24/02/08
I've finally got round to doing some of the jobs I'd planned to do last winter. The headlights have been replaced with much smaller ones and new front indicators are now fitted to the nose cone/bonnet. Fitting the new lights was easy enough, but unravelling the existing wiring from the Spirap took some time.
The new headlights are connected with these new waterproof connectors. I bought the lights and indicators from M&P Direct and the connectors and wiring came from Auto Electric Supplies
My new headlights are said to be a bit marginal when it comes to the MOT test. To prevent any problems in the future, I've kept the old headlights and brackets. The wiring has been fitted with the same plugs as my new lights, so it's a quick and easy job to swap them over if needed.
Another of the waterproof connectors is used for the indicator wiring to the nose cone.
02/03/08
Fitted the new front brake discs (since changing to the Mintex 1144 pads, the discs wear out faster than the pads, but I don't mind that as new discs are much cheaper than the pads), then cleaned, Copaslipped and fitted the calipers, pads and mountings.
Next, I made some longer front mudguard brackets and Rod turned up two new spacers, so the front mudguards are now centred over the whole width of the tyres again.
09/03/08
After we carried his arc welder round to my garage, Rod welded the gear lever bracket in its new position. I then rubbed down, masked and painted the area.
Rod thought the gear lever bracket should be better supported at the base, so he made me this pair of gussets out of 3.2mm stainless plate.
After refitting the fuel pipes, I've modified the handbrake cable layout, as suggested by Daniel Taylor. The hole in the rear bulkhead has been enlarged for the cable to come right through it. The cable then locates in a new bracket bolted to the harness mounting plate. This arrangement does away with the extension studding and joiners I'd used before.
I gave the boot area and Snake Pit a good clean (it's amazing how much crud gets in there), then fitted a new fuel filter and refitted the fuel tank, hoses and wiring.
When I tried to refit the passenger foot rest, it fouled on one of the gear linkages. I hacked a piece out of it to clear the linkage, then riveted a piece of aluminium angle across each side. It's stiffer now than it was when new.
One of next weekend's jobs is to fit this new brake bias valve in the rear brake line. I bought it from Compbrake's eBay store for a very reasonable £37.50 including next-day delivery. This should finally stop the rear wheels from locking up before the fronts.
16/03/08
Not a very productive weekend in the garage. I'm still recovering from a stinking cold, but managed to get a bit done, including buying and fitting a new radiator. I tripped over a leg of the engine crane and dropped the old radiator, damaging the core. After that minor disaster, I spent some time tidying and organising the garage and work bench, then fitted the brake bias valve and bled the brakes.
The brake bias valve fitted and plumbed in. With that done, the seats and harnesses were refitted.
30/03/08
I've had to reposition the air filter housing, due to the higher PG1 mounting. This meant getting a new piece of hose and an aluminium elbow to connect it to the throttle body. The throttle body itself is a replacement item - the original plastic one kept sticking when hot, giving a high idle speed. Dean at All Car Spares had an aluminium version from a later Rover, which bolted straight on.
13/04/08
There isn't room for the original cam belt covers, so I've made this shield from High Impact Polystyrene Sheet. I always ran the 1400 engine without any covers, but the VVC engines are a bit more valuable. I'd hate to ruin this one due to a wayward stone.
On full left lock, the O/S/F wheel points directly at the lower pulleys. The shield should now protect them from grit and stones thrown off the tyres - especially the slicks.
The bonnet covers the upper pulleys when closed and there's
plenty of overlap between the two, so that's
probably as much as I can do
for side protection.
I've also
ordered some proper mesh for the front
grille, to stop any stones
coming in from the front.
It'll also give the
new radiator some
protection.
27/04/08
Back from France and I've fitted the new grille mesh. I'm collecting the trailer tomorrow evening and I'll tax the car on Tuesday.
02/05/08
I've collected the trailer, cleaned it and checked the brakes and wheel bearings. I then made a new passenger seat for the car out of 3mm aluminium to match the driver's seat. The car was taxed yesterday, so I was able to do a few local shake-down miles on the road before taking it to Colerne and Stoneleigh. After trundling around all Winter in a diesel Astra, the Onyx always feels ridiculously fast and agile when I first drive it again in the Spring.
The new passenger seat. It's much stiffer and deeper than the old one, but the same height and width so I could reuse the cushions.
03/05/08
Another great day at Colerne. The car has improved and changed so much, I've got to relearn how to drive it! The combination of the Torsen diff and the brake bias valve makes the car much more stable on corner entry and exit. After the first session, I was on slicks all day and I deliberately stayed out on them during and after a shower. Airfield tarmac seems to be very grippy, so I had no trouble braking on the damp surface and the clever diff meant that the car pulled strongly out of the tighter corners, without spinning the inside wheel as before. The closer gaps between gear ratios is a big improvement too, but I had to get used to being in a different gear than before, so I treated the day as a long test and learning session. I'm very pleased with the quick rack too - I could get round the track easily using only half a turn in each direction of the steering wheel. The steering feels much more precise and accurate too, the old Metro rack must have been more worn and sloppy than I realised.
