14, Dash

So, for the dash.......I have eventually fitted the dash into the car to have a look - this was a fiddly job as the thing is a little wobbly in terms of shape and the fixing are all at different angles so rather difficult to get holes to line up - unless you drill them, make them a bit bigger, then a little bigger, then massive - and then they fit!

So thought I would try out a few dial positions and pop the steering wheel on (donor one that came with column), and stalks to see how it all fits.

So the above dial positions seems very standard - then I tried this - which I quite like...doesnt look great in the photo but good in reality.....but who knows I will keep trying things.... I think this is one of those things that is all down to your personal choice

The 'helper' also wanted to have a go and took great delight in spinning the wheel...

One thing I did notice was that the wiper stalk is far too close to the body - the indicator one is fine however.  The annoying thing is that this is a newer stalk as the original one was broken. The old one however was a different angle and would have been fine - ffs!  This steering column is one part of the build I won't forget with the drama of getting it and fitting it and ...and...and....

It doesn't end either - As I cut the dash along the marked line from AK and its a little bigger thant the actual column shroud - so I will need to see what i do about that - it isn't covered yet so this may help but not sure it will solve the whole issue!

Also the column is missing the bottom shroud - fking column!!!!!  so I will need to hunt one of these down!.

So I have now managed to source a set of covers from ebay - just need to pick them up and the weekend so fingers crossed!

As for the dash layout I think i have finally reached a decision...after many attempts:

Boring

Smiley face - NO!

Eyebrows?

Just awful

Quite like this.

Winer....

So I think this is the best one in my opinion so this is the chosen one for at least now.....we will see.  Although the key switch needs to disappear as its not symmetrical, so this will have to go somewhere else!

So after all these trials and careful marking I drilled the holes for the water temp and pressure gauge in the wrong place - DOH!  so it actually looks like this now......but wasn't terrible still happy with the result.

Will add photo when I take one!

So from the issue mentioned above of the marked line on the steering column cut out not being correct I ave tried to recover this by marking out the difference and then taping the dash to some card, making a template in tape of where it needed to be and then filling the gap - we will see how it comes out....a mess or a solution???  we will see...

13, Doors Boot Bonnet

So I have started to look at boot bonnet and doors - I need to cut the wood for the door panels and get rubber seals for round all of them....so trawling round bay i found this place that sells many different seals and handy bags of all the different types to trial fit before buying....

So I have picked right angles seals for the doors and vertical for the boot and bonnet. Someone might buy these for me for exams - if I can wait that long (it will never happen!).

Now to cut the door templates.....and then I will need the locks etc - but I need to have the money to make an order from S&J - as I need lights etc from them also as well as locks etc so need to save some $$$.

So 3m of Door seals and 11m of bonnet and boot seals - lets see how they fit when they arrive!

So they have arrived.....popped it around the bonnet and  - HEY PRESTO it doesn't fit!  It holds the bonnet far too high.....F&^%*YRHG*Y^$*FHH!!!!!

Ring Ring....call to AK yet again to ask what they use....Jon tells me that they use a company for the seals and gives me their name (escapes me as I write this).....and then gives the code number for the seal to order.....WHY ISNT IT IN THE MANUAL?!?!?!?  FFS!!!!

So another £50 down the toilet - they are not even on the recommended supplier light...GRRRR!!

So will be placing an order with the correct place for the simple 'U' shaped seal soon....

So whilst I was at the Classic Car Show at the NEC - I stumbled across 'Woolies' who do the seal i required - something like SDS26 or something - 7m Jon said - I bought 8 just in case.....so I now have the 'proper' stuff rather than the one i bought - my scrap pile is getting bigger and more expensive all the time!!!

Will fit it when i have 5!

Oh and by the way - YES that is my carpet - and not I didn't pick it!  It was in the house when we bought it and NO I don't live in a pub!  It will all be getting ditched - the house needs doing as well as the car!  Im juggling the two at the moment!

So new rubber on -all good - fits well ....a lot better than the one that didn't fit anyway ; )

Bought the Number plate lamp at the Classic Car Show from SVC so thought I would fit it....The bolts on it aren't long enough to get through the boot as its very thick in this area (double skin) due to the wire harness running through so I had to modify it (should have know that nothing would work first time) so longer bolts fitted and all good.

The other thing that I didn't like was where the wire came though the boot inside then i would be looping it back through the boot again to put it into the lamp - so i drilled the hole at the back of the lamp and then pushed the wire back into the boot and pushed it through the double skin gap to get it into the lamp - this means that i can fill the inside and have it flush....nice!

