16th March 2003
A quick visit from Rich yesterday to collect some trim bits, convinced me that I might not actually need to make new mounts for the clutch slave cylinder to clear the ring gear. It looks like I might just get away with spacing the existing brackets off using some tubing and longer bolts. So I get some appropriate tubing and spend some time making up some spacer mounts. They need to be fairly accurate for the position of the ring gear as the clearances will be pretty tight - but it does look like it will work against my cardboard template ring gear.
I'll need to make a slightly longer clutch pushrod to allow the slave cylinder relocation. This should be fairly straight forward as it just pushes through the gearbox casing to work on the clutch springs, and can be made from some appropriate diameter stainless steel rod. Again, this will need to millimetre accurate for the clutch to work properly. I notice that the middle section of the existing rod looks different - no idea why?
Next I decided to have a go at improving the fit of the aeroscreen. The are gaps on the front edge of either side, and I think that by re-positioning the lower fixing points in the scuttle, this could be improved.
So I remove the screen, and spend some time filing the holes so that the gaps are much reduced. While the screen is off, I shorten the bolts on the mirror mounts and the studs which go through the scuttle, as this will make it easier to fit. Also I chop the small plastic counter sunk bolts which fix the perspex part of the aeroscreen to the GRP part - for no particularly good reason other than aesthetic.
The holes in the scuttle where the screen fits have now grown a bit - I am going to fill them in a bit with some GRP repair, since the screen is pulled quite tight I want to ensure the scuttle doesn't give up the fight.
The point of sorting out the aeroscreen is that I will be making a prototype 'brow dash' which fits in the gap behind the screen. This will contain a row of warning tell tale lights, since I cannot fit these anywhere sensible on the dash which is not obscured by the steering wheel. Hopefully the brow dash will be just right, off the direct line of sight, but easily seen.

19th March 2003
Time for a bit more work on cutting the dash. I have decided roughly what is going to happen with a start button, though I don't have the actual button yet. But this means that I can continue along the dash, the next items being the square rocker switches for the lights.
I am fitting these towards the top of the dash, as it will leave a little space for more switches later if required - this might be needed for a manual reverse light switch though that is undecided as yet. Cutting the square shaped holes is a bit fiddly and time consuming, but soon gets there.
Also I can now create the holes for the leftmost item, the FIA master switch. This is simply the main hole and two smaller holes for it to attach with.

20th March 2003
Had a serious brainstorming session in the garage and the pub with some of cam7. I had appealed for some engineering experienced eyes on the reverse mechanism problem. It would seem that the 'off-the-shelf kit' that I had been hoping to be able to fit from someone on the BEC list, isn't going to fit. I've spent many an evening fiddling with it now, trying to make it fit (from a template), and working on the clutch slave cylinder and ring gear solutions. It looks like I can do the ring gear part, but the out of the box motor unit doesn't look to be a goer.
So I've had to cut my losses now, and have decided that I need to focus on getting the car back in the road without a reverse. I'm not overly keen on this, but I think it should be ok, and I need to get the rest of the running in done before mid-May. There is still plenty of other jobs to get sorted, so I am best focussed on these now, and reverse can fairly easily be fitted whilst still using the car.
I think the only time a lack of reverse will be a problem is when out on the road, but even then it is no great big deal. When parking you have to get out of the car anyway, so having to push it about a bit is no drama.
It's a bit disappointing that I haven't cracked it, but we had some good ideas for how I can solve it - since I will have to make my own from scratch - so we will see how these pan out over the summer.

