|
Post by James on Dec 13, 2013 19:32:51 GMT
It's Christmas! The three wise men! Thanks very much you guys. The bracket is such a simple and silly mistake, I can't believe it. The extension of the bracket over to the shock bolt was an afterthought so I'll strip it back - it was pretty stable without it. Thanks, too, re the tunnel. Yep, we've just screwed it in place. Easy access will be dead useful. Thanks again for looking out for us.
|
|
|
Post by James on Dec 12, 2013 21:49:07 GMT
Hi Snowbird, Know what you mean about filler cap. We do like the idea of a visible one. Have to find an IVA radius compliant version. Some of the flip-tops have some vicious-looking sharp catches on them. Hi GWNWR, eagle eye! You caught us out there. We have been using spring washers when we can find one to fit in our bit box but you've now made us go and buy a proper selection. We're slowly checking everything now. Thanks for pulling us up. On the pedal - the rubber mount is now virtually redundant. It's just a waterproof gasket really as the top bracing has literally locked out any movement whatsoever. Highly recommended. Hi R2S, glad you are enjoying the pictures. Regarding measurements etc. I strongly recommend not taking too much notice of what we're doing - don't forget that this is a brand new kit and it's our first build. We're really making everything up as we're going along. Following us would really be the 'blind leading the blind'. I don't want you failing IVA because of some nonsense we've done! Our donor was HORRIBLE. Everything was seized and much needed replacing. Next time round - we'd pay more and look at more candidates before buying. Buy the biggest breaker bar you can get! New stainless air filter. Brackets fabricated and fixed to the engine lift ring bolt on one side and the top of the shock bolt on the other. Plenty of spring washers Back cockpit walls fixed in place with self tappers for now. When we're confident with looms etc. we'll probably rivet them permanently. Tunnel front end trimmed and in position. There are some gaps that the plates didn't fill but we're going to leave them until we've done the looms in case the gaps are useful. Next Tuesday we plan to offer up the body. We want to test fit that and get a good handle on the internal spaces before tackling the looms. Can't wait to see it on - once all those brackets are in place and it's solid we'll really feel like we're on the final leg.
|
|
|
Post by James on Nov 28, 2013 9:22:50 GMT
Sorry there hasn't been any posts recently. Because we only get to the car once a week and for increasingly short times (a couple of hours only sometimes) we don't have time to take pics as well. Any way here's a bit of a catch up. (Above) Rad in place. The header tank has been installed on the exhaust manifold side of the block so we ran a new feeder pipe around the near side, across the front and doubled backed it into the radiator. We decided to keep the whole fuel feed system including the 'breather pot' thingymajig that reintroduces the petrol fumes into the injectors. It means finding space and running the third line back from the tank. We just figured, what the heck, it's been put there for a reason. Petrol tank in place and bolted up. We had to make a small bracket on the far side to locate the fourth bolt more conveniently. Two main fuel lines running inside the tunnel. ECU and ABS control unit mounted on the dash on passenger side. Note bits of trim on sharp edges of brackets just in case we get a difficult IV assessor. Steering column wasn't too bad a job, though we were glad of two pairs of hands. We're using the original steering wheel for IVA. We had to buy two new rear handbrake cables and installation was relatively straight forward. The bracket on the tunnel allows for the two cables but not the spring so a slot had to be drilled and filed to provide an anchor point. All nice and solid though. There's a little cable guide dufus in the middle you can see which we kept and used a short length of stainless tube to mount at the correct distance from the tunnel wall. So yes, we decided to keep the ABS. Mounted here in more or less its original position, we ran all new copper (and who thought flares would ever come back in fashion!) Urghhh. Grim. Keen eyes will spot we've moved the fuse box to a more accessible area. Looking at Stuart's prototype and doing some basic measuring, we realsied that where we had put it was too far under the bodywork - the bonnet is not that wide. Throttle cable is also installed. More when we get the chance. Can't wait to get to grips with the loom!
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 17, 2013 7:28:55 GMT
We're getting there with our paint colour too. It will be interesting to meet up in our finished cars and contrast and compare at some point.
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 16, 2013 7:40:25 GMT
I recognise that colour! Nice big space R2S. Good luck. I wish we had a compressor
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 16, 2013 7:34:32 GMT
Pedals in place after another short weekly session. It took a little time to pack out the back of the clutch pedal.... As you can see here we used some high-density foam rubber and an alluminium plate to space out the rear of the pedal so that the bolts had something to tighten up against. Although the pedals were tight and pretty solid we decided that support at the top was preferable. Threaded rods were cut to size and used to anchor the ends of the pedal brackets to the space frame above. Absolutely solid as a rock. Obviously we tested the pedals and succeeded in shooting brake fluid about 15 feet across the workshop. Idiots! We had time to clean up the rad hoses and install those and then we turned our attention on the fuse box. We hope we haven't fixed this too high. We made a bracket out of some 90 degree alluminium and just managed to get it in place on the bulkhead in the corner next to the brake master cylinder. It made us think that we need to offer up the body soon so that we get a good picture of how much space there actually is.
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 10, 2013 8:19:04 GMT
Driver's footwell plate trimmed, fettled and popped into place. Relatively simple once the off-side had been scribed. We've left the tunnel side long until we know what's happening there. Clear silicone used to seal rivet lines this time. Also took the opportunity to run a bead along the extended 'sill'. Passenger side took more time but some patience and plenty of offering up had it sorted. Again, tunnel side left long. Just time left to start cleaning and refurbing some airflow components for the engine bay and the petrol tank for next week. Clutch pedal in position but not connected yet.
