BUILD ~ FEBRUARY 2004

01/02/2004

Started the day by chopping up a 50foot tree that the high winds brought down.  Although this will keep the stove in logs for months, it certainly made me wish that I had had a chain saw for Christmas.  Once the drive was full of wood, I returned to the Dax and did what is hopefully the final bit of wiring.  This was to wire in the bonnet switch for the alarm and make a bracket to fit it.  This is done, but not fitted yet.

We then fitted the scuttle for what will hopefully be the final time.  To make the wing piping fit round the rear edge of the scuttle it was necessary to cut a series of zig zags at the point of the curve.  I also put the scuttle down of a bead of silicone sealant to try and keep the cockpit waterproof.

With the scuttle on, I moved onto the hydraulics.  Fitting the reservoir and the pipes to each of the three master cylinders.  A fiddly job but I am please with the neat runs achieved.

The last thing to do was a first couple of attempts at bleeding the system.  This has proved quite troublesome, with a whole host of small leaks which always seem to be in awkward places.  Such as the front offside brake pipe where it goes through the side panel, to tighten this you have to get the spanner in past the steering column and the EWP bracket.  Other leaks included the banjo's at the master cylinders, trouble is I can't get these any tighter and I think they are still leaking.  When bleeding the clutch slave cylinder it is necessary to remove it from the bell housing and hold it so the bleed nipple is uppermost, only then will you get even close to enough pressure to operate the clutch.  Anyway, will have to see if I can plug a few leaks and get rid of the remaining air during this next week. 

02 to 06/02/2004

Monday: More bleeding tonight, the good news is the leaks appear to have been cured.  At least no evidence at the moment and Dad dried the area really well earlier today.  So with the brakes on we managed to tighten the rear hub nuts up some more.  The next thing was to test the clutch operation, this has been a concern for a while, due to being a worse case scenario of if it did not operate correctly it could end up being a full engine out job.  Anyway, stage one, depress clutch and try gear lever, for the first time ever I could easily engage ever gear in the box, feels good - nice and direct, short throw and the gear lever just falls perfectly to hand.  Stage two, start the engine engage first gear, with clutch depressed no creep, another success means the clutch is fully disengaging drive.  Stage three, gently feed in clutch until wheels are rotating.  Bingo!  10mph appears on the speedo (1500rpm).  Well happy.

Next I applied more Wurth to the underside of the front wing stays.  Hopefully by the time this is set nothing will shift them.  So retired for a whiskey and to start filling in the SVA form.

Tuesday: Spent an hour working on the bonnet tonight, deciding best positioning and where exactly to fit the bonnet latches.  Although we never got as far as drilling holes, the lower holes are marked ready for tomorrow.  After that (and yesterday's milestone) I wrote out the SVA application form, having clarified design weights etc. with Peter Walker earlier today.  In case it is of help my form is included in the two graphics (copy at your own risk - n.b. your chassis number will be different! and design weights vary between engines etc.).

Wednesday: Marked positions for the lower halves of the bonnet catches tonight and Graham returned my engine hoist ready for lift down at the weekend.

Thursday: Drilled and fitted the lower halves of bonnet catches tonight.  The aft clips were a little difficult due to my additional ali side panels.  However, with the use of longer (M4 20mm) bolts I simply drilled right through and made sure I did not tighten up too much in case it deformed the side panel.  The clip still feels suitably firm.  The alarm certificate also arrived today, so I can arrange road going insurance as soon as I am ready for MOT/SVA.

Friday: This evening we continued with the bonnet catches fitting the upper sections, three of the four went on good and straight.  For the one that is slightly twisted I will have to oval one of the holes slightly to correct it, but at least for now the bonnet is fitted.  With the air filter fitted it just touches the top of the bonnet, which means I will need to open out the hole to be larger than the filter.  Shame really but otherwise the torque will mean it keeps hitting the bonnet.  Some peoples filters seem lower, it must be something to do with the inlet manifold or carb?

07 & 08/02/2004

Saturday: First job was to continue gluing wing piping onto the front offside wing.  In between gluing and clamping sessions I set about tidying the garage, all the tools and boxes that have been stored under the car for most of the past year or so.  I also made a wooden plinth that locates in the cross tubes at the front/underside of the chassis.  This gives the the trolley jack somewhere to positively locate and protects the powder coating on the chassis.

After lunch I put the final wheel back on and rigged the car for lift down.  With the engine hoist at back tied to the outer ends of the de dion tube and the trolley jack at the front, Dad was called to give assistance.  With the strain taken, the axle stands were removed and she was gently lowered to the ground.  The following photos show the before and after lift down, as well as its first foray onto the drive (pushed out), which promptly called in a rain shower.  Whilst out on the drive we continued to give the garage a really good spring clean.  The old carpets that I had been building on were all bundled up ready for the tip, the whole garage swept and the hoist disassembled for storage.  We can even get one of the other cars in now.

