Day47 15-8-11 – Woohoo! Toys!!

I had an email from Ben two weeks ago subject: a slight slipup.  Turns out there had been some confusion between the lads and their suppliers and they had been provided with all the bits and not just the module 2 parts – a slight slip up?  Basically they were asking if I would be prepared to pay for the third module also.  I thought about it overnight and called them in the morning and with some discussion I agreed to cough up the remaining price.  This will mean I’m on baked beans on toast for the next couple of months but at least I won’t be short of things to do – There goes my social life.

Got a call last week from Ben arranging a delivery date.  I decided to take a few days off after the delivery date to try a make a start on the car and make some progress on the build.  Ideally I want to get the car to the point where the car can be lowered to its wheels but that would mean getting the engine in.  I’ll see how I get on, could be wishful thinking. 

D-Day: Whilst waiting for the lads to turn up I finished up the rear brake pipes I’d started earlier in the week.  Dan had come down on Tuesday evening and we torqued up the bolts on the rear sub-frame and suspension then went on to mounting the rear brake pipes in the tunnel.  With the tunnel now fixed in place I realised I had ran out of 6mm P-clips.  I suspected I’d need a few more and I wasn’t sure how I was going to run the pipes to the rear callipers.

The lads arrived about half one in the afternoon and we spent the best part of three hours unloading the van and going through the parts as they came out.  Some stuff went straight inside the house such as the heated windscreen (which until it gets fitted is very fragile). There are still some parts outstanding which would follow in the next week or so as they become available.  The front and rear grilles would be delivered directly to me from the manufacturer.  Incidently manufacturer also makes the grilles for Bentley cars.

I had received the technical details for the fuel filler pipes from Ben.  I’d sent an email explaining my dilemma. The pipe in the pictures and the pipe I had been given were different lengths and I suspected I didn’t have enough if I followed the instructions.  The lads had brought up two alternative pieces of pipe, however, the diameters were different one too small and one too large.  After a bit of discussion I agreed to proceed and they would send the correct piece up with the other bits.

The lads left me to my toys with a long trip ahead of them back to Exeter.  We had covered a lot of ground in what felt like a very short time, my head was buzzing with headlights, windows, locking mechanisms, doors, dashboard and an awesome looking bonnet.  That night I sat down and went through the list having a closer look at the parts just getting a handle on things and the work ahead.  There were a couple of minor issues and things I can’t account for but a call to Graham should put it right.

Now with the details for the Fuel line filler and breather pipe I marked out the three hole positions two through the boot floor and the filler cap mounting.  I’m always nervous cutting big holes in the exterior bodywork – no room to fluff it up.  I double checked the measurements and drilled three pilot holes on the centre points I’d marked out. I cut out the exterior hole.  Now having pilot holes I can cut the holes from underneath the car.   Doing it this way it is easier to keep the drill square to the floor.  I cut out the breather pipe hole then looked at filler pipe hole.

  Drawings showed I need a 64mm hole but the pipe going through is only 42mm that seems a lot of backfilling with sealant.  I took a risk and chose a 54mm hole cutter.  If I had to I’d have to cut it larger if necessary. I decided to cut the pipe. I took a hacksaw to the top “flange” part of the pipe, in line with the diagram. The lower half of the pipe I marked up and cut and then the lower end of the “waste” section of the pipe according to the diagram.  I put the two pieces in place and compared them to the pilot hole location.  It looked surprisingly good.  Good enough I decided to cut the hole out.

After cleaning up all the edges I put the flexible pipe on the underside pipe and pinched it up with a jubilee clip. I fitted the filler cap on the top end then with it all in place and a couple more jubilee clips put it all together. I might have to chop 20mm of the bottom of the top pipe (if that makes any sense) but it all looks good.  I drilled the 6 fixing hole of the filler cap and realised I didn’t have any polyurethane sealant. I rang Graham about all the questions I had collated over the last couple of days.  Turns out they had an eventful drive home with someone dropping a brick from a bridge over the motorway into the windscreen of their van.  I suspect that woke them up. The police were not interested – stating that the perps “would be gone by now” and they are probably right....till the next time...and then?

