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Post by drbrian on May 27, 2018 3:12:44 GMT
Looks good, Keep it up. If you have a question shoot me a text +1-321-543-7165 on whatsup app. I remember cleaning the engine it was a pain, I made my friends kid do it for me. Indentured servitude
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Post by buildityourself on May 27, 2018 20:05:54 GMT
Thanks drbrian. Engine clean up started yesterday. Photos to follow soon.
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Post by buildityourself on May 29, 2018 20:45:04 GMT
Its half term holidays and a bit of recent assembly progress to report on. Fitted the steering column. The Equilibrium Sonic7 chassis now has a raised bar to allow better height adjustment using the standard focus adjustment. Next the Willwood pedal box. This required a bit of filing as the curves on the chassis brackets were preventing it from bolting up tight. Steering rack fitted to its brackets. Preparing the front mounted fuel tank by drilling its mounting brackets.
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Post by buildityourself on May 31, 2018 20:04:57 GMT
We removed the clutch from the engine to check its condition. The Haynes manual states the minimum thickness before replacement is 7.00mm, and you can see in the photo that some of the sections of the disc are level with the dust groves, but not near the rivet heads yet. Despite not slipping when tested you can say this one has pretty much had its life after 53k miles, as it measured 6.99mm. New Valeo friction disc, pressure plate and release bearing ordered, with 20% off with Euro car parts on ebay (ends today!) Engine decreased and corrosion painstakingly removed before painting to protect it from further corrosion. Also treated the alternator to the new colour theme, as you can't see the block at the front of the engine when fitted. Mikey also had his first go at rattle can painting too on the gear level bracket, and the result was pretty good for first go. If you are finding this build log useful please keep liking the posts, as it helps keep up the motivation for the time it takes.
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Post by buildityourself on Jun 19, 2018 20:51:55 GMT
Few minor bits of progress. Mid way reassembling the remaining driveshaft after rebuild. Spot the stupid mistake. After rectifying and finishing it off. I had the coolant pipes extended so that the joint ends are more accessible when the side panels are covering them up. Applied the colour scheme to the new front and rear calipers. We decided to wrap the underside of the alloy floor in carbon vinyl just to protect the alloy from corrosion. This probably won't be that effective, but was a good lesson in how to apply wrap, where the results were not too important if it went a bit wrong. Seat belt anchor eye bought with nut plates. Next major job was to replace the cambelt on the 1.6 engine as it was still presumed to be running its original belt. Great news here as the service history and mileage have proved themselves from how clean and unworn the engine is internally after removing the rocker cover for the first time. Unfortunately we are now temporaryily stuck as we can't undo the crank pulley bolt. This has to come off to remove the belt. The crank does not have a woodruff key, and the timing is just held in place by friction . As any attempts so far have failed, including 300NM impact wrench and 24" breaker bar. The main problem is the engine is not sturdy enough and also trying to lock the flywheel at the same time is tricky, but we thought impact wrench would have sorted that out. Terrified of rounding the bolt or the crank slipping and bending valves, after googling and seeing horror stories! Trying to plan/solve the issues for round 2.
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Post by skyquake on Jun 20, 2018 11:13:42 GMT
I would suggest you try thermal shocking it, to see if you can loosen it up. Best way of doing this is with a blow lamp and a spray can of plumber's freeze.
Get the bolt hot, then blast it with the freeze and get it good and cold. Then heat it up again. Do this a couple of times, and then try to unwind it while the bolt is coldish (don't try and wind it too cold, make sure it's warmed up to a little below room temperature before you lean on it too hard).
Oh, and it sounds silly, but make sure you're winding it the correct way! Some of these bolts have reverse threads on them. If memory serves, this one is normal (anti-clockwise to unwind), but check the replacement bolt to make sure...
Good luck.
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Post by buildityourself on Jun 20, 2018 20:17:50 GMT
Crank bolt update. Tried to improve our chances with the following improvements. Made the engine stand more supportive and stable with extra batterns above and below the frame etc. Made a flywheel lock from old part of a bath frame, to avoid trying to jam this by jamming manually. I drilled two holes to bolt to the starter mount, but this locked in the wrong direction so had to drill another hole to mount as below. Sprayed the bolt head with WD40 over the last two days. Thanks skyquake for the heat suggestion we were ready to try this, but tried one final time with the breaker bar and it finally shifted. Will now leave changing the belt until the weekend rather than rushing in an evening.
