At Last!. I have started on my car ;-) PART 2

TNT's website said that my carbon fibre tubes from China should be delivered today, but no sign at 1733 :-(

The aluminium bar required to finish the ends arrived yesterday so I can get on with that.
 
The website does state that:

Please note that the date specified is an estimated delivery date and is subject to change.

:-(
 
|B

How do you actually cut them down to size Steve? Is it a junior hacksaw job? Just wondering if the cut ends would stay neat or if they splinter easily.
 
I am using 40mm tubes as they are. The 25mm tube will be cut using either a Dremel or electric hacksaw (proper name escapes me at the moment!). Ends stay pretty neat but can be tidied with emery cloth or similar if required.
 
Spent this afternoon finishing the wheelie bar rod end supports. However the bar shown, with one long and one short end, weighs in at 2.5Kg, so I need to do a little more work on them.

 
I discovered a design flaw in by rod end supports. I had bored the bars past the pont where the carbon tube finishes meaning a weakened tube at the stress point. Supports now modifed to remove this oversight/cockup and lightened at the same time. The grooves in the sections that slip inside the tubes are to give the adhesive more to grip on to.

Weight saving around 1kg for the set.



 
OG i don't know weather you are interested in a you tube vid of Jay Lenno taking a ronin RS211 lotus elise for a run turbo 1.8ltr engine producing 680 hp at back wheels and sounds great.
 
suzsx041 said:
OG i don't know weather you are interested in a you tube vid of Jay Lenno taking a ronin RS211 lotus elise for a run turbo 1.8ltr engine producing 680 hp at back wheels and sounds great.
Click to expand...
Thanks but seen it. I know Frank and had a ride in the car in August :)

 
Aluminium tube for wheelie bar stiffening brackets arrived today, as did replacement circlips for driveshafts so I can get on with both tasks.
 
CV joints fitted to drivesahfts using thinner circlips from China. Perfect fit.



Second attempt at making stiffening brackets failed. Third attempt was successful. 2 made 1 to go. Next task is to make the brackets that willbe welded to these and also to fabricate the ends for the 25mm diameter stiffen bars.



I originally planned to glue these to the tube but that would make repairs problematic. So a small grub screw at each end should suffice.

 
Wheelie bar support bracket tubes finished, apart from two brackets that have to be welded to each one to which the bracing tubes will be attached.



In order to be able to remove them in the event of damage I decided to secure them to the tube with grub screws rather than glue.



Top tube fitted to bracket.



 
Well, that's Christmas over for another year. Back to having fun :)

First fit of driveshafts. All seems to fit nicely, so remove, clean and replace.







 
Spent part of the evening making these for the wheelie bar. Brackets made from U section shown (1 made, 2 to go) are to be welded to the sleeves made a few days ago and the adjustable straps (left and right hand threads) fit between them:

 
Rear suspension now complete! (apart from proper gaiter ties)





If you were sad enough, comparing the above photo with earlier ones you would have noticed that the carbon fibre push rod looks thicker in the later photo. You would be correct. I have never been totally happy with the strength of these rods so decided to do something about it. By sleeving the original tubes (glued together) I have more than doubled their strength:







Suspension is pretty much complete. Just need to go round and torque up recently added nuts and bolts and reinstall engine and gearbox. I will then be ready to start fitting the body !!!!

 
herb said:
With these being bespoke parts how do you know what to torque the nuts upto?
Click to expand...

Bolts have a design torque independent of the parts being clamped. I have torque charts for aluminium, steel and titanium bolts for both dry and lubricated threads.
 
Just spent a good part of this afternoon finishing the rear suspension that I thought I had more or less completed.

I think back end is now actually finished, but I will give it a final check and look over tomorrow to see what I have missed :)

Actually, no it isn't. Just remembered that I need to look up torque setting for hub nut!
 
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It gets done when it gets done, but I am hoping for this year. I have said this for quite a few years but it does seem to be moving on.
 
A sure sign that I am getting nearer to finishing the car:

Just ordered 2 litres of AP Racing 551 brake fluid.

It has been recommended that I use Champion QC57C plugs for racing and QC59C for road use. Comments?
 
Now that is a name from the past, had no idea Champion were still going. Not familiar with that model spark plug so I looked it up. Not sure if you know this Steve, according to a website I looked at many Champion products are being made obsolete; you might want to take this into account in case your spark plugs are due to go on the list.
This is the website I looked at: http://www.sparkplugs.co.uk/champion-racing-spark-plug-qc57c The statement is in the product description.
 
Sometimes I amaze myself at my stupidity. I was grinding off the obsolete ARB bracket and faild to notice that I was also cutting cut through the engine mount support! What a plonker. I will have to get the MIG welder working so I can patch it up.

 
On a brighter note, I have been torquing up the front suspension today. Torque Seal came to the rescue again. I had torqued up the hub/disc bolts on the offside a while ago (torqued sealed) and assumed that I had done the nearside. However, on inspection there was no orange mark. Phew! There is now.

 
I should have bought soem fireworks. Car is sitting on wheels for the first time it what seems like years and actually is.

Wheels are Sierra wheels I had lying around but will do the job for now:



Before I packed up for the evening I thought that I would get my corner scales out to check that they still work. I was also keen to see what the weight was up to -)






247kg. Body weighs around 110kg. Engine 140kg. Gearbox 36kg. 533kg so far. Lots of bits to go.
 
With reference to post #1320



With reference to post #1319

Have a quick look in case you missed it Steve, I would hate for you to come unstuck ;)
 
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