build K-Series Gbs Zero

[brumster]

So last few days I've chipped away a few hours a day getting various little tasks done. At the moment it's quite nice because if you get fed up of one thing you can flit onto something else for a while.

 

I got the chassis number welded on (but surprise surprise I won't stick any photos up of that ), nothing special, just the usual place on that cross-support at the front of the car, on the right hand side. Numbers/letters are 5mm high, stamped into a length of 3mm thick steel, then I welded that *fully* (ie. all the way around) onto the chassis. This is important for IVA as it needs to be considered a 'permanent' part of the chassis, although quite how anything is ever permanent I don't know (it wouldn't exactly be hard to chop that support leg out and re-weld in another piece of square section tube but hey-ho).

 

 

I then finalised the whole pedal box and master cylinder arrangement, fitting my fabricated spacer (now welded up and sprayed black, you can see it sandwiched between m/c and the chassis bracket) and bolting it all up right and checking actuation.

 

 

It's important to spacer the pedals so that they don't move around too much on the spindle, but more importantly that nothing binds, so I played around with various thicknesses of washers before it was just right. Because I've pushed the clutch pedal over to the left a bit more (if you look carefully in the left picture you will see an additional cut-down vinyl bush to move it over a little) I had to get an additional length of insert to space it out appropriately; the standard metal tube isn't quite long enough for my adjustment.

 

The copper brake lines are also now finished, with short runs for the front to the lower bulkhead panel behind the pedals, then bulkhead fittings through those, and separate runs in the engine bay. Yes, they do clear all the pedals!!

 

 

From there I had the quandry of where to run them down to the front wheels - obviously on the top chassis tube, but on the engine bay side or underneath? I went for underneath - they will be protected a bit more from bashing during construction, and hidden away a bit more. Maybe not so easy to inspect for IVA but realistically the inspector will be able to feel the mountings perfectly adequately for spacing, and if you really need to see them it's nothing a mirror or borescope wouldn't make nice and easy. Mental note to myself to be careful when fitting bonnet fasteners too.

 

 

The spacing is overkill but let's play it safe, it's only pennies for p-clips and rivets! The last p-clip right up near the top suspension mount was too difficult to get a rivet gun into, so it's a large self-tapper holding the p-clip in there.

 

Next job was the get the firewall temporarily in place to figure out where things are going to go... I deliberated at length about the whole battery tray/side panel/firewall/scuttle assembly and read various other posts about them. I plumped for this in the end...

 

 

First, the battery tray goes in. I trimmed this along the left-hand edge to allow the exterior side panel to butt tight up to it rather than overlap (Sikaflex can seal this when both panels are finally in place). The rear of the panel I rivetted down with countersunk rivets so that the firewall panel can sit flush over the top. However I cut away clearances in the battery tray for 6mm rivnuts, and so the firewall is bolted down rather than rivetted, and hence removal/adjustable to a certain degree if need be. I was concerned about lots of alumnium panels overlapping each other, particularly the side panels, as I didn't want to necessitate fitting them yet if at all necessary... but this way I can loosen the firewall and slot them underneath it without too much issue. I also made sure that no rivets or bolts interfere with the pedal box cover panel, which isn't fitted yet but will go on later, so you can see lots of drawings/lines where bits fit.

 

All I can say is the old rule of measure twice, cut once applies or maybe measure four times, even better.

[brumster]

(picture limit in one post hit, so...)

 

Now my idea with the heater, if I can make it work, is to split the assembly in half and mount it either side of the panel. The water matrix can go in the engine bay, so the water piping is all neat without a need to get pipes through the bulkhead, but the fan and enclosure side of the assembly can sit on the other side of the panel and vent the air accordingly...

 

 

So essentially cut this bit away and through-bolt the whole unit...

 

 

I then eventually want to make an ally channel on the engine-bay side that will draw air from either the side bonnetline, or the top, as I do not fancy drawing in air straight from the engine bay - there is the potential here to draw fumes or even fuel vapour or fire straight through the matrix into the passenger compartment, which is a big no-no. So the channel will seal the input to the matrix from the engine bay, instead sucking air from a small opening in the bonnet, either at the side or top. Top would be short and easy but might fall foul of water ingress; side a bit more hassle to do but probably better in terms of withstanding the elements.

 

The heater is then central in the passenger compartment, with 2 outlets each side - one for the footwell and one for the windscreen demisters.

 

So next is to plan out the battery - which, being a gel battery, can be mounted flat on it's side on the battery tray - then sort out the Wurth TRM (traffic regulation module - or fuseboard to you and I) and ECU locations on the inside, while remember to leave some space for the wiper motor at a later date. Need to keep some space free in the central area of the battery tray for a header tank and the coil pack.

