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

Bits and pieces...

There's not been a lot a lot of action since the tub got painted and trimmed but I thought I'd post a few pictures of things that have been finished.

Here you can see a cover that I made to hide some of the wiring. I also wanted somewhere to put some stickers so here it is:

My battery needed something to lift it up in it's tray so it now sits atop some 12mm high density rubber. The result is that it is now fitted for what is hopefully the last time:

That's about it...

Yawn...

TC

On the brink...

I’m now very close to fitting the body tub for the last time. Unfortunately I’m also on the brink of cracking the side of the tub! I’ve cut and carved around the bars under the scuttle and I’ve had to take it quite close to the edge. The body has then flexed when moving it around and a tiny crack has appeared on the top of the tub. I’ve glued it together and also glued a plastic ‘splint’ (i.e. part of a zip-tie) underneath the crack. I’ll also duck tape some wood to the side when I fit the tub to make sure that it doesn’t flex again. Once it’s in place I’ll try to cut the holes for the suspension and permanently fix it so that the crack can’t migrate.

In the mean-time, the rear is all trimmed (as pictured) and the edges are sanded.

It took me an age to decide whether or not to paint the inside of the panels around the cockpit.

In the end the raw fibreglass was just a bit too raw. Despite the fact that the car is destined for the track it’s important that it looks good too.

I think the end result is good. I just hope that I don’t crack the tub trying to fit it!

TC

On second thoughts...

The tub is not going on tonight. I've decided to slow down and do everything right. It's so easy to scratch the tub and the chassis so I'm going to take my time and aim to have it on by next week sometime. It's going to take me a while because I want to rub-down the edges so that they're not rough and also paint the inside of the tub in the cockpit area. I'm not fitting interior panels so this should at least tidy it up a touch. So, no exciting pics today I'm afraid.

TC

Quick update...

The steering rack is in - albeit temporarily while I sort out some bolts which are the right length. The body tub is almost ready to slide on - I'm mid-way through trimming to fit.

Updates and pics tomorrow all being well.

TC