New GBS model

Just finished the latest GBS kit car,  the GBS mOne (minus one,  geddit? ) :

                      

Not sure if it will get through IVA with those edges :-)

OK,  it's a dolly for the engine which should be being delivered tomorrow. Nicked the idea off Richard L and seems a great idea.

Very little else done - trimmed the accelerator pedal to fit in the pedal box and fitted the number plate light:

After  tomorrow,  I will have a load of work to do - engine,  sump,  alternator and several other bits arriving in one go.

Bit annoyed about the gearbox - a few months ago,  I'm sure I saw it for sale for about £500. Contacted the same company and it's now £800,  the same as GBS. I was hoping to save some money there - darn. So that's on order but might take up to 3 weeks.

In my previous post,  I had forgotten to include the windscreen and wet weather gear in my spreadsheet,  so that's added a £1k to my forecasted cost - doh!

Power up

As it's such a big decision,  I'm devoting a post to engine choice (lucky you,  hey?).

Not which engine but where to get it from. You can buy any number of knackered old Zetec's with 100k+ miles on them for £150 or so. But my engineering skills are not up to engine stripping to make sure bores are smooth and big ends aren't on the way out,  so a 'new' Zetec is what I want.

I say 'new' but it's actually about 10 years old - Ford built too many and they have a warehouse of them sitting there,  to which several companies have access. So they're not exactly new but they haven't been used,  so it's close enough.

I've spent ages searching for someone selling these a bit cheaper than GBS but it's like a cartel - they all seem to have agreed the same price. GBS are currently offering free delivery on their engine,  so I will have to just pay the money and move on. There is a seller on eBay at the moment offering a new one that he bought but never got round to using. It's on for £100 less than GBS but the guy inconsiderately lives in deepest Cornwall - it will cost me £100 in petrol to go get it. Maybe a sneaky low offer might work?

There are several other major bits needed for the engine - I'm hoping GBS will deliver them for free with the engine...

The gearbox is another major item - I think I'll be getting that from a company called FirstMotion,  as they were recommended by another builder and I recall their MT75 being  good deal cheaper than GBS. I'll call them on Monday.

Finally today is the raised sump. GBS only offer the Raceline sump at £500 or so. There are a couple of other companies who do them a bit less than that but best of all is Tiger racing. They offer a sump for £275 which is a tasty saving. They do advise that it is not recommended for regular track use but that's fine for me - I hope to do the odd track day but that's all.  So I've ordered that today...

Once I buy the engine,  I'll have broken the £10k barrier on my build so far. My spreadsheet is currently forecasting a £14k total spend but there are still a few bits not on there yet - hopefully no more than £15k by the time I'm done.

Shrouded in mystery

Time to gunk the tadpole trim onto the rear shroud. It's called this because in profile,  it has a round head and long tail,  like a tadpole. It occurred to me it could have an alternative name but I'll leave that to your imagination...

This was a horribly difficult and messy job and I'm afraid I haven't done a great job of it - gunk overspill and I've not made a good job of the corners. Hopefully,  I can improve it once it's riveted on - this is it clamped and drying:

I can't fit it until the small trim for the other edge arrives and I put that on - hope that's easier to do.

I also drilled the holes for the interior side panels:

You may notice that I'm not doing much and the fact is that I've got to the point where I need Milestone no. 2 -  the engine!

I tried to trial-fit a side panel but I can't because the trestles holding the chassis up are in the way. So I need to go down to axle stands or wheels,  which means I might as well do the engine.  I say,  'do the engine' like it's a 1 hour job - I haven't even bought it yet! Or the gearbox.

So,  the shopping starts here....

Milestone no. 1

It occurred to me that there was no reason not to rivet the rear panel on - the shroud can be done afterwards,  as can the fuel filler cap. All the wiring around the diff is now done... so crack on,  a little devil on my shoulder said.

Did a few trial runs because it's a bit fiddly to get the wires for the fog and reversing lights through the panel while trying to balance it on a raised knee at the same time (I tried to get my son involved but no joy). Lucky I did as the hole wasn't quite big enough to get the spade terminals through - I widened them with a larger drill bit.

Next was the gunk -  amazingly,  the tube I last used for the tunnel panels was still flowing.  From experience,  it's very difficult to put gunk on the bottom edge of chassis rails so I decided to put it on the inside of the panel - almost arty:

Then on the other rails and off I went. Lots of swearing as I tried to balance the panel and get the wiring through the holes,  without smearing off too much of the gunk. But eventually,  it was done and then just lots of riveting... I do like rivets - the panel feels so solid and a line of rivets looks great,  I think. 