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Post by wishful4444 on Jun 21, 2018 17:25:01 GMT
Good day buidityourself
I bought a completed Sonic last year and have some work to do on it including painting various parts.
What paint did you use on the calipers?
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Post by buildityourself on Jun 22, 2018 19:44:23 GMT
Hi wishful4444 . We have used E-tech engine enamel for the calipers. Its rated to 250 deg C. I've used this before on several cars and its lasts at least 5 years and still looks presentable, plus its cheaper than the specialist caliper paint. One tin will do cars worth of calipers. heres a link below . Its available in many colours. Have you posted a pic of your sonic as I'm not sure which one you bought? www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372307482768
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Post by buildityourself on Jun 22, 2018 19:51:11 GMT
Timing belt replaced. Next planned job is to fit grease nipples to the wish bones as recommended on many builds on here. Thanks for the warning and tips, as squeaks and creaks will drive me mad.
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Post by wishful4444 on Jun 24, 2018 16:21:57 GMT
Good day biy
Thanks for reply.
I am unable to post a picture. I bought it last Sept via ebay. It is in the Gulf Racing colours.
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Post by buildityourself on Jul 22, 2018 19:15:32 GMT
Some recent random bits of progress in the 2018 UK heatwave. Drilled and tapped threads for grease nipples on each of the wishbone bush tubes. I thought Mikey might find this tricky but he got the hang of it very quickly. Drilled the holes for the throttle pedal. This is actually quite tricky to work out the right position and then drill because the chassis members are in the way of the drill. The rest of the effort was spent on a custom part of the build to create a double skinned floor. First some aluminium angle bracket was cut and riveted to the chassis in the relevant places to help support the upper floor. We have used ACP (Aluminium Composite Panel) as it is lighter and stronger (but more expensive?) than the equivalent alloy sheet. Placed into the chassis, with a cut out for the handbrake cable bracket.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jul 23, 2018 9:23:43 GMT
Why the double skin floor?
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Post by buildityourself on Jul 23, 2018 19:03:07 GMT
Why the double skin floor? Mostly personal preference I guess, and just to be a bit different! Although the following is some of my reasoning. - I'm hoping it will save covering the floor in heavy rubber matting.
- Stone noise on the alloy floor will be dampened.
- Any heavy person standing on the floor won't be only supported by pop rivets underneath.
- It will hide the only visible chassis rails and brackets in the cockpit (its a sonic7 so they are not a feature like in a rocket ;-))
- It "may" add some extra rigidity.
- Fitting a later centre tunnel will be easier/neater as the floor is flat.
- I wanted an excuse to see what ACP is like, without replacing the alloy that comes as part of the kit. ( I might use the left over bits to use as the bulkheads though now ;-))
Yes I'm probably stretching at some of those!
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Post by buildityourself on Aug 1, 2018 20:56:21 GMT
Latest update on the build. At Stoneleigh we bought the electrostaticmagic diy powder coating kit. www.electrostaticmagic.co.ukThis was so that we could get a good finish on certain visible parts such a brackets and the wishbones. The cost of the kit was less than the quote I had for just the wishbones. To create a sort of booth for the spraying so it could be done outside, we used a large cardboard box. To cure the powder a 180 deg heat source is required, and the kitchen oven was out of bounds due to slight toxic fumes given off when curing, so I found a used oven on gumtree for £10. It was a bargain as it was cleaner than the one in the kitchen! This was fitted into the oven housing from the old kitchen in the garage, so all I need now is a sink! The result on the first engine hook test piece which was previously painted was fantastic, and better than any paint finish I've even done before! 1 step forward, now for 2 back in true diy fashion!!! We repeated the process for one of the wishbones, that had previously been coated in anti rust primer, following internet info (on this forum?) about primering items before powercoating. It started off ok in the oven but as the part heated up, the chemicals in the undercoat turned to gas creating bubbles in the powder coat. Once cooled it looked like a dirty oven tray! This was the result. I've now got to remove this powder coat back to bare metal and also remove the primer from all the other 7 wishbones. Doh, lesson learned, but do I just go with bare metal or try a different primer for round 2?
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