So as only I will be driving it, once fitted I can set the seat to its optimum position and remove the handle that makes it fixed allowing roll bar headrests to be used.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Fixed seats
My understanding of the IVA rules, to use roll bar head rests, the seats have to be fixed and not adjustable. 
So as only I will be driving it, once fitted I can set the seat to its optimum position and remove the handle that makes it fixed allowing roll bar headrests to be used.
So as only I will be driving it, once fitted I can set the seat to its optimum position and remove the handle that makes it fixed allowing roll bar headrests to be used.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Bleeding Clutch
In more ways than one!
I bought one of the one way bleed kits and also one of the kits that works off a tyre to pressurise the system. Great idea when you know not to tighten the reservoir lid too much as it pops a thread and then pisses brake fluid out. :(
The trick was to snug it tight till you see the rubber seal touch all the way round. Too much and you can see it lift away about to jump a thread, easy to see now its soaked with fluid.
Anyway once I realised how to seal it, it worked really well, and it took a litre to do just the clutch.
One last pump on the pedal with my wife in the drivers seat, got a bit more air out of the slave cylinder as the bleed nipple is on the bottom.
Fluid all over the place, in my hair and on my clothes, but that's another tick off the list.
Need to look into it as the biting point is right on the floor. Ran the engine and tried the gears. Further investigation required.
I bought one of the one way bleed kits and also one of the kits that works off a tyre to pressurise the system. Great idea when you know not to tighten the reservoir lid too much as it pops a thread and then pisses brake fluid out. :(
The trick was to snug it tight till you see the rubber seal touch all the way round. Too much and you can see it lift away about to jump a thread, easy to see now its soaked with fluid.Anyway once I realised how to seal it, it worked really well, and it took a litre to do just the clutch.
One last pump on the pedal with my wife in the drivers seat, got a bit more air out of the slave cylinder as the bleed nipple is on the bottom.
Fluid all over the place, in my hair and on my clothes, but that's another tick off the list.Need to look into it as the biting point is right on the floor. Ran the engine and tried the gears. Further investigation required.
Friday, 28 May 2010
Steering wheel
I went for the leather Motolita wheel as opposed to the wooden one. I tried both out when I was up at GD and personally felt the wooden one was a little thin and didn't like the varnished feel but they do look nice. So I decided to go for the leather type. Rather pleased with it. Nicely made.
With the polished boss attached, it was now a case of fitting 2 bolts with long shanks to act as indicator cancellation. 
Carefully measured the angle the where cancel switch is positioned to the horizontal and marked this angle on the rear of the hub.
Next I measured the distance from the shaft to the edge of the switch bracket and marked the boss and leave enough of a gap between for the switch to engage.
Drilled and tapped 2 6mm holes and cut the heads off after measuring how deep they need to be.
Looking more like a car every day.
To do list is getting shorter too :D
With the polished boss attached, it was now a case of fitting 2 bolts with long shanks to act as indicator cancellation. 
Carefully measured the angle the where cancel switch is positioned to the horizontal and marked this angle on the rear of the hub.
Next I measured the distance from the shaft to the edge of the switch bracket and marked the boss and leave enough of a gap between for the switch to engage.
Drilled and tapped 2 6mm holes and cut the heads off after measuring how deep they need to be.
Looking more like a car every day.
To do list is getting shorter too :D
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Rear over riders
Needed to make some angled spacers as the threads are at an angle to the body and the nuts don't sit flat.
With a marker running along the edge of the "stand off's" giving me the desired angle, I cut 2 pairs out. Made some rubber washers to fit between the stand off's and the body.
With a marker running along the edge of the "stand off's" giving me the desired angle, I cut 2 pairs out. Made some rubber washers to fit between the stand off's and the body.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Head rests
As I mentioned earlier. My fixed seats will need headrests making up. The standard GD ones are not as big as the IVA regulations need. They need to be 150mm from the top of the seat and a certain width apart. Wont go into it cos its rather boring. IVA Manual.
So I made up some templates out of some scrap mdf (Mk1) Didn't realise about the minimum 150mm from seat top.