The thing that strikes you the most is the height.  For the past 17months the roll bar has been about my eye height, suddenly it is now at the height of my belt!  Also with it out in the daylight the colour looks so much better.  When the garage was clean and dust settled it was time to put the beast away.  She started first time and proved easy to manoeuvre, huge torque means no need for throttle and the steering whilst heavy (all my 'normal' cars have had power steering) it is manageable.  We were interested to see how much engine torque twist there is, so with handbrake on full, foot brake on hard, and clutch biting, we gave it a blip of throttle and she squirmed forward, but hardly any engine twist.  This is a good thing as it may mean I don't have to cut a oversize hole in the bonnet for the air filter.

The only real build progress today was cutting and gluing the laminated bottom edge for the dashboard.  Later this will be rounded off to a suitable radii for SVA and covered with foam and vinyl.  However, a very momentous day.

Sunday: Last weekend I made some alternative indicator/wiper stalks, now it was time to have the courage to cut off the Ford stalks and try to fit mine.  As I am not using the lights stalk I had a go at drilling and taping that one first, it did not go to well, but I learnt a little so decided to go for it.  The holes were drilled out steadily (3mm, 5mm then 6.5mm) to a depth of about 8mm.  A M8 tap was then carefully run in, I had to be very careful as if I go to deep the tap gets to the end of the drilled hole and any further rotation simply strips the threads I have just achieved.  With the holes there I screwed in the shiny stalks, from the drivers seat they appear level and they can be reached whilst keeping hands on the wheel.  A definite improvement.

Then it was onto Mk II dashboard, we placed this in the car and decided final positions.  Then the rest of the day was spent drilling and cutting holes for all the instruments, switches and warning lights.  Although there is still plenty to do during the coming week.

09 to 13/02/2004

Monday: Spent half an hour filing out some of the initial holes in the dashboard, the switches, warning lights, key and start button are now to the correct size.  I also received a letter from VOSA today, requesting answers to two additional questions to support the SVA application.  Basically confirming that I built it and that it will be registered in my name.

Tuesday: More work on the dashboard, all instrument holes are now cut and sanded to what is hopefully the correct size even when the vinyl covering is in place.

Friday: Miscellaneous tidying really, may have finally sorted out donor cars paperwork thanks to KevP will no for sure later in the weekend.

14 & 15/02/2004

Saturday: First up, was setting the rear ride height.  To accomplish this first put sheets of ply under the wheels to achieve a level footing.  Then after checking with my 160mm measuring stick, jacked car up, adjusted gaz units, lowered, bounced, re-measured and kept repeating until achieved.  This is without driver, passenger or luggage, but is the normal loaded height so will be correct for positioning the rear wings.

Dad and I then proceeded to fit the nearside rear wing.  The initial position was decided by the forward lowest edge, I have elected to position this flush with the side panel, in order to gain suitable clearance on the front edge of the tyre it needs to come fairly well forward.  So based on this assumption, the first hole was drilled for a self tapping bolt to fit through the trailing edge of the side panel and into the chassis upright.  It was now possible to play with the other positioning from a fixed datum.  We tried many positions, in the end ending up with the 12 o'clock point of the wing being 30mm down from the top edge of the tub (Dax manual recommends 35mm), the rear edge being 103mm in from the back of the tub and the rear lowest edge being 23mm up from the bottom of the tub.  This also means that by the time the wing piping was added, it was as far forward at the intersection of tub, side panel, kick strip and wing possible.  Ideally I would like it further back, but the wheel position in the wing is near perfect.

We also glued countersunk head M5 bolts into the edges of our dashboard.  This creates captive threads before we cover in vinyl, which means that the dashboard fixings will be completely hidden.  This will take 24 hours to set, before we can start the trimming process.

Then it was just a case of starting on the offside rear wing, if 1 bolt counts as starting!

Sunday: Carried on with the offside rear wing, the challenge here being to make it match the other side.  So all the measurements above were transferred to the masking tape on the tub, as well as frequent visual checks.  Still took most of the morning, in fact by the time it was done, so was lunch.  The car is now balanced once again.

The next job I want to do is the fitting of the rear lights and so I can better see and be able to stand back to decide where to mount I need to turn the car round.  But with all the dash apart this turned into a rather manual exercise, Mum steering and Dad and I pushing.  Once back in the garage, we masked up and started marking out proposed positions for lights.  The first decision was easy, that of reversing and fog lights so the holes for these were marked then chain drilled, although only the initial filing has been done to about 1mm of the marked circle.  We also cut my light pod I made last summer ready for the fog light (SVA requires the light to be vertical).

