310 replies to this topic

[F1L8EY]

ill keep my eye on this. looks like it will shift. might need ear plugs though!!

[mattmiglia]

Any new updates on this one?

[james.c94]

Do you mind sharing how big the holes in the sills are?

James

[Alan Carruthers]

Will do mate, car's not with me at the mo but will have a measure

A

[Alan Carruthers]

Nice build that mate! Really like the fabrication of the sills and rear arches!
What diameter was the tube that was used for turreting the arches?
Keep it up

Hey, sorry for the lengthy delay, rear turrets are 100mm diameter.

Al

[james.c94]

Will do mate, car's not with me at the mo but will have a measure

A

Cheers mate :)

[Alan Carruthers]

Hey James, 53mm, presume based on whatever tool matt used to do the swaging.

Al

[james.c94]

Hey James, 53mm, presume based on whatever tool matt used to do the swaging.
Al

Awesome, cheers for that!

also do you have a weight for the car? And does it pass an mot no problem without the rear bulkhead?

Awesome build by the way!

James

[Alan Carruthers]

James, these are both good questions which I don't have the answer to, I've been assured that the MOT will be OK but depends who does it I think, the car is going up to Retro Power this weekend to get the rear lights and arches sorted and I know they use an MOT station regularly which is used to these types of projects.  They've already mentioned to me that they were concerned about it not having reverse as they thought the rules might have changed?! On weight, I'm not actually expecting it to be that light as we've put so much T45 back in but hoping for between 500 and 600kgs.

 

So, bit of an update, took car to PDQ just before Christmas but Larry then contacted me mid May to say that he couldn't do it as they'd crashed a Westfield they'd been working on just as they'd finished it and due to the fact that the winter had been unusually busy because of the weather (I know it's not been like that everywhere in the country).  Couldn't believe I'd been let down again but, luckily, and by sheer chance, Larry has been able to put me in touch with another local chap who was looking to use his BEC dyno so that's actually been going well - photos to follow. 

 

Although PDQ didn't manage to get it going we did get Paul Dobb up from Swindon to sort the engine loom.  The one that came with the engine was a total mess and had been extended to within an inch of it's life.  Got another from ebay but that had a load of broken connectors and just wasn't going to be as neat an install as I was looking for having gone to so much trouble/time/expense/heartache etc thus far.  Therefore Paul did one from scratch, he specialises in race looms, and actually thought incredible value given the quality.  He'd done the work on the Westfield (steering wheel for that below) which was basically touring car standard and has finger print recognition start!  Mine's a bit more simple, not completely finished yet but the majority is in, just needs speedo healer and power commander to be fixed to the bulkhead and then hooked up to battery/clocks/ignition.

 

Slightly tricky to take photos of a wiring loom(!) but you get the idea, think all the detail of it is dead impressive, grommets, heat shrink, mounting of exup servo etc and everything's labelled up.

 

Al

 

ps not me in the pic, but a very helpful chap called Steve!

 

Wild Ebay loom

 

Trick solution but I'm going to go traditional with some adapted mini stalks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan Carruthers]

So I'm guessing there's quite a few young lad/lasses out there reading this as having projects like this is, if you've got the petrol bug, a brilliant thing.

However, cars are a bit of a black hole of money and, having had to tot up this little car for insurance purposes, I did scare myself at how much it's cost.  Basically just want to send out some advice which is, think really carefully before starting and work out a clear plan in as much detail as possible, write it down, draw it etc, but the absolute key is - do it yourself.  It means you can control cost but, more importantly, it makes the whole thing so much more rewarding because you made whatever it is with your two hands.  If you don't think you can do it, learn how, procure the materials/tools, read the books, read the forums and try your best to not send any of the work out.  I basically haven't had the time, patience, talent so had to get lots of help but I suppose if I'd gone about it differently could have saved massively.

With that, thought I'd put up one example of something I have done, the diffuser former, that said, it's now with Ben at Carbon Weezel so even then I've had to sub it!

Hope you like it, I'm looking forward to the end result.

Edited by Alan Carruthers, 05 May 2014 - 12:01 PM.

[Alan Carruthers]

Concept

 

 

 

Template for cross section of valance

 

Measure two, three times... and keep measuring

 

 

To get the curve of the valance took a photo from above and then traced over it in CAD

 

Model it up

 

 

Put in valance to understand where the doubly curved surfaces would need to be 'filled' in

 

Fins

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan Carruthers]

Printed off the templates to allow me to cut the correct curves in the ply

 

 

 

Tend to cut out the paper shape, spray glue it and stick it to whatever I'm cutting.  Then paint round it using it as a mask to get a nice cutting line

 

Cut out in valance

 

 

 

As you can see been working on this for ages!  Mocked it up under car to make sure the fit was correct, then basically re-made it to get rid of 'gap' I'd had to leave around fuel tank box

 

 

[Alan Carruthers]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aborted fin attempt!

 

 

 

 

[Alan Carruthers]

Tip... do not put the filler on like this!  Get it as smooth as you can, lots of layers, build it up slowly

 

 

 

 

Much of this later

 

And you get towards this

 

 

 

 

 

Local body shop gave it a final go (pink filer) and now with Ben

 

 

 

 

 

 

[morley]

Looks like a lot of effort has gone into that diffuser! Looking forward to see the finished product, keep it up Alan