Locost BMW V8 Build diary

2011-09-08T11:49:00.000+01:00

Over the last 2 nights (working after baby has gone to bed till around 10pm) I have got the new clutch installed and the engine back in and fully hooked up with water and electrics again. Last night was spent re-making electrical connections that got broke on engine removal, and re-installing the exhausts.

I didn't actually start the engine and tets the clutch as it was 10pm at the time and I would have woken the baby, and annoyed the neighbours. I'll see this evening after work if all the hard work has been worth it and the clutch operates again.

It had better do, I have a track day on Saturday!!!

2011-09-01T15:58:00.003+01:00

Well, I broke it again, and this time I had to get the engine out to fix it. On my last track day the clutch gave up and I couldn't get any gears. I suspected hydraulic failure, but after changing the whole system, there was no improvement.

So I proceeded to remove the engine to get at the clutch and find out what was wrong with it.

My wife and daughter lending a hand.

A hole I had to cut in the passenger footwell to get at the clutch slave cylinder.

Front bodywork and radiator removed in preparation for engine removal

Lifting the engine out (yes, by the exhaust manifolds)

2011-09-01T15:39:00.003+01:00

Bits of friction material sticking out of the clutch assembly:

More friction material in the bellhousing and on the floor

Here you can clearly see that it's a dual mass flywheel :(

And at last the answer, all friction material missing from the flywheel side of the friction plate.

Looking at the side of the friction plate, plenty of friction material on one side, all missing from the other!

2011-07-14T10:28:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone! Well I haven't postsed since May, and the reason for that is that this is the build diary for the car, and, well, it's built!

As you may have already read, the car did it's first track day a couple of months ago, and came through it with some minor issues, all have now been fixed. The next track day is in a couple of weeks time, but this time It has a full set of track day tyres, which should hopefully provide much more grip. I also intend to tweak the brakes to get more power out of them.

I won't be posting here very frequently any more, as like i said, the car is built. I am planning on some big upgrades over the winter, and will post as I'm doing them. I intend to replace the BMW master cylinder with a servo assisted one for a sierra XR4i I have. And that will require removing the engine and gearbox to re-route brake lines. At that time i will also repair the leaking oil seal on the gearbox.

I will post pics up as they come, but for now - thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.

Sam.

2011-05-21T06:47:00.002+01:00

I've sneaked in some garage time this week.

I've fitted a new circlip to the gear selector mechanism to stop it separating again, hopefully.

I looked at the cooling system and found that the rad bottom hose was leaking as the hose clip simply wasn't done up tight enough - doh! The thermostat housing was indeed cracked and has been removed. I've ordered a replacement housing and am awaiting it's arrival in the post.

Apart from the repairs, I've been making new camera mounts. I did use my on board video camera last week but unfortunately it's location meant it couldn't see much and the videos were crap. So my small camera is now mounted on the steering rack extension just inside the drivers side front wheel. It should have a great view from down there. I've also made a roll bar mount for my ordinary camcorder.

Will do some more work on it tomorrow.

2011-05-18T21:15:00.001+01:00

Should have mentioned that the pics below were taken by Ian Stent of Complete Kit Car magazine, many thanks Ian!

2011-05-18T19:02:00.003+01:00

Ok here's a couple of pics from the track day:

The rear squats down low under hard acceleration!

Being chased down by a Westfield ZEi

2011-05-15T06:07:00.002+01:00

Well yesterday it went out on track for the very first time!

I had a track day at Llandow circuit, arranged by Complete Kit Car magazine and in the morning the 40 cars were split into 4 groups, according to driver ability - I was in the begginers group.

The experts group went out first, and withing about 5 laps, there was an accident! One car span out following the slow section of the track, the car following didn't see the yellow flags and drove into him. Both cars retired for the day with front suspension and chassis damage. The rest of the day was incident free.

My group went out at around 11am, the first few laps taken at low speed to get to know the track and get the feel of the car. It all felt ok so after 3 laps the yellow flags are lifted and we can start going for it at full speed. The car was VERY quick, but the brakes are quite weak - I had to press the pedal very hard to slow it down, and use lots of engine braking - so much so that I was getting small lock-ups when dropping to 2nd gear for the "bus stop" chicane.

After 10 laps or so, coming around "devils elbow" I heard a bang! I decided immediately to return to the pits. When I went for a gearchange, I found the gearstick was floppy and not responding - the car was stuck in 4th gear. I drove it back to the pits and found the selector linkage had lost a retaining clip and separated at the earbox end. With some help from my passenger and some bits and bobs from fellow drivers, we cobbled together a repair in time to get back out for the next session.

The second session was incident free, and I got more confident with the car and was pushing it hard. I nearly span when entering the bus stop in 3rd gear after overtaking somebody and missing my gearchange, and had a good fishtailing session round devils elbow after getting on the power too early too - great fun! We did the whole session with the repaired selector!

On returning to the pits - disaster! My Dad pointed to the nose, and a lot of water pouring out of the car! The bottom radiator hose was leaking badly, and on removing the bonnet, I also found the thermostat housing had cracked and was leaking water badly. That was the end of that.

I let the car cool down over lunch break, and John helped me load it back on the trailer. After lunch I got offered a ride in a Westfield ZEi which was great, and showed me just how far I have to go with my car, the grip was much better and his brakes were a lot stronger.

So now I have a bunch of work to do before the next track day:

Repair the cooling system.
Repair the gear selector properly.
Upgrade the brakes (somehow?)
Fit better tyres - slicks maybe?

I'll put some pics up as soon as I get them from the people who took them!

2011-05-09T14:59:00.002+01:00

Wow getting behind on here again.

It tuned out the problem with the brake lights was with the mechanical switch I had fitted under the pedal was fouling and shorting out, blowing the fuse. I have now replaced this with a hydraulic switch in the front brake line.

I have now at last sorted out my cooling woes, I connected the top hose of the header tank back into the radiator top hose by using a take-off, this eliminated the airlock there and sealed the system, i also plumbed the overflow to an expansion tank which will catch any overflowing water. I tested the system yesterday and it all works as it should, no bubbling, and the cooling fan kicking in and out automatically.

I've also fitted a warning light to the low coolant sensor (part of the BMW donor) to give me early warning if the system is getting low in use.

I've fitted a few nice new decals i picked up at a recent car show to tart it up a bit.

I've made and fitted a mount for the on-board video camera.

Been polishing some of the oxidised aluminium panels.

Basically it's pretty much ready for it's first outing on track, which is next Saturday - can't wait!

2011-04-30T12:31:00.003+01:00

Here's how the rad looks from the front now, with the fan behind it.

Here's the new fan in position behind the rad.

Here's how it looks with the nose and bonnet back on, and the mesh grille fitted.

2011-04-29T21:51:00.003+01:00

Today I fixed a leak from the oil pressure sensor location using some good old PTFE tape, and finally replaced the nosecone and bonnet. I then remembered how dissapointed I am with the fit of the bonnet.

I'll have a look at the brake light wiring tomorrow.

2011-04-28T11:44:00.002+01:00

yesterday I installed the new cooling fan, this time behind the radiator to maximise airflow to the font to improve cooling. This meant I had to fabricate new top brackets for the rad to move it forwards, this time I made them from aluminium and they look really good.

I've rewired the fan switch circuit, correctly this time, but it still doesn't seem to want to work. I might add in a manual switch for it.

I also secured the connections for the brake light switch, and when testing it the fuse blew, not sure what I've done there...

2011-04-26T18:10:00.002+01:00

fixed the indicators, found a couple of butt crimp connectors had let go in the loom where I had slightly stretched it in order to bind it to tidy it up a bit. I re-made the connections and it's all working properly again.

plan to get lots more done tomorrow.

2011-04-26T11:44:00.002+01:00

Ok I've completed the oil and filter change, and have been going over the car in preparations for the track day.

I found the cooling fan wasn't operating, and traced the fault to a broken wire in the loom, and repaired it. However, I found that in operation, the wiring got very hot, I'm guessing that this is because the old BMW fan is a little stuck, so I've ordered a new fan.

