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Post by snowbird1 on Jan 21, 2018 16:06:16 GMT
This is an alternate way of making a forward hinge bonnet, basically the pivot slides rearwards about 40mm.   |
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Post by snowbird1 on Jan 21, 2018 16:15:46 GMT
I hid the hold down in the radiator duct so no external fittings:   |
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Post by perthwa on Jan 22, 2018 3:02:45 GMT
Thanks for that information. As you are probably aware, trolling through the site looking for all of the snippets of wisdom takes a long time even with a reasonable word search function. Regards, Bruce. What I did notice was the substantial Aluminium (or should I say Aluminum?) packer that you have between the Grill and the side pods. Interestingly enough, I was considering a bit of rubber, maybe 2mm thick as a spacer because my rudimentary look at the panel lines was that the front was narrower than those towards the cabin. Yours look about 4mm or 5mm? Obviously that was to allow better lines!. and p.s. 2 You are on a bit of a kit car construction thing... Is that 5 I can count? Also just read this from one of your posts: "Looks like it will need 6 mm fillers either side of the grill to get the bonnet/hood to fit, also the RH body side sits slightly forward compared to the LH side - a bit of trimming needed there." Read more: mevowners.proboards.com/thread/8487/arizona-sonic-build#ixzz54seAJcHyThis difference in side pod positioning was something else that I noticed... but as my cabin space is framed up all the way to the engine and dashboard height, I have less room for moving panels about without that dreaded hacking up of the nice gelcoat fibre glass work... but I see I just have to get over that. |
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Post by perthwa on Jan 22, 2018 8:50:08 GMT
Day 34 22nd Jan 2018 Cleaned up the brackets and removed the clamps from yesterday. Spent a bit of time looking at the fixing of the grill to the side pods. Decided that I need a second pair of hands and also now know that I probably have to move a side pod back or the other side forward a bit as they are not the same distance from the frame. Then made up an aluminium insert for the original under hood fuse box (aka 'battery junction box', isn't adult learning a wonderful thing?) as I figure that this will be sitting on a frame rail and even though not very massive, it will tend to sit there and wobble all about. I then cut a bit of Al angle for the whole thing to sit on and drilled a couple of holes to eventually allow fixing by rivnut and three more holes for real rivets. I have not drilled the rivnuts yet as I am making sure that the windscreen cowling has ample room etc once I decide to fix that. I also added a sheet of rubber matting over my hacked out internal strengthener panel. This just means that I do not have shiny metal in contact with some serious red positive wires. It should also cover a few of the holes in the base of the plastic case to reduce water ingress. Well that is the theory! Metal strengthener panel rivetted to base plate of angle.  Rubber matt insert dropped in place.  the angle baseplate with potential bolts for attaching to frame via rivnuts  trial fitment as per plan. The fuse box is still stuffed with wires and was not closed here (mainly because the attachment flap things are bloody difficult to get open, so I decided to leave them until I am done separating wires etc.  Then I decided that the in-car fuse panel should sit in the passenger footwell. Measured it all up and made up some square tubing spacers about 30mm as the back of the fuse panel currently has some connectors hanging off of it. Not sure what they are connected to but have accommodated them for now. Then I drilled and rivnutted the panel to the front firewall frame very temporarily, well the rivnuts were permanent, but the fitting was temporary. Next issue is how to cover the under dash fuse panel so it looks better and still allows relatively easy access come fuse dilemma. I think I will make an Aluminium surround and a removable front panel. That can be tomorrow's work. 9am - 4pm day a quick 7 hours! |
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Post by snowbird1 on Jan 22, 2018 16:53:36 GMT
What I did notice was the substantial Aluminium (or should I say Aluminum?) packer that you have between the Grill and the side pods. Interestingly enough, I was considering a bit of rubber, maybe 2mm thick as a spacer because my rudimentary look at the panel lines was that the front was narrower than those towards the cabin. Yours look about 4mm or 5mm? Obviously that was to allow better lines!. 4 mm seems about right to space the grill - depends what you can find, I got these 3/16" (about 4.7mm) ABS off cuts that should do the job.  |
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Post by snowbird1 on Jan 22, 2018 16:58:01 GMT
and p.s. 2 You are on a bit of a kit car construction thing... Is that 5 I can count? I duno, kit cars seem to be a bit like cats - you adopt one and more keep showing up  . |
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Post by perthwa on Jan 23, 2018 12:59:54 GMT
Day 35 23rd Jan 2018
Order two battery cables. and also adding a cable end to the old battery cable so I can make it the new earthing strap for the negative terminal to the body. Positive was 2.5m and negative 3.2m. I decided to route both of them down the passenger side hence the slightly longer negative cable.
