Wednesday 28 September 2016

Suspend belief

With the arrival of the IVA covers,  I was finally able to finish off the nearside front suspension:


I was all prepared to bolt the calipers on but,  shock,  horror,  I haven't got the right bolts!

I wanted to put a cable tie over the clutch cable end,  to help keep it in the slot on the clutch arm. This is not absolutely required but seemed a simple job - until,  of course,  I went and bolted a bloody great sheet of metal underneath the bellhousing,  obscuring the clutch lever! I spent 30 minutes  trying to get my clodhopper arms down to the cable but couldn't manage it - will try with my sons help at the weekend,  maybe.


Monday 26 September 2016

Skid mark

Well,  finished the skid pan/bash plate (whatever its called) and,  to be frank,  it's poo.

This is what I was trying to cover up:


But without being able to get the car high up in the air,  it's very difficult to get the holes drilled in the right place. The result doesn't actually look too bad:


But it singularly fails to do its main task - there is still 5mm or so gap through which debris can get to the bellhousing gap. OK,  it's better than it was and it feels very solid so might help if I do hit a speed bump but still the worst piece of work I've done so far. Fortunately,  it is out of sight and it isn't a critical part of the car in any way.

Front suspension mostly complete but just need the IVA cover for the tie rod (ordered from GBS).

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Not my Finest Hour

Spent the last couple of garage sessions trying to make a skid plate. Not normally needed but I bought a sump from Tiger,  which leaves the bellhousing an inch or so lower that the sump itself,  with the flywheel visible and,  in my eyes,  susceptible to road debris. No-one on the Tiger Owners forum seems concerned and there are no reports of issues but I don't like it.

I ordered a sheet of ally 3mm thick but that was a mistake - it's too solid to work easily. I've made a right pigs ear trying to get it to work; left 2 extra holes in my chassis rails I really don't want (although they will eventually be covered by the plate but it grates on me). I've re-ordered a 2mm thick sheet so I'll try again. I got this far:


You can probably see the extra holes... I'll use this as a template for the thinner sheet. I don't want this to protect the bellhousing but more as a dirt shield and for that,  I need to bend the edges. This 3mm sheet is just too thick to bend,  even with a hefty lump hammer.

Added most of the front nearside suspension but,  as usual,  halted by lack of nuts and washers. I need to find the elf in my garage that keeps stealing them...


Wednesday 14 September 2016

Taming of the Snake

Couple of hours of work to turn this:



... into this:


Great stuff,  loom tape...


Saturday 10 September 2016

Switched on

Been a bit of a detour as I had problems with my motorbike over the last week or 2.

Also, after the excitement of starting my engine,  my PC decided to get the mother of all viruses and crawled to a halt. This meant I couldn't run the Emerald software. I've wiped my PC and installed Ubuntu but I've had a few problems getting it working with the Emerald software. However,  I think I've got it working so I'll try that next time.

However,  I've decided I need to get the wheels on and roll the car out the garage for engine tuning - it's too dangerous in my garage because the fumes build up very quickly when the engine is running,  especially as it's running very rich at the moment.

In the meantime,  the Carling rocker switches arrived and they are superb - lovely quality,  lovely illumination, superb movement and the same price as the rubbish ones from CBS:


Also finally got round to finishing off the accelerator pedal,  with a home-made pedal stop: