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Simon delivered the chassis in the morning on his way to Thorney (only a few miles from his normal route) which saved me having to hire a van or big trailer to pick it up myself. As the Storm chassis is slightly wider than the Six or Cat chassis, it has to go on the roof of the van, so we had fun taking getting it down onto the ground. Takes up most of the garage once on the axle stands, but there is still enough space all around it, even with the door shut.
Next, made the trip up to Thorney with a small trailer my dad managed to get hold of at the last minute. Met Andy McMinn who was picking up his Six kit at the same time, and he lent a helping hand with lifting the recon engine into the trailer. It wasn't as heavy as I thought it was going to be (as most of the detachable bits weren't on it), but still not exactly lightweight...
Got a first look at the R6, which is very nice indeed. Mmmmmmmm, carbon fibre. Also got the Storm onto the lift to have a look under it to see how everything is supposed to go together. The chassis is a fair bit different to mine, due to it being the prototype, but mainly the same.
Took a checklist of bits with me (very useful), so I knew that I had got everything I was expecting. Squeezed everything into the car and trailer, then headed back home. Got a couple of miles down the road then noticed the first thing that I'd forgotten (which wasn't on the list either) - rear wheel studs. Went back and got them off Sue, and then started the journey back once again. Quick stop off in Cambridge to buy some aluminium sheet cutters (the nibbler type with 3 cutting edges that doesn't bend the sheeting) which unfortunately coincided with the end of a football match, so it took a long time to escape onto the country roads back home.
Once home, the garage and house were filled with bits - seemed far too much to fit into one tiny lightweight car. Finished off the day by painting the drum backing plates and front calipers. The build will be starting tomorrow...
7/5/2000
First proper day of the build. After sorting some of the bits out and
making some extra space in the garage, we made a start on the aluminium
panelling. After taking the chassis out and turning it over, we noticed
that the two large bits we had been given for the floor panels were far
too small - three or four inches too narrow. As the Storm is wider than a
Six or Cat, it seemed like we had been given the wrong floor panels by
mistake. So, made a start on the other panels - got the inner side panels
cut to size and shaped. I never knew putting multiple bends in ally panels
would be so much fun!
Had a look at the fit of the steering column, and it looks like a bit of the chassis is wrong - the bolt that the end of the column rests against is horizontal, which doesn't line up with the box that the rest of the column bolts onto.
8/5/2000
Phoned Sue to ask about the panels, and after getting quotes from local
sheet metal suppliers decided that it was cheaper to drive back up to
Tiger to pick up some new ones that could be delivered for tomorrow (it
would be around 30 quid for two 2ft by 5ft panels). Got some quotes for
changing the bearings on the halfshafts, and dropped them off at a local
garage. Got the rest of the inner side panels cut and shaped, and did the
back as well.
9/5/2000
Drove the 120 mile round trip back up to Tiger to pick up the replacement
aluminium panels. They were about 6 1/2 ft long by 3 1/2 ft wide, so had
to be cut up to fit into my Micra. Also picked up the grp rear corner
panels to go over the trailing arm mounts, the master cylinder rod that
should have been in the kit, and some new track rod ends that I never even
thought about. Good long chat to Jim about how things go together
including the steering column which does seem to be wrong, and then went
back home. Called back round at the garage to pick up the halfshafts - 20
quid cash for the work. Also made a start on cutting and fitting the floor
panels.
10/5/2000
Finished cutting and shaping the floor panels. Cut and attached the front
three panels that go under the radiator and in front of the wheels, as we
thought it would be best to practice drilling, sealing and riveting on
something not quite as important as the floor. Made a start on fitting one
of the floor panels.
11/5/2000
Got both floor panels fitted using some extra large rivets that I already
had. A large zigzag compressible rivet gun was used, which was much easier
than it would have been using a normal hand rivet gun. Still hard work
though. The tunnel and rear corner panels were cut and shaped, and the
bushes were fitted to the five rear suspension arms using washing up
liquid and a bench vice.
12/5/2000
The springs were fitted to the shock absorbers, after the first pair of
spring compressors I had bought were taken back. As the springs have a
smaller diameter and the coils are much closer together than normal car
springs, I chose a compressor that only had one clamp instead of two, but
unfortunately this was too thick to fit between the coils, so I had to
resort to a compressor that had two clamps at each end but was much
thinner. 10 zip ties were used to hold them all together and make sure
they didn't slip off the springs, and we managed to get all four of them
done relatively safely.
The rear corner panels were finished off, and all interior panels except the tunnel were drilled.
13/5/2000
The tunnel and front side panels were drilled, and the inner side and rear
panels were fitted. Tried to hammer the wheel studs into the rear axle,
but only managed to get a couple of mm into the golf pcd hole. Looks like
they will have to be pressed in.
