22 January 2021 Masked up the steering column and put some primer on it. 23 January 2021 Top coated the steering column. Cleaned up, and greased the pedal pivots, reassembled them into their brackets. Did a test fit of the servo, I needed to file out the central hole slightly to fit. Discovered the engine side spacer I made is not quite right so reworked the design but too late to start a print. Ordered some more bits; the original MX5 clutch pipe goes across the engine bay and then back so I've ordered a new shorter flexible hose, new pedal rubbers, more crushed glass for blasting, paint to touch up the chassis where I have to drill/file, gasket paper, and I've ordered a gear knob. 24 January 2021 Test fitted the pedals, brake servo, clutch master cylinder and steering column with the modified spacer. I will need to look at the spacers again as I can't depress the clutch pedal fully without it hitting the bulkhead, it's a matter of a few millimetres so if I adjust the spacer thickness then I think I can fix that. Similar problem with the brake and throttle pedals, hoping that a couple of washers will fix that. The throttle pedal could be easily bent but not the brake so if I can adjust the bracket position to fix it then that would be best. 25 February 2021 Had a call from Classic and Modern Engines, the block and crank are ready for collection. Crank only needed repolishing and the block only needed honing so all good there. Collected the engine and ordered bearings and rings which should be here tomorrow. 26 February 2021 I've been thinking about the engine build and I will need to fit the various sensors for the gauges, that will be easier with the engine on the bench, so I need to decide on the gauges I want and sensors that go with them. I picked a set of gauges from ETB, they are a classic black dial, white pointer and chrome bezel (IVA safe) (https://www.etbinstruments.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=101&product_id=185). They come with all the senders and I ordered the thread adapters from them too. I will use the Mazda fuel gauge sensor as it is integral to the pump and regulator. To make that work I've also ordered a device that will allow me to match the sender to the gauge (Gauge Wizard from www.Spiyda.com). The speedo should work with the Mazda gearbox sender, the ECU will drive the tachometer. 27 February 2021 Had a rethink on the clutch pedal and cylinder mounting, decided not to use the 3D printed spacers as they were too brittle. I also needed to solve the problem of sealing the hole through the bulkhead. The clutch master cylinder arrangement is a bit tricky. The bracket bolts to the bulkeahd and the cylinder bolts to the pedal bracket, not to the bulkhead directly. Some sort of cover is needed to seal up the hole. I made a plate out of some scrap aluminium, carefully cutting out holes to match the master cylinder. The plate will be attached to the engine side of the bulkhead with some sealant and rivets or self tapping screws. I made up some new spacers out of some off cuts of the plastic floor tiles in the garage. These will ensure the clutch pedal doesn't foul the lower bulkhead. I will add an additional support for the brake and clutch pedals attached to the chassis above the pedals. Hopefully tomorrow I can do a final fit for the pedals. I've done a trial fit of the steering column and everything seems to line up nicely. 28 February 2021 I've lost count of the number of times the pedals and master cylinders have come off the car this week, but it's the only way to get it right. The first job today was to fix the sealing plate onto the bulkhead. I applied some silicone sealant to the bulkhead, lined up the plate and secured it with a couple of self tapping screws. It sounds easy enough but in reality meant taking the pedal on and off at least 4 times! I modified the spacer behind the clutch pedal and put a bit of a taper on it so that the bracket would be tilted up slightly, which was enough to stop the pedal hitting the lower bulkhead. The brake pedal still hits the bulkhead on full depression but currently it isn't linked up to the hydraulics. I measured the pedal movement and checked against the specifications, the pedal should only need 3-4 inches of travel when it is all connected up and I've got over 6 inches so I think everything is good there. I bent the accelerator pedal slightly to rprevent it hitting the bulkhead. With that finalised, I made up a plate for the top of the clutch pedal bracket and then drilled through the frame above it so I could bolt the pedal bracket to it with a long bolt and nut. The brake pedal bracket was slightly easier as the mounting hole on the bracket lined up with the chassis and I was able to drill through the rail to it, another bolt secured that. Next it was time to finalise the steering column position. I got one of the MX5 seats and placed it in the cockpit so I could judge the position. I used a ratchet strap across the car to support the column, that let me adjust the position to what I felt would be correct. With that done I drilled out the steering column support plate, mounted it to the top rail and bolted the steering column in place. The plate needed bending slightly to get the angles correct. The last job on the column at this stage is to bend the bulkhead seal around the bulkhead which will mean taking at the steering column and clutch pedal out one more time. Once that is done, I am hoping I don't have to take it out again. I may need to fine tune the steering column once the dash position is finalised. Next up hopefully is rebuilding the engine.
