John Bonnett Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 I pulled the covers off the car today just to remind me what it looks like. It seems that I've been working on the front end for ever so it was good to confirm that the body is finished and all that remains is to complete the work on the bonnet. So the end really is in sight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted January 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2015 More progress has been made since the last report including work on the bonnet, chassis stripped and off for shot blasting and powder coating and the wiring loom started. A few pictures follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Slow progress over the last week because the wiring cannot be hurried. I've built a bespoke system that is fully protected by individually fused circuits and all the high current components actuated via relays. Many hours have gone into the build and I've lost count of the number of terminals I've had to solder on. But hopefully the time will have been well spent and will ensure reliable operation and ease of fault finding if and when necessary. Alongside the loom build I've been fitting the components to the scuttle including the wiper motor, master cylinders and the header tank. The header tank is necessary because I'm using a Golf radiator rather than a Spitfire or GT6 unit. The header tank (MK4 Astra) has a low coolant level sensor which is a very useful feature being able to flag up a problem before the water temperature goes dangerously high. I've fitted a T7 modular heater because it is small, lightweight and has a good output. And also because I don't have the OE Smiths heater. It has gone in nicely and in conjunction with the bulkhead adapter it's a neat installation. The chassis is due back from the powder coaters early next week so the final build will commence very soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 keep taking the pills, milestones or not this is truly amazing stuff Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 keep taking the pills, milestones or not this is truly amazing stuff Pete It was a bit like that Pete. There were times during the wiring that I felt totally brain dead and despite having my own circuit diagram to follow, I still managed to poke quite a number of the little barbed terminals in the wrong slots. It's a relief that the hard bit is done and that all the circuits work on the bench. The decision to separate the fuse and and relay boxes with plugs and sockets worked out really well and has made handling, and will make fitting, so much easier. For the first time I'm using thinwall cable which is available in the standard colour coding and to my mind is a big improvement over the PVC cable. A friend of mine on the Locost site has just had his car failed at IVA and one of the items was incorrect wiring of the rear fog light. He'd wired it through the side lights when it should only come on with the head lights. I was going to do exactly the same as he did so his misfortune has come at a very good time for me to make the necessary changes; all very easy at this stage. I'm hoping for some serious progress next week as soon as the chassis comes back. I'll keep you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 I'm still waiting for the chassis but have been putting the time to good use. I've got the windscreen washer system assembled so that's another job that can be ticked off. I'm using a late 1500 Spitfire steering column with the wipers/washers on the left hand stalk. Quite modern really. So I have the benefit of an electric pump which is a big advantage over the manual one. Although not everything is in place, all the mounts are now in for the components that fit onto the scuttle shelf with the exception of the Filter King which will wait until the body is on the chassis and the engine in. The sharp eyed amongst you may have spotted the inertia switch which will give a lot of peace of mind. As I mentioned before, I'm using an Astra MK4 header tank and this has the benefit of a coolant level sensor. So, all progressing well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rougeherald Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 John the work on this project is stunning, so please that you have kept posting pictures. Keep up the great work Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 John the work on this project is stunning, so please that you have kept posting pictures. Keep up the great work Aaron Thank you Aaron, I certainly will. I collected the chassis today from the powder coaters so I'm almost ready to begin the final build up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 As a result of unbelievable stupidity on my part that I'm too ashamed to share with you I have lost a couple of days getting the build started. But, all behind me now and we are off. After less than three hours, the rear suspension is pretty much there. I used my own method to attach the spring but, approved or not, it worked very easily. The three pictures show the way it was done. Once all together, the spring will be wrapped in Denso tape which will keep the graphite grease in and the water out. More as it happens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rougeherald Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 Looking good ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Jon, while its all accessible and youve nothing else to do .......whip out one of the 4 front diff plate mount bolts , have a look they should have a tapered shank as the holes in the carrier are larger than the bolt thread dia. as Ive had one naff bolt come loose here and jam the prop its both very noise stop but darn inconvenient they are whats called a wedgelok bolt with a internal sttar washer , anything else can work loose mine was a recon from a 'reputable' retailer , with the come loose std bolts fitted first time in my life we needed recovery, as not able to sort on the road side Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Jon, while its all accessible and youve nothing else to do .......whip out one of the 4 front diff plate mount bolts , have a look they should have a tapered shank as the holes in the carrier are larger than the bolt thread dia. as Ive had one naff bolt come loose here and jam the prop its both very noise stop but darn inconvenient they are whats called a wedgelok bolt with a internal sttar washer , anything else can work loose mine was a recon from a 'reputable' retailer , with the come loose std bolts fitted first time in my life we needed recovery, as not able to sort on the road side Pete Thank you for the advice Pete. I'll check one this very afternoon. