2nd April 2004
Over the course of the week I've been re-fixing the rest of the harness slot trims, one per day. So now they are all done, and they seem to be pretty well stuck so hopefully this is sorted one and for all. Looks like the clamping idea worked well.
I went to the metal shop this morning to get some aluminium of the right thickness to allow me to continue with the pedal pads I want to make for the brake and clutch pedals. I don't really need to do this for the clutch, but figure it will probably be more comfortable to have all pedals matching feel under the feet.
So I cut the pads to the size which I think is right - this will move the pad of the brake pedal about 10mm nearer to the throttle, hopefully this will be enough, it was just a little bit of a stretch to heel and toe before. I also shape the pads, to fit the curve of the existing pad to which they will be bonded, by gently hammering against curved nose of the vice.
Then it's just a simple matter of roughening and cleaning the surfaces to be bonded, applying some silicone adhesive, and leaving them to set. However my tube of adhesive seems to have partly set, and in my effort to extract the unset remains I manage to break the sealant gun, so have to give up on this for now.

4th April 2004
The main job for today was to have a final proper think and measure for all the oil plumbing bits I need to buy. Fortunately the credit card should handle it now, and with the long easter weekend coming up next weekend, I want to try and get the bits in so I can work on this next week (hopefully!).
So I spend some time measuring all the required pipe runs and working out what adapters I need and what angles they need to be. I'll phone Think Automotive tomorrow and hopefully be able to order the bits ready for the weekend.
Plenty of time for more distractive fiddling. So following a thread I read on the WSCC forum earlier I decided that I would re-mount my radiator fan. Currently this is fitted by some pins which are pushed through the rad matrix and clipped on the other side. This has the advantage of holding the fan flush the radiator to give best air flow by the fan, but I read about someone had had the pins wear through the main core pipes in the matrix due to vibration, and therefore deposit all its coolant.
So I removed the fan and straightened out the fins in the rad matrix as best I could. Then it was on to thinking about how best to re-mount it which would be strong, non-damaging, and still produce maximum effectiveness of airflow by the fan (i.e. the fan needs to be tight up against the radiator since there is no shroud).
The rad itself is mounted using four tapped lugs on the plastic body of the sides of the rad. I figured that this was the strongest and probably easiest points from which to mount the fan, so I worked on some brackets which will support the fan from these points. In order to get the fan flush against the rad, I decided I could use some of the mounts on the side of the fan, with some L-shaped brackets. Unfortunately these don't _quite_ line up accurately, but it just means offsetting the holes at each end of the bracket from its centreline slightly.
After a while I have the four brackets made up and shaped, and attached to the fan. I just need to align and drill them with the mounts on the radiator, which I have now undone from the chassis. Unfortunately, it's time-out for today, so more on this tomorrow...

10th April 2004
OK so my best intentions for "tomorrow" didn't quite work out due to a busy week with work. Anyway, time to play car now, after too long spent fighting traffic in town to collect some required bits. So it's on with finishing off the new radiator fan mounts I'd got as far as drilling one side of the mounts to fit the car, so I wanted to fit this side and mark the other up in the right position rather than get it wrong.
This all sounds remarkably simple, but was in fact quite a fiddly task that needed a couple of extra hands, so took a bit longer. After some cursing it was finally all drilled and loosely fitted. At this point I decided that it was worth optimising the wiring up at the front here at the same time. There was always a bit of excess in the rad fan power and switch wires, so it seems sensible to trim them down to fit more accurately.
After a while it was all fitted and the end result is quite pleasing - the fan is more securely mounted, won't damage the radiator, and the wiring is neater.
That's actually killed a whole afternoon fiddling with that rad mounting and tidying up the wiring. But whilst pottering around in the garage, and shortly after removing the pedals last week, I had when dry-re-fitting the clutch pedal, noticed that one of the pedal clevis pins is rather worn. Unfortunately I didn't notice which pedal this came out of, but I assume it's not good and will be sensible to replace it now.

