1000km later....

So I have been on the road for about 6 weeks now. I have clocked up nearly 1000km of driving, mainly through the Royal National Park and down the south coast. I am usually getting out for an early morning run most Sundays with a few mates, but I will take it out on Saturdays or during the week at nights if I can find a reason (any reason will do).

I have had a few problems. The front brakes have frozen on a few times after about an hour of driving. I have been told this is potentially a problem with the push rod in the master cylinder fouling the cylinder just behind the piston. I will pull the master cylinder down when I bleed the brakes next and check. Its easily fixed on the road by releasing the push rod lock nut and rotating it slightly.

Also the water temperature fluctuation is bugging me so I am going to move the sensor block and the filler cap to better spots. I will also switch out the pressure cap for a non blocking cap on the filler which should stop the leaks. A front and rear shock are leaking, and they will have to come off and go back to the manufacturer for new seals.

I need to add clutch stop in the pedal box, and I have decided to fabricate a new throttle pedal mount to move the throttle more to the right, freeing up the foot well so I can get a better feel for the brakes. It makes a lot of noises that are unfamiliar but I am learning how it likes to be driven, and what the limits are.

So far I have added a set of 6 point harnesses for track days....the only real modification so far. I am contemplating an aero screen....but not just yet. I need a new muffler and cat first.

Other than those few issues, I love just running around in it. I have a smile constantly, and people at traffic lights always wind there windows down for a chat. You also get a lot of kids waving at you.

Registered

During the week the car had its final inspection, the Blue Slip inspection which is a  safety inspection for unregistered cars. From here it was a simple matter of organising third party insurance, and then heading off to the RMS with all the paperwork.

An hour or so later I was handed the rego papers and the custom plates I had ordered (after handing over A LOT of money). I was finally registered!!!

I headed home and mounted the plates and stuck the label on the screen! I then headed out for my first little "fully legal" drive. It was nice not having to constantly watch for police. Even though I had previously been on the UVP stickers, driving without plates has a certain risk to it.

So now I am finished, properly! I have assembled, engineered and registered a car that is both drivable, safe and fairly quick. Its been almost a year since the first engine start, when I expected to have the car finished in 6 weeks after the engine was running.

So now I have summer to enjoy driving it, in fact I am about to head out for my first real drive down the coast with a few friends.


I need to thank my wife and kids for their patience and help with building the car and fulfilling a dream! I am very lucky. I also want to thank a few people who have helped with build tasks or advice -  thank you Steve, Dave, Maurice, Bryn, Andrew and Greg and Sonja from Redback Motorsports.  I also want to give a huge thank you to my engineer, Treeve from Kernow Engineering who did an amazing job with the certification.

I would say THE END, but I think this is just the beginning of a new chapter. I will post more about the driving and about the upgrades that are sure to follow.

VIN Number

Well after working through a number of little fixes and answering a bunch more questions, my engineer completed the engineering report and sent it and the application for a VIN number off to the NSW RMS. And they sent a VIN number back!

Here it is (obviously obscured!), stamped to a plate and fixed using rivets to the scuttle. This means all I have left this week is a Blue Slip inspection for an unregistered vehicle, and assuming I get that, front up to the local RMS office to get finalise rego and get my plates. 

Only a few sleeps now until its finally registered, and just in time for the long weekend and summer!

New Repeaters

The last remaining task from my engineering report was to replace the side indication repeaters. These have to be visible from an approach angle at the rear of the car from 5 to 55 degrees. Because of the height of the rear guards, I have extended these fairly high so they are completely visible from the rear. A quick bit of auto electrical work and these were spliced into the front lighting looms and successfully tested. 

So that's it....all tests passed......all engineering checks complete and all issues fixed.....it's FINISHED.

I now place my self in the hands of my engineer and the NSW RMS and await the final submission of my engineering documents, and the issuance of my VIN and plates (which I have ordered!)

Engineering fixes update

Through out the week I have worked on the car at night to close out the remaining tasks for the engineer. I have completed 7 of the tasks and only now need to add some new repeaters further forward to improve visibility from the back. These were fabricated and welded up yesterday and I just need to tidy them up, paint, fit and wire.

I got to have a really good drive this afternoon with some friends, and it was nice to enjoy the spring weather and not have to worry about noise or overheating or any of that other pre-test crap!

