build K-Series Gbs Zero

[brumster]

It must be quite a daunting thing for the first-time Zero buyer, mustn't it? I wonder how many prospective customers it puts off, when they ask for a "build manual" and receive a CD with a few hastily thrown-together Word documents and several hundred JPEGs dumped in a folder

 

This time next year, Rodney

[Guest 2b cruising]

Lubbly jubbly.

[brumster]

Getting ready for the next job, the demister vents for the screen. I'd bought some yonks ago for another car but they are straight vents where the hose fits directly pointing downwards, and behind the Zero dash that's going to cause clearance issues. So rather than buy one... yep, you've guessed it... I'll print it!

 

Thanks to Femster from this earlier post, I made a move to Onshape which allowed me to quickly and easily design complex forms like the one needed...

 

 

 

...and then I ran one off at 50% scale just to check it would print ok without any support - because of the 45 degree angle, it's perfect, prints without any needed support and should do the job splendidly... so full size print to start tomorrow of 2 of them!

 

[femster87]

Onshape is quite user friendly. I have made a few items with the printer. The vent looks good

[brumster]

Missed any work on it last weekend but got the vents and wipers done today. Vents printed full-scale... you can see the original straight duct on the left. Would have left parts of the air hose visible round the edge of the dash, I reckon.

 

 

Fitting the vents is nothing complicated. Tape up and marked position with the screen in place (marked the wipers at the same time), remove screen, then out with the dremel/die grinder and cut the aperture out. I think you can all figure out how to fit these ;-). One word of warning - protect any electrics from all the swarf that'll be flying around the place as you cut...

 

 

So the wipers I marked up at the same time. Since my scuttle wasn't pre-drilled I'm going with the park-on-the-left pattern, which isn't the common norm on Zero's but to me it seems to sweep/wipe the drivers side much better, with the blade going pretty much vertical up to the right hand side of the screen. It's hard to know for definite but I spent a bit of time positioning it by hand and trialling 110 degrees of sweep, and I *think* it'll be ok time will tell!

 

Pilot drill, then 8mm drill, then out with the die grinder which makes mincemeat out of thin aluminium so you have to be very gentle/careful with it.

 

 

Getting the shape is pretty easy if you just remove the rubber spacer off the spindle, put it in place and get a small pen/sharpie and mark the inner oval onto the scuttle. I've popped the spindles in loosely for now... job done for today...

 

[fry61]

Went for left park on Florin & did all the theory as you have --- doesn't come out quite the same on the road as wiper drag is greater when screen damp & dirty -- better sweep when pouring though.

[brumster]

The holiday period wasn't as productive as I maybe would have hoped - too much socialising going on (!) - but I did spend some time on a few jobs. Main one was to fit the windscreen; one of the screws that pinches it up had pulled out of the frame so I swapped it for an M3 tapered setscrew and nut, then set about getting the screen in place. This is maybe another one I worried over way more than necessary because, to me, it looks spot on perfect. The sweep looks right, some fine tuning can be made in the wiper blades as they are the adjustable ones - so I can extend them in/out (and also they need a bend putting in them to keep the blade perpendicular to the screen a bit more)... but it seems by offering up the screen first and guestimating the spindle positions by hand has worked...

 

 

Another one of those "arse" jobs in the background that I decided to get over and done with was re-doing the oil pipe to the Accusump. When I came to fit the alternator, it fouled the metal hose fitting at the oil filter housing end, so I needed to re-orient the fitting to point to the back of the car, and loop the hose round the engine mount and back to the Accusump - but there was nowhere near enough length in the hose to do this. So back to Nuneaton Hose & Fittings and get another one made up a bit longer...

 

 

It's kind of hard to make out but you can just about see if looping up the right hand side of this image, round the back of the engine mount, and then it goes into the filter housing underneath the alternator.

 

 

Still plenty of little jobs to do, probably the wiper mechanism under the scuttle next (should be fairly straightforward)... or panel out the boot area... whatever takes my fancy really

[Bob Tucker]

Hi Dan,

I just got a look at your engine mount rubbers. They look like the Jag ones I used....initially.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Motor-Mounts-/50454/i.html?MMake=Jaguar&MModel=XKE

I had two of them tear out the metal threaded part from the rubber.

I couldn't identify the cause of the clutch judder I was getting, but it was a broken mount.

It could have been my setup, or the angle they were fitted (not vertical),

but I changed them for Land Rover ones which were luckily the same height, so

no mods needed, but far tougher.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAND-ROVER-RANGE-ROVER-V8-ENGINE-MOUNT-MOUNTING-RUBBER-PART-NO-ANR1808-/251624000218?fits=Car+Make%3ALand+Rover&hash=item3a95f58ada:g:UM8AAOxy06RRGrdg

 

HTH Bob

 

I think they failed because the metal engine leg from a Jag fits tightly over &

round the rubber..the bolt is just bet & braces

Edited January 6, 2016 by Bob Tucker

[richardm6994]

Dan, If you decide to use the landrover rubber mounts which Bob suggests, I have a brand new pair that you can have.

[brumster]

Ooo, ok, thanks guys. Might be an idea to do sooner rather than later... should be fairly easy to swap them out. They are indeed Jag mounts that I'm using, but actually it's exactly what Caterham also used on the K-Series in their setup. I have their engine mounts and they don't cup the bracket over the mount. And also, they're what was used in the Exmo although admittedly not for much mileage (<500 miles).

 

Is the range rover V8 setup just the mounts sitting on top of them?

 

Steamer, how long is the threaded part on either side of the mount, and diameter? I'll see if the Caterham mounts will go over them with enough thread showing... if so, I'll do the swap.

[Bob Tucker]

As I said earlier, it could well have been my wonky installation putting too much strain on them.

It was always the passenger side mount & it was handling 210 bhp & a fair bit of torque, so maybe that?

The NS mount would tend to lift under severe acceleration. But the Landy ones are fitted identically & have been fine for 5 years.

The arms do just bolt straight on top.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Glad you mentioned this Bob.

I was looking at some expensive mounts for mine but decided to use the Landie ones myself.

I even have 4 in my shed already.

[brumster]

All understood. If they're the same height, I'm happy to swap to them. My only concern is the threaded bolt part doesn't look long enough to go through the Caterham brackets, which might put a stopper on things....

[Guest 2b cruising]

Would a threaded sleeve be to fat?

[richardm6994]

I'll measure tomorrow night, been working late this week