Christmas is looming...

The chassis is powdercoated.  Sadly, I couldn't get away from work before the chap left for a couple of weeks in warmer climes so I can't collect it until the 7th Jan.  I myself head for a few days in Tuscany on the 8th so its not ideal.  Never mind.  In the meantime, I'll continue to thin-out the loom.  I think I'm nearly there to be honest.  I might even break the monotony by carrying-out some of the mods to the engine that will hopefully prevent it from going bang.  I've got a sump baffle plate so that can be sorted out.  That'll leave me with the breather mods and replacement of the damaged covers.  I also want to replace the clutch.  Hmm... sounds like plenty to be getting on with actually.

Nadolig Llawen.

TC

JFDI

The chassis has finally gone to the powdercoaters - www.azcoat.co.uk.  Before it left I did my very best to degrease it.  Regular readers may remember that in November 2010 the chassis was thoroughly oiled and put into storage.  As a result I thought it was worth going over it with acetone and a rag to try and get it ship-shape before blasting.

One other job pre-painting involved drilling some holes for the bonnet pins.  These can be seen below.

Fourteen holes took forever as my drill bits clearly need sharpening.  I was also left wishing that I still had a mains-electric drill.  Anyway, I got there in the end and popped a bonnet pin in one of the holes to check that all was well,

Another job done.  I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that the chassis was going to be painted grey.  That is still true, at least to an extent.  However, I decided that plain grey was all very well but a bit common and not necessarily in-keeping with my retro theme.  So, after procrastinating for long enough to be uncomfortable with my lack of decisiveness, I bit the bullet (hence the 'JFDI' title) and went for Grey-Beige or RAL1019.  Middle-aged before my time?  Probably.

So an unusual colour for an unusual car.  SNAFU then.

TC

Date and Weight

The draft race calendar is out and can be seen here.  I can't see the car being ready until May so I will sadly miss Rounds 1-4 at Donington and Brands.  That means a debut at Snetterton on the new (to me at least) 300 circuit.   My previous visit to the circuit was a bit disappointing and its a bloomin' long way from home but we'll book the Friday test and see how we get on.  A date to work towards should hopefully provide some real impetus.  The chassis is ready and heading for coating next Thursday.  We managed to get it on a set of scales - its 60kgs which, considering that it includes so many of the fixings and brackets to construct the car, is rather pleasing - its the same as a Locost chassis.

I'm still working on the wiring.  As soon as I've got that sorted I'll start working on the motor - I want to change the clutch, fit some upgraded springs, replace the damaged covers and carry-out the necessary mods to the breather system and sump.  

TC