The front section of the boot box as it currently stands,
you can see where it's split in two on the right hand side and the
40mm of filler material I've added through the middle
Much hacking of GRP, the rear section is getting there now, I still need to add the half-pipe sections and add in the downwards section to meet the front half but it's looking ok. The front sections are now 40mm deeper than they used to be and hopefully by the end of tomorrow I'll have them fitting together reasonably well. One thing that's taking quite some time is adjusting the alignment where I'm adding filler material. The splints hold it fairly well in place but once it's all solid some fine adjustments are required. The easiest way I've found has been to cut along the edges of the filler material as far as you need to regain alignment, clamp it back in place and then glass over the top. It's far easier this time round because you're only having to worry about the clamping in the single direction that you're adjusting.
Made up a small heat shield out of my double layer ali sheet to guard the master cylinder and fuel lines from the exhaust and made up a couple of revisions of templates for turbo heat shields.
More fibreglassing of the boot box, finishing off another piece of right angle material for use later and adjustments to the rear panel alignment before adding some gel over the top to tidy up. The panels are all going to need a lot of work rubbing them down and cleaning them up but that's all work that can be done late on in the cycle. The important thing for now is getting it to fit, the latest trial fit looks good though.
Made up a removable angled bracket for the heat shield, it has to be removable to allow access to a number of things otherwise it would have been far easier to just rivet it in place. The cardboard template for the main turbo cover now lookes very plausible and the ali should just fold into place. I need to pluck up a fair bit of courage before attempting that though.
More fibreglassing of the boot box and it's coming along nicely, still lots to do though.
Removed the exhaust again so that I can adjust the engine mount that I made up. When Tim popped round he commented on the close proximity of the exhaust to the mount, which I'd been trying to ignore. In the end I just had to take it to bits to put it right. Trimmed about 5mm off the edge of the mount and may take a little more yet, then I'll have to re-drill the hole for the bolt to take account of it's new position. All this should mean that the exhaust has better clearance relative to the engine mount, chassis rail and steering column. Fingers crossed.
The front section of the boot box as it currently stands,
you can see where it's split in two on the right hand side and the
40mm of filler material I've added through the middle
The rear section of the box, this is far more finished than the front
sections and needs only the half pipes adding on either side and the
mating lip adding for it to be finished.
While I'm working on it I'm touching it up a bit so by the time I've finished it should look pretty good.
A section of the right angled filler material that I've made up that
will form part of the joining lip between the two sections. You can
see that I'm using an old ali panel as a flat working surface since
it's nice and easy to release from. The former I'm using is some
100mm right angled ali section, waxed and painted in PVA release
agent. A simple shape like this pops off the former very easily.
More work on the boot box to add in the first part of the vertical section and to add in a retaining lip that will eventually be used to fasten it all together.
On measuring up the component parts of the boot box it has become apparent that the half pipe that I've made up isn't quite wide enough for my purposes so out came the larger cross section guttering to make up some new stuff. The picture above shows it after the top flow coat of gel has gone in, after this I'll add another coat of gel, then surface tissue, then 2-3 layers of CSM.
I've also spent a lot more time adjusting the engine mount. I had previously thought that just trimming it would give me enough clearance but once the exhaust was back on I still wasn't happy. Eventually I rotated the mount and the turret around slightly and trimmed the turret to suit. This has given about 4-5mm clearance onto the mount and onto the chassis rail which should be ample with my stiff mounts.
While I was playing with the engine mount I noticed that the bolt I had used on the steering column UJ was longer than it needed to be and as a result was quite close to the exhaust, the other bolt on the knuckle was only just passing through the nyloc. So off that all came to be sorted out, I doubt that it would ever have actually been a problem but I'd far rather I did the job right so I don't have to worry about anything in future.
Started to fit the cycle wings to the bracket by trimming the edge slightly and marking out where it will attach. I then roughened up the surface of both the bracket and the GRP where it will bond on. Lots of people have used just sikaflex to fasten them on but some of them have come off, particularly if they haven't cleaned and roughened up the surface. I've decided to go for a belt and braces approach of sikaflex then a couple of layers of fibreglass over the top. The plan for today is just to get the sikaflex done on both, to leave overnight to cure fully then fibreglass and then apply rubbercoat. I found it quite tricky to clamp the wings on with spring clamps so I've resorted to 8" G-clamps and lots of masking tape and carboard, I've also added a gallon container of water to further weight it down.
Finished laying up the fibreglass in the drain-pipe mould, it should be ready to turn out later on today.
Turned out the drain pipe and all looks well then looked at further fitting of the boot box. First I drilled holes and bolted the sections together to get reference points, adding rivnuts to locate them. Unfortunately I twigged that the right angled sections I've made up are internal sections and I needed to do right angled ones for the way in which I now plan to use them. No matter though since I chopped them up and glassed them into place as simple flat sections. It'll need more work to tidy up later but that's not a major problem.