I also found that the left indicator isn't working, I'm not sure why yet, but I'm hoping it's not the relay, as a replacement may be quite expensive.

I still need to find a permanent fix for the brake light switch, and sort the loose bonnet out.

2011-04-19T08:09:00.003+01:00

Ok, I finally got the cooling system to flow properly - and it was a very old school method of doing it. As the thermostat wasn't opening early enough, I drilled 2 4mm holes in it to allow water to flow through it at a reduced rate before it opens by itself.

I was busy all weekend so didn't get any time on it, but have tomorrow off, when i will change the oil and filter, and re-assemble the completed nosecone onto it.

I also want to sort out the loose fitting bonnet and charge the battery, and then it should be good to go.

It's only 3 1/2 weeks to go now before it makes it's track debut at Llandow!

2011-04-15T08:56:00.001+01:00

Ok, re plumbed the rear water rail to re-establish flow through the redundant heater circuit. Not pretty (14 jubilee clips!) but it works.

2011-04-12T14:43:00.002+01:00

I'm getting some really good advice on this from the guys over on the haynes forum. Looks like i have prevented the water flowing round the system properly by blocking off the redundant heater circuit. So I basically need to re-arrange the the hoses on the rear water rail to resore water flow. I'll try and get this done over the next few days, I may have to order some new parts (pipe connectors etc)

2011-04-12T10:01:00.001+01:00

here's a slightly better one, with some parts dleted which were not applicable to the donor.

2011-04-12T09:55:00.000+01:00

Ok here's a few drawings that may help:

2011-04-09T21:46:00.003+01:00

Got a bit done today, fitted the aecond of the 2 extra silencers, and the exhausts now sound much quieter. In fact, it sounds great, really very happy with that. Also fitted the new water pump and thermostat. Ran it up, and after 15 mins of running - IT BOILED UP AGAIN!!!! Really fed up of it today. spent over £100 on new parts and it's just no different at all. It MUST be airlocked, there is no other explanation. I thought I had got all the air out via the top hose at the pump end. Have a look at the pictures below and see if you can see where the air is trapped and how to get it out. Comment if you have any ideas please. 1. Water pump removed 2. New pump and stat assembly bolted on - with original pulley. 3. Pipes and drive belt fitted - the theromostat is located in the plastic housing on the left pipe, this goes to the radiator bottom outlet. 4. a wider view, you can see the header tank behind the engine, on the bulkhead. 5. profile view of the back end of the engine, showing the header tank and it's hose to the rear water rail.

2011-04-03T10:11:00.003+01:00

Here's the rear tonneau all made and fitted: And here's the first exhaust modified with an additional silencer.

I fitted a new thermostat to the engine and ran it up, and the engine boiled up again. Not happy. So I removed the water pump and ordered a new one, but found nothing wrong with the old one. There must simply be an airlock somewhere in the system. Still, not happy at the moment.

2011-03-30T18:10:00.003+01:00

The bonding on the nosecone has set nicely, securing the grille in place. Today I got the new tyres fitted on the transporter trailer, and the springs for the brake pedal, and one of the new exhaust silencers arrived. I installed the brake pedal spring and it seems to work great. Will try to get more done tomorrow.

2011-03-29T22:14:00.001+01:00

no idea what happened to the last post, it was all nicely laid out before I published it. With this being a blog, I can't edit anything that's already been published, oh well.

2011-03-29T21:48:00.002+01:00

Had a look at the braking system and it turns out that the stickinh brakes are being caused by the brake pedal not returning to rest properly. This also explains why I was having difficulty finding the pedal when test driving it. All I need to do here is fit a spring to help the pedal reset after every use, I've ordered some springs and it should be a fairly simple job. I've installed the tonneau cover, looks good too. I've re-wired the lambda sensors so that the wires now pass through the side panels, as they were catching on the trailer when loading /unloading the car. I've removed the nosecone and fitted a mesh grile I made, bonded that on today so the glue should be nicely set tomorrow. I replaced the fan belt with a slightly shorter one and so far it seems to be working well. Still left to do then: replace missing thermostat oil and filter service re-fit nosecone modify brake pedal add an extra silencer to each exhaust replace the tyres on the transporter trailer buy a set of wheel strops to lash it down properly. oh, and give it a good clean. One more thing, I was contacted today by Ian Stent of Complete Kit Car magazine to pay up for their track day in May. So it's now official, it's booked in to go on track on Saturday May 14th.

2011-03-21T11:33:00.003Z

Well since the big high of Saturday when I drove it, I've now made a new list of things to do to it.

1. Replace sticking rear brake calipers
2. Replace fan belt with a shorter one (it's squealing a little)
3. Modify Brake pedal (I just can't find it quick enough)
4. Fit a mesh grille to the nosecone.
5. Install the tonneau cover
6. Modify the exhausts to quieten them
7. Charge the battery.
8. Replace the transporter trailer tyres.

So all in all, not too bad of a list of jobs to do, to be honest I'm quite happy with it. I'll get it all done over the next couple of weeks and then run it again.

2011-03-19T15:35:00.003Z

People, today is a BIG day. Today, I drove it for the very first time!

Stormy came over and helped me get it out of the garage and into a large deserted private car park where I drove it up and down slowly in first gear to make sure everything works as it should.

Oh my goodness it's FAAAAAASSST!!!!! Brakes are ok, but need bedding in to improve. That was, until the the rear brakes stuck on. Not sure why, but at a guess I'd say I need new calipers. It's also too loud, I need to find some way of quietening it down a bit, or no track is going to let me run it.

Stormy and then got it loaded onto my home made transporter trailer (see my other blog) after some playing around to work out a procedure for doing it. A car running this low to the ground is difficult to load, but we got there. Below are a couple of pics:

I had a practice tow of the trailer as well, got about 400 yards before one of the ancient tyres on it blew out. Not too bothered about it as there's no damage to the rim, and the tyres have to be changed anyway.

2011-03-17T14:38:00.003Z

This morning I installed the mirrors, and gave the speedo some attention. After speaking with digital speedo's, who sold it to me, I was informed that my setup wasn't quite right. So after re-making the sensor's mounting bracket, and fitting the sense magnets into the rear drive shaft by drilling small holes for them, it's working - sort of. It picks up speeds up to 34mph then for some reason it goes back down to 14, then 9, then 0. Not sure what's wrong now.

I also marked out the vinyl for the tonneau cover and gave it to Yvonne to sew up for me, she informs me she will do it for me tomorrow.

Stormy is coming over on Saturday to help me get it out for the first time and test drive it.

2011-03-16T08:46:00.002Z

Picture time again!!!

Here's the seats I made.

Here it is with the bodywork re-fitted, looking good isn't it?

And one more, just to prove the front indicators are now working:

2011-03-15T12:31:00.002Z

Well it's one of theose few occasions I can say - mission accomplished. This morning I fabricated a bracket to replace the fan belt tensioner spring and installed it, and got the belt nice and tight.

I then proceeded to fit the nosecone and the front indicators, and it's looking great. I'll post up a pic or 2 tonight.

So here's the list of things left to do:

Install mirrors
Make and fit tonneau cover
Get the speedo working
Fit back wheels and put it back on the ground
test drive - and test it's transporter trailer

I'm sure the test drive will throw up a few problems that need sorting before I take it out on track, but that's a list I'll come to later.

Getting excited now.

2011-03-14T16:28:00.004Z

Had my usual few hours in the garage yesterday. I polished up all the painted bits with the new mop head on my grinder. To be honest, I'm not very happy with my efforts on the paint. It's got runs, there are pinholes in it, grit in other places, and it just doesn't look great. I think once i've run the car over the summer, I'll take them all off and give them to a bodyshop to be professionally re-done.

Anyhow, I've refitted the arches, and despite the shoddy painting, they actually look good, the metallic blue against the aluminium bodywork. I'll take some pics when the nose is back on.