[brumster]

Yeah, I run the same heater in the competition car and it's not intrusive at all - and shifts a surprising amount of air for such a small unit, doesn't it!? I noticed on your blog you'd used the same one

 

But yes, I'm with you on your idea, I figured I could use some chassis foam to get an acceptable seal against the bonnet, and then some sort of lip/scoop (but very small) just to stop rain draining straight down into it - it might work. Be a lot easier that routing some sort of 'trunking' over to the passenger side across the firewall and drawing in from the side... will have a fiddle in due course and figure out what I'm going to do, not sure myself yet! Winging it or what

[brumster]

Quick question - I assume these style of vents :-

 

...will not pass IVA if fitted? Planning ahead, I'm considering marking and cutting the side panels for them now, then blanking them off with some ally. I could then remove them post-IVA and fit the vents. Might look a bit tatty in the interim but it would only be short term, and would be a lot easier to mark and cut the panels now while they're off the car.

[knights_templar]

Quick question - I assume these style of vents :-

 

...will not pass IVA if fitted? Planning ahead, I'm considering marking and cutting the side panels for them now, then blanking them off with some ally. I could then remove them post-IVA and fit the vents. Might look a bit tatty in the interim but it would only be short term, and would be a lot easier to mark and cut the panels now while they're off the car.

 

will pass, if you trim the ends of the vent plates

[philshelton]

Would edge trim not be acceptable ?

[brumster]

Edges definately sharp (ie. <2.5mm rounded), yes. However I guess you're right, Phil, you could just put edge trim on them couldn't you!? Then they'd be fine, I guess? Just on the 'blades' that come out... would edge trim be permanent enough? I guess if it fails IVA on them even with the trim, I could just pop them out, blank them off, and re-test pretty easy enough?

 

edit: Knights - do you mean trim the bit that protrudes? So provided it doesn't protrude from the flat profile of the side they'd be fine?

 

edit 2 : Sorry, I understand now, you don't mean "trim them off" you mean put trim on them, don't you! Doh!

[theduck]

Have you considered going for a flared side panel/vent instead? I'm considering that as a post IVA mod on mine and intend to cut a hole in te side panel, then add a flare over it, so the air is drawn out through the hole by air passing over the flare, if that makes any sense? I'll find a photo of what I mean.

 

Edit: bit like the one in this thread http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=157523

[brumster]

Could do, I guess, only reason for these is because I've got them (from the Exmo) and they look fairly inoffensive

[brumster]

Bolted the diff in place for the final time...

 

 

Spacers are needed (supplied with kit) to space the top long bolt and the rear mount. You drill the tab on the chassis to line up with the top of the two rear mounting bolts - I only used the one, which I'm assuming is fine. I needed to add a few washers to get the spacing right but it was fairly straightforward. The lower through-bolt needs the diff tilting to get it in above the wishbone mounts, so do this one first.

 

 

The front bolts have cutouts in the panels but the holes in the chassis tabs were a fraction out and there was no way they would line up. Cue the die grinder (what would I do without it) to elongate them slightly, and we're done.

 

Then I got the rear loom out of the way. I measured a run from the front plug (behind the dash area) to an imaginary rear light cluster, leaving some additional length for error, then drew out a loom of the necessary cable at the necessary length. Only 9 wires needed (two indicators, one fog, one reverse, side lights, brake switch feed, fuel pump, fuel sender and the handbrake switch) but the loom splits at the brake switch to either side of the car.

 

 

I used a bulkhead fitting at the front to neaten how it comes through the panel (and I can then close the gap left at the front of the panel rather than using it to get wires through).... left the wires loose for now but obviously a plug connector will go on the end eventually.

 

 

There are also two 4-core shielded cables there that you can see. These run to the back of each wheel and are fot future expansion really - I might play with the Emerald traction control when it becomes available, so I've ran some cable that can be used to hook up to wheel speed sensors and the like. They just terminate in a loop for now, but easier to run them now rather than plumb them in later....

 

 

I've zip tied the loom up so that it doesn't touch any edges but to be on the safe side you can see I've put edge trim anywhere where a wire or hose comes near a sharp chassis edge. Just seems common sense really, even if it should never really be a problem.

 

 

The loom took the best part of 3 hours today, as it's all made up by hand. I tend to put it in the car, measure and tape loosely at the relevant lengths, guiding it around corners and so forth, marking it with a pen wherever a bend or breakout is needed, then take it out of the chassis and wrap it on the bench. You then get all the bends and breakouts in the right place.

 

That'll do for today; my thumbs got a nice blister on it from pulling the wrap tight !!