Walked away from one shop who refused to do partial metres in the length. Who the hell makes only unit length cables?
Then returned home to collect together all of the earthing straps. I think I counted 18 of them. This I will reduce when I can confidently start to remove bits from the harness. Tomorrow should be the day when I power up the system and see where I am at, or where the Duratech is at. I will attach all of the earths to the body and then connect the battery.
Spent 5 hours working on the car, including the shopping trip to the auto electrician shop, and not a lot to show for it. I had to solder a couple of wires that I had cut to allow me to separate some components. For example: the interior light as I plane to install that under the dash as it comes on briefly when the car is disarmed and because it will be handy for a person getting in or out at night etc.
Likewise, I am looking at using the rear boot latch to lock down the front bonnet. I know that seems strange but as far as I can see, I need a latch and the boot one works and looks relatively easy to modify; so that is the plan... the segue being that i have stripped these components from the rear lighting loom and moved them forward. hence the cutting of a few tangled wires.
I can here some of you cringing but just let me dream a bit... I can always come back to reality when my grand plans get me overwhelmed!
Ok tomorrow is getting all the electrical stuff to work; that then leads to running the Duratech and that then makes me make a decision of dealing with the duratech system or chucking it out and buying a Zetech. That then determines what Bearings that I purchase and getting the bearing casings made for the rear uprights... Remember that discussion from two weeks ago?
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Post by buildityourself on Jan 23, 2018 19:42:15 GMT
I don't think reusing the electric boot lock sounds mad. It allows a discrete secure locking mechanism, until the battery is flat ;-). I am considering the same for either the engine cover or the front bonnet. Your planned sequence reminds me of my home diy projects. Trying to explain why I've not done a job yet can be exhausting.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 24, 2018 1:44:14 GMT
Thanks for the positives, (Some pun intended). wrt the battery going flat. I haven't actually been able to open the boot lock since the day I disconnected the battery from the donor. I dismantled the whole mechanism still attached to the bracket locking thing, Doh!. Now thinking that with the battery under the bonnet and the bonnet locked by a switch controlled from the battery, that maybe a plan 'B' is not a bad idea. I will see if I can locate two wires that I can hook up to a 9 volt torch type battery to get the pin to unlock in an emergency... (or if I can reach the battery terminals through the wishbone holes to connect jumper leads!)... I do like the exploring of options. Just picked up my three cables now going to see if i can connect the bits and get some coloured things to show up on the dash panels...  |
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jan 24, 2018 2:19:59 GMT
I believe you are required to have secondary locking of the bonnet in Oz in case the primary system fails. The catch you are using is for the boot so will more than likely need the backup.
I had to do the same over here, I put a short wire strop and clip in to back up the aerocatch, my examiner accepted this even though it was possible to forget to clip on. One of your fellow builders made something that was automatic, a bit 'ug;y' but could not be forgotten about.
On the other hand if you are "rear opening" then may it be less of an issue.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 24, 2018 9:11:57 GMT
Day 36 24th Jan 2018 - 31 years of wedded bliss...
As well as picking up the leads I connected the earth wires via 4 major connectors to the frame. Ditto for the battery negative strap. Then connected everything positive and unhooked the shed fire extinguisher said a quick prayer and connected the positive terminals...