11th April 2004
Some more time in the garage today, and having seen the weather improving of late, a determined effort to get the car back into working order is required! So with this in mind I decide that I will get the clutch back sorted today. I sat in the car and tried the pedal a bit, and operated it by hand and looked at the pushrod and plates moving. My conclusion is that it is working just fine, and my concern is hopefully just paranoia - however the best test is to put it all back together and try it anyway. The soft bit at the top of the pedal seems to be the clutch slave cylinder mounting brackets flexing before the pushrod is pushed. Not sure if there's any solution to this really...
So I refit the clutch cover with its new gasket. And fortunately had the sense to re-read the manual about doing this as I had previously read it as apply a bead of sealant around the whole thing, whereas in fact it is just at the crankcase joints. Simple enough job, just have to be careful to ensure the gasket is correctly positioned and aligned.
So that's the clutch sorted. I should probably explain at this point the progress, or lack thereof, of things with the oil system. I was planning on replacing all the connectors for the dry sump system with nice aluminium threaded connectors for a a bit more security. However once I had measured it all up and worked out how many and what sort of connectors I would need, I priced it up, and it was bit beyond my current finances. So the revised plan is to stick with the original fittings for scavenge side of the sump, since this is low pressure frothed up scavenged oil anyway.
However I would like to get a bead welded onto the end of the push on fittings, to offer a bit more resistance to a pipe coming off, and improved sealing. I've also splashed out on some new jubilee clips for the job, and will be doubling up on that score too!
I'm still going ahead with the oil stat, and will chop into my existing oil cooler lines for this, so will just need a few additional connectors fitting. Also I am still wanting to change the oil feed from the tank to the sump for threaded connectors, since this one is the most important one really.
So next job I thought I'd have a fiddle with is the clutch pedal / master cylinder mechanism. I noticed on an XTR2 when I was at the factory some time ago, a mod which they had done to presumably stiffen up the pedal a bit. They had fitted a spring on the pedal side of the pivot mechanism, attached to the master cylinder mounting bracket. This seems like it's worth a try, so I got a spring of appropriate size which was reasonably... springy.
To fit it, I need to remove the whole master cylinder mechanism, but this is quite straight-forward, hey it's a kit car after all! This will allow me to drill the mounting bracket so I can hook the spring on at one end, the other end of the spring being hooked around the lower pushrod-pivot attaching bolt (ok so the pictures might explain it a bit better).
This is all fairly simple, and I reverse the actual pivot around so that the spring is mounted on the side of the bracket which has easiest access - if I need to change spring I may not have to remove the whole thing next time.
Before I re-attach the master cylinder end of the pivot, I jump in the car and give it a go - of course I've way under-specced the spring as it's far to easy to press with a leg (compared to a hand), but the theory is good, and it will remove any slack at the top of the pedal. I'll scout around for a tougher spring sometime.
The rest of the afternoon is spent having a play with a template for a potential oil cooler shroud. It is suggested that the air passing out of the oil cooler disturbs the air flow to radiator behind it, so I was wondering about making up a shroud to divert this air under the radiator and keep it all separate.
Not sure whether I'm going to go ahead with this, it's possible that it would just reduce flow to the bottom part of the rad further, but it was nice to have a play with the idea to see what I could come up with - I quite enjoy fabricating little things like this...

12th April 2004
A day out today with some of the other cam7ers at Snetterton 750MC race meeting. Principally to watch the second round of the RGB (Road Going Bike-engined) series, which a couple of the others will be entering later in the season. Was a great day, some nice cars, and entertaining racing, I'll definitely be back for some more and hopefully some spannering for the racers.