The first shine bit is fitted!

So for the boot latch I wanted it to be hidden - a) because I don't line the 'T' handles much and b) so i don't have everything squashed on the boot.....so i sourced some internal latches and now to see how on earth mount it. So first up was to mount the latch on the boot base - this has a wire pul to open the boot - I will then mount a lever in thecae to open the boot.I mounted the latch on wood an then used P40 to cover it and seal it into place - it is also bolted though the chassis - but had to use rivets in reverse to that they don't protrude under the car as the tank goes hard against the boot bottom.

 Now to mount the striker on the boot lid - same applies - screwed in from the outside countersunk in - if they do show through the paint a little it won't matter as the plate will be covering this area.

And it works!!!

12, Pedals

So the pedal box has been mounted for a while (held in by the brake servo and clutch cylinder), but the brake servo fits straight onto the pedal but the clutch master cylinder is far too long so some alteration...and i don't have a clevis pin for it so need to order on with a 5/16" thread. 

 So trimmed and clevis fitted - all good - seems about right - surely not a job done right first time? - hmm we will see.

So obviously I had to try them out to make sure they all work.  I didn't make any car noises honest - that would be childish!

Feels good to have these in place. Little didi I know that some time later they would all be coming out - see brakes section.....not because it was wrong.....but was annoying anyway.

11, Support the body

Not really worthy of a separate page but not sure where else to put this......So when working on the body I was looking for a way to support the floor whilst I was in and out all the time - I had put a pallet under to get it off the floor and it has worked a treat!  Not only has it kept the car off the floor to a good enough height it has meant I can stand inside (and pretend to drive!) without going through the floor!

10, Fuel pump & Lines

So its time to start to think about the fuel system - as the tank is in I can start to populate the fuel system.

There is no guidance on this in the manual but here is what I have found out...

Pump required is a Bosch 044 pump and a Sytek filter with metal filter element due to the high pressure of the fuel.

The filter is to be placed after the pump and not before - apparently the Bosch pump does not like 'sucking' through a filter so no pre-filter is required.  The pump has a built in filter anyway so will be fine.

I read one post on the forum about the layout of the fuel system and they T'eed off the feed into the engine and then back form the regulator into the same line.  This seemed odd to me so I asked around whether this was a good idea.  Basically - no it isn't.  This will prevent the regulator from regulating as it only has a pressurised line to try to feed into - it needs a depressurised line back to the tank to allow it to disperse any unwanted fuel.

Apparently by T'eeing into the feed line you can cause over-fueling so I will be avoiding this.

I also contacted AK they also said to run a full and separate return line so this is what I will be doing.

SEE LAST BIT AS I HAD TO CHANGE THE LOCATION OF THE PUMP AND FILTER FROM THE BELOW!!!

 So the original plan was to carry the feed up the LHS and the Return down the RHS - but as I was struggling to fit the brake pipes and fuel line together I decided to do them both down the same side - Should be ok - I hope!

Pipes mounted with 16mm Rubber P clips which are tapped into the chassis with m5 bolts and spring washers.

I bought a bracket for the pump - only to find that it is far too wide for the chassis rail - so I used the bottom hole and then drilled a centre hole in circular part of the bracket and counter sunk it so as to not interfere with the pump.  Seems to work well.  I left the top part of the bracket on just in case I need another mounting point for something or other.

I saw that some people had mounted the pump over the diff at the back but this would seem to be difficult to service (although I hope I won't need to)...but here seems good and lines up with the feed into
the engine....so we will see....

So despite me knowing that the pub MUST go AFTER the fuel pump - I even wrote this above in this blog...guess where I put it....Oh yes -  at the back - i.e. BEFORE the pump - why? fk knows but I did.  So here it is in all its glory.....
.....at the back of the car.....
....the wrong place......
...what a knob.....

So...what to do  now the engine is in it is very difficult to remove the pipe to add in a new length - and I really DONT fancy taking the engine and box out again.....so ....hmmm....I will remove the filter element and leave the filter case in line......that way no restriction and if I want to add a course filter in it i always can.....thats actually what I put it there for....it was a deliberate act......WHAT.....?....It was!

I will add another new filter at the front AFTER! the pump when the body is on....or when I need to start it....we will see!

(In the end AK had to move this as the pump and filter came too close to the exhaust when fitted - so the pump is now just to the side of the diff an the filter is on one of the 45deg tubulars coming into the engine...)

