Build Diary
Final entry: 02/2004
2002: Preamble
2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
2004: January - February - After build diary
2005: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
2006: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
October 2002
Sold my Megablade (mb919), very sad to see it go.
November 2002
Started to look around for car to build so I approached Westfield for some costings, looked at the Suzuki GSX1000-R engine... dribbled a bit, also looked at GT40 replicas and the Ultima GTR. Both types are very nice but the GT40s don't seem to hold their price as well as the GTR.
Did the sums for the Ultima and with a 500hp V8 engine from the USA, the cost would be more than £35,000 depending on what goodies you used. Then did the sums for a BEC with a Busa engine and came up with a figure under half that.
So, a choice between another Westy, the Coram LMP or an Ultima. The Ultima I think would be built to be sold, so the next one I could keep... which even as I type that in, sounds bonkers.
December 2002
Looked at the Yamaha R1 engine... very nice. Would need to sort out a new cradle, loom, exhaust system and a 'rent-a-cat' etc.... is this too complicated? But 160bhp from a small engine sounds good, with the added bonus that the engines are cheap and the prop angles would be better than a Busa (I think).. The down side is the cat system I'd have to use to get it through the SVA/MOTs, still a Rpw of better than 370 does sound fun.
Just found out that the LMP has the bike engine mounted the same way round as the Westfield! Why do that, the power pack is in the back of the car? This seems a bit of a wasted opportunity, but not only that you get no weight saving at all, as you still use (presumably) a RGB, prop and really heavy diff with really really heavy LOBRO CVs. Will have to wait until next month to have a look.
Autosport show
Looked at the Ultima GTR, dribbled quite a bit but it wiped off easily enough, The chap on the stand was very helpful and answered all my questions, came away with a build CD and information on the engines. The Ultima is very tempting.
Also looked at the Coram LMP and while the chaps on the stand were enthusiastic about the car I must say I was a bit disappointed with the end product. I am sure though that the thing is well put together, maybe it's personal taste, but just not the kit for me.
I also looked at the Westfield XTR2 but discounted it on grounds of practicality, (Edit: I've just re-read this bit.... and I'm doing a car with a Turbo' d 900cc engine - practical? Ha ha ha).
Researching light weight component suppliers for brakes, suspension, wheels and carbon fibre parts etc.
All but decided on a Megabusa and started looking for the best system to use for the dry sump. This started to sound jolly expensive just to pump oil round an engine! - £1500+
Received an email out of the blue from Holeshot (who had been a bit off hand last year when I was looking to upgrade mb919) - which was nice of them. Had a look on the Turbo Bike Forum - and those people are insane! Some of the systems they have fitted... absolutely bonkers. Found a chap in Holland whose website shows what can be done with a turbo and a bog standard Fireblade engine: 235bhp at the wheel. The bike has done a lot of miles with this system, so it seems reliable.
Decided that, if it was a practically possible solution a Turbocharged Megablade sounds a good bet. I like the concept of a really light car with a little engine that develops a lot of power, so made arrangements to visit Holeshot Racing, Play's Kool and Westfield in February.
Started looking for a Honda Fireblade engine that was low mileage and was also pre-1995. Steve Porter replied to a request for suppliers I made on the BEC list. He had a 1993 German import engine that had done 13,000Km. Put a deposit on it and arranged to collect it on the 8th March.
Monthly Surrey WSCC meeting: Yukky weather, only Iain turned up in his Westy.... Visit Terry's new and mysterious Kit-car. Wow it's big, very nice - but big!
Visited Holeshot Racing. very useful to meet Jack and have a look at several turbo systems and bikes. Most impressed with his expertise and worked out a cost to install a turbo on my 'new' engine. Next went to see Paul at Play's Kool, loads of Kevlar and Carbon bits which I think went to my head, as I seemed to have ordered most of them.
Stayed overnight in Birmingham, had the car broken into - nice welcome. Next visited the Factory and had a very pleasant afternoon deciding on what to include in my kit, paid my deposit and off home we went.
Received the order confirmation from Westfield, which said the kit would be ready from the 26th March onwards - wow, that was fast.
Pestered Ed C about his lovely wheels, he was very patient with me and provided the information I was after. Contacted Mike Barnby and sorted out what wheels I needed and the price.
Collected my engine from Steve Porter and it was everything he said it was. Very clean with no scuffs or scrapes and all its bits 'n bobs intact. Top chap - just waiting for him to ship my regulator.
Made the engine shipping crate - £30.00 in plywood! Still, it's jolly strong and quite light weight (a theme in the making I think). Phoned Jack at Holeshot to make arrangements, talked about which way up to mount the turbo unit etc and ran some A3 colour images off for him the have a look at. Engine should be on it's way up to Leeds next week sometime.
Talked to Paul at Play's Kool... he is shipping all my carbon stuff and it should all be with me by the weekend, another top chap. This means that I can lay the engine, wings seats and panels out in the garage and make brrmmm brrmmm noises!
Phone call from Westfield to confirm end of month collection, booked 'big' Luton van.
Got to wait until Monday for my carbon bits... ah well, more time to polish the engine.
Re-built the chassis trolly, but cut the legs down a bit so the car will be around 8" lower and easier to work on. Finished (so far) polishing the engine, just got to drop it in its crate and seal it up.
Got all the carbon panels from Paul at Play's Kool and I must say how impressed I am, they look drop dead fantastic! Very light (about 1/2 the weight of ali), all of them are pre-cut with some pre-drilled and the pedal box cover even has the steering column 'bumpy thing' molded in. The seats are comfies and look very nice. Another top chap.
Engine collected today and with Holeshot tomorrow.
The cycle wings only weigh 0.9Kg for the pair and the standard Westfield ones are 0.95Kg each!
Wheels not ready yet, so no trip to Hi-Spec on Monday.
Ordered: Electric water pump and controller, catch tank, shiftlight system, Loads of peel rivets / jacknuts / rivnuts / aluminum nuts & bolts, shock absorbers (AVO SA1000s), springs and suspension bush set.
Got the OMEX shift light system.... very nice, four LEDs to stare at now instead of just one.
The catch tank / electric water pump bits came from Merlin and boy what a comedy of errors this has turned out to be. The pump controller was missing it's relay, the pump just came in a placky bag - no pipe adaptors, wiring harness, clips, instructions etc and the tank was the wrong size (my fault) with the input pipes on the wrong side (their fault).
One phone call later and the relay will be sent on, once they receive the tank a 'correct' one would be sent and "no, that's how we get the pumps from Davies Craig", so no bits for the pump. I then ring DT and find out that "yes, the pump comes with adaptors, wiring, instructions, clips....". Order one from them and phone Merlin to return their pump. They say that they have been ordering the wrong pump kit from DC!
The controller relay and tank arrived today. Relay good, tank bad - right size this time but the input pipes are still on the wrong side! Back it goes again. I was tempted to ask "which bit of 'input pipes on the opposite side to this tank' don't you understand?".
Twiddling my thumbs a bit now.....(Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday).... so I phoned Mike Barnby and my wheels are ready!
Thursday: Kit day!
Left at 0415, arrived at the Factory (after brekkies) at 0845, loaded the kit and was on my way by 1000, home at 1400, unloaded it and stored away by 1600 and the van back at 1630. Boy am I tired! And after all that I forgot to pick up the build manual :-)
Bit of planning: Need to put the drivers foot well bulkhead in and fit the master cylinder first, so I can start on the brake pipes. Did the measurements and drawing of the panel with all the cutouts and holes etc.
Start day! (Saturday)... Spray mounted the drawing of the panel to the carbon fibre (CF) sheet and cut it out using a Stanley Knife and straight edge for the basic shape (one blade per side!!! Wow this carbon fibre stuff is tough). Then used a Dremel to do all the 'adjusting'. Peeled back the drawing sheet and stuck Duct tape along the edges where I need to drill. Did this to stop the drill damaging the 'gel coat' of the CF sheet - and it works. Broke my 'heavy duty' rivet gun and had to use a 20 year old cheapy one (that always works!) - I really need to order an air driven one. Painted the edge of the panel black to finish it off.
Just need the steering column hole centre info - So much for the Boardroom :-) and this panel is done.
Also fitted all the brake pipe Tee pieces and painted the steering rack arms and all the ball joints. Very pleased with how this turned out as the Hammerite Satin paint goes off looking just like powder coat.
Pipe bending time next. I find this bit very stressful... oh well, best get on with it - tomorrow.
Pipes all went in OK with no major problems, I found heating them slightly (just warm to the touch whilst wear very thick welders gloves) with a paint stripper heat gun helps a lot. However, the AP master cylinder / brake pipe terminals are wrong. The 'holes' in the master cylinder are deeper than the pipe connectors, so they are not sealing correctly - phone call to the Factory on Monday.
Steve R and his son Simon dropped by in their cars just as we were finishing up. Had a look at Simons new exhaust system and was very impressed, both by the value for money and the quality. Dad(tm) had a look at both Westys and liked them as they were "proper cars" with "proper seats and engines" - what a traitor :-)
Tried the rear bulkhead CF panel for fit, which was perfect and looks very very saucy. Showed Steve and Simon the other CF bits and luckily there was enough kitchen roll to go around. A good day.
