Sunday, December 26, 2010

Finishing Up the Rear Brake Pipe

After looking at build pictures from Aries web site and another Aries car, I was confident about the work I had to do. I went to the car, changed slightly the routes I had previously laid down for the brake pipes and started drilling and riveting again.

The hardest part was when I had to drill the 6mmØ hole for the 3-way bolt. The cheap drill bit I bought was not good, I had to drill on an angle with my 90º helper and drilling the tube twice wore me out. It eventually got done and the fun started again. The best part was when I got enough room to be able to drill with my new wonderful 3,5mmØ pro drill bit in a 90º angle. It went through the steel as an hot blade on butter!

Got all the rear pipes in place. Grabbed one of the rear flexible pipes to fit it on the extremities, just to be sure it all was good before the final rivets. Was very happy with the outcome of my work! It is better than my photographer capabilities...

Next step: riveting down the fuel pipe...

Friday, December 24, 2010

Rear Brake Pipe - Working on the Tunnel

The wife and mother-in-law gave me a small early Christmas present on the 24th: some car time before the Christmas party. Since two weeks ago I had the issues with the drill bits and last week there was an electrical problem on the parking floors, preventing me from working on the car, I was basically on my third week without car-time.

So, I spent the gifted hour and a half drilling the center tunnel to rivet the rear brake pipe into place. I used my new most expensive drill bit and... It DOES make a difference. It drilled better, faster and never broke (only drilled some 7 holes, anyway). To be honest, I'm not drilling on a 90º angle, which is not optimal. But this new drill bit was wonderful!
When I got to the last p-clips before getting to the 3-way on the back, I got concerned about the possibility of laying incorrectly the pipe and having issues when the diff got in place. So, I grabbed the diff and tried to lift it into position. Ended up quitting. It is too heavy for me to put it in alone. Anyway, I got an idea and figured out I should look into some build photos just to make sure.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Drill Bit Woes

Went this evening to work on the car with only one hour to spare. But didn't stay there that long. Was drilling holes for pop-rivets on the center tunnel, to hold the brake pipe. The "half drill" I was using broke again while drilling the 2nd hole of the day. Grabbed a new drill bit and it broke drilling the 3rd hole of the day. Grabbed the half of that broken one to try and use it and it broke again. I never got to finish the 3rd hole!

I had no more 3,5mmØ drills, so later on went shopping. I was buying a brand that was "0,95€ for 2". This time I bought two packs, one that was "2,65€ for 2" and another that was "3,45€ for 2". The one I used to have said "for occasional use (metal)". The middle one is "for standard metals like steel and ally" and the more expensive one is "professional for resistant metals like stainless steel and cast iron". I hope the price difference represents a resistance difference too! More news on that next weekend...
By the way, bought also a 6mmØ "pack of 2" (of the cheap ones) to have "proper tools" for the bolt that holds the rear 3-way into the chassis.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Front Brake Pipes Done!

Great evening on the car today! Finished drilling and riveting with p-clips the front brake pipes. The biggest issues were taking care to be sure there was no way the steering column could foul with the pipe and drilling the hole for the 4-way bolt. Ends up the 4-way bolt, that has to go from top to bottom of the chassis, is 6mm Ø. I only have 4,5mm Ø and 8mm Ø drill bits, nothing in between. Ended up using the 4,5mm Ø to enlarge the hole, which took a bit of time and lots of effort. Once more, it's proven that having the correct tools saves time and effort.