Also fitted the now finished steering wheel cowl, I reckon it looks much better than the Ford black plastic.  Whilst at it glued in my new stalks to make them firmer.

It was then back onto the dashboard, we glued the main plywood section onto a sheet of foam using Evostick.  Then added lots of weights whilst we leave it to set.  On the bottom trim, we fitted captive bolts as done to the dashboard on Saturday.

16 to 20/02/2004

Monday: Dashboard gluing not yet set enough for the next stage so this was brought into the dining room where it is warmer.  So this evening I sat and chain drilled the other four light holes (two on each wing).  Again I only bothered with the initial filing, I will probably try to do the final work out to the marked line tomorrow.

Tuesday: SVA date has come through.  They phoned today and offered me virtually any date in March (having requested early March).  In the end chose Tuesday 16th 08:00 @ Bristol (four weeks today).

This evening we continue with the dashboard, the foam that was stuck on at the weekend had to be trimmed round the edge of the dashboard and out from all the holes for instruments etc.  After that we attached the vinyl to the top edge with a staple gun a friend at work has kindly lent me.  Applied Copydex to the vinyl and with a slight stretching rolled the dashboard down onto the vinyl.  Then while continuing a slight stretch (to prevent ruckles), we folded edges over and glued/stapled these onto the back of the dashboard.  When done it was left with some weights keeping it all together while the glue dries.  The vinyl is the same grey as used in the seats and a pretty good match with the carpets.

Wednesday: The instruments, warning lights and switches now need fitting to the dashboard.  So star cuts where made in all the holes and folded through the hole and stapled on the back.  I thought it would then be a simple job of pushing the instruments through and fitting their brackets.  Alas, I had not left enough tolerance in the holes for the vinyl.  So out to the garage and each hole had to be sanded out with a flapper wheel being extremely careful not to damage the vinyl.  After about three hours of struggling we finally had all the instruments in and the wiring loom connected accordingly.

Friday: Fitted the dashboard into the car, all be it without its blue trimmed bottom edge which is still being made.  Sounds simple doesn't it.  Well at one point the toys were well and truly out of the pram.  It would not fit.  The clock and indicator lights where hitting the 12volt heater.  Although Mk1 had fitted the subtle changes had caused problems.  Once I had calmed down enough to think rationally, the indicator lights where adapted by shortening the metal section that bolts to the dashboard, the bulb holder that then pushes in the back could go in further and the electrical connections where all bent by 90°.  As for the clock, its back got somewhat butchered, but it does still tell the time (and ticks).  Now that the dashboard is in, I think it looks fantastic, to make it even firmer a ali bracket has been added at the bottom edge, this connects the dash to the tunnel.

21 & 22/02/2004

Saturday: A cold morning so start with an indoors job, continuing to glue foam to the bottom trim for the dashboard.  This was all held in place with plenty of the inevitable masking tape whilst the glue sets.  A few small pieces will have to be filled in on the external corners tomorrow.

Next came the rear lights, during the week Dad has kindly done the final filing of the holes to ensure the lights have a snug fit.  However, to makes sure they stay in I am using a little Wurth, just a spear around the lights housing and then pushed into the holes.  I have not yet wired them up as this will be easier with the rear wheels off and the Wurth set.

After lunch we set the front ride height (135mm) and then moved the Dax into the carport.  This made it easier to tighten some of the front suspension nuts up to the correct torque.  Also gave a great excuse for starting up.  As part of turning her round, I had to try the ridge under the gates to the drive, it does clear but it is very close and I need to keep close to one side.  Also realised that it is about time I fitted wing mirrors.  As manoeuvring showed very little brake effect,  went back and forward a few times in the very short available distance.  Then performed an initial brake test, squirt throttle, hit brakes.  After a couple of goes the fronts were locking up first, but more bleeding is probably required before this can really be tested.  Note to self, wheel spin easily achieved and this time controlled. 

So with wishbones etc. tight and ride height set, it was on to toe and camber set up.  Using boards to level up the garage floor, we check ride height again (within 1mm) and moved onto toe.  This was made much easier thanks to a local mechanic (thanks Nigel) kindly lending us the proper equipment.  After only two adjustments we were bang in the middle of the tolerance specified in the build manual.  Then it was onto camber, surprisingly there are significantly more shims on the offside upper balljoint (20 versus 9).  The twenty shims is concerning as the nyloc is only just on far enough.  We will recheck all these settings again tomorrow before we return the instruments.