Went to (Mike) Barnby Engineering to collect my wheels today. Two hour drive there, only to be told that he hadn't done them - this after telling me the previous Wednesday they were finished. He knew I was driving up today to get them and couldn't be bothered to phone me, what a nice man. He may make great wheels, but the customer service could do with a tweak.
He now says they will be ready on Thursday.... yeah, right.
Shock absorbers and bushes arrived from CAT today, very nice. Also sorted out my AP m/c problem, apparently I was given the only m/c on planet Earth that had the port holes done too deep - gone back to the Factory for replacement.
Bit of a problem with the Factory... when I visited to order the kit I worked on the "I'll have everything to finish the car completely, except these bits" principal. The Factory didn't and they had to plough through and add up all the bits needed, which was fine except the Factory 'forgot' certain items that are needed. Needless to say I was not impressed, cost me an extra £400 or so - just unnecessary and leaves you with a sour taste.
Finally found some where local that sells brake pipe clips - what a job that was.
Factory now says I need longer 10mm brake fittings - well there's a surprise. Why couldn't they sort this stuff out when you collect the kit? It is very infuriating. They are supplying new brake pipes with the 'new' fittings, so I have to re bend these ones - hmmmm my favorite job.
Fitted all the poly bushes into the wishbones.
Phoned Merlin about my catch tank.... boy was he stressed. All I wanted was the same tank with the fittings on the other side. Think it's all sorted out now.
Received the Davis Craig EBP kit from DT. A bit different to the placky bag version from Merlin, this came as a complete kit with all the extra bits n' bobs needed. Also got the rigid fuel line and sump baffle from the Factory. They may not always be cheap, but they do tend to do what they say.
Drilled and fitted the first brake pipe clip... The Factory have changed the chassis since my last kit and have put in a new diagonal top X-member. This makes drilling the front Tee to the flexipipe clip holes a bit awkward.
Sorted out the aluminum floor panel today. Sheet metal company in Portslade (PMP) will supply and cut to shape the panel for £29.38 - now that can't be bad.
Not been a good week so far with the kit... lots of disappointments and faffing about to achieve not a lot. Ah well, so it goes - I'm sure the weekend will be good. Off to Barnby Eng. for my wheels tomorrow.....
Phoned Mike Barnby and he says that the wheels are being assembled as we speak.... so off to Rochester I go again. The wheels were ready and are saucy, plus he was very contrite... Also gave me some centre caps that are "Mike Barnby" ones.... they are abrieviated to MB - OK OK I'll forgive him, damn it.
Took the wheels along to Hi-Spec in Dartford to sort out what disk rotors would fit under them. With the Ultralite four pot calipers, a 280mm disk will fit. Ordered the kit - to include calipers, fixing kit and brackets, light weight aluminum rotor bell and X-drilled 280 x 9mm rotor. I can't believe how light the brake kit is - wow.
Went to PMP to pay for the floor panel... ready tomorrow! Note to self "talk to Steve R about trailer loan". Dad(tm) is already making a mould for the CF sump pan :-))
Fixed the front to back brake pipes and the rear pipes. Temp fitted the diff (gosh there's a lot of room around it compared to a Ford one!)
Fitted the steel fuel line, passenger footwell bulkhead panel and the top panel.
Went to the Detlin Kit-car show - never again I think, as every time I've been the weather is freeeeezing cold! Bought loads of panel edge trim and a big rubber hammer - as you do. Dropped in at Steve R on the way back to collect his trailer so I can pick up my 2.5 x 1.1 metre ali floor panel without damaging it.
25 Hours total build time.
Phoned and emailed Steve Porter about my engine electric regulator, he says should be with me in a few days - we'll see. Dropped the trailer back after picking up the floor panel (and very nice it is to). Had a look at Simon R's freshly painted new M16 calipers.
Car club tonight, loads of Westys turned up - damn it! Had to go and tow one poor sole back to the pub... hit something in the road and cracked open his sump. Even for a Caterham owner that's not nice :-))
Got the AP m/c back and the 'new' brake lines with the extra long fittings today, so refitted/bent everything. Trial fitted the two centre tunnel main panels so we could drill all the holes and also did the side footwell ones. So, all the rigid pipe work is bent to shape and fixed to the chassis - yippeee.
Bit of an issue with how to fix the side panels as they need to be removable. Thought about tapping the holes M5, but you'd only get two complete threads in the chassis material at most and knowing me, the first time I tightened them up I'd strip the thread so I think I'll go down the rivnut route. M3 rivnut only needs a 4.9mm hole and the dish head cap screws have enough meat on the head to hold the panel OK. I really hate drilling holes in a perfectly good chassis! Ordered the rivnuts from RAF Ltd and the stainless bolts from PTS.
Tried to trail fit the radiator today. The last time round I had a ducted nose cone, so this is new territory. The manual says use the four threaded holes in the plastic part of the rad. Found the holes, but they are un-threaded. Also the supplied ally top brackets are so long they are going to distort the rad WRT the bottom mounts, so a bit of dremeling is needed I think. I've also ordered some plastic rad fan fixing thingys from DT as the steel 'nails' supplied look like they'll wear through the aluminum in no time.
Decided to put the Freelander diff in its adaptor mount with the proper fixings and found that instead of 8 x M12 plain washers I had 8 x M12 spring washers in the kit - ah well.
Cable tied the main loom so I can drill and fix all the cable tie pads with my new toy.... an air driven rivet gun! This is even better than 'Mr. Sparky'. However, it was so cold I gave up and went and had a nice cup of tea instead.
Decided on Yokohama A032 tyres against Avon ACB10s. Ed C says the 32s are 9kg heavier for a full set but I think the weight budget can cope with the extra if it means a better ride. Need to sort out who is cheapest/best to buy from and have fit to my lovely wheels.
Looking at getting new ignition coil packs and HT leads (from High Power) so I can mount them away from the turbocharger: £141.00 + carriage! Need to make sure the leads are marked to prove they are suppressed for the SVA.
email from Holeshot..... the engine is ready but the turbo bits will take another two/three weeks - he's just teasing me now.
Fitted all the 3mm rivnuts to the chassis for the footwell panels and sprayed all the stainless fixings matt black to match the CF. Tapped the radiator mounting holes M6. Bit of a tip when using taps... grind the shank of the bit down so it will fit a socket (5mm in this case) so you can use a socket set T bar. Much better than the generally crappy handles supplied with the tap/die kits. It also means I get to use Mr. Sparky which is always good news. Also tapped the overflow port in the rad 5mm so I can block this off.
Jobs for the weekend: Trial fit the aluminum floor panel, mark it up and drill and do the same for the rear bulkhead panel - yet more holes in the chassis. Once the floor is fitted I can start on the suspension components, so the car will start looking like a car. Trial fit radiator and nose so I can see how much room there is for the intercooler and tell Jack at Holeshot how big it can be.
Sorted out the intercooler size, position, inlet/outlet pipes but now have a bit of a problem with the oil cooler. May need to remote mount if and provide ducting to it. Not too happy with the lower rad brackets, so I think I'll order another set of ali ones from the factory and chop the steel ones off as 'bending them to fit' sounds like a bit of a bodge.
Fitted the rear CF bulkhead (first) and the floor panel - The bulkhead went in easily with no problems, the main event was the floor: We carefully laid the panel on the floor and then dropped the chassis over it, marked out the rails onto the panel and lifted the chassis back onto its stand. We then marked the hole positions (every 50mm) and drilled them. Next we turned the chassis upside down on the stand, clamped the panel in place and through drilled the chassis. Messy bit next - black silicone'd the chassis, carefully laid the panel back and then used five gallons of white spirit to remove the silicone from our hands - yuck. We then inserted the rivets (this was done to help hold the panel in place) and it was rivet gun time! All went in with no problems and the air riveter is fantastic. Took less than ten minutes to do the floor (200'ish rivets)!
Went to Brands Hatch to have a look at the 750MC meeting - which was fun. Met a fellow BEC owner (Furyblade) who designs/makes steering wheel mounted gear change systems (think Dax but better). Will probably go this route, but need the engine back before he cam proceed.
Front suspension fitted: I'd already fitted the bushes so it was just a simple nut and bolt job. Fitted the rear as far as I can - have a bit of a problem as I can't fit the rear hubs as the drive shafts then wouldn't go on (they are the Free lander type and 'push in' to the diff).... Solution: fit the diff - ah, can't do that as the I would not be able to get at the rear rivet holes for the tunnel panels. I don't want to fit these yet as I don't want to damage them when I'm sorting out the centre bearing mount on the propshaft and I can't order the shaft until I get the engine back. Oh well, there's lots of other things to do...