There was no smoke and nothing got hot. The push button on the key makes a noise at the engine, a relay or something, ditto for a few other places. The boot lid latch actually works. so now it is actually uncoupled. Tried the hazard lights, they work. The parking lights causes a beeping noise in the dash... but no lights. I will flick through the menus later. Dash displays previous mileage. some of the dash lights work. especially the red flashing one.
Not panicking yet. a quick 2 hours including the pushbike ride to the electrical shop for the leads. Then off to the twilight athletics meet where I just spent 3 hours setting up the equipment... now going back as a spectator. I think the aniversary dinner for two will be tomorrow night!
And yes, I am planning on the reverse opening bonnet.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 25, 2018 11:02:10 GMT
Day 37 25th Jan 2018 Lazy day after 2 hours of gardening. Started with the simplest circuit in the car. The horn. Traced the wires from the relay to the horn to the earth. re-earthed the horn earth via a stray earth lead and then the horn worked. Re-earthed the other five wires on the same position and then the parking lights worked and the beeping noise stopped. Now I have horn, hazards, parking lights, bonnet release (aka rear boot release) which are all necessary and working. Only fifty more circuits to check and get working! Engine seems to be reasonably happy. Looking at how I can get it relatively fixed so I can add fuel and exhaust and get it to turn over. A mere 2 hours of electrical play... still not confident enough to leave it all connected when I am not watching...  |
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Post by perthwa on Jan 26, 2018 14:48:00 GMT
Day 38 26th Jan 2018
Day of electricity issues. Moved the engine onto a support frame (aka home made engine mount) with the intention of starting it.
Turn on ignition; message says doors all open. add a wire across the connectors for all 4 doors and the computer is now a bit more happier. brake reservoir empty... bridge that switch and computer is happy with outcome.
steering system fault; reconnect the 8 wires I cut as I was convinced that this would be standalone (wrong) and reconnected all of the plugs into all of the components and still not happy... get to that soon; well maybe tomorrow...
Fuel tank not happy...not really surprised as it was outside. so I installed it (i.e. stuck it in the cabin) and put in the connector. sorted. added some fuel and still says '0' km... so something to do still here. Not sure I can here pump priming BUT i need a bit more research here.
Connected radiator to engine, filled with coolant...added the exhaust system. I know there was an engine issue as we stepped through the diagnostic menu and there were 5 error codes. I turned the key to no avail... not what I wanted but probably what I expected! I will look through the engine error codes and see where we are at.
Most of the warning lights on the dash are on; brakes etc...so more to research required here as well. I did suspect it would not really like the airbags etc being disconnected but I figure they can be resolved...
Good news is that the arming system is working. the interior lights come on when armed. The headlights work, the parking lights etc, Indicators aka turn signals are functional.
10 - 5pm - 7 hours working on all things electrical...Not counting my son's labour!
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Post by perthwa on Jan 27, 2018 12:47:22 GMT
Day 39 27th Jan 2018
Frustrating 2 hours trying to decode fuel pump issues. pulled the pump out of donor tank. fuel sensor reads on dash, so that is ok. Fuel pump has a low, read almost nil, voltage and the pump does not prime. A bit more research tells me that this pump works on variable pump voltage that is controlled via a range of sensor inputs. Just need to get some more info on how to test or determine why I can not get the pump to prime.
I will test the earth connections to the tank tomorrow and do a bit more work on resolving this issue..
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Post by perthwa on Jan 28, 2018 15:01:18 GMT
Day 40 28th Jan 2018
Basically a zero day. spent time looking into DTC error code readers etc. Back to work tomorrow so only night shift car jobs for a while.
Relocated 3 earth wires into places where they will probably end up and re-checked the error codes. I am convinced that the computer keeps hold of messages so I will find a code reader and then get access to delete messages and then re run the diagnostics. There can not be too many errors as the engine is pretty much exactly as it was lifted from the Donor. Only me mucking around with ESC wires and Air bag stuff.
More to come...
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