The old balljoints on the modified donor lower wishbones were drilled out. Found that the 8mm allen head bolts used to hold the balljoints in place were too big to fit through the holes in the balljoints, which are around 7 mm.
14/5/2000
Tried to drill out the holes in the balljoints, but blunted a brand new
HSS drill bit in a couple of minutes. Will be phoning Tiger tomorrow to
find out what to do about them.
Had a look at the fit of the Sierra pedal box and the steering column. Still not sure what to do about the column.
Made a start on labelling the wiring loom, which is surprisingly big when taken out of the plastic bag...
16/5/2000
Spoke to Jim about the fit of the steering column, and it seems like when
my chassis was made the steering column jig for the Super Six was used by
accident, so I will need to use a modified steering column, which Simon
will drop off on his way back to London on Saturday.
Seemed I was trying to enlarge the holes in the balljoints the wrong way - as its a cast lump it should be taken slowly with hardly any pressure on the drill and a bit of oil to help keep it cool, letting the drill bit grind away the metal rather than normal high speed and high pressure drilling. With a new drill bit, and using this method, drilling the balljoint holes out was no problem, if a bit slow, with hardly any wear on the drill at all.
18/5/2000
Well, the drill was actually worn a bit, as it refused to do much at all
today, so a quick blast on a sanding stone and it was cutting properly
again. Got the rest of the balljoints finished, so now can make a start on
putting the front suspension together.
20/5/2000
Drilled out the balljoint holes in the top wishbones.
Cleaned powdercoat from all front suspension mounting points so that 12mm
bolts will fit through.
Fitted bushes to front lower wishbones.
Sealed outside of inner ally panels.
Seems like I don't have any 10mm bolts in the kit, which are supposed to
be used on the front lower wishbone front bush clamp. Made a start on
sorting out all nuts, bolts and washers so that I know what I have and
what the build manual says I should have.
Simon dropped off the modified steering column, which now has a freely adjustable end stop on it so that it can be fitted at any angle and moved up and down the column to get a perfect fit.
22/5/2000
Painted the engine mounts and the track rod ends.
Cleaned up the bolts from the donor uprights.
Counted up all nuts, bolts and washers, and found that I don't have some
bolts and the washers needed to put the suspension together.
23/5/2000
Phoned Sue, and she is posting the required bolts and washers needed for
the suspension.
Cut the front balljoint allen head bolts to the required length, from 35mm to 25mm, and fitted to the lower wishbones.
25/5/2000
Attached the upper balljoint carriers to the uprights, after scraping most
of the paint off the contacting surfaces to allow them to fit properly.
27/5/2000
Cut and shaped the front engine bay side panels, cut holes in them for the
steering rack, and then fitted them. Fitted the bushes to the top
wishbones using washing up liquid and a vice, which were a lot more
awkward to fit than the rear bushes.
Fitted the rear wheel studs into the halfshafts using a copper hammer to knock them in, while tightening a wheel nut on the other side at the same time to help pull them in (needed some help to do this). They were still a very tight fit, and a small amount of filing on the new halfshaft holes was required, and the wheel studs were left overnight in the freezer before being used.
The halfshafts were then fitted into the axle (yet more hammering involved), the remaining old oil was poured out and new oil was put in. The axle was then put into the back of the chassis, and connected up to the four trailing arms. It seems like everything is not perfectly lined up, so it took a while to get all of the arms to go in properly. The corners of all front and rear shock mounts were rounded off, as there wasn't enough clearance on them.
28/5/2000
The panhard rod was fitted, and with being the last of the 5 links to be
connected, it was very difficult to get the hole in the bush to line up
with the holes in the chassis mount, but after a little bit of filing to
help guide the bolt through the mount, it was fitted after some light taps
with a lump of wood. The rear shock absorbers were then fitted, along with
the lower front wishbones and the front shock absorbers.
The rear wheel cylinders, brakes and (slightly modified) handbrake cables were fitted, and the drums were put on, after some filing on the golf spacing holes so that they fitted flush with the ends of the halfshafts. Decided not to lower it onto its back wheels, as they would just get in the way, so will just wait until it can be put on all four wheels.
30/5/2000
Phoned Sue about some more bolts that were missing - the ones that hold
the uprights onto the top and bottom balljoints. Apparently they should
have been in when I got the donor bits, so they will be posted.
The Sierra pedal box was dismantled, cleaned and painted by my brother while I was at work. The backs of the rear panels were sealed and patched, and a start was made on the rear brake lines.
31/5/2000
Fitted the front upper wishbones, and the steering rack. Rear brake lines
were cut to length.
Total hours this month -
110.5
Total build hours -
136
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