Yesterday I also did some odd jobs on th back axle that have been waiting for ages, I fully welded the bottom shock mounts and fitted high tensile bolts and locknuts to them too.

This morning I popped to halfords and bought a shorter fan belt for the front of the engine. This is to remove the power steering pump for the drive, it's not connected to anything and will seize up if i run it for any length of time. I left it on the engine to give me the option of using it, but for now I've decided against it. So anyway, I got a decent belt, and re-routed it, but I now need to modify the tensioner pulley as it's spring is now working against the belt in it's new position. I'll remove the spring and replace it with a solit bracket, there will still be some adjustment in it's mounts. Hope to get that done tomorrow.

Once that's done, i can refit the nosecone and install the front indicators, and crack on with the last few jobs i need to do to get it finished!!!!

2011-03-08T07:34:00.002Z

Had another good session on it on Sunday, got the harnesses fitted - they really hold you in there!

I also removed the rear wheels and arches and prepped the arches for paint, giving them, their first coats of plastic primer in readiness for some colour.

I need to pop to my local mchine mart to get a polishing mop for my angle grinder, so I can polish all the painted bits now.

2011-03-05T19:50:00.002Z

Had a great day on it today, gave the nosecone and front arches their final coat of laquer today, then went on to completely make the seats. I glued foam over the bases and back, then covered them all with vinyl and mounted it all in the car. I'm really happy with them, they look good and are very comfortable. The driving position is good too.

2011-03-04T19:25:00.002Z

Ok picture post!

Here's the bonnet folded and fitted, not quite happy with the gap you can see down the side of the nosecone - hope to sort that soon.

Today I started to make the seats, plywood bases mounted on some 25mm SHS steel.

Here you can see the detail of the steel supports under the seat bases.

And here's the nosecone after 2 coats of colour - I finally settled on Peugeot Aegean Blue. After this pic I applied 2 coats of clearcoat and it's looking really good. A few hours of polishing and it'll look great. Also painted the front arches at the same time.

2011-02-21T06:56:00.002Z

Last week my Dad popped up to see us, and as he was there I jumped at the chance for some asisstance and got him to help me form the bonnet, using a gas cylinder as a forming tool.

Dad helped me make the basic bends in the aluminium, and i finished it off with some folds on the bottom lips and fitted the clamps to the car. A bit of edging trim front and back and it looks ok. I'm not 100% happy with the fit, but there's not a lot I can do about it now.

I spent my weekend time in the garage entirely working on the nosecone, the endless filling and sanding to make it smooth continues... well, I can actually see light at the end of the tunnel now, the top surface is finished, and the sides should only need 1 more coat of filler and final sanding. Once done i can paint it in primer, then remove the rear wings and paint all the GRP parts. I still havent decided what colour though.

Have pics, will post soon.

2011-02-15T19:15:00.002Z

The aluminium for the bonnet arrived this morning, and I immediately laid on the template and cut it out. All I need now is some assistance to form it over the car, then fold over the bottom edges, install the latches and job done. I'm sure it won't be that simple though, nothing ever is on this car.

I've also had another good tidy-up in the garage, a glazier replaced the broken door windows today. It's amazing how much nicer a place it is to be when your not constantly climbing over stuff to get where you want to be.

2011-02-14T10:37:00.003Z

Here's the first slick trial fitted.

Compare the 2 tyres - the slicks are considerably larger

Lovely Looking pair of slicks

The Endless filling and sanding

Front of the nosecone cut out - will be meshed over

2011-02-10T08:22:00.002Z

Yesterday evening I got the front wheelstays refitted, and applied the first layer of filler to the nosecone. I gave it a good sanding, and this evening I'll apply the second layer.

I also trial fitted one of the new rear wheels with the large slick tyres. It fits, but only just, I think I'll have to trim avery small amount from the front lip of the wheelarches (doesn't matter as they aren't visible anyway) and raise the suspension a little when using them to ensure they don't foul the rear lights.

I took some pics and hope to put them up tonight.

2011-02-09T15:29:00.002Z

Since my last post, I've collected the painted wingstays and they look gorgeous. I'm going to refit them this evening and start filling the nosecone.

The nosecone requires quite a lot of work as where I widened it, it's lost some of it's shape.

Yesterday a nice present arrived in the post, 2 lovely slick tyres to fit the rear wheels. I had them fitted and they look the business. I need to try them on to make sure thye fit, the rear arches may need a little trimming to allow the wheels to turn freely.

2011-02-01T11:55:00.002Z

Here's the front wheel arches fitted, and the hole cut in the nosecone.

And front arches dismantled again, and nosecone trial fitted with the air filter protruding through it.

Yesterday I sandblasted the front wingstays and sent them for painting. I'll pick them up tomorrow.

2011-01-31T13:25:00.002Z

Yesterday i cracked on with the front wing stays. I formed them around the front tyres, leaving 2" clearance between the tyre and stay. I then located the fibreglass front arches in place and drilled through into the steel stays. I Tapped M5 threads into the steel stays and then fixed the arches in place with stainless steel bolts.

I then stripped it all poff again, as the wingstays now have to be sandblasted and painted, hopefully today.

I have also made the hole in the nosecone for the cone air filter to poke through, it looks quite good actually.

As always, I've taken a few pics as I went along, and will post them soon.

2011-01-23T15:33:00.002Z

Finally, another picture post!

Here's the back end, completed apart from a panel to cover the rear axle area, which also houses the battery and fuel tank. You can also see the completed dash.
The engine bay, on the front of the engine is the water pump/thermostat housing that has caused me some trouble recently.

Here's the oil pressure sensor, fixed to the home made thread adaptor, made from an old wheel bolt.

And here's what I did earlier today, the centre console. An aluminium panel covered in thin foam, then vinyl, along with handbrake and gear gaitors made from offcuts of the same vinyl.

2011-01-21T21:05:00.002Z

Today I removed and tested the thermostat, by placing it in a pan of boiling water. After a few minutes of boiling, it opened, but not much. It's meant to open fully at 85 degrees, so it's knackered.

I cut the working parts from the centre, as the outer ring supports the rubber o-ring seal that fits to the housing, then refitted it to the engine. After running the engine for a while, and manipulating the rad hoses to ensure there were no airlocks, the water flowed nicely through the rad. The engine temperature settled nicely at around 70 degrees.

Today I also fitted the oil pressure sensor using the adaptor I made, and the gauge now works. The oilpressure starts off at about 100psi at cold, going down to about 25 when hot, and the gauge reacts very quickly when the engine is revved.

Next to do I guess is the front wingstays and wings, nosecone, bonnet (need more aluminium) and drive tunnel top.

2011-01-20T13:59:00.003Z

Not a great day today.

I ran the engine yesterday to warm it up, and it boiled up after about 20 mins, with the rad remaining cool, hmmm. After seeking advice I tried removing any airlocks from the system today. Got some air out, ran the engine, same thing happened. Not happy. Looks like either the thermostat is jammed shut, or the water pump is knackered. Both of which are expensive parts. Doubly not happy.

On the plus side, reading back to my post of Jan 4th, I made mention that I couldn't complete installation of the oil pressure gauge till I got a suitable thread adaptor for the sender. Well, I just finished making one, from an old BMW wheel bolt! I'll fit it tomorrow and try it out.

2011-01-17T14:24:00.002Z

Wiring loom - done!!!

Yesterday I completed all the outstanding circuits, wrapped all the loose wires, finally mounted the fusebox and fixed in the dashboard.

Next on the list is the front wingstays (need to bend them to shape, sandblast and paint them) and then the front cycle wings.

After them I'll mount the nosecone and do all the filling that needs to be done on that, which is a lot.

It has been pointed out to me that I haven't published any photo's for a while, I'll try to get some up soon.

2011-01-14T06:55:00.002Z

Yesterday evening I scraped an hour or so in the garage and got at least some of my list done.