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 A good call Pete. They look like standard bolts with separate star washers. If I can't source the correct ones I'll drill the heads and wire them. Thank you very much foir the heads up. A couple of pictures attached. The rear suspension is now finished and brake and fuel lines clipped to the chassis. regards John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 132856 x 4 Rimmers have nice photo of this little sod guess theres loads of wrong ones out there, its not till it comes out you find the problem. Its a hairy way to come to a halt pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 132856 x 4 Rimmers have nice photo of this little sod guess theres loads of wrong ones out there, its not till it comes out you find the problem. Its a hairy way to come to a halt pete Indeed Pete; not something you'd wish to repeat. Even Canley offer the same part number. Looks like I'll be drilling the heads and wiring. I'm very grateful for your advice because it is not something I would have given any thought to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 All because the holes in the plate are bigger than the bolt thread....odd bit of design, I never gave it a thought till we ground to an unceremonous halt now get on with the bodywork ha pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Building up the chassis has been one of the most pleasurable jobs I can remember. It's lovely when everything is either new or clean and freshly painted. And, having been together before with the dummy build everything fitted into place perfectly. The wire wheels I bought new from MWS who supplied and fitted the Michelin XAS asymmetric tread tyres. They are an eexcellent firm to do business with and their products superb. I'm really pleased with the look of them and cannot wait to see them on the finished car. I've wrapped the rear spring with Denso tape which will keep the graphite grease in and the water out. I used it before on the GT6 and it worked really well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Pete I'm very grateful to you for mentioning the potential problem with the diff mounting bolts working loose. The bolts are now very tight, fitted with new star washers and the heads wired. I was unable to track down the correct Wedgelok bolts outside of the States so I hope these measures might prevent a disaster. I have been experimenting making a recess for the bonnet catch. The one in the picture was just an experiment but although it is a bit rough, I think the method is going to work quite nicely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Heres another small point , prop couplings have a face runout tolerance of around 0.002" maybe as much as 0.005" so any paint needs to be removed or the paint can affect flatness and give vibration, the face should be clean and dry paint makes a good lubricant , and the coupling surface grip is lost apart from that the latch recess looks brilliant pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted February 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Heres another small point , prop couplings have a face runout tolerance of around 0.002" maybe as much as 0.005" so any paint needs to be removed or the paint can affect flatness and give vibration, the face should be clean and dry paint makes a good lubricant , and the coupling surface grip is lost apart from that the latch recess looks brilliant pete Pete, what would I do without your very timely advice? I actually inherited this diff all painted and if it had been me I probably would not have painted the mating face. But having said that, I doubt I would have given a thought to cleaning it off. So, thank you once again. I'll attend to it in the morning. regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 your welcome, youre lucky I normally go out to the workshop /car and cant remember why !!!! Ha keep your photo's coming ... inspirational Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 No pictures but work is continuing. I managed to fit the right hand rear wing today; not a job i was looking forward to bearing in mind the difficulties with its counterpart on the other side. The wing is secured in two ways; by M5 stainless steel studs which bolt up to the body and, to make sure it doesn't move, Pliogrip two pack epoxy panel adhesive. The studs have to line up perfectly with their respective holes and coupled with the liberal addition of the adhesive makes it a messy and awkward job with always the concern that it might cure before the wing is tight against the body. Fortunately, much to my relief the job went smoothly and is now done. Another job to tick off. Another job I finished today was forming the recesses for the bonnet catches. I'm waiting for a pair of new catches and I'll put a picture up when they arrive. You may remember that I'm using a MK3 Spitfire scuttle and with that comes the minimalist dashboard which I really like. What I am trying to achieve now is to make the dashboard quickly and easily demountable just like the centre section of the MK4. It is very convenient to be able to access the wiring if the whole thing can be unscrewed and pulled forward. Problem here is that there is not much to fix captive nuts to but I'm working on that and hope to come up with a solution shortly. Pictures to follow. There has been a slight delay on the arrival of the engine because of a problem fitting the distributor. The engine builder is supplying a Lucas electronic distributor matched to the characteristics of the engine but unfortunately the diameter of its shank was too large to fit the Spitfire pedestal. It turns out that the Lucas distributor fitted to the MG Midget 1500 (which mine is) is a different model and needs of course an MG pedestal. One is on the way so I'm hoping to get the engine the early part of next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rougeherald Posted March 3, 2015 Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 Hi John sounds interesting, I have been meaning to ask what the engine was going to be, I suspected a 4 Cylinder given the GT4 name, is it a 1500? Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted March 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 Hi John sounds interesting, I have been meaning to ask what the engine was going to be, I suspected a 4 Cylinder given the GT4 name, is it a 1500? Aaron The engine is being built for me Aaron by John Hewitt Racing. He and his brother race a 1500 engined Midget and in 53 races they have won 50 and crashed on two. So a good pedigree. My engine is not a race spec but should produce a good 100BHP of usable power at the wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted March 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 Sorry Aaron,I forgot to say that it is a 1500 engine. I managed to get the fixings in for the dashboard which should make it a very easy matter to remove it should the need arise. it wasn't totally straightforward because the position of the holes in the backing prevented the Rivnut tool being used. But I got round that by fitting them as captive nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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