Stoneleigh. Today I'm nursing a HUGE hangover after a barbeque at a mates house. Fortunately Martin offered to drive us up so I could just sit there like a vegetable! The drive up was uneventful. We found that the trailer that I'd acquired had a built in speed limiter set to 57mph where it would start to weave around unnervingly so we made rather slow, but steady progress up to the show. After being redirected from the public car park ('cos we had a kit car even though it was on a trailer) we made our way around to the main entrance and set off to find the Locost area. Well, we all thought it was area 77, which it wasn't, the show guide only had Locust not Locost and that was a different area too! We turned around and drove 50 yards only to have Rory Perret stick his head in the window - no, we were stationary at the time! - and say hi. He seemed as disorientated as we were (me more than the other 2 though ;) and he hopped in as we set off again to find the Locost parking area. Well, we found it err... empty! Apparently about 8 cars had been there on Sunday but none today. Not to be disheartened we just left the car on the trailer and set off to find Ian Stent. Man did I feel ROUGH! A quick look around the halls (I failed to take ANY pictures - doh!) made me realise 3 things. 1 - I want to build a bike engined Locost next, 2 - Martin Keenhan is THE man to go to for Locost stuff and 3 - I REALLY want an Ultima!!! Anyway, Rory made the introductions to Ian Stent and we set off back to the car for some pics and a couple of questions. When we got back to it Rob Lane's Locost was also parked up. It was great to see the car in the flesh (so to speak), it really is a top job. Anyways, questions and photos done we chatted about the bike engined cars and Ian confirmed what I thought about them being a great laugh to drive. Need to finish this one first though! A walk around the autojumble got me a Mountney steering wheel and boss (28 quid) and a polishing kit for the ally. Couldn't find and guages that I liked and the fans were bloody expensive so a not so successful jaunt. I probably could have got more but didn't feel like trudging round too much especially as I had managed to sprain my ankle quite badly the night before (don't ask!). I met up with my mates and we got the seat and exhaust from Ian Gray of Stuart Taylor. Ian joined us for the walk back to the car and gave it a quick scrutineering once over. Other than an illegal battery isolator (doh!) everything seemed OK. Wearily we loaded everything up and made our way home. I'm definitely staying off the booze for next weekend where I hope to get the car fired up for the first time!!
Well, what a momentus day. As I mentioned last week, I'd picked up the exhaust system from Stuart Taylor and so there was nothing to stop us firing the car up! My Samco Silicon hoses hadn't arrived but we made do with some old ones just to keep water in the block. The fan wasn't fitted yet but we didn't intend keeping it running for long anyway so no problem there. Hoses fitted, the engine was filled with water and errr... it pissed it all out of the water pump housing!!! :( I'd been so careful when rebuilding I was sorely miffed that it leaked. Off came the pump to reveal a torn gasket?!? No idea how that happened. Luckily I had a spare which was fitted. Everything tightened, water refilled and.... it still bloody leaked! Arse! We came to the conclusion that the pump face couldn't be perfectly flat (I almost replaced the damn thing too). A good smear round the face and on the gasket with silicon sealant and a bit more tension on the bolts and everything was watertight. Right, next thing was to connect a warning light to the oil pressure sender for safety's sake, connect the fuel line to the pump and drop the other end in a fuel can, and connect the coil to the battery. A bit Heath Robinson but it works! The spark plugs were removed and jump cable was taken from the battery to the starter motor (replaced with a new one this time) to crank the engine to prime the carb with fuel. I can't describe how silky smooth the pistons sounded as the travelled up and down the bores, no rattles, grinds or squeaks - phew! "It turns over so easily" I remarked to Martin "Just wait 'til you put the plugs back in and we've got compression you donut" was his smartarsed reply ;) Well, this was it, the plugs were replaced and the HT leads connected. At this point I was praying that the dizzy was in the right position and the leads were in the right order. I can't stand farting around with that too much as I've had to in the past. So with a good deal of trepidation I connected the jump lead back to the starter motor, a few revolutions and what sounded like a fire shocked me into taking it off again. Regaining my composure the lead was reconnected, Martin manually opened the throttle wide and Baaaarrrrruuuummmmmm!!!!!! I ONLY BLOODY WENT!! I can't explain how happy I was to see something that I'd had in bits and pieces scattered around the workshop floor rev cleanly and as for the sound, well, I never thought anything could sound as good as my Griff let alone a 1300!!! I wish I had and MPEG recording camera to have captured the moment but a still will have to do ;)
Well, after much self congratulation the fire was put out and I was all smiles! Back to reality and the build continues. I'd been a little remiss last week about taking shots of some details that I mentioned. I hope these will rectify it.