I wired up the foglamp and it's telltale, wired up the reversing light, both are working well. I also wired up most of the horn circuit, I only need to mount the switch. I'm actually going to buy a better switch as the one I bought from Maplin doesn't look like it will last very long in use.

I also need to buy a few more very small cable connectors for the brake warning light, then i can complete that circuit as well.

Just wish i could get a little more time to get things done....

2011-01-10T06:54:00.004Z

For once I can say, all tasks accomplished!

On Saturday I re-installed the passenger side exhaust and ran the engine - all sealed up nicely!

On Sunday I completed installation of the speedo and the hazard lights. I also had enough time to spare to wire up the brake lights too.

the only downer is that it turns out that thje speedo unit doesn't actually have the fuel gauge function on it, bugger. It's not the end of the world though, as I can always upgrade it to a nicer one in the future anyway.

So I'm going to stick my neck out here and set myself another list of stuff to do by nex weekend.

1. Wire up Fog lamp
2. Wire up reversing lamp
3. Wire brake warning light (handbrake and fluid level warning)
4. Wire up the horn

If I can get all these done then that will complete the wiring loom, and I can move on to finishing the bodywork.

2011-01-08T11:06:00.003Z

Alright, well i have removed the blowing exhaust manifold from the passenger side of the engine, and had it machined so that the faces of all the ports are flat and level to one another. I'll refit that today and it should hopefully cure the bad blowing I had there.

I've also completed the indicators, they all work now, also the hazard lights (although I have yet to fit a switch for them), that's on the list for today.

On Thursday i finally recieved the digital speedometer i had ordered, and found it also has a built in fuel gauge which may be compatible with my sender. Fantastic. I have begu installation by making a bracket and installing the speed sensor on the rear axle. I need to do some more wiring (groan!) to install the speedo unit completely.

So those are the next few jobs for this weekend:

1. reassemble exhaust and test
2. complete hazard warning circuit
3. Complete installation of speedo/fuel gauge.

2011-01-04T12:17:00.001Z

just had 10 days off over Christmas/new year, but back to the grind today. Well at least in my time off I got a bunch of stuff done.
Got the engine running
made the wiring loom
headlights - working
sidelights - working
tail lights - working
indicators - working
hazards - WIP
cooling fan - working
instruments - working (with the small exception of the oil pressure gauge which I need to make an adaptor for as the sender doesn't fit.)

just gotta do the reverse light, fog lamp, brake lights, brake warning lights and the horn and the wiring is complete! I can then at last finish the bodywork, make the interior and it's done!!!

Problem is finding the time now I'm back in work, bugger.

2010-12-31T15:45:00.002Z

SUCCESS!!!

I hooked up the partially charged battery and the full booster pack - to give it the best chance of starting, and within a few seconds of cranking - it fired straight up!

It idles really nicely too.

I checked the charging circuit - working perfectly!

I then wired up the rev counter, voltmeter and water temp guage and ran it for a good ten minutes to check their operation - all working great. The oil pressure gauge isn't yet working as the thread on the pressure sensor doesn't match the engine, I'll have to make up an adaptor for it.

The exhausts are also blowing on the joints between the manifolds and the front pipe, and the passenger side is blowing beween the manifold and the head. Hopefully this shouldn't be too difficult to sort, and was something I had been anticipating.

So not all good news, but I'm really chuffed to have it running properly. I may have left it till the last day, but it is running in 2010!!! It will be finished in the next few months, at last.

So to all, a very happy and prosperous 2011. Happy new Year!

2010-12-31T08:30:00.002Z

Good morning people!

Well the booster pack is fully charged, and the car's battery is now on charge. Hopefully, today, I will finally get the engine started, again.

2010-12-30T20:05:00.003Z

Well I have been enjoying my time off over the Christmas break and have been getting some good time in up the garage, at least 3 hours a day for the last few days.

So this week I've:

made and fitted the front side panels
fully welded the exhausts (including the lamda sensor boss)
sand blasted and painted them before finally fitting them
covered the dashboard in black vinyl
Begun the long slog of wiring everything up

The wiring is taking a long time, I was completely expecting this. My plan of attack is mounting all the components (lights, horn etc) and running the long lengths of wire back to the centre of the car, then connecting each circuit up in turn.

So far I've made the front end loom, including lights, horn, instrument sensors and charging circuit. I had previously made the rear loom, but today I made the connections to the new rear lights. I completed the starting/charging circuit today and had a go at starting the engine up, unfortunately I didn't have enough power in the battery to get it going, but maybe tomorrow!

2010-12-13T10:20:00.003Z

My goodness - where did November go???

It's been bitterly cold, and I've been absolutely slamming the overtime in at work in preparation for Christmas so yet again, the locost project has suffered delay.

However in the few small sessions i have managed to sneak in up the garage, ive made and fitted the drivers side panel and exhaust system. I next plan to repeat this on the other side, then make the front side panels.

I've also bought and fitted the rear suspension, and replaced the rear lights - the last set fouled the wheels through the wheel arches. the new ones require a slight modification to be able to fit in the same holders but it shouldn't be too difficult.

I have a week or so off over Christmas and i plan to get as much finished as possible during that time.

CKC are agin running a trackday at Llandow in May and my aim is to be there! So really I need the car to be done by April so i can have a test session in it first.

2010-10-29T21:25:00.002+01:00

This afternoon I managed to get a couple of hours in the garage.

I fitted the 2 brake light switches I bought at Exeter, and the rear wheel arches. The bodywork is really starting to come together and looking really good. But I still have to make and fit:

Side panels
Bonnet
front wings and stays

I also fitted a return spring to the accelerator pedal as it was a bit floppy underfoot, but I may have made it too tight and It may need some adjustment.

2010-10-24T09:21:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I went to Exeter Kit car show, I bought loads of bits and pieces:

2 brake light switches (one for the pedal and the other for the handbrake)
A battery warning light
A proper electrical crimping tool
Rear wheel spacers
exhaust mounting rubber bobbins
Bonnet latches
big ratchet straps for the transporter trailer

I also saw this car, which I have pencilled in as my next build, the MEV Exocet.

Last weekend I made the template for the bonnet:

I also made the dash cowling: And I'm really please with it too.

Last weekend I got some more bodywork done...

2010-10-16T19:12:00.002+01:00

I had a feeling that my progress was going to slow and indeed it has. This past week our baby daughter has had a spell in hospital (much better now though) so I haven't had the chance to spend any time at all in the garage this week. Anyway, excuses over, I managed to sneak up there and take a few pictures for the blog:

Here's the side/rear infill panels. I had to add these where my redesigned rear end lengthed the locost chassis.

Here's the rear panel.

This is where the next panel is going, over the top of the scuttle. here you can see hoe it's bolted through the chassis rails, and the ECU and expansion tank mounted on it.

Here's the front suspension, and headlamp. Also note the 14" Ford Focus wheels now fitted.

And finally the nosecone mounted up. I'll fill the gaps and paint it as one of the very last jobs.

Fingers crossed I may get some garage time tomorrow afternoon.

2010-10-04T21:54:00.002+01:00

Well I swapped the wheels over, and the front track has now been narrowed to 66", matching the rear, and narrow enough to fit on my car transporter trailer without having to drive over the reinforced whellarches. Well happy with that.

Also John did indeed pop over and helpe me with the brakes. After the first round of bleeding the pedal was still very spongy and I got very little out of the rear calipers. After some investigation, we found that the brake bias valve was set heavily to the front, after releasing it, we re-bled all the brakes and the pedal went nicely hard.

So - onwards and upwards!

2010-10-02T22:58:00.002+01:00

Well I'm really chuffed, Ive made some good progress at last.

Front suspension is done and sitting correctly.
Rear panel is made, fitted and looks great - its a huge hurdle I'm glad I got over.
I've also re-installed the rear anti-roll bar.
I've mounted the nosecone.

Tomorrow the plan is to switch the front wheels for a set I got from a ford focus in a scrapyard. The reason for this is they have a much more positive offset than the capri wheels currently installed and should narrow the front track nicely. Also, my friend John is popping over to help me bleed the brakes.