Noise Test and Engineering Checks

This weekend I took the car back up to see the engineer in Orange. It spent a day in the workshop on the hoist for all the engineering checks, and I now have a list of 7 things I need to fix or change....nothing to onerous.

Todays tests involved rerunning the noise tests I had previously failed. With a revised exhaust, new airbox and some more insulation, the car passed the tests, coming in under the 77db drive by tests and the 90db stationary test.

Getting very close now to a finished engineering report and hopefully a VIN and plates!

Heat shield

After fitting the new air intake, I noticed how quickly the intake piping was getting hot, caused by the proximity of the headers. Given that I don't want preheated air going into the engine, and I have silicon joiners on the air intake, I decided to fit some heat shielding. 

I fabricated up some support brackets to sit between the headers and the intake to hold the shield, then shaped a piece of heat shield to fit it in the gap. Its tight at the front, but has a good air gap for most of the length of the intake and it protects the joiners.

Today has been spent fitting a new quieter exhaust and heat shields....photos to follow. The car is almost ready for its next and hopefully final engineering checks prior to rego!

Air Intake

One of the main reasons I failed the first noise test was induction noise. I had a pod filter directly connected to the throttle body, with no air box or resonators. When you nudged the throttle, you could hear it take a breath and gulp air in. On sharp throttle inputs it made very impolite noises, and on wide open throttle it whistled like it had a turbo. To fix all of this I have plumbed in a factory airbox and resonator up in the nose cone, and the routed air piping back to the throttle body. This is the 2.75" aluminum and blue silicone joiners you can see in the photo.  Because of the height of the engine and the intakes on the passenger side, I have had to route this plumbing down the less ideal drivers side, directly above the exhaust headers. To deal with the heat, I have fabricated brackets to keep the plumbing off the headers, and also some additional brackets between the block and the chassis. These are to hold up a heat shield that will keep the headers and the plumbing separate.

The net result is that there is now zero induction noise at idle, and no change in noise for any throttle position....problem solved!

p.s. Also noticed we passed 10,000 page views this week! Thanks to everyone who has followed this build and checked back in on the progress.

Engineering - Part 2 (Emissions)

Today was emissions testing. I had to pass the RTA's IM240 test certification which is the equivalent of Euro 2 emissions testing.  Given the engine has no mods and uses the factory ECU, tune and intakes and I have a Euro 3 spec CAT, it should be pretty easy to pass. And it was! It passed with virtually no emissions, with all the key numbers being so far below the max. The test did show up some interesting NOX levels on hard acceleration and a bit of fuel dumping on sudden overrun. Something to work on with the tuner, but its another major milestone passed!

Engineering - Part 1

Last Sunday was the first day of engineering tests. I needed to do some last minute modifications to the exhaust heat shield on Saturday to stop a resonant vibration. Steve "the welder" made short work of this problem. The engineering tests took place some 300km from home, so it was up early on Sunday to load up and head out. It rained all day Saturday, so I was not able to load the car the day before. This meant loading up at 3:30am in the dark and wet. The car got even more wet on the 4 hour trip but I got there on time. 

Upon arriving at the test location, the first challenge was to cross a muddy red clay field to get to the track. Luckily I was towing with a 4wd, but churning across the paddock got the Birkin pretty dirty as it was sitting directly in the path of the flying mud. After unloading the tests begun. There was a whole bunch of other cars being tested including one other Clubman, a scratch build running a Zetec. It was 6 degrees celsius where we were testing, so it was a pretty long day standing around in the cold waiting for my test. 

Once it was my turn to go I already had the car warmed up and the V-box Racelogic system was installed to do the measurements. The engineer was doing a range of tests including general driving, braking, lane change/stability and noise (stationary and moving). It was a pretty proud moment to see my little car drive down to the end of the test track then come flying back up the strip in anger and full voice. Here's a clip of it making its second pass in to the braking test, which requires 15 consecutive stops from certain speeds, where each time it must stop inside a specific distance under a certain pedal load.

It passed the braking tests easily which is fantastic given the brakes were brand new and haven't even been properly bedded in. It passed the lane change and stability tests, although it whacked a cone on the first run. Due to Greg Fraser's (Redback Motorpsorts) work, the tyres didn't even chirp as it was hurled through the lane changes at increasing speed. Alas it failed the noise test, but more so on the induction air box noise rather than the exhaust. It is making some fairly high frequency noise on intake so this is not surprising. Not to worry as I needed to go back for other checks anyway. All in all a long day with another 4 hour drive home in the rain and dark. I now have a very dirty little car!!!!

