Day 84 - Oh Knuckles!!

Back onto the wiring hoping to get the core of it fixed in place and then get on with connecting all the bits and pieces.  First of all I slacked off the steering column off to connect it to the knuckle for the steering rack. Then I finally started getting the main cable harness in place and was about to look at a position to mount the internal fuse board when I noticed some daylight whilst laid on my back in the drivers footwell. The steering shaft was out of position. The white bush that sits in the hole in the bulkhead is now out of its hole and looks about 12 mm out of place. I tried putting it back in place but no matter what I did it just didn’t want to go.  I tried reversing the steering knuckle.  But that didn’t work. After half an hour manipulating the column and knuckle I was getting nowhere and from what I can see the knuckle, which was extended by MSC some months ago, is now too long. 

 

My mind went back over the past build thinking where I might have gone wrong.  I had 2 other friends confirm the measurements I made for the location of the hole.  The only other fixings were where the steering rack bracket fixed to the cross beam under the windscreen.  That had been “guesswork” on my part as Grahams advice was “put it where it feels comfortable”.  I figured that the end of the steering column should be in the middle of the drivers foot/seat well. That way the steering wheel would be in the middle of the seat position.  It also lined up reasonably with the brake and clutch pedal fixing mounts. Even though the column looks askew compared to the line of the car it all seemed right.  My frustration was getting the better of me and I really needed a second pair of hands to assist.  I rang Kim and arrange for her to come over and assist next week.  In the mean time I looked of other solutions like the grommet I took out of the donor car that the white bush sat in to protect it from the metal bulk head.  I took me a while to find it but even when I did it still didn’t make a difference of offsetting the white bush at all.

 

  My only conclusion I came to was that the steering knuckle has been extended too much and now I would have to work out how much I would have to reduce it by.  If I can get it done.  I  will have to contact graham to confirm what grade of metal tube he used to extend the knuckle because if I can’t grind the weld off I will have to find a new knuckle and manufacture the part myself.

After taking the rest of the day off as my frustration was not the right attitude to attempt the wiring I went back the next day to and went through the connectors I would need for the front and back lights.  A bit of retail therapy always good for the soul, or so they say. The headlights and the back lights I decided I would create separate looms and connect them to the main harnesses with superseal connectors.  I could use bullet connectors and heat shrink just as well but If I ever need to take the bonnet off they would be a nightmare to split and there would always be that nagging doubt that they weren’t completely water tight. The super seal connectors are water tight, IP67 if I recall correctly, and would make bonnet removal a lot easier.  They were expensive in the catalogues but cheap enough on EBay. I also ordered some lengths of split flex pipe for cabling protection and a new pair of horns because the old ones were nasty and corroded (an indulgence I know).

Now its back to the wiring.  As I’d left it I had a pretty good idea that the loom was now almost in the right position and recalled photos of the fuse board being fixed in place with tyraps (although this might have been temporary).  Not on my watch.  I found a couple of M6 bolts and some washers I could use as spacers and figured I could side mount the fuseboards bracket to the car.

Day 83 – DIY flaring

Or will I? I came back to it at the weekend and after a few other little jobs like provisionally mounted the donor fuel filter after modifying the bracket so that it would sit upright.

 

  Then spent a bit of time of looking at the doors and working out how I am going to pour extra resin into the door without filling the Rivnuts full of resin to strengthen the hinge plate before trying to fit the bear claw to the door.  I also stripped back the door cable harnesses because I want to use the electric adjuster system for the wing mirrors. With those wires aside there are a number of other wires that can now be used to connect the window motor assembly and door release solenoid.

That done it was back to the main wiring loom.  Getting it in the right position is crucial.  If it is wrong by an inch I could end up spending a lot of time extending cables un-necessarily.  Also after browsing various folders of wiring diagrams from different cars (Ibis white, Burnt orange, Kawasaki green) I came to the conclusion that the wiring harnesses vary so much that there wasn’t an ideal solution, basic position or standard routes to start from and so I made my own up.  Following Ben’s instruction I fitted the tyrap fixing points along the underside of the dashboard beam and then realised the what ever I did the Windscreen wiper assembly was likely to foul the wiring.

So I dug out the Wiper assembly and following the measurements shown in one of the build manual photos.  I measured and cut the hole for the wiper arm spindle, measured off the amount of metal tube required between the spindle and the motor.  Looking at the assembly instructions it says to use a pipe flaring tool to create the flared end required to clamp in the spindle assembly, which I don’t own, or alternatively a pair of round nose pliers.

I don’t own any of those either so I looked around for an alternative.  A friend at work had suggested a round punch of some sort which I had so I gave it a try but the taper was too narrow and wouldn’t flare the pipe end enough.  I searched again and came up with an alternative my spring loaded centre pop and a mallet.

