377 replies to this topic

[MrBounce]

Great attention to detail! Love these updates - keep it going

[blue blood]

Great attention to detail! Love these updates - keep it going

Thank-you :)

Just a small update today-
I started by cutting out the holes in the piece of carbon fibre I cut for the fuel neck. Used a dremel disk on the circle and sanded it by hand for smoothness. I then used a sanding bit in the dremel to do the holes for the nuts:


I quite like the finished outcome and think it looks very swish
I then set about adapting the cap so it could have a 'tether' on it for the IVA. Basically the fuel cap has to be attached to the vehicle at all time! So instead of drilling into my new fuel cap I disassembled it and began making from a stainless washer a place to tie a piece of wire cord to then tie to the car body. Its hard to see but I took a washer sanded it all down to fit in the recess then hole punched and made a 2mm hole. Fitted al back together and it works fine but as soon as I have an IVA it is coming straight off haha. Anyway here are a few pictures of it:



Hard to see but the end of the scalpel is the washer behind the twisting tightening thing:)


Then started to make a template for my rear quarters as I will be getting plastics for performance to make some up legally for the IVA......but they are fairly expensive!




More to come soon hopefully.
Regards Blue

[blue blood]

Carrying on I got my rocker cover almost finished at least until I get a new bonnet to see if it all fits under (I know it will be tight and still may need to do some fine adjustments). So last time I did the rocker cover the metal warped too much and I could not put the new cap on due the neck being pulled in! So I re-welded on a new cover a blank for the old cap and a new oil filler neck and cap:






and with the old cap in place:-


Also started to modify the brake pedal a bit to fit the universal adjuster. I had to plug weld the original hole and move the hole down a bit then cut/grind/sand the top of it to let the rod end move:





Also finished off the outer steering column. I welded up the original MPI holes and re drilled the size needed(M8) for my stainless drop bracket. It all fits like a glove now and will tighten up perfectly:






And to round everything off I bit the bullet and cut off my roll cages legs 3inches from the lowest point (hopefully in the right place ):




Thats all for now :)

Regards Blue

[george91]

I guess you are going to have to play with the rear legs that go to the arches, shouldn't be too much of a job but i can imagine it being a bit of a pain. The filler neck looks good too.

[blue blood]

Yeah I will be playing around with the rear leg positions so it adds a bit more rigidity and it also means there is not as much stress on the turrets biggest peoples fear of using coil-overs).
I did a few more bits to the brake pedal to get it fitted snug:



Also a shot of my top engine steady in place:


Regards to all Blue

[george91]

Yeah good idea, the cage will help a lot there. Also i have been looking at your steering column set up which i like a lot.

Where did you buy your UJ for the steering column? i have been looking for one suitable that doesn't cost a fortune with no luck.

Also seeing as you are mounting the column off the dash bar, you can cut the bits off the back of the pedal box if you want to save a bit of weight. :)

Edited by george91, 19 January 2012 - 11:05 PM.

[blue blood]

Also i have been looking at your steering column set up which i like a lot.

Where did you buy your UJ for the steering column?

Firstly than-you very much :) I guess I could loose a bit of extra weight there but I think I will it as it is until after it goes through an IVA.
As for the UJ I got mine from a warehouse company in coventry who specialise in caterhams and west-fields. That is also where I got my inner column stuff from too. I can't remember the companies name though but they were really helpful and even got their in house engineer over for a chat to make sure everything was hunky-dory :) however if you go onto car builder solutions there are a few UJ options: http://www.cbsonline...16_Splines_UJP2

Regards Blue

[george91]

Thanks for the info, seeing them on there is reassuring. I'm only thinking of adding one to the rack right at the bottom like yours, and mounting it off the rollcage, but i'll have to do some more thinking as im not 100% yet.
Cheers, George.

[blue blood]

Got a few little bits made up today as I bought some 3mm stainless and 3mm mild steel sheet.

The first things I made were the front suspension spreader plates in stainless:




Then I finished off making the alternator bracket parts from the 3mm mild steel:




Finally I made a template for the centre mounting points of my rear beam. It is quite a hefty piece but it will add better compression strength and more of a load area :)




Thats it for today.

Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Looks good blue.

I need to make some spreaders for the front coilovers. I have made some for my additional engine steady.

That rear beam one is massive, I was just going to have some big repair washers to spread the load there as there isn't really much load there.

[blue blood]

Well i'm playing it safe than sorry. I know that there will be quite bit of stress there, unlike a normal subframe that spread its weight load all under the boot the beam is only fixed to the heel board. The other place you have to be careful with due to stress is the suspension turrets (for obvious reasons) which I will be tackling by my tying it in with my rollcage. In fact ABS advise not to use beams on fibreglass cars due to the stress points being concentrated in a smaller area. How are you having your cage?

Regards Blue

[blue blood]

Well didi a bit more work today.

I was sorting out my seat mounts. I have drilled new mounting holes and have been playing around with how to adjust the slider (wire and wire grips):



I also sorted out my window template ready to send to plastic for performance:




I need to take out 6mm from the total of the recess as you can see by the rubber depth



Got to making more templates and cutting them from 3mm stainless:






Finally I received these puppies in the post as well for connecting my fuel cap to my fuel cell :



Regards Blue

[blue blood]

Right so today I finished of the top alternator bracket by welding all the pieces in place. As for the bottom bracket I will have to come up with a design to shoe horn in but still have an adjustable tensioner as the one already in built on the mini pulley system isn't going to cut the mustard. Here is it all in place:





I also started to find mark, measure and cut all the right angles for the rollcage. I spent alot of time with my brother finding out the average angles and lengths needed to be cut. The magic angle is 65 degrees ;)








and the gap between the roof and the main bar is low enough so that when I make my custom headlining up it will not foul on the steel support frame inbuilt into the roof :


A small but non the less important update

Regards Blue

[blue blood]

Small update again today.

So as a few of you may know i bought some rear radius arms from force racing which were complete and utter garbage as they didn't fit correctly and even hit off the rear beam I had also purchased off him. I had a big dispute with him about it and it ended up him not taking any of the responsibility for it and saying it was down to my shell! So I purchased some standard arms (which are the sizes I asked for from force racing) lo and behold they fit perfectly so 'sods to you Carl Austin of force racing' As you can plainly see with no modifications what so ever my rear arms fit and the suspension does not foul on the suspension turret! and here is the proof of the pudding:







I had to drill a hole in the side of the shell to be able to fit the top bolt in the pins mounting bracket and i will have to do the same on the other side. I will have to find a rubber bung/grommet of some sort to plug it up for a nice finish:





Also drilled and fitted the centre mounting plate for the rear beam:


I also sanded the oil filler neck down more for yet more clearance under the bonnet:



Finally i marked out quickly where to cut the wheel arches back for my 13" wheels:





Thats all for now folks

Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Nice update blue! Looks like your going to have to do what i have done to the turret?

I've got some updates for mine but i haven't taken any pictures, will update soon.