These ones are a bit on the small side. So I cut out some others that follow the body curve closely (Mk2), covered with foam then covered with vinyl. I decided for them to fit through the eyebolts as GD's stainless headrest T's have edges that Mr IVA tester may not like. So playing safe.
Didn't take many pics as my wife was helping and after realising the first ones were a bit small we cracked on with the Mk 2's
I hope they are good enough to pass.
Couldn't resist fitting harnesses too. :P
So I made up some templates out of some scrap mdf (Mk1) Didn't realise about the minimum 150mm from seat top.
These ones are a bit on the small side. So I cut out some others that follow the body curve closely (Mk2), covered with foam then covered with vinyl. I decided for them to fit through the eyebolts as GD's stainless headrest T's have edges that Mr IVA tester may not like. So playing safe.Didn't take many pics as my wife was helping and after realising the first ones were a bit small we cracked on with the Mk 2's
I hope they are good enough to pass.Couldn't resist fitting harnesses too. :P
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Seats Fitted
The seat runners fit perfectly to the holes in the seats and the ones pre marked for drilling in the floor.
Now, all adjustable seats must have headrests fitted for the IVA.
To use roll bar headrests the seats have to be fixed and not adjustable.
I will post up how I did this if it works and is sufficient to their requirements.
Next was to knock up some spacers, 25mm for the front and 5mm for the rear. These are recommended by GD to give best support and comfort. I had some odds n ends of material that I cut to size. Tried them with the seat in place but found them personally too much. My knees felt too high for the full range of the clutch. Maybe I have short legs.
So after some faffing about with different size ones I decided to go with 15mm at the front. (used 8mm washers wrapped in tape for the spacers). This gives me the support needed under the legs while still feeling comfortable. I may swap back to 25mm once the seats have bedded in.
It is a little fiddly getting the bolts through the runners, spacers and lined up with the floor holes.
Tightening the bolts is a bit tricky as a spanner wont fit in the runner even if you push the seat back or forward to expose the heads. I used a flat blade screw driver between the head of the bolt and the side of the runner.
this stopped it from rotating while I tightened the nuts up. Nice little trick and worked well.
Now, all adjustable seats must have headrests fitted for the IVA.
To use roll bar headrests the seats have to be fixed and not adjustable.
I will post up how I did this if it works and is sufficient to their requirements.
Next was to knock up some spacers, 25mm for the front and 5mm for the rear. These are recommended by GD to give best support and comfort. I had some odds n ends of material that I cut to size. Tried them with the seat in place but found them personally too much. My knees felt too high for the full range of the clutch. Maybe I have short legs.
So after some faffing about with different size ones I decided to go with 15mm at the front. (used 8mm washers wrapped in tape for the spacers). This gives me the support needed under the legs while still feeling comfortable. I may swap back to 25mm once the seats have bedded in.
It is a little fiddly getting the bolts through the runners, spacers and lined up with the floor holes.
Tightening the bolts is a bit tricky as a spanner wont fit in the runner even if you push the seat back or forward to expose the heads. I used a flat blade screw driver between the head of the bolt and the side of the runner.
this stopped it from rotating while I tightened the nuts up. Nice little trick and worked well.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Dash Refitted & Ally under trays
Having reinstalled the wiper system and before fitting the dash for the last time, I fitted the middle tray as its very tight when the dash is in.
I reinstalled the dash, fitted the steering column and set it to its furthest out position on the mounting bracket. Connected up the stalks to the loom and installed the relay that came yesterday and that worked fine. (Fixed the bad relay with a large hammer, Felt good :P)
The footwell vents are normally fitted near the tunnel. I had to do this in the passenger side as the glove box took up the rest of that side. But on my side, I decided to fit the vent to the Right of the steering column, as this is more direct to the feet.
Probably never use it or make any difference, but what the hell.
I reinstalled the dash, fitted the steering column and set it to its furthest out position on the mounting bracket. Connected up the stalks to the loom and installed the relay that came yesterday and that worked fine. (Fixed the bad relay with a large hammer, Felt good :P)
The footwell vents are normally fitted near the tunnel. I had to do this in the passenger side as the glove box took up the rest of that side. But on my side, I decided to fit the vent to the Right of the steering column, as this is more direct to the feet.
