8 June 2021 New crank oil seal arrived today so got on with fitting that, I 3D printed a oil seal press tool that uses the crank bolt to correctly position the seal. It worked a treat. I got the engine back together again and running I nervously started it up, and no oil leak. I ran it up to temperature and revved it a bit and no massive leaks. After I had let it cool down I did find a couple of small leaks, a water leak from the gauge temperature sender which was resolved by tightening up, and an oil leak by the oil pressure sender which improved with being tightened but I think there is a small leak from somewhere else I will have to trace. 9 June 2021 Bored with chasing oil leaks from the engine I decided to start fitting the headlights to the body shell today. I lowered it down from the roof and onto saw horses with a couple of planks of wood to support it. I tried several slightly different positions for the headlights using the rubber gasket as a template. In the end I decided to position them slightly below the middle of the aperture, this would ensure I had room to adjust the headlight aim and give me a bit more space for fixing in the perspex covers. I marked it with a felt tip and cut out with my largest hole saw. That left an inch or so still to remove that I did with a flappy wheel sander in my drill. With much trial fitting of the bowl I eventually go a fit I was happy with. Then I drilled out the two holes to accommodate the adjusters so I could finally position the bowl, this showed up a couple of points that were still tight so a bit more sanding was needed. I used the bowl to mark the position of the 4 mounting holes and then did a pilot hole and rechecked. The bottom holes were too close to the body to get my drill in so I used a dremel to do a pilot hole and then drilled through from the back. I fixed the bowls in place with M5 nuts and bolts with a large washer at the back. I did think about using rivnuts but the fibre glass is quite thick so woul need extra long ones and there's no margin for error. With a nut and bolt you have a bit of leeway if you holes don't quite line up. I had to elongate some of my holes to get them to line up. 10 June 2021 Started work on the front bulkhead. I started with the passenger side which needed a bit of trimmin until I was happy with the fit. Then I trial fitted the central bulkhead panel, I had to withdraw all my wiring in to the engine bay for this. Once I was happy with the position and fit I cut a large hole in the middle to fit the donor bulkhead grommet. I had previously cut a slit in this to remove it from the old loom and this would allow me to fit it over the new loom. Then I carefully threaded the loom back through the hole and slipped the grommet over, once the loom is finalised I will seal it to the bulkhead. I tested how the gearbox cover was going to join the front bulkhead and while I was there marked up where the hole for the gear lever needs to be centred. I drilled all the holes for the pop rivets and then removed the protective plastic, applied some sealant to the chassis and pop riveted the centre bulkhead panel in place. The passenger bulkhead overlaps the centre panel so I decided to cut the panel to allow that part to be stepped over the centre panel so it would lay flat. Next I marked the hole positions and pilot drilled them. I removed all the protective film ready to position it and drill the holes for the pop rivets. 11 June 2021 Fitted the passenger front bulkhead with pop rivets and then started on the front transmission tunnel. I have already decided on the gear lever gaiter I want to use which is a circular Cobra style one. Unfortunately the size of it meant I could not get the rear of the gearbox tunnel to sit where it ineeded to and at the same time have my gearlever. The hole in the transmission tunnel has to be quite large to clear the turret and with that cut my gaiter and trim wouldn't fit. After much trimming and fitting I decided I would have to come up with something a bit different. To use my chosen gaiter and ring it would need to be set higher up and preferably level so it could clear the bolts on the turret. I had thoughts about a panel somehow bent and formed to create a platform that would sit on the top of the transmission but no real idea about how to make it. I retired for a beer and some thinking. 12 June 2021 After an overnight think and a walk with the dog this morning I had come up with a plan. Instead of trying to make a small platform to sit on top of the transmission tunnel and all the accompanying problems of trying to make it look neat and tidy; I would make a new rear section of the transmission tunnel that fitted how I wanted. I could cut off the supplied one and rivet the new one to it. With that plan in mind I started with some CAD work (Cardboard Aided Design). After lots of trimming and masking tape I had a cardboard pattern which fitted The great thing about using cardboard is that the thing I made could then be used as a pattern to cut and bend the aluminium sheet, I used my jigsaw to cut the shape out and then make where the bends needed to be again using the cardboard template. I used some scraps of metal bent to match the 3 angles on the template I would need. I used some pieces of angle iron, my workmate and lots of clamps to bend the sheet. I slipped the relevant pre-bent angle into the clamp and measured my bend against it. It went surprisingly well considering I've never really done anything like this before. The only mistake I made was trying to bend the section where the gear lever hole was rather than clamping it and bending the other side. The cut out made that part a bit weaker and it didn't bend as neatly but by reversing it and gently clamping it flat again I was able to get it back in shape. I've seen an online video about how to make a homemade brake which looks quite simple and would mean sharper bends, I think I might have a go at that, I have most of the bits needed already.