After that, started on the rear brake pipe. Spent a lot of time figuring out how to hold the pipe on the foot well wall, behind the peddles, since I couldn't fit the rivet pliers due to the engine being in place. Ended up holding the p-clip in place with some steel wire, let's see if that is deemed acceptable. At least it is well locked. Did a couple more rivets along the tunnel. No photos, those will come when the whole tunnel is done.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The First Rivets! (P-Clips for Brake Pipes)

After many weeks postponing this, I've been mentally preparing myself to drill and pop-rivet the car to hold the break pipes in place. So, today (holiday in Portugal) I had a couple of hours and went for this task. My main tools were my driller, a 90º angle for the driller, a 3,5mm drill bit and the rivet plier (the big one can't be used in these tight spaces).
After much thinking and measuring, ended up drilling the first hole the hard way, from behind, since I didn't have clearance due to the engine being on the car. Turns out that measuring several times paid out. And the first p-clip got applied on the rear brake pipe. It looks a bit odd from the backside, I thought it would be level but it protrudes... Oh, well...
With renewed confidence, I went for the front pipe. The next eight rivets were done in as much time as the first took. To note that I ended up re-routing slightly the front pipe near the suspension pick-up point to have it suspended for a smaller distance.

Next weekend I hope to finish up the front pipes, maybe start on the central tunnel for the rear one. But next couple of weeks will be drilling and pop-riveting. Drilling steel is a lot harder than what I'm used to, specially when using the 90º angle thing. It vibrates a lot!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Filing Bushes and Proper Tools

Having the proper tools for the job makes a big difference. Started today's work by filing the bush tubes in the camber adjusters. I had started it before but it was taking a long time. Long story short, filling rubber and steel with a wood file and emery tip is not the way to do it... With my new steel file, and with help from the vice, it took a bit but it got done. After getting them to easily fit the upright, I reattached them to the upper suspension arms.
Then I made a new attempt to insert the wheel stud, using a hammer and the wood file. Placed the upright assembly on top of some wood, the file tip on the back of the stud and then hammered the top of the file. The stud got a bit more inside. It seems to be less than a third to go. Probably, with the WD40 that Steve recommended, it will get into place. I'm also leaving the remaining studs on the freezer for the night. I hope to have good news tomorrow.

I noticed, while hammering the stud, that the upright assembly was moving a bit. The flange was moving out a bit, since the nut on the tip of he inner c/v joint wasn't tightened enough. Tightening proved to be a challenge but doable in the end. Using a steel pipe, I locked the flange in place and tightened the nut enough for it to be near the flange. Steve said that the final tightening can only be done with the car on its wheels and someone pressing the brakes.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Peddle Rubbers and More Studs

Wednesday had half-hour after dinner near the car for two quick jobs.

First one was to glue the two pieces of rubber that came with the peddle box on the clutch and brake peddles. It looks wonderful! I'll take a picture when I get the proper light there again. (picture taken and added on the 8th December 2010)
Second job was another attempt at pushing the wheel stud with the washers and wheel nut. This time I put a bit of lithium grease on the stud and the hole. I could still only get a third of the stud in.

After reading my previous post and thinking about it, it was clear I couldn't enlarge the hole otherwise I would be unable to tighten the wheel nut on the stub. Dumb me for even considering it...

So, I wrote an email to Steve to ask for advice. He replied the following morning stating that the ideal situation would have been for me to hammer them in before I assembled the flange on the upright. Since that was done, and taking it apart could damage the bearings (requiring new ones), I really had to go with the washers/tube and wheel nut. But he added that it could be easier to do it with the upright on the car, preventing the flange from spinning by putting a bar through 2 of the studs onto the floor.And using lots of WD40!

Let's see how it goes. I hope to fix with p-clips the brake and fuel lines this weekend so that I can finally start to assemble the rear axle.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Wheel Studs and Camber Adjusting Bits

I bought a small vice, hoping to fit the rear c/v joint in it and push the wheel studs through tightening the wheel nut over washers, as pictured two weeks ago. After some time and lots of puffing, I quit. It really didn't seem to move more than a third of what has to get in. I'll have to ask Steve if there is any problems in enlarging slightly the wholes. Otherwise, will have to take the rear calipers and wheel studs to the classical repair auto-shop and pay them to do it for me on their professional tools.

Then I used the vice to hold the tube where the upper rear caliper fits to. Steve told me I should put a file on it so that the caliper fits without effort, to make it easier to attach and detach it to adjust the wheel camber. I used an emery tip on my driller. Probably it's not the proper emery for steel, since it was doing it's job but taking a long time. We had visitors for dinner and I had to leave the job unfinished.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Drilling Holes - The Peddle Box

Finally mustered the needed courage to start drilling holes on the car. Summing it up, took me a bit over 1h30 and a 3mm drill bit to make 4 holes. But let's get into details...

