Steve W's Build Diary

[stevew]

Picked up my chassis from the powder coaters today so now the build can start.







Spot the difference to a standard Sonic chassis.

Steve

[buildityourself]

How much was the powdercoat? Drivers floor panel welded in, but why?

[skyrangerman]

Great to see a new Sonic build thread on here, please keep on posting, looking forward to seeing your progress.

Jonathan.

[stevew]

Aug 15, 2018 20:38:30 GMT buildityourself said:

How much was the powdercoat? Drivers floor panel welded in, but why?

Powdercoat for chassis, wishbones, wingstays, rear uprights, rear wing brackets and roll bar was £300 inc vat. Seemed like a good deal to me and the powdercoaters seemed to know what they were doing and masked off the all the bearing and bush housings so I haven't got to clean them out.

Not only is there a floor panel but there is also a lack of bracket for the usual Wilwood pedal box. I found the demonstrator a bit lacking in legroom and as my son is 6' 4", Angus looked at putting in a floor mounted pedal box and managed to get about 4" extra legroom by using one of these:





Has the added bonus of including an accelerator pedal!

Angus was considering offering this as an option, possibly making it standard.

Steve

[buildityourself]

That's a very good price, I was quoted 160 for just the wishbones. Since ordering my kit my son has shot up and is currently 6'1" and size 11+ feet, I'm shorter with smaller feet, so we might have some issues with the pedals too. That looks like a good solution. I did look at these once, but the chassis seemed too big for the cut out. I guess this is where the raised floor helps? Do you have to have a smaller tank now?

[stevew]

Aug 16, 2018 9:03:13 GMT buildityourself said:

That's a very good price, I was quoted 160 for just the wishbones. Since ordering my kit my son has shot up and is currently 6'1" and size 11+ feet, I'm shorter with smaller feet, so we might have some issues with the pedals too. That looks like a good solution. I did look at these once, but the chassis seemed too big for the cut out. I guess this is where the raised floor helps? Do you have to have a smaller tank now?

£160 for the wishbones does sound a lot. Just the chassis would have been £180.

Angus thought the tank would need to be made smaller but in the end managed to squeeze the master cylinders alongside the standard tank.

On the subject of the tank, I'm going to extend the floor to protect it but can't decide whether to fit the extension now, while the chassis is upside down, or after the tank is fitted to give access to the bolts for fitting. Any thoughts?

Steve

[buildityourself]

Nice, we haven't fitted the floor yet for the same reasons, but we have cut out and drilled all the holes while upside down. Still considering covering under the fuel tank, it's not a large area so shouldn't be too difficult to do after. You must have several large holes in this floor though in case of a fuel leak for iva from what I have read.

Stu.

[stevew]

I think I'll fix the floor under the tank now and then drill right down through rails and floor from above when fitting the tank, then open up the holes in the floor to pass the bolts through. Will then serve as the drain holes if needed or I can block them with grommets if not.


Steve

[stevew]

Had a go at trial fitting the suspension before fitting the side panels. Everything went on OK with a bit of persuasion and I think I have everything in the right place. However once the front upright is installed something restricts the suspension movement (without the spring installed) to a couple of inches and is very stiff. Is this normal?


Does this look right?

[buildityourself]

If it was free before putting the uprights in?, I would first look at the top ball joint. The wishbones are unequal length so for them to pivot correctly the upright angle would need to be pretty close, otherwise I guess the ball joints might lock out?. New ball joints are generally pretty stiff too until they have moved about a bit. It doesn't look like you have it screwed in far enough (approx 1/2 to 2/3 of the thread compared to what you have is on the pictures of finished cars I have). You are just ahead of me though so someone who has actually assembled these will be better placed to answer.

[kiwicanfly]

Check that the two ball joints are not binding on the upright under the rubber covers.

I had this happen with one side because the taper bush in the top upright was too big allowing the taper pin to enter too much.

[stevew]

Aug 25, 2018 22:20:33 GMT kiwicanfly said:

Check that the two ball joints are not binding on the upright under the rubber covers.

I had this happen with one side because the taper bush in the top upright was too big allowing the taper pin to enter too much.

Spot on! The top taper on the upright is too big allowing the ball joint to sit too low, like yours.

Steve

[stevew]

Decided to plan out and measure up for the brake lines. Without the rest of the car in place it is difficult to imagine if the route I've chosen will clash with anything later in the build.


Does the route shown in the photos look OK? Will the section near the exhaust along the rear bulkhead get too hot? I don't think curtain wire and masking tape will pass the IVA though.







It is recommended that left and right lines are of equal length, but as you can see mine are not, does this matter?

I'll plan the front lines once I have some working steering and suspension.
Steve

[buildityourself]

I've found the same issue to the point where we have stopped doing the brake lines until more of the major components are in. The rears lines look the same as I currently have planned though. What I'm not sure is where to terminate the hard lines at the rear without the engine and bodywork in position. Some engines are close above the chassis rails so bracket placement here could be critical.

I'd recommend fitting just the front to the rear pipe to the t piece at this stage. Different lengths should not matter for short runs like this.

[stevew]

Thanks Stu. I'm going to use flexible stainless lines throughout, so haven't got to worry about where to terminate hard lines. I will still only fit as far as the T piece for now as you suggest.


Steve