| 1st January 2005 | |
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Back into a chilly garage today, after firstly making another brief visit to
Craig, and having a
drive in his car to try the clutch out. I get stuck into making the cardboard template for the undertray, which involves sabotaging and performing origami on a large box I rescued from the skip at work. Unfortunately the tray cannot be full width below the rear suspension, since at full droop the lower wishbones hang below the level of the floor of the car. So it will have to be a bit narrower at this point, and can then flare outwards and upwards towards the rear of the bodywork. Hmmm it's a bit tricky to explain in words! As I'm puzzling how to measure everything (and where I've located the axle stands isn't really helping), I have a brain wave and realise that my life will be quite a bit easier if I could extend the line of the existing floor panelling. So using some handily located shelves, some string, and a long spirit level, I extend the floor line, which allows me to measure all the dimensions that I need to save having to work out the angle at which the undertray should slope. |
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Now I am able to work out how wide the front part of the tray can be without being
fouled by the suspension on full droop. Also, in order to clear the lower wishbone
rear mount point I decide to extend at the level of the floor to this point, and
from there the try will angle upwards such that where it is level with the rear of
bodywork, there is an inch gap (height) to allow air flow. I have decided to have a small vertical return on the floor level, arbitrarily set to one inch, for rigidity of the panel. Where the tray angles upwards there will be larger vertical strakes as a token gesture to reduce air spilling off the sides of the tray. I also decided the width at the rear of the tray, where it is level with the rear of the bodywork. This is such that it is roughly at the corners of the shape of the rear end (again, pictures will make it clearer). |
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At this point, I've run out of parcel tape, so can't continue to stick it all together.
I'll try to do it tomorrow, and I think I need some more explanatory pictures perhaps
too. So I have a quick recap on another job which needs sorting out. I've still not done anything to fix the oil pressure gauge. My intention is to get a mechanical gauge as electronic senders are notoriously unreliable. At the same time I hope to be able to finally get back to fitting the flexible extension I bought age ago at the last oil system change. So I dig out the bits I got then to remind myself the thread sizes so I can go looksy for a gauge. |
| 2nd January 2005 | ||
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So it seems my local supermarket only sell top brand name parcel tape, which I refuse
to buy for this exercise. Still, there's other things to while a couple of hours
of Sunday afternoon away with in the garage. Firstly I try to get some more/better pictures to illustrate the situation under the rear of the car - but it turns out I still haven't really achieved, though a couple of them may help. The three bits of masking tape on the lower rear bulkhead (where the axle stands are) show the approximate points at which, when extending the level of the floor of the car, the wishbones on droop meet the same level, and hence the width I can make the tray. The central one is the centre line of the car. What the pictures still don't really show is the angle upwards the tray will take from the lower rear wishbone mount backwards. I'll try again tomorrow. |
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I also do a little more to progress the oil pressure gauge situation. Firstly I remove
the existing sender - sounds pretty trivial, but it snowballed a little into removing
this and that to be able to get the damn thing out. This situation shouldn't occur with
new remote fixing for it. Thinking about it now, it's really the oil tank that is a bit
of a pain with it's location... hmmmm... Anyway it's off and oil is gently dribbling out of the adapter so I left it to do so. I also removed the gauge to check its size (yes it's 50mm), and used some string to work out how long a capilliary I'll need on the new gauge (6ft should do it). Whilst I was fiddling in the area, I disconnected the battery and removed the flylead for the conditioner as it needs a new connector, as the existing one isn't weatherproof and has corroded a bit making the connection a bit poor/fiddly. Oh and I also put some tape over the ignition switch just in case I have an absent-mind moment... old age creeping in y'see... |
| 9th January 2005 | |
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Been somewhat slack this week in car progress. Just an hour in the garage
today doing battle with the existing oil pressure sender adapter. It is a
machined aluminium widget with just two flats on one end to allow it to be
tightened. However I've discovered that I can't get a spanner near it with
all the dry sump plumbing in the way. It'll be a bummer if I have to drain