Next test is this Wednesday, which is IM240 emissions. Stay tuned!

Shakedown - Part 2

In Shakedown - Part 1, I had 3 things to fix after my first real drive.

• Broken headlight globe
• Stuck closed thermostat
• Broken exhaust mount

The headlight was easy to fix. The globe broke due to the vibration in the lens. I removed the whole light, replaced the globe, and then tightened the spring clips in the lens holder. Fixed.

The thermostat was harder. It involved a complete drain of the cooling system, removal of all the hose clamps, nose cone, fan belt and idler pulley. 3 bolts took 3 hours to remove! I tested the new thermostat before fitting, and the same 3 bolts took another 90 minutes to reinstall and torque. It was then just a case of replacing the other parts I had removed. Refilling with coolant took two nights of bleeding the air out of the system until the coolant level stabilised.

I used some fencing wire to hold the muffler on so I could test drive it and check the thermostat. Good news, the temperature stabilised at around 95 and held and the lower radiator pipe was also warm after 15km.

The problem with the muffler was that it had been hard mounted to the chassis (not by me). This meant that there was no isolation from vibration, so something had to give. The chassis mount was welded direct to the muffler body, and this broke after 20km, and it also bent the mount pretty badly. To fix this I got a rubber mount, and Steve the welder fabricated up an S bracket. We bolted the rubber mount onto a thicker chassis mount, and then welded the S bracket to the muffler body. We also took the S bracket a lot further under the muffler body and shaped it around the muffler allowing it to be welded on 3 sides (tripling the amount of welded joint). I then cut an adjuster slot into the chassis mount and bolted it up to the car. The chassis mount acts as a cantilever, and the whole thing is a lot more secure than before, but it also now has a vibration damper. I look forward to another test drive and hopefully it will last a bit longer than 20km.

Workshop Fitout

On top of the lessons learnt, I thought I would share the additional tools I have used or added to the workshop during the build. This will give new builders an idea of what is needed beyond spanners.

• Engine crane - rated to 750kg with adjustable boom and castors. I used this to lift the car a lot as well when fitting the engine
• Engine stand - for dressing the engine before it goes in the car
• Trolley jack - spend as much as you can and get one with as much lift as possible
• Chassis stands - height adjustable with fine screw adjustment.
• Digital vernier calipers
• Hex head sockets - better than Allen keys!
• Torque wrenches - I have two, one with a smaller range and one with a much larger range for big jobs like flywheel bolts
• Sharp set of side cutters
• T-bar - with connectors for sockets or hex bits
• Stepper drill bits - for carefully enlarging holes out to as big as 22mm
• Quality soldering iron
• Electrical wiring crimper (good quality)
• Auto electrical specific multi-meter
• 1mm metal cutting wheel for the grinder
• Fine tip paint pen in a bright colour - for marking position or marking torqued nuts/bolts
• Good files for rough shaping of aluminum or steel brackets
• Dremel - used for everything! From cutting, finishing, sanding, grinding
• Rivnut gun - an expensive luxury best shared with a friend!

On top of this I had the usual set of ring and open ended spanners, sockets and screw drivers. I added quite a few larger spanners and sockets for jobs like fixing the upright ball joints, or tightening hub nuts. Most of these can be added as needed, but I can't emphasise enough the importance of using the right tool for the job. A vice and bench grinder is also handy.


One of the things I thought I would use a lot more was my compressor. I already had a rattle gun and I also got an air powered socket wrench. I guess the capacity and duty cycle was a little low on my compressor as it was more of a pain to use than being of any great benefit. I ended up using a cordless driver with socket attachments a lot more than anything else.

Lessons learnt

I have been meaning for a while to create a list of things I have learnt along the way. The aim of this is to warn new builders of some of the traps I fell into, and show some of the tricks I learnt along the way. Some of this is common sense, some of it is the result of hours of rework. I was never able to find a list like this, although many of these answers are scattered across countless forums and build diaries on the Internet. 