22nd March 2003
Looks like another weekend weather wise, which is a mixed incentive to get out into the garage and get on with the car!
First thing I have a quick play with is the dashboard. I have got almost all of the bits required for it now, I just need to work out what I am going to do with the main beam switches, and obtain a couple of buttons for the start and horn. But I load it up with all the bits to date, to see how it is looking...
The other current main aim, apart from the dash, is to get the new prop fitted. However, I forgot to order some new K nuts which are wise for fitting to the prop bolts through the flanges, as they are resistant to undoing themselves. But I have decided to make up the prop catcher which I designed (), so this is a sensible time to do this.
The catcher is made from 5mm thick aluminium, which is just about on the limit of what can be worked using hand tools. So cutting the outline takes a while, though a new hacksaw blade helps somewhat. With this done, the holes can be drilled and the piece test fitted. Then it is the hole for the prop to pass through, which is made using the same technique as those in the dash, and takes ages.
I'm well aware that this piece won't actually stop a flailing prop, but it should certainly slow it down, and just provides a little more sanity in the open gap in the tunnel chassis tubes in the area of the ankles where the reverse box was fitted.
During the afternoon I had a visit from Alex, with a set of wheels. He has a set of 6 inch wheels with 185 tyres which I have been considering trying on the front of my car. Also he wants to try a 7 inch wheel on his car, so it seemed like a sensible swap.
Unfortunately we discover that my wheels are the wrong offset to correctly fit on his car, since they are fouling on the cycle wing bracket on the inside edge. On the other hand, his wheel seems to fit quite nicely onto my car, and the narrow wheel & tyre doesn't look as bad as I thought it might. Inconclusive though...
Since the front wheels are off for the first time in a while, I had a bit of a distraction from the cutting and filing of the prop catcher, by removing the rubber SVA trim which was still fitted to the cycle wings.

23rd March 2003
Back into action in the garage today, but I seem to be stumbling a little with lots of half complete jobs which are waiting for other things to happen. I need to identify the thing which will kick start them all again! I decide it's a sensible thing to make a note of all the jobs I think of as I am going along, cos I keep forgetting what I have to do

A small-ish job which catches my eye this morning is the throttle pedal. I have been unable to get anywhere near heel and toeing in this car, and since the gearbox is no synchro, straight cut, and dog engagement, you really do need the throttle blip on downshifts. The problem seems to be that my feet are too small for the pedal spacing between throttle and brake pedals. I figure that a larger pedal area for the throttle will help here.
So a quick trial with a template and it looks like a goer, and I cut and shape a piece of ali, and decide that I will try bonding to the pedal. I'll leave it to set until tomorrow evening to make sure it has gone off fully.

I'm not sure what the rest of the day goes on, though I did take a good couple of hours out for the grand prix. In what's left of the afternoon, I spend some time fiddling with some bits of wiring and trying to work out how I am going to wire up the FIA master switch to give appropriate isolation and protection.
There are two feeds from the positive side of the battery - one is the large red cable which goes directly onto the starter relay, the other is a thick brown cable which runs in the main loom and provides power into the loom. In theory I only need to switch this brown cable since with this isolated, the starter relay cannot be pulled anyway so the starter will not run. However in the (admittedly unlikely) event of this relay welding its contacts, I won't be able to stop the starter running. Also I am keen to isolate everything properly since that is the whol point of the switch, and the there is enough slack in the large red cable to go via the switch.

Another thing which I would like to sort out is the speedo. The original solution - a pointed washer on one of the prop bolts detected by a hall effect sensor - was really not a great one, as the speedo was occasionally erratic at low speed. Also it appears that the prop has been clouting the sensor so it's got a bit chewed up - oops!
I had been thinking that it must be possible to do something using the speed sensor which is part of the gearbox, after all it almost certainly producing some sensible pulses, most of all it should be very reliable and more accurate. It is unlikely to be producing the rate of pulses required by the speedo unit though, so I have been pointed towards a little box of tricks called a YellowBox. This does speedo pulse conversion and can just be plugged in line, and with a bit of configuration should provide the required correction. Splendid.
The rest of the time is spent having a bit of a clean up in the rear suspension area so that any areas of rust (i.e. the driveshafts) can be painted up and sorted out. There is not too much to do, but some of the powder coating on sharp edged brackets appears to be quite weak and flaky, so I'll sort that out while I am on.

