The show did go on!

Welcome back. So you'll no doubt be delighted to hear the car made it to the show, and was the belle of the ball!

There was a last minute dash to get a few things on Friday, car covers, extension leads for the trailer lights etc but it all came together in the end and we towed the legend up using the disco on Friday night after work.

When we arrived, after unpacking from the trailer, it would have been rude not to take it for a little spin! It was also the the first time it's ever been driven faster than about 10mph, so clearly I was itching to out some miles on. Unfortunately the weather came in pretty rotten, and Emma got fed up of the gravel and drizzle shower effect...

 So then we put it on the stand

Lookin good! Especially after Peter Lathrope master valeter gave it the once over

Next day saw a lot of interest, and I had some really great feedback and some nice comments. Very rewarding experience! Certainly makes the effort worthwhile.

Peter was also jolly kind and gave the car a once-over from an IVA point of view. I've now got a big list of things to sort!! Nothing too major, mostly finishing bits like sharp edges that need tidying, wishbones are back to front, and the exhaust is upside down (lambda sensors poking out) see Peter... Told you I would 'fess up to my lovely blog readers!!! (He bet me I wouldn't own up to you guys)

One very proud owner!

The show itself was quite good, although not the best it's ever been - recession might be taking its toll on people's disposable income, hope for the industry's sake it picks up again. Got a few tools, few bits to finish the car with, and a few of the kit car mags semi-interested in doing a feature on my car. Plus it was good to see Peter again and have a good old natter. What that guy doesn't know about these kits, isn't worth knowing!!

He even very kindly corrected my dodgy panel beating and made it look neater on the edges.

(The master at work)

Everyone loved the colour too, which I was obviously delighted about.

As Emma had other things to do, Day 2 Trev accompanied me and we both had a good nose around. Saw some interesting things, some completely bonkers things, and a few nifty ideas. Quite like a motorbike intercom thingy with Bluetooth and MP3 playback that goes inside a race helmet - might ask Santa for one...

So then , late on Sunday, the time came to pack up. Sight panic when the car didn't start, although later realised that was just a wire we'd unplugged to neaten the engine bay. Easily resolved, I like those fixes. Time for another blast around the outside and car park, well it would be rude not to whilst I could!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=195FByLb4sE

 

 Shortly after that one of the rad hoses popped off and sprayed coolant all over the front of

the car. That was the end of the fun for that day! I'm glad it did, as I'd wanted all the

weaknesses to come out in the relatively "safe" environment of having the car trailer

just yards away.

Unfortunately this has also highlighted that this particular 328 engine is perhaps not the best.

It hesitates quite badly, is misfiring at low rpm, and was only doing 0-60 in around 6 or 7 seconds. Zippy it might be, but not fast. We all know what that means then, time to save up for an M3 engine :-)

Arrived back safe later that evening, despite this "monster storm" making its way across the south coast.

Great weekend, just need to finish off the last few jobs and then start to think about IVA!!

Thanks for reading...

The Show Must Go On!

Hi and welcome back.

It's been a very productive week / couple of days and happy to report that essentially the car is about ready for the big show.

I took a conscious decision to finish the cosmetic bits, basically everything that people will see, so getting the scuttle, bonnet, nosecone sorted etc.

Painting first, in the end I bottled out of doing it in my garage because the temperature was very "hit and miss" and It was too great a risk. A mate of mine let me into his work after hours, they have a fully functioning spray painting booth, so I utilised that for the usual fee ( up to 5 packs of chocolate digestives in case you're keeping score). He was very keen do it for me.... and whilst it would have bought me some extra time, I was adamant that I would be doing everything on this car, so I'm not going to wimp out at the last minute! Glad I did, because this is some of my best work yet, and the nose cone turned out acceptable in the end. 

First thing I did was chuck them all on the car...

Very orange! Might need to tone that down, but I have a cunning plan to add a bit of black contrast to it... Watch this space

Also note the new rear lights, in their final position, albeit not wired up.