• Check every package and delivery the moment you receive it to make sure its all there, and its what you ordered.
• Understand the order of all tasks and the priorities they have to be done in.
• Never put a task off until later because it's to hard. Do it in the right order.
• Avoid putting all the body panels on as soon as you get it "just to see what it looks like"......huge waste of time (I never did this ;)
• Where possible test fit each part for alignment before fixing or tightening.
• Use copper grease on all splines
• Use Loctite on all bolts
• Check and replace spigot bearing ($5 bearing at the back of the motor that supports the gearbox input shaft)
• Don't use rubber hoses for hydraulics
• Don't activate master cylinder pistons with no fluid in them, the pistons will jam.
• Do the wiring as early as possible.
• Test every wire as soon as possible for continuity.
• Don't put the scuttle on until EVERYTHING underneath it is done
• Don't put the nose cone on until the cooling system has been tested
• Test fluid systems for leaks as early as possible when they are easy to fix.
• Don't leave fluids idle for long periods.
• Get everything you can on the motor before you fit it (alternator, starter, induction, belts) - make sure it will fit though
• Test thermostat or replace on older motors, before you fit the motor.
• Don't fit something if you don't understand how it functions first.
• Use the right clamps for the job (i.e specific fuel line clamps)
• Position clamp bolts where you can reach them after the car is finished.
• Make sure the steering rack is perfectly aligned when you fit the steering wheel.
• Use the best fluids.
• Always replace Nyloc nuts when you remove them.
• If something is subject to engineering, check and understand the requirements before you start it.
• Don't be afraid to ask or get help!
• If something is proving difficult or not working, walk away and come back later or the next day....I guarantee you will have solved it in your head and the fix will take 5 minutes to implement!

I am sure I will add to this list as I remember other aspects of the build that have been challenging.

Thermostat

This is the thermostat  ----------------->

Its integrated with the housing. The smaller pipe on the right is the bypass. The larger pipe on the left connects to lower radiator pipe. It's currently stuck closed. This means that water circulates through the engine block and back to the bypass avoiding the radiator until the water has reached temperature. Once the water is at 89 degrees, the thermostat opens and lets water flow from the back of the engine and through the radiator, back to the thermostat. However this is not opening, so water never passes through the radiator for cooling. Best test for this is to check the bottom radiator pipe which is cold when the gauge is showing 100 degrees which is to hot.

It's a nightmare to remove (only 3 bolts) with the car completed, and it took nearly 3 hours to get it out.  I have tested it using boiling water and it failed 3 tests, then only barely worked on the last test. I will source a replacement, and test it before it goes in. Hopefully I can get it sorted and do another test run next week.

Shakedown - Part 1

I have made this post Part 1, because I reckon there is going to be a few more like it. I managed to reassemble the car after reconnecting the speedo wire so I could do the calibration. The other thing I needed to fix was the leak from bottom radiator hose. I popped the nose cone off to get to the hose clamp, and found it was not tight. I had put all the front hoses in long before I put coolant in, and never checked the tightness. Quick check of all the hoses around it and I found a similar story....oh well!


With these two problems fixed, I was able to take the car out to do the speedo calibration and just generally enjoy a drive. I organised to meet Steve and Dave, fellow clubman drivers at Steve's place which is happily about 20km away. On the  way out I did the 1km autocalibration test and found it needed 3580 pulses. With that done I had a functioning speedo.


The car went well but the trip exposed a few more problems:

• The thermostat appears to be stuck closed....so the car ran very hot!!!
• The muffler mount bent then broke
• One of the headlights stopped working.

All in all a good run. We got to take some photos and it was nice to have the car out somewhere other than my front yard, especially around other Clubbies. Not major problems to fix, and I expect I will uncover more problems on subsequent runs. Best part was coming home in convoy with two other Clubbies around me!

Troubleshooting the Speedo

I only have 3 weeks until the engineering inspection is done on the car so I need to wrap up some loose ends. One of those is the lack of speed on the speedo. I tried to calibrate it both manually and automatically on my last 2 runs but it refuses to detect a pulse. 

The speedo uses what I thought was a Hall Effect sensor, but now know is an Inductive sensor on the diff housing. The inductive pole (magnets) portion is mounted in a bracket close to the end of the CV joint bolts, and it is supposed to measure each time a bolt passes it as a pulse. You then work out how many pulses you need per kilometre and you are set.