Sunday: Thought we would have another check of the front suspension, this was meant as a confidence boost.  But toe was wildly out again and camber had also altered.  After much head scratching we decided it best to start afresh.  The first thing we did was make sure the front wheels had the same start position.  Comparison of front and rear track lead to deciding the point on the rear tyres that corresponded with zero toe.  Then with a very long piece of box section, pressed against the outside face of the front wheel, we lined up with the rear tyres.  And after a series of adjustments had both sides of the car pointing evenly.  From this start point, we returned to the proper toe gauge and managed to set it to the slightest amount of toe in but virtually zero.  In between each sets of measurements, we started up and went in and out of the garage, changing steering lock to ensure all was settled.  We then checked the camber confident the wheels were dead ahead and toe was correct, only one shim adjusted from last nights position.  However, it is marginal whether to take one out from the offside.  It was then time to break for lunch.

With her back on axle stands, Dad painted the undersides of all the wings with Isoflex rubber paint while I returned to lights.  Ideally we would of used Carlife Rubbercoat but I cannot seem to find a valid phone number for them.  

Fitted the final light in the form of the fog light.  This is a special pod that I made last summer, which brings the lens vertical per the SVA requirements.  Then proceeded to wire and test all the rear lights.

We then started to think about the fitment of what I call the pond liner, i.e. the tiny boot that sits in the rear tub.  By taking a little of the front outer edges an initial fit was quickly achieved.  Other than that decided to leave it until another day.

23 to 27/02/2004

Tuesday: With the initial trim of the pond liner done, we worked out the positions for the fixing holes to the tub.  Then drilled the pilot holes in the liner before turning it upside down and gluing wing piping on.  Dad has also painted the underside with black hammerite.

Thursday: Wing mirrors fitted but not yet fully aligned.

Friday:  The pond liner with its now stuck wing piping was placed in the tub and via the pilot holes from Tuesday, marked positions in the flange of the tub.  These were then drilled out and rivnuts fitted.  Could not carry on any further as the bolts I have are too short.

Soon retired to the warmth and moved onto covering the small section of lower dashboard trim that will be to the right of the steering column.  This is being done in the same blue vinyl as the seats, gaitors and steering cowl.  With a piece of vinyl trimmed slightly oversize, we set about with the staple gun.  Folding over one edge at a time a stapling onto the back.  There is some stretch in the vinyl for the exterior corners, and on the others it is necessary to cut darts out, otherwise the material takes up to much room.  Anyway the finished article is shown in the picture.

28 & 29/02/2004

Saturday: I have now booked an MOT, Tuesday 9^th March.  Plan is to also calibrate the brakes on the way there, now just need to book the day off work.  In the afternoon we set to with the pond liner which was the aim of the day, and work continued putting all the holes in place for harnesses etc.  Also two additional holes where drilled into the top rail (behind seats) as I believe this will pull the pond liner edge forward and fill the gap better.  These holes when then tapped to take M5 bolts.  

Whilst Dad had been filing some of the holes and cutting bolts to length (couldn't get right size today) I started work on one of three infill panels I want to fill in areas behind the dashboard.  Started on the smallest which is to the right of the steering column.

We then fitted the first of the two dashboard lower edge trims.  As this has captive bolts it should be a simple case of pushing on and adding a couple of nuts behind the dash.  Well it wasn't quite that simple but with some slight adjustment on the holes and a little persuasion it fits.  The really good news it that is looks exactly as I wanted.  Just got the main one to cover and fit now.

We have added washers inside the headlamp shells and this seems to make them a little firmer, hopefully next time the engine is started they won't vibrate up and down.  It had been enough to make you sea sick.  We also did an initial attempt at alignment, it is good enough for pre-MOT.

This evening we stuck the first piece of carpet to the forward edge of the pond liner, having ensured it had holes that line up with the holes for the harness bolts.  We then covered the main dashboard lower edge trim, again stretching the vinyl round and stapling onto the back edge.

Sunday: Finally got the pond liner fitted and bolted home.  The harness bolts press down on the carpet, they feel extremely secure but I hope these are OK with the SVA man.

It then seemed logical to fit the upper sections of the harness's including their gaiters.  This was a surprisingly easy job, and it all makes a real difference to the look of the car.  I believe this makes the car roadworthy, it may not be ready for SVA but all the important bits are done.  So we are finally on the home straight of finishing touches.

I then moved onto the fitting exhaust wrap to the headers, just the initial few inchs before the side panels.  This is to hopefully reduce the under bonnet temperatures and protect the fibreglass bodywork.  It is a fiddly job and by the end of the evening I have four headers to go (those with only half an engine would be finished by now).  Trouble is the other side will be much harder due to less access space and the addition of the two coolant pipes to the reservoir.

Go to March

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Last Updated 29/02/2004