Had a look at the radiator/intercooler/oil cooler issue. I'm very worried that putting two other radiators in front of the water rad will reduce the air flow to unacceptable levels (using the 'just bolt them in front of each other' system). Not only with the air temperature be raised but more importantly the air, by the time it hits the water rad will be 'stalled' and turbulent. I was never over joyed with the unducted nose system as it seems to rely on brute force to get air flow through the radiator. The standard Factory oil cooler bracket position this rad in such a way as to guarantee a stalled air situation (or so it seems) and I still have the intercooler to mount.
Steve R dropped round to collect my un-needed boot box - he's finally seen the light and is going to fit a proper roll-bar. In fact he's ordered two - one for Simon as well.
What I think I'll do is make up a duct system that carries all three radiators, evens out (as far as possible) the air flow and uses all of the frontal intake area of the nose. I'd like to use CF but don't think there will be enough spare sheet and spending lots more money on this doesn't appeal.
Boy what a job getting hold of Yoko 32s in soft compound (185/60R13). They only people that had them in stock were DT (they also were the cheapest!). Took the wheels and tyres to DTS tyres in Worthing to have them fitted. Given that the wheels are 'fragile' in Mike Barnby's words, this was not a pleasant experience... however, DTS did a very good job and it was all over in 30 minutes.
Steve R over to 'borrow' my RAC roll-bar as they have a trackday and he wants the bars fitted to both cars and only has one in his hot little hands. The Factory must have had a run on these :-)
As I had already roughly laid out the main loom, decided to fit it properly. Drilled all the holes and riveted the cable tie pads to the chassis and fixed the rear part of the loom. Did the same for the tunnel. Cut the holes in the scuttle area top panel for the fuse boxes, dash loom and engine loom and riveted the main loom in place. CF is a much nicer material to work with than aluminum - to cut the holes we spray mounted a paper template in place and drilled the centre of the holes with an 8mm drill. Next we ran the small sanding cylinder Dremel bit through to enlarge the hole and then sanded it to shape with the large cylinder. Three holes cut perfectly to size and shape in five minutes - marvelous.
Ran the loom along the top engine cradle and mounted all the tie pads for the front part of the loom but only temporarily fixed it in place. This job turned out to be very neat and tidy - just got to drill the engine cradle and fix the tie pads..
Piggy backed a 12volt supply from the immobiliser power supply for the regulator cooling fan.
Cut the CF panel (also need another pack of knife blades) for the engine black boxes, riveted the hinges to the chassis and covered them with neoprene. Drilled and mounted 3mm rivnuts into the dash hoop and fixed the panel in. Luckily all the black boxes still have their original rubber jackets with the mount slots, so I can use 15 x 2mm aluminum bar bent to shape to hold them in place. The regulator will need an aluminum plate and something to mount the fan on. Think I'll drill 'vent holes' in the CF panel.
Re-think on the ducting for the nose, need to make it lighter and move the oil cooler to another location. Need to talk to Think Automotive to see if I can mount the cooler high up in the engine bay. Ordered a NACA intake and cooler shroud which means the oil radiator can go almost anywhere in the bay. Latest idea on the nose ducting is to use the two radiators as structural elements and just use side plates to flow the air. Will need to block off the area just behind the water rad so the air can't escape the easy way and is forced through the two coolers. Also need to run a surface to guide air from the lower small hole in the nose to bypass the intercooler and hit the water rad.
Finally received the regulator from Steve Porter, so I can get on with mounting the black boxes and controllers. Spoke to the Factory today and the engine loom should be with me for the W/E. Also had a chat with them about the speedo pick-up when using a Freelander diff. I need to re-route the wires for the sensor and use a bracket that repositions it to pick up on a single point on the diff input flange.... why aren't the bits included when you get the kit? It seems fairly simple to me..... "Ah ha, Freelander diff 'ay? This chap needs the instructions, bracket and fixings to re-locate the speedo sensor!" But sadly no, this is too complicated for them.
Think Automotive says that the oil cooler can be mounted up high in the engine bay, so no problems there.
Should be picking up my front brake kit from Hi-Spec on Friday.
Quiet week on the car front - but the W/E should be busy: Front brakes, engine loom / black boxes and radiator(s) duct panels to do.
Fitted the front brakes over the weekend... the bells and rotors very fine, but the brackets that mount the calipers to the uprights need to be modified/redone by Hi-Spec. The near side bracket needs the recess pocket deepening by 2mm to centralised the disc rotor in the caliper and the offside needs 1.5mm. The offside bracket needs to be made deeper (front to back) by 1mm to move the caliper backwards away from the rotor. The weird thing is though... you can't get the pads into the calipers with the disk in place, the caliper spacer is way too narrow. How can a company the makes the disks, brackets and calipers and supplies the pads get it so wrong? Phoned Geoff and he says the he'll make the new brackets on Monday and I'll get them Tuesday.
The main thing is that the wheels do indeed fit the hubs and that the huge disc rotors fit inside them. Should have no problems with front/back brake imbalance (the AP m/c is tapered to give 60/40% front to back as well)..
Got the engine loom back from the Factory (very good service there - phoned me Friday to say the bits will be with me Saturday) and routed it - no problems. Made all the fixing brackets for the black boxes. Mounted the regulator and fan in a 'heatsink' type affair to help cool it. I've included the bracket drawings in the picture section.
Made a MK II version of the rad/intercooler ducting thingy - much simpler and lighter.... just need the intercooler to finish it off.
Dad(tm) has made up some starter solenoid terminals from stainless, so I need to sort out the wires and battery pretty soon. Still not sure where to mount it... right up the front seems a bit silly given it's not a huge item, but I'm running out of room in the engine bay proper.
The NACA intake duct arrived today - trial fit it to the nose with the rad/intercooler duct mock up is the next job.
Should get the Hi-Spec redone brackets tomorrow.
Got to send Jack at Holeshot the list of things I expect back with the engine and the length of the air lines (turbo/intercooler/intake).
Note: I have had huge problems with Hi-Spec brakes, both with customer service and component fit. The kit has been returned to them for a full refund and I have ordered the calipers and disks from CAT Motorsport. A full report on the appalling service I received from Hi-Spec will be in next months update, in the mean time I would not recommend them as a company to use - for anything.
63 Hours total build time - 6 Hours total design time.
The Hi-Spec saga: I'd written a long report detailing the astoundingly bad service this company gives (as a matter of routine it seems), but then thought, life is too short. Suffice to say "don't use them under any circumstances" - see this link (WSCC Boardroom thread) for a bit more information. Really, don't use them I can't stress this too much - they are really really bad.
The good news is that I've ordered the replacements from CAT motorsport: the bits arrived four days from them receiving the money and took 15 minutes to fit. Not as (to be honest) 'flash' as the Hi-Spec shambles, but they do look very good, fit the uprights, the disk are round not egg shaped, the pads/calipers/rotor all fit and the company does have a good reputation, plus the people at CAT do tend to instill a bit of confidence in the customer - which is worth a lot.
To that end, if I haven't mentioned it before - DON'T USE HI-SPEC MOTORSPORT PRODUCTS IF YOU VALUE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND/OR A PRODUCT THAT FITS/DOES THE JOB. OR THINKS THAT YOUR TIME IS BETTER SPENT BANGING YOUR HEAD AGAINST THE WALL RATHER THAN TRYING TO CONTACT THEM ON THE PHONE - REALLY, THEY ARE THAT BAD. NEVER IN HUMAN HISTORY HAS A COMPANY OFFERED SO LITTLE FOR SO MUCH MONEY TO SO FEW WITH SO MUCH DISREGARD FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ENGINEERING KNOW HOW.
Holeshot racing should have delivered the engine/fitted turbo and all the parts, but have fallen somewhat behind.
Ordered a set of Dyncoils (high output ignition coils) from High Power (the NOX people) today. Also ordered an Omex revlimiter (with launch control, no less).
Decided not to use heavy metal seat mounts and fabricate some composite ones. This makes mounting the seats in the car much easier and in my view much stronger. I was never to sure about using 6mm bolts through the thin sides of my old Megablades seats. This revised method of fitting the seats should also make removing them a far simpler job.
We drilled 6mm holes through the lowest point of the seat base (measure, measure again - leave overnight then recheck again, drill holes THEN panic) and marked through to the flat steel crossmember. Once all the holes were drilled we got the correct seat position by using washers between the seat and the floor to give us a bit of room (needed a bit of meat as I wanted to use counter sunk bolts not hex head with washers) and used foam spacers between the seat back and the rear bulkhead to get a comfy angle.
We then cut some aluminum tube to the correct length to act as 'permanent' spacers (these would be drilled out later). Next .......
Seat base and former:
Use high density foam cut in to strips.
Form two seat bases approx 100x100mm.
Tape the strips together and cut extra wedges that will follow the seat base contours.
Tape this form in to place and push through from underneath the fixing bolts and add seat height spacers. (this makes it easier to remove them - trust me).
Spray area/bolts with WD40 - poor mans release agent.
Over lay a thin plastic sheet on the form (use bin bag material cut to shape).
Resin/fibre mix:
Use polyester resin and catalyst/hardener.
Mix the resin & hardener together.