  

The punch tip was obviously way too small but the metal body had a taper that looked like it would do the job with some gentle persuasion of a mallet.  It worked a treat and I tested the position in place.

 

 

Now there was something I didn’t like about the wiper motor mounting. I’d seen it on the Orange demo car.  The wiper motor mounting bracket fastens to the car through the apron between the bottom of the windscreen and the bulkhead. There were two stainless steel round head allen bolts and when the bonnet is down they can’t be seen.  But I don’t like the idea so looked to try another solution.  I thought about making a bracket but a bracket didn’t look like it would work.  I thought about mounting it vertically on the side wall which would mean cutting the leftover pipe to suit (there is enough left of the pipe to make a second attempt after the first cut in case you screw it up) You can’t mount it horizontally because of the corner webbing.  I decided it was a possibility but I know the engine management unit mounts around there so decided to leave it with the pipe and spindle in place and went back to the wiring.

I stripped the wiper connection off the harness and pulled the cabling back up the loom so that it remained inside the car when the loom is in place.  I then looked at the wiring diagram provided with the wiper motor kit and promptly became confused.  So, I labelled the wires and it was back to the main wiring harness.

 

I decided the critical point is where the loom branches both backwards e.g. up the steering column and clocks and forwards e.g. to the engine bay.  I therefore decided the most obvious starting point was the brake light switch on the brake pedal. I found the connector and positioned the harness accordingly. Then Fitted the steering column mounting bracket underneath the harness and mounted the steering column. Now all I have to do is fix it all in place and connect it all together… hmm! Think I’ll have a beer instead and call it a night.

 

Day 82 – Air in

 

Crimping done and the new air filter turned up.  I put some heat shrink on the back ends of the lugs to make it look a neater job. Fitting all the cables was easy although I didn’t tyrap them in just yet because until I have the loom hung properly in place and all the fuel lines in the exact locations.  I might need to un-twist them so it all fits neatly.

The Air filter has arrived.  But unfortunately it wasn’t as straight forward a job as I first thought.  The pack came with one too many jubilee clips and not enough washers – not a major problem in itself. If you followed the instructions however there was no way the custom aluminium piece between the intake under the inlet manifold and the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor was actually going to fit.  Granted from the photos provided in the assembly instructions my MAF was a different model to the one shown and I didn’t have the breather pipe that was also in the kit.  So the answer was to fit the cone filter to the MAF and use the original pipe from the other side of the MAF to the Intake.  I will swap the original jubilee clips for the new ones so it looks all shiny.  I’m happy that the seals are all good and that it will work fine the only issue now is I need to make a bracket to hold the cone.  One is provided with the Kit but it was expecting and inner wing and the original mounting points from an Impreza which I no longer have - obviously.  So I will have to work out a fixing either modifying the bracket in the kit or make a bespoke one.

 

Now here comes a problem I had been dreading. I’ve lost a wire.  Somewhere in amongst the rats net of cables is the lead that connects to the ignition key to the starter motor.  But could I find it? Could I hell.  When I was laying up all the heavy current cabling there was a niggle in the back of my mind that I hadn’t seen it in the wiring harness (since it came out).  So now all the heavy stuff was in I wanted to get to a point where I could turn the engine over because it hasn’t run for over a year.  Yes, I know I could just get a piece of cable off the live terminal and touch the connector on the starter motor but I want to get it right and, as the wiring loom is next, it seemed right to do a “proper job”.  Each time I was in the garage I found myself digging in to the wiring diagram section of the Scooby service manuals and back into the harness chasing wire colours and relays that didn’t exist.  The immobiliser wiring wasn’t helping matters either. It took ages, to the point where I thought I was missing a piece of harness and started searching round the garage in the end I stripped a bit of the loom tape off the main cable loom and traced the cable to the point where I could see which branch of the main harness it was running down. To be fair I seemed to recall it being a white connector but it was black and the coloured cable was sheathed in black plastic and on the same branch as the electrics for the windscreen wiper (which will have to come back inside the car) and the loom which goes to the other side of the engine with the MAF sensor etc. So I will have to extend it.

Day 81 - 101 jobs to do

I took some time off to get some progress done on the car but with the best of intentions it didn’t go quite as according to plan.  A mate took me Karting in York – So it wasn’t all bad. I tried to get my bike tided up as the brakes and gears and crank needed adjusting after a trip to Bridlington last weekend. Then I noticed a damp patch on the wall and discovered the bath was leaking and so was the toilet.  Several trips to B&Q and plumb centre later and I could finally get on with the car.

Where to start?  I decided I would try the back bumper first as I would be prepping for the rear lights and once they are in I would be focusing on the harnessing.  I cut the template holes out for the number plate lights.  There is no back housing on these lights and I figure I will have to fashion some form of rear protection later as they protrude into the boot space.  I noticed from my photos the orange demo car had back covers fitted.