Now all I need to sort is the rear where the pipes come under the diff - the bottom of the tank is very low and thus need to protect it....I know AK do a bracket but I don't think that protects the bottom of the tank so will call and enquire how to do this bit.....

 There are four fixings to make use of - I think they are an imperial thread as my M12 bolts only go in about 1mm and then stop - so will find out what they are as i will need to use these to mount whatever type of protection I get.

I have bought the sender (I hope its the correct one!!!)  you have to cut it to length for the size of the tank - I followed the instructions and cut it down - the AK tank is not very deep so this was quite a large reduction.  Then solder together - this proved quite hard as I have either a plumbing torch or a Iron suitable for IC's not large items like this - eventually I got some on there then used rocking wire to wind it all together to make sure it didn't come loose later in life.

When the car went to AK they said that the pump was too close to the exhausts now that they are in place so they moved them for me.

So my pump is now right down the back of the car so it is away from the exhausts....

Filter is up the top of the engine on one of the 45deg cylindrical chassis members.

9, Anti Roll Bar

So I ordered the anti roll bar and here it is - but how to fit it?

There are seemingly no holes that match - I think the green supporting brackets will need to be drilled through the end of the chassis - but the ends  ? there is only one hole in each stub axle but two in each roll bar bracket?!?!  After consultation with members of the forum it would appear that the green brackets do go through the end of the chassis rail - but the photos I was sent seem to have brackets to mount the roll bar - so this isn't clear..... Jon's help is required again I think!

I do keep wondering why the instructions aren't more detailed - surely they must get sick of people asking the same questions all the time - or maybe its just me.....hey ho - they are always happy to help seemingly.

So finally spoke to the workshop manager and all becomes clear - the rectangular brackets on the bar are not for my chassis - these are for GEN 1 chassis - so they are to be removed and then it will just fine into the holes into the bracket on the stub axle!  good....can get on and do this now.....The green brackets are then bolted to the chassis rails.

This is where its a pain being so close to the floor

And there we have it - All fitted - easy when you know how!

8, Steering Column

So eventually I found an E34 steering column - with a knackered stalk, but I managed to find another so not too bad. I paid a lot for it seemingly (£200) but I tried for months to find one and could not.

I posted a question on the forum and got a lot of comments on how much people have paid - all less than me!  but hey - I have it now so onwards!

I fit it up to the car but it was very apparent it did not fit.....another call to Jon and he shed light that you have to cot the bracket down to avoid the body/frame...

So I did.....

Was this enough?  another trial fit required...

In short - Nope it wasn't so it was cut back up to the cross brace and this was then enough.  You may also notice that I have chopped off the LHS part of the 'Y' bracket on the column, I found this was hitting the body and preventing moment of the column extension so as its not needed off it came.

Now I need to remove the column lock and IGN barrel - I need to have a look how to do this first!  Ill take some snaps etc as I assume it should be relatively difficult!

So  - lets remove the IGN barrel - first mistake snapping the bloody key!  What a nob!  Left it in the column and dropped it - this bent it - tried to bend it back and - well, you can see the result.

So this is the column lock - I want to remove this as I ma going to use an immo as my second form of  immobilising the engine.  I don't want to use the key on the column at all (and I broke the bloody thing so I can't!)

 

Ok so first to remove the column lock - Im not sure if this would enact on my new steering wheel (as I haven't got one yet) but it makes be nervous about the possibility so its going!

I removed the bar that retains the lock - drilled it first but then managed to prise it out with pliers and a screwdriver.

Out the lock comes!

Now for the barrel - I looked on the web and took some hints - it wast fairly easy but thought it would be a nightmare!

There is a small hole in the silver part of the barrel - I inserted a 1mm allen key in this hole and pushed it whilst turning the key (I managed to push the broken part in and still use it luckily) - there is one angle where it goes in much further - this is what you want.   I then pushed hard on the allen key and this releases the catch on the inside of the barrel.  Out it pops!

Then for the inside mechanism - I wanted this out also incase it rattled - managed to get some pilers in there and force it out!

The leaver that raises the lack is still in place but this doesn't rattle as it is sprung so I'm leaving this in place.

Sp the column is now fitted (see dash section)  I had to remove the bracket that holds th harness carrier also as it clashed with the slider bracket to allow the column to extend and retract - I noticed this straight away (NOT!)......so now slides pretty well.

7, Bits n Pieces

I have found that I have number of brackets that I currently have no idea what they are for!  I have managed to find what some of them are from other blogs and photo streams etc.....but what the hell are these?