2010-09-28T15:40:00.002+01:00

The new springs arrived today and i fitted one. it was much much easier than removing the old - way too long springs. the front end already sits much much better. I'll get the second one done and set the ride height then.

I also bought some decorators lining paper and set about making a template for the rear panel. looks like it should be ok.

I've pencilled in tomorrow morning as garage time, so I'll hopefully get some more work done then.

2010-09-27T18:31:00.004+01:00

I have now fabricated, painted and fitted the seat back panel out of the 1mm steel plate i had. Although it's quite heavy when compared to an aluminum one, it adds quite a bit of stiffness to the chassis now it's riveted on.

I have also fixed on the scuttle, with 4 M8 bolts right through the chassis rails, it's very strong and won't be coming off again in a hurry!

And, I've welded on ALL the seat belt mounts. All 8 of them! Then pained them and the surrounding chassis to prevent rust.

Yesterday I made a template for the dash cowling from some very thin (0.5mm) aluminium and clamped it on - looks pretty good. the actual panel will be made from 1mm ally.

next couple of jobs on the list are to glass on the titanium mount to the nosecone, fix the now expanded nosecone in place and then make up a template for the bonnet. Also make a template and cut out the ally for the rear panel, then fix that in place. Hope to get all that done this week. Fingers crossed.

As an aside, I bought the front suspension units off ebay last week. When i fitted them, the car sank all the way down their travel - no good. So I have ordered some stiff springs to fit on them, and hopefully all will be well! Fitting them is a doddle.

2010-09-09T11:40:00.001+01:00

Yesterday evening I finally got a lttile time to myself up the garage. I'm finding it quite difficult to fit any garage time in between working late, helping around the house and spending time with the wife and our 9 week old baby girl.

Anyway, with the short hour and a half I did get, i finally fitted the passenger side panel on the transmission tunnel. Before i could fit it, I had to fill and bleed the clutch. The pedal is very stiff, I'm hoping it'll loosen up in use, if it doesn't, i'll have to remove and re-design the pedal.

I've also fitted the 2 small panels on the driver and passenger footwell tops. Next job is to fit the drivers side trans tunnel panel, then the scuttle can go back on.

I have unfortunately found that I didn't buy enough aluminium, so to save on buying more, I'm going to have to make the seat back panel from steel. I have plenty of 1mm steel plate haning about to make it from so it's not a problem, but it will have to be painted before fitting.

2010-08-31T17:13:00.000+01:00

with the car transporter trailer now finished, i can once again focus my attention on the car build.

I have since last posting, finished the glassfibre work on the nosecone. I have trial fitted it to the car and I can confirm that it now clears the engine. It looks kind of huge on the car but I'm sure it will all get back into perspective as i add bodywork.

I have also started (finally) panelling the interior. I have done the 2 engine bay panels, and the tunnel top that sits behind and under the dashboard. Next is the tunnel side panels, seat back and lastly the tunnel top (once the wiring loom is in)

I have also secured the battery cable with avaiation P-clips.

Today the exhausts arrived and i have begun work on fabricating mounting brackets for them. I want the exhausts close to the sides of the car and just above the floor line, so that in future, i can make GRP side pods to enclose them completely.

had to stop work to take Baby Natalie to the doctors (first round of injections today - and by 'eck did she scream.) so I'll hopefully continue tomorrow, after i have taken the cat to the vets. No, not joking, i really do have to take the bloomin cat to the vets.

Chow for now!

2010-08-20T14:52:00.001+01:00

Just another quickie!

I have successfully widened the nosecone by 4", it was actually a little easier than i was expecting and I'm really pleased with it so far. It will take exstensive filling and sanding to re-establish the outside profile, but I have been told that this is normal.

This weekend i will have a go at making it taller.

2010-08-17T13:15:00.005+01:00

Just a quick update, yesterday i was given (yes - GIVEN!) all the fibregalssing materials i need to enlarge the "locost" nosecone I have to fit my car.

5L of resin
lots of chopped strand matting
mixing cups
stirrers
fibreglass tape

I already have catalyst, so hopefully by the end of this week I will have at least made a start on enlarging the nosecone, it needs to be 4" wider to fit my wider chassis, and 5.5" taller to fit over my monster engine.

I'll take lots of pics as I attempt it.

2010-08-16T13:54:00.002+01:00

Hello people! just a quick post to say i haven't forgotten about my car build!

I bought the aluminium sheeting I needed, then found that i havent got room in the garage to work with it. the garage is plenty big enough, just full of rubbish. This weekend I had a major clear out and threw out loads of stuff I had been hoarding, ford capri parts, rover V8 bits etc, I'm never going to use them, they aren't worth selling so they are gone.

I've also near enogh completed the car trailer I'm building, all it's parts have gone to be galvanised today, so that made a lot more room in the garage and I can once again move the car about.

I've got a very busy week this week but hopefully I'll be able to get some time in the garage on the car, at last.

2010-07-23T20:03:00.003+01:00

Since last time I've plumbed up (most of) the cooling system. The only remaining bit is the hole you can see here in the red connector. The temperature sender is going to go in here. Ideally i'd like to fit the fan switch in here but the thread is all wrong, I'd have to drill and tap a new thread in it.
I've also mounted the ECU and expansion tank onto the bulkhead panel.

Since then I've removed the scuttle to allow me to fabricate and fit some of the aluminum panelling that goes underneath it, it will be much easier to fit without it in the way.

I've also made and welded on the headlamp brackets.

Unfortunately all the jobs now require some spending: i need to buy the rest of the exhaust parts, aluminium sheets for body panels etc. so until I can afford it, I've turned my attention to the trailer project - have a look at my other blog!

2010-07-17T20:27:00.002+01:00

Here's my latest pics from today:

Here's a fully welded exhaust manifold, just needs painting now.
Here's the radiator mounted up, viewed from above so you can see the fabricated brackets.

And here it is viewed from in front. The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that I have removed the viscous fan from the front of the engine. I had intended to leave it on, but that made it impossible to plumb the cooland hoses, so off it came, and now I have lots of room!

2010-07-17T20:19:00.002+01:00

Picture time!!!

Here's the mangle of wires that was the donor BMW fusebox. I'm really glad I got rid of this lot!
This is the yellow plastic template I made up for the bulkhead panel (front of the scuttle)

And here's the resulting steel panel, welded in.

I used the same method to make this, the plywood dashboard panel...

And mounted the gauges and warning lights into it.

2010-07-17T19:51:00.002+01:00

Well it's been a productive couple of days. I've now completed all the welding on both exhaust manifolds, they now just need a coat of VHT paint and they are complete.

I went rummaging round a scrapyard this morning looking for rubber coolant hoses to connect to the radiator and expansion tank. I got what I needed for £2. Unfortunately the hose I got for the expansion tank is slightly too small in diameter so I'll have to try again.

In the garage this afternoon, I finished up the manifolds, made brackets up and mounted the radiator. I've ordered a hose joiner with a tap in point for a temperature switch that will operate the electric fan which I have yet to mount up to the rad.

2010-07-14T16:25:00.002+01:00

Ok, bulkhead panel, welded in and painted - done.
Dashboard panel, template made, plywood cut out, locating brackets made and welded on, dash drilled and bolted into place. I've also cut out holes for the 4 gauges and all 6 warning lights. All I need to do to finish the dash facia is cover it in thin foam and then vinyl.

I need to make the scuttle outer panel but need to buy aluminium for that.

I've cracked on with the exhust manifold and all but finished the first one. By spending hours with holesaws in the pillar drill, cutting holes in 2" pipe and welding it all toether, I now have a viable manifold, I just need to plug one open end of it, and then the rest of the exhaust can be fitted to the other end, well, it will when I buy it.

2010-07-04T18:18:00.002+01:00

Since my last post I have done even MORE work on the wiring, I've removed the wiring for the headlights, front indicators, cooling fan and horns. It makes sense to re-use small parts of the loom as the wiring is all the right size and colour coded. Saves money too.

