Firewall and Foot Well

Hot on the heels of the news from Mark that my SVA test is booked for the 22nd of July, I thought I better get in the garage this afternoon and get on with a few of the jobs I had been putting for ages.

So I decided to tackle the final panel for the driver side of the foot well and the fire wall panel which is fitted to the rear of the scuttle.

I have said in the past that I really like working with metal as there is something very satisfying about starting with a sheet of metal and cutting it to the correct shape, bending it (if needed) and filing the edges smooth. The problem is that I am not that great at it which is why I think I have been putting these jobs off!

The first job was to remove the dash and scuttle from the car to allow full access to the areas I needed.

Before I tackled the top of the driver foot well or the firewall, I cut a small panel to support the wiring loom as it passed over the central tunnel.

This will ensure the wires can not sag on to the prop shaft.

With that out of the way it was time to start the serious jobs.

 

First up was the top panel in the drivers foot well (above where the pedals are. This panel should have been done 6 months ago but never mind. As is often the way, I started by making a card board template.

This was transferred to a sheet of aluminium and then cut out.

Once I was happy the shape (first attempt the cutout for the steering column was not wide enough), I riveted it down with some extra sealant for good measure.

 

Next up was the firewall which is the panel on the engine side of the scuttle.

Basically this was done with the same procedure. Starting with a cardboard template that I then used to mark and cut the firewall with.

Next I marked the various cutouts for cable access that need to be made in the firewall. To ensure they were in the correct place, I actually drilled the holes in the aluminium panel for the mounting points and added the corresponding rivnuts to the rear of the scuttle.

This allowed me to mount the panel in place and then lower the entire scuttle in to position so that I could accurately mark where the cable access needed to be.

I also remembered that I needed to provide some type of access for the RS232 (serial data) port that is used to configure the Digidash and later, to plug in the GPS receiver for timing / speed camera warnings.

I had a RS232 extension cable laying around so I decided to bond this to the fire wall to provide a convenient place to plug in a laptop or the GPS receiver. The other end of the RS232 extension cable was coiled up inside the scuttle and connected to the data output cable on the Digidash.

  

The wonders of glue!

I was about to put it all together when I remembered that the panel I put in to mount the engine ECU was located at the top of the passenger foot well and was clearly visible when the dash was in place. At the time I just decided to leave it and add a masking panel later. But with time rapidly running out and (hopefully) no future reason to take the scuttle off again, it was now or never.

On this picture, you can see the problem if you look at the passenger side below the dash. You could put you hands in through the gap and touch the electrics inside.

So I cut a quick panel that was bent at an angle and riveted to the ECU mount from the underside. The result is a nice, aluminium panel that protects the ECU from wandering hands.

With that done, it was time to put it all back together.

  

It is fair to say that metal work is not one of my strong points but I thing the end result looks ok and more importantly, it is another of the jobs that I have been putting off for ages, now done and dusted.

Which is good as I only have a few days before the car will be off to MAC#1!!!!

Roll Cage Final Fit

 

If you have read any of my previous posts then you may recall that the roll cage has been in place for some time but it was not fully fixed in it’s final position and I was not very happy with the way the lower bar fixed to the chassis as it pinched in the GRP side panels distorting the flat surface of the side of the car.

So, as I am just really waiting for a few bits from MAC#1 and an SVA test date, I decided that this was one job that really should be done.

The first thing to do was to remove the roll cage. I did not have to take it all the way off but rather just lift up the front end and wedge a screw driver handle under the rear supports to hold it in place. I also used a bit of thin card to stop the roll cage scuffing the side panel as I lifted it up. You can see the bottom of the roll cage at the top of the picture above.

If you look carefully at the picture above, you can see where the roll cage has distorted the side panel. If you look at the reflection in the side, you can see that it bends round the hole in the panel, this is because at this pint in the body, there is three layers which the roll cage securing bolt passes through. There is a think steel plate in the chassis which provides the strength. After that there is the thin aluminium side panel which is between the GRP side and the inner chassis. Finally there is the fibre glass panel itself.