Started by taking out the upper part of the steering column, since it got in the way and I assembled it too early.

Looking at the drill bits and the bolts that came with the peddle box, it seemed 8mm drill would make a hole too big. Started by drilling with a 3mm. When it went through the peddle box and the steel floor, it snapped. Enlarged the hole with a 4,5mm bit and ended up using the 8mm bit. The following two holes were done with the 4,5mm to mark the spot and the 8mm to open it up.

To finish that up, I went for the clutch cable, laid it in place and measured to drill for the clutch peddle stop bolt. Had to drill laying on my back from under the car. Ends up I measured once and drilled immediately... The mantra goes something like "Measure twice, drill once". I had to enlarge the hole to one side so that the bolt would actually stop the peddle. Enlarging with just the drill bit is not easy. But in the end, it all worked out well and the washers cover the enlarged hole.

Just a note on the clutch cable. It fits on the peddle with a bolt that came with it. But the bolt is too long. It would either had to be inserted on the peddle before attaching the peddle box to the car or be shorter. I'll have to shorten it up around 2mm to make it go through.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Rear Uprights Revisited

Last weekend I had to work so I didn't get any kit car time. It was the first weekend I failed to put some hours on the kit since I started building it. It made me very sad.

But it was not all stopped. I swapped several emails with Steve from Aries regarding the distances between p-clips for the brake and petrol pipes and also about the rear uprights. As usual, Steve is a top person, very helpful and very interested. If I go over 4 weeks without sending him an email, he mails me to ask if everything is going well. This is top customer service!

Summing up the emails, for the p-clips the IVA man doesn't require 100mm between p-clips. He wants the pipes to be secure. Steve recommends the 100mm but he reckons that in some places a bigger spacing (150mm) is acceptable while in others the pipes get more secure with a shorter distance. I should use discretion and reason while doing this and be sure the pipes don't rub any metal from the chassis.

Steve also questioned me about the need I had to enlarge the hole on the rear suspension pickup by 1mm. It shouldn't have been needed. Probably, if I had taken out the bush tube and rubbers and fitted them again with more lithium grease, it would have gone into place. Anyway, no big harm done.

He additionally told me I should use the extra bush pipe he sent me, instead of washers, to make space on the lower axle of the upright. The bush pipe would have to be cut in half. As I don't have a tool for that, I questioned about using washers (even if I had to buy more) and he said it would be OK. But no washers on the back of the upright, only on the front side. (see edit at the bottom)

He added that the upright should get into place on the top wishbone bush tube easily to allow for later camber adjustment. That would require some filling of the bush pipe and rubber. I had to hammer that into place...

So, when I got to the car today I started by taking out the rear uprights and the upper bush tubes. I'll work all that out on my bench and then reassemble it all on the car.

One of the upright axles was slightly damaged on my hammering spree two weeks ago. The thread is a bit thorn and now the nut will not screw in. I tried to amend that with a file and a little hacksaw. It's not good yet, but I may be able to fix my mistake.

My last task was to try to fit the wheel studs on the outer c/v joints. A blog reader (thank you daveyboy) told be Steve had said to put loads of washers on the stud and then use a wheel nut to pull the stud into place. I tried that but the outer joint would start to rotate and I couldn't manage it. I'll have to try again later with the outer joint hold up tight in some way...
I'm considering buying a vice for my stand, would help me a lot in a couple of jobs I'll have in the future...

EDIT - 2013-03-24 - It is very important that the washers are really all at the front. It ensures proper castor settings and it also prevents the rod rubbing the inside of the wheel. Additionally, it is easier to set as accurate as possible the toe and camber at this point. Since I didn't manage to properly measure the settings, I used the same as a similar car from another builder, that was professionally set. See 2013-03-24 post for more information.