I held the bumper up in position and with a rope tied it in place roughly.  A few seam areas needed the treatment with a piece of wet and dry paper but the fit looked reasonable with a little flexing however I could flex it into position or drill it but I couldn’t do both.  Eventually figuring a second pair of hands would be required and moved on to the lights.

 

 Looking at the photos there were connectors on the backs of the lights I searched the packs and there were none to be found. I knew where MSC had got them from so I gave car builder solutions a call. Apparently there are connectors, or rather were, but they were no longer available. The best advice they could offer was to use female mini blade crimp connectors and silicon sealant fix the connectors in place.

Orange demo car connectors - no longer available

So I popped out and picked up some mini connectors as well as the bush and conduit coupler for the accelerator cable fixing, split pins, a blow torch and a box of assorted nyloc nuts (because I know I’m going to be short of a few from the Kit e.g. the grills (3xfront 1xback) need M5 nuts which were also not supplied.  I was right about the bush and coupler. It worked a treat after some gentle filing on the accelerator bracket.

One of the outstanding jobs was the two brackets on the underside of the driver’s seat that hold the seat adjuster cable. With the narrowing of the rails I did months ago. I needed to bend the end of each of the brackets the other way (180degrees) to fit in the revised locations.  The metal seemed quite thick I didn’t think I would be able to bend it with the vice and hammer, hence the blowtorch to soften the metal enough to bend.  It worked a treat and the seat slid back and forth on the rails just as it had prior to the modifications. 

Distraction completed, I returned to the car and decided to have a go at the bonnet. And came to the conclusion that as long as the bonnet sat in line with the wheel arches the bonnet would be in line and the height would need to be adjusted.  I kept trying but again no matter what I tried one side was fine and the other went out.  I did some sanding back on the rear edge under the windscreen to the partial line that was scratched into the bonnet. It was Graham’s recommendation that I cut another 15 mm deeper into the bonnet following a front on crash on a track with an out of control Ultima which pushed the bonnet into the windscreen and damaged the windscreen but the bonnet was fine.  So I figured I could cut to the line without any risk of causing irreparable damage.  I manage to get it fitting better, but it would still need some more work and more hands than I had available.  Also the rose joints supplied with the kit were of a different type to ones used on other cars.  These seem a stronger design but fouled the brackets and there is no way the bonnet would lift properly so I had to cut slot wider to accommodate the rose joint and made a mental note to make spacers for either side of the rose joint to steady it.

With no progress being made on the bonnet with out assistance I moved on to something completely different - Air intake.  A quick check online and I found the Piper Cross Impreza Induction kit and placed an order.  From the photos online it would be a simple swap out unit that should arrive next week.

Next! I cut 3x70mm lengths of stud bar and with some rough measurements on the photos drilled 3x8mm holes in the bulkhead 50mm apart between the engine bay fuse box and the pitch roll bracket and labelled them +VE, IGN+ and GND.  I don’t have the crimpers to crimp the ends on the 10mm and 16mm cables so I moved on to another job.

Next! Stuart had pointed out that for the IVA I had to remove the air bag from the steering wheel and use the original steering wheel for the IVA only I had to remove the “airbag” labelling on the centre of the steering wheel.  The air bags are actually explosive devices it is illegal to sell on and they have to be disposed off safely. Now there are dubious methods to disposal I won’t go into and in this case I am fortunate to know a man who can dispose of them safely and I passed them on to him.  After removing the steering wheel air bag I removed the passenger airbag then heated up the soldering iron and melted off the airbag embossed text on the centre of the steering wheel. It doesn’t look great but it is only for the IVA test.

 

Next! I thought about doing some work on the doors but decided the wiring needed my attention more. First problem is I need to position the loom in such a way that I don’t have to extend the looms further and only have add the ground cables and any extra features i.e. heated windscreen etc.  However the “Extra” items on the donor vehicle only added to the harnesses complexity. The modules, like the Window auto closers, were under the seat and dashboard and are surplus to requirements but which seem to link the major cable harnesses together creating the biggest rats nest that after several attempts I have failed to sort out into a semblance of order.  So it was out with the snips, soldering iron and heat shrink and 2 hours later I am able to see a bit more wood from the trees.

Then I decided to measure up the 10 & 16mm cables so I can take them into work and use the crimper to fasten the lugs on the ends.

Day 80 – all sorts ...no penalty

Good news – no penalty notice.  It has been a couple of weeks since I was down in Exeter and what with a holiday, a testing coast to coast bike ride, a christening, a couple of birthdays, work and the Olympics, obviously, getting any real time in the garage has be a problem. But I finally manage this weekend to get some time in -But what to start with?  I decided to lay the fuel lines in and fasten the “Hockey stick” so I could see where the fuel lines go in comparison with the wiring.  Then I made a final decision on the accelerator cable. This has been a question Stuart and I had pondered over.  We know the cable will come out in the wheel arch which is not something we really want but with no apparent option.  I marked up and drilled a pilot hole and mounted the inner wing to see how far it stuck out in the wheel arch. It wasn’t as bad as I thought I might even be able to rework the inner wing to act as a protection guard.