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 9, 2013 13:35:55 GMT
Red5, thanks very much for the encouragement. I'm wondering whether we'll be the first to IVA a replicar? Probably not at this rate! Learning a lot from the other threads (Mevster etc.) about IVA. Brilliant resource and some impressive builds. I might make a nuisance of myself nearer the time. R2S, hi matey. Got the edging from Lancaster Rubber co. www.lancasterrubber.co.uk I got 10 metres for thirty quid inc. VAT. I can't tell whether that'll be enough but it looks so good I won't be holding back with the trim.
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 6, 2013 7:53:33 GMT
Ha ha! Excellent.
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 6, 2013 7:41:13 GMT
Finally gave up on two internet vendors who promised shocks at amazing prices and took the money and couldn't deliver. Went for genuine Mazda shocks from an MX5 parts site and got them next day for £20 extra. While Larry got to grips with the spring compressors, some new gaiters and built them up I played around with an idea for the floor pans. 3M aluminium tape. Using a soft seem roller I spent 45 minutes sealing the underside of the floor pans along the rivet lines and around the edges. We know the finished car will not be waterproof (Stirling Moss describes how the original DBR1 sprayed water everywhere through holes in the floor and bulkheads) - it hasn't got a roof for a start! If we need drain holes we'll make them I guess, we just don't want the water travelling into the space frame. Quite an enjoyable job actually. Also managed to get some grey plastic edging from the local rubber company. Looks great with the space frame and makes the whole thing nicer to handle. Don't know how the 'sills' will marry with the bodyshell but if they are rubbing up against each other then having the strip on should minimise wear and tear and help to make a seal of sorts. At last we could flip the frame and marry it to the running gear permanently. Frame is just about the maximum weight for two people to slowly and accurately position (well two people of our age anyway!). We have a pit so we can sort out fuel and brake lines later from below. We've just nipped up all the nylocks provided for attaching the chassis to the sub-frames. Any suggestions for torque settings or should we just give them some welly? Glad you're enjoying the period photos guys. Thanks for letting me know. There'll be a few more along the way. It must be frustrating for you to see such slow progress with us only having one, four-hour session a week. Let me tell you, it's more frustrating for us, but work and life dictates. Oh, for a fortnight of solid building to finish it off! PLEASE let us know if there are glaring faults in our build - this is our first build and the prospect of IVA fills us with dread!
|
|
|
Post by James on Oct 2, 2013 13:21:34 GMT
Hi Snowbird. Impressive packing matey! Good luck with everything on your adventure. When you get to USA look for a donor with good wishbones! Even with the shipping etc I bet you finish yours before we finish DeBoRah! Cheers, James and Larry.
|
|
|
Post by James on Sept 30, 2013 12:40:16 GMT
Here is a unique picture of one of the original five cars courtesy of Graham Bracegirdle. He and his brother have a large selection of photos from this period that they took as young men and developed in their bathroom at home. Notice louvres on bonnet, yellow 'mouth', gills in side vents and number illumination light for 24 hour racing on passenger door. Aston Martin racing bus in background. As the writing says, the legendery Aston driver Reg Parnell inspects the power plant. Thanks, Graham, on behalf of all who are watching this blog, for your generous permission to show these pics. Inspiring. Weekly session tomorrow night. Lets see what gets done!
|
|
|
Post by James on Sept 27, 2013 8:58:34 GMT
Ah haaah! We're back in action! Thanks everyone for your help with the forum. Sorry I got ratty. Thanks too to 'retired 2 soon' who's hoping to set up the Replicar general chat thread. Right... Quick pic above just to show you two relatively cheap headlamp bowls that Larry found on the Interweb. Still fiddling with adjustable mounting bolts but should be OK. Bowls might be fixed permanently and sprayed in with the final body colour post-IVA. First time offering-up of the space frame. What a satisfying moment! I have to say the frame seems perfect. We expected it to fit, of course, but it was just feels good when all the bolt holes, shocks etc. line up and drop into place. Hats off to Stuart and an excellent jig! Excellent idea to have the frame in the grey and we continually celebrate the powder coating. Such a pleasure to handle and such good value. Front shocks still haven't turned up you'll notice. Looks like a 'Mad Max' vehicle or something military. Certainly feels like we're progressing. Frame whipped off and flipped for flooring. Stuart recommends a 75mm overhang on the 'sills' so some carefull measuring was called for to line up the cross members etc. - all very straightforward really. I drilled the rivets and Larry popped them in and we had it done in no time. So quickly, in fact, that we were nearly finished when we realised we'd forgotten to do something. We had discussed applying a bead of silicone seal around all the frames before dropping the floor pan onto it and rivetting it down. Still a good idea I think. We kicked ourselves but weren't about to drill out all we had done so far. We'll come up with something because we don't like the idea of water being trapped between the alluminium and the steel frame. We used 100-120 mm centres on the rivets - probably overkill as it used about 100 in all. Still, why stop when you're having fun.
|
|
|
Post by James on Sept 26, 2013 7:51:05 GMT
Sorry everyone. I'm still trying to work out how to get the recent pics of DeBoRah up for you to see now that my attachment function isn't working. As soon as I do I'll try and get this blog back on track as a sequential record of the build. I think maybe someone should start a General Replicar Chat thread where we can all pool our growing combined knowledge. Any takers?
|
|
|
Post by James on Sept 24, 2013 15:18:37 GMT
Hi R2S. We haven't got that far yet. Working on floors etc tonight so that we can finally start building up. Will let you know when we get there. Cheers. J
|
|