I assumed the problem was the air gap between the sensor and the bolts, as I had not paid a lot of attention to setting the gap in my haste to finish the car (will do it later!). The gap is supposed to be between 0.3mm and 0.8mm (hard to measure I know). The problem now is to get to the sensor to reset it I needed to do a bit of dismantling once the car was up on stands. So off came:

• Right rear wheel
• Scuttle mount plates
• Bottom scuttle screws
• Interior side panels
• Seat headrests
• Roll cage 
• Boot liner

Everything is interconnected hence the amount of unrelated stuff that needed to come out. I exposed the sensor, repositioned it down to a very small gap, fired up the speedo and spun the wheels to check the pulse. Nothing!

So now I pulled the sensor out and checked the resistance of the inductive component when pulsed and it is working, so now I needed to test the wiring. I reached under the scuttle and disconnected the speedo connector. With the multi meter I belled out each of the wires from the sensor to the speedo. The blue/yellow wire is showing not connected?!?!. Bugger! Remembering the rear harness connects to the body loom in the fuse box, I figured I should check the connections in there as well. So more bits came out:

• Bonnet
• Pod air filter
• Fuse box lid
• Fuse rail mount

This exposed the rear harness connector and look what I found ------>. 

The wire join for the speedo sensor had come apart and out of the connector!

Easy enough fix. Rebind the wires, add a new terminal and reinsert it into the connector. Before I rejoined each step I belled out the connection to the sensor and the speedo to make sure it was OK, and then did the same end to end connection test. Once I had the end to end connections working, I put the sensor back on and tested it again with the speedo fired up. This time I got a pulse count on the speedo! 

Then it was just a matter of positioning the sensor, final testing and then putting everything back together!

Unregistered Vehicle Permit

A UVP let's you drive the car on the road "legally" while it's still unregistered. It requires an authorized safety inspection (pink slip) and a trip to the RTA. 


The Birkin passed it's safety inspection and the nice lady at the RTA issued me with my UVP which is now proudly stuck on the windscreen. 


The only catch is it can only be driven on nominated trips for specific purposes....but at least I can now officially move it around on the road from place to place to finish off the engineering and rego process without having to use a trailer...........................................like this!

Suspension Setup

I have given Redback Motorsports a rap before, but I am going to do it again. I dropped the Birkin off on Saturday to have Greg give it a once over and also to properly setup the suspension, steering and brake balance. Over a few days he setup all of my wheel cambers, wheel toe-in, ride height, spring preload and damper rates to suit a first time Clubman driver. He also checked my brake bias setup, adjusted my steering rack and wheel position, and sorted out a few issues on the sway bars. He also rang my engineer to discuss specific tests that would be carried out on the car come engineering time, and then made sure that my car was configured accordingly. 


Greg engineers some of the quickest and best sorted race Clubmans in Australia. He has a wealth of knowledge and best of all he is a great guy to just drop in and have a chat and a cuppa with. I am lucky to have access to such a skilled engineer so close to home, and I feel privileged to have his expertise applied to my car.


The car now feels properly secure on the road, and it turns in much more predictably and consistently than it did last week. It is also riding much nicer over broken pavement and changes in surface. 


If you live in or near Sydney, and you want your Clubman sorted... properly sorted ........ take it to Greg at Redback Motorsport!

First real drive...on the road!

Today the Birkin was booked in for it's blue slip safety inspection and a tune up. Its permitted to drive the car unregistered directly to and from the place of inspection....so drive it I did.


Unfortunately the guy who was to do the inspection was sick so I opted to bring the car home and postpone.


It worked out well as I found a few little problems on the drive.

• Speedo is not working (Hall Effect sensor problem)
• Leak in the lower front radiator pipe
• Assorted rattles from the exhaust and the left headlight lense.

But it was still my first proper drive and it was fun none the less. The car feels good on the road and it really zips along in any gear. Over an hour later I am still grinning like an idiot ;)

Finished

So after 517 days I have gone from this.........


















to this!!!!!

Let me qualify finished. Its ready to undergo testing in order to get through the engineering and registration process. Its driveable and if there was a track day tomorrow, I could now go and drive my own Clubman on the track ;)

From here the next steps are:

• Trip to Redback Motorsport for suspension setup, wheel alignment and general checkup
• Tune up and possible trip onto the dyno
• New muffler 
• IM240 emissions test with the RMS at Botany
• Engineering check, brake test and noise test
• VIN and Registration plates (hopefully!)

