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2/7/2002
Shaped the tunnel side templates to fit.
3/7/2002
Cut and shaped a templates to fit the grp tunnel top. This is going to
be a bit of a bugger to carpet, as all of the curves mean it will be
difficult to fit a single flat piece over it, but it just adds to the
challenge...
Roughly worked out how the levels on the fuel gauge translate to amount of fuel left in the tanks. This ends up being something like (in gallons):
4/7/2002
Finished shaping the bits of alloy to cover the steering column hole
in the driver's footwell panel, and marked and drilled the holes in
the footwell and the two plates. Just a bit awkward with the exhausts
and steering in the way, so the flexible drill extension had to be used.
5/7/2002
Made a paper template for the front of the lhs petrol tank so that
some thick rubber sheeting can be attached (though I haven't quite
worked out how yet). As its directly behind the rear wheel, it needs
some stone-chip protection (just like the bodywork...), and the sender
would need a cover over it anyway.
Checked the measurements of the full-sized carpet templates to the miniature ones I made ages ago when trying to work out how much carpet to buy. They all seem close enough, so I'll be using them to work out how to position all of the sections on the carpet before I start cutting it up, as I don't have space to arrange all of the life-size bits on the carpet in one go.
6/7/2002
Attached the two bits of alloy to cover up the steering column hole,
and sealed it all up with plenty of silicone to fill the small gaps. I
did smear a bit of grease on the steering column first to stop the
silicone from sticking, so that it should form a watertight seal
around it. Hopefully it should keep a bit of the engine bay heat out
as well.
Its ages since I first attempted it, but I filed away a bit more of the lower gearbox casing where its close to the chassis rail in front of the rubber gearbox mount, as when the box is moved down it ends up hitting the chassis. Hopefully I took enough off, though its going to be a bit hard to know until its driven again, by which time I won't have easy access to file any more off. Its a bit dark, but the picture below shows what its like.
I made a start on routing the battery cables to the cutout switch, but ended up making some new clamps for the battery, as the original ones weren't that good. This time, I shaped the edges so that they slot into the holes in the edge of the battery, so it should all be held in place a bit better this time.
Then I started making some alloy p-clips for the battery leads.
With a seat in position I worked out how much carpet was needed around them, and made yet more template for these.
7/7/2002
Changed my mind on how the battery cables are routed, and moved them
from going through the main side engine bay panel to the small one at
the rear, just under the washer bottle. As the battery is going to
have the terminals at the rear (away from the wheel), this keeps the
cables out the way and will reduce any unsupported lengths of cable.
All three cables were then clipped in place, +ve between the starter and battery, and -ve from the battery to the isolation switch, and then down to the chassis. With the bodywork in the way, drilling all of the holes for the clips was a bit awkward, even using the flexible drill extension.
After a few mentions of SVA inspectors now not liking people cable tying the loom to brake/fuel pipes, to be on the safe side I decided to p-clip in place the short run I had that was cable tied to the brake pipe, in the tunnel next to the gearbox. Trying to replace this later on would be a tad difficult, so its much better to do this now rather than risk failing on it and having to change it later on.
8/7/2002
Started making yet another template, but this time an alloy shield for
the battery to stop anything that flies off the wheel damaging it. It
won't be up to Batfink levels of protection, but should be enough to
deflect any stones that get flicked up.
9/7/2002
Finished off the cardboard template, then started chopping up and
shaping my dwindling supply of alloy.
10/7/2002
Finished shaping the alloy, rivetted it together, then drilled and
fitted a couple of rivnuts to the outrigger in front of the battery
tray to mount the shield on. Hopefully it should do the job.
11/7/2002
Added a few sticky foam pads to the battery shield to stop it
rattling, and shaped the initial paper template for the rhs fuel tank
rubber front to fit around the filler pipe and mounting brackets.
I also measured up to see how much pipe is needed to mount the front indicators. The plan for these is to cut a section of pipe long enough to mount the indicators vertically, fit a round wooden bar inside the pipe that is a tight fit, and then cut the pipe in half diagonally lengthways, creating two wedges of the cylinder that can be used to mount each indicator. Filling the pipe with wood will make it easier to mount, as the light can just screw into the wood, and a few screws through the bodywork will hold it all in place. Fitting it all together any other way would end up being relatively complex, requiring clips stuck to the pipe etc. Luckily, it seems that the bodywork is relatively symmetrical in that the angles of the slope in front of each of the headlights seems to be about the same. This means that hopefully only one cut of the pipe is needed to get both sides to initially follow the shape of the bodywork quite well. Of course, the bodywork is anything but flat, so the pipe/block combination will need a bit of fettling to sit flush on the body.