A major milestone (and frees up loads of space in my garage) and a great feeling of achievement. 

82

82 - not the new meaning of Life but the number of holes I've drilled in the rear panel and shroud:

I managed to bend the rollbar supports up so that they don't need the wooden battens to hold them in place. In the picture above, I fitted the panel and shroud and then spent an age trying to get everything lined up and held in place with clamps. 

Now,  I'm not a perfectionist so if you are,  skip this paragraph. The nearside bend is not perfect at the top - there's about a 5mm overhang. I'll try improve it when I next take the panel off. 

With everything clamped I drilled the holes into the chassis underneath the panel,  using the holes I'd drilled before. While held in places with clecos,  I started marking the shroud for drilling. These are going to be on show so they need to be neat. Started with one hole in the middle and then another every 10cm along the back edge. One hole in the corner and then every 10cm up each side and all down the shroud arms. Finally,  more holes into various chassis rails - 82 in total! 

Next step is to stick the tadpole trim to the shroud... 

I also fitted the fuel sensor:

... and made up a connector for the fuel pump:

As you can see,  I've gone a little overboard with insulation tape over the plugs but I've had experience of plug corrosion on motorbikes - prevention is much better than cure. 

Cable tie Meccano

Before I can finally fit the rear panel,  I have to finalise all the various rear pipes and wires and get them fixed in their final positions.

To do this,  the standard method is a cable tie through a piece of fuel pipe. It actually makes a great support; a bit of flex but very sturdy. The area round my diff looks like some crazy cable tie construction site:

I'll actually need to check with GBS that these are all acceptable for IVA.

This is my earth connection,  before and after a dollop of hammerite:

                          

I'm just waiting for a crimping tool so I can prepare a connector for the LP fuel pump,  connect and fit the fuel sender and then the rear panel is ready to go on permanently,  I think.

For that rear panel,  I needed to raise the panel somehow. Reading other blogs,  most people seem to have had to re-adjust the rollbar supports by pulling them out. On Richards blog (him again!),  he used some wood pieces to push them out,  so I did the same:

This worked brilliantly -  as soon as I did it,  the panel almost popped into place. The advantage of this is that the panel is levelled from the supports and,  by extension,  that top rear chassis bar,  which is exactly what you'd want the rear panel to match up to. 

With the panel pretty solid,  I marked on the inside of the panel where the chassis bars sit,  took the panel off and drilled holes ready for rivets. I'll put the panel back on and then drill the holes in the chassis itself,  using the holes in the panel as a guide. This way,  I can be sure I'm drilling into the chassis and not the fuel tank. 

Rear of the Year

After spending an hour or so reading about the rear panel on Richard L's excellent blog,  I decided to have a go.

Using just mole grips,  I found bending the tabs really simple. The jaws of the mole grips decide the line of the bend so it's just a matter of lining it up right:

Pretty good result,  if I say so myself.

Next was the crucial bending bit which I was very worried about but unless I've done something weirdly wrong,  it was quite easy. 

Firstly,  I just laid the panel on the floor,  put one hand and my weight near where the bend needs to be and pushed the panel up towards vertical. This got the panel to about a 45 degree angle. Then,  I bent the lower section out of the way and used my wet wipe dispenser (same radius as the bend needs to be) to bend the panel up past vertical so that when released,  it was roughly vertical. 

I then put a cleco in the last tab and the side piece to get the rough shape:

The bend still wasn't really tight enough as there was quite a big gap between the side and the first few tabs. I used my workmate and held the whole structure on its end,  vertically (if that makes sense). I then pushed down on the top to get the panel to push up against the tabs.  While held like this (hard work),  I drilled through the tabs and the sides.  Repeated for the other end. 

I put clecos in initially but then decided there was no reason not to rivet it as there was no adjustment possible now unless I wanted to drill more holes in the side panel:

                         

Finally for now,  put on the car:

(actually this pic is before I riveted but it looks the same).

Having said there was no adjustment possible,  the panel is a tight fit between the chassis rail under the fuel tank and the top where the crescents start. I may need to bend that panel under the car or maybe pull the roll bar supports up more.

However,  feels great to have done such a major step as this panel which I wasn't looking forward to and thought would take me days,  not 2 hours.