I am reliably informed these cars are never truly finished. I will still need to do the tonneau cover, harnesses (for track) and the Autometer Tach Adapter but for now I have nothing else to do in order to get it registered.

A massive thank you to a pair of fellow Birkin drivers. To Steve for all his hard work and assistance on the two person jobs, and for keeping me motivated when the build got difficult and being there for the high 5 moments. Also to Maurice who provided endless hours of advice, design photos and suggestions on specific issues via email. 

Here's a few more photos ;)

Oxygen Sensors

When the original exhaust was fabricated, they forgot to add bosses into the catalytic converter for the oxygen sensors. So I have had the exhaust off and back at the shop having the cat modified. I now have bosses welded in to the cat at the front and the rear for the pre and post oxygen sensors. As the old Focus sensor cables were quite short, I had to splice in an additional 18 inches of new wire (4 wires in each sensor) per sensor.  These now route under the car, up inside the engine bay along the drivers foot well and up behind the engine to the loom. 

Exhaust Modifications

The exhaust I have had a rear exit, however when it was fitted, it was to high where it needed to pass under the guard. My aim is to have a nice side exit exhaust ready for rego, but this one will do now for testing and rego prep. So I could get it to fit with the guard, I cut the pipe where it exited the muffler and ground it back to the original flange. We then cut a piece of the old pipe at angle to use as a temporary tip. Using Steve's new MIG welder and our new found welding skills, we welded the temporary tip into place which now exits just under the guard and in front of the tyre, at about 45 degrees to the car and ground.

Mirrors

The mirrors should have been easy. Two wing mirrors screw into the windscreen frame, one main mirror glues onto the windscreen. The wing mirrors are EMGO motorbike mirrors. All good except I was sent Yamaha mirrors which have a right and left handed thread. The Birkin windscreen only has right hand threads. So I had to replace these with the same mirror, only both with right hand threads. The main mirror, I painted the body black (as always) and used an industrial glue to attached it to the screen.

Seatbelts

The missing piece of the seatbelts was the top mount bolt. This was a 7/16 UNF bolt (supplied new by Greg at Redback Motorsport). With the bolts in hand I was able to mount the top guide and put the covers on. Seatbelts now work!

Tail Lights

The tail lights were the final lights to be fitted. They are LED clusters including the reflectors from LED Technologies.  They required drilling holes into painted fibreglass...my favourite pastime! I checked the ADRs for the all the relevant distances, and then measured up. I masked the guards with tape and did all my set out on the tape. I then made a mounting template out of cardboard that matched the light mounts, and taped it to the guards. Once I was happy with the set out, I drilled both the 5mm mounting holes and 12 mm holes for the cable grommet and cabling.

Earlier in the day I had joined the connector wiring tails to the body loom, and these are routed through body grommets inside the mudguard. I have used table figure 8 brackets on  the mudguard bolts to cable tie up the cables inside the wheel arch. The lights have to be perpendicular to the road surface to meet ADRs, so I have fabricated up some blocks of high density rubber to fit behind the lights on the guard before bolting them into place. These came up OK if I do say so. Naturally the wiring all worked as my auto electrical skills have grown dramatically since undertaking this build.
Lights finished and ticked off the to do list!

Almost there....

Well after nearly 18 months this is what it looks like now. Only a handful of things to do so that I can get the engineering process started and get it registered. What's left to do?

• Fit rear tail lights onto the mudguards
• Refit the muffler (new one coming)
• Align and tighten headlights
• Recable the pilot indicator (they are crossed over)
• Install two more mirrors (left one is already on)
• Add number plate mounts

:)

High Level Brake Light

Another light fitted! This time it was the high level brake light on the roll bar. It's a Hella strip LED light, screwed into a moulded acrylic mounting block, screwed into the roll bar. The cables run internally down through the roll bar, and in under the boot where they are connected into the loom via a 2 pin removable connector. Light mounting was easy....cable routing was done after the bar was fitted, which was not easy (had to pull the cable through at least 6 times). I chose not to drill the holes and mount the light until the car was back on the ground on its wheels to ensure the mounting was level with the road.

Shift Lights

As a bit of a treat to myself I purchased a Shift-I tach light system. This is an Australian manufactured piece of kit, and it's brilliant. A lot of the Clubman drivers use these for track and race days as they a give visual cue for shifting, right in your line of sight without having to shift your eyes down to the tach. I have programmed mine to indicate the revs where maximum power is generated rather than the redline, as these are quite a bit different on the stock Duratec motor (and there is no point revving 1,500 revs past the point where maximum power is generated). 