Probably never use it or make any difference, but what the hell.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Tank in.
Placed the Tank in the boot and plumbed it all up.
Have fitted some sound sheets for the hell of it as I had some left over from another project. Used to use them at work for deadening hollow echo's/noise. The idea was that you apply it in patches. Stops the panel resonating and saves the weight of complete covering. Not that I have heard of this happening with any GD's but as I said, for the hell of it.
Also ran an earth as advised for the IVA from the Filler cap, to the tank as the filler is isolated in the fibreglass body. I then linked it from the tank to the earth in the sender.
Will fit the tank straps tomorrow.
Have fitted some sound sheets for the hell of it as I had some left over from another project. Used to use them at work for deadening hollow echo's/noise. The idea was that you apply it in patches. Stops the panel resonating and saves the weight of complete covering. Not that I have heard of this happening with any GD's but as I said, for the hell of it.
Also ran an earth as advised for the IVA from the Filler cap, to the tank as the filler is isolated in the fibreglass body. I then linked it from the tank to the earth in the sender.
Will fit the tank straps tomorrow.
Swapping the wiper park.
Wasn't to pleased having to rip all this out as everything was in place to take the dash. Heater hoses, loom all had to be moved to get it out.
Removed the circlip for the gear shaft.
Opened it up, took the gear out
and swaped the park tag.
When I was testing the wipers I did notice they were rather noisy, sounded like sawing through wood. So I had a look and noticed that I had put a few sharp bends in the Bundy tube.
(Shocking! Can't blame that one on the glue fumes!))Took it all off and straightened them a bit by inserting a screw driver into the tube and gave it a shallower bend following the scuttle curve more.
Reassembled and re tested. Parks correctly and is a lot quieter. No surprise.
Ignition Barrel
On closer inspection, it didn't seem too hard to get into to clean it up as it's a little intermittent and temperamental, only a refurbed Vectra column I guess its just dirty.
Removed the Key barrel and undone the special little grub screw holding the switch in place. Don't loose this as it has a locating shank on the end of it.
Delicately and slowly unclipped the 3 clips holding it together, hoping its guts wouldn't open like a grenade.
The contacts were pretty black and sticky, so a bit of Brasso on a pipe cleaner did the trick nicely. (forgot to take a pic before I cleaned it.
Putting it back together was tricky. The little clear plastic spacer has a tag on it and fits in the black part rotating 270 Degrees. The wrong way it will only move 90.
I think this is right, as the wrong way it jammed up. lol.
Removed the Key barrel and undone the special little grub screw holding the switch in place. Don't loose this as it has a locating shank on the end of it.
Delicately and slowly unclipped the 3 clips holding it together, hoping its guts wouldn't open like a grenade.The contacts were pretty black and sticky, so a bit of Brasso on a pipe cleaner did the trick nicely. (forgot to take a pic before I cleaned it.
Putting it back together was tricky. The little clear plastic spacer has a tag on it and fits in the black part rotating 270 Degrees. The wrong way it will only move 90.I think this is right, as the wrong way it jammed up. lol.
Friday, 21 May 2010
Dash Done
Wiring the instruments was fairly straight forward.
Some may have noticed I have not cut out the glove box yet as I'm going to see weather I want it or not. Fitted a blanking plate for now, made from ally that I would use as a door if and when I decide to do it. The glove box was then fitted over the plate and the dash installed.
With the Leather piping now on, I had to elongate the mounting hole downwards to accommodate the larger curve caused by the piping.
Everything was plugged up one by one and tested. First thing I noticed was the Ignition was intermittent when in position. Got it to work for the test though. Next I noticed the main beams need to be looped from the stalk to the dash switch for the dipped lights to work. The washer motor needs to be a switched earth and some wires needed to be bridged.
Next on the test, was the wipers. (Don't fit the actual wipers yet till you know all is working in the right direction! Don't want them wiping the wrong way across your bonnet.) Seeing the spindles turning is good enough.