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17 February 2021 Rubbed the subframe brace down and put a couple of coats of primer on it. Whilst that was drying I wiped the brake and clutch master cylinder down to get the dust and dirt off. I also gave the brake servo a wipe over. The brake master cylinder looks very clean but the clutch master cylinder needs more cleaning, I think I will give it a go with the soda blaster! I also fitted the front ARB to the chassis and bolted it to the drop links. 18 February 2021 Spoke to Classic and Modern Engines this morning and the crank was fine, it just needed a polish. The block has been cleaned and honed, not sure if they had to bore it out, but it sounds like they didn't. Once it is painted then it should be ready to collect and I can start building it up. In and out of the garage putting top coats of paint on the modified subframe brace. 20 February 2021 Removed the loose paint on the brake servo, clutch master cylinder and the clutch cylinder bracket with my media blast gun. Painted the servo and bracket with satin black paint. I bolted up the modified rear brace to the subframe. I turned to the cockpit and had a look at how the pedals mount to the bulkhead. The brake and accelerator pedal are mounted to the brake servo which was still drying, The bulkhead looks different to the original MEV design and I think the spacers should stay on the interior instead of being cut off and put on the engine side as in the original. The clutch pedal bolts to the master cylinder but needs a spacer fabricating so it can sit correctly on the bulkhead. I looked at some of the other build threads and the build manual to see what others had done. I decided I would 3D print something suitable. I took some measurements and drew up what I thought would be a suitable design and printed it out. I also had a look at how the steering column will be mounted, the bulkhead seal will need modifying and the upper part bolts on to the clutch and brake pedal assembly. 21 February 2021 The first draft of the spacer needed some minor tweaks to get the holes aligned so another print was run and then a thicker one for the engine side was tweaked and printed. As the pedals and steering column will be a bit more visible in the car than they were in the MX5 I decided it would be a good idea to paint them. I took the pedal assemblies apart so I could paint the brackets to match the chassis. The pedals only need a slight touch up in black. In between coats I trimmed the lower bulkhead panel to fit and then marked and drilled the holes for the pop rivets. I ran a bead of sealant around and riveted it in place. I did some more trial fitting for the lower steering column and I am pretty happy with how that is sitting. I will probably wait until I've got the pedals installed before I modify the bulkhead seal. The upper steering column needs painting as well but the surface rust is currently being treated. 13 January 2021 It's been very cold this week so I've not been in the garage in the evenings. Got out today and fitted the fuel/brake pipe clips. I followed Andy's blog and reused the MX5 ones, cutting off the mounting studs and drilling a hole through. Measured up the chassis and marked up the position using a maximum of 300mm spacing as advised in the IVA guide. I think the actual spacing was about 270mm. Once that was done I had a friend come over and help me to carefully turn the chassis over without damaging the floor pans that protrude from the edge of the chassis. Then we set it on top of the skate and with a bit of jiggling about dropped the bolts into place and put the nuts on the end, finger tight. According to the ANC build guide washers need to be placed between the chassis and the rear subframe. I've got 6 bolts in the front subframe but still need to drill the floor pans for the last pair of bolts which should bring it all together and then I can tighten up the bolts. 14 February 2021 I finished bolting the chassis to the subframes today. I drilled through the mounting hole at the front of the footwells (it was covered by the floor pans). Then I was able to drop the last two bolts in place and tighten each of the bolts up progressively. Before they got too tight I roughly measured where the two bolts connect to the subframe by the suspension towers. The holes here are slotted and even with all the bolts in place the was a side to side movement possible. So I made sure the subframe was evenly spaced before the final tighten. For my birthday earlier in the month I got a small media blasting kit and I wanted to try that out. It's a very simple set up, a blasting gun with a tube that you poke into the bottle of blasting media and away you go. I dug out the pedal assemblies, the exhaust manifold and the subframe mounting bolts to test on. I put on all my safety gear, eye protection, face mask and gloves and got to it. Happy to report that it worked well although the drive did get a bit sandy. The light surface rust on the pedal assemblies was no problem. The exhaust manifold took a bit more work but it did a good job of cleaning the mounting flange. The bolts came up like new in a couple of seconds. Back to the build I put the coil/damper units in place so the car could once again support itself. This took a bit of trial and error to get the top struts to line up with the bolt holes. Once they were in place I put the top mounting nuts in place. The next job was to fit the rear subframe brace. It needs to be shortened to fit the new chassis and mounting holes drilled. I offered it up to the subframe and secured it loosely with bolts so I could mark the correct length. I cut the end off and flattened the ends in my vice. I trial fitted it again and marked the position of the holes in the flattened ends. Once they were drilled out I refitted the brace and marked where the holes in the chassis tabs needed to be. I drilled them out with a 10mm drill to match the holes in the brace. I did a final test fit with the rear body mount struts that are part of the kit. The brace will be painted before it is finally fitted. I had a go test fitting the alloy bulkhead panels, they all seemed to fit in place nicely. A tidy up was the last task before finishing for the day. 6 February 2021 Not much time in the garage today but enough time to get the wheels on the skate and get it back on it's wheels. I spent some time fiddling around with the air driven pop riveter I got for my birthday. I had to set it up and filled with hydraulic fluid. Then I tested with some spare pop rivets so I was familiar with it before I used it for real. 7 February 2021 Had another tidy up and moved stuff around, so I could move the chassis on to the lift and fit the floor pans. Frances gave me a hand flipping the chassis over and moving it on to the lift. With that done I could wheel the skate back in the garage where the chassis had been, and close the door on the cold weather. First task was to mark up where to drill the pop rivet holes on the alloy floor pans. They come ready cut to size and the position of the chassis rails is marked on the top. I drew lines within the chassis rail markings, then marked off using the 100mm spacing recommended by Andy, with some adjustments. I drilled the alloy panels with a 3mm drill into a piece of wood. I flipped the panel over and positioned it carefully on the chassis. I clamped it in place and then drilled through the pilot holes and into the chassis with a 5mm drill. I lubricated the drill with a blast of WD40. I popped a rivet in each hole as I drilled it to make sure all the holes lined up. There were 60 holes in each floor pan so that is a total of 240 holes drilled! I gave everything a wipe over with a cloth and some brake cleaner and pulled off the protective film from the alloy panel. I ran a bead of grey Tiger Seal along the chassis rails, it was cold in the garage so I had to sit the tube in front of my warm air blower for a few minutes to get it to flow! I positioned the panel on the chassis, carefully lining the holes up with pop rivets in each corner. Once the floor was aligned I used my air driven pop riveter to fix it in place. It made the job very simple and quick. I think it would have taken me 3 times as long with a manual pop rivet gun and no doubt my forearms would have been aching afterwards! |
AuthorThis is my first kit car although I've messed about with cars all my life. Archives
November 2023
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