Day 46 23-7-11 - Three jobs I’m nervous about.

Drive shaft, Differential Rear Mounting Bolts and Gear shift mount.  This weekend I need to cross these jobs off the list if I’m to get the engine in place.  And I need to get everything in place and tighten it all up before that. All these jobs concerned me.

I had a cracking piece of luck I was digging through a box of nuts and bolt left over from the build of the garage. There were a few 12mm bolts.  I took the one of the rear mount bolts out.  They are not really bolts but studs with different gauge threads at each end. The Differential end of the stud was standard M12 thread.  The collar of the bolts was exactly the right length to fit through the bush.  They could have been made for the job. I tried one on the car the thread was about three turns too long.  So it was out with the grinder, chop three turns off and touch it up to clean the thread. Repeating the process on the second bolt I had a sudden thought.  Was the bolt made of the right stuff?  Obviously bolts of different types of material can take different loads.  I looked at the bolts used for mounting the engine and gearbox.  The heads of the bolts carried two markings 8.8 and L.  The bolts I had were 8.8 and DFL.  A quick check online told me the 8.8 was the hardness rating so at least they are the same rating as the rest of the car.

I took a set of pipe grips to the second stud bolt and it came out no problem.  Both bolts fitted I moved on to the drive shaft that had popped out after a slightly bodged differential rebuild where they tore the oil seal and crushed it in to the shaft splines.

I had tried numerous times to refit the shaft with the differential off the car.  The circlip that should be on the shaft was still inside the diff and the advice Graham had given was fit the differential to the car and hit the hub end with a big hammer (via some wood).  Now I am not a mechanic and having sheared an number of bolts dismantling the donor and belting some key parts 

together has me ....hesitantly cautious.

I unbolted the suspension arms leaving the coil unit to hold the weight of the hub.  Then with a block of wood on the hub I checked the alignment and gave it a couple of medium whacks with a lump hammer.  I checked the diff. To my surprise it looked good.  The outer cases of the shaft and diff looked as if it was in position.  I gave it a couple of turns and it popped back.  I tried again this time a fair bit harder, a couple of turns to check it was secure and then a final tug back. Done! Phew! With a fair amount of relief I put the suspension arms back on the hub.

 Now I turned my attention back to the tunnel. I adjusted the marks I had made for the hand brake. Now happy that they were now correct I turned my attention to the hole where the pinch had been. I made up a small batch of the resin filler and pressed it on to the hole and smoothed it over.  With the remainder of the resin I touched up one of the roll cage pads that I’d missed. Then while it was curing I drilled the handbrake holes and fitted the handbrake hooking in the handbrake cables and pressing in the handbrake cable grommets.

With the resin cured I looked at the gear shift rear bracket and the gear shift hole.  The bracket holes weren’t a problem until I realised the brackets holes were 6.5mm and the holes on the diagram were 6.5mm but the nuts and bolts supplied were M8’s.  So I opened up the bracket holes and drilled 8mm holes in the tunnel.  Next was the gear stick opening. Now here checked the measurements against the drawing and noticed my centre line was drifting.  There is a fixing plate that clamps the gearshift gasket to the tunnel. I put it on the tunnel in the marked positions but it looked like it was drifting off by a few millimetres.  This, I suspect, is down to my measuring of the centreline with the pinch causing an obstruction and manual layup.  On this occasion after a bit of debate with myself I lined it up by eye and marked out the cut line. I’d borrowed my dad’s jigsaw to do the job and after drilling a start hole managed to cut out.  Towards the end it started to get a bit tough. It wasn’t until I took the blade out that I realised why.  The fibreglass had literally stripped the blade of its teeth.

I spoke to Graham earlier I had laid the rear brake lines in place but there were 6 grommet on each pipe and I didn’t know how many I would need at each end before I clip them all the way down the tunnel.  It turns out that I would only need 2 or maybe three all together.  He also informed me that my bonnet and other GRP parts is in manufacture and hopefully he will be able to arrange a delivery date soon.