Next job, install nose cone. Fairly easy as I'd Pre-drilled the holes. Just bent the tabs back and job done

Then turned attention to fitting out the scuttle. Instrument panel first

The foam doesn't half make a mess, it gets everywhere, but I suppose you won't see it. 

After that, the rest of the shiny bits

Ended up with a bit of a gap underneath the instruments, which I'm not too happy about, so will need to find some way of filling / sealing that doesn't look too naff.

I did start to try connecting up some of the switches at that point, but promptly blew a fuse and decided it wasn't worth rushing and it can wait until after the show.

I used rivnuts on the upright face of the scuttle and attached that to the ally bulkhead.

Finally, bolt all the panels in place and grace the nose with its glorious badge, hey presto- ready for the show!

Next couple of days, the focus shifted to making sure it goes on the trailer and can be secured, trailer lights working, sourcing a car cover etc.

Had to use a bottle jack on the ramp to get the exhaust to clear, but apart from that it drives straight on and off, which is ideal. The trailer was a sound investment.

Tied down and ready to go...

So we're pretty much ready for the show now and about 86% complete overall! And as a happy coincidence, the remaining jobs to completion aren't that much - wire up lights, roll cage and seat belts, riveting the transmission tunnel together, tidy up wiring and fix the air filter in place - and that is pretty much it! (Pesky clutch notwithstanding)

It's crept up quick, but might need to think seriously about IVA now....

Thanks for reading

Cycle wings sorted, bending bonnet...

So this week, in case you were wondering where the cliff hanger would take you... I went for the "sorting the fibre glass" bits.

I started by fitting the cycle wings proper:

Both fairly straightforward, although the wing piping on the rear was a new and interesting challenge. Think I got the best of it, although at the top I need a larger profile piping as it doesn't quite fill the gap. That's a "tomorrow job" though. Good enough for today.

(The rag is for decorative effect)

Next up, starting to fettle the scuttle. Earlier in the week I knocked up a quick drawing and printed it 1:1scale, which proved the perfect template for drilling:

Holes drilled, buttons fit nicely

(The missing one is for a horn which is on order - don't want to have to rely on the steering wheel button, as the plan has various options for steering Pre and post IVA, some for which may or may or may not have horn buttons etc.)

Mirrors next:

(Cheesy grin reflected back : check)

And so, the next big task would be sorting the bonnet, but that would have to wait until the weekend.

I was cautious about this step, after all you only get one shot at this! And it's incredibly visible once done.

I sought lots of advice, and the best seemed to come from Peter, who told me about marking datums for the radii, and then utilising cylinders of appropriate diameters for the scuttle end and nose cone end. Well, here goes nothing...

(Use of large CO2 bottle at the nose cone end)

Seemed to work exceptionally well, big thanks to Trev for the extra pair of hands and helpful suggestions - both of which were testament to the overall successful result.

(Trev's grin summarises the success of the moment - looking good)

A few more tweaks, bends, dressing with the file, and fitting the bonnet catches ( and removing the horrendously sticky nitto Dento tape... Glad to see the back of that stuff!) and the result looks like this:

Delighted with the look so far.

So Sunday was about painting these bits.

Unfortunately that didn't go quite to plan, as I was running behind time, and decided that using an air-powered sander would speed things up. ( Each and every single panel I had rubbed down by hand previously, very tedious and labour intensive). However, as I found afterwards, the sander tended to scuff and "chatter" at the surface, rather than smoothly remove material. So unfortunately it ruined the surface of the nosecone :-( and I didn't realise until I had blown the dust away from the very last section. This meant me having to do the whole thing again, by hand, with a coarser grit sand paper and work up, through various grades and guide coats of satin black. Instead of saving time, it actually cost me about double, which is incredibly annoying to say the least! I finished up by getting some primer on, but still not sure whether I've successfully covered up my error. Oh well, time will tell. Best invest in shares in a body filler supply company before the next blog post...