Mix in industrial talc to bulk the mixture - you can use glass 'micro-balloons' but talc is cheaper.
Using woven glass cloth, pull out some strands and cut in to 20mm lengths - mix this in the resin
You need a mix that will not flow - rather like meringue.
'Pour' the resin/fibre mix in to each base form and bolt the seat in to place.
Remember to roughen the seat base and degrease.
Once the resin/fibre mix has gone off, unbolt the seat and using a sanding disk, shape and clean up the pads.
Remember a 10:1 resin/hardener mix usually gives a 20min working time, but adding other materials will reduce this - work quickly.
What you end up with is an extremely strong pair of seat mounting pads that weigh next to nothing!
Seat front supports:
For these we decided that as the base pads would be taking most of the strain, the seat front supports could be made from carbon honeycombe sheet.... hang on, that stuff is near bullet proof, these are probably stronger than the seat bases :-)
We lined the seat up and marked the underside where the front support would go (so it too mounted onto the flat crossmember). Using arcane knowledge (OK, so it was a bit of cardboard and a pencil) we marked out a contoured template that match the seat and cut the carbon to fit.
We mounted some 2mm aluminum angle to the crossmember using three 6mm bolts. We fitted four 6mm steel rivnuts in the upright face and drilled the carbon support. Next we bolted the support to the angle and checked that the seat fitted and was in the correct position.
We made up some resin jollop and 'tacked the carbon support to the seat and let this go off (about five minutes). The seat and support were all unbolted and removed from the car. We made up some triangular fillets to beef up the support and help spread the load through out the seat base and fixed these in place with yet more magic resin. Once the resin had gone off, the whole thing was neaten'd up and refitted to the car one last time to check all was OK.
We found that the seat is VERY rigid in the car and once the seat back brace (yet more carbon honeycombe) is in place there should be no flexing at all.
Last job to do is cut away the honeycombe material where the front support has it's fixing holes, fill with liquid steel and re drill them.
I've yet to do the lap and shoulder harness cutouts but suspect that the all up weight of the seats with their mounts will be close to their original weight. It is also surprising how long this process takes!
Fitted the Dynacoils to the area just in front of where the scuttle will be on the passenger side using aluminum tube spacers, rivnuts and gold ali bolts. This removes them from the area of the turbo and neatens up the wiring.
Made up some carbon brackets that live up under the dash (drivers side) for the shift light system and the limiter. Used harness wrap (non sticky electrical tape) on the wires from these two boxes and spliced them into the engine coil wiring. The four wires now run through under the passenger top panel in the foot well (via a duct/support bar) and pop up between the coil packs in the engine bay - very neat.
Steering wheel centre crash pad (Factory supplied item): The covering had peeled away - new one supplied.
Holeshot still delaying me: Henry is waiting to come and fit the paddle and lever brackets for the gear change, I can't fit the tunnel side panels until the prop is all sorted out, can't fit the diff - getting to be a bit of a pain.
Terry's car passed it's SVA (two tests - same day) good result. and Tim came to a club meeting with his twin engined BEC... very nice (and loud).
I'm designing (well helping really - all this PIC programming looks jolly complicated) a gear indicator system that will also display warnings for out of range T's & P's etc, indicator warnings and change down point. The project started out as just a gear position indicator but may well have got out of hand ( - crock clips to bolts - check, lightning storm - check, apply power - check..... what have I created!!!? No No - put that scantily clad young lady down, bad boy, bad bad boy.) I've just found out that you can buy two channel accelerometers for under £40 and a company that does small size TFT screens for not too much money. Once the details are finalized I'll put up some images.
Bought a m/c battery from Halfords, a nice little 10AHr jobbie. Made up an ali battery box and riveted it in place just behind the steering rack. All the big battery leads are in place and neatly sheathed in nylon braid.
I should have the engine back next month so I can get on a bit..... I hope. ordered a set of carbon wing mirrors and a lot of carbon cloth to make up the nose intake duct and cooler shrouds so should be kept out of mischief.
102 Hours total build time - 12 Hours total design time.
Cut the lap strap holes in the seats and finished off the fronts. Each seat and mounting structure now weighs in at 5Kg and I've still got to cut the shoulder strap holes..... pretty good I think.
The actual cutting was a bit stressful, it wasn't so much measure once, measure twice then cut, it was more like "you do it, no no you do it". The method use was to mount each seat in position and mark on the outside where the lap strap mount was in relation, use a bit of mental imagery and drill a hole where the centre of the strap should go (with me sitting in the seat - help, help). Next we made a template up with the hole in the centre, bolted it through and marked round it. To cut the hole we used a Rotozip (like a Dremel - but nitrous injected) and a composite cutting 'drill'.
Temporarily fitted the diff in the car (ready for the engine/prop measurements) and fitted the petrol tank (the Factory had 'forgotten' to put the rivnuts in, ho hum).... just thinking up things to do until we get the engine back.
The box arrived today at 10:30am!!! Turbo day:
The torture was I couldn't unpack it until 2pm! Work, work, work. First job was to see if the engine with its turbo would fit the chassis! Jack had emailed some pictures of my engine and it looked like a tight fit - bit of luck I didn't just have the engine back way back in April.
We blocked the engine above the chassis roughly in place and used a bob weight on the sump to work out where to cut the floor panel. Once this was done:
Fitted the top engine cradle - well..... after cutting back the rear/inside mounting lug, as the bolt would not fit in - then hoisted the engine into place. Sounds easy doesn't it? This in fact took two and a half hours to do!
First we had to enlarge the sump hole in the floor as the engine has to be tipped then slid into place. This was to get the turbo 'under' the chassis round tube bracing. We then found that the wastegate valve actuator fouled this bar. We tried to rotate the engine to give clearance, but this meant that the engine/prop to centre bearing would probably hit the chassis as it goes into the trans tunnel. So that wouldn't work. It also would have meant making a new cradle or modifying the current one.
Next plan was to remove the tube brace from the chassis and re-brace that section to give clearance - needless to say we weren't keen on that option.
Finally all it took was to remove the actuator from the cold side of the turbo - and it all slotted in. We now have the minor problem of remounting the actuator and working out a way to reattach it to the wastegate in the hot side of the turbo. Henry C. is coming on Sunday with the top part of the paddle shift system for a trail fitting, so I'll have a chat with him about using a teleflex type cable arrangement.
Fitted the airbox and carbs to the engine and had a look at the rather odd fuel regulator and temporarily fixed it to the top panel. Routed the petrol/air pipes and marked up the engine to frame for drilling.
We then found out that the regulator* needs a petrol return pipe to the tank! Bit of luck the standard Factory ones are now all the injection tanks. Ordered two new petrol pipes and a pipe fitting from the Factory. I think I will reroute both pipes (away from where the single pipe is at the moment) so that they exit on the drivers side of the trans tunnel in the front. This will simplify and neaten up the pipe runs to/from the carbs/regulator/airbox.
* The regulator uses the boost pressure in the airbox to alter the fuel pressure to the carbs - clever huh? Setting this up should be fun.
Next job is to remove the engine and take off the engine cradle to drill and rivet the cable tie pads and C-clips in place.
Mmmmmmmmm, air riveter.
Henry C. dropped by with the top bracket, cable and trial paddle shift horns - VERY well engineered, I was most impressed. He took the measurements he needed for the bottom bracket and then gave me a ride in his Furyblade..... big grins all round, what a noise, what fun.
Had a visit from four of the Surrey clubs members.... BLTs and tea all round. Terry A. gave me a blast in his new car (and let me drive for a while - very generous of him), thought it was a well put together package and was extremely nice to drive - lucky devil.
Made an ali bracket to mount the Bosch fuel pump using the standard mounting points on the chassis. Also mounted the fuel filter that goes between the tank and the pump. While I was doing this I removed the 'old' petrol pipe in preparation of re-routing it and twining it with the new return pipe.
Also made a 'proper' bracket to mount the regulator. As I'm not using the Factory supplied gear shifter, I used the holes that usually fix the top pivot for the rod that goes to the gear change 'axle' on the engine.
Dropped the sump off the engine to fit the baffle and drilled the hole for the oil return fitting from the turbo. This fitting has an 'O' ring to seal against the sump, so picking a spot that was low in the sump and flat and clear of the relief valve/pick-up pipe was a pain. Used permanent thread locker and bolted it in.
Once the engine was lowered back into the chassis, we could see that this fitting and its pipe would foul the floor, so more cutting to get clearance. The sump hole in the floor panel is looking very strange - very Mr. Moore.
