The Garage is tidy…

... and ready for action.

The exams are over, and finally I can try to make some progress. The boot cover template is as good as I can get it and ready to ship.
The carbon back panel is riveted on.

I need some material to make some brackets and replace some mild steel bar in the pedal box. I was about to buy some from an eBay seller and amended a measurement by 5mm on 2mm thick Ali plate. The guy wanted an additional £5.50 so I told him where to stick it. So, I need to try to get to my local metals place sometime in office hours.

I put the nose back on today as I’d forgotten what the car looked like ‘complete.’ I thought while it was all together, I’d have a look at the carbon canards to see where they’d go and also put the stripe in place to see what it will all look like. Sellotape is a wonderful thing.

Now, my latest concern: If you look at the above photograph, the lower wishbone is almost parallel to the floor and the steering arms can only be described as diagonal. This spells one thing, bump-steer. The problem is, there is absolutely no way that the steering rack can move. Hmmm… will require some thought; likely by someone with more expertise than me.

A couple of pretty random photos to finish for the evening: Good night.

TC

Too close for comfort...

I’m deep into revision for my last exam of the year at the end of the week but I have managed a few hours in the garage… all of which have been a bit concerning.

I’ve put the front suspension back together and have found two problems:

1. I’ve had Lenny turn my bolts too short – totally my fault; not the end of the world but annoying.
2. More worryingly, once it was all back together I found that the rocker actually clashed with the bracket that Steve had riveted to the chassis to support the body. I’ve always wondered if they should be on the outside if the chassis and this would appear to be the case. There was nothing about this ‘development’ in the manual so it’s not a great shock. The only way that I could attach the brackets on the outside of the chassis is if I removed the main tub – this is not going to happen so I’ll need to fabricate some different brackets. It’s incredible how tight things are around the front shocks. I’ve already mentioned that the lower mount are too close together; I now find that I have about 3-4mm only of clearance between rocker and chassis. I’ve leapt up and down on the front suspension and nothing touches with the aforementioned brackets removed but it’s a bit closer than I’d ideally like.

I’ve also had a quick look at the rear suspension and found that the springs touch the body in their current position. This means that I’ve got to space the wishbones and or dampers differently. Again, not the end of the world but an annoyance none the less, and another job for the list.
I have managed to complete something off the list. I bought some skateboard grip tape from an eBay seller and have since removed the pedals and applied it. You can also see in the photo my original and replacement accelerator pedals. I positioned the pivot too far to the right so wasn’t able to heel and toe. I contacted Grant at Optimum Balance Products who I guessed made the pedal box and commissioned a one-off replacement. Not surprisingly, he questioned what I needed a couple of times as it does look suitable for a club-foot. Still, it does the job nicely. Lenny’s done a great job on my new load spreading seat spacers. New (top) and old can be seen here:
I’ve also almost got the template for the boot cover spot-on. One more and I’ll have it done.
I have had a bit of encouraging news this week. Local MNR owners Ed and Jon (thoroughly nice blokes as it happens) took their car to Muzz Race to get the suspension set-up after I suggested that I would be taking mine there. It sounds like Steff did a great job which is the first bit of good news. The second is that their car weighed 486kgs with a fair amount of fuel on board. I’d expect their car to be quite a bit heavier than mine so I may yet get to 450ish kgs which would be fab!

Anyway, bed beckons – Ciao.

TC

About time I posted…

It’s been nearly 6 months! How time flies! Well, I’ve been working pretty hard on all fronts hence I haven’t updated the blog. The car has moved on, mostly thanks to Steve but it’s been home for a while now. Steve and I agreed that there would be a few jobs left to finish, and most of them are still to be done. We left it like that because Steve found himself having to rectify so many jobs that we simply should not have had to worry about. This ate-up time and Steve had made commitments to other people so it was only fair that the car came back. Kit Cars eh? Part of the purpose of this post is to force me to make a list of what’s left to do so I can start to tick these off.

Before I get to that, I’ll try to explain what stage the car is at. By the time Steve returned the car, it actually looked virtually complete.

In reality, the suspension is all loose awaiting professional set-up and there are a few jobs to complete and a few remedial jobs for me to do also. Even if Pininfarina had been completing the build, I’d have wanted to amend something so this isn’t a slight on anyone.

The car is in many more pieces now than it was when I got it back. Most of this was to try and get things clean – the aluminium in particular needed some TLC – I’m about half way there with the Autosol. Hence, the seats and harness are out. The radiator is also off and the exhaust has been off but is now back together. The exhaust came off so I could get the cut-out as I like it. The radiator had to come off because in its original position I couldn’t fit the lower hose. The most substantive parts to be removed were the front shocks. The lower bracket isn’t ‘right’ and hence in standard form the two shocks wouldn’t fit together. By taking a little meat off the lower body Steve got them to fit, but I worried that in compression the adjuster knobs would clash. Hence, they had to come off again and get turned around. This meant that the other side of the shock body needed shaving as well. Not ideal!

So, what’s left to do? Jobs to complete 25/05/08

Engine and Ancillaries
Fit thicker foam on fuel tank straps.
Fit new o-ring in filler cap – it seems to have swollen.
Buy and fit hose tail for one-way valve connected to tank.
Consider if I’m going to change the fuel pump mount.
Wire-up steering buttons for Kliktronic shifter.
Get new radiator mounts made from Ali.
Fit radiator and associated hoses.
Fill with fluids.
Replace nasty screws holding-down airbox.
Get tailpipe welded to silencer.

