Booker Prize winner

 A few bolts and bits arrived so took 30 minutes this evening to finish off the new armrest:

Feels pretty good - I bent the door frame a little at the front to get it to mould to the side panel better and looks promising.

I've also started the process of getting this blog made into print. I realised that I'm currently trusting Google to keep this blog alive but if they have some sort of system failure or cleanup one day, I might lose it (this happend to an old website of mine). I do keep a backup but it's just in XML format, so not easily viewable.

So sent of the first year's worth (2015) which cost me £80, so this isn't going to be a cheap process. But the result is very nice:

Hardback, glossy pages - very nice. However, this company (Pixie) have a bit of a limited choice of options and they've also just lumped the photos at the beginning of each entry, so they aren't in the right place in the text. I've ordered the next year from a different company, which was more expensive (£90) but that is set out better - should arrive soon, as will my Booker Prize entry, obvs. 

Arms outstretched

 Finally got my lazy bones into the garage to start on some upgrades. First of was the passenger side armrest, a very similar process the drivers side I did a while ago.

Started with a sheet of ally and an architect-quality plan:

Cut out and folded: 

Foam added:

Finally, the vinyl:

I haven't got the bolts yet to put it on the door but fits neatly:

Feels nice to have made something.

I'm normally too lazy to do preventative maintenance but everyone else does and I guess I should have a go, so I'm going to take the wheels off, check discs, shocks etc.

A Call to Arms

Continuing with the upgrades, next up are armrests. I was inspired by seeing some Caterham armrests - not only do they act as straps to hold the door against the side of the car, they also prevent water splashing up into the cabin.

So, first up was some measurements transferred to a sheet of 1.5mm ally (sorry, pretty rubbish picture):

The strange shape is because my drivers side door has a bulge for my elbow. This was then cutout and bent into shape, using a combination of Black and Decker workmate and plain old bending by hand (quite surprised it worked so well):

 

Then a layer of foam to protect my delicate elbow:

...and vinyl applied with contact adhesive:

 

A set of M3 stainless steel bolts (hopefully won't go rusty and look crud) with countersunk cups, through the door material and into the flange on the armrest and job done:

 

Not been out to test them yet but looks great, doors feel firm and they lift up easily enough.

I also replaced the side mirrors with some funky (read 'tiny') numbers:

I've also got a new gear knob and USB sockets to fit...all good fun...

Happy New Year to you all!

Un-eureka

Argh!! After all that work, i put it all back together and...still rattling! In fact, it's  worse!

BUT I think i know what it is now - step forward Mr Starter Motor.

To get the sump off,  I had to take the starter motor off (in fact, I just unbolted it and moved it aside). When I came to put it back on, I noticed that the main body was a little loose. It has a base that bolts on to the bellhousing but the main body, I believe has a couple of long , internal bolts that hold it on. I don't know how and why but something has come loose internally and I'm almost certain (again) that is my rattle. Definitely. Maybe.

So, do I blow another £100 or so for a new one? I drove to work today and the rattle is unbearable so it looks like I'm going to have to, and pray that is the problem.

On the plus side, after 2 months of baking heat and clear skies, today was the first bit of rain BUT I have doors and a roof - and they work! The doors are awesome; really solid, no flapping about and the windows work really well. They're just clear plastic with velcro on 3 sides, so you just pull it down and, voila! In fact, the doors are so good, they kept all the engine heat in as well. Horrendous today when it was still around 30 degC but will be great when normal British weather returns.

So, more expense...great, kitcars, aren't they?

The Long Haul

Well, it's been a frustrating month since my last post...

Despite my PMA (positive mental attitude), my engine rattle didn't disappear. Admittedly, I only used half a tank of fuel with the cleaning additive but still rattling. I met up with Matt from the SKCC forum who's a great bloke - a mechanic who has been racing and building cars since he was 12. He's the guy who helped me setup my front suspension shortly after IVA.

Despite all this experience, neither he nor his brother (who worked for Ford as a mechanic for years) could explain what my rattle was. Using the long-pole-and-an-ear technique, he believed the noise was coming from the front of the engine and suggested the only way forward was to take the sump off and see if anything showed up.

With the design of the GBS (and most kits), taking the sump off is much simpler than a normal car as it can easily drop out underneath with only the starter motor that needs to come off. So, off came the starter motor and the sump bolts came out with no difficulty at all. Then, it all went to Hell...

The sump just wouldn't drop. I had used sealant round the edge but I cleared most of that out so that shouldn't be the problem. I spent over a week of evenings trying numerous different techniques to lever the damn thing off. Even Matt couldn't work out why it would not come off. Then, a post on the Tiger Owners forum suggested that the problem might be the windage tray. I used the tray that came with the ERA sump from Tiger but it seems it is a VERY snug fit in the sump, not something I noticed when I fitted it. Now, when trying to pull the sump down, the curved edges of the tray were digging into the side of the sump - the harder I hit it, the more it dug in!!

A cheap endoscope verified this was the problem as I could clearly see the edge of the tray dug into the sump wall. After a few more days of trying to get round this, I admitted defeat and took the last resort - I drilled a hole in the bottom of the sump and used a screwdriver to lever the tray away from the sump wall. The sump dropped off almost immediately. Jesus, what a ball-ache...!!