I've also moved on with other things. I made a template and cut out a 1mm steel plate for the bulkhead panel on the front of the scuttle, and tack welded it in place. I'll remove the scuttle to fully weld it, as that will make it much easier to do.

I've bought lots of new stuff too, a pair of 6" headlights with angel eye rings to use as sidelights. They aren't E marked but it doesn't matter as they don't need to be for track use. I've also bought some really cool instuments. A water temp gauge, rev counter, voltmeter and an oil pressure gauge. When off, the faces are black, but then light up red and white, really trick. I've bought the plywood to make the dashboard and i'll make it the same way as the scuttle panel.

2010-06-30T11:42:00.004+01:00

Well at last some progress to report!

Following on from my last update, I did indeed re-look at the wiring loom, and decided to junk it.

It took me about 4 hours of painstakingly tracing the engine harness through the loom to find where each cable terminated and discovering it's function. Out of the 23 wires that joined the engine harness to the rest of the car, only 3 were actually needed, these were the live feed to the fuel pump, a switched live supply from the ignition barrell, and the starter solenoid power cable. All the rest were signal leads for the on board computer, check control system etc. so no longer required.

I carefully cut each wire in turn and checked to see if the engine would still turn over, until i was left with just the three I knew I needed. So the rest of the loom, fusebox etc has been discarded. I'm going to reuse some components from it to save from buying new, (coloured cable/fuses/relays etc) but for the most part it's going to be binned.

I'm feeling a lot more positive about the build now, and feel like i can now start to make some more headway. I've ordered new fuse and relay boxes from CBS and bought my headlights. I think I'm going to try to make a start on the exhaust manifolds and cooling system soon. Now I know what I'm doing with the wiring, i think i can leave it for a while, Anyway, i need to have all the lights mounted on to make a tidy job of wiring them up.

I apologise for the lack of recent pictures, but wiring isn't all that interesting to look at, and the rest of the car hasn't really changed anyway.

Keep reading!

2010-06-23T18:26:00.002+01:00

I have finally moved on to the fusebox, I have completely removed the housing, and man, did I ever wish i hadn't. I now have a huge mountain of spaghetti like wiring and no clue what to do with it.

After well over an hour of trying to sift through it, and making no progress at all, I admitted defeat for the day. I've decided to have one more look at it before junking it completely and making a new loom from scratch. Now, that sounds like a huge amount of work, (to be honest, if i had gone down that route originally, it would probably be done by now - galling as that is) but at least i would have the confidence of knowing it all works and is all new.

To achieve this though i would first have to sucessfully remove the engine harness from the rest of the wiring. It's critical that this remains intact. after that i could basically junk the rest of the loom, including the instrument binnacle, and start from scratch, using the wiring diagrams in John Dicken's book as reference.

However, I am going to have one last look at stripping the fusebox down before I take the plunge.

2010-06-19T10:37:00.002+01:00

that last post was meant to appear on my trailer blog, don't know how it found it's way here.

Sorry for any confusion.

2010-06-17T11:02:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I got some more work done on the trailer.

I Drilled and fitted the last crossmember, then laid on the first deck. I marked up and cut out the recess for it to fit around the wheel, and then marked out and rilled the holes for the existing bolts to go through to secure it down.

After that I measured and cut out the 1" equal angle pieces to go around the rest of the edge. This was easy work with my Evolution Rage3 metal cutting mitre saw.

I'll weld all this on shortly.

2010-06-17T10:58:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I continued the long slog of the wiring...

I was able to seperate the ABS controller from the rest of the loom. The only section left to strip down now is probably the most difficult - the fusebox.

The plan is to take out all reduntant crcuits, see what I'm left with and thn build a new fusebox to fit just what I need. Part of the problem is that There is just so much in there, and I don't know what a lot of it is.

Not looking forward to this bit.

2010-06-10T15:37:00.002+01:00

Not much progress in the last week I'm afraid. The reason for this (well, my excuse anyway) is that as we have stil been unable to sell our house, we have had to start making lots of small cosmetic improvements, which unfortunately have taken up most of my time. what I have had left has been spent working on the new trailer project, which i must confess seems to be progressing at a good pace. click the link now to have a look!

What i have done in the garage this week is tidy it up a bit. I was getting fed up of stepping over things, and whilst welding up some trailer parts, I accidentally set some plastic bags on fire. I put it our in a couple of minutes, but it was enough to make me stop and think, and get some clearing done. the back half of the garage is now looking much tidier.

I will really really try to find some time to the rest of the wiring soon. With the weather not looking too great at the moment, working on the trailer isn't easy anyway, as it's out on the driveway.

2010-06-02T09:26:00.003+01:00

The trailer build blog is now fully up and running, click the link on the right...

I'm trying desperately to get some garage time in this week but things just keep getting in the way. eg. yesterday i got up to go to work only to find 3 tyres had been slashed on our cars, 1 on mine and 2 on the wife's. Infuriating and expensive, not to mention a huge waste of time having to get almost brand new tyres changed.

Why do people do these mindless things? The wife is more than 8 months pregnant, what if I had to rush her to hospital but some braindead moron has slashed our tyres? what then???

Forgive me, rant over.

2010-05-27T19:21:00.004+01:00

Today I ordered the steel for the trailer build. It will be delievered on Tuesday, so next week i will get on with the trailer build.

Also, i have decided, so as not to dilute the content of this blog, I'll cover the build on a separate blog. I'll post a link to it on the right of the page as soon as it's up and running. Anybody who wants to read about it taking shape and see the pics can do so there.

2010-05-26T16:23:00.002+01:00

Another micro update!

I did indeed get a couple of hours in the garage this morning. i spent the time strpping down the front section of the wiring loom and removing reduntant wiring. All that is left now is the front lights side/dip/main/indicators/fogs, the wiring for the radiator cooling fan and it's thermostatic switch.

It's all looking a little untidy at the moment but it's coming on and I'm pleased to say that it was far less work than the rear section of the loom.

The remaining big obstacles to the wiring are the fusebox and the ABS controller. One thing at a time though...

2010-05-25T15:59:00.002+01:00

Micro-update!

Today I have cut up the caravan floor (with a chainsaw - awesome fun!) into smaller pices that will fit in my other trailer to be taken to the dump.

My Citroen is booked in to have the towbar electrics fitted on Thursday, at which time I will also go and order the steel for the car trailer.

Hope to get an hour or two working on the race car tomorrow.

2010-05-24T19:22:00.003+01:00

Moving on from my Huuuuuge success of starting the engine to be honest i havn'e had a lot of time in the garage since. what time i have spent in there has been further removing obsolete wiring from the donor loom. I have split the fusebox open, and hope to remove most circuits from it, well, all of them in fact and build a new, small fusebox for just the few that i do need.

One of the main reasons i haven't been in the garage is that for the second time I have gone and started a side project. regular readers will remember the old BMW 540i I resurrected which took a lot of car building time away from me. well this project is slightly different in that it is very much related to the race car build. I have bought a caravan chassis from ebay for the princely sum of £61. I collected it from wiltshire on Saturday, and it towed the 85 miles home just fine. The last couple of days have seen me stripping down the remains of caravan (the base, wheelarches and wiring) from the chassis and taking measurements so i can design a car transporter structure to build on it.

The plan is to make the whole thing a bolt together assembly, so it can be dismantled and sent to be galvanised. the caravan chassis itself is galvanised steel and shows no signs of rust at all. The resulting car transporter trailer will be used to carry the race car to the track days I plan to take it on, as it will not be road legal. It will also allow me to move the entire project to a new location if we ever sell our house. I'll post up pics of the trailer build as it progresses. I'm hoping it won't take long.

2010-05-16T16:19:00.002+01:00

Today is another one of those big days in a kit car builders world. I got the engine started for the first time since it came out of the donor. Many thanks to the guys on the Haynes Roadster Forum for their advice and encouragement, I was tearing my hair out with this thing last night.