the oil to remove the damn thing :-( So I soon got fed up with it and retired. But not after I dug out the original blanking plug for the hole it is in. As I'm working out how I am going to adapt the new flexible extension to fit. The hardest option so far is to buy a 1/4NPT blanking plug and tap it to something else. The nicest option would be if I can find something to fit the hole in the engine (1/8BSPT?). An option I think is non-viable is to tap the original blanking plug, as it has an inset hex head. |
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| 10th January 2005 | |
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Something I forgot to mention at the weekend was that I spoke to Paul at
Plays-Kool last week about his
bootbox which can be fitted around the rollbar without (much) modification. In the
end I managed to get a picture of it from someone on the WSCC forum. And here it is. As you can see, the work around is to shrink the width of the box quite a bit. So I'm now unsure whether this is an option as the capacity looks a bit poor, despite the fit and finish looking really good. I think I might be back to having to make my own, or cut and shut a Westfield box. Hmmm... |
| 12th January 2005 | |
| Yesterday evening I popped round to see Tim to get some help with my thread identifying with sorting out the oil pressure adapting. Fortunately he is a genius and tried my original blanking plug in his (defunct/dismantled) blade engine. It fitted. He then showed me the plug which is fitted to the blade - it is tapped to allow the pressure switch to fit. Hurrah! He's so nice, he gave me his spare one, so I can fit the blade plug to my engine, and then adapt flexible to fit it. |
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| I also chatted to Tim about the Racetech mechanical gauge I have my eye on, as he has some of these fitted to his car. He showed me the temperatue gauge and the fitting at the end of the capilliary - it's quite big. I thought this may be a problem to get to fit to the size of the boss on my oil tank. Having measured up though, the outside diameter of the thread is approx 16mm, and the outside diameter of the boss on my tank is 24mm. So it may be possible just to tap out the boss to the required size (and that nice man Tim has the correct tap, can he do no wrong?). | ||
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So tonight, after some time forridging in the garage loft to retrieve a box, I spent some time once again looking at the existing oil pressure adapter, and how to remove it. Needless to say this continues to be very stubborn, and I ended up getting quite annoyed with it. The problem is that the flats on it are facing across the car, and I can't swing an adjustable spanner on it as the oil tank is in the way. So I started to file some flats onto the vertical, but I'm not sure it's a great plan. I may end up having to drain the damn oil to get it off, which is highly irritating. | ||
| 14th January 2005 |
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No actual progress on the car, but some progress in my head. I've been grilling cam7
with questions, and getting my head around what I need to be doing, with regard to
both the oil pressure gauge and the GRPing. So with that in mind, I've ordered the
new oil pressure gauge and fittings, which might turn up tomorrow. I'm also resigned
that I might as well do the oil change, and remove the sump to fit scavenge filters,
so I need to order those and some fresh oil. The plan with the GRPing is that I'll order up some materials, and firstly have a go at making a flat panel to cover the hole in the floor where the reverse box used to be. Then I'll move on to the undertray, and then the half doors. I think I may be able to make all of these using an aluminium mould, which should make the process both easy and repeatable. I think I've reversed my previous thoughts about the Plays-Kool bootbox. It's a little smaller capacity than what could be used, but for convenience, it seems to make sense to go with it. It looks well made, and I only lose a little space compared to my prototype. For the price, I would struggle to make one of equivalent quality and finish myself right now. If I have time, I'll guesstimate the size of it from that picture, and modify my template to help visualise the size. |
| 15th January 2005 | ||
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Hurrah for the postman, he brought me nice things this morning, so it was onward
with getting the oil out of the car. As the weather is a bit chilly, the oil is
mostly treacle-like, so I decide that I'm going to have to run the engine for a
short while to help get it out. Fortunately this doesn't require too much, just
reconnect the battery and shove the old oil pressure sender back into the adapter
temporarily. Here are some pictures of the new bits. They are all correct too, I had a vague concern that the adapters might go wrong, but it all fits as it should. The gauge seems to be very nicely made, another thumbs up for Racetech. |
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So once the oil was warmish, I pulled the sump plug, disconnected and drained the
oil cooler, disconnected and drained the oil tank, disconnected the scavenge pipes,
and removed the oil pressure adapter which was being stubborn. Which all sounds