Started designing the centre bearing mount for the propshaft. Phoned Bailey Morris and ordered a centre mount (which arrived the next day - very good service), then bought some 5mm thick ali plate from PMP sheet metal (£9 for 300mm x 900mm, cropped to size, this gives me enough to make two sets). Had a chat with Paul A. and he sourced me some 100 x 100 x 6mm ali angle and some 50 x 6mm C section ali - top chap. I visited his company (Steel the Scene) to collect it and dribbled a bit at all the toys he's got - it's just not fair :-)
Centre bearing mount: Dad(tm) Used his band saw to chop up the ali plate for me and cut the radius where the centre bearing goes (this thing is nearly as good as Mr. Sparky). I cut and drilled the C section and the plate and 'bolted it all together', just got to sort out some steel spacers and this job is done. Once it's all in place I can measure up for the prop, send the centre bearing and the Freelander diff to prop fitting to BM with all the dims and the prop should arrive within the week. Using 50mm plastic drain pipe as the prop, I checked that my sums were correct and that the angles were as shallow as possible while missing the chassis member at the front of the tunnel - looks good.
I can now fix in place the new fuel lines, trans tunnel carbon sheets and install the diff and all the rear suspension/drive bits and bobs! With any luck the car will be on it's wheels during the first week of July.
Got some rubber backed carbon fibre sheet for the 'carpets'... poserish or what :-)))
Next jobs: Sort out the wastegate actuator mount, engine cooling hoses/routes, boost air pipes to/from the intercooler and do the carbon mounts for the rad/intercooler. Also get the oil take-off plate to Think Automotive and sort out the oil cooler system. Once that's all done :-) I'll see about designing the carbon Venturi/side pods for the turbo side and the air intake system on the drivers side on the front body tub. Little did I know that building a Westy would involve calculus!
A good month.
157 Hours total build time - 21 Hours total design time.
Re did the fuel lines today... I have decided I loath bending pipes. Ran the return pipe along the bottom and exited under the diff and ran the feed along the top and exited it over the top of the diff. Put two ali brackets in the chassis to maintain a 300mm 'support centre'. All the rubber pipe connections are nice and short and very neat. Also think I've sorted out how to mount the in-line filter from the regulator to the carbs - 50mm plastic clip with some foam rubber to insulate the filter from any vibration. It means that I can route this pipe away from the boost and return pipes - it was getting a bit busy in there :-)
We also measured the prop length: Rear prop is 897mm and the front prop is 584mm. Going to order this from BM on Monday.
Next job is to fit the trans tunnel panels, fit the diff and all the rear suspension components.... should be a straight forward nut and bolt job - but we'll see.
Fitted the transmission tunnel panels... no problems - just messy, silicone rubber gets everywhere! Refitted the diff and petrol tank, just got to torque up the bolts and I can fit the drive and suspension components. Only fiddly bit left is the rubber petrol pipe runs to the pump and tank.
Torqued up the diff and installed the drive shafts, fitted the uprights and shocks (need to phone CAT to have a chat about ride height). The drive shafts went in easier than I thought - the 'manual' says "hit them with a big hammer", though a small tap was all that was needed.
Did the rear petrol rubber pipes. Ended up mounting the inline filter on the bottom of the chassis (rather than the top), which keeps the pipe runs neat and short and you can see it. The pipe from the pump to the metal line is also nice and neat (though in mid air). This now means that the whole of the rear section of the car is done!
Started the radiator and intercooler mount/ducting. Cut the honeycomb carbon to size, fabricated two ali brackets and rivnutted the chassis to suit.
Next job was the cut-outs for the fan switch and the overflow pipe - bit of guess work but the material is easy to work, so no problems.
Made up four brackets to mount the rad to the duct. These bolt to the four tapped holes in the plastic part of the rad, which is not fantastic but what can you do?
Time to fix the fan to the rad... used the plastic nails instead of the horrible metal jobbies, then mounted the rad in the duct and checked that the fan does not foul the chassis - all looks good.
Made some more brackets to mount the intercooler to the duct, then sprayed the centre bearing mount and all the brackets silk black - very nice.
Spent the whole day putting the carbon nose on and off the car (stressed out or what - don't scratch it, don't scratch it!!!!). We had to modify the duct system so it does not touch the nose and to position the intercooler so it was as far forward in the car as we could get it. End result is that the rad and cooler are in the car, so I just need to order some pipes and they can all be plumbed in.
Re-rethink about the turbo wastegate actuator: Think that re locating the bracket is a bad move as this is going to introduce flex into the pushrod and so cause all sorts of trouble with the boost. Had a chat with Paul A. about mod'ing the chassis but really not keen on this solution, so spent a couple of hours drawing up and placing the top engine cradle. I think that re-doing this frame is the best bet - until I come up with a better idea...
Bit the bullet and decided that I would remote mount the wastegate actuator. Made up an ali bracket (in 6mm) that mounted on the clutch side fairing mount. Had to drill this out as it is a bind locating hole with a (too) small threaded hole next to it. Used a 6mm S/S cap head bolt. We used a 30mm x 2mm strip of stainless that mounted onto the cold side turbine housing and ran forward to take-up on the bracket at the bottom. Having done all this I found that the bracket flexed downward towards the engine.
How to stop this? A few weeks ago I cut and tapped some 6mm ali rivnuts so they would take the small rose joints (used on the standard gear change linkage) such that they can be bonded into so 12mm ali tube. I was (and still am) going to use this assembly as support struts for the rad/intercooler, but an idea presented itself... Use these as supports for the actuator bracket.
I bolted one from the sump/fairing bracket on the engine up to the bottom of the short leg of the L, one from the engine face (there are two threaded bosses) to the top of the L and used the S/S strap. The bracket was rock solid, with no flex at all! - fan-flippin-tastic.
As a prototype this system works VERY well. However ali does creep under stress and fatigues quickly.... maybe not the ideal material to use in a hot/buzzy environment? Decided on stainless in 3mm and phoned B&G engineering to see if they had and 'spare'. Andrew said yes so a trip to Horsham the next day saw a chunk of 3mm S/S about 200 x 300mm placed in my hot little hands. While I was there I had a chat with Tony, who said "TIG weld it - very nice" (I'm para-phrasing here a bit obviously). The deal was I'd cut the brackets to size and Tony would weld it up for me...
After a bit of redesigning, I had the actuator bracket and its various flanges and the clamp/bracket for the main strut cut (well Dadtm did the work on his band saw - I now owe him three blades! Boy, stainless is tough). Dropped all this off at B&G.
Meanwhile I had made up a 6mm ali bracket that took up on the engine face lugs.This meant that I could extend this bracket out, so the strut was almost square on and at the same level as the actuator take-up point. Very strong.
Phoned Tony and he says "an hour and it's done".... and what a job it is! The welds are small and so very neat (it makes you sick don't it :-) ) and he took the time to clean up the heat marks - which looked very sexy - damn it!
The two brackets are fantastic (once I polished them - Dremel/Tee-cut - they looked even better) and fit the turbo/engine perfectly. Just got to remake the support struts out of mild steel tube and flat bar, as I think the plastic thingy in the rose joint will melt if I use them on the 'hot' end of the turbo!
Plug lead time... Not happy with the High Power leads (as supplied) so I'm going to get new ones made up by a company called 'Formula Power' in Horsham. Also made a carbon heat shield (backed with some aluminum heat shield material) to protect the plug leads. Used two rivnut in the lugs on the front of the engine. Also made up an ali tube that uses these rivnuts to cable tie the leads onto.
Measured cut and welded up the mild steel brace struts for the actuator bracket and sprayed them with heat 'proof' paint. I bolted everything in place and check for movement - of which there was none - yippeeee, it works.
Just got to design the push rod and this bit is done.
Henry. C says the gear shift parts should be ready within a week, so I can get that all in place and bolted up.
When we were fiddling around with moving the engine in the chassis we had to cut a 'big' hole in the floor for the sump. This now looks very ugly, so I'm going to design a carbon belly pan that is contoured to the engine sump and fills the hole in.
Also thinking about the two side pods (one a Venturi and one an intake). Sorted out how to get a 3mm rolled lip on either end, just got to work out if these pods are going to replace the front of the body tub, fix to the body tub (which has been cut away) or replace part of the body tub. It really depends on how stiff/light I can make the mouldings.
Put the wheels on the car and dropped it onto the floor to check the ride height... ended up with 110mm front and 135mm rear with 30psi inflated tyres and no fuel, bodywork, props etc. which is fine. Had a sit in it and made vroom vroom noises, as you do.
Terry.M has done a terrific job with the gear position indicator/shift/warning system. All the programming has been done, the circuit board is made and he has tested it - just got to fit it to the car :-) At the moment it can tell you which gear you're in, when to change up and when to change down. it also gives you a high water temp warning and a two stage low oil pressure warning and has room for further expansion. Looks very good.
Jobs for August:
Probably looking for an engine start first half of September.
231 Hours total build time - 42 Hours total design time.
Bolted the actuator bracket/s in place, designed and fabricated the new struts and attached them. It all fits! So far anyway, just got to make the pushrod and this bit is done.
The pushrod was an exercise in 4D space.... boy was it fiddly to work out. I had to have screw adjusters on either end due to its odd shape and weld in two angles/three tubes to get it to miss the chassis cross member at full extension. The end result is very strong and works perfectly (what a relief!). I ended up testing the actuator assembly with an electric foot pump set to 8psi, the result was so good I video taped it!
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Wastegate actuator operation - 120KB |
The actuator and its assembly is now complete and probably the most difficult part of the installation (I hope).
