Thursday, March 29, 2012

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. 


Tuesday, March 27, 2012

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.


Sunday, March 25, 2012

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.

Friday, March 16, 2012

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.