Throttle enable cable fable...

My throttle cable assembly is one part of the car that has been in the design phase for literally years. At last I've been able to piece together the critical parts.

The generic cable from Venhill uses the welded-on nipple fitting in the standard throttle roller fitting. The cable then travels through the recycled Yamaha bolt-in ferule before travelling through the Venhill outer until it reaches the threaded cable adjuster which is mounted in a fabricated stand-off tower using a nice grommet from CBS to seal it off while allowing the thick-end of the adjuster to travel into the tower.  The cable exits the adjuster then travels 90 degrees around a special machined acrylic rolling-shaft before joining to the pedal by means of a Venhill U-shaped fitting, bolt-on nipple-end and a rose-joint.

It needs some fine-adjustment and a brace for the tower but works a treat.  It will sound silly but as this is all of my own design (with the goal always being a smooth, long-travel pedal) I am rather pleased.

Now to try to find a very short turn-buckle or similar to act as the brace for the tower...

TC

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