Next job on the list is the cooling system:
Although I have made a carbon fibre mount for the radiator and it is in the same position as if I had used the standard Factory fittings... How in blazes do you get the bottom hose on and positioned so it misses the steering rack and/or the chassis!? Short answer is you bodge it or throw the Factory pipes away and start again - guess which route I went.
Ordered some 32mm and 25mm i/s dia. flexible Samco pipe, a 90deg reducing elbow and an ali joiner and off we went. To ensure the bottom pipe misses the car structure I had to make a 38mm i/s dia. ali bracket from some 15 x 2mm bar, which attaches to the rear wishbone pick-up upright. This bracket holds the pipe away from the steering rack and away from the chassis, it also means that the pipe is inside the chassis instead of looping over the rear wishbone arm, which is a system that for some reason worried me :-)
Worked out that the electric water pump can mount just in front of the oil catch tank (which I'd mounted on the front engine bay X member, driver's side). So I made up yet another ali bracket and used a 2" heavy plastic C clip to hold it in place.
Only problem was that the when I connected up all the pipe work, it pulled the pump out of the clip. Next fix was to use a black cable tie to hold the pump in the clip - now the pipe work bends the whole bracket! The solution was to spend five hours designing and making a braced bracket that uses the catch tank and the chassis to hold everything in place.
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Next job was to cut up the Factory supplied pipe work and mod it to fit the new and improved layout. We cut the lower ali pipe and used the 90deg bend bit to run from the pump outlet to the engine face inlet using SAMCO 25mm flexipipe. We had to drill this ali pipe and make up a M5 ali spiggot for the air bleed into the head. We also used the M15 spiggot and the A H fabrications straight joining pipe for the header tank which slotted in between the lower hose and the pump. We had to then block off the redundant oil/water cooler spiggot by cutting it off, tapping it and using a M8 cap screw and some liquid metal to seal it off. All the ali welding was done while I waited at B&G Machining and cost a fiver - can't recommend this company enough!
Next problem.... sorry, "challenge" was a heat shield for the flexipipe that goes to the engine face. This pipe is next to both the hot side of the turbo and the exhaust pipe, so would get very hot indeed. The solution was to make a shaped ali plate in 1mm sheet and cover it with ali/glass heat shield material. We used the wastegate actuator engine bracket with a length of 15mm ali angle and the redundant fairing mount on the rear end of the engine.
All that was left to do was to connect the water system up and make sure it was positioned so as not to stress the pipes. Once this was done we found that the hose from the pump outlet to the ali pipe was at the wrong angle, so we lifted the front end of the pipe with a spacer and Bob IS my uncle. This was the main water system finished, I still have to sort out the overflow pipe work from the engine and rad. Also have to sort out the intercooler pipes before I can permanently mount the header tank.
We had a bit of a panic with the intercooler pipe work: Would the 90deg rubber pipes clear the rad? The answer was yes (just!) however, once the pipes where in place we found that they foul the nose cone - AAAAAARRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHH! Oh well, let just soldier on and get them all fixed then look at the nose.
We decided to use two 90deg pipes to clear the rad, then use 50mm o/s Dia. ali pipe for all the straight runs. This bit was a like using Lego and in no time at all the job was done - well four hours plus give or take to be honest.
I also drew up some S/S brackets to replace the cradle/engine washers so I could pull down the airbox using some S/S dingy rigging bottle screws. Looks very nice - but yet more band saw blades owed. All the pipes and the airbox were then polished using Tee-Cut.
I then realised that the air pipes from the turbo to the intercooler would probably foul the nose (as well), so had to re-route this pipe work - no big deal and the result looks nicer.
Put a 'wanted' ad on the Boardroom for a scrap nose cone so I can practice hole cutting before I have a go at the CF version - really not look forward to that! But I have designed the 'bulge' to allow for the air pipes, Dad(tm) has got the CF bellypan plug well on the way and we have enough room to route the air intake pipe work across to the o/s of the car - it's all going very well.
Next job/s is the air intake side and the water overflow system - but that's next month as I'm off on my holidays.
301 Hours total build time - 47 Hours total design time.
(Well, the very end of August and then September anyway...)
Henry C brought round the 'finished' paddle changer system which was trial mounted. Bar a few issues it should do the job.
Re-rerouted the air system pipes and ordered some more 51mm ali tube. Needed to move it yet again to both clear the nose and give a bit more room for the air intake system. Just got to make up some fixing brackets now and this bit is done (who knew that 'O' level metalwork and a couple of years of mechanical engineering would come in useful? - annealing, hmmmmmmm).
Ordered all the 60mm SAMCO pipes for the air intake system - only problem is you can't get 60mm o/s dia. ali tube in the UK..... 57mm or 63mm fine, 60mm no, bit of a shame a standard turbo inlet size is 60mm then isn't it?
Mounted the header tank length wise to clear the air pipes... had a look and it's all internally baffled so should be OK. Also got a SAMCO 22/16 reducer for the tank to simplify the pipe routing.
All the ali pipe has arrived, so cut it all to the correct lengths and installed the 50mm 'out' line. The new and improved layout is... well, new and improved. Was a bit worried about getting 63mm pipe into a 60mm hole, but soaking the SAMCO pipe in hot water made it an easy job - you just have to get all the orientations done before the pipe cools as you'll never move it afterwards!
Phoned up Formula Power about my plug leads.... not impressed with the response, he's had them four weeks and it turns out he can't do it - great. Start again. I'll probably now use the ones supplied with the coil packs as I can 'sort of' prove they are suppressed as I've printed out the spec from their web site - we'll see.
Tried to mount the gear change (GC) bottom bracket... Oh dear. The side mount hole was in the wrong place by half a diameter and the way it is fabricated meant a spacer was needed. The extra length meant that the Factory supplied stud was about 30mm too short. After a bit of a think the solution was to make an extension bracket out of 2mm S/S with the hole in the right place and bolt it to the bottom bracket. The only problem now is how to tighten the bottom engine mount stud as it has nuts on both ends! Got this sorted out and the bracket now is in the correct position, uses the original stud and is in fact stronger. Henry .C is going to pop round to sort out some other problems with to top bracket and cable length at the W/E, so should have a working GC system soon.
Installed the 'in' line from the air filter to the turbo intake. I ended up routing it so the filter is up next to the airbox and so should benefit from the bonnet intake cold air. I've just got to sort a bracket out to hold the airfilter end steady.
Made another heat shield for the 'front' end of the header pipes. The fabrication took 30mins, installing it took an hour (for two bolts!)... I really need smaller fingers..... "Va - aaal"! :-) Also connected up all the other pipes today... the water overflow, air bleed and breather ones, I even had enough pipe clips! OK but looks a bit of a bodge.
I really dislike the way the Factory says to install the water overflow system (the one in my first car was much neater/better - Factory cutbacks I suppose), so using my trusty blow torch (and some heavy leather gloves) I bent some 10mm ali pipe to connect the rubber hoses. Much neater and more stable.
Dad(tm) has done the belly pan male plug... very glossy... so I ordered all the necessary bits and bobs from ABL (and very helpful they were to). Ended up with 1M2 2x2 200gsm twill CF cloth, PVA liquid release agent (which we have to spray onto the plug), clear gel-coat and clear epoxy resin. Looks like a messy W/E in store.
Got to visit Think Automotive in the near future as the last plumbing jobby is the oil system. I need to have them re-drill and tap the sandwich plate, supplied by Holeshot in the Turbo kit to fit their pipe work. Also need to work out were the pipes will route and how I'm going to mount the rad in the side of the car. Once this is done the engine install is all but done, just some minor issues and the electrics re-routed - then it's "will it start" time! Bodywork and finish-up next then :-) Although I've still got to make the driver's seat adjuster kit (for the SVA) and the CF side pods.
Mounting the air filter up near the airbox simplifies things a great deal. It means I have much more room in the offside pod for the oil cooler and can get more air to it. I may well do this side as a through and through with no entry into the engine bay with the cooler mounted in the pod - or maybe with some Venturi slots at the back end. I also worked out how to attach it to the car! I can keep the body tub fixing flanges and cut away the rest, make up some CF brackets that fix to the cut bodywork and the pods mount on this (with ali bolts or quick release fasteners). This also means that once the pods are removed the whole engine bay is open.
Spent the day making a bracket to support the air filter/intake pipe work... a whole day!!! Still, it looks good and does the job. While I was making this masterpiece the package from ABL arrived - ordered Wednesday, they said it would be dispatched Thursday and with me Friday - what nice people. So it will be bellypan day tomorrow! Just got to drill a 5mm hole in the plug for an air hose fitting (to pop the moulding off) and we're ready.
Decided to spray the ali air pipes with clear lacquer, so had to take the whole thing to bits again :-( Getting the 60mm SAMCO pipe off the 63mm Ali tube was a lot tougher than putting it on! All the pipes are now polished... so got the can of lacquer but the nozzle snapped off and the stupid thing jammed open - it went everywhere! All over me, the pipes, the wall, the floor, nearly the cat (he was quicker than me damn it)... Boy was that not good, still you've got to laugh.... yeah right.
