Ok, so today didn't go so well. I thought I'd better post up they odd day when I'm not so productive, you know those frustrating days when it all just goes wrong - just to have some balance to this build record, honestly!

Today I attempted to mount the steering rack - and failed. After taking lots of measurements, and doing several sets of workings out on scrap paper with marker pens I finally had the dimensions for mounting brackets, that would hold the rack in the right place relative to the steering arms on the front hubs.

Having cut a couple on the saw, I proceeded to drill the mountng holes in the drill press, but they had vanished into thin air! I knew I hadn't moved from that spot, and they were gone! So I proceeded to make another set, at which point the first set magically re-appeared. Grrrrrr.

Having finally got all the brackets made, I had very little time left before work but decided to weld the first section in place, just so i could say I achieved something. I fired up the welder and made a very neat and tidy weld. I stood back to admire my handiwork, and realised it was the wrong piece of bracket! Dammit!

At this point I just gave up, I'll cut it off tomorrow and have another go.

The only other thing I have done since is dismantle the acclereator pedal and mask it up ready for grit blasting and painting. it will be painted black to match the other 2 pedals.

I was a little bored at the end of my garage session today and found a bottle of engine cleaner and had a little go at the drivers side head cover. I think it came up ok for 5 minutes work.

Compare that with the other head, with no cleaning:

Ok here's how I made my accelerator pedal. Blogger for some reason put all the pics backwards on the page so go to the bottom of this post and work your way up.

Here's the completed pedal, with the link bar attached via the clevis, pin and clip.


This is the link bar - made from a length of M10 threaded bar, welded to a flat plate with a 10mm hole to pick up the cable, screwed into a suitable clevis from the donor. The threaded bar gives me an extra degree of adjustment in the throttle cable. A locknut will be added on final fitment.

Here's the pedal all welded up.

I made a pedal pad from 1.5mm plate, and welded a smaller piece of 3mm plate to the back of it to add strength.

The first step was to weld an 8" length of 3mm flat bar to a crank that was part of the brake force transfer rod in the donor BMW

Ok picture time again!

Here you can see the installation of the master cylinders, the brake one mounted on a large flat steel plate and the clutch on a smaller bracket, welded to the other.


Here you can see more clearly, the brake master cylinder mounting.



And a better picture from above.

Ok here's the pics and updatey stuff!

I have done a little more work today. I have about 75% completed the back half of the pedal box and mounted the master cylinders. So the pedals are now functional.

Next job on the list is to fabricate the accelerator pedal. I've taken some pics and will post them up soon.

Gotta go now as the wife is huffing and puffing as she want's the laptop back.

Woo hoo I got a mention in Complete Kit Car magazine!!!

I wrote a quick email to Ian Stent after the track day I went to recently to thank them all for the experience and inspiration it gave me. He apparently liked it so much that it got printed in the readers letters section - he even included my plug for this blog!

Hopefully the next might be a feature on the finished car! If I ever get it done.

Ok since posting the pics up this morning, i grabbed a quick hour or so in the garage before work and fabricated the other 4 exhaust headers required for the other side. The exhaust is now as far as it can go without me spending more money on it (I need 8x 90 degree bends to complete the manifolds) so i will go back to the pedal box, fabricate an accelerator pedal and mount the master cylinders.

That will probably take me a few more sessions, by which time I will have been paid and can order the exhaust parts. Failing that, i have the steering rack to do. Failing that, the brakes need starting, as does the fuel tank, painting the rear of the chassis, overhauling the rear brakes, differential ect ect the list is endless.

Ok piccy time!

Ok here is one of the manifolds partially mutilated. As you can see it is a twin skin design, the outer stainless steel, the inner titanium.

Some of the flanges, removed from the manifolds.

And welded on to the header pipes...

And finally Bolted onto the engine! Stage one of the exhaust complete!