Here's the vid:

I had to retreat from the garage as soon as I stopped it as the smoke was getting thick, as you can see, it's pouring out of the doors.

On cloud 9 right now - WOO HOO!

2010-05-10T10:27:00.002+01:00

Some more pics from Stoneleigh:

Here's a nice MEV Rocket. Ford RS200 replica

Royale Sabre - I really like the shape of these. Rumour has it that these will be going back into production soon.

A couple of reaaly gorgeous Marcos cars.

And an Ultima.

2010-05-09T10:10:00.003+01:00

Here's some more pics.

This is a one off special called "Enigma". A bit wierd looking, it's running a Ford 2.9L V6 engine.

AGM WLR on the AGM stand. I really like this car, I have even considered building one next. It has a very similar chassis to mine underneath but can accept a huge range of engines. Speaking to the AGM staff, they tell me they have just been commisioned to build one with a Merceded V12!!

Tiger Aviator on the Tiger Stand. I like the wedge shaped bodywork.

An original Lotus Seven

And here is about half of my wiring loom. Now you can see what I'm really up against. The wife wasn't exactly thrilled about me spreading it all out on the living room floor!

2010-05-09T10:04:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I finally cracked it - I finally got the starter turning properly. Having charged the big battery and trying it again with no success, I traced the problem to the jump start point. Here, the battery wire bolts to one side and the main power lead to the engine bolts on to the other. When I was trying to start it, I saw sparking across it, So i removed both leads and connected them directly to eachother and eureka, it works, consistently. One problem less to deal with.

I also continued to work on the rear loom, separating out the obsolete wires, and making up a multiplug connector for the rest, this will allow me to separate the rear section of the loom with ease whenever required. I picked up this tip from the John Dickes seminar at Stoneleight last week. The connector is a PC ATX power connector kit from Maplin's - £1.79 including connector block and pins. I must confess that the crimp on pins re really fiddly but so far it's going well.

2010-05-08T06:42:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was amix of some failure, with a big success.

First the failure.

Continuing from my last posting, I hooked up the fully charged booster pack and tried turning the engine over - nothing. The starter continued to click as before but no rotation. I managed to get it to turn a few times, slowly, and gave up when i found that the boosters wires were getting hot.

I have now concluded that the booster pack isn't powerful enough to provide the amps I need to crank that big engine. So what i have done is put a bit of a monster battery on charge overnight. It's thebattery of my old BMW 540i (same car as my donor but with a 4L V8 instead of the 3L I'm using here) so it should have more than enough kahunas to crank the engine. I'll find that out this afternoon.

Secondly the success.

I have been struggling with a mass of wiring in the centre of the car. At the front I have the front lighting loom, engine management loom and dasboard loom, all of which I need. At the rear I have the rear lighting loom and fuel pump/fuel level/speedo sensor wiring loom, again, I need these. In the centre was a secondary fuse box containg some fuses, relays and 2 big control modules. These were for the elecctric windows, heated rear screen etc. - don't need them. Also a large bulb failure module - don't need that either, however, if I removed it, would the lighting still work?

My theory was that this bulb failure system was an optional extra, not fitted to all BMW's, so removing it, and bypassing the wiring may get the rear lights working. I set about tracing all the wiring colours from the rear lights, forward into the loom, then finding the same colours at the front and tracing them backwards, the same for the fuel/speedo wiring. I grouped them together with insulation tape so not to lose them. I carefully cut out all the other wiring, as evetually was able to completely remove a whole armful of wiring that wasn'r required, along with the secondary fuse box. This has made the loom much more manageable, and the task suddenly seems a lot less daunting.

To test my theory, I reconnected 2 cut off ends between the front and rear sections (bearing in mind that there was formerly a bulb failure moduel in between them), only choosing just 2 wires of the same colour, and tried some lights. Hey presto! One of the rear indicators works! So the theory is sound, the rear lights can work without that pesky module. The next task here is to reconnect some more, and hopefully get all the rear lights and the fuel/speedo section working too.

2010-05-06T22:06:00.002+01:00

Finally some good news - that starter motor works!!!

After bench tgesting it and seeing it spin normally, I refitted it, then removed, cleaned and refitted the main earth leads, connected my booster battery directly to the engine jump start points and turned the key - and bingo, the engine spun over. Well, it spun over for a few seconds, slowly. The battery booster had died.

It's now on charge overnight, I'll try again tomorrow.

With the engine turning over, I'll be able to test if the spark plugs and fuel injectors are firing, if they are, I only need to get the fuel pump running and I may be able to give the engine a test run.

I'll keep posting!

2010-05-04T11:01:00.003+01:00

I spent this past weekend at the national kit car motorshow (aka Stoneleigh) and bought quite a few nice new bits for the car.

Lovely little wing mirrors - £15
Conical Air filter - £10
Fuel hose and clips - £8.50
Fuel Filler cap £17.50
Harnesses - £70
2 second hand Slick Tyres - £20
electrical guide book - £20
Rear light mounts - £15

I think that's about it. also got to meet loads of other car builders and share information, etc. Hope to meet plenty more at a trackday at Llandow in 2 weeks time.

So now it's back on with the build. At the show, i attended a seminar on kit car electrics, how to construct your own loom etc, and now feel a little more confident about completing my own wiring. I have a few ideas left before tearing my hair out completely.

I'm going to remove the starter and bench test it. Hopefully it can be saved as a replacement it about £180. Once that is done I'll have a look at the rear lights as they simply aren't working at all.

The I'll try and get the dash disply working. That i simply havent a clue about, but I really hope I can get it working.

2010-04-26T18:31:00.002+01:00

Since my last post, i have made some small progress with the wiring. I hooked up all the earths, and connected a battery.

It's not working.

Well, some good news, it beeps and bongs - telling me there is something wrong, but the dash display is not working so i can't see what it's complaining about.

The other good news is that the starter solenoid clicks on turning the key, but the engine doesn't turn. this could be down to a dead battery, or worst case scenario, a dud starter. It was working fine when i broke the donor, but that was 2 years ago now, and it may well have given up the ghost in this time. other than that is a bit of a mixed bag really...

I have gotten the headlights working, but none of the rear lights.

The cold start valve operates, but not the fuel pump.

The indicator relay clicks, but the lights don't work.

The horns don't work.

The on board computer doesn't work (although i think this is linked with the instruments.)

Apart from this i have tumps and tumps of reduntant wiring that i don't know what to do with.

The plan at the mo is to charge the battery and try the starter again, then at least i can eliminate one thing from the list.

I hate electrics, I really, really do.

2010-04-13T19:02:00.000+01:00

Afetr loads of staring at the loom, fumbling around with it and scratching my head, I decided on a new course of action.

I have taken the loom up to the garage and laid it our on the car, in much the same way as it was fitted to the donor. I hope to connect all the earths and battery leads, the donor lights and switches, and switch on the juice. In this conficuration I hope the loom still functions, if it does, I can then start to remove the parts I don't need, and if anything I do need stops working, I simply stop and backtack to a point where it was.

I hope to remove most of the loom in this way. The only other problem i have come across so far is the ECU box is huge, too big to fit in th space i had alotted for it. I may end up fabricating a new one, but that is somewhere in the future, right now, i just need to get the electrics them selves working.

2010-04-11T07:53:00.004+01:00

Well here's my 100th post!

I'm really happy with it at the moment, having made some good progress. I finally completed the brake lines (had been putting off buying 2 flexi lines) but I won't fill the system with fluid just yet, as the front lines will have to be disconnected when i fit the front body panels. Once the panels are on and the lines reconnected, I'll fill and bleed the system.

I have completed the fuel system, the copper and rubber lines are all installed, along with a fuel filter. The filter is actually from a peugeot 406 that i had lying around, but it is brand new and should be fine.

