Need to catch up...

Quite a lot of stuff has moved-on as well as arrived.  I'll try to update properly in the next couple of days.  In the mean time, here's a taster!

TC

Raging. Inferno?

I had one of those days on Saturday where I felt like setting fire to the whole thing. The issue? Mostly my welding. I wanted to take-on such an extensive project as I didn't want to entertain some of the compromises that I felt came with most kits.  Today it feels like I am at risk of making compromises due to my own lack of skill.  Not good.

Anyway, the pedal box is welded in place, except for one run that I'll do when the chassis is next inverted.  

 This is the front-side.  A tidy enough weld here, I hope you'll agree.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the back-side.  I seem to have a mental block with welding in the centre of any angle less than about 80degrees.  After lots of wire and lots of grinder I got to this stage, or at least sort of.

Let me first say that in terms of weld integrity I have no fear.  It's not coming-off, even if I stamp on the brake pedal.  However, from an aesthetic perspective it is just plain 'You-Gee-Ell-Wye.'  It is so bad that I was considering starting again but that would be a hell of a job and I don't really want to spend a load of cash on another pedal box.  So, in a last-ditch attempt to convince myself that I'd live with it, I painted it to see if the powdercoat will do it any favours.  The answer?  Ish.  Perhaps of more consequence than the way it looks is the fact that I've probably added 500grams to the chassis that a better welder wouldn't have.  Ho-hum.

When positioning the pedal box, I wasn't able to consider it in isolation.  The steering column needs to thread its way between the pedals so I needed to hash something up to check everything.  I borrowed an old Triumph column to assist.  I'm going to have to change the shape of the clutch pedal to avoid interference but that's not the end of the world - a standard Escort brake pedal may actually just do the job.

The oiled chassis seems to be resisting rust well.

As suggested in the last post, I'd asked Dave at Track Developments to tig weld the top engine mounts, which he's done.  Given my welding issues, there may be a bit more work coming his way.

I have just realised that last Thursday marked 5-years of this blog.  There have been over 10,000 page views in that time.  I'm not convinced that I have any regular readers as such, but hopefully things will get a bit more interesting later in the year when I get back racing.  Incidentally, with this in mind I've renewed my license, rejoined the 750 Motor Club and registered for the RGB Championship.  I was able to secure No.41 which is good news.

TC