the David

[Hemsley]

Thanks chaps, I'll let you see how I get on.

[Hemsley]

Over the last couple of weekends I've made a lot more yellow dust.

 

Taking on the advice I marked up the spats with a pencil, easier to see with some masking tape, and with some gentle sanding I slowly adjusted the spats to a close fit. As suggested in the build manual I will attach them using hidden fat-head fasteners, and intend to try the same for the cycle wings. I drilled the cycle wing brackets ready to tack the fat-head fasteners into place with a dab of no-nails on top of them.

 

 

I found that the off-side bracket rear hole needed a washer between it and the hub, as otherwise the wing would be offset over the tyre… of course this might all change by the time I’ve actually fixed it in place. I then used the same technique to tack the fasteners into place on the spats (easier to drill holes now and know that they are in the right place, than trying to work it out later).

 

To help the fibreglass key I sanded back the inside of the wing. In the build manual it shows wide strips of fibreglass mat, which I hope will be strong enough. I imagine the whole cycle wing takes a beating on a rough road, so this needs to be strong yet retain some flexibility.

 

 

 

Taking care of the kitchen scales with a bit of cling film I mixed up the resin and aimed for 3% catalyst. It’s a very long while since I last fixed holes and cracks in boats, but the aroma of fresh resin brings the memories back. I did my best to wipe down the thread on the bolts, but I suspect I will need to run the die over them to clean them up anyway.

 

 

 

 

After a cup of tea and much checking and then checking again it was time to cut the hole in the side panel for the exhaust. I started out by making it about 5mm too small, just in case I made a mistake.

 

 

 

 

In the end it all worked out ok. I chain drilled the hole first, and then checked by trying to fit the manifold a couple of times as I increased the size. I found that my jigsaw with a very fine metal cutting blade worked best, and resulted in much less yellow dust.

 

 

 

 

 

After tidying up I started to consider the next tasks. There is a still a definite smell of petrol in the garage despite checking that all the hoses are tight. I think it’s coming from the front of the car. No idea why this could be case as the hoses are all brand new. If I need to replace them already I would rather get it done now, before I finally fit the scuttle and make things even more permanent.

 

[garytipping]

Great progress Martin. Thanks for the update.

 

Gary

[Hemsley]

On my to-do list is making a heat shield / reflector to reflect the worst of the heat away from the starter motor. This might not be necessary, but there have been enough posts on the forum to convince me that a basic reflector would be worthwhile.

 

There have been a few posts on the subject of which materials might be worth buying, however I can't find a photos of one, or a template for a Zetec. So has anyone has designed and fitted a reflector?  I have some sort of electronic thermometer in my tool box, and some heatsink compound, so this will probably approach the level of a basic (secondary) school science project.

 

If you have an example or story to share please let me know... or sit back and wait for a giggle at my attempts!

[Captain Colonial]

Looks like someone wants their dinner in the last photo!

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

Put masking tape on the threads, then pull it off when the fibre-glass has fully cured.

I worked with fibre-glass for 10 years, and always measured twice and cut once, well still do, and cut out rough and filled to the lines, and keep checking.

[Hemsley]

I really should have thought about the masking tape on the threads, that would be have been sensible.

 

Progress has been good over the last few weeks, so much so I will break this into to posts.

 

Moving on from fitting the exhaust I tackled the front headlamps and indicators. The only slightly surprising part of doing this was was finding that the metal headlamp brackets were a poor fit against the GRP of the bonnet. It occurred to me later that it might have been sensible to put some mastic between the bracket and GRP, so that it has less chance of slipping later.

 

 

Next major undertaking was wiring up dashboard, task that I found to be much easier without the scuttle in place. Before starting however I positioned the scuttle and dashboard, and then drilled the fixings, including fitting rivnuts in the scuttle. I used a dremel to cut back the scuttle where it would foul on the speedometer and other components at the top of the contour dash.

 

 

Most of the wires were labeled up ok, although I am unsure about the fog-switch wiring. At the moment the wire that drives the fog-switch illumination is driven by the fog light, i.e. only on when the fog light is on. Is this correct? All the other switches on the dash illuminate when I turn the main lights on, and aside from looking a bit odd I want to check this is correct before the IVA. When I had most of the wires connected I started to test the circuits one by one. I'm paranoid about short circuits so I took care to check the resistance across the main battery leads every time, before hooking it up. So far no mistakes found... which worries me because I can't imagine getting this right first time.

 

 

 

 

I also had to adjust slightly the ECU and fuses on the drop down panel.

 

 

 

Like most people I found that the wiper motor was turning the wrong way. It's a greasy job and easier with a pair of circlip pliers.

 

 

With the scuttle back in place I wanted to fix the height of the header tank correctly. I taped the bracket and tank into roughly the right place, and then closed the bonnet. I slid my phone down gap between scuttle and bonnet and took photo's to see how close the tank was to the bonnet. I had to put some masking tape on the inside to get some sense of the gap against the black of the bonnet.