Got a new can of lacquer - much better, the spray actually went were it was supposed to go.
Did the CF bellypan today - smelly or what(?) and you should see the warning labels on the chemical bottles! A case of "Just looking at this bottle will cause death - consult your Doctor". Still it all looks good at the moment... We used an airbrush to spray the mould with the PVA release agent (two coats - 30 minutes) then mixed up the clear poly gelcoat and brushed that onto the mould (quite thick). This went off in about 15 minutes (2% hardener by volume). We then laid the CF cloth while the gel was just tacky and mixed up the epoxy resin and 'painted' it on. The finish to the rough side is surprising good - just hope the finished side is too. The epoxy takes about 40 minutes to start curing but takes ages to fully go off (apparently), so we are leaving it overnight before popping the finished item off the plug and bunging it the oven for an hour (no, really - one hour at 100deg C or 7 days at room temp... which would you choose?) Besides it looks like a very hi-tech baking tray (light weight cooking!)
While we were doing this my cousin dropped round on his Kawasaki ZX12R - Hmmmm, now where did I put my spanners? :-)))
Got the finished item of the plug - We had already drilled a hole through the mould before we started, so we screwed an air hose fitting into it and connected this to the compressor. the finished item (FI) popped a bit but not enough, so next step was connecting it to the garden hose - more popping... with a bit of brute force (and lots of ignorance) we finally got it separated! As a MK 1 it was very good - the finish of the plug was good enough so that the FI looked fine, but because of the 90deg corners and sheer sides there were air pockets within the CF, too many to use it on the car. So, MK 2 has already been designed with more angled sides and a plug that we can dismantle to make it easier separating the it and the FI. The good thing about all this is that the PVA works, the mix ratios of the gelcoat were good and that we used the correct amount of epoxy resin and it cured! The next version of the belly pan will also have only have one layer of CF, as two layers is a bit over-kill (it weighed in at 300gms and you can't bend it!) - Good practice for the side pods.
Riveted the air filter bracket to the engine top frame and fixed the filter and induction pipe in place - very nice. Henry. C came round to set up the gear shift system and do the steering wheel spacer. He agreed that the cable needed to be shorter and that he would weld the modified bottom bracket for me - top chap. So, I should have the finished item in a week or so. While he was here he showed me his new 'ducted nose' system for his Furyblade.
Should have the new plug for the belly pan for the W/E and the carbon pan for Monday. Really must get the prop and oil system shorted out. Also phoned Formula Power about my cheque - gosh wouldn't you know it, it's in the post!
Sent off an oil system diagram (after a very confusing conversation) and the blank sandwich plate/filter to Think Automotive this morning, also sent the prop stuff and the order form to BM - efficient or what? Did the boost gauge line... didn't like running 1.5Mtrs of rubber pipe, so bent some ali for the main run. Also checked the boost gauge worked and the airbox/carbs for air leaks, of which there are none.
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Boost gauge operation - 120KB |
Phone call AND a fax from Think this morning - what excellent service. Ended up talking to Mathew who was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Sorted out what was needed - phoned me back 10mins later with the cost and to say the sandwich plate blank (I supplied) was being machined as we speak and the 'kit' should ship that evening. Wow.
Did the petrol and regulator boost pipe work today... ended up using an alloy in-line filter and rivnutting two rubber coated P clips to the top engine brace to hold the pipes - very neat. Also did some small jobs that I'd been putting off:
Dad(tm) has finished the MK 2 bellypan plug, so in for a smelly Sunday.
Laid up the MK 2 pan in the morning and 'popped' it off the former late afternoon... much better but the gelcoat is cloudy rather than clear as requested (so the first version wasn't all air bubbles after all!). I'll call ABL and have a chat about this before we tackle the final version, just to see if it's something I'm doing or if we need a different gel. Using one layer of CF works well as long as you fix the finished item in shape until the epoxy resin has cured, otherwise it goes all twisty! The final weight of the new version was 150gms.
The oil stuff from Think arrived today... perfect! Would recommend this company to anyone. Now just got to find room in an already crowded bay for the oil stat/filter head. The other nice thing about this is that all the bits only weight 4kg!
Decided that the air pipe from the turbo to the intercooler is not stable enough and I'll have to make yet another bracket... ho hum. This time I thought I'd be a bit inventive and bend some ali 20mm angle so it mounts on the front brake Tee and the rad top pipe mount. To do this I need to bend the angle through 90degs (twice) so out with the blow torch. Considering that the last time I've done anything like this was in school, things went remarkably well. I heated the ali up until it was 'just' bendable, bent it a 'bit', hammered out the kink that appears on the flat side of the angle and repeated this process until I had the correct angle. Then I filed the 'extra' material away (caused by all the hammering) to match the rest of the material - easy.......apart from all the burns that is.
Made up an earth lead for the petrol pump case... one of the things I knew was on the list but kept forgetting to do.
The oil system: Worked out where to mount the filter head/stat and made another flippin' bracket (which rivnutted to lower engine mounting frame) and bolted it in. Measured up to oil line runs from the take-off plate to the filter inlets and cut the pipe (masking tape and a sharp hacksaw blade), worked out how the end fittings worked and made up the take-off ends. You slide the screwy end bit of the fitting over the S/S braid, pull it away from the PTFE inner pipe, slide on the olive thingy and screw it back on to the main part of the fitting - much easier than shoving the pipe in boiling water and then either burning your fingers or busting a blood vessel trying to push the pipe on the fitting! Just got to route the pipes and secure them with rubber coated P clips and this bit is done. Next job is working out where the oil cooler is going to go.
Spoke to Richard from Bailey Morris today, he's sorted out all the bits of the prop I sent him and will start making it tomorrow, so I should have it by next W/E.
Running out of things to do now..... this is good, isn't it? :-)
The final wet weight is now shaping up and even with errors caused by the scales etc, the final figure should be lovely and low. No matter what it will be under the 437kg/500bhp per ton magic number!
The gear position indicator cum warning system has under gone another revision... now it will use an 8x8 matrix of variable intensity green LEDS which, while will fit the brow dash are flippin' Huge! Yummy. Terry.M is just attaching a heat sink to the display! (And I was worried about the regulator!)
Had a bit of a think (spurred on by the cheque from Formula Power actually arriving - it was in the post after all!), The plug leads supplied by High Power are too big at the plug end, I.E.. the electrical contact in the boot was too big for the plug. So did the obvious and asked in my local car spares shop "do you have the screwy on thingys for the top of spark plugs?" The remarkable thing was not only did they understand this high tech jargon, but they actually did have the screwy on thingys for the top of spark plugs... for free no less. So now the rather nice silicone plug leads fit the spark plugs.
Had a look at the rear diffuser today, life was made easy as the suspension was at full droop so I could make a template that fitted the worst case.
Henry C. phoned today to arrange the final fitting of the paddle shift system, so come Sunday all should be well.
Jobs for the W/E: Pop the engine out of the chassis and fix the petrol return pipe to the regulator, check that the CF belly pan fits, tighten up all the oil fittings and make sure the take-off plate bolt has thread lock on it and the holes line up (I have an assortment of ali sump nut washers to help in this task), mark up, drill and rivnut the lower engine mounting frame to take two rubber coated P clips for the oil lines, cut and terminate the oil lines, tidy up the under scuttle wiring (easy while the engine is out), do the coil end of the plug leads, well get Dad(tm) to do it as he's good at the intricate fiddly stuff that involves a BIG soldering iron (and man is it big), finish off the paddle shift gear change system, drill hole and thread the wires for the launch control button... hang on, that sounded so flash I'm gonna say it again..... launch control button, (ahhhh), in the paddle horn.... The funny thing is, in my minds eye I really can't see me using this button to any great effect as I know I'll forget... more like: "Ooohps, help, help, Oh bugger too late, I need new tyres, is there a fitter in the house?" :-))
I think I going to create a new web page dedicated to the 'oh so very many brackets' I've made!
Took the engine out and fitted the CF belly pan... wow does it look good and boy has it strengthened the floor panel. Once the pan was in we tackled some other jobbies: Fitted and torqued up the take-off oil plate (and aligned the holes), tightened all the oil line fittings and routed the them to the remote filter head, filled the battery with nasty H2SO4 and fitted it in the car, ripped off the plastic blue film. We then popped the engine back in (after cutting the oil drain hole in the pan) and refitted (for the last time I hope) all the charge air lines, coolant pipes, boosted lines and fuel lines... I have to say, compared with the last engine which was a bit lost in the 'massive' engine bay, this one looks like a bit of a beast.
Because I had to remove the lower engine cradle stud, I also had to remove the electric water pump. I carefully hung the pump, still in its mount/bracket, from the body tub frame in the roof if the garage... just walked in, hit my head on it and knocked it to the ground. I now have an EBP that sounds like a tin can full of marbles, boy I can be really dumb sometimes - new pump on order.