I folded up a nice little sheet aluminum mounting bracket (painted black of course), and it is screwed down under the scuttle pad, with the cables routed through the top of the scuttle and down to the tacho. 

Windscreen Wipers

The wipers went on quite a few weeks back, but they didn't work as expected. First problem was that I didn't interpret the manual correctly on how to align the linkage to get them to operate in the right cycle. Second problem was that I stripped one of the nuts getting them back up, meaning I had to cut the nut off, which damaged the mounting spline. Luckily I had a spare linkage, so I dropped the damaged one out and replaced it. To get the cycle right I ended up climbing under the dash in Steve's Birkin, and copied how it was aligned and connected to the motor. We also made up some markers to fit to the spindles to get the cycle right. Once we were comfortable with the sweep of the arm, we bolted the arms into place and fitted the bolt caps. Must remember not to tighten things before I check how they are supposed to work.

Lighting - Front Indicators

The front indicators were a bit of a pain. They required drilling holes into the finished (painted!) nose cone to allow the stalks ti be bolted through the fibreglass. There are two small bulges in the fibreglass that you drill out to fit the nose mounted indicator stalks to. Not a pleasant experience and I remembered the tip to use blunt bits, just after I used perfectly new bits to chip and gouge the paint! I had to take the nose on and off 3 times to modify its position and to run the wiring down from the loom to the stalks. Anyway they are on and they work. Glad that's over! Oh and it also allowed me to fit the grill.

Roll Bar and Boot Lining

I have been desperate to get the boot lining off the garage floor and into the car for nearly 12 months. It is made of fairly thin GRP, and has two protruding strips where it meets the cockpit. Every time the kids went in the garage I was worried that someone would walk into and snap those strips off!

To get the boot in meant finishing all the rear wiring and lighting, checking all the suspension bolts, putting a moisture trap line on the fuel reg, checking all the fuel lines and clamps and then remounting the fuel tank in its proper place. When I went to mount it, I realized I had to lift out the cockpit side panels to get the front edge of the boot lining under the side panels. The side panels had already been bolted in place under the scuttle which meant some disassembly. However I soon had the boot lining in place.

The roll bar sits on top of the boot liner and bolts into the rear body rail and onto a pair of mount plates high on the frame behind the seats. Securing the roll bar uses huge M10 capscrews and requires manipulation of a few chassis cross members to fit it and get the capscrews in. I now need to mount the high level light now and get the wiring run inside the roll bar.

Reversing lights

Still working on wiring lights up. This time it was the reversing lights. I had already routed the rear loom around the fuel tank, so it was just a matter of positioning them and then drilling holes to mount them and route the wiring through. Before that I shifted the fuel tank forward and fitted a big piece of hardwood between the tank and the rear of the car - no sense in drilling the tank. The lights have a rubber base mount which also has a built in wiring grommet that allows centering of the mount. Pretty easy mounting exercise and best off they worked when tested.

Windscreen

The windscreen mounts were the first holes I drilled into my shiny new aluminum car back in 2010, before paint. Lining up the holes for windscreen mounts was a little tricky and it would be some time before I got to see if I had them right. The windscreen mounts and windscreen frame were painted gloss black at the time that the car was painted. Surprisingly the mounts fitted well with no modifications needed. I put them in finger tight so I could trial fit the windscreen. With the windscreen roughly in place, I could drill two holes in the scuttle either side for the windscreen demister. Then it was just a case of getting the rest of the family to hold the windscreen in place while I secured it inside the windscreen mounts. 

The windscreen fits fairly snugly, although there is a small gap between the bottom of the left mount and the screen which is making it hard to get the capscrew to bite into the thread. I will probably just use a longer capscrew for this. Tightening the screws damaged the paint a little on the mounts, so I will need to do a few touch ups and I will also paint all the cap screws black as well. Now its all torqued up correctly ready to be wired in. I can now fit the wiper arms onto the mounts as well.

Bonnet

Getting the bonnet on is a big step, one that signifies how close to the finish I am. I ran adhesive strip down both sides of the engine bay to cushion the bonnet, but I have not put tape on the scuttle or nose cone lips yet, as this needs to be thinner. The front left corner is not fitting well yet, and will need a little bending to get it to secure properly. It is also flaring a little at the back on the sides of the scuttle, but I believe this is a normal Birkin thing. I put the rubber trim that it came with back on across the front lip, but will probably remove it as the black line across the orange looks naff.

