5 May 2008
Session 251 - Cooling system continues..
Today's objective was to finish all the little jobs under the nose cone so that I do not have to keep taking it off and on! and a few other miscelleanous jobs. Spent 4hours in the garage today. Didn't spend any time in the garage yesterday as I was up at the national kit car show in Stoneleigh, where I managed to pick up a few little bits I needed.
One of the items I managed to source at Stoneleigh was a 180degree bend 38mm i.d. as the photo shows. I also wired in the electronic fan switch into the loom. The site of the fan is quie convient for adjusting the trim screw. The trim screw allows me to set at what temperature the fan is switched on. I could of actually done this with my ECU but that means I can use that ECU function for something else later on if so required. Also note in the photo that I have fitted the radiator overflow to the front of the chasis using rubber covered stainless steel p-clips, yes another purchase from Stoneleigh.
Nose cone now fitted on, is this the last time I wonder! Notice conical air filter. I have bought a 80mm stainless steel bend to locate the filter to the left hand side so that it gets more air, infact luck would have it that it sits right under the bonnet vent.
Decided a home for my ECU. Usual place is on a sheet of ali fixed under the dash but as I am not used a heater matrix for the car I can simply fix inside the scuttle as I have plenty of room here.
Inside the scuttle showing the ECU, convient to plug my laptop into. Next job is to wire this in!
I have also stuck some heat reflective matting on the front bulk head to prevent sweaty feet!
Video showing the radiator fan working!
10 May 2008
Session 252 - Front Indicators
Going to the threatre trhis afternoon so drilled my holes for the front indicators, decided to go with Westfield type ones which I picked up second hand from another member. So you drill one 8mm hole 130mm down from the curve of the nose cone and 130mm back. Then I drilled two 5.5mm 48mm apart so that the 8mm hole is at the midpoint. Quite a bit of measuring, double checking went on here I can tell you.
When I came back from the theatre I thought I cannot leave the job unfinished especially as I have an event to attend tomorrow. Yes, you guessed it I had to take the nose cone off againto get access to the inside to bolt the indicators on. At this point I noticed that the wires were a little short and at best would make connecting to the loom very fiddly. I cut the connectors of the indicators and soldered on extensions and then installed heat shrink tubing over the top and re-installed some new connectors. Covered wire in convulted tubing and stuck some self adhesive pads for cable ties in the nose to hold the loom.
This took me 3 hours in total. Photo below.
11 May 2008
Session 253 - Gear level gator
First Westfield Thames Valley Area event of the year, Hambleden was today but intent on doing at least something on the car today I spent an hour in the garage, well as one big supermarket chain says, "Every little bit elps". So I decided to installed the leather gear lever gator today. With a nice chrome finish surround, I know, I am a tart! Picture below.
The allen bolts are not countersunk, the ones I got where not long enough to go thru the bezel, carpet and leather. A tip here, to hold the leather in place take a hole punch, yes one used for filing papers in lever arch folders. Punch five evenly spaced holes around the edge, job done.
12 May 2008
Side mirrors that I order off Ebay came today. They are standard Yamaha YZR750. These mirrors are temporary until the SVA test and then I will installed my carbon fibre ones. The problem with doing this is having extra holes in the aeroscreen and skuttle after changing mirrors. I waited until I had both sets of mirrors to see if there was anything I could do and regretably they are not close enough. So I though about this for five minutes and came up with a plan. What I would do is use one of the skuttle locating bolts on the side to mount one side of the mirror mount plate and then I would only have to drill one hole for the other one and this way when I install the other mirrors I can simply re-install the aeroscreen to skuttle bolt and I will only one hole and then I can drill the other one required for my other set of mirrors! Cunning, I like to think so.
Photo showing mirrors installed
Photo showing how I have used the aeroscreen bolt to also mount the mirror. the mirror is high enough to just see over the rear arches as well.