Ok, well Tuesday came and went... didn't go up the garage due to havng a rather large hangover from being down the social club late Monday night. Have you ever tried using an angle grinder when you have a headache? I don't reccomend it.

Anyways, I got on with it on Wednesday instead and managed to separate all the flanges from the old exhaust manifolds - wearing through 3 cutting discs in the process. 4 of them, I ground down flush and welded on the header pipes. I had to stop as I was out of time, and my hands were ringing from a couple of hours of constantly using angle grinders.

I bolted up the first 4 pipes to the drivers side cylinder head, and they look great. Also it looks like I will be able to route the steering past them without too many problems. I took some pics and will post them up later on.

On Friday i decided I was fed up and went to buy a new saw blade from machine mart (they are the cheapes stockist at 28 pounds.) only to find that when I got there, they were out of stock. I pickecd up some more cutting discs for the angry grinder as the exhaust manifolds are ripping them to shreds, and they were only 30p each.

On the way home i decided to drop into B&Q to see if they had any saw blades - which they did - 38 pound each, a full tenner more than machine mart! I went to the till and had a moan about the price, the lady was very helpful, and after a phone call to machine mart to confirm the price, duly matched it, and reduced it a further 10%. In the end I bought it for 25 quid - result! Nice one B&Q.

The new blade might light work of cutting the pipe for the top sections of the exhaust manifolds, cutting quickly and cleanly. I Still have 6 flanges to remove from the old manifolds, which i will do when i can sneak a couple of hours in the garage next, which i imagine will be one morning next week. We have a viewing on our house on Monday so it's all hands to the pumps to make sure it looks perfect for that. Roll on Tuesday so i can get on with it!

One thing I forgot to mention in my last entry was that the steel tubing I am using for my exhaust manifold, and my lovely metal cutting mitre saw don't get on very well. The first cut I made (for a trial piece that didn't work) almost completely blunted the balde, and the second cut finished the job. So now i need a new saw blade, at 28 quid each cheap they aint.

For the time being I'm going to get on with what I can without it, ie. removing the flanges I need from the donor exhaust manifolds.

Having done some online searching, i have found a company that can supply all the other parts I need for my custom exhaust system www.jetex.co.uk and they aren't too expensive either. I've also found a few places to get the foam for the interior parts. Now just need to find a good vinyl supplier.

Today I went to the steel stockist and bought the steel tubing required for the first part of my exhaust manifolds. As usual I overestimated the amount I required and bought twice as much as I needed. It only cost £17 though so I'm not too bothered.

Anyways, when I got home with it and got straight up the garage I cut a piece to length, and welded it to a flange I removed from the donor manifolds, I was a little concerned as the flange wasn't very magnetic (ie. not mild steel) and I may not be able to weld to it. As it turns out it welded fine - I still don't know what it is!

In other news - I found reverse! After checking on a diagram what the gear layout was, I was finally able to select all 6 gears, so now I can fully weld the gearshift mount.

Laters!

Ok here we go, finally a proper update:

After my last post I've since found that I could split the brake master cylinder from it's hydraulic servo, making it less than half the size it was originally, which means it's now quite useable. I also managed to mount the clutch return spring so it fits against the floor and operates properly. As far as the rest of the pedal box is concerned, I now have to Make up strong brackets to mount the clutch and brake master cylinders, and fabricate an accelerator pedal. This will take some careful designing as I need to make sure it will produce enough travel to pull the cable through it's full range of movement, otherwise the throttle will be compromised.

I spent some time in the garage this afternoon and dropped the engine and gearbox back in. It now looks like it's coming together quite well. Having the engine in really helps as I can now design things to fit around it, like the steering shaft, and the exhaust manifolds.

I also made up the gearshift, using the donor linkage, and a fabricated mount which for now I've just tack welded into position. I'll fully weld it as soon as I can verify it goes smoothly into every gear (At the moment i can't find reverse, but to be honest I can't remember where it is!).

Anyways here are some pictures - enjoy!