Soon England or bust

It's bit a bit of a rush to get the last minute jobs finished for the trip next Thursday. Last night I thought everything was ready, dash and dials, windscreen wipers and soft top back on, even managed to get the console finished although I'm not completely happy with it. Today was going to be the first Scania Road trip; out in the evening after work with other enthusiasts. The day started and finished with brilliant sunshine, a perfect day for a country outing in the Legend. On the way to work however the bolt holding the front of the diff to the frame bracket actually snapped half way along the thread leaving me with a tow home.

It was too late to get a new bolt (M12 70mm 1,5mm pitch) so will pick a couple up tomorrow morning. 

I tried to improve the air flow to the MAF as  it was tucked next to the battery with hardly any air getting to it. I ended up buying a tube and in-line filter and routed it down to a 45% pipe under the car. It really needs a log thin intake to scoop in as much air as possible but this will hopefully do for the time being.

It's a but tight with water bottle, battery etc but quite a neat solution from "Biltema" (some things they sell are good!)

It's very close to the exhaust manifold but hopefully not too close.

The console is okay but the 5mm foam I used was too thick, could have been 2mm or no foam at all. Also the heater control and reverse sensor display don't look good. Actually I could probably leave the heater in the ON position and hide the control behind, same as the reverse sensor, it's enough to have the beeping without the distance display.

I have a switch for turning on the ODB II connector, one for testing and showing if the oil level is too low and one to turn on an LED lamp in the passenger foot well.

Added a 12v outlet between the seats and also a dual USB on the side of  the console.

Checking around the internet a few weeks ago and stumbled on an air jack that runs on compressed air that a Chinese company were advertising. After a bit of negotiating the price including postage was pretty reasonable. Paid with Paypal! Two arrived (One for Neil) in just over a week with FedEx. I can honestly say it's brilliant! The max load is approx. 3000kg, so lifting up the kit car is a piece of cake and it's done in about 10 seconds.  

One just wheels it along, push it under the car so the three air bags are under something reasonably solid. The minimum height can be about 13,5cm and the Legend is about 17 at it's lowest point so there's no problem getting it underneath.  It's then just a matter of pressing the inflate button.

The max height is about 45 cm which is plenty to do most jobs. The main one is having  to change the tires on two cars twice a year!

I can get the wheel off and back on in a matter of minutes. To lower the car one simply pressed the deflate button and the car slowly drops down. The final air is sucked out by pressing another button. just like the wheel nut remover it's a brilliant tool and well worth getting!

Dyno not so good

Monday it was time for the dyno test at Turbo Center. The forecast the week before was for sunshine and clear skies but ... Luckily I only had to drive 6km in drizzle but still not fun. If I had the windscreen on at least I could have driven fast enough for the rain to blow over. Then I had to wait out in the rain as the place was full up with other cars. But anyway eventually the tests started but to cut a long story short, it didn't go well. Basically there was an issue with fuel pressure. Trouble was they had no experience with the rising rate fuel regulator and suggested removing it, remapping, changing injectors etc. Talking to Peter we decided to adjust it once I get over to Maidstone in a couple of weeks.

Got to around 164 HP at the wheels before they decided to stop the test

A real pity I didn't find out the cars real potential, will have to wait until England. To make things worse it rained harder on the way home!

Decided to get on with a few miscellaneous jobs. I attached the rear boot hood using the same attachment points I have for the soft top. It's a really neat solution GKD has come up with. 

Just like the rear carpet it fits snugly around the roll bar.

Fits nice and tightly.

The only small issue is that there is no attachment at the front, so it could flap around or rain could eventually gather and roll into the car. I'm going to put holes every ten centimetres or so along the edge of the cover and then corkscrew an elastic rope round the roll bar. That way there is a slight slope towards the rear.

It looks so good I'll leave it in place unless I have the soft top on.

The fasteners that came with the rear carpet didn't hold very long so I bought a different type from Carhoods on E-bay HERE

Another job was holding the battery in place. I bought the Red Top 25 battery box but there was no room for it. Ended up with a type of motorcycle solution. 

The rubber ring bolts to the base of the aluminium bulk head with the other end stretched up and over a plastic ring I bolted to a home made bracket. As you can see the air filter isn't in a good place, hardly any cold air getting to it. That's another challenge to solve.

Getting on with odd jobs

After yesterdays very successful test drive the weather turned a little cold so it was time for some inside jobs. Mats is coming around tomorrow to take the scuttle away for re-touching so I needed to fibreglass the glove box in place. It took ages to finish the plug and then it was time for the fun stuff to start. I bought some black gelcoat and painted the whole thing, except the intended opening with a layer.

I was quite liberal with the gelcoat.

When tacky I covered it in a layer or two of fibre weave and then two or so of fibre matting. It was actually difficult to keep up with where I had put the fibreglass but I thought it was fairly even.  

