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

New Year's Resolution (2015)

When the clock ticked-over to 2015 I had a number of thoughts rattling around my brain. My first, second and third thoughts were about family: How would the boy change in the coming 12 months?; I hoped that the wider family would be reasonably well given some of the current  worries; Next, I wondered if being a Dad would start to come a bit more naturally. After this lot came some thoughts about work, business performance and then I wondered if we'd manage to put an extension on the cottage. Genuinely, it took quite a while for the car to enter my consciousness. This in itself is rather a sign of the times. In any case my first thought on the subject was, "I will finish the car this year."  Then I thought again - the reality is that I just don't know if that will be possible. Kate is on maternity leave for a while yet and frankly I'm not sure where the cash for some of the big ticket items still to be bought (loads of custom aluminium tanks/pipes and a complete exhaust) will come from. It naturally follows that if I'm struggling to find the pennies to finish the car, finding the funds to race the thing will be similarly difficult.

While this is somewhat depressing, I find myself being fairly philosophical about it all. It's been so long since I ventured out on-track in my own car that the adrenaline and thrill is barely even a distant memory. Therefore, rather than looking upon the car as a source of excitement, I find myself thinking about the short periods that I spend building the thing as R&R - a bit of time to myself.

It's for this reason that I'll keep plodding-on until such a time as some funds roll-in or indeed the funds run out. Did somebody mention an extension?

TC

50 Shades of Brown

The cage has been returned.  Behold: BMW Mini Brilliant Copper Metallic.

It won't be a lot of people's mug o' chai, but I like it.

TC

Propping-up the economy

My prop shaft, not including its original manufacture, has now visited specialists four times. For once, I'm not really to blame. I gave-up with the Bristol-based firm that I'd been using as their idea of customer service was very different to mine, they'd failed to follow instructions and because the quality of their painting is hilarious.

Instead I flicked through a kit car magazine and e-mailed the advertising specialists asking for a quote to carry out the modifications required. Dunning & Fairbank came back with a great quote so I sent the prop to them. It's back, sorted and painted.  Sometimes using a local firm isn't the smart move. It's also now fitted.  Huzzah.

The only impediment to this was the fact that I didn't have any HT bolts of the correct length. I searched EBay and found some 10.9-grade button heads in the right size. This is rather good news as  a hex-head would've been likely to scuff against my leg. 

Looking ahead, I had a call today to say that my cage is painted so I'm quite excited to see that.

TC