Front Suspension Finished

I received the missing front stabilizer linkages this week (along with a bunch of other new bits for the engine and gear box). I set about to finish the suspension off by fitting the stabilizer linkages. I started on the right hand side, and along with everything else on the right hand side of this chassis so far, it was to tight to fit on the lower wishbone. So I set up the left side first with no dramas, adjusting the linkage length to given clearance over the steering tie rod and away from the coil spring. Once that was fitted I went back to the right side. I decided to machine down the threaded tube that fits into the wishbone rather than trying to widen the bracket, which would of damaged the powder coat on the frame. Once I knocked about 1.5mm of the tube, everything went together nicely. From here I adjusted and tightened the block connectors on the stabilizer bar, and then tightened the retaining rings on the stabilizer bar near the mounting blocks. The bolts on the mounting blocks will be tightened later. 


I finished the day by doing a "rough" camber and toe in set up on the front end, and installing the disc pads and pad retaining bolts in the front calipers.  Front end done!

Body Loom

Still at a loose end waiting for a few more parts to turn up. Decided to see what boxes I could empty to get a few more parts on the car and tidy up the garage. The electrical body loom was an easy choice as it gets a major step out of the way. I started by putting some cable ties between the dash panel and the support frame to hold the dash part of the loom. This required a gentle application of flat screwdriver to open a gap between the dash panel and the frame which is glued together with silastic. The cardboard clamped across the dash is to protect the carbon fibre which already has at least one gouge in it (perfect place for the ADR warning sticker!).

Next I popped the lid of the fuse box cover, and removed the rear support bracket in the fuse box. I was lucky enough to acquire a loom complete with relays and fuses already mounted on a bracket. So it was a (relatively) simple task to pull the sealing grommets out that provide access into the cockpit, transmission tunnel and engine bay. I fed the engine part of the loom forward first...easy!. Next I fed the largest part of the loom into the cockpit and up behind the dash. I secured the backbone of this loom to the frame with cable ties, aligning each connector behind its respective switch, gauge or light....even easier! 

Last part was the rear loom. This is separate and connects into 2 connectors on the main loom. I started feeding the rear loom through the opening from the fuse box into the transmission tunnel. This went well until the last connector (the Hall Effect sensor for the speedo) which was to large to fit through the hole with the cables in it. So I had to pull it all back and open the hole more with the Dremel (can't build a Clubman without one!). Once it was larger the rear loom went in easy and is now sitting in the passenger side footwell. I will not finish running it to the rear until I get the engine, transmission, diff and prop shaft in to make sure it all fits snug. I will also get some heat shrink and wrap all the loose leads before I tighten everything up with cable ties. Last task here is to fabricate a second bracket to mount the fuses/relays on so I can mount it in the fuse box (leaving room for the ECUs).

Seat Runner

Not a lot of progress build wise as I have been waiting for parts to arrive. I decided to try to do a couple of little bits and pieces that would not get in the way of other build steps. Firstly I thought I would rivet on the press studs for the tonneau cover. Only problem was my rivet gun head did not fit into the press stud so it was impossible to get the rivets to fit snugly. Drilled those attempts out and will leave it for later (either getting a different rivet gun or a mobile motor trimmer to come past.

Looking through my other bits and pieces, I decided that the driver's seat runner would be easy to fit with just 4 bolts. So after putting the first 3 in ok, the 4 one seemed to be crossed in the thread. After a few retries it felt like it was moving, so I popped on the socket to only have it go PING...the bolt head sheared off. No drama, will drill out the bolt, tidy up the hole and re tap it. All good accept I hit the same level of resistance and PING, the tap is now sheared off in the same hole %^$&!!!. From here I grabbed the Dremel and a carbide grinding wheel and started to grind out the tap. Two days later and I still have only ground half the tap out and the hole in the metal is getting bigger by the minute. Mind you I am doing all this in the floor of the car, leaning in at odd angles. Then it hits me, I can pull the entire seat frame out and fix it on the bench!!!. So 5 minutes later the seat frame is on the bench, and a further 5 minutes saw the tap ground out, the lower bolt removed and replaced, the hole in the frame fixed up and the seat runner back in the car. Amazing when you think things through how quickly they are fixed! 4 bolts, 3 days :)

Rear Suspension

I started with the right hand side wishbones. Having read a lot of other build diaries, I expected the act of getting the washers in between the chassis and the pivot was going to be hard. The upper wishbone wasn't to bad......but the lower was unbelievable. The whole art of getting the washers to line up with the chassis holes and the pivot was a dark art. Also getting the final washer in took a very gentle hand with a hammer, needle nose pliers and a screw driver to progressively tap the washer home. So after nearly 4 hours I had one pair of wishbones in! Decided that was enough for one day and would come back tomorrow to tackle the left side. Would you believe the left side tolerances were much better and I had both wishbones on the left mounted in under 30 minutes.

Flushed with my new found success, I moved on to the right rear damper. It took a few goes to work out the right combination of spacers and washers but I think I have the top mount sorted. Bottom mount was easy although the bolt protrusion and nut fouled the front of the upright casting. I decided to set up the camber and caster now, as this would help with the shock mount fouling the upright, and I needed to make massive changes to the ball joint adjuster on the upper wishbone to get it to fit into the upright. This brings me to an interesting point. How much thread needs to be left in the upper wishbone after you have adjusted the upper ball joint for camber? The overall thread length is 34mm, and after setting up a neutral camber (admittedly with no wheels/tires on, and no load on suspension) I have exposed 19mm of thread, leaving 15mm in the wishbone as can be seen in the photo below. This doesn't seem a lot given the importance of that contact point so I will be sure to be checking this with Birkin and on the forums at Ozclubbies.com.au.

After leveling the chassis and setting up the camber and caster correctly the issue of the damper bottom mount fouling the upright has now gone. While I was in the general area, I adjusted the hard lines for the rear brakes, and attached the flexible brake lines to the hard lines, and then ran the flexible line out to the brake caliper and attached. Again everything at this stage is only finger tight. I will probably replace the brake lines with braided lines in the future, but will use what is supplied for now. I am waiting for a few missing parts, so will leave the left upright and damper off until they arrive. I still have the handbrake pivot assembly, differential, rear stabiliser and fuel tank to fit before the rear is done.