Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
By God it’s been a while!
In fact it has been weeks since I last posted anything on this blog, the reason is that I basically have not done anything to the car since it was essentially finished. Since then it has been sitting in the garage waiting for the rain to stop.
But the British weather is probably a good thing as it has allowed me to concentrate on the house for a few weeks and with a baby on the way, a bathroom in a state of disarray and only a few weeks left to sort out the nursery, time spent on the house is well over due.
But that doesn’t mean I have forgotten the car, there is still a few jobs to be done such as fitting the air filter, checking the idle speed of the engine and looking in to the short that means the brake warning light flicks on and off (well I hope it is a short!).
But one thing that did happen this week was that I received a package from an Italian publisher containing a copy of a popular mainstream performance car mag called Car Techo.
A month or so ago I got an email from a guy saying he was writing an article on UK kit cars for his Italian car mag. He had read my web site and was interested in using as the basis for his article. He also asked whether I could send him some higher quality photos!
I answered a few questions and sent him a bunch of pictures but didn’t really expect to hear from him again but last week I got an email saying the mag was out and that he had sent me a couple of copies in the post.
And here is is.
So the cover car is an Aston, the car is in good company!
Nice looking article with a selection of famous UK kit car brands. I like the box graphic with a picture of my car on it.
On the second page is a number of pictures from my car build and the subsequent SVA test.
The pictures provide a rough snapshot of the major stages of the build.
Colin from MAC#1 even gets his face in on the action.
Of course the text is in Italian but you can kind of get the gist of the article as some Italian words are similar to English.
It was nice to see the car in a large glossy mag and I hope it can provide a little extra interest in MAC#1 and Kit Cars in general from our European cousins. But if not, it is still something nice to keep.
Now all I need is for it to stop raining and for me to get a break from painting so I can finally get out and get some miles under my belt.
Until next time.
The other thing I did this weekend was to add a couple of Gulf Oil decals I got off ebay months ago.
I fitted a large Gulf logo to the driver and passenger sides of the car.
I also fitted a smaller logo to the nose cone but I don’t really like this so I will probably remove it again at some point.
I had originally intended to get a large orange stripe going down the centre of the car but I really like the plain blue look so I think I will postpone getting the stripe put on for a while at least.
Believe it or not, this weekend saw the 5000th visitor to the kit car build blog site.
It seems only a short while ago that we broke 4000 so I am delighted with the continued interest and support the blog is getting.
I hope visitors to the site enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
Car returns from MAC#1 on Thursday at which point it should be just about finished, just a fuel filler to be fitted.
So stand by for lots of pictures and maybe a video or two.
This is just about it, SVA test tomorrow!
No more waiting, no more wondering whether it will all come together. It will either satisfy the tester or not.
Either way I am not too worried. I think it will pass as MAC#1 have a lot of experience and know the areas that need to be addressed. Similarly, MAC#1 and several other builders have now looked over my car and pointed out a couple of areas then could be improved but nothing too serious.
The emissions are sorted (we think) and noise should not be an issue (although it will be borderline) so I think if it does fail then it will be on something minor.
Of course I will be delighted with a pass but if it does fail on some minor points, I will not be too down heartened as I will then know exactly what needs to be done to get a pass.
Possibly even more exciting for me than the SVA test, I should also get to drive the car tomorrow for the first time. Not on the road but certainly at the test centre.
As with all aspects of the build, I will try and take as many photos as possible (if allowed) and post a full report on how I get on some time tomorrow night.
Wish me luck!
With only 10 days to go until my revised SVA date (9th Sept), I thought I would pop along to MAC#1 this Saturday to see if they had made any progress.
And I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had. The reason I was surprised was that they usually prefer to work to a ‘just in time’ philosophy but admittedly this backfired on us for my first SVA date so maybe this time round they didn’t want any surprises!
The first area where work has been done is on the top of the back tub section. When I dropped the car off at MAC#1 this was just a big open hole down to the fuel tank and diff.
It looks fairly similar now but with one important addition.
Colin has added a blue fibreglass panel that runs along the back of the seats between the roll cage mounts.
This finishes off the back very neatly and provides a ‘step’ down to a simple carbon effect panel that will be added later to cover the fuel tank and diff.
