Woohoo!! Finally got in touch with Martin at MK. Luckily he's had a finished chassis returned (builder decided they couldn't make the car) and so apart from the roll bar it's ready to go. Should get it sometime next week. Pity I've got to work for the fortnight after that in Majorca then :(
Not too much to report today. Finally got a call from Eltech telling me that the engine bits were ready for collection after being blasted. What can I say? Excellent job. Other than a couple of patches on the block the iron bits looked as though they had been freshly cast! As for the alloy bits, well, they looked as good as new. 100 quid for the lot. Not cheap, but no better way to prepare for re-finishing. A word of advice though. Quite a bit of the cost can be saved by prepping the components properly. I had steam cleaned them all to get rid of the grease but Eltech had to mask off all the blind threads and holes in the block with silicon sealant to protect them from the blasting process. The valve guides hadn't been masked though and you could see where bits of shot had scored them. They were worn however, so needed replacing anyway. Second bit of advice. For alloy components which have been vapour blasted, coat them thoroughly in Jizer or Gunk and leave overnight to dry. This provides a protective layer which takes all the grubby fingermarks whilst you're rebuilding the engine. A quick wash off when you're done and they're good as new again!
Early start for a productive day! So much to do that I wasn't sure of the order to tackle everything. Started by re-checking the valve guides for wear by putting the valves in and wiggling them. Basically any perceptable movement is considered too much wear in tuning terms and move they did! Not much, but enough. On closer inspection the cylinder sleeves were also ridged at the top - again, not by much, but enough. So, a re-bore was needed. There's a local company that Martin recommended that could do the work so I'll send the head/block off to them on Monday for a re-bore, skim and new valve guides. The valves had 20 years worth of soot and carbon on them. Put each one in a drill. Hold it in the vice and lock the drill trigger on so it acts like a lathe. Run a sharp edge gently along the end of the valve stem, over the seat and around to the face (watch out for flying chunks of carbon). Finish with emery cloth/wet & dry (and even autosol if you're me!) and the valves will be good as new.
Next up was a trip to the local breakers to relieve a Cortina of its hubs, uprights, disks and calipers. Some sweating, swearing and 50 quid later and I became the new owner of a rust covered pair. Back to the workshop and out with the wire brush! It's amazing how well these bits come up after you've set to with a drill and a wire brush. The rust blasted off to reveal surprisingly good metalwork beneath which was treated to several coats of red and silver hammerite. The disks showed little wear, just plenty of rust! More wire brushing and they were ready to fit. One of the calipers had siezed (not surprising as they'd been sitting there rusting away for a good few years) and the pad pins were errr.... interesting to get out! A quick strip down of the offending caliper and all was well. The steering rack which I'd removed the weekend before was stripped and painted. The track rod ends were in reasonable nick but I decided to replace them anyway seeing as they were only 9 quid a pair. The new gaitors will be fitted (8 quid a pair) once the paint has cured. The sump and rocker cover had been shot blasted and had a great surface for the paint. Copious amounts of the red stuff were applied for an 'original' (tasteless?) colour combination ;) More hammerite and... well, see the results below.
Well, other than shocks I had all the bits needed to make a rolling chassis. Except a chassis that is! Hopefull I'll get a call from MK early in the week so I can get err... rolling!
Engine decisions today. Well, to have the existing engine re-bored, new pistons and rings, new valve guides, skimmed, and new gaskets/seals will cost about 350 quid. So I decided to give Vegantune a call. Richard Marshall gave me some advice. Basically, they are getting really involved with the Locost series this year and are preparing engines specifically for it which is useful given the strict tuning rules that the 750MC have devised. He advised me to put all the engine bits in a box, take it to them and they would give me an entirely reconditioned engine in exchange! Oh, I would also have to hand over about 1300 quid!!! It should be noted though, that Vegantune will be attending as many of the race as possible with a spare engine. If you should be unlucky enough to blow your (Vegantune) engine in practice, they will replace it with their spare for free! Not a bad deal really. Additionally they will be running a Vegantune drivers award competition for most improved driver at each meeting. The overall winner at the end of the season will win a 1300GT race engine. It's still a lot of cash however and cashflow is tight. So I'm left with 3 options with their relative merits and pitfalls:
Well, as I said early on, I wanted to build as much of this car as I could to learn from the experience. With this in mind I've decided to go for the second option. I'll run the engine for as long as I can before deciding wether it's uncompetitive at which time I'll have the cash (all being well) to get a professionally build race engine. I may even decide to get a bigger lump installed and run in the Kit Car series. But it's early days yet. So, tomorrow the engine goes off to be reconditioned!
Fame at last!!! Well, sort of. Managed to get in touch with MK to find out the progress with the chassis. The good news is that it's finished, the bad news is that I can't collect it until I come back from working in Majorca for a fortnight, but the 'fame' news is that it will be on his stand at the Stafford Kit Car show!!!! To save them building a new chassis they've fitted the racing kit to mine and are going to use it for the Stafford show. I'm away anyway so it's no problem for me and at least my chassis may get some fame out of it. So for all you making their way up to Stafford at the weekend - keep those grubby mits of my car!! ;)
Unfortunately I've got to sign off for a while due to work. I intend to take a week off when I return later in the month so I can catch up. By that time I'll have the chassis and the engine ready to build. I can't wait! So, hasta la vista to all you builders, be sure to check back here on the 27th for the next update, there will be plenty to see!
Back on the project! Well, after two weeks away working I had to go off to Geneva which screwed up my plans of a week off - doh! Anyway, big news today is that the engine is back from the engineering company. So, what does 380 quid get you then (gulp!):
Well, as I explained before I've now got to a stage where I've effectively got an 'as new' engine which can be rebuilt. I'll know that every component that can wear has been replaced and this will hopefully result in some semblance of reliability in the future. This could be seen as a bit extravagent by some builders, but remember, I'm gonna race this car and know to my own cost how corner cutting in the engine department can lead to an early bath on a track day! Work commitments mean that I'll struggle to get much done over the weekend but next week looks better for a couple of days off which means I can finally collect the chassis and bodywork from MK. I'm aiming to get a complete rolling chassis finished by the end of the first week of April.
