Drove down to Burgess Hill to meet James and finally see his car. (in the picture Andy not James)
First job was to start stripping. I have kind of decided to start at the rear, concentrating on preparing and removing the panels ready for painting. I’m still not actually sure whether the rear panel will come off.
Quick check of the soft top - poppers have to be rivited on.
Bought a couple of LED lamps to replace the rectangular ones. Will sort out how to fix them later.
Enoyingly enough my MC jack packed up just as I got the car on the stands. Will have to fix it if I'm ever going to get it down again!
Fuel tank removed.
It was very difficult bending the top edges of the rear panel without getting a bumpy finish so I'll need to file the rough parts and finish off with fine sandpaper.
Hopefully once the rivets are removed from around the base of the panel it should just be a case of lifting the panel over the frame - I hope! Just for fun I found a reversing sensor kit on ebay and started drilling holes in the base of the rear panel to house the sensors. Hopefully the fog and reverse lights won't interfere.
A 22,5mm drill is included in the kit. The holes need cleaning up with a file before the powder coating.
The rear looks very bare. I’ll try and find some smaller diameter LED lights to replace the square fog and spot lights.
Not sure how to solve this (taken off) side panel as I made a real dogs ear of it while bending. I'll chat with the powder coat chap and see what he suggests.
See you in 2012!
who's the t***er in the first picture!!
ReplyDeleteCome on Anndddyyy it's you!
ReplyDeleteI'm just about to start fitting the longer front wishbones as well, hopefully it'll go smoothly... let me know if you have any issues. I'm going to weld the two vertical brackets onto a plate so they're a bit more solid, I'll post details on my blog in due course.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be a few weeks until I start the wishbones as I have to get the panels ready for painting. I'll check your blog for tips. Don't forget the 4cm longer brake pipes!
ReplyDeleteYup, got those, as well as the rod ends & extensions. I modified the brackets tonight - they need a bit more welding and then painting, then it's time to put it all back together.
ReplyDeleteWas your steering rack okay? I had to shorten the threads slightly because I had to change my track rod ends to non-welded and they were slighlty too long. Now I have to change them again because of the longer wishbones and I'm hoping the rack is long enough otherwise .. new rack!
ReplyDeleteOuch. I asusme you've got the quick rack? If not save yourself some time and fit it now... it's a massive improvement. There is not a huge amount of spare thread at the ends. I think if you removed less than 10 mm each side you might (just) be OK.
ReplyDeleteI've just finished setting up the steering today. The rack is the right length without modification, though you do need some extenders which plug into the track rod ends (Peter provided me with these). I did need some small collars to restrict the range by about 10 mm each side to prevent the wings hitting the body, but that's a lot better than the 50 mm+ each side I had with the springs.
You can't use jubilee clips both sides for the collars - on the right hand side of the car, you will need something with a slightly smaller profile as it will have to go into a recess. I just got a 10 mm wide strip of aluminium and wrapped it tightly around the rack, which was perfect. On the other side a jubilee clip will do though it feels like a bodge. A nicer way to do it when you have the rack apart to remove the springs would be to slip a proper collar over each side, probably ideally about 8 mm thick, say 10-12 to be safe. But it's a huge pain to do this once you've done everything up again, hence why I didn't do it.
Dave, couple of questions: Have you got a link to a quick rack as I'm not sure what you mean? I just read your blog re top shock mounts. Your solution looks great. Perhaps you could produce a few of them, I'd be interested!
ReplyDeleteI got mine from Moss:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-GRID009073
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=20437&SortOrder=31
You might already have it - I think Peter is supplying these as standard now, so he should be able to tell you which you have. Or count turns lock-to-lock.
Unfortunately my welding skills aren't up to modifying the shock mount - I had to ask a friend to do the proper welding, so I'm not the right person to ask. It's simple enough to do if you can weld though, just mount the bracket, then weld on the L-profile bit (or temporarily secure it so you can get it welded in the right place if you don't fancy the welding).
Jupp I already have the quick fitting Spitfire steering rack. I believe it will be okay (see my pics from last blog message). Hopefully the track rod end extension will make it long enough. If not maybe I can use the old one too at a pinch or perhaps it becomes dangerous with so many joints?
ReplyDeleteThe new longer extension on its own is what I have - it seems to be about the right length, so I don't think you should need the old one.
ReplyDeleteI'll see how it g oes over the next few days. I may not bother about welding the upper spring bracket. It's seems like a pretty good fit. Otherwise I'll fix it if it gives me problems.
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ReplyDeleteDave, I was just thinking whether one could just cut the spring to length so when it is compressed it is the length you suggested 10 -12mm ?
ReplyDeleteYes, that would work too. Apparently Peter has been fitting the new suspension to a car recently and found he didn't need collars at all, we're not 100% sure why. He had zero toe though, and I'm running some toe out, which will make mine more inclined to contact the body. Could also be slightly different cycle wing positions / wheel offsets.
ReplyDeleteI would make sure you can accommodate a little toe out, then fit whatever collar is needed. That means having the steering all attached, which is why I didn't use the springs (too much hassle to take it apart to fit them, test, adjust, etc).
NB - it looks like you're running a single fuel pump? While the tank is out I would recommend plumbing in a second. Jason found this very helpful to avoid fuel starvation in corners below 1/4 tank - I've followed his advice. It's dead simple to do, just T it in (you may have to modify a pump to permit a return flow).
Yupp single pump. Being not so technically inclined, would you send me a couple of pics and instructions? I need to get a pump from ebay? Is it external or fits in with the blue fuel level guage?
ReplyDeleteNo need for diagrams, it's very very easy. Just buy another pump identical to the first via Ebay, remove the fuel level sender from the tank and replace it with the second pump, so it's all neat and internal. Wire it up (just take a feed off the original pump), and connect the output of each pump into a T, with the third end of the T going to the engine.
ReplyDeleteFor the fuel return, I had to modify one of the pumps (drill a hole and insert a hose connector) as on the M3, only the sender has a return. I don't think that's the case for the non-M3 pumps though. I can send you pics of this modification if you need to do it.