pretty trivial but takes time, especially when things like having to remove the
lower part of the airbox to get the tank out, slow progress. With it all tidied up and left to drain, I got on with making up the flexible. I soon had the end changed, and tightened up the tee, the switch, and the adapter for the gauge. I also trial fitted the adapters to the engine, and pipe to the gauge. |
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The next thing I need to do with the oil system is to remove the sump and fit the
scavenge filters, but I don't have those yet. I also need to sort out the boss on
oil tank for the temperature capilliary to fit, but I need to think about that,
and I don't have the right tap anyway. So that's all just left to drip to now. So I spend half an hour or so doing a cut and shut on my bootbox template. I'm definitely leaning towards buying the one pictured above now, so this will help me to see what size it is. I've guesstimated the size from that picture in that it looks to be about the same width as the spare wheel imprint on the rear bodywork. This is about 600mm so I go with that as it's a nice round number. Looking at the picture again now, it might actually be a fraction wider than that. Anyway it's only about 30mm narrower than the main section on my template, it just doesn't do the more complicated bit around the fuel tank filler neck. I try a helmet in for size and it's not bad, I'm sure two would fit, or one and a fuel can and some tools. |
| 16th January 2005 | |
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No excess of motivation to do stuff in the garage today, and actually not huge
amounts I can do. I had thought I might drain and extract my fuel tank to take
it for modification, but Craig has got my fuel can and seems to have disappeared
off the face of the planet. So I just spend a bit of time cleaning up the front end of the car whilst I've got access to it, scraping the bugs out of the radiator, that sort of thing. Once this is done, I re-wrap the oil cooler (completely covered this time) and refit it in readiness. Something else I've been thinking about, and spent some time researching last night, is fitting an oil level sensor. This would flash a bright light at me to warn me if the oil level in the oil tank gets low. This would be used to indicate a problem with the scavenge system (i.e. belt off pump or pipe leak), or a leak in the oil feed to the engine (though I suspect it would go bang first). The idea being that it might just give me chance to stop the engine before damage is done. I've been looking into the idea of dropping a float down on a rigid pipe into the oil tank. This would then switch at the level it sits at. This would have to be secured to the oil tank cap, and the wires come out through it. The problem seems to be finding something that is small enough to fit through the centre of the baffles in the top of the tank, and which is also able to withstand the potential heat and nastiness of the living in oil. |
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As I was idly pottering around looking for something to do, I spotted the fuel
pressure regulator, and that it is held in place with a small collection of tie
wraps (see 16th May last year for the
reason!). This seemed like the ideal job to while away an hour or so. So I set
about getting it all disconnected and making up a new bracket to hold the regulator. I suspect the reason for its failure is that it is attached to the engine mount bracket, which no doubt vibrates quite a bit. So I concluded it would be better if the new one attaches to the bulkhead instead. I made it out of rather thin ali as that's all I had, but hopefully it will hold up for a bit. The job turned out to be a bit fiddly, but the result seems better than before. |
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Seeing as I had to remove it anyway, I figured that I may as well replace the fuel filter whilst I'm on. It should relatively inexpensive if I can work out what car it is from in the first place...? Might just have to take it along to PartCo or something and see if they can match it up. |
| 24th January 2005 | |||
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Had a busy weekend so didn't get out into the garage at all. So I need to make the
effort this week to get some progress going. At the end of last week I received the
gauze scavenge filters and some oil, so there is nothing stopping me removing the
sump and getting on with that job. So that is exactly what I do this evening. Removing the sump is a pretty simple, if rather cold tonight, job. Simply remove all the bolts holding it onto the crankcase from underneath - actually I left the four corners but slackened as it needed a tap with the hammer to break the seal. Pretty soon its off and on the bench. Also I discover there is a baffle plate fitted too, not sure why. It has managed to remain stuck/sealed to the crankcase by what looks like silicone sealant - I'm tempted to remove it to tidy it up, but on the other hand, it ain't broke... |