As you can see, it is a really neat job but then Colin is the man when it comes to bodywork. You can also see that he has bonded in some angled aluminium along the bottom of the GRP to provide a shelf for the final panel to sit on.
The other major area of progress is in the exhaust. It seems that I have been waiting forever for the exhaust to be started as I am really looking forward to seeing it (and hearing it) for the first time.
Each exhaust is custom made for the car and MAC#1 take a great deal of care to ensure that the exhaust is the perfect match for the engine and car. Here you can see that they have already created the four pipes needed (one per cylinder) and the main can has also been mounted so that Colin can see where the pipes need to go. The next phase will be to join all the pipes together in to a single pipe that will feed to the silencer. I believe that they are first joined in to pairs then in to a single but we will have to wait and see.
As you can see, it is a real work of art and I take my hat off to the skill involved with building something like this from scratch.
So I was really pleased to see some positive progress and more importantly to hear that we are well on track for SVA. The only negative thing is that I guess I was hoping that the engine would have been fixed but Mark is confident that it will happen this week.
So all in all, a very positive visit to MAC#1 was ended on an exhilarating high. As usual for a Saturday, there was a mix of current builders (most of which I know now) and potential new customers, and these potential new customers are treated to a short but exciting blast around the roads Sheffield.
As I watched the guys coming back with huge smiles on their faces, I realised that it has been almost a year since I have been for a ride in a MAC#1 (or any seven style car for that matter) and whist I have (at times) lived, breathed and slept MAC#1 cars, I found it very difficult to remember exactly what it was like to be in one.
So I asked Colin if there was any chance of a quick blast in the demo car (which is actually Big Rich’s car).
Here you can see the car sitting under mine.
So it was with a little trepidation that I strapped myself in to the passenger side and placed my life in Colin’s hands.
And what a ride it was. I know that Rich’s car was fast but nothing prepared me for sheer excitement (and a little fear) of that short 5 minute ride. The acceleration is beyond believe, 0-60 in under 4 seconds (which I think we got close to) and a top speed north of 130 (not that we went that fast), but it was the handling that was most exciting. The car stuck to the road like glue and roundabouts were amazing.
By the end of the ride, my hair was sticking straight up, my sunglasses had nearly flown off my head and I had a big smile on my face. It was a great end to the day.
On the way home I contemplated whether my car would be able to do the same. Rich’s car has a slightly more powerful engine and a different diff setup so his car will be faster than mine but not by a huge amount and maybe not at the end of the performance I will be exploring any time soon. Either way I am really excited again!
So plenty to look forward to in the next week or so!
Co
Talked to Mark at MAC#1 this afternoon and he confirmed that he had successfully moved my SVA date from the 2nd of Sept (which I could not attend because of a meeting at TalkSport) to the 9th of September….
….which is even worse!
I am scheduled to exhibit at an international trade show in Amsterdam (www.ibc.org) for ten days and the ferry leaves Hull dock at 18:00 on the 9th of September.
Well I could not ask them to re-organise it again as I am sure the nice SVA inspector’s patience must be wearing thin so I reluctantly agreed to the test on that date with Mark taking the car to the test centre for me.
Once I was off the phone (and understandable a bit down), my business partner suggested that rather than miss the test, why didn’t I just fly out the following day and just ask my colleagues to drive the van over to Amsterdam and meet them there.
Unfortunately, neither if the guys going with me were in today so I could not ask them.. which is good as they may have said no!
So I decided that Peter was right, that it could all be done, it was just a case of getting the logistics right. So this is what will happen.
- Drive to MAC’1
- Leave (everyday) car at MAC1 and go to the test centre with Mark.
- Once my MAC1 has passed the SVA (see the confidence), Mark has agreed to carry on down the motoway and drop me at East Midlands airport.
- I will then fly to Amsterdam, arrive before the van and spend 10 crazy days selling software and maybe drinking to odd sociable half of ale!
- Catch the ferry back with the guys from work.
- Get a lift over to MAC#1 to collect one of my cars.
- Get a lift back to MAC#1 to collect my other car (which should be registered while I am in Holland)
- Get home with a big smile on my face!
So there you have it. A plan at last, what could possibly go wrong?