24th March 2003
I wasn't going to do anything to the car this evening, but after having spoken to Westfield, BobM, and dad today I have decided that I might as well do a proper job on the FIA switch. The Westfield solution is the cleanest and neatest, but quite hasslesome. It requires the large brown loom feed cable to be stripped back in the loom from the battery positive terminal to the switched (i.e. on) side of the FIA switch. The chunky red feed cable is diverted from the starter relay via the switch, thus powering both circuits when the switch is on.
It's quite a hassle to strip the loom while it is in the car, but I decide to go for it as it is neat and will give me full isolation at the master switch. So it's off with the airbox and start removing all the loom tape back towards the scuttle. It doesn't take too long (about an hour and a half all in) to get the brown cable back as far as the end of the tunnel. There's not much further to go now, just a few more inches, but that will have to be done from underneath. Then the cable can be fed through to go onto the back of the switch on the dash. The chunky red feed cable is already long enough to reach, but will require a different tab putting onto the end, which Tim said he has done before and has a couple of spares.
Along the way I had thought I would remove the wiring and connector for the windscreen washer pump, but a moment of genius (!) saw me realise I can reuse it for the oil temperature sender as it is in the perfect position on the loom!
Oh and I got to check on the throttle pedal extension I left to set yesterday. I am rather chuffed with the result as it looks really neat, and has bonded well to the pedal (I tried pretty firmly to pull it off!). Hopefully this will help with the driving as it closes the gap to the brake pedal, whilst also keeping the pedal near the outside edge of the footwell which gives a convenient rest when cruising.

26th March 2003
Chris popped round this evening to do some GRP repairs for me. These were the scuttle, where the holes for the aeroscreen have grown a little on the large side, and the passenger seat, which has a couple of small cracks on it's leading edge.
The GRPing seems to be a pretty easy thing to do, it's just a matter of having all the right bits of equipment, being fairly clean and tidy, and having some confidence and experience in mixing and applying the stuff. It's probably something I'll teach myself to do at some point in the future.
For now, the repairs are pretty straight forward, just a matter of applying some reinforcement to the affected areas, and leaving it all to go off fully overnight.

28th March 2003
Some bits have arrived from RS (after only ordering them late the day before!), including: the new starter and horn buttons, and a microswitch for the brake light switch. The latter I have decided is the best solution to problem of the pressure switch not working very well - it never is, so I might as well just rule it right out of the equation, and use a mechanical switch on the pedal.
So I set to work on making the required brackets to fit the switch to the brake pedal. I decided that the best way to do it is to have a normally closed switch, which will be operated by a small plate which is clamped behind the clevis on the pedal. This will ensure that the switch does not obstruct the pedal in any way.
There are two small ali brackets needed: one which will hold the switch in position, using the pedal pivot mount point; and the other an L-shape which will be clamped in with the pedal clevis and will operate the switch.
All that remains is to mount the switch onto its bracket, and then to sort out how the wiring is going to run. The wires from the microswitch will run up and through the front of the end of the footwell, to meet the existing brake switch wires.
I could have got away without the roller version of the switch and just used a lever, but I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to mount it when I ordered. The switch itself is IP67 weatherproof, so should be ok in a potentially wet footwell, and the orientation of the mounting means that it shoudn't get clogged by muck/grit.