Next off was tidying up some of the inside of the box where I've added filler sections. Much sanding later the garage is covered in a thick layer of blue dust, as am I. The result is looking promising, it will need some more sanding but I'm only a few hours work away from having a functional, if still rough looking boot box. For a laugh I stuck it on the scales and was shocked to see it weigh in at 6KG, I guess I shouldn't be that suprised given the amount of extra glass there but it's an awful lot. Eventually I may end up using it to make a buck, from which to make up a lightweight one.
The sikaflex on the first cycle wing still hasn't gone off and I don't have enough clamps and weights to do the second one. A job for during the week.
Passed the milestone of 400 hours (including the stripdown) working on the westfield which takes me almost to twice as long as I spent on the Tiger. Given that a rebuild should be approximately twice as fast as a straight build I dread to think how long I'd be spending to get a new kit to the point at which I'd now be happy with it. I guess that makes me a very sad puppy.
Played with some 32mm steel pipework on the big pipe bender as an experiment to investigate it's uses for coolant pipework. Unfortunately even packed with sand the pipe would crumple, the only way to do 32mm pipes appears to be a proper mandrel setup.
Fibreglassed the first cycle wing in place now that the sikaflex has gone off, then sikaflexed in the second one. As I clamped it down though I heard a cracking noise. I'm hoping that it was just the support snapping into position but I have a suspicion that I may have found a void in the GRP since I'm certain it wasn't overtight at that point. If it is a void I've found it'll be back to Westfield for a replacement. I won't know of course until all the protective material is off the wing after the sikaflex has set.
Lined up and marked out the front and rear sections of the boot box relative to one another. Ran out of time before I could start fitting rivnuts though.
Fibreglassed up the second cycle wing after discovering that the crack that I heard yesterday was a small star crack forming. The root cause appears to be the very corner of the support being pushed into the underside of the GRP while the clamp was on the other side. This really shouldn't be a problem since the pressure should have been pretty even and it should all have been kept from making contact by a couple of mm of sikaflex. Unfortunately the sikaflex wasn't quite thick enough at the very edge.
I thought about replacing it for a while but these sort of star cracks do form eventually no matter how carefull you are with rubbercoat etc and even up close it's not obvious.
More work on the boot box, adding the rivnus to join the front and rear sections together. Lots of finishing to do to make it all look pretty but fundamentally I now have something that meets the essential criteria of a boot box.
Visited Pace with Clem of Cossie-Quantum fame to have a chat to Wayne about my intercooler. Pace have too many toys to really talk about but the most wonderous things were a chargecooler for a 1200BHP drag car that was 10" square and a full 4' long and a spun ali plenum for an 8 injector cossie setup. Needless to say the latter item set both Clem and I thinking and salivating. The mad rush from the start of the race season seems to be starting to ease off so with luck I should be able to pick up the intercooler in a couple of weeks.
Retrieved the carpets from the box in the roofspace and drenched them in upholstery cleaner, water and then scrubbed for my life. I won't upload a cheesy before and after photo but they're much better than they were and should be fine to re-fit in the car.
Painted the inside of the front arches with some rubbercoat style black gunk to protect them and to stop the sunlight shining through. Having seen the mess on Tim's garage floor I masked and covered everything in sight to protect it from the drips. I don't know whether it was the low temperature or the particular variety of gunk that I was using but it was the conistency of margerine so there wasn't a drip in sight.
Visited Steve Wiseman to use up some pre-preg carbon fibre. The difference between pre-preg and wet lay is amazing, it's a very clean process and the results are great. The small NACA duct we made came in at 26grams and the large one at around 40. We've still learning about the process but even my first prototype is very useable with a light rub-down with 600 grit wet and dry then an incredibly thin layer of resin over the top.
More fettling of the boot box and it's coming along nicely, I don't think it'll ever win awards for prettyness but it's damn neat and functional. Also added some more resin onto the naca duct to give it a little more protection from the grubby mitts that will inevitably be grabbing it at the pub.
Started thinking about the interior, I'm planning to add the foam panels onto the tunnel since they really did add to the feeling of solidity and quality in the car. They need trimming a little since the chassis has a few rails in slightly different positions. Before I can do any of that though I need to fix a location for my lighter socket, after much procrastination about squeezing it into the dash or onto the tunnel I've decided to add a mounting for it onto the ECU panel, thereby keeping it tucked up out of sight.
More work on the boot box, trimming down and strengthening the new half-pipe sections that I've added. It's really getting there now.
Added in a removable support for the accesory socket and with the delivery from Woolies added the foam to the tunnel sides. I can highly recommend the aerosol based adhesive for such purposes.
Replaced the toggle switch that operated the horn with a push switch and added in the immobiliser LED. I then tidied up and finalised the under dash wiring for the immobiliser.
Retrieved the interior panels from storage and started cleaning all the grot off the back of them. They'll take more work to get them properly tidied up.
