build K-Series Gbs Zero

[brumster]

Little update for you. Spent the last few days doing lots of tidying-up work, all detail stuff really, closing off the little jobs.

 

I decided to run all the engine bay loom inside conduit to avoid any arguments at IVA. Personally, it's away from being hit by any foreign objects so I'd deem it largely unnecessary over the insulation wrap it had previously, but meh, I did it anyway. Certainly looks a lot neater anyway so you can't grumble for that....

 

 

I treated myself to a professionally-printed rear badge in the end; looks way better than an ABS printed home-made jobbie (even with some acetone vapour bath treatment to smooth it off). It's graphite re-enforced nylon, done by 3Dprintdirect.co.uk, worked out about £5 per badge but I had to get 4 of them to make it worthwhile at £20.... so I have a couple of plain "ZERO" badges if anyone is interested, at cost. PM me. Anyway, came out like this :

 

 

My design has two little locating lugs on the back to help affix. So maybe an obvious tip for people here, but just in case... to mark the holes you need to drill, don't bother making templates or measuring it out, just ink up the lugs with generous amounts of permanent marker and then line it up and touch it onto the bodywork. Remove and presto, your marks for where to drill.... yeah, I know, obvious... but maybe for newbie builders ....

 

 

Looks great, happy with the result there! Looks "proper pro" !!

 

[femster87]

Quick question, I am wiring the sebring with the k series. Can you please show me how you wired the alternator, stater motor back to the battery? Thanks Femi

[brumster]

Quick question, I am wiring the sebring with the k series. Can you please show me how you wired the alternator, stater motor back to the battery? Thanks Femi

 

Sure. First and foremost, the starter is straight to the battery with as short a run of cable as you can manage (while appropriately rated of course).

 

There is the another cable from the battery into my master fuse holder in the picture below (middle centre; with the yellow fuse puller in it) - and I run the main cable from the alternator to that also, and use it as a convenient place to join them (as the battery terminals are too small to cram a load of cables onto them).

 

 

The alternator indicator/exciter wire just runs straight to the dashboard warning light, as normal.

Edited July 12, 2016 by brumster

[femster87]

Thanks

[Guest Clive Scammell]

Great write up - Read it all from start to finish today. Even more so I can not wait to get my own Zero project started.

 

Keep it up.

 

Mad

[brumster]

Great write up - Read it all from start to finish today. Even more so I can not wait to get my own Zero project started.

 

Keep it up.

 

Mad

I think I recognise that username from somewhere

[Guest Clive Scammell]

Maybe - Former 205 owner. Just sold the supercharged pug to move onto probably a zero. Have been active on 205 drivers, retro rides and pug sport forums.

 

205 build thread:

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=66898&page=1

Edited August 15, 2016 by madspikes

[brumster]

Had a minor setback a few weeks back - prior to fitting the dashboard I wanted to finalise all the electrics, so I went for an engine start and - much to my dismay - had no fuel. The fuel pump wasn't working.

 

Unfortunately, common sense dropped straight out of my ass at that point. Rather than trusting myself that "it was working absolutely fine last time, therefore the pump must be knackered" I start thinking I'd cocked up the wiring somewhere during the dashboard tidy-up so started fault tracing from the other end . Not the fuse, not the relay, not my wiring... and, well, yeah... eventually I got to the pump and realised it was doing bugger all.

 

Nothing to do with congealed fuel, before you suggest it - it was all clear- it really was just a case of the fuel pump had said "Nah, had enough of sitting around doing *bleep* all while you faff around on other things". Died of old age, I guess. I can see where it's coming from, in all fairness.

 

Swapped out and we're all back up and running again. The exhaust system is now clamped up tight and I was impressed with how quiet it all is. Did you hear that, Richy, you antisocial *bleep* :D !?!?

 

More to follow....

Edited October 17, 2016 by brumster

[richyb66]

I'll come round and rev my engine!!

[fry61]

Must be better than sitting down-wind of Stuarts engine.

[theduck]

The oil burning and smoke ring feature has been turned off now Bob

[Guest 2b cruising]

Back to the starter.

Would the starter protrude the outer edge of the chassis frame.

If not, a simple wide plate fully welded to the chassis upper and lower tubes would solve this problem.then maybe diagonal eat the leading and trailing edges of the plate if felt they are needed for safety.

[brumster]

Back to the starter.