I must have the wrong 3 wipe intermittent relay or its buggered cos as soon as the ignition went on, the wipers started and wouldn't turn off. So I bypassed the relay and took it out. Need to find the right one.
With it being wired up as per GD's wiring instructions (GD don't use the intermittent relay mod) it worked fine and parked when stopped. Only thing is, it stopped in the opposite position. Should park facing right. Job for tomorrow.
Everything else worked fine.
Some may have noticed I have not cut out the glove box yet as I'm going to see weather I want it or not. Fitted a blanking plate for now, made from ally that I would use as a door if and when I decide to do it. The glove box was then fitted over the plate and the dash installed.
With the Leather piping now on, I had to elongate the mounting hole downwards to accommodate the larger curve caused by the piping.Everything was plugged up one by one and tested. First thing I noticed was the Ignition was intermittent when in position. Got it to work for the test though. Next I noticed the main beams need to be looped from the stalk to the dash switch for the dipped lights to work. The washer motor needs to be a switched earth and some wires needed to be bridged.
Next on the test, was the wipers. (Don't fit the actual wipers yet till you know all is working in the right direction! Don't want them wiping the wrong way across your bonnet.) Seeing the spindles turning is good enough.I must have the wrong 3 wipe intermittent relay or its buggered cos as soon as the ignition went on, the wipers started and wouldn't turn off. So I bypassed the relay and took it out. Need to find the right one.
With it being wired up as per GD's wiring instructions (GD don't use the intermittent relay mod) it worked fine and parked when stopped. Only thing is, it stopped in the opposite position. Should park facing right. Job for tomorrow.
Everything else worked fine.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Dash Leather, Part 2
Did a lot of homework last night, reading blogs, looking at other builds and how best to make the holes in the leather. One job you really don't want to screw up or rush. (This is how I did it, no idea if it's the right way though.)
I decided to start cutting about 3-4mm in from the hole edge, sliced in 4 then 8th then 16th's.
This gave me plenty of tags to pull back without showing noticeable tug lines next to the dials. I tried 12th's on the smaller one of the holes but they didn't look as neat, so divided those up too.
I would highly recommend Evositck Timebond over contact adhesive for the reason that its not stringy and gives you a bit of room for adjustment. However, I should have glued each dial one by one as by the time I got to the 3rd hole it had dried. Not to worry, a bit of fresh stuff softened the dried bit up.
Next was to glue them back. I didn't want to pull one side more than the other and risk creating creases, so I used a dial to send the tags equally through.
Kept checking the front as it needed a bit more tension in some areas. All depends on the look you want.
The piping was then glued along the top. The glue didn't like adjustment as it peeled off the vinyl piping when partially set. Should be fine once in position and fully cured. Trimed "V"s into it round curves.
The lamp and switch holes I cut out from behind and trimmed up with the lamp end pushing through from the back. Kept the hole snug.
Added some piping to the steering hole.
Rather pleased how it came out. Not bad for a first timer. Took all day though. :P
I decided to start cutting about 3-4mm in from the hole edge, sliced in 4 then 8th then 16th's.
This gave me plenty of tags to pull back without showing noticeable tug lines next to the dials. I tried 12th's on the smaller one of the holes but they didn't look as neat, so divided those up too.
I would highly recommend Evositck Timebond over contact adhesive for the reason that its not stringy and gives you a bit of room for adjustment. However, I should have glued each dial one by one as by the time I got to the 3rd hole it had dried. Not to worry, a bit of fresh stuff softened the dried bit up.
Next was to glue them back. I didn't want to pull one side more than the other and risk creating creases, so I used a dial to send the tags equally through.
Kept checking the front as it needed a bit more tension in some areas. All depends on the look you want.
The piping was then glued along the top. The glue didn't like adjustment as it peeled off the vinyl piping when partially set. Should be fine once in position and fully cured. Trimed "V"s into it round curves.
The lamp and switch holes I cut out from behind and trimmed up with the lamp end pushing through from the back. Kept the hole snug.
Added some piping to the steering hole.
Rather pleased how it came out. Not bad for a first timer. Took all day though. :P
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)