Spent the day yesterday at the Dax openday, gorgeous weather, lots of interesting cars and much fun had by all. I hadn't realised that Dax made up all the fibreglass on site and I was able to wander around their production line pretty freely and was able to learn quite a lot from the various stages of production underway. Pictures from the day are over here.
Armed with the knowledge of how Dax do their moulding I felt confident enought to attempt to take a mould from the front of my arches for some stone guards. I've only started on one side for now, if it all works out well I'll make up the mould for the other side.
Started to tidy up the boot box ready for final fitment with a wet and dry session on the rearmost section. Once that's done I'll use some compounding paste to bring the finish up properly.
Swapped over the washer jet for a slightly different one which fastens in place slightly better. Removed the pedal box to allow easier access for me to start marking up for the interior panels. I also took out the tonneau cover to check it over and give it some air. I don't think I can trust the dimensions given for the poppers in the manual not to have changed so I will have to work out thr popper positions from the tonneau.
The mould from the arch shows some promise although it needs a fair bit of work to get it ready for it's first use, mainly to smooth over all the roughness where the stonechips were on the old arch. I've done most of it but it needed a small amount of extra material adding in a couple of areas that I've left to go off overnight. I have found that releasing it from the arch was really quite difficult so I really need to look at two part moulds even for something comparatively simple like this.
I've finished rubbing down the boot box and gone over it with the compounder and it does look pretty good. It really just needs a little work around the eyelets for the harnesses and some rubber trim to hide the join and I'll declare it done. For the benefit of anyone else wanting to attempt this I suspect I've spent 30 hours on it although a large portion of that was converting a standard boot box for use with a long range tank. Obviously if you start off with the right boot box you'll get it done substantially quicker.
In order to fit the dash I need to pull out the steering column and then rethread that through the dash so off that came. This also gave me some more room to work on the side panels. My original plan was to carefully mark the positions of the fastening clips and drill holes for them based on the markings. Unfortunatley I can't really get the markings acurately with the clips in the panel so I've had to peel back all the leather covering so I can remove the clips and then mark through the fastening holes. All a bit of a nuisance really.
I've tested the immobiliser with everything in it's final positions and it seems to work perfectly. Sooner or later I will end up fitting a push starter but it's not urgent.
Sat in the car for the first time since the rebuild started and couldn't resist picking up the steering wheel, playing with the pedals and making brmm brmm noises. I wasn't really there to play, honest. I've been thinking about the interior panels for a while, with the rest of the panelling on the car some of the holes needed for the concealed fasteners would be very tricky to drill and the panel is quite tricky to fit around the pedals anyway. I was experimenting with and without the panel to see if cutting it down would give me more room in the footwell and if there was anything I could possible catch my feet on if I left it out. I did have a fair bit more room to move and there wasn't anything to impede my feet so I've chopped it down and will refit the leather once I've drilled the holes.
Drilled the holes for the panel then went about re-covering it. Westfield had used masking tape to cover the clips, then some thin foam over the whole panel. I decided to retain the foam then to use some of the discarded leather to cover the clips since with the tape and foam you could still feel the clips. I used spray on adhesive from Woolies to fasten the leather back on and it works brilliantly providing you give it a minute to dry off before pressing the two parts together, it certainly seems to work a lot better than the stuff from B&Q that I used on the Tiger. After refitting the finished drivers side panel started preparing for the passenger side, removing the leather and the clips.
Discovered that the cubby hole in the dash fouled the accessory socket to made up an extended bracket to give it the required clearance. I did toy about putting it on the dash but decided that the dash was already cluttered enough.
On Friday when Tim and some other Dax builders were visiting Tim commented that the old rear arches were actually perfectly serviceable, after thinking it over I decided to try tarting one up a bit. I decided to experiment on the passenger side arch since that was the one that I'd already been taking moulds off and it was the one in worst condition. 20 minutes with the compounder had it looking reasonable with the exception of the badly pitted lower section, that should be covered up nicely by some stone guards so I shan't worry about that too much for now.
I went on to refit the arch using platic number plate bolts, this is a trick that a lot of the Caterham racers use since in an accident it allows the arch to come away without damaging the main bodwork too badly. It certainly seems solid enough so for the sake of a couple of pounds for a bag of 50 nuts and bolts it seems a good investment. After fitting the arch I decided to fit the light cluster to it and hit a snag in that the cabling isn't quite long enough to reach the loom. A bit of a nuisance but relatively easy to sort out.
Fitted the passenger side interior panel, extended the cabling for the lighting block.
Prepped up the mould for the arch protector and started trimming down the mounting blocks for the driver side arch. Once I was happy with the fit I started laying down some wax onto it to protect it during the moulding.
Chargecooler is ready, yipee. Badge and lock kit for the bonnet has arrived from westfield, as have the grommets for the rear panel, which have now been fitted.
Chargecooler is here. All looks really good and it seems to fit. The system looks to be sitting slightly higher than I'd planned, mainly due to the revisions to my original design that we made to improve the airflow through it. I have a suspicion that I may need to trim the radiator ducting slightly to clear it but we'll soon see.
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