18 May 2008
Session 255 - Plenum base and fuelling
Decided last week that the plenum chamber is a little close to the underside of the bonnet, but the worst clearance is the cam of the throttle level when at maximum it is about 1mm from the bonnet, not ideal especially when at full throttle! So I decided that the plenum base could be reduced in height by a maximum of 5mm from the underside where it joins the inlet manifold. I dropped the plenum base off to an old friend of mine who runs his own engineering company. I had removed the plenum trumpets from the base which required leaving in the oven at 200centigrade for about 2hrs!
Left photo showing an original trumpet base, right showing 5mm removed from the base. This should provide the necessary clearance required.
Did I say I hated plumbing! Today I started plumbing in the supply from the fuel tank. I removed the Westfield union from the fuel tank and replaced with a bigger one to connect up 1/2BSP hose. The fuel pump I have is an uprated one which is capable of powering tuned cosworths. Fueld pumps are gravity fed from the tank and the fuel is pushed. So it is important to have a big feed to the pump, the inlet of this pump is 18mm. I obtained all the necessary unions for the bends and conversions along the system, yes abit of a headache. So we have a 1/2 low pressure hose from the tank to the fuel pump with a 90 degree union into the pump converting to M18. This hose travels above the rear silincers so I covered the hose with heat reflective tubing, same spec as the other stuff I have used, i.e. 1000degree and 90% reflective! I decided to mount my fuel pump on the underside of the chassis rail as it is important the pump is either below the outlet of the tank or at least level, remember gravity fed.
The outlet side of the fuel pump is 12mm which I convered to a 90 dgree banjo to 5/16" and hose travel upward and curved to the solid fuel line which travels underneath the car. It is okay to go upwards from the outlet side as this is the high pressure side. Note you have to use high pressure hose and injection clips not standard jubilee clips. I also ensured that the hose specification can be seen as the specification of the hose is rightly checked by the SVA examiner. This fuel pump is capable of 72PSI! the pressure reguator on the fuel rail should bring this down to around 42PSI at the fuel rail, the extra fuel being returned back to the tank via the return fuel line.
Fuel line from the fuel tank with the heat reflective tubing installed.
Fuel pump, I am gonig to get a bracket! You can make out the 90 degree union on the left and banjo on the right.
5/16" fuel line from pump output to solid line. Usually a fuel filter is position on the rear bulkhead about half way along this hose. I may but into the hose and install I wanted to make sure I get it in at the right angle, I may opt to installing it in the engine bay making it more accessible.
I cleaned and degreased my plenum base and spray with acid etch and a couple of coats of alimunium paint. I re-glue the trumpets in with stud lock. note these trumpets are cut down from the Rover standard height down to 40mm, which with the 5mm off the base is effective 35mm. This is mainly done to due to shallow plenum chamber but to promote better air travel into the engine. The effective will increase horse power but moves the torque higher up the rev band but with such a massive amount of torque and a light car I have no concerns.
I managed to get the car out of the garage today, me having time to spend on the car and having good weather seems to be difficult. Here's some pictures.
24th May 2008
Session 256 - Plenum base installed
Had loads of chores to do today so only spent 1 hour in the garage. I installed the plenum chamber to plenum base flange onto the skimmed base. Used loctite 598 flange sealant and loctite 243 the bolts which were torqued to 16 ft/lbs. Also installed the plenum base to the inlet manifold using the same sealant and loctite.
27th May 2008
Session 257 - fuel pump bracket
Decided on the exact position of the fuel pump. As stated previously it must be level with or lower than the bottom of the tank ideally. So I have installed on the underside of the chassis member with the help of a carbon fibre purpose made bracket for the job. As you can see this is not the lowest point of the car, the centre exhaust is. Also to the rear of the pump is a silencer which is also lower so the risk of grounding is minimal.
The carbon fibre bracket is attached to the chassis with a large flange head 5mm rivet at each end. I have to bend the welded on bracket as you can see in the photo as this was angled down for the standard westfield fuel pump which is a lot smaller.
31 May 2008
Session 258 - Return fuel line
Spent a couple of hours on the car today. Connected up the return fuel line. P-clipped into place. Connected fuel pump to the loom. Decided to tweak my fuel hose and actually swapped it onto the other solid line that goes under the car. You will also notice that I made sure that the hose specs can be read by Mr. Sva man.