12/7/2002
Made some small scale templates for the four sections of floor carpet,
though as the bit under the seat can have a big hole in the middle it
could be made up from a few smaller bits.
16/7/2002
Put the dash in place and measured up the lengths of heater ducting
hose needed for each side. The wire reinforced length of soft rubber
hose I ripped out of the Maserati over a year ago is just long enough
to do both sides with a small bit of play in each one. The hose was
then chopped, making sure to file down the sharp ends of the wire so
that I don't stab myself with it.
While the dash was in, I also checked that the wiring to the instruments was long enough to reach them. They all seem fine apart from the dial on the far right which needs extending by a couple of inches. I also need to add in the bulb holders for the small instruments which are done differently to the bigger ones for some reason.
While playing with the instruments I thought I'd check the clamps for them fit alright. As the dash is fairly thick, the clamps needed the ends trimming a bit so that there are more than a couple of threads left for the nut to fit on. 3mm off the small clamps and 5mm off the big clamps was enough to leave a decent amount of thread.
17/7/2002
Extended the fuel gauge loom connections by 3 inches so that it will
reach, and put in the bulb holders for the fuel and water gauges. As
my dad took one of the small and large instruments with him to finish
off the holes in the metal plate for the dash, then I'll have to
remember to add in that bulb holder and cut down their clamps to fit
properly.
18/7/2002
Decided to replace the speedo cable with some shielded cable. I don't
know whether it would be affected by any interference or not, but I'd
rather put it in now rather than later if there is a problem with
it. Another advantage is that its much beefier cable, so the run along
the tunnel should be a bit more resistant to any damage it might get.
20/7/2002
Started to fit the mirrors. After reading up on the requirements in
the SVA manual, I worked out what I needed to be able to see, then
sitting in the car I moved them around until I was sure they would see
the required posts and lines. The centre mirror should be fine in the
centre of the car, and the rhs mirror will need mounting pretty much
as far up the windscreen pillar as possible so that it sees over the
rear wheelarch. Due to the adjustment on it, the base needs to be
angled a bit round to the rear, so it can't be mounted flush to the
bodywork and a wedge will need to be fitted.
So, the bolt holes for the wing mirror were marked and drilled at an angle through the lip on the windscreen pillar, and the mirror test fitted. It seemed fine, so I knocked up a small wooden wedge to check the angle it needs to be mounted at.
Some extra bracing will be needed to stop the grp breaking if the mirror gets knocked, and the tubular windscreen support will be the best thing to attach this to. As this isn't fitted yet, I'll have to wait until the windscreen is in before thinking about a metal plate to support the grp.
I then looked at mounting the centre mirror. This originally screwed into the roof lining, so the simplest way to mount it is to glass on a bit of metal to the windscreen frame with threaded holes in that the mirror screws into. The mirror just happens to use M5 screws, which is the only size tap I have (for the fuel tank sender bolts). So, all I need now is a thick bit of alloy which can be threaded - the first thing I thought of was the old Sierra inlet manifold, as that has plenty of flat thick bits in it which can be used. So, I spent a while chopped that up, the main problem being having to chop other bits off to get to the section I wanted. I ended up with a rectangle from the underneath of the manifold, which is thick enough and just about the right size to fit.
23/7/2002
Measured the rolls of carpet I have, then used the small templates to
work out how to arrange them. There is plenty of green spare, but most
of the black will be used up.
24/7/2002
Further work on the centre mirror bracket. Cleaned up the lump of
alloy, then drilled a couple of 4mm holes which will be
threaded. Holding it all in place shows that the alloy isn't quite
thick enough, so I cut another lump of alloy out which will just be
nipped between the first lump and the mirror. I thought about trying
to thread both bits so that the screws would hold in both of them, but
this would probably be a bit awkward to do so it will just have 5mm
holes in it and be clamped instead.
Total hours this month -
32.0
Total build hours -
1239.5
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