18th April 2004
Popped round to see Tim for a while yesterday, to get a look at his car and scrounge a loan of some adhesive sealant. The adhesive is for use on the pedals, and when I get back I quickly set them up with some weight on them to set. However upon inspection today, they felt squidgy, I'm not sure whether the problem was that I'd put the adhesive too thick or not left it to set long enough. So I ended up removing it and resetting them and will leave them to set for longer
Not much I can do on the car itself and I decide to have a bit of a tidy up in the garage. Also I had a go at removing the clutch basket from the spare engine - to do this I bought some steel flat which I drilled to fit a couple of the holes on the basket and clamped the other end in the vice. This is to stop the basket from spinning when trying to undo the clutch nut.
I have a good heave on the ratchet with an extension bar, and suddenly something gives. Unfortunately the clutch basket mounts have sheared rather than the clutch nut come undone : ( so it's back to the drawing board on this one (and one dead basket), I think it might need and air impact wrench.
Rest of the afternoon was spent clearing all the shelves off and tidying things up a bit.

23rd April 2004
Finally got hold of most of the parts I need to put the oil system back together, so spent some time in the garage playing with the new bits to see how they are going to fit.
Spend about an hour fiddling with fitting the oil cooler lines and working out how I can mount the oil stat. It's quite a chunky lump of a thing, and with the threaded connectors on, it has come out a bit bigger than I was expecting. I work out that I think I will just be able to make it fit, but I will need to move the air horns a bit, even then it's a tight squeeze.
After a while I can't help but think that the stat is going to be alot of effort for not alot of gain, and now I'm not sure that I can make it fit properly. Also I found that the pipe I got to remake the oil tank to sump line with improved connectors, cannot make the sharp bend required without kinking/cavitating.
So altogether a bit depressing, especially given the lovely weather we have at the moment, and the car remains sidelined... it's increasingly tempting just to throw it back together as it was, and drive the damn thing.

24th April 2004
After feeling a bit bummed out with the results of finally get hold of the parts (I thought) I needed, I decided I would go and visit Adrian this morning with my oily bits and get some opinion from him. Of course, I'd also get to see his race car build.
Fortunately Adrian is very clever and was able to give me some worthy advice and we talked through what the best way forward is. It seems to be best to put the scavenge side back as it was (I was doing this anyway due to the cost of the connectors), and to re-use the original oil feed pipe using the new ali connectors on the sump.
After this I got a bit distracted helping Adrian fit the engine to his race car, which wasn't getting my car sorted, but was a good day of entertainment all the same.

25th April 2004
Got an hour or so playtime before the grand prix today. I started by tidying up the oil trays I had left to drain, and de-greased all the trays and funnels. Then I spent some time working on the airbox. I want to try an open filter on the car at some point, but it has struck me that it may cause the engine to run lean. This can be tested by putting a wideband lambda probe in the exhuast and measuring the levels. Fortunately I have a friend who has one of these things, and has offered to help me to do it, however it needs a special boss in the exhaust, so this will have to wait until I've had my new exhaust made up as I can get a boss fitted.
So the airbox goes back on again for now. However in a conversation with someone who emailed me via the website, I realised that of course the airbox isn't very well sealed at the top, and I also found that the filter is from a Mk1 Golf GTi. So can source a better replacement filter.
I also got the idea (thanks Tony if you're reading!) to make it so that the lower part of the box can be fitted/removed witout having to remove the top part. This just needs a different method of holding the bottom of the box rather than the existing rubber bobbin. I decide a tie-wrap will do this job nicely, so drill out one of the drain holes in the bottom box to allow one to fit in place.
Some time in the afternoon was spent putting some of the oil system back together. I refitted the flange fittings to the sump and scavenge pump, using a new O-ring with a smear of silicone sealant. Also refitted one and half of the oil cooler pipes, the oil cooler rad, oil pressure sender adapter. And had a small clean up of the front suspension, but I need to get the car on the floor to get the wheels off, to do some more cleaning up here and paint a few rusty looking bits.

30th April 2004
Taken a day off today to help Craig collect his new kit from Stuart Taylor Motorpsort. It is a Phoenix and is going to be fitted with a Suzuki GSXR1000 engine. The kit all seems rather nice, and I do like the look of the Phoenix. I expect I'll be helping Craig out a bit with his build, which you can follow here.

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