183 replies to this topic

[D-DAWG83]

Bit of Satin paint over that and will look fine mate. Coming on nicely now..  See you on Monday..

Yep, did that this morning, as im limited what i can do at 6am in the garage. Lol

[D-DAWG83]

Fitted up all the seats in the rails this morning, so thats another job done. See previous post about the brackets having the shear plate removed.

[Wreelybro]

Ikea..... lol

[D-DAWG83]

Well the past week has been a busy one. First of all, suspension and bits got collected from the powder coaters, but alot of the bits had the machined faces coated as well, so that went back, and as i found out Friday Morning, they forgot to give me the block that the rear HCB's fit into, which is mildly iritating. Matty Gray, and my mate Spence came round Monday evening and helped (thanks), with getting the wishones all bushed up, dampers assembled, and started to fit them into the car, what a fun job that is, lots of lube!

With all them in place, i started to fit up the heating system, as id stripped and rebuilt both the heater box, and the diverter box from both my original, and other ones id bought.
Found out 3" tube dont fit the heater pipe, so ordered 80mm, and that fits a treat. Fitting the dampers proved a pig of a job also, and as it turns out, requires gently manipulation of the mouting areas to increase the width enough to squeeze them in. Some of the top hats had seen better days, so i made them as good as i could.
Also relocated the ECU, twice. Id assumed (wrongly) that the J1/J2 faced the right way up, and i didnt measure the hole centres before drilling. So after id done it once, i found one of the plugs would not reach, so had to take it all apart, and start from scratch. Looks good now though.
Replaced the inner most rubber seals on the rear calipers as well, as they were not in the best of condition.

Fitted new foam to where the ducts for the heater go as well.


Worked out a way to bolt the rear hub up without the HCB block.

[Nev]

Too much shiney shiney, it's hurst my eyeses !

[D-DAWG83]

Cleaned up and refitted the gear selector cables, fitted the rear poly bush the other day.

Both fronts are now ready for wheels.

Refitted the battery and put some new foam on the bracket that holds it in, thought i may as well, though it will probably get replaced next strip, as its corroded quite badly where water has sat, cleaned up and soaked in ACF50, but a nice shiny one would look good.
Refitted the wiper motor aslo, and got bored of dropping bits into the front abis, so stuffed a load of rags in there to catch anything wanting to escape.

[D-DAWG83]

Too much shiney shiney, it's hurst my eyeses !

There is a rusty caliper there if you are offended by the shiny stuff

[D-DAWG83]

Also got a little cocky when i was tired when pushing the ball joint in, and caught the edge of the thread on the side of the wishbone. This despite me putting gaffer tape on the sides of the wishbone to protect them.

[Wreelybro]

Getting the bud! Have you found the hcb block yet?

[D-DAWG83]

Nope. Hoping to get to the point where the car is finished, and just beeds that block, that way, its not a big job to do.

[D-DAWG83]

Well a pretty productive day. Badgered Matt and Joe some more, and got info on bleeding the CC system and engine coolant system. Attached a hose inlet to one end, and hose to a bucket the other, and it seemed to work. Managed to get the car fired up, after realising id forgotten the rear relays, and spending half hour working out why the fuel pump wouldnt prime and the car wouldnt crank over. After a few minor exhaust leaks were sorted out, everything seemed good.

Charge cooler pipes

Main system

[D-DAWG83]

Well the past few days have been a hige blur, with not alot of sleep. However, today, the car tirned a wheel for the first time this year. Minus lots of bits, but drivable. Felt fantastic to be in it again. Looking forward to pushing it a little more onec everything is bolted in as it should be, and iv gained a little more confidence in a car that iv rebuilt.
Had some shiny carbon shims made for the rear clam support


And here she is being filled up by the attendant.

[Wreelybro]

Well done bud, epic work to get her on the road!! Looking fwd to Monday?

[GaryK]

Congrats Daryl! Looks great. I thought carbon fibre against steel was a corrosion no-no though?

[D-DAWG83]

Ha ha, well things are getting better and better. Car went in for Geo, which has happened today, and they have found that the Front top wishbone on the RH side is actually the wrong one! Turns out to be an S2 part, not the S1 one like it should be. So now frantically searching for a wishbone... As for the carbon shims. Yes, its meant to be a no no, but as the clam will be coming off again shortly, im not overly concerned. Iv stuck it down with double sided tape, so its not in direct contact anyway.

[garyk220]

Turns out to be an S2 part, not the S1 one like it should be. So now frantically searching for a wishbone...

That doesn't sound right. Pretty sure the VX and S2 Elise wishbones are common parts, other than the lower rear divers side for turbos. Most of the Eliseparts wishbones I ordered last year were labelled as S2.

S1 Elise and Exige have completely different wheel offsets, so the wishbones are different lengths from the VX/S2 Elise.

[D-DAWG83]

No idea, as not looked into it, been asleep all day as on night shift. Got a message saying the front RH upper wishbone is totally wrong, and is throwing the camber out significantly.

[D-DAWG83]

Well what a week or so its been. After working night shift last week, and only getting 2.5hours sleep in 24 hours, the car nade it to Bedford yesterday for its track day. Was a huge push, and was helped alot by Matt Gray, and Matt Bentley, however, ask me if id do it again and id say no. Got the car to MBR, and thought that was the hard part over, however, the next day he discovered that one of my FTWB's (drivers side) was actually the wrong one, and was an S2 Elise one. Not exactly what i wanted to hear. Going through the small amount of history with the car later in the evening, i found that that wishbone had indeed been replaced in 2014 by a garage up north. After some head scratching, and major effort by Matt Bentley, he lent me a wishbone to get my car on the road. Got the car back to my house, and got the wishbone fitted, but pushing the ball joint into the wishbone resulted in me snapping the head of one of the bolts used in the press, with about 3mm left to go, so that was not ideal. The seats were not the easy job i thought they were going to be, and ended up taking the seatbelt mounts out, and just having the harness loops. Getting both clams on and bolted up on my own was not easy, but i managed it, and getting the front bonnet bolted up and lined up so it closed and released ok was a pain in the pack side. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but i was doing some stupid hours, and didnt even think about taking any photo's. Car was in a good enough state to go on track at 6.30 Monday morning, the day of the track day. Was working on it till 10.30 at night Sunday, and was up just after 5 to finish the floor panels off and get packed up and prepared for the days adventures. Had an awesome day on track, with only 3 issues. One was the boot release cable chaffing on the SC pulley, one was that id bolted the wiper on the wrong starting side, and the last one was thaf i didnt have confidence on the breaks during the morning, so i bled them at lunch, and they felt loads better. I can now tart the bits up, and get the interior in and various other small jobs done over the next week or so.

[Nev]

Jeeze, sounds like you warped space time to get that lot done and get it to the track day !

 

[D-DAWG83]

Was not easy, and inviled some long hours, and lots of help from Joe,Matty Gray, and Matt Bentley. Was not eqsy, but got there.