Nose Cone

When I put the nose cone on last time I scratched the hell out of the sides by fitting it the wrong way! So I was very wary of fitting it the final time. I taped up all the areas that could get scratched and mounted it from the bottom up. It went on somewhat easier than last time..... 4 bolts later and it was on and done up tight, with no more scratches! It may need to come off to tighten the indicators after I drill the holes in the sides.

Headlights with power

I connected up and tested the wiring for the headlights last night, and sorted out low/high beam and the parking lights. No parkers! Who the hell sells headlights without the parking light globes? Now I will need to pull the shells apart and then remove the globe holders to get the right globes. 


Either way they worked so thats another thing crossed off the list. I just need to route and secure the wiring correctly now, then once the car is back on the ground I can align them to their final position and tighten them up.

Headlights

I read another build diary at the start of my build that said the headlights were hard to fit, and that it was far easier with the struts removed. Well that blog was right. It is nearly impossible to route the cables through the mounts and it is impossible to route the cable on the inside of the strut mount, with the strut in place. So I dropped out the top strut bolts, and was able to get my fingers up inside the mount to finger tighten the nuts. The light mounts had to be machined down on a lathe by 15mm in order to expose enough thread. So for now they are finger tight and I can finish off the wiring. But I will need to remove the entire strut on both sides in order to properly tighten the mounts, and to finish off the alignment.

Seats

Are in. Will probably need to remove them to fit my road legal harnesses (if they arrive before rego!)

Scuttle Fitout

With the scuttle mounted, I am able to finish off all the under the bonnet jobs. There are a number of things that get mounted directly onto the scuttle under the bonnet line.

The brake and clutch reservoirs are bolted directly onto the scuttle and the low fluid warning light cables are fed up through the bracket and onto the switches.

Finishing the scuttle also means getting all of the electrical connections finished. The fuse rail is now secured in the fusebox with a rivnut and a set screw in the passengers footwell. The fusebox lid has been modified to fit around the bottom of the throttle body and is screwed onto the bulkhead.

On the far side away from the scuttle is the washer bottle. Its line runs from the pump through a small hole in the bottom of the steering column bush. The wiring feeds through a grommet in the scuttle below the tank and then up inside the bracket to connect to the pump. On the passengers side is a 1 litre expansion tank, which is mounted as the highest point in the cooling system. It has feed lines from the block and main cooling pipes, and returns to the thermostat. All of the cooling lines run down behind the block. Its all now tidy enough to fit the bonnet (once the nose cone goes on!).

Scuttle

After the engine, the scuttle was the thing I was most looking forward to getting fitted. It signifies the end of a lot of work. It means all of the dash and wiring is completed and tested, and that the interior is completed. It is also the second largest piece of metal fitted to the car after the bonnet so its a big step.

Firstly the scuttle has a lot of different components and hardware fitted before its mounted. This includes the wiper motor drive arms, the wiper spindles, the washer nozzle, the washer hose, the washer bottle and the battery isolation switch. All this work is done on the bench (complete with Steve's foot which has not put in an appearance for a while). You will notice the manual in use, however as per usual it was put away soon after this shot and we winged it.

This shot shows the  top of the scuttle with the wiper spindles exposed and the washer nozzle. The wiper mounts are polished metal, which will need to become black to fit in with everything else. As I will be mounting a Shift-I tacho light system on top of the scuttle (under the padding), I have wired some connectors into the existing tacho connector so that I can easily wire in the Shift-I later with the scuttle fitted. We also fitted rubber strips on the top of the body side where the scuttle sits.

From there is was just a matter of sitting the scuttle in place (about 4 times), lining up all the mounting holes, and then fixing the mounting brackets under the scuttle. The battery isolation switch fouled the bulkhead, so we removed some of the aluminum and smoothed out the bottom of the switch. We also drilled a small hole in the bottom of the steering column shim to allow the washer hose through to the washer bottle and pump.

This photo shows the washer bottle and battery isolation switch mounted. Next will be the reservoirs, expansion tank, the Shift-I and the dash padding.

Oh, and I changed the wiper mounts to black too, which looks much better!