Friday, May 18, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Dampers
| Spent an hour in the garage this evening getting the springs and dampers separated and cleaned up. The dampers will be going on the dyno for assessment... |
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Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Off On Holiday
| Not a very exciting day really, mostly spent driving a van on motorways. But after an early start, I had the chassis and body loaded into the van, and ready to start driving (a van with no radio!). Four hours later, it was unloaded again onto a pallet, and the body placed onto the chassis. A quick sit in it, to be measured, and I was back on the road again. Happy holidays...! |
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Monday, May 07, 2012
Suspension Suspended
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Main task today is the get the car ready to go on a little holiday
tomorrow. To this end, I needed to remove all the suspension, so
that the chassis can be put into a van easier. I got a bit stuck
with some of the ball joints on the front end, so had to remove each
side fairly whole sale. It was then I discovered that this caused
the chassis to tip up with the weight of the axle on the back (I
think I did things front to back), so balanced the suspension back
on the front. Then it was onto the rear, which is another little juggling act to get the axle safely out. It is rather heavy, I can't really lift it on my own, so it is abandoned on the floor. I then emptied all the accumlated stuff out of the chassis, and retrieved the dash panels which had to have a couple of cut outs where I've added the tube joining dash hoop to tunnel. |
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| I went along to Stoneleigh yesterday for the kit car show, where I picked up a few bits, and had a nose around at some others, and looking for ideas. One thing I got was a new gear lever. This one is a quickshift, which should make the change a bit nicer, though obviously it is designed for use in an Escort rally car, so needs to be shortened somewhat. |
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Saturday, May 05, 2012
Back To The Welder
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Things have been pretty busy, so not had alot of garage time. Same again today really, but I did
get a couple of hours. First thing was to take the engine and gearbox out again. The chassis is off
to get its cage made this week, so I need to get things ready for that - I need to get it stripped
down to just the chassis. I'm well practised at getting it in and out now, so it was only about
20 minutes or so and that was done. Having got some more MIG wire into the welder, I have a few little bits to do. Firstly, I tacked the pedal box bulkhead in position - the idea here being that I will see if I can get that welded in while the cage is being done, as it's a tricky weld there between thick and thin materials. Whilst I was on, I then finished off the second engine mount platform that I started last week. The welding is a bit better I think - the welder seems to like its new tip and some new wire. Finally, I seem to be collecting steering columns in the same way as handbrake levers - but there is clear winner here, as with the handbrake actually, who'd have thought the venerable Ford Sierra comes up trumps. |
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Saturday, April 28, 2012
Platforms
| Spent some time today starting to create the platforms which will be welded to the chassis, for the engine mount rubbers to fit onto. I have built these up from 2mm steel sheet, and have made them a box for extra strength. Whilst the welding isn't beautiful, particularly on the inside where I can't get at them to dress them back, it seems to be strong enough. Unfortunately, I ran out of welding wire whilst working on the second one. |
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Levers and Mounts
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Not so much garage time this weekend, but I did look at one or two items. Firstly, I put the engine
and gearbox back into the chassis - to see how it fits with the relocated gearbox mount, and to have
another look at engine mount design. It all seems to be aligning and fitting as designed, so that
is good. With that I distracted myself by looking at the handbrake. I've got a small collection of potential handbrake levers now, but I think the Sierra one is probably going to be the best bet, as it is quite slim. This is good as there is not alot of space in the tunnel (once there is a propshaft in there too), and I would like to get out of the old location in the footwell and a bit neater into the tunnel. |
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| Later on, I spent some time playing with cardboard prototypes for the offside engine mount. I'm not sure what the rules are with regards to design of these, so I am just trying some things out - I don't know whether it is best for the rubber mounts to be horizontal, or they will be happy at an angle. Need to do some research on this... |
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
Holey Strut!
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First job for today was to measure up the new bulkhead piece ready
for drilling. During the week I had been guided towards the correct
setip information for spacing the master cylinders for the brake
pedal - I wasn't far off with the wood template, just 1/8th inch too
wide apart. So I carefully marked it all up, and had a final
re-check with the pedals in place. I then went off to visit Steve (via the shop again, for a 1/2 inch drill bit) who helped me get the holes made, as I don't have (space for) a drill press. Back home again, I tidied the holes up and popped the master cylinders in to see how it all looks. |
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| Whilst I think about summoning the courage to weld the bulkhead into place, I looked at something else. I took the little buckets I had made to get them drilled also, and so I can now get on with making the rear strut brace for the front rockers. I fitted the buckets to the car, and then spent a while measuring and carefully cutting the tube to go between them. This was soon done, and I tacked them together. |
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Saturday, April 14, 2012
Re-Creation
| Just a couple of hours of garage time today due to other jobs and things. But it was time enough to remake the brake master cylinder bulkhead in steel. Often easier second time around, though it took a couple of attempts to get the welding right this time (use more tack welds is the answer). So, here is its life story so far... |
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Bulkhead Mock Up
| Putting crappy things behind me, I decided (too late, I know) to actually mock up the bulkhead this time in plywood. So a quick chop based on the cardboard template, and some holes drilled, we have this. Looks ok, the only question is I'm not entirely sure what the rules are with regard to how to space the master cylinders for the brake pedal. Ideally you want the pushrods square on once you have adjusted the balance bar, so there's probably some arbitrary yet magical figure for this. I have chosen 70mm, which I think would give about 50mm of adjustment, but it is fine tuning anyway, any larger adjustments can be done by changing the master cylinder (for one with a different bore). |
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