[brumster]

Bit more progress from last weekend and this. Most of the time has been taken up on the PC planning and designing the wiring loom. I have a spreadsheet tracking all the pin-outs of the components and sub-looms, which I can then enter pin references in to cross-check everything - I can then spot any connections I've missed easily as it highlights any unwired pins. It also highlights any connections that are not 1:1 so I can remember to crimp multiple wires when I need to. I'm them drawing it up in Visio. The idea is that once it's done and complete I can share it on here for anyone wanting to make their own loom for a 7-type car and if they choose the same distribution board - the Wurth TRM - then they can simply wire up using all my references and know it'll work first time. I doubt anyone will be bothered though, they'll probably just buy one pre-made .

 

 

Managed to get the firewall cut and mount the heater matrix onto it, split as mentioned in a previous post... you can also spot the plastic bulkhead fittings for the wiring looms to pass through...

 

 

The radiator matrix will be boxed in eventually, drawing air from the side or top of the car, not sure where yet - will need to get a few more components in place before I make a final decision about it.

 

My tins of etch primer and paint arrived in the week (from a trade source so sensibly priced), so I got the front steering arms sprayed while I remembered. GBS carrier bag proves useful too....

 

 

While I was painting stuff I decided to get the tank straps out of the way too. Nothing special here, just some 2mm steel strip measured, cut and bent. Drilled each end of the strip for a 6mm bolt, put it on the chassis then marked the chassis legs with a white pen for where to fit rivnuts. I then centre-punched them a fraction outwards (1mm forward on the top hole, 1mm downward on the rear hole) so that when bolted up the strap would definately be under tension. Padded all the parts where tank meets chassis/metal with chassis foam, then installed the rivnuts, centred the tank and bolted up. Perfectly solid - it isn't going anywhere.

 

 

The rear brake caliper brackets finally came from GBS last week too, so I set about finalising the rear end. The brackets go inbetween the outer bearing carrier and the GBS-supplied upright, with no need to any of the packing spacers that GBS supply. Note these are push-in driveshafts. Important to note that the slotted components fit on the right hand side of the car - the upright and the brake bracket will have matching slots machined into the circular apperture. You're looking at the rear left here...

 

 

All the crush tubes were fine tuned length-wise and then packing washers used to take up any significant gaps between tubes and the brackets. I think this topic has been done to death on the forum so I won't go into detail, as there's plenty of posts that provide it. Only issue was the top bushes in the upright, there was nowhere near enough gap to get any packing washers in there but the crush tubes were tuned to suit and, after lots of filing, I got it so they sit nicely in place....

 

 

The important thing here is that the bush freely pivots around the crush tube - it might look like the outer brackets are squeezed and binding onto the nylon bush, but this does freely pivot. The metal tubular inserts are just the right length to space the brackets apart when nipped up by the bolt.

 

You can also see the shock mounts are spherical jointed so have had top-hat washers/spacers machined to locate the damper centrally within the gap. Procomp machined and supplied these to my measurements when I ordered the dampers.

 

Here's how the caliper mounts in place. Note it's upside down. This isn't ideal but it's a choice - you either have it right way up, with the handbrake cable then coming straight out underneath and into the ground, making cable routing very complex (I doubt whether it's really feasible) or you do it this way - the handbrake cable will be easy to route, but the bleed nipple is now at the bottom so the caliper will need to be bled off the car (ie. demounted to allow the bleed nipple to be at the top).... or at least I suspect it will be in order to definately get all the air out. We'll have to see how it goes. A minor annoyance really.

 

 

Will try and do the other side one night in the week. Replacement wheel studs from Grayston are due tomorrow, at which point the hubs can be permanently fitted. Next job is the front wiring loom, trial fit the radiator, then I can get the side panels on. Dreading the scuttle still, for some reason.

 

Oh, stuck the squibber tank in... revel in a job that takes all of 5 minutes and strikes another item off the whiteboard list (anyone else find putting lines through items on a whiteboard as therapeutic as I do, or is it just me!?)

 

 

Question - if the washer reservoir is fitted at IVA, even though there's no windscreen, no wipers, no squirters and it's not even operational, will that cause any issue? Will it result in a comment of "You're obviously planning on putting a windscreen on post-IVA" and cause issues? Am I better removing it and tucking away the wiring for it for now?

[theduck]

I would say you would need to not have it fitted at IVA

[knights_templar]

You will have an issue with the rear panel and your tank mounts, the lower fold fits against the rear cross member.

[brumster]

You will have an issue with the rear panel and your tank mounts, the lower fold fits against the rear cross member.

 

Oh pants ok, thankyou for highlighting this. I'll go on the search for how you guys have done it....

 

edit: Errr.... people just bond it in? Is that it? Are IVA happy with that? Any other suggestions?!

[knights_templar]

yep, just bond. if IVA ask, tank is earthed via tank sender earth connection.