Monday, November 8, 2010

EB Cargo Bad Service and Partial Refund

As I had mentioned before, I contracted through Shiply a freight forwarder to bring me the crate with my kit car. I contracted collection and delivery door-to-door and stated I needed equipment to load and unload the 650Kg crate to/from the transport.

EB Cargo (http://www.ebcargo.co.uk/) from Tamworth bid a very low price and they later revised it to more than double. As I posted on the 2nd August, they failed to provide lifting equipment on collection and Steve from Aries had to save the day getting a forklift.
If any readers have noticed, on the 11th August I had to pick the kit from a warehouse instead of having it delivered on my doorstep, as agreed and paid for. The reason was that EB Cargo stated, after the kit was already in transit, that they were not providing proper lifting equipment on delivery. Additionally, if I wanted to have that equipment, I would have to pay additional 210£. So I talked with the Portuguese transportation company and arranged to collect myself from their warehouse.

After having the kit, I tried to negotiate with EB Cargo for a refund for contracted but not delivered services (the lifting equipment). After all. they bumped the price to more than double for the equipment... They refused to give me the 315£ refund I wanted and would not accept the compromise I proposed of returning 190£ that was the difference between their price and what DHL would charge me for the same level of service (no equipment on collection, delivery to a warehouse near Lisbon). That compromise was based on the fact that, if they had told me that the 505£ didn't include equipment, I would have declined and gone for DHL. EB Cargo's manager named Brian Keates was almost abusive declining any responsibility, saying I had no reason and stating they would not refund more than 60£, the amount pertaining to the transport between Montijo and Lisbon, that I didn't get.

I then filed a complain through Paypal but they closed it immediately since they don't mediate service complaints.

My last chance was to complain directly to VISA. I filed the complain there, had to write a detailed document with my reasoning, scanned documents, emails and pictures. It was a 10 page document. I requested the 315£ refund but stated I would be OK with the compromise amount of 190£ refund. VISA later sent me EB Cargo's reply where they said they had provided 95% of the contracted service and as such would only refund 60£. VISA asked if I had anything to add. I rewrote a summary of my first document and stated that the percentage of delivered service was less. I also stated again my compromise amount.

Today VISA ruled the verdict and I was refunded 190£ through a charge back. I'm very happy! Not as much because of the money  but mostly because EB Cargo was not serious on this matter and wrongs have been made right with the ruling. I would love to have seen Brian Keates face when he found out he's shaddy business actions had come back to bit his wallet.

Just to show two other actions EB Cargo and Brian Keates did that were shaddy...
1) When I gave them the date to collect the crate, he asked for the final crate dimensions. It was a bit bigger than stated before and he bumped the price around 30£. Seems fair to me. But he didn't give the new dimensions to the transportation companies, thus he pocketed that amount. I found that out because on the release form from the Portuguese transportation company the crate dimensions were the old ones.
2) When Brian sent me the email saying EB Cargo would charge me additional 210£ for proper equipment to download the crate from the truck at my doorstep, he was saying that it was the transport company demanding. He sent the full email history exchanged between EB Cargo, RH and Rangel. But he manually edited the company's price conversion from € to £ in a way that would make him pocket 20£ more. It's fare for him to have his margin on top of all services he would resell me, but not hide that margin, specially when it was a service that supposedly was already included...

So, final note... Never do business with EB Cargo (http://www.ebcargo.co.uk/) from Tamworth. As a freight forwarder, they acted shaddy and were not professional. Great I paid with VISA, otherwise I would have no way to avoid their scam.
Positive note to RH and Rangel, the UK and Portuguese transport companies that belong to the System Alliance Europe group of transport companies. The people from Rangel were also great to allow me to occupy a cargo bay on their enormous warehouse, for a whole morning, where I could open the crate and move it to my rented van.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Marking for Pipe P-Clips

Today I went around the car marking places where I have to drill to attach the p-clips with rivets. These p-clips will hold the brake oil and fuel pipes in place. I had the idea that I should have 100mm between p-clips. If so, I don't have enough to hold the fuel line.

