Aluminium Fab-ulous-rications

The car was away for three weeks in the end. Andrew at Allisport was a bit behind with a couple of jobs and then had a significant piece of work dropped on him by one of his largest customers.  This didn't pose a big problem - I did some family stuff and even some dreaded DIY.  Plus, as one friend put it on seeing the photos, it was definitely worth the wait.  The quality of the work is amongst the best that I've ever seen.  I'm absolutely thrilled.

The biggest-ticket item by some margin is the main tank.  I'd not finished bolting it into place when I took the above photo.  It's pretty stunning - but this is not the clever/tricky bit.

You can hopefully see above and below how the fixing points have been fabricated and the way that the tank fits neatly in front of the axle.  Andrew and his guys seem to have done the unexpected i.e. taken a template that some would have laughed at and ignored and instead perfected the design without compromising the intent or the work that has been done thus far,  If you look really closely above, you can see how the Facet filter-hose-tail screws into the outlet.  It is spot-on.

The rest of the work is fantastic too.  The swirl pot reminds me of the Heineken mini-kegs that you can buy in Supermarkets.  What's not to like?

The water header tank and oil puke tank look suitably traditional to my eye too.  These all need mounting but that won't pose a problem once my new 6mm rivnut tool arrives,

Even the top-mounts for my oil cooler are a smarter design than I'd envisaged.  Of course the water pipework is first-class also.

So, if it wasn't wholly apparent already, I would not hesitate to recommend Allisport.  I would definitely use them again - and will indeed be popping-back for a couple of additions.

TC

Getting tanked-up

At long-last the car is away having its tanks, water pipes and odds-and-sods fabricated.  

 

In all there are 9-items to be made or completed.

1. The main fuel tank.
2. The swirl pot housing the Yamaha pump
3. Header tank
4. Oil puke tank
5. A small hard-pipe in the radiator top-hose
6. A much more complicated hard-pipe in the bottom-hose
7. An upper support for the oil cooler
8. A stand-off support for the throttle cable adjuster
9. A blanking plate/guide for the gear-change rod

And now we wait.  In the meantime I'm going to have a tidy-up.

TC

Roly Pole-y

First things first: no aluminium fab until the 18th; I will try to make sure that I need no further fabrication afterwards by making a couple of extra parts in board.

A couple of teeny parts arrived from Dave Gallop today. These together make a little  roller that guide the throttle cable through up-to 90 degrees.

Here some red electrical cable plays the part of throttle cable - it's sat in a groove in case you wondered. It all seems to work rather well but I do have a little polishing to do before I loctite-in the bolts at either end.

This shot of the pedal box somehow reminds me of Star Wars. Anyway, "clears easily, cable does.' [/yoda]

What has become the bolt holes in the pedal box have always been there. I should have a look at the Escort manual to see what they were for originally.  The plan has been to install the roller for ages. Almost literally ages. 

It has dawned on me that it may be hard to visualise the part on the car. See just above the right-hand master cylinder - just higher than the saltire.

TC

Shiny schedule

Pending a call tomorrow to confirm, the Gemini should be making the short journey to Allisport in Cinderford on the weekend to have its tanks and water pipes made.

I have a few things to do before I load-up, in particular some templates to be completed. However, I got the ball rolling by securing all the loose cables that were lying over various parts of the car and by giving the car a quick vacuum..

TC

Freddo Frog

Not much to report.  I've started to hack the front clamshell about.  An itchy business it is too.

It's all rather rough at present but I'm sure that it will come together with a bit more sanding.

Remember remember that during December..

During December I finished the bracket for the hand brake cable.  It's formed from a laser-cut profile and a bit of old Escort,

Therefore, something old, something new, something borrowed (Dave and his TIG welder) and something errr... black.

Yes - that is a signed "Nige" on the shed wall; the result of a boozy corporate do with a silent auction. Oh dear.

I also bought myself a Christmas present:

TC

New Year's Resolution (2015)

When the clock ticked-over to 2015 I had a number of thoughts rattling around my brain. My first, second and third thoughts were about family: How would the boy change in the coming 12 months?; I hoped that the wider family would be reasonably well given some of the current  worries; Next, I wondered if being a Dad would start to come a bit more naturally. After this lot came some thoughts about work, business performance and then I wondered if we'd manage to put an extension on the cottage. Genuinely, it took quite a while for the car to enter my consciousness. This in itself is rather a sign of the times. In any case my first thought on the subject was, "I will finish the car this year."  Then I thought again - the reality is that I just don't know if that will be possible. Kate is on maternity leave for a while yet and frankly I'm not sure where the cash for some of the big ticket items still to be bought (loads of custom aluminium tanks/pipes and a complete exhaust) will come from. It naturally follows that if I'm struggling to find the pennies to finish the car, finding the funds to race the thing will be similarly difficult.

While this is somewhat depressing, I find myself being fairly philosophical about it all. It's been so long since I ventured out on-track in my own car that the adrenaline and thrill is barely even a distant memory. Therefore, rather than looking upon the car as a source of excitement, I find myself thinking about the short periods that I spend building the thing as R&R - a bit of time to myself.

It's for this reason that I'll keep plodding-on until such a time as some funds roll-in or indeed the funds run out. Did somebody mention an extension?

TC