Monday 24 December 2012

Christmas is looming...

The chassis is powdercoated.  Sadly, I couldn't get away from work before the chap left for a couple of weeks in warmer climes so I can't collect it until the 7th Jan.  I myself head for a few days in Tuscany on the 8th so its not ideal.  Never mind.  In the meantime, I'll continue to thin-out the loom.  I think I'm nearly there to be honest.  I might even break the monotony by carrying-out some of the mods to the engine that will hopefully prevent it from going bang.  I've got a sump baffle plate so that can be sorted out.  That'll leave me with the breather mods and replacement of the damaged covers.  I also want to replace the clutch.  Hmm... sounds like plenty to be getting on with actually.

Nadolig Llawen.

TC

Wednesday 12 December 2012

JFDI

The chassis has finally gone to the powdercoaters - www.azcoat.co.uk.  Before it left I did my very best to degrease it.  Regular readers may remember that in November 2010 the chassis was thoroughly oiled and put into storage.  As a result I thought it was worth going over it with acetone and a rag to try and get it ship-shape before blasting.

One other job pre-painting involved drilling some holes for the bonnet pins.  These can be seen below.
Fourteen holes took forever as my drill bits clearly need sharpening.  I was also left wishing that I still had a mains-electric drill.  Anyway, I got there in the end and popped a bonnet pin in one of the holes to check that all was well,
Another job done.  I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that the chassis was going to be painted grey.  That is still true, at least to an extent.  However, I decided that plain grey was all very well but a bit common and not necessarily in-keeping with my retro theme.  So, after procrastinating for long enough to be uncomfortable with my lack of decisiveness, I bit the bullet (hence the 'JFDI' title) and went for Grey-Beige or RAL1019.  Middle-aged before my time?  Probably.
So an unusual colour for an unusual car.  SNAFU then.

TC

Saturday 8 December 2012

Date and Weight

The draft race calendar is out and can be seen here.  I can't see the car being ready until May so I will sadly miss Rounds 1-4 at Donington and Brands.  That means a debut at Snetterton on the new (to me at least) 300 circuit.   My previous visit to the circuit was a bit disappointing and its a bloomin' long way from home but we'll book the Friday test and see how we get on.  A date to work towards should hopefully provide some real impetus.  The chassis is ready and heading for coating next Thursday.  We managed to get it on a set of scales - its 60kgs which, considering that it includes so many of the fixings and brackets to construct the car, is rather pleasing - its the same as a Locost chassis.

I'm still working on the wiring.  As soon as I've got that sorted I'll start working on the motor - I want to change the clutch, fit some upgraded springs, replace the damaged covers and carry-out the necessary mods to the breather system and sump.  

TC