 

 

More updates later on fitting the windscreen.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

It does look odd, but it's an IVA requirement that there should be a tell tale light for the fog lamp THAT ONLY ILLUMINATES WHEN THE FOG IS TURNED ON.

As the buttons back light is used for the tell tale, it's now wired "correctly" from the factory.

I've never liked it, so put it back to illuminating with all the other switches and fitted a fog lamp warning light with the other warning lights; it through the tester briefly, who was used to Westfields and those rocker switches - he was just about to tell me of the rule when I stopped home and pointed out the tell tale lamp!

[Hemsley]

Thanks Dave, I'm reassured to hear the Fog wiring is correct, as I had my fingers crossed the last time that I screwed the dashboard down!

 

I've added a separate fog warning light to my wish list.

[Thrustyjust]

This is shaping up to be a lovely looking car. I hope I can get somewhere close to this for my build, I would be a happy man. David would be proud !

[Hemsley]

Thanks for the kind comments Thrustyjust, I believe my Dad would indeed be proud - whenever we managed to finish a tricky task successfully he'd usually quip "a blind man would be pleased to see it"!

 

Perishing posts - windscreen wiper posts. On a scale of 1 to 10 for sound engineering design, where 10 is the best, and 1 is the pits. The wiper posts and the F$%^&&%$ Fillet that covers the ugly... ok rant over. For the avoidance of doubt I really don't like the wiper system at all. A better design is on my wish list. The picture below is not how to do this, and I'm not sure I've improved on this much at all.

 

 

On the plus side the Windscreen fitting was relatively easy. I always get nervous drilling holes in the GRP, but another milestone and I'm surprised how much more complete the car feels with this in place.

 

 

 

Clearly I relaxed too much, because when drilling the boot box fixings I made an error, and the holes were too close to the edge of the tub boot lip. I had to re-drill 3 of the 4 holes. Fortunately nobody will ever see these.

 

 

The boot lid fits in easily enough, then simply work out where to place the locks. I made up a cardboard template to help me get this right.

 

 

Do you think I assumed that if I flip the cardboard template over, it will fit neatly in place on the left-hand side of the boot? Noooo, it's not going to be symmetrical is it! I didn't think it would be, so I got the scissors out again and trimmed the template a bit more to check that the left-hand side was also going to fit perfectly, and not miss.

 

 

Used a stepped cone drill to bore the holes for the locks. I think it was 18mm or 22mm.

 

 

The finished boot. The locks are the only chrome fittings on the car, so I will either try to source a pair of black locks, or I will work out how to paint these up. I want to get some thin black fibre or rubber washers to fit under them. I only had some O-rings to hand and they seem to be sliding out of place.

 

 

I've actually tackled lots of other small tasks which are not yet captured by the camera. I ran and tied in the wire for the Lambda sensor, wired in the heated windscreen, tidied up various other wires in the rear tub and front lights, and added slit convoluted tube. Finally worked out how to bend and adjust the dipstick so it is secure. Started on the debris guard (offside) at the front of the rear wheel arch.

 

The big news however - IVA APPLICATION SUBMITTED TONIGHT!  Another big thanks to Dave for sharing some tips on completing the forms.

 

- Keith, I really must return your Engine hoist soon... 

 

While there is plenty left to be done, I don't have so long to get it finished. I'm taking Amanda to northern Spain for long weekend break soon, and I want to spend a few hours on the vegetable patch.

[Sand Dancer]

Looking good!!

Enjoy your break

[MarkFRST]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EMBOSSED-HEAT-SHIELD-400-x-300mm-NIMBUS-BARRIER-G2-GII-DOUBLE-MATERIAL-ALLUMINUM-/311569791013?

 

I bought a sheet on this and cut to size, this is the double layer stuff, you can also buy single layer(not as good). It is easy to form by hand and cut with hacksaw/snips. I secured it on the bottom chassis rails under exhaust(while manifold not in place) then stainless steel cable tie to the manifold to stop it flapping. I got the idea from a build blog from this site(Orange FW build) - Will try and post a pic later of my effort.

 

 

 

 

On my to-do list is making a heat shield / reflector to reflect the worst of the heat away from the starter motor. This might not be necessary, but there have been enough posts on the forum to convince me that a basic reflector would be worthwhile.

 

There have been a few posts on the subject of which materials might be worth buying, however I can't find a photos of one, or a template for a Zetec. So has anyone has designed and fitted a reflector?  I have some sort of electronic thermometer in my tool box, and some heatsink compound, so this will probably approach the level of a basic (secondary) school science project.

 

If you have an example or story to share please let me know... or sit back and wait for a giggle at my attempts!

[Keith the Teeth]

Looking to be making excellent progress.

I am in no rush for the return of the hoist.  The garage is quite roomy without it!

Keith

[Hemsley]

Asking the collective a quick question for my IVA form. What is the FW GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT? Is this 900kg...