In the pic above, you can see the hole I had to drill and the groove above it, cut into the wall of the sump by the tray.

Now the sump is off (and I need to find someone to fill that hole now), I can't see any obvious problem; the oil pipe and windage tray are solid, there is slight play in the bottom ends but I'm guessing that is normal as all 4 cylinders are the same. I'll have to get Matt over to have a look...I don't really know what I'm looking at.

Some better news, my doors are done and they look awesome:

I just need to bend the frames a little in places to follow the curve of the body but otherwise they look great.

Hopefully back on the road soon - I've got a long holiday for most of August and then a very busy September planned for Zedster; an epic long journey, a trip to Brands Hatch, our first foreign trip and a handling day in early October.

Underneath the arches - again

Time to try refit the front wheel arches - first, some gunk on the underside of the arch as a first fix, arch positioned, tin of paint on top to weigh it down and left overnight. Annoyingly, it hasn't dried in exactly the right position but it's not miles out and, as you may have guessed by now, I'm no perfectionist.

Next stage was to fit the stronger brackets I made a few weeks ago - a bit of final tweaking, an excess of gunk and clamps:

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any more clamps, so I'll have to do one bracket per. night.

I trial fitted the upper door frame - looking pretty good:

A bit concerned how the sewing is going to go...well outside my comfort zone.

Ice Age Zero

Holy cow, it's cold and just when I wanted to spray paint, an activity that requires reasonable temperatures!

Getting bored of waiting, I bought my paints and wheelarches into the house and spray painted in my study. I didn't quite stink out the whole house but the wife had a good moan.

 I had put some pinstripe vinyl sticker on one of the arches but I then tried to spray lacquer over it and the lacquer seemed to have an effect of shrinking the pinstripe, so much so that it lifted off the surface of the arch. So I had to pull it off, which left a gluey residue behind, ruining the nice finish and forcing me to re-sand the arch which I did badly (you following this?). Despite several coats of paint, I haven't fully hidden the scratches, so on close inspection, it doesn't look great:

This is with the lacquer on, so not sure whether to put the pinstripe on again - it did look good.

 My door frames have been welded up (many thanks Bob) and look great. I've approached a couple of local companies about sewing the material over the frame; one never called back and the other sounded very dubious and obviously had no idea what a kit car is. So, I'm going to try do this myself (gawd help us) - I've ordered a cheap sewing machine which may not be up to the job but it was only £25, so not the end of the world if it doesn't work out and I have started drawing up some vague plans - we shall see.

 Despite the cold this week, I drove into work a couple of times (too icy for my motorbike and I hate trains). I imagine I got a few strange looks but it was no colder than my motorbike and quite fun in the snow:

The Old Grey Wheelarch Test

So with the arch damage repaired, time to try out the wrap...

... And let's gloss over that because it was a disaster! I thought the arch, being a small area, would be easy to do but it actually has a lot of compound curves and these are very difficult to wrap. I did a pretty decent job of the nice, flat areas but I just couldn't get the wrinkles out of the side pieces, despite liberal use of heat and repeated removal and application.

Got a flat area? Wrapping is great but any curves involved, don't bother.

So, back to basics - spray paint. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before as it's going well so far. Because of the cold weather, I've only managed the primer on the one arch (the instructions say not to spray in cold weather) but it actually looks quite good just in battleship grey:

Despite the cold weather, I've commuted in Zedster every day this week so far and that has been partly possible because even my prototype door is very good at keeping the wind (and hence cold) out:

However, what it has also shown me is that the plastic frame is just too flexible and flaps about too much. The thicker vinyl I will eventually cover it in would help but not enough, I don't think.

So, a metal frame it is - I've ordered the pieces (the company I've ordered from will cut it to the sizes I want) and Bob from the RHOCAR forum has kindly offered to weld it up for me (he did my VIN plate). At least the plastic frame is a useful template.

What's behind door number 1?

I completed the lower half of the drivers side door, with an extra hoop to give me extra elbow room:

Next step was to trial the covering with some left-over vinyl I used on the tunnel top panels:

You can see why I definitely won't be sewing this up myself with the real stuff :-)

Obviously looks pretty crud at the moment but the idea is to try it out on the car and see if it feels viable - at least it does fold:

Framed

While I wait for the P38 filler to dry, I continued with the doors.

My plan for doors is a light plastic strip frame, eventually covered with marine vinyl (the same stuff the roof is made from), with clear plastic as the 'glass'. To help with storage when off the car, the doors will have 2 un-connected, sub-frames; just the vinyl will keep them together so they can fold lengthways (if that makes any sense). So, this is the top frame:

The hinges will screw on to that edge on the right-hand side. The plastic strips are very flexible (maybe too flexible?) and light and they're connected with the Hammond© hinge arrangement:

Two metal tabs either side of the join, riveted together.

Now, I have no idea if this will work - the plastic strips I bought are more flexible than I expected and may flap about too much when on the car. This is made worse by the fact I want these doors to go all the way back to the rollbar, which is why that frame may look so long. I'm planning to put magnets on as much of the frame as possible, to help prevent 'flapping'. So far, I've spent about £50 on the bits, so if it doesn't work out, it's not a disaster. The problem is that GBS want £350+ for doors - grates on me to pay that much but my few trips in the rain have convinced me I need them. We shall see...