29th March 2003
First job of the day is a mission to obtain some 2mm screws for the microswitch. Fortunately, the local supplies store has some which are ideal. So the switch is soon attached to the bracket and the pedal re-fitted with the switch setup in position, and fine tuned so that it switches on and off just right.
Next part is to sort out the wiring for the switch. I think the best route for this is up and out of the panel at the end of the footwell. There is a shorter route through the side, but for now the side panels will remain removeable (to allow access to the prop for checks and later reverse), and it is easier to meet the original brake switch wiring where it is already. Unfortunately, I can't finish the job totally as I need to loan a multimeter to check the wires before I solder them.
Unfortunately, despite ordering mid week, the bits which I am becoming increasingly in need of to make any decent progress haven't been delivered as I had hoped. So I'll have to hope they turn up on Monday (as I have booked a couple of days off work to try and catch up with a few things).
So I figure that while I am down here messing with the pedals, I might as well have a go at a clutch modification I have heard about. Since the pedal travel between clutch in and out is very low (about an inch I would guesstimate), this can be lengthened by moving the clutch pushrod location nearer the pivot point on the pedal.
In order to do this, I firstly have to create some extra clearance for the pushrod, where it passes through the bulkhead. I start doing this, then realise it will actually be easier to quickly remove the master cylinder and brackets and do it on the bench.
Once this is done, it is a matter of working out how much extra clearance there is for the pushrod, and re-drilling the pedal to attach it as low as the gap allows (I have managed to lower it by about 15mm on the pedal). Then with some paint on the exposed metal bits, the whole thing is re-assembled. Hopefully it will make an improvement to the clutch pedal action.

I also have a bit of a look and a ponder about the fitting of the YellowBox speedo recalibration widget I have got. It needs wiring into the speed sensor in the gearbox, so I run the wire supplied through from the ECU mounting plate where the box will sit, to where the wiring from the engine is. Not sure yet how best I am going to splice into the engine loom.

Later in the evening, however, the penny drops that I might not actually need the YellowBox at all, since the VDO speedo is programmable in terms of the pulses it should expect from it's sender, and that is exactly what the speed sensor in the gearbox will be providing. I just need to find out if the two can be encouraged to work together without the need for re-calibration.

30th March 2003
No work on my car today, but a worthwhile activity all the same. I codge a lift with Craig who is delivering his sick K-series to Geoffs for rebuilding next weekend. However, also Dan is descending to dismantle his Blackbird engine which seized last week. This seems like a sensible activity for me to watch, as it will give me a splendid insight into the internals of the engine and gearbox, and a chance to understand how it all works.
It turns out to be very useful and interesting. Dans engine died in a most impressive fashion, and is very dead. However, the clutch and gearbox appear to have survived without damage (subject to close inspection), so I come away with most of the engine remnants apart from the real trophies. So now I have a spare gearbox and clutch which is certainly handy, and it will also allow me to have a play when I have time to try to understand how the gearbox works.

31st March 2003
I've got a couple of days off work now that it is a bit quieter, to try to catch up on progress. Unfortunately I am still without a couple of orders I placed for bits last week, which are starting to hold me up a bit more now. So I have to get on with other jobs - there's plenty to keep me occupied.
First thing to have a look at is making a couple more holes in the dash, because I have received the buttons I am going to use for starter and horn. This is a pretty straight forward job, and I am quite pleased with the buttons I have chosen for this job, though the real proof will be in the use.
The next job I want to look at is getting the aeroscreen re-fitted, then I can make up the brow dash. But before I fit the scuttle to the car, to do the aeroscreen, I decide to remove the side repeaters from it. This is because I want to replace the orange lenses with clear ones. A simple enough job, but it takes quite a long time to clean off all the silicone which they were held in with.
With the scuttle fitted onto the car, I spend some time fettling with the holes for the aeroscreen. After a short while I have the screen able to fit in what appears to be the best position I am going to achieve. It is much improved from before, as the gaps I had previously along the front edge are now gone.
Next I have a look at the brow dash. This will contain a series of tell tale lights for things such as indicators, oil pressure, neutral, etc. The idea here is that positioning them where they were on the dash, leaves them obscured by the steering wheel. So making use of the space behind the aeroscreen puts them more in view of the line sight.
I changed the design of this slightly to make it easier to fit by sandwiching it between the dash and scuttle. I think this is alot neater and easier than my original plan, and after a while, I have the ali bracket made up ready to accomodate the lights and be fitted to the car.

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