Right, so I've got a car that starts, stops and almost steers but it ain't going anywhere without some gears and a prop! Well, the propshaft won't be ready for another week so that leaves the remote gearshift to do. After examining Rob Lane and Peter Dunn's solutions I took the jist of them and modified to suit (surely the essence of Locost building!). Instead of using a rose joint I had a spare gearlever. The original lever was cut down to below the big lumpy thing on the shaft (with the anti-vibration thingy - what on earth do you call it?) and a drilled mount welded on top of it . Slot the lever stem and insert the mount if you want a stronger join. The other lever was ground flat on either side and drilled to accept the connecting spars. I'd run out of metal stuff for the connecting rods so a quick trip to Wickes liberated them of some roof joist hangers which were conveniently galvanized and pre-drilled. The hangers were cut to a length which felt natural when I was seated in the car 11" (ooh matron) and ground at either end to look better aesthetically. Mounting brackets were welded into place in the transmission tunnel and the whole lot bolted together. The linkage bars are connected to the levers with a bolt-washer-bar-washer-lever stem-washer-bar-washer-nyloc to allow free movement in the forward/backward axis. The end result gives an excellent direct feel to the linkage. The problem of reverse selection is solved by keeping the existing 'push-down' operation but you push on the front end of the linkage rather than the rear. This means that I can race safe in the knowledge that I won't inadvertantly slam it into reverse but can easily select the gear to back out of gravel traps/tyre walls/grandstands etc. ;) A polished ally Sparco gearknob finishes the job to look bloody professional (if I do say so myself ;)
Well, finally two minor bits. First the seat. It's made of fibreglass and is high backed so I guess that means that I don't need a pad on the rollbar then?!? The only problem I see is that the seat will be positioned about 8" forward of the rear bulkhead and will need support against it if it is not to crack once my harnesses are done up. That's a job for next week! I eventually decided on a Mountney 12" vinyl wheel bought fo 28 quid from Stoneleigh. It does the job well and looks good to boot! (btw. the pic was taken before I fitted the gearbox remote properly!)
Once again, work takes me to foreign shores and so the car won't progress until my return on the 27th. Bit of a bugger this work malarky as it will have cost me a month of build time so far. Never mind. So, in the mean time, I hope you are enjoying the site and stay tuned for the final few chapters. Byeeee
Well hello again! Finally back in the UK and ready to do some more work to the car. Not that there's a lot that I can do due to a distinct lack of parts. The good news over the last fortnight was that the propshaft finally arrived, the unsurprising news is that Stuart Taylor STILL haven't delivered my bloody steering column downlink. Having been given the excuse that the company that make the UJ's hadn't delivered (for more that 6 weeks!) I offered to return the old ones but Ian Gray assured me that the column would be in by the end of the week - which if course it wasn't!! :( No more Mr. Nice Guy I'll get on the phone today. Anyway, enough of that stuff, you're probably more interested in the build.
Next up, was the wiring of my sole piece of scuttle instrumentation - the starter button. This was a Demon Tweeks item and whilst not cheap, looks the business and more importantly, does the business! When ordering don't forget to order the additional loom it makes life a LOT easier. It's a simple task of connecting up the button as instructed but it's important to remember that the panel needs an earth in order for the ignition LED to work properly. This done I could finally start the car from the drivers seat!!! So a gravity feed fuel tank was temporarily connected along with the battery, the aircraft style ignition circuit switch set to 'on' and I pressed the start button. Woohoo, I'd forgotten how good the engine sounded. Well, although I had no steering, this was a good opportunity to test the gearbox linkage and prop. The clutch needed adjustment on the first attempt as it was gating the gears, but once done, for the first time ever, the car drove a full 5 yards under it's own power :) Couldn't steer the bloody thing of course, but it went! :) Reverse proved easy to select too (although it does take both hands), just light pressure on the front gearlever linkage and it slotted in and backwards I went. So the first testdrive of 10 yards over I made a list of the final hurdles before the car goes to the track. It's almost there! Sorry for the lack of pics for this update, my camera was full. Will be sure to take a few over the next day or two so you can see in more detail what I've been rambling about ;)