When laying on the fibreglass I made a lip all the way round to help attach it to the scuttle. Left for 24 hours it was time to get the plug out which was actually easier said than done. In the end I dug it out with a screwdriver so it was completely destroyed. It better be okay!

I was quite happy with the result but noticed I'd left a small bubble of air in one corner so the gelcoat fell through. No harm done I'll touch it up later-

One major thing that was wrong was the size of  the glovebox,  it was a little too big, so will be a bit of a tight fit.

First cut into the scuttle. I didn't want to take off too much. The idea is to attach a door and locking latch so it requires room for hinges (that's a later stage)

Ended up Dremmeling a little more off as the opening was a tad small.

I sanded the inside of the scuttle where the join would be and then put on a layer or so of fibreglass as far as I could reach. It wasn't possible to reach the top left hand edge. Maybe I can put something on the inside.

It really had to finish the console so got hold of a sheet of 1.5mm aluminium sheet instead of the stainless steel, so much easier to work with. The two large holes are for the heater outlets and the smaller one is a USB power outlet. 

Drilled holes and pressed in place three M4 rivnuts. Rivnuts are a really nice solution for this.  

On the front of the console I put 5mm foam which I will use on the sides too. It'll give the console a nicer feel once  the black synthetic leather sheet goes over the top. The sides overhang the engine tunnel so I'll rivnut it in place. I'm not sure how the carpet fill fit around it but I'll worry about that later.

A breath of fresh air

I'm deliberating whether to use a bonnet scoop, side vents or forced induction from under the front somewhere to get enough air to the filter. The scoop looks great but a bit mean. I'd rather it looked subtle.

There's something under there, I wonder what it is!

Plain, discreet and a little more refined but will there be enough air coming in!

What do you think?

Update ...

Neil and I went for a drive this afternoon, temperature was hovering about 5 oC and we had no windscreen so it was a bit bloody cold. We headed for the motorway, bonnet was in place. It was almost pointless using 1st and 2nd gear as it was in the red the whole time. It seems that not enough air was available as it hesitated several times when I harsh accelerated. But still it's hard to describe, the power was endless. It was almost too difficult to drive because the cold wind was watering our eyes. Reached 100 mph in a flash and the wind without windscreen made it almost uncomfortable. The winter hat I had lent Neil was ripped off - I lose more hats that way!

Later I removed the bonnet and took another drive, the airflow was vastly improved. The acceleration was unbelievable. Before the modification it took ages to get to 100 mph; now it was up to 110 mph without blinking an eye. 

Acceleration at high speed seems to be much more noticeable that low.

Will try to record a little video tomorrow.

She flies!!  

  

A super charged Easter weekend!

Thursday - It's been a long wait but as soon as the box arrived today it suddenly all became worth it, I received the GKD Super Charger kit!

It only took 4 days to arrive from the UK.

What's in the box - Everything that's needed. Inlet manifold, fuel rail, injectors, rising rate fuel regulator, fan belt and the Eaton M45 super charger I bought from Ebay. All put together by GKD and ready to bolt on! Peter also kindly sent me the rear boot cover I had on order.

I removed the battery and air filter assembly

Disconnected the upper inlet manifold

I had a few questions for Peter which he answered in a flash. The kit includes almost everything so the original BMW fuel lines (2) to the fuel rail are no longer needed, pipes (3 & 4) are simply shortened and plugged. The plastic box (5) containing wire harness for sensors, injectors etc. needs to be removed leaving only the harness.

Once the plugs for the injectors were disconnected and nuts to the head and front bracket were removed I carefully removed the lower manifold. It was quite a job to keep the wires organised. Some passed through the middle of the lower manifold, some were simply going to sockets and I cut and spliced two wires to the alternator and starter motor as it was easier than disconnecting them. 

I cleaned up the wiring with electrical tape. The MAF, accelerator position sensor etc. will be at the rear of the engine so they should be run accordingly.

Before bolting down the new manifold I attached the accelerator housing which was removed from the original upper inlet manifold. Also included in the kit is a new bracket which attaches the Eaton to the engine. It's adjustable so the weight of the manifold can be taken off the inlet bolts.  

The new setup is actually lower than the conventional inlet manifold, so no problem getting the bonnet on! Unfortunately the space at the rear of the engine is very tight. I've bought a Varley Red Top 25 which is less than half the size of the standard battery. That's make much more space available, hopefully enough to incorporate the MAF and airfilter.

Friday - .... Finished late last night and continued today, connecting the fuel lines and temporarily connecting  the battery. The earth strap from the old battery to the engine was a little short to reach the Red Top so I'll get one once the shops are open. 

I then test fired it up and, yupp it started but it didn't run as I expected. Quite rough and stalling with no throttle. Peter suggested I checked the manifold bolts were tight enough as air could be seeping in. The more I tightened the better it became but still not perfect. I neglected to buy a new manifold gasket so I'll replace it and check again.

There is also a necessity to replace the belt tensioner and also add another pulley to keep the belt away from the radiator hose housing. 