I drained the fuel from my 2nd donor BMW - the 540i for those who have been paying attention. And found it actually had a fair bit more fuel in it than I had thought. I only had 2 small 5 litre jerry cans, and it filled those and just kep going, so i had to run to halfords and buy a 20L metal jerry can, and it half filled that too! So i have plenty of fuel ready for when i want to run the engine.

I have also moved on to the next step in the build, and the bit I have been most dreading - the wiring looms. When i stripped the donor car, I removed the looms in their entirety - there are 4 of them, one for the engine bay, one for the engine itself, one for the dashboard and one for everything else (creature comforts and the like). Yesterday i laid it all out on the living room floor, much to the annoyance of my ever patient wife, and spent a good couple of hours scratching my head.

This may take a while....

2010-04-06T20:14:00.003+01:00

Picture Time!!!

Fuel tank welded up.

General rear view

Battery and fuel tank installed

Completed and painted fuel tank

2010-04-06T14:44:00.000+01:00

Quick update today, the fuel tank is painted, I fabricated it's mountings, lined them with 3mm thick rubber strips and installed it all on the car.

I also installed the fuel pump and level sender into the tank, all fits lovely.

I have begun fitting the copper fuel lines to the front of the car but I'm finding it quite difficult to route both through the drive tunnel withour contacting anything else.

Must .... keep ... going

2010-03-28T06:55:00.002+01:00

Well here we go again, I have now welded up the fuel tank. 3 times.

At the first attempt, I filled the tank with water and it leaked in 14 places. Actually, i wasn't too disappointed as it was my first ever go at making one.

Second attempt, It leaked in 5 places.

Third attempt, it now only leaks in 1 spot - and it's one I previously marked up but missed. Next go I'll have it sorted, I'm confident.

I have also painted the battery tray, and fabricated the fuel tank holding brackets. The last job i did yesterday was to line them with rubber strips, to stop vibration from the chassis when the car is in motion from damaging the fuel tank.

Next on the list once the fuel tank is leak-free is to paint it (I'll have to be expensive and use 2-pack paint for it that is resistant to petrol) and finally fit it to the chassis. Once it's installed I'm going to plumb in the fuel lines.

2010-03-21T08:27:00.005Z

Well apologies for not posting again sooner, but my home laptop has completely died.

The good news is I have made good progress. The one panel that needed fitting became 3, all done, as is the pedal box bulkhead. It's not my neatest ever work, but will be hidden from view anyway so I'm not too concerned. It's strong and does it's job.

Moving on from the paneling, I have managed to re-fit the engine and gearbox, attaching the propshaft along the way. It's all now tightly bolted into position - fingers crossed I don't need to take it our again! To me it marks a mojor milestone in the project, as the running gear is now completely assembled. It actually completely confused me yesterday, I needed to roll the car a few feet up the garage so i released the handbrake and pushed, it wouldn't go. It felt like I had left a chock by a wheel, but I looked around and no, I hadn't. I pushed again - won't move. ????? Oh yeah, it must be in gear, dopey prat.

Well I was a vey busy bee yesterday as I moved on to the next item on my to-do list and fitted the battery by fabricating a tray, welding it in position in the rear of the car (no room at the front - it's a big battery) and fabricating a clamp to hold it down.

Today I hope to make the fuel tank, indeed already this morning I have cut and folded the steel for it's main structure. I'll weld it up later on, and try to fit the pump/sender assembly.

As always, I'll post pics when i can.

2010-03-01T17:51:00.002Z

I got some more done yesterday, and hit a problem or 2 as well.

I finished all the welds inside the engine bay that weren't accessible with the engine in place and ran and fixed the reamining front brake pipes. The front half of the braking system is now complete. The rear half just needs 2 more little flexi's.

I was then looking to see if I needed to do anything else bfeore refitting the engine. One thing has become clear, re-fitting the engine will be a 2-person job as the engine mounts, propshaft and gearbox mounts need to be aligned all at the same time, and it has to be done without hitting, snagging or otherwise damaging the lovely new brake pipes.

The other snag is that I need to fabricate and fit one of the panels for the gearbox tunnel, as it needs to be riveted on from the inside, which would not be possible with the engine and box in the way. I made up a template from corrugated plastic sheet - which was rubbish. I need to make another one. The difficulty is that the panel has to fit around the clutch master cylinder and it's pipe, without touching it.

I also need to panel in the end of the pedal box, which is a really complicated shape. I really have gone and made this difficult for myself.

I'll keep you all posted.

2010-02-27T17:33:00.005Z

I went to a track experience day on Thursday, after being driven round the track by an instructor in a Lotus Elise (mostly sideways) and a thrilling few laps in a Subaru Impreza group N prodrive rally car, driving myself, I had the choice of supercars to take out for a few laps, which would you have chosen? Ferrari 360, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT3 or a Lamborghini Gallardo? There was only 1 choice for me, the 500bhp Lambo, it was immense.
Here's some of the front brake lines clipped to the chassis.

The extended steering rack - finished!

And the shortened handbrake cables, re-clamped properly.

2010-02-27T09:58:00.002Z

Ok update time.... after a week on days i have indeed got quite a bit done.

All the parts and tools I ordered arrived very quickly, so I re-cut the threads on the steering rack and fitted the extension pieces, connected it all up and the steering works! Woo hoo, i can finally put a tick against a thing on my to do list - the steering is finished.

I have also ticked off item 2 - recondition rear axle, as all that is left to do on there is get 2 new flexi hoses and fit them - easy peasy. The ones I was able to remove from the BMW were is such poor condition that it wasn't worth re-using them.

Well no sooner was the steering finished, i had to paritally dismantle it again, as the engine had to come out. I Have removed the engine and box for 3 reasons - I needed to install the clutch, I had to run the copper brake lines around the engine bay for the front brakes, and I need to do a couple of last welds inside the engine bay. All of these would have been very difficult with the engine in place, and removing it isn't much hassle.

So with the engine out i have fabricated and fitted all the front brake pipes, at the moment only partially clipped in place, i need to do the welding before i fully rivet the clips in places as there is a chance i could damage the pipes with the heat from the welder.

I have taken the time to re-fit the clutch with brand new stainless steel bolts of the correct size, and fit the gearbox back up to the engine.

I have also fitted the brake balance valve in position in the brake circuit, in the centre console, within easy reach when driving.

The last thing I have done this week is revomve the alternator from the scrap BMW, it is actually the one off my donor engine, i had to use it on the BMW when I was driving it regularly as it's own packed up.

So the plan for this week is to finish the few welds, brake lines, and get the engine back in with the propshaft fully installed too. At this point, all the major mechanical systems will be in place, and the next phase is to get them all working.

2010-02-19T16:33:00.002Z

I've had a little potter about with the car this week, I've made up the last of the copper brake lines for the rear axle and installed it, I just need to recover a couple more flexi lines from the scrap BMW to connect it all up. I've also refitted (properly this time) the handbrake cable calmps that i used to shorten them, as they were previously slipping quite badly. The handbrake now seems to work fairly well.

This past week I have also sold my spare alloy wheels on ebay for 155 quid, which will go towards my suspension. I intend to order that when i get paid. The wheels will be collected this week.

Parts-wise I have oredered some brake pipe clips (the P-clips I have are too large), a large Die holder to finish cutting the threads on the steering rack, and a brake proportioning valve, to control the pressure to the rear brakes, to stop them locking up.

I'm back on dayshift from next week so i hope I may be able to get back on with it at the pace i previously had been going at.

2010-02-13T07:38:00.002Z

Last weekend I did indeed get the rear calipers refitted, and to be honest that's about all that's happened since last weeks' post. Being on night shift, I've had quite a tired week this week and haven't been able to find the energy or willpower to drag myself up into that cold garage and get on with it.

Enough excuses, I'll get the rear axle finished this week and hopefully the steering too. Refitting the clucth shouldn't be too much trouble, the prop will be done at the same time (that reminds me, I need to paint the welded joint) although the clutch might require a run to Cowbridge to get some bolts to hold the pressure plate on as i had to cut them off to remove it.

Hmm... keep reading!