  The plan was to cut a 16mm hole and feed the cable through it then I reckoned and 25mm brass bush and 25mm conduit coupler with a couple of locking screws would secure the pedal end securely. I cut the hole but the bit caught as it broke through. Whoops! I finished the hole of with the dremel and a sanding bit.

I started looking at other jobs to be done and went back to the images from MSC and my own photos to assess to the positions for the studs in the bulkhead that I am going to use for the Main +12v supply and Ground from the battery and IGN+.  Being a plastic car you can get away with things like this. I was flicking through the photos when I saw something I recognised.  It was a hole in the inner wing of another Murtaya with the accelerator cable running through it. Exactly like the one I had done earlier.  I’ll be honest being a novice builder and not having a manual to go from there are times when you start second, third and fourth guessing yourself.  Every hole and cable you cut you find yourself debating whether you will need it later or is it in the right place. I had spent hours debating what to do with the accelerator cable and that picture showed me what to do.  My frustration got the better of me and I spent the next 5 hours pouring over the photos gleaning as much information as possible. I figure the more I am aware of what is coming up the easier it would be to make decisions, cuts and holes.

 

Day79 - Destination... Exeter

I took a couple of days off and drove down to the Murtaya Sportscars Workshop.  I picked Stuart up on the way and met up with Andy at the workshop.  Andy was great and couldn’t do enough to help.  We searched around the workshop and found a few items I was outstanding. Andy also explained the current situation with MSC which was the Ben and Graham had been forced to find other jobs.  Whilst they have made massive improvements to the Adrenalin Roadster, having started a new budget car project and built a demonstrator there was not enough business to sustain the development work being done on the cars.  This is the situation facing all kit manufacturers at the moment.  So although the business wasn’t bust it was basically being put up for sale - with a couple of interested parties negotiations were continuing.  It is a shame that all the work and effort these guys have put in raising the level of quality that this kit has evolved into has come to this. I hope the new owners can continue the development.

Stuart and I went through the photos and details on MSC’s PC and found the folder Ben had been using to build the manual up.  We took copies of all these then went to where the Orange demo car was being housed.  Andy said it just needed a Simtec ECU for the high customised engine.  However after closer inspection some of the parts I was hoping to photograph weren’t actually complete. One of the things I wanted a picture of was the fuel pipe route after they come out of the “hockey stick” slot under the car.  Part of the problem is that I have an inline fuel filter to replace the large donor unit for, which I can’t see any room for and the simplest route is to bring it up and round under the fuse box.  This in itself is not a problem. However, I am concerned that the IVA assessment might have an issue though.  There were a number of other minor issues which I hope the photos from Nick, another Murtaya owner, will point me in the right direction.

I took a number of photos under the dashboard and in the engine bay.  I noted some of the pipe changes which I had already worked out and cable routes which were different to mine but this was originally a non-ABS donor car.  I looked at the arrangement of the rear lighting again confirming my own thoughts and the cutting out I had done which I thought had been excessive. But it turns out that they had done the same.

 

We went for a drink in the local pub and met up with Ben where I put a a number of questions to him about structural PU, wiper blade, wiring, door glass seals, neutral issues and how to avoid problems and a host of other queries.  We went back to the workshop and went back through the data to see if he had anything else we might have missed.  So with all the parts outstanding accounted for by either what we had found with Andy or to be credited as required and I’ll order them from CBS online or other supplier.

The windscreen wiper had apparently been ordered but not supplied nor the payment taken by the supplier.  The suspicion was the company had gone bust so when asked what was the alternative, Ben suggested I take the one on the Orange Demo car. 

We were just about to call it a night when Graham popped his head round the door to say hello.  We chatted briefly about what we had been agreed with Andy and Ben and called it a night.

Stuart and I left feeling more positive about what we have to do and assured that the Murtaya story will continue, if in the guise of new owners, and with support assured and a wealth of build photos we met up with Stuart’s wife at a local restaurant.  Pity about the copper on the bridge over the M5, guess I’ll have to wait for the fixed penalty notice.

Day 78: Murtaya Stolen...

It wasn’t mine I’m relieved to say.  I noticed a link was down so I did some updating on the blog and discovered that Bart’s Murtaya was stolen in April.  Bart must be heartbroken.  It was registered as No.30 so any European track day fanatics out there be aware there are only 43 of these excellent vehicles in the world 2 in the USA and the UK and NZ ones are all right hand drive.  That doesn’t leave many out there and Bart’s was the only left hand drive I know of in Europe.