Sunday - Neil came around this morning for 8k run (pre Amsterdam marathon training) and then we got on with some last jobs before taking it for a test spin. Put fan belt in place, had to make a small adjustment to one of the pulleys to get it in line with the belt, easily done by adding or removing a washer or two.

Kept nicely away from the radiator hose

Another small job was to make up a bracket to hold the dip stick tube in place. I made it out of 1mm stainless steel but it should really be 2mm. Still it's an okay temporary solution.

The whole engine looks really great now. The new coil over plugs and the SC are going to transform it.

Time to get it out for a test drive ...

Warmed up the engine and topped up the radiator as well as added some STP Oil Treatment. A bit slippery getting it out of the garage but with a little push ...

Then it was time for the open road! The sound has changed, deeper than before but I don't think it's so loud now. It'll be interesting to test decibels before Brands Hatch track day. Once out on a clear length of straight road I floored it. In first I had to change almost immediately to second. In second gear it was spinning the tyres so I had to ease off a little. Both Neil and I were gob smacked how much power it has. It had power before but it's now at a whole new level. I'd like to put it through its paces on a wider open road like the motor way and see what she can really do but that has to wait a week or so until everything on the car is finished.

The first supercharged 0-100km/h. Didn't go so well but with some more timely gear changes it'll improve. As you can see it goes well up into the red - the speed limit problem is now solved!

 More news coming soon.

First time Fibreglass

Decided it was time to start on the glove box but I've never worked with fibreglass before. Friend Jim gave me quite a few tips, the main one being to do a test first before getting on with the real thing. Looked around the garage for something I could use as a test mould and found one of Anette's Tupperware bowls (she won't notice!). 

• Stage 1. Painted two coats of release agent on the bowel with about 3 hours in between. 
• Stage 2. Rubbed in two coats of wax with 3 hours in between and polished to a shine.

Anette would have been impressed with the shine!

• Stage 3. Painted a layer of white gelcoat over it and waited about 4 hours until it was sticky.
• Stage 4. Cut up a load of fibreglass matting and made up a batch of polyester resin. On a rounded surface like this it seemed easier to have small pieces of matting. I just carried on painting on the matting, round and round making sure there were no bubbles. I did around three layers. The bottom of the bowl was quite complicated so I didn't bother trying to get it perfect. It was just the principle that was important.  

Left it over night and then carefully separated the fibreglass from the bowl.

This is my very first attempt, not beautiful but it proved the process worked. Now on to the real thing!

I bought some purple polystyrene which is much more dense than the white. Glued two bits together to get the right thickness. Made a rough outline of the space behind the dashboard and marked it onto the polystyrene. 

Used a hobby knife to gradually slice out the desired shape. 

Once the shape was right I covered it in a layer of polyfiller. Once dry I sanded it down and then filled again and sanded down again. I Made one booboo spraying it with hobby paint thinking that it would seal the whole thing before using the release agent. Problem was the hobby paint ate into the parts not covered in filler which meant I had to start the whole process with filling again. Now I'm at the stage where I painted on a layer of water based paint which I'll sand and then repaint until I'm happy with the surface. 

Some more rubbing and filling required as well as carefully sanding with high grade paper. once it's done it'll be time to use release agent, wax and start  fibre glassing- should be fun.

The console is also on its way. I've decided to make the sides in aluminium because stainless steel at the same thickness is really difficult to work with even though it's only 1 mm thick. Just cutting the holes for the heater ducts will be too much work.

I intend to cover the front and sides in the same material as the gear shift gaiter. Hopefully I can get the join between the carpet and console to look good.

Moving forward slowly.

I was lucky enough to have a week in Dubai and took with me the EWS and the only key I was given when I bought the donor. There are loads of street side shops that offer key cutting and chipping so I had another key cut. It took about 15 minutes while I waited and cost 200 dirham, about £35!

First Industrial Street, Sharjah (BMW Road). The new one, on the right looks good and works great.

Weather has been crap and motivation has been low but I finished another small job that I needed to do. The rear soft top brackets were prototypes so I made new ones.

The original bracket on the left, a bit big and clumsy and attached between the roll bar and side panel. Once I had the side panel filled and welded there was no space left for the bracket. I decided on a solution where the bracket was attached directly to the roll bar. First prototype on the right, not good as it rotated.

From the second prototype I made two new brackets in stainless steel and buffed them up. The hole for the soft top supports is in the same position as the original bracket so the rotation point is the same.

The soft top supports still fold down and rest on the rear panel but I'd like to find a solution where they can quickly be removed or attached and stored so they can't be seen.

I realised there are only 9 weeks left until the Stoneleigh kit car show (6th May) and Brands Hatch track day (8th May) so I really need to get going with my list of things to do. Ideally I'd like to be ready much earlier as spring can be awesome for trips out in the country. Hopefully Peter at GKD will send me the Super Charger kit next week so I can get it installed and tested. Then spend a few weeks to fix mainly the console and glove box and then get everything reassembled.