The clutch cable: How difficult is it to measure up a two part cable? How long is the distance between the clutch bracket thingy and the bulkhead, and how much travel in the clutch lever do I need? The Factory seem incapable of even this simple task. The clutch cable, as supplied, has a too short outer (or too long an inner - take your pick) so the pedal hits the bulkhead before the clutch arm on the engine even starts to move! I think I've got used to me doing the measurements and fabrication and not relying on the Factory.... I mean, how long have they been supplying kits? Even with my first Mega the clutch cable fitted OK - not a lot else did for sure, but the clutch cable did. Phone call to MW on Monday - looking forward to the lame excuse he puts up. The annoying thing is, all the engine/turbo bits I've done are fine... they fit, they do the job and look good - first time in a long while I tackle something the Factory supplies 'as standard' no less and it don't fit... AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Anyway, Henry. C brought the final version of the paddle shift over and it is FAB. Just got to drill a hole in the footwell bulkhead and route the cable. Drilled the paddle/main mount for the launch control button wiring, oh, and got to find a button mech that fits the hole in the shift horn.
Did the spark plug lead coil terminations (Uhgg!) and fitted them. Also shorted out the final petrol pipe issues with the regulator. Did I tell you about the clutch cab.... sorry, sorry. I also put the battery on charge today (and it holds it)... engine start getting near.
Had an email from Ric. L today.... he's doing a Blade to Busa conversion and turbo'ing the engine (think in straight lines here, gawd knows what will happen when a corner appears - well he is in the USA, so I suppose it'll be fine)... glad to see other people face similar horrible problems :-)) Sorry Ric, but I'm sure you'll sort it out.
Phoned the Factory this morning and spoke to MW. Pointed out the who ever did the measuring up for the clutch cables was suffering from dyscalcula, wasn't prepared to bodge it so what was to do... the answer was "measure up the cable length you need and we'll make one up for you". Can't say fairer than that, fax on the way with the new (correct) measurement, I.E. cut 21mm off the wire inner.
Got a little button for the launch control, soldered it all up and held it in place with an SVA bolt head cover with a 6.5mm hole for the button head to poke through - very swish.
Cut a 20mm hole in the foot well bulkhead and passed the cable through (with a grommet), adjusted and fitted the paddle shift system. I now can change gear with the right hand pull for 'up change' (this side also has the launch control button). The cable is again slightly too long by about 50mm, but is OK as I think the paddles will have to be moved closer to the steering wheel anyway. Given that the lower engine mount bracket is not securely attached to the engine yet, the whole thing is not bolted to the car and the top bracket is loose - the gear change is very crisp and direct with a quite frightening amount of leverage... Thank you Carr Motorsport.
Fitted the lower engine mount stud and torqued it up, covered the sprocket adapter bolt in thread lock and torqued it up (with the 'special' washer as per the manual), just waiting for the prop to arrive from BM.
Ordered some magnetic switches from Maplins today. As the gear shift doesn't have any where to mount a toggle bar for the microswitches, I thought I could glue a magnet onto the inner metal sleeve and mount some reed switches up under the dash for the gear position indicator thingy. Terry. M now has video of the green monster LED array working, so I'll post it up when he gets it to me.
Current functions are:
By the time the thing is ready to install in the car it'll probably have GPS navigation, voice command software and a voice like HAL.........."Hello John" :-)
Installed the throttle cable - seemed to go much easier than I remember for this job, only took five minutes - Think I must have been lucky. Just got to sort out a return spring thingy on the 'throttle off' side of the spindle cam
Still waiting for the prop... ho hum.
Phoned BM this morning and found out that the prop was made and sitting on a secluded shelf, forgotten and all alone (- doesn't bode well)... They're shipping it overnight for delivery tomorrow :-)) New correct length clutch cable arrived this morning from the Factory, good service there then. Just got to fight the old one off, which should be fun as it's now hidden under the air intake pipe - oh goodie.
New pump arrived so re-re-installed it (with the new spacers to keep the pump mount bolts away from the catch tank) and fitted the new clutch cable which is a perfect fit, (The old one was happy were it was, but an offer of a cable lube job and it was putty in my hands). Factory please take note for all the poor souls who buy a Megablade in the future and "sort out the cable length"!
Got the 'gear indicator' display video from Terry. M.... the new system is fan-flippin-tastic, all flashing LEDs an' numbers an' arrows an' everything :-))) Just a bit too big to post up on here for now.
Jobs for the W/E:
Prop arrived this morning... Bit of a shame Bailey Morris did it wrong really isn't it. They put the diff flange on the engine end (and vise versa), Oh well. What is wrong with this industry? It's almost like the companies involved do it on purpose! Kind of scrubbed most of the weekends 'to do' list. Fax sent to BM.... would rather be fitting the damn prop.
Richard from BM phoned at 0857 today... yep, they had put the flanges back to front and are making another one for me. A pain that they did it wrong, but no problems with them sorting it out. Prop in next W/E.
Gosh, the new prop arrived this morning! Customer service at its best.
Having yet another rethink about the petrol return pipe route. Ordered some hard line petrol pipe from DT and plan on running it above the rear brake pipe run, then across the tunnel to the steel pipe... it's got to look neater than the bodge I've got at the moment.
So, a very productive month... lots of jobs done and progress made. Will do the prop at the W/E and the 'tidy up' jobs on the engine, front/engine loom, drill and bolt the engine in place and then it's time to start thinking about the bodywork.
366 Hours total build time - 58 Hours total design time.
Re did the petrol return line with the hardline from DT... looks much better, is neater and more 'engineering' like. Bending the pipe was relatively easy - even used my disgraced pipe bending tool. The line now runs from the original Factory steel pipe across the trans tunnel (via yet another bracket), along the driver side tunnel well above the brake pipe, round the corner and up into the regulator.
The propshaft... this is Dad(tm)'s moment of glory, with the simple phrase "'ere, isn't that a spline - that's just got to undo?" - He saved us hours and hours of work.
We were trying to slide the prop into position without taking the engine out again (and failing badly), when he uttered those now immortal words. Two minutes later, the prop was in position and ready to be bolted up!
The rear shaft of the prop has a slider in it and this is held in place with a screw cap thingy. Undo the screw cap thingy and you can slide the splined rear prop out... fantastic. The other good thing was that the props fits perfectly - Thank you Richard at BM.
Installing the centre bearing mount was straight forward, as we had previously used a bearing to get all the holes in the correct places. The front prop is bolted to the output flange with four 8mm cap head bolts, plain & spring washers and binks nuts. The rear is by four 10mm cap head bolts, plain washers and nylocks (as supplied by the Factory). We also modified a 10mm penny washer so it only shows a 5mm tab above the flanges (for the speedo pulse transducer). The whole thing was torqued up and job done.
As we are using the Freelander diff and it doesn't have bolts holding the CVs we have a speedo setup similar to the live axle cars: The speedo sensor bracket was bent slightly so it was central over this tab. We drilled two locating holes in the back face of the handbrake cable bracket and fitted it. We used an ali sump nut washer to shim the sensor to the required gap, modified the wiring loom and connected it all up. Another tick in the 'Jobs to do list'.
Drilled and bolted the engine top and bottom cradles in place. Sounds easy doesn't it... you try doing this when you can't even get your hand through all the pipes to touch the bay floor - makes a V8 installation look 'roomy' :-))
Re fitted the front loom and sorted out the engine wiring. As I'm not using an oil pressure gauge, I chased through the wiring from the pressure switch to the dash plugs and made up a new set of leads. A simple '12V ignition source, indicator lamp/gear & warning system, sensor, earth jobbie. I can also use the lamp leads from the unused oil gauge for the boost gauge... anyone want to buy a 10bar VDO O/P gauge and sensor? :-)))
Phoned the Factory for the diff oil specs and went and bought the engine oil and a battery conditioner. Fitted the conditioner and after about 30 minutes the thing finished charging and the green OK lamp flicked on... yippeee.
Filled the diff and engine with their respective oils (Hypoid 80W90 and 10W50 synthetic), did the coolant and found one of the bottom hose clips had stripped and the pipe was dribbling pretty blue coolant on my nice CF bellypan - shock horror. Once this was all done we made a decision to crank the engine over to circulate the oil round the system... brave or what?!
We gingerly connected the battery... well, I held the positive to the post and Dad(tm) checked that nothing got hot and smoked. When we were happy with this the battery leads were set in place and the ignition switched on. Two seconds later, the very quiet petrol pump was disconnected and we started again :-)
The moment of truth. Would the engine (sort of ) come to life? The answer was YES!!! The little darling cranked over like a good'un and when checked later, the oil system was fully charging. We then decided to check the spark... It a big fat spark, boy was I glad I was wearing my welders mask and standing 30 feet away :-)) Fantastic. So all things being equal, the engine has no excuses not to start - we hope. Just got to get hold of some plate mild steel so I can make up a temporary turbo exhaust manifold/pipe and we can do the deed.
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Engine cranking: Turbo side - 120KB |
Engine cranking: Top view - 120KB |