The problem is that there is a couple of mm gap between the GRP side  panel and the inner chassis plate so when the bolt that attaches the roll cage is tightened, the GRP panel is pulled in to meet the chassis plate.

The solution I used was to cut out around the hole and glue some spacing washers in between the roll cage and the metal plate so that when the bolt is tightened, it pulls the roll bar against the washers and not against the GRP side panel.

The first stage was to use the dremel band sander attachment to widen the hole big enough to accept an M12 washer or two.

I then pushed in a washer to act as spacer.

One was not enough!

Two was just about right. I then pulled them back out and used metal glue to bond them together and also to bond them in place against the aluminium panel. This prevents them from falling out if I ever wanted to take the roll cage off.

Much better. The GRP panel still looks a little pinched but it is a lot better and hopefully, now it is not under stress anymore, it may return to normal shape over time. If not then it is hardly noticeable.

With that out of the way, it was time to bolt the rest of the roll cage in place.

This was a momentous occasion. The kit supplied by MAC#1 comes complete with dozens of little bags of bolts. Each bag is for a specific job and contains the nuts and bolts needed to complete it, and this bag is the very last one that I had! Bit sad really 😦

Anyway, the roll cage is bolted down to sit on top of the chassis just behind the driver and passengers heads.

These are secured with washers and nuts and the one closest to the wheel arch is a bit of a pig to fit.

The final bolts secure the back of the roll cage to the rear chassis via two M12 bolts down either side of the fuel tank.

Once these were tightened, the roll cage was in place.

 

Personally, I am not sure whether the roll cage makes the car look better or worse but I know I will feel safer driving it with it in place.

Next job is to get the thing off of the trestles and down on to it’s wheels. Some guys from work have volunteered to help me lift it down on Thursday in return for some free pizza!

So the next pictures posted might even be out of the garage! 

Earthquakes & Fuel Pumps

At 00:56 GMT this morning, the UK suffered it’s worst earthquake in 25 years. Measuring 5.5, the quake was centred in North Lincolnshire, about 50 miles from my house.

Although only a tremor on the global scale, it was strong  enough to make a lot of noise, shake the ground and knock things from shelves. Closer to the epicentre, some houses were damaged and one guy was injured by a falling roof.

All in all, not your average night.

I know all this because at 00:56 GMT is was hard at work in the garage, fitting the rear sections of the fuel system which basically consisted of tidying up the copper pipes, connected rubber flexible pipe and fitting the fuel pump. Sounds easy but the fuel pump did not come with any mounting mechanism so I had to fashion a bracket from Ali to mount it to the chassis rail.

When the quake hit, I was just finishing mounting the pump so I got a first hand experience of standing in a rickety, 70 year old garage in the middle of an earthquake!

But back to the really interesting stuff.

First thing to do was cut the copper fuel lines and attached rubber hose. Simple enough but I also had to mount a couple of extra ‘P’ clips to keep it all neat.

Next offered up fuel tank to check that the return fuel line would reach the return on the tank. Luckily, it did!

Ok, now the hard bit. Make a bracket to hold the fuel pump. I started with a flat ali plate and then cut two thin strips to wrap around the pump. I carefully measured the strips and drilled holes in the ends to allow them to be joined together. The trick was to drill the holes such that when the bolts pulled the ends of the strips together, it would clamp around the rubber sleeve on the pump.

 

I then used a file on all the edges and riveted the plate to the chassis rail and the strips to the plate. The pump was connected up and then finally, the ends of the strips were bolted together to hold it all tight. And it worked!

Final job was to offer fuel tank so check it still fitted and then clip the fuel hose down below the tank ready to be connected to the pot on the underside of the fuel tank.

 

And that was it. A good few hours work resulting in a something I was pleased with, plus I got to witness the power of mother nature when she is pissed. Result!

Here are a couple of more picture. Until next time (probably tonight!)