I honestly have no idea - so mail sent to Jon for identification!  We will wait and see what these are.

So - apparently the brackets are for the front overriders - makes sense (thanks Craig via Cobra Facebook!) I don't think ill be fitting these as I'm not intending to have any shiny bits.....I want to leave the curves!  We will see what it looks like when all together and finally decide.

The other fibre glass bit - still a mystery!

Ahh ok - now I find out what it is - seems obvious now!  there is a massive hole in the driver footwell and this piece covers it - I think you can't get the body on with it in place due to the latest chassis - so needs sticking back on when possible.

N.B. i did sick the panel back in - but then the chassis won't fit in as it clashes....so I am going to fill it with the panel but set in so the body can come on and off....otherwise I can't paint it etc as it will either have a hole or be stuck on!

6, Heater Matrix

So I managed to find a Polo MkII heater matrix on eBay and here it is in all its 'glory'.

First job was to cut off the angled face - the manual states not to do this so that it fits but I think mine had some part of it missing as it would never fit as it was so I cut it flat to fit against the bulk head.                                      A quick test with a battery confirms it is working and a new matrix was ordered to fit.  This has to be fitted to inside of the engine bay so that it will vent through a hole in the bulkhead. 

I measured out the hole required and with a deep breath cut the hole in the bulkhead - all good.  Now I need to attach it.  i decided to bolt it through, so I drilled holes and inserted bolts into the edges of the matrix as seen below.

This was pretty tight when inserting the matrix back in but with some persuasion it went in ok; at least this way I'm sure it won't fall off!

Now I read that the heater can't draw air from the engine bay or as the IVA stuff states "from a possible source of pollution".  I would hope that the engine wont be polluting the engine bay but even so it aint allowed so I need to pipe it into the cabin.

I bought some ports from http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/ and drilled a hole in the body from engine bay through to passenger footwell and then cut a piece of plastic to blank off the inlet to the heater - this is just an open side so a large flat piece was required and a port was put in the centre (ish).  All taped up waiting to dry - actually I think the glue is not very good so ill try tomorrow and see if it needs re-doing.  Hopefully it will be ok.......ok thats done it - its bound to need to be re-done!



Where do you buy a piece of black plastic?  I have no idea - so my black bucket had to pay the price - its base is now my new heater matrix blanking plate!

 I used some grip fill glue I had - but that didn't work at all, It didn't stay on - so round two occurred - hopefully with more success!!!!!  Proper EVO glue used for plastic.....



If it all dries ok Ill pipe between the two - I am not putting anything in finally yet as I need to sort the engine bay.



Originally I intended to get the stainless cladding but I'm not personally keen on this - Jon at AK said the latest demo car 'Ruby' has the engine bay painted the same colour and the body - so this I think may be the solution for me.  We will see.....

I positioned the ports ensuring that the heater control could have free movement - I have read that some people leave it permanently set to hot as realistically this is the only setting you will use - but as I haven't decided which is right for me yet I'm playing safe.

Now for inside - So 2 or 4 ports?  Manual states two - for the demisters but I (in theory) want to use the car when its chilly as well so I'm putting 4 in - 2 for the footwells also.  I have driven to work recently on lovely days when its been 4-6degC at 5am leaving and 18Deg C at 6pm coming back so they might come in handy!

Ports were from screw fix - an idea stolen from Tommys Blog (http://tommysak427.blogspot.co.uk).  

 Now for the pipes - the dieting form CBS was quite expensive but I found these tubes from screw fix plumbing section and with unscrewing one end and cutting the other the black vent ducts fit perfectly (these were from CBS).  Seems to work well.   I can't fit it all yet as i don't have the chrome vents - need some more £££'s to buy all the shiny bits so it will have to wait!!!  PAH!

So after assessing the latest glueing - NOPE -still rubbish - so it all came off AGAIN! Blood simple job that takes ages.

Whilst moaning in work about this part - one of the guys (Hello Craig!) suggested to use plumbing solvent - seemed a good idea - and yes it worked a treat!

So finally it sticks - the port I was nervous about as the hose is extremely tight (may have to heat it a little to get it on), so I bolted this also to give it additional strength.

Quick power up with battery and all seems to be fine - it will all need sealing with silicone but that will have to wait until after painting so just a temporary fit for now.

So I thought its was all done UNTIL I put the tub on the chassis - the connection to the body clashed with the upper structure of the GENIII chassis - bugger!

So off it came and then another hole was made....and the old one filled.

I LOVE doing things twice - and its pretty much an every time thing on this build!