As usual, the engine didn't miss a beat all day (I did 140 miles on track), but I did had a couple of minor issues. The first was with the driveshafts. The grease in the outer CV joints was melting and being flung all over the insides of the front wheels. When I fitted these joints (from the Metro) to the MGF driveshafts, I used cable ties to hold the boots on. These obviously weren't up to the job, hence the leakage. I cleaned up the mess at lunchtime and fitted another two cable ties to each joint, doing them up as tight as I could with a pair of pliers. This stopped any further leakage, but I'll have to replace the ties with the proper metal ones soon. The CV joints will probably need regreasing at the same time. The second problem was one of the O/S/R wheel studs came loose when I was changing the wheels over. I managed to pull it back into place with a pair of long-nosed pliers and was just able to carefully put the nut on. I think another hub from a breaker should sort the problem. I'll also have to get my second set of slicks fitted, as this day at Colerne has finished off the first set. Amazingly they've lasted over a year (I originally thought they'd only do 3 or 4 events) and the second set should last even longer as they have even more "tread" to start with.
04/05/08
My annual trip to Stoneleigh. After surviving a thunderstorm on the M5 between Stroud and Gloucester, the rest of the journey was dry. I got to the showground around 9.40 and parked in one of the cow sheds, signed for individual entries. There were a few showers forecast, so being inside meant I didn't have to worry about covering the car up. There were plenty of people at the show, although the halls seemed to have less manufacturers than before. The MEV Rocket and the Blitzworld KR3 caught my eye as possible future projects - I enjoy doing mechanical and electrical jobs, but I'm not keen on bodywork, so these two cars appeal as they don't have any! I then managed to get a few bits and pieces from the trade stands, wandered around most of the club sites outside and ate lots of junk food. The time always goes quickly at Stoneleigh and at 5pm I headed home.
10/05/08
Bought two more sets of 7-spoke alloy wheels and got the second set of slick tyres fitted to the best four wheels. The next best set will be refurbished and have new road tyres fitted. The cross-spoke alloys with the Yokohama tyres will then be sold on eBay and I'll weigh the roughest 7-spoke wheels in for their scrap value.
24/05/08
Got some proper metal CV boot clips and a pair of pliers to fit them on eBay. I also got a tin of CV grease from Millards, so I removed the driveshafts and cleaned out as much of the old grease as possible (what a lovely job!). I then regreased the joints, refitted the boots with the new clips and put the driveshafts back in.
31/05/08
Removed the rear hubs and checked all the wheel studs. As well as the very loose one on the O/S, one of the studs in the N/S hub was slightly wobbly so I've fitted a pair of late, used hubs from Andy at APS. The next outing for the car is another Autosolo event at Chepstow on the 14th of June, so hopefully these few little problems are all sorted now. I've also taken 5 of the 7-spoke alloys over to Phil at Keynsham Industrial Finishers (the same place that powder-coated my chassis) for refurbishing. He's stacked out with work and warned me it could be 3 or 4 weeks before he can start on them, but I don't mind waiting as I'm in no great rush.
14/06/08
Another "Auto Challenge" or All Forwards Autotest at Chepstow Racecourse, organised by the BPMC. I did the same event last July and thoroughly enjoyed it. Held in the car parking and unloading area near the stables and jockeys' accommodation, it consisted of four different courses marked out with cones. Each course had between 12 and 14 gates which had to be passed through in order, against the clock. We all had three timed runs on each course, with the the best two runs counting towards the final results.
Most of the gates were on tarmac, but the last 2 or 3 were on a loose gravel surface. Two of the courses included driving up a narrow hill, turning around a cone then coming back down to the remaining gates. I struggled with these two layouts as I had to crawl round in first gear on full lock to get round in the space available. Some of the more experienced competitors were using the handbrake or power sliding around the cone, which saved a lot of time.
My times on the two courses without the hill section were quite good and I finished 2nd in class - 9th overall, out of 21 entrants. The whole day only cost £25 and competitors didn't need a competition licence or helmet to take part, so it was a very enjoyable and good value for money event. I'll certainly be going again! Some pictures from the day can be seen here.
I did have one problem during the day at Chepstow. When accelerating hard from a standstill, there was a lot of juddering and a few clonking noises. I had a look under the bonnet at lunchtime and noticed that the radiator had come off its lower mountings. What I suspect happened is that the front subframe twisted under the load from the mounting that I made. I'm sure the mount itself is strong enough, but the front part of the subframe wasn't rigid enough to take the load. I refitted the radiator back in place and tried not to launch the car quite as hard during the afternoon runs.
17/06/08
Took the car up to Track Developments near Sherston to have a new engine steady and bracket made and fitted. While the car was there I also asked Dave G to weigh it, which is something I've wanted to have done since building it. With me in the car and about half a gallon of fuel the total weight was 566KG. The car on its own was 494KG. That makes my weight 72KG (all lean muscle, of course!), which is exactly what my bathroom scales say. I'm very pleased that the car is under 500KG, especially with a VVC engine, PG1 'box and Torsen diff. I thought it would be somewhere between 500 and 550KG. Dave said he's only seen one other road-legal car under 500KG, which was a very highly developed (and expensive) Westfield.
The new lower engine mount/steady. The car was raised on a four-post lift, so Dave could easily do all the work from underneath. First, he welded two fish plates to the rear of the subframe (which is much stronger and stiffer than at the front). Next the original centre bracket was shortened and welded to a steel tube which houses a pair of polyurethane bushes. To finish it all off, Dave then painted the brackets and lock-wired the fixing bolts.
25/06/08
Another small improvement. The original Rover nuts for alloy wheels have a chrome-plated sleeve which tends to distort, making it difficult to get a socket on and off them. Another surf on eBay turned up a new set of nuts for earlier Ford alloys, which have exactly the same thread and taper as the Rover ones, but no flimsy sleeves.
12/07/08
Collected the alloys from Keynsham Industrial Coatings today. I'm amazed at the transformation. They've been chemically stripped, shot blasted, powder coated and baked. All for £30 per wheel. Thanks Phil!