Doubt the photo shows it, but this is the nose cone towards the last few coats. I've optimistically put quite a few coats on (6) in the hope it will rub back smooth

The motivation to get the painting finished is driven by the weather- now its October it is getting colder all the time. Even today, at ambient temperature of 15°C it was taking far longer for the primer to go off, about 30-40 minutes, whereas in the height of summer at 23°C it was no more than 10mins. I think there's about another 2 weeks left before it gets too cold to spray, and you start getting weird effects like blooming and crazing/cracking. So fingers crossed I can get it done in time!

To add to the misery, whilst the primer was drying I drove the car around the yard a bit, it was running really rough. First problem was of my own doing - took the air filter and MAF off to fit the bonnet,(d'oh) after re-fitting the MAF and vacuum pipes it settled down a bit, but still was lumpy and misfiring. Oh and the clutch is still iffy.  Humph.

So, still lots to do. Against the original list of jobs, I'm 81% complete, but the snagging list is presently growing!!!!

Check back next time and hopefully there will be more fortuitous tales to be told. Still having a wonderful time though, and the light at the end of the tunnel is definitely visible. It's true what they say - the worst day in the garage is still better than the best day at the office!!

A Vicious Cycle (Wing)

Greetings. Another update, the car is really starting to take shape now.

This week started out in quite a frustrating manner, with the front cycle wings. A cause of great concern for kit car builders the world over, attaching the cycle wings seems to be the cause of much discussion and debate on lots of forums. Failure, it would seem, is always an option!

I started out by trial fitting them, only to realise there would need to be some sort of spacing to get them at the correct height. I elected to use 25mm box section,  having plenty to hand. The plan was to captively weld some bolts and stick them to the inside of the cycle wing, enabling them to be unbolted if necessary.

(Mk1 prototype wing spacer)

To position them, I referred to the IVA manual for guidance. 30° ahead of the wheel centre and 50° behind is the requirement according to the book of words. Without a protractor to verify these angles, I had to revert to a method I thought I would never ever use beyond GCSE textbooks... Trig!

(The shock of using trigonometry in the real world was almost too much)

This helped me make a cardboard template to plan where the wings would sit. My plan was to put the spacers on, then use an adhesive to stick them in place temporarily; and then laminate them for good.

The first attempt, using all I happened to have to hand (silicone sealant) failed miserably. The silicone never went off even after 24hrs, and the wings just slid to the floor. D'oh. The next attempt I sourced some 1-minute epoxy, which is an insanely fast curing and strong adhesive. So strong in fact, that after  1 minute it's set rock hard, and if you don't get enough goo out of the tube the nozzle goes off and is completely blocked solid! (D'oh again) . So, 3rd time lucky, more nozzles and a very fast approach, got them stuck good and proper. Next up, took it to a friend who does a lot of marine GRP work, and whilst its perfectly doable if you've got time; easier to pay for 2 packets of hob nobs if you're in a rush (I suddenly have a deadline, more on that later)

Result, and a very good one:

So, then onto the back ones - a much simpler affair, given you can offer them up, drill through and bolt into place

 I then put some M8 rivnuts in and that was all 4 wings fitted.

Next up, back off and onto the painting. prep first:

Then primer:

And finally, electric orange gloss:

Quite pleased with the results I'm getting now. Combination of practice and experience is improving my technique. Think I might have to go back and do the whole car again, but only after a few track days when I've got plenty of scuffs and scratches!!

Finally then, offer em up to the car:

 I was thoroughly chuffed with the results of that - really looking superb now all the big pieces are coming together. And now I have a good reason to aim for something! With the kit car show coming up in Exeter at the end of the month,  Peter has asked me to bring it along to go on the GKD stand, as it's right on my doorstep. Which makes a change as normally I have to travel miles to get anywhere! Very pleased to be part of it, but I would like to get the car looking its best. Clearly it won't be finished, but even now I think it's about 85-90% there.

I'd been on the lookout for a car trailer for sometime, and one came up on eBay, cheap and local; so it would be rude not to buy it...

Needs some very minor TLC but it is a lovely trailer and I was happy with the deal.

So there we go - satisfying amount of progress, despite a couple of (not so) sticky moments.

Next time, either finishing the the remaining GRP components, or fitting the clutch slave that Dave very kindly sent me, hopefully to cure the problematic clutch....