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| This is what the gauze scavenge filters look like. They are actually the internals of an inline filter, hence they have the metal ring on the one end, presumably where they fit into an inline body somehow. The intention is to clamp each filter to the side wall of the sump over the scavenge ports. To do this I will need to drill through the one hole where the adapters fit on the outside of the sump, which will allow me to use a piece of aluminium to hold the filter in place. | |||
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| 25th January 2005 | |
| Took the plunge and spent some time starting the modifications to the sump for the filter fitting. Firstly I filed flat the metal rings on the filters to help them to sit down on the sump side wall. In addition to this, I also needed to grind/file down some of the sump casting - where the base meets the sidewall the casting curves up to form the join. I had to remove some of this to enable the filter to sit down and flat. It was fairly simple, just slow and repetitive until it fits right. |
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| 26th January 2005 | |
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Didn't spend too long in the garage this evening, as I can't do much more to the
sump due to the realisation that I don't have the correct sort of aluminium to
make the bits to clamp the filters in place. So all I could do was to drill
through the holes in the sidewalls. I need to get some suitable bolts and ali
to continue this. With this done I ran an errand to loan the large drill and tap from Tim for the oil temperature sensor. This is looking to be a slightly tricky job - how do I extract the swarf from the oil tank?!? |
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| 27th January 2005 | |
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An hour or so of panic fettling tonight. I figured that whilst the car is out of
action, it would be sensible to get the fuel surge/starvation problem sorted. Way
back in August last year, when I got my exhaust made, I asked Steve whether he would
be able to look at the tank for me. He said yes, and the months have passed! However
now seems like as good a time as any to be without the tank for a short while. I have a day off tomorrow to do a few domestic things, but I reckon I can squeeze a quick trip to Steve to drop off the tank. So tonight I have to drain and remove the tank. All was well until I found out how much fuel I'd left in it, good job I could just transfer it into the other car. The other problem was that one of the bolts holding the tank strap was quite stuck, and I rounded its head trying to undo it. So I had to drill the head off that to be able to get the tank out. I'll have to come back and sort this - I think I'll use some proper bolts too rather than hex key head jobs, as it'll make the job much easier. |
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| 28th January 2005 |
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My visit to drop stuff with Steve seemed successful. He said he was going to take
the end off the tank and have a look inside, with a view to adding an extra ramped
baffle at the end where the small sump is already on the tank. I also took my oil
tank to him, and he is going to sort out the tapping the temperature boss to a
larger size, he has whizzy tools and skill which should help no end! Later I spent an hour or so making the small brackets to retain the filters in the sump, using some angle ali I got from Craig. However just when I thought I'd done, I realised my design was slightly flawed, and so retired for the day rather than get too annoyed with it... |
| 29th January 2005 | |||
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Another day and another assault on the sump filter brackets. My design mk2 was
better, but still not great. The problem is that the bracket is only fixed in
the one place. So I figured that the best way to ensure they are secure would be
to drill another hole through the sump wall, and use two bolts to fix it in place
rather than one. So that was pretty much most of the day spent doing this, but
they are done now, and I cleaned up the sump and everything ready for refitting,
which I will attack tomorrow. Oh and late morning I got a call from Steve to say that he'd done the tanks already! Which is great, but I can't get to pick them up until next weekend. Still, gives me some time to do some more fiddling in the fuel tank area. |
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| 30th January 2005 |
| All good intentions to get the sump back on the car today, but it didn't quite work out that way. I got the filter bits all fitted to the sump, hopefully it will all seal and hold together ok! Then when I went to clean up the baffle, I noticed that it had not survived the sump removal without breaking it's seal to the crankcase. Ah well. So that meant that I spent the afternoon removing that and cleaning off all the sealant, and cleaning out all the bolt holes and bolts (there are 16 of them, and each thread needed clearing). Anyway, it took a while but I got there, however I think more hands will be very helpful in refitting, so I'll borrow Craigs one evening this week. |
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| ©2002-2009 David Hackett |
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