Would the starter protrude the outer edge of the chassis frame.

If not, a simple wide plate fully welded to the chassis upper and lower tubes would solve this problem.then maybe diagonal eat the leading and trailing edges of the plate if felt they are needed for safety.

 

I'd make a start ripping it back apart and doing that, but unfortunately I sold the bell housing, so it'll just have to stay as it is for now ;)

 

It would have required the chopping out of the corner meeting-point of 3 tubes of the chassis, which I didn't fancy. Don't get me wrong, where there's a will there's a way, but all for the sake of keeping a home-made Fisher Fury bellhousing instead of just swapping to a different one that just put the starter on the other side... well, you get the idea...

[brumster]

A good friend who used to work for Westfield came over today and we pulled the thumb out of my arse and got cracking on a two-day slogathon to get some of the jobs out of the way. It was quite good to see progress but also quite depressing that it really didn't take that long to get through them, so it really is getting along now, it's just the same old story of finding the time. So, day 1 of our 2-day push saw a few jobs finished.

 

We bled the brakes. Because the rear calipers were upside down, they wouldn't bleed properly even with an easi-bleed, so we unbolted them, spun them round a bit to get the nipple to the top, then used the easi-bleed to push the initial load of fluid through. This made the process much quicker and easier.

 

 

 

Start with the back left, then back right, then front left, then front right. Once done on the easi-bleed, we moved to the conventional method of foot and repeated "up", "up", "down", "down", "pump" conversations with each other . We soon started to feel pressure come to the pedal and, all in all, the process was as easy as any other car once the initial push of fluid was done.

 

I popped the thermostat out and checked it's operation just to make sure it hadn't seized, then put it back in, checked all the water hoses were nipped up, and then we filled the cooling system and ran her up to temperature/pressure. It bled straight off, no issues with the thermostat, but I have managed to get the header tank nice and high up with the engine block. Once nice and hot, a quick break of the cap to release some pressure saw the water level rise up and then you could feel the hot water get round the system nice and quick. All was well until we hit 96 degrees and found the cooling fan wasn't coming on.

 

I've still got to figure this, for some reason the Emerald isn't switching the earth that activates the fan relay. It's definitely on the low-current ECU side, because I double-checked all the pins on the relay and everything is as expected, but it seems to ECU is supplying 12v out rather than "sinking" 12v in to ground. I need to ring Emerald and see what the hell is going on there. Temporarily, we pulled the relay and shorted the top/bottom pins just to power the fan, and the fan does a fine job and brings the water temperature back down into the 80's no problem.

 

I sorted the water temperature sender to the dashboard.

I sorted the low brake fluid warning wiring to the dashboard.

I fixed the issue with the reverse light blowing a fuse - this was a "me" moment where I'd simply wired the light wrong. I'd looked at the lamp in the picture below and wired to the two obvious spades without looking closely or thinking - they're actually both earth points to the bulb; the +ve feed to the bulb it up in the top right corner! Doh! Plugged correctly and bingo, everything was sorted, reverse and fog light working properly. I gave myself a kick up the arse for being stupid.

 

 

While doing the low brake fluid warning light, I discovered the handbrake warning switch is knackered, so I need to source a new one of these - the spring plate inside has snapped and doesn't make contact any more (anyone got one spare?).

 

 

Otherwise, we closed off lots of little, pretty inconsequential jobs that really aren't worth filling forum space with - putting convoluted tubing round the handbrake cable ("Westfield always did that; don't ask me why" said Steve. "Let's do it as well then!" said I ). I put some edging trim on the side vent just to make it IVA-safe. I finished all the tubing for the water squibbers, putting earth points in for the heater motor too, just all silly little bits and bobs... 15 minute jobs, but they all mount up.

 

Tomorrow's plan is to get the dashboard in, partially trim the inside, get the seats in, sort the throttle pedal out, then - with a bit of luck - drive her out of the garage under her own steam, stop her, and reverse her back in, and check that everything "works" in that sense. If we have enough time, we'll just carry on with some of the trimming jobs and so forth...

[alanrichey]

While doing the low brake fluid warning light, I discovered the handbrake warning switch is knackered, so I need to source a new one of these - the spring plate inside has snapped and doesn't make contact any more (anyone got one spare?).

 

The only way I could get one was to buy a Sierra handbrake off E-Bay. Cost a tenner, but I now have a spare handbrake lever