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Started to assemble the front uprights and brakes, but realised that most of the bits don't fit easily now that everything has had a coat of paint. Handy tip - before painting any of the Golf bits, check clearances on all touching surfaces, so you don't have to spend ages scraping all the paint off...
2/6/2000
My dad and brother assembled the front uprights and brakes now that they
will all fit together, using the new vented disks and pads.
3/6/2000
Put all four wheels on and lowered it to the ground for the first time!
Unfortunately, it seems the wheels I have don't have the right offset, as
unless full positive camber is set on the front uprights, the tyres end up
touching the ends of the top wishbones. Also, the clearance between the
tyres and the ends of the four trailing arm bolts at the rear are very
close as well. Will have to get some wheel spacers to move the wheels out
a bit, or try and get a new set of wheels with the correct offset
instead.
Checked the fit of the gearbox to find out what sort of cleareances there are between the chassis and the gearbox for routing of the brake and fuel lines and the loom. Seems like there should be enough space all round the chassis rails.
4/6/2000
Made a start on fitting the Sierra pedal box and master cylinder.
6/6/2000
Finished fitting the Sierra pedal box and master cylinder - two holes were
drilled in the top of the mounting bracket to hold the pedal box, and then
two holes were drilled in the front of the brackets (and partly through
the pedal box) to hold the master cylinder and the front of the pedal box.
11/6/2000
Cut and shaped both footwell panels, and drilled the passenger side.
Probably the 2 most awkward panels to do on the whole chassis...
If I was doing it again, I would have made the inner side panels a bit longer so that the footwell panels had something to attach to at the outer edges.
12/6/2000
Finished shaping and drilling the drivers footwell panel.
14/6/2000
Made a start on the front to rear brake line - flared the rear end of it,
and shaped it along the tunnel to the master cylinder. Stupidly I forgot
to put the union on before flaring the line TWICE! So, ended up flaring it
three times - well, plenty of practice anyway...
15/6/2000
Started shaping the front to rear fuel line.
16/6/2000
Drilled holes for the p-clips for the front to rear brake and fuel lines.
17/6/2000
Cut hole in drivers footwell for the steering shaft to go through.
Drilled holes in the front side aluminium panels for the front brake flexis.
Front brake lines cut, shaped and holes for p-clips drilled.
18/6/2000
Removed gearbox reverse stop - this was much easier than I was
expecting. Simply tap out the end plate on the gearbox, and then use a 1/2
inch socket extension bar to prise the reverse stop out. Only took about 5
minutes in total.
Attached drivers side tunnel and both footwell panels.
20/6/2000
Unpeeled the engine from the shrink wrap and had a look at it,
trying to figure out where everything goes on it. Its a 205 block,
so definitely a 2 litre. Sorted out what bolts were needed to attach
the main bits to the engine.
Made some changes to the rear part of the front to rear brake line - very fiddly.
21/6/2000
Flared the master cylinder end of the front to rear brake line (forgetting
to put the union one, so it had to be done twice!), and then drilled the
last p-clip holes for it.
Flared the flexi end of the lhs front brake line, and forgot to put the union on this one as well, so it will have to be chopped off and redone.
I don't know what the problem is, but I just can't seem to remember to put these damn unions on before playing with the flaring tool. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
22/6/2000
Wahey - actually managed to flare the remaining 3 ends of the front brake
lines (and the one buggered up last night) without having to redo any of
them! My brain actually worked this time... Finally finished shaping all
of the brake lines, which can now be rivetted in place.
24/6/2000
Finished shaping the fuel line and drilling the last p-clip holes for
it.
Cleaned and degreased the flywheel and the modified sump. Seemed like the old gasket was welded onto the sump - took a lot of scraping to get it all off...
Removed the old clutch release bearing. The Haynes manual says you just have to hold in the clips on the back of it and it will pop out, but this didn't get anywhere, so it was in with the big screwdriver to prise it out. Once out, I checked the clips and as there was so much muck in the bellhousing the clips were clogged up, so wouldn't press in at all anyway.
Started making an ally plate to cover the bottom half of the open end of the bellhousing, seen as I won't be using an engine adaptor plate between the engine and the gearbox (Jim says he never uses one).
25/6/2000
Finished making the ally plate for the bellhousing. Reassembled the
steering column and connected up to the steering shaft to check
positioning. Started fitting the handbrake lever.
26/6/2000
Tried to test fit the new clutch to the flywheel. Doesn't quite fit onto
the three locating pins, so it seems like something is up with the
alignment. Also cleaned out the flywheel bolt holes in the end of the
crankshaft, as the bolts are not a perfect fit.
26/6/2000
Picked up a new set of flywheel bolts from the local Ford garage at
lunchtime, as nowhere else I tried was able to get them. The Haynes Sierra
manual recommends replacing them, so I thought I might as well just to be
safe, though using the old ones would probably have been alright anyway.
26p + VAT each, and they had some in stock which I was surprised at.
Finished cleaning out the flywheel bolt holes so the bolts now all go in easily, and cleaned the paint out of the various threaded bolt holes in the engine.
30/6/2000
Finished fitting the handbrake lever.
Total hours this month -
55.5
Total build hours -
191.5
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