Suspension and Brakes
Drill-out rivets securing brake line from M/Cylinder to Line Lock and have damaged fitting replaced.
Refit brake line
Replace front shocks and tighten all nuts not needed for suspension set-up.
Turn one rear shock around and tighten.
Fill brake fluid and bleed.
Set brake balance bar.
Get suspension corner weighted and set-up by Steff @ Muzz Race.

Bodywork and Interior.
Collect load spreading seat spacers from Lenny.
Clean all Ali. Refit seats and harnesses.
Tidy cut-outs in nosecone.
Refit quick release catches.
Re-make scuttle inspection covers in plain rather than machined ali.
Fit mirrors.
Apply stickers (having ordered pseudo-race number backgrounds.)
Rivet carbon back panel back on.
Paint Ali brackets for rear arches.
Run silicone sealant around chassis tubes to prevent water ingress.
Attach carbon CSR arches with polyurethane sealant.
Attach carbon canards to nosecone.
Attach carbon rear arch protectors.
Apply non-slip tape to pedals.
Clean engine.
Complete template for rear boot cover and get it made by Milson – fit poppers, and then cover.

Yikes – more than I thought. I have my final exam of the year in 3 weeks, after which I will really get stuck in.

Body On...

I did promise a picture with the tub on and here it is:

It's actually starting to resemble a car!

My uprights/hubs etc are still AWOL in the post. Marc @ MNR has kindly sourced some replacement uprights which he'll machine and send across to Steve. I've been ordering all the other bits to build-up the uprights. One upgrade that I am going to make is a move to aluminium hubs - assuming the guy selling them gets back to me. It won't make a lot of difference with my heavy calipers but it seems daft to buy one set with a view to changing them next winter.

Keeping the blog up to date is making a nice change from all the revision I'm doing for my exams next week.

'Til next time, cheers

TC

Happy New Year...

Hello Dear Readers.

The seats are in:

More importantly, having said I would do it MONTHS ago, the bodywork is on for the last time! Pictures to follow soon I hope.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a prosperous New Year.

TC

Steve Hignett Showcase…

It’s been an awfully long time since I posted on here. In fairness, I’ve been a bit busy – the MBA is full-on! Fortunately Steve has been making some excellent progress. However, the completion of the car has proved to be far from straight-forward with a few unexpected challenges. I’ve also had some specific requirements that haven’t necessarily made Steve’s job easy. Fortunately, Steve is 100% honest and will do everything in his power to replicate the dream/vision in your mind’s eye.

A good example of this is the scuttle and the holes for the steering column. The dash is integral which means that drilling accurate holes for the column is not as easy on some other cars. As a result, most builders cut slots so the scuttle so it can slide over the top of the column. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what I wanted so Steve had to carry-out a laborious measuring and mocking-up exercise to get it right. This is just one example of a job well done.

Measure - a few times:
Nice:

Another relates to a difference is size between the chassis and the bodywork. This is a ‘feature’ of all MNRs of a similar age to mine and things have apparently changed since. Some have used wood to shim the bodywork up. I think Steve’s done a much nicer job folding aluminium and riveting it at the right gradient to get a perfect fit. He’s simply not prepared to take half measures or ‘throw’ anything together. He’s a top man – if you find yourself in a similar situation to me don’t hesitate to e-mail him at: me@p4nts.co.uk .

Some rather ‘spiffy’ bits have gone on the car too – most notably the genuine carbon fibre bulkhead panel from http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/. It’s soon to be joined by rear wing protectors and canards (aerodynamic “whiskers”) from the Caterham CSR.

The rear suspension and drive-train is bolted together. The seats are now in. The exhaust is nearly fitted. It’s all coming together nicely… except that my front uprights have gone missing in the post. Not good, since they are relatively rare and not cheap. I’m still crossing everything that they will appear.
If you want to see more of Steve’s work, visit http://www.mercurymotorsport.co.uk/

Merry Christmas

TC

Precious little time...

I’m afraid I’ve run-out of time! My July deadline shifted to August and then to September and beyond. On 1st October I started my Masters Degree which I’m studying part-time for the next two-and-a-bit years. This is a demanding course and I simply don’t have the time (working full-time too) to work on the car. So in terms of updates, I have nothing to show.

However, all is not lost. I have shipped the car (two trips, 735 miles, 21 hours and no sleep) to a fellow ‘Locostbuilder’ in Cheshire. Steve Hignett has built two similar cars in the past and is a top bloke. I have no doubts that he’ll do a great job on the car. We’re not yet 100% sure whether or not Steve will complete the car – either way I’m sure he’ll make more rapid progress than I did. He’s kindly agreed to take lots of photographs so I’m hoping to keep this blog up-to-date in the hope that it’s useful t someone.

I am of course very disappointed not to be completing the jobs on the car myself but I’ve taken a pragmatic approach to try to get the car ready for the track-day season next year. It’s been two years since I’ve done a track-day now and I’m itching to get back on to a circuit.

So, stay tuned!

TC