Argh... I need a break from wedding admin.

I stole an hour today nipped to the workshop and made a list.  It made a pleasant change.  From making lists.

Here's the fabrication that's outstanding:

• Crotch strap mounts - I know what I'm doing here and have ordered the steel.
• Complete exhaust mount - I have a plan, have the steel; just need to think about exhaust position again.
• Weld-in body support bobbin on the driver's side.
• Weld in body mount tab on the PAX side - perhaps use a modified water-jet tab that I already have.
• Weld in exhaust lockwire tab.  A what?  I'll explain another time.
• Front ARB mounts - need to be 'adjustable' i.e. multi-position.
• Rear ARB mounts.
• Prop Centre Bearing Mount - still not bought prop - next purchase.
• Finish Prop Catcher.
• Clutch Pedal Stop
• Hand Brake Cable Bracket - have the basis of this but needs sand blasting.
• Finish undertray tabs.
• Bonnet catch tabs.
• Rear tub mounts - need to contact Gemini builders to see what they did.

Kate and I are only planning a mini-moon so I may even get a day to work through some of these w/c 1st Oct.

In the mean time, wish us luck!

TC

The small matter of...

Over the years, from time-to-time, I have signposted important things that are happening in my life outside of my love of cars.  It helps me when I look back on what I wrote in this blog and adds context to my car-related posts.

So, what's occurring?  Well, on Monday/Tuesday Kate and I are completing the purchase of an idyllic cottage on the edge of the Forest of Dean complete with a brook AND a stream AND (hopefully) room to store a certain racecar.  Next Saturday (29th) Kate and I are then getting married.  Its all rushed-up rather fast and is all rather exciting and rather stressful. Its also costing rather a lot of cash which is another reason why car-related activity has slowed still further.

Also, its built like a big ol' kit car so probably deserves a mention: we've also bought a Land Rover Series III.  Its my post-racer project.  Or something.

Tow Loop Mount

If it weren't for the fact that my blog was linked to my e-mail address I'm sure that I would've forgotten my sign-in.

Anyway, the car hasn't had a look-in over the last month or so.  I finally got to do a bit of 'tinkering' today.  I've been trying to find a sensible way to attach a front tow loop and I've really been struggling, believe it or not.

I finally realised what needed to be done and set about it today; it essentially involved bracing the angle that was originally added to mount the oil cooler to and drilling a 1/2" hole in the middle of it.

I could do with reviewing the list of stuff that needs to be done to the chassis.  It should be pretty short now. I'll endeavour to do this next week.

TC

Card Bored

The car hasn't really had a look-in this week.  Last weekend I started mocking-up the fuel tank.  To do this I needed to support the axle at what will be maximum-bump - it at least confirmed that the raised rear tube will work nicely.

Unfortunately I ran out of 'craft' card.  I should say that the main reason for doing this was to see where the rear ARB mounts could go.

Yawn! 

BOBFOC

As planned, my fabulous fiancée and I headed over to the workshop on Saturday afternoon to test fit the body. This was the first time that chassis and bodywork had met and it was in fact the first time that I had seen the front and rear sections together.

I've heard about a couple of cases of tubs having to be cut and re-glassed in various areas as they failed to fit properly against the chassis. Happily, it looks like there are no such issues for me.

Bearing in mind that there will be aluminium riveted to the chassis and the fact that I'll probably space-off the exhaust side to try to get some air in, that doesn't look too bad.

One minor issue is the fact that my unusual fuel tank will clash with the intended mounting point at the rear (the vertical piece of GRP that you can see with the boot panel off.  I'm sure that this can be sorted however.  A further minor issue is the fact that the boot isn't quite centred.  This may mean that the Roll Cage back-stays go through the body at different points which might look a bit odd - oh well, it's a racecar and not entering the Pebble Beach Concourse d'Elegance.

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me is that it confirmed where I'd be sitting in the car.  Compare my old Locost to the new car:

Vs

Its not all that easy to tell in actual fact but I'm some 5" further back than I otherwise would've been.  I'm right at the back cockpit, which isn't often the case when you are 5'7" and short in the leg.  That's the joy of setting the controls to suit yourself.

Apologies for the ugly mug (mine!)

TC

Hasn't my welding improved?

The implied message in the title and photograph above is a deception.  The lovely aluminium weld above is by Martin Keenan or one of his chaps and comes from the rear tunnel cover that I asked him to make for me.  I made him a template as seen below and he did the rest.

Am I happy?  Very much so.

The part is relatively heavy at 770grams so I wouldn't want to do too much panelling this way but the front of  the driver's footwell is going to need similar 'jiggery-pokery' so I'll get another template sent once I've sorted out the final reverse motor mount.

Martin is also going to supply my tanks - fuel, swirl and catch; again all from templates.

For some reason Blogger is turning my photos clockwise by 90degrees. Please accept my apologies if I cause you to twist your neck!

TC

Raising the bar.

A bit more chassis related progress.  We really are getting close now.  I think.

So, the car is going to run with a rear ride height of 100-105mm.  The standard chassis isn't designed to run that low and hence, if it did, the Panhard rod would likely come into contact with one of the chassis tubes.  Consequently, something needed to be done.  I actually forgot to take a 'before' photograph but figured that a picture would help, so what you can see directly below is me holding the original (downward sloping) tube against the new one.

The new tube therefore looks like...

Neat, I hope you'll agree. 

Other works well under way include the prop catcher (here shown at a bizarre angle and highlighted in red.)

Also, the aforementioned water-cut bracket for the Digi Dash 2 arrived and has been tacked into place:

The bracket can be seen behind the paddles.  

The next major(ish) job requires the propshaft so that will be ordered next week.  In the meantime, Kate is going to help me to trial fit the bodywork on Saturday.

Watch this space....