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24 May 2021 Did some more terminating of wires, I'm still waiting for the relay and ring terminals to arrive so it's holding me up with really getting on with the wiring. 25 May 2021 I was able to close the loop on the cooling system thanks to one of the water pipes off my spare engine. Carried on with terminating wires in the fusebox and also wrapping the wires I've run to the engine. Just waiting for a couple of ring terminals and the earth bars to arrive and I will be ready to get the engine running. I will be adding coolant because I want to be able to start my engine and let it run for a bit before turning it off to give the new rings a chance to bed in. Before I get to starting the engine I will need to double check my wiring. 26 May 2021 Had to do a bit of work on the TVR sorting out an earth problem, but had a go at tightening up the crank pulley, but could not lock the engine up using the wheels on the ground so I will need to sort out the handbrake first. Also managed to pick up a set of MX5 seats with headrests for £50 which I was pleased with, the Euphonic ones are tombstones and don't fit with the style of the car, also one of them is badly torn so I might practice myupholstery skills on that one and hopefully be able to sell it. 27 May 2021 I got the handbrake cables fitted, I needed to enlarge the holes in the brackets so they sat squarely and so I could get the retaining clios in place. I attached them to the brake calipers and then the compensator to the handbrake. I bolted the handbrake to the tunnel without too much drama apart from drilling one of the mounting holes in the wrong place but got that resolved. I used riv-nuts again for the bolts again. Initially when I tried to adjust the handbrake I couldn't get the brakes to work properley, then I remembered I had not done the manual adjustment on the calipers, once that was done the handbrake worked great. I was able to finally tighten up the pulley bolt correctly. Still waiting for the ring terminals I need for the final connections in the fusebox and they are now 2 daya overdue. Delivery seems to be getting more unreliable from ebay sellers in general. Ordered some others from Amazon which should be here tomorrow. 29 May 2021 The replacement ring terminals arrived today! I tightened up the power steering pipes and filled the reservoir with fluid. Checked over the cooling hoses and started to fill the system with coolant. Had to stop when fluid started pouring off the clutch arm, at first I thought I had missed a hose but when I checked there was no fluid running down the engine it was coming directly out of the clutch arm hole in the gearbox. Given the amount of fluid coming out the problem was at the back of the engine and it had to be a problem with the core plug at the back of the engine. The only way to find out was to pull the engine again, so after disconnecting the minimum, the engine came out and the core plug at the back of the engine was missing! There was a fair bit of choice language in the garage at that point. I have no idea how I missed putting that core plug in, even when I refitted the flywheel I didn't notice a bloody great hole in the block! I left the garage at that point, there's fluid all over the floor and tools everywhere I'll deal with that tomorrow! Time for a glass of wine. 30 May 2021 Tidied up the mess on the floor and pulled the clutch and flywheel off so I could get to the core plug. Fixed the core plug in place and then refitted the flywheel and clutch after cleaning them all up to make sure there was no coolant left on them. Refitted the engine to the chassis and got most of the bellhousing bolts loosely in place as well as the engine mount nuts and bolts. I loosely rettached the power steering pump to the engine and refixed the fuel rail and injectors. 1 June 2021 Only a couple of hours in the garage today. Tightened up all the bellhousing bolts and engine mounts. Refitted the starter motor, and reattached the wiring loom to the engine and got the plenum top back in place. 2 June 2021 Got all the electrical connections back in place and also terminated the two last connections. Bolted the exhaust system and clutch slave cylinder back on. Refitted the radiator and refilled the cooling system, no leaks this time! Ran some basic continuity checks on my wiring to make sure the ignition switch was wired up correctly to the starter motor, and fuse box, once I put the fuses in it all seemed to work as expected. Tomorrow I think will be time to connect up the ECU and try getting the engine running. 3 June 2021 Hooked up the earths for the fuel pump and the cooling fan. Temporarily wired in the oil pressure gauge and light so I could check it when it ran. Couldn't find my ECU lead so had to make an emergency trip and borrow John's. Back home I hooked it up and pwered up the ECU, everything looked normal, inputs seemed good. Hooked up the fuel filler and poured a couple of litres of fuel in the tank. Turned the starter, the engine turned over nicely but wouldn't start. I could hear the pump running so that seemed good but disconnecting one of the fuel pipes revealed no fuel. Back to the pump and I disconnected both hoses and ran some temporary hose into a fuel can, turned on the ignition again, no fuel coming out of the pipes. I whipped the fuel pump unit off and saw that the fuel was sat at the back of the tank and not down in the well where the pickup was! Unbolted the tank and tilted it slightly to let the fuel drain down. Put everthing back together and turned the key again... the engine started after a bit of cranking! It settled into a nice idle, no nasty knocking and healthy oil pressure on the gauge (and oil light out). I let the engine warm up and waited until the fans came on. So pleased that all the work on the engine seems to have been worth it. 4 June 2021 Not so happy today, seems there is an oil leak from the front of the engine. Can't see anything leaking from the cam cover or sump so possibly the front crank seal. So I've stripped down the front of the engine and there is definitely oil around the lower oil seal area. Need to strip out the timing belt and remove the crank timing cog to get a proper look. I've ordered a spare oil seal anyway. 5 June 2021 Stripped off the timing belt and crankshaft sprocket and the oil seal was not sitting correctly on crankshaft, the inner lip was twisted out a bit, I've pulled it out and cleaned up the oil, I will fit the new one when it arrives this week |
AuthorThis is my first kit car although I've messed about with cars all my life. Archives
November 2023
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