Asked on the locostbuilders forum and created panic as it seems most people say 300mm between p-clips and only one mentioned 150mm. Some even say that the UK Individual Vehicle Approval legislation only states that it must be tightly into place.

So, no drilling was performed and I'll send an email to Steve asking him about distances as he surely knows the right answer.

Anyway, after marking the drilling spots and counting the p-clips, as I hadn't much time left, grabbed some of the aluminium body parts and laid them in place. That reminded me of several facts... I really shouldn't have assembled the steering column, it will have to go out. I have to buy tools to cut holes on the aluminium panels. All  but one required holes: for the steering column, hand brake lever, gear lever, reverse box lever...

No pictures today; who would be interested in seeing pieces of masking tape on my chassis? ;)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Rear Uprights On The Car

Started the work session with a grinding tip on my driller to enlarge the suspension support bracket hole. After some 30m of grinding, trying to fit, removing suspension arm and repeating, it got done.

Next step was to fit the hub carrier on the suspension arms. It seemed pretty hard to make it all fit but then I thought about putting some lithium grease and that helped. The upright was in place and I read again Steve's email to be sure of the following step. And although Steve wrote twice that I should be sure I was putting the hub carrier with the straight side and the caliper support holes to the front, I did it wrong. So, I had to remove the hub carrier from the suspension arm. This all was 30m more.

Fought with the correct hub carrier on that arm but wasn't able to get it in. So I went to the other side and did the other one in around half-hour, including fitting the outer c/v joint. I had to put some wood as support bellow otherwise the arms would go down on the hub weight and the outer c/v seemed to be in strain against the lower suspension arm.

I then went back to the driver's side (left side) and gave another go fitting the hub carrier on the suspension. It was harder than the right side but it eventually got hammered into place and that side got done too.
The 2€ rubber mallet I bought on the chinese shop is proving to be one of the most helpful tools on my tool-stand. I can hammer stuff around without damaging anything (aside from the mallet itself). I did damaged a bit the thread on one of the rods that hold the lower part of the hub in place. It will put on a fight now to screw the nut into place.
I still haven't screwed any nuts in. I'm still wondering if I should put "loctite" or not, since all the nuts have nylocs.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Rear Uprights, Flanges and Suspension Arms

Today I managed to get 3h30m around the car. My longest stretch since my vacations ended. I'm a very happy builder today!

I started by preparing the flanges to be fitted on the hub carriers. It was mostly a cleaning job. Before I tried to fit a flange on a hub carrier, I tried to fit the studs on the flange. Ends up the studs don't go fully in and there is a gap. I believe that is not right, so I used emery cloth on the inside of the holes. It still wasn't enough... I'll have to look into it later. At least I checked that I can put the studs in after the flange is attached to the hub carrier...

... So I went to that step. Followed carefully the instructions Steve from Aries wrote me on the long and detailed email he sent me in September, when I asked about the wheel bearings. It was a really easy job. Used a bit the hammer and a kind of screwdriver to hammer softly the upper wheel bearing helping the flange to sit into place.
With both flanges inserted, I did the cleaning and preparing of the outer C/V joints. It took a bit but was another easy job.

Since Steve's email stated that I should fit the rear uprights on the chassis prior to fitting the outer CV joints, I moved on to that task. The bag with bolts, washers and nuts contained 2 shorter bolts that were marked with masking tape but without any label. Fortunately, it was easy to understand that they should go on the lower suspension arm, where if I fit a bigger bolt it would clash with the rear bulkhead. The task was looking pretty easy. One side of the car is now done (apart from tightening the nuts). The other side is almost done. One of the bolts doesn't slide through one of the mounting points. I guess I'll have to grind the hole a bit wider but it was already too late to go get the tools for the job. It will have to wait for another day.

All in all, I'm really happy with the progress I did!

EDIT - 2011-01-30 - Where I say that the two smaller bolts go on the rear wishbones, it's incorrect. They are for the front upper shock bracket. And should mate with smaller nuts that were also on the