Sunday 23 March 2014

Bonnet pins

Belt & braces - I have not experienced any issue with the bonnet fastening security; however this simple mod ensures there is no lateral movement in the sides and should remove any chance of the bonnet flexing and pushing the catches open.

I decided to tap the top tube to try and minimise impact on the chassis rail integrity; drilled 4.8mm holes tapped out to M6 & some cut down bolts as pins. Finally bought myself a tap wrench, much easier with the right tool for the job:

M6 60mm stainless bolts cut down to approx 45mm, end chamfered on the grinder then installed finger tight with thread lock to stop them shaking loose:

Marking up the bonnet: first the offside located on its catches to mark up the holes on the nearside then vice versa; The holes in the bonnet rail were opened up to M8 so installing and removing the bonnet is still smooth while still limiting its movement once the catches are closed:
  Nearside has pins behind the catches and one either side of the exhaust opening,
  Offsite has pins behind the catches only.


Saturday 22 March 2014

Sump bolt torque - correction

I was just reviewing my blog/torques page and I had recorded 9NM for the sump bolts.

Seemed low?


Double checked the Race-line instructions I see it should 18lbft (progressive tightening) which is more like 24NM. I don't recall if I tightened to the correct torque and recorded it inaccurately  or just plain got the lb-ft to NM conversion wrong at the time;

The Race-line install entry is quoting 18lb-ft so possibly I just setup the Torques page wrong;


Torques page corrected; and a nice little job on the car to double check!

Update - Sump is fine, it was a mistake on the torques write up

Saturday 15 March 2014

Stone Guards

The stone guards were part of the original kit, I just never got around to fitting them; now with around 2k miles on the clock there are a few stone chips on the rear arches so makes sense to finish the job.

I had already trimmed them and shaped them to fit the arch:

I opted for some thin edge trim and rivets about 5cm apart: 

Friday 14 March 2014

MPG Economy

I'm running the stock GBS Power-map day to day; the IVA passing map is filed away for when I need that very lean low end for emissions testing.

Finally this week I got around to some range and economy testing; the MPG important because fuel moving in the tank combined with a badly calibrated gauge means knowing roughly when the next fill up is due is useful.

One run only, mixed driving A roads, stop/start, 30-50mph etc:
I bottled out of driving until the tank was completely empty but it must have been close:

158.8 miles range

23.44 litres fuel

Gives: 30.8 mpg,  9.17 litres/100km, 10.9 km/litre

That will do - no need for the rolling road just yet.


Full 3/4 1/2 1/4 Empty Refilled Litres MPG
0 55 75 126 158.8 158.8 23.4 30.8
159 230 250 - - 267.3 15.3 32.2
0 - - - - - - -

Sunday 9 March 2014

Radio - high pass filter

A simple high pass filter for the radio speakers; I've read this will allow higher volume before distortion by filtering out low frequencies which smaller speakers cant handle.

8ohm speakers, Capacitance to block anything under 150hz thus:
        C = 1/ (2* pi * R * fc)
        C = 1/ (2* 3.14 * 8 * 150)

        C = 0.00013269639066
        C = 132.69639066 uF

Each side has 100uF & 33uF unpolarised capacitors in parallel inserted into the positive line to the speakers:


It didn't seem to make much difference to the sound, and there still appears to be distortion around the 12-13 volume level on the radio. Its entirely possible the calculations I did to select capacitance are off... they were based on some internet research months ago now.

Update - These were removed when the new radio went in, radio is now directly wired to the speakers.

Camera mount & protective lens

Mount revision

Mk1, 2 & 3 camera mounts - the most recent today intending to take the camera view to driver eye line:

My Mini 0801 camera is not quite lined up in its case & looks slightly more left, its also wide angle meaning the mount has to be above it to avoid coming into view. It's mount is really designed to fix to a car front windscreen, hence the angle on my bracket. Taking this for a breif test run showed the camera position is good - but the length of the bracket now introduces vibration and camera shake:

I bevelled the edges on the main straights to try and reduce shake - not tested as yet:

Update - Some camera shake with the longer mk3 bracket, so I added some strengthening, intentionally not flat with the original plate to stabilise it & took the final bend to horizontal:

Lens adaptor mount

I have a couple of U/V and Polarising lenses, which will also protect the camera a little from on-coming road debris. I have a lens mounting kit designed for a go-pro; the lens adaptor modified on dads lathe and mounted in an modified plastic video tape box which in turn will be attached to the camera:

First try with the box lid proof of concept:

This version from the box back leaves enough surrounding platstic with slots to attach a strap around the camera. This is bonding overnight before some more tests:


Update - The mount works fine but I never used the waterproof box or lens cover. I just chanced the camera outside and so far it survived.

Update - Re worked the mount from 5mm aluminium to reduce vibration

Friday 7 March 2014

Tonneau adjustment, Roof test drive

Tonneau

I noticed in the wing mirror of the camera test video, the flap over the tonneau zip was being flung about - so a quick adjustment with a length of velcro to hold it down:

Testing

Took the car around the block this evening to test:

  • Roof:  Front edge is fine, well and truly fastened to the windscreen; just need to finish the back edge with side straps and some more webbing to hold the sides taught when stationary.
  • Tonneau: Perfect, the zip flap doesn't flap anymore.
Progress.

Sunday 2 March 2014

Half Hood Mk2

Another try at the half hood & this time a version which will actually see the road...

I'm using my most recent windscreen hood frame at the front with a simple wide hem to contain it & an opening at one end so I can remove it if need be. The frame is stiff enough (subject to road testing) to stop the middle lifting with either end held securely to the windscreen uprights.

The front is held down with a lift-the-dot fastener either side of the windscreen; while marking up I just pushed the stud through the fabric:

Nearside was cut first:

Underneath I'm cross bracing to the hold down straps at the rear (reason later) and the side edges have webbing sewn in to re-enforce them:

This is the result, all edges have bias tape to neaten them which makes a neat job and easier than hemming. The fabric I'm using doesn't take a crease & you can't iron it heavily due to the waterproof backing. There are pleats at the rear corners to fit over the roll bar - otherwise its completely flat - just takes a lot of trial and error to get the shape right.

In situ with bracing tensioned up. The rear attachment points are again a couple of lift-the-dot fasteners on the back panel which I had installed on the first roof attempt which allow the straps to come up through the boot cover joints:

















The reason for cross bracing and not just square bracing is so the side can be rolled back slightly making entry/exit a little easier. There will be another strap to hold this down in due course:

Its the best attempt so far..    I'm much happier with the windscreen attachment on this version, just the rear corner straps to make (not today) and I can test it. I'm expecting the whole thing to balloon up  when the car is moving due to the low pressure so not overly worried by the sagging at the sides.

If it doesn't work I can always add some more tension straps..

... or just get wet!

Saturday 1 March 2014

Blog Housekeeping

A little housekeeping;

Articles Indexed into categories and build stages

I have updated the blog with categories, and a category index on the right hand panel - it makes navigating for groups of posts on a single subject much easier; especially since on many occasions I jumped about during the build or re-visited areas later on.

The Category word size relates to how many posts are linked. Each post also has its categories listed under its heading to simplify finding any other posts on the same subject.

It is also possible to search within a category using 'label:y x' in the search box e.g.

Search:   'label:interior vinyl'

or multiple labels

Search: 'label: chassis label: steering'


Videos

I have also updated the youtube link in the tool bar & categories - with the intention of posting videos in a more organised way, assuming I can settle on mounting the camera.