... and leave you this year with a photo to-date of our build... |