Had a call from Mark at MAC#1 today to let me know that he had re-booked a SVA test for my car on the 2nd September.
This is good in many ways as I (or rather MAC#1) have a deadline to work against.
The bad news is that I unfortunately have a prior commitment on that day which I will attempt to move but that may not be possible.
This puts forward the very real possibility that the car will go for it’s SVA without me being there which I would be gutted about.
The only other choice (assuming I can not move my business commitment) would be to postpone the SVA again, but as it is I think there has been enough waiting.
So now I have a difficult decision. Business has to come first but I am also torn as I have worked for so long on the car, it would be a pity to not experience the highs (and possible lows) of the final SVA hurdle.
In other news, I popped by MAC#1 on Wed this week on my way down to Wales (again!) and the car was pretty much in exactly the same state with no additional work having been carried out since my last visit. I had not particularly expected anything to have been done but I live in hope.
I guess the best thing about finally having a new SVA date is that at least it will provide a deadline that MAC#1 can work to, but then that did not work out so well last time to I guess I will have to wait and see.
More waiting!!!
This has probably been the longest I have gone between writing blog entries since I started the project, the reason is that there has just been nothing to write about.
Since that disappointing day on the 21st of July when I had to postpone the SVA test, my car has been sat at MAC#1 looking very sorry for itself.
I popped by last Wednesday on my way down to Cardiff and the car was just as I left it.
It is probably unfair to say nothing has been done as the MAC#1 guys had managed to get hold of the parts needed to fix the engine. They had also ordered and received a couple of extra bits of fibreglass that I did not realise I was missing. Of these, the most exciting is the blue coloured aero screen base which replaces the black one which (strangely) I have had since day one of the build. I have to say it looked muck better with the blue coloured aero screen base.
But as far as I am aware, the engine is still awaiting some attention and I am told that the exhaust will be done this week, but we will have to wait and see.
And through all of this, I am seeing August slip away along with the imagined summer of driving the car every chance I got.
Oh well, it is out of my hands (which is frustrating!)
I will post more news as soon as I get it.
I arrived at MAC#1 this morning full of enthusiasm and optimism for the SVA test but almost as soon as I arrived, it was clear that the chances of the car being ready for the SVA test were virtually zero, in fact, the car was exactly as I left it last week so none of the essential work I was relying on had been done.
But here was still a faint hope that we could do it all in the day and a half left but this faint hope vanished in a cloud of mangled gears when Mark opened the engine to see what the problem was.
One of the reasons I have kept this blog going over the past 9 months is to keep a record of the highs and lows of my first car build project and today definitely qualifies as the lowest point so far. It is fair to say I am bitterly disappointed. I have been focused on the SVA being around this time since early in the build and have focused all my attention on the 22nd since I put the application in to VOSA. Sure I was apprehensive about the test but I was also tremendously excited to complete the car, get that first drive and have all my hard work vindicated by passing the test.
And now there is just a whole heap of uncertainty which is a real anti-climax.
It would also be fair to say that I am more than a little disappointed with MAC#1. I am loath to criticise them as both Colin and Mark have been great throughout the build and I certainly would not have got as far as I have without them, but I also feel that they have had the car for more than 3 weeks and known throughout that time that the exhaust and engine were major stumbling blocks that I was relying on them to look at.
Throughout, I have been worried that the engine problem was a serious issue and Mark at MAC#1 has always been confident that it would be a minor issue. To be honest, I think he was sure he knew what was wrong and that he could fix it quickly so he just did not get round to it until today but when he opened the engine cover, we found that it was indeed a big problem.
This is the gear that connects the starter motor to the main crank shaft (I think) which I think is called a primary reduction gear (but don’t quote me). As you can see, it is chewed to bits.
It drives the big gear in the picture above which is also chewed up.
These are major parts that will need replacing, the bigger question is why. Mark decided he needed to talk to Malc at Yorkshire Motors (who supplied the engine) but he is currently on holiday so it will have to wait.
So that was that, no exhaust, no engine, no handbrake (still need a saddle or bracket), no brakes (still need an adaptor) plus a whole host of small bits and pieces conspired to force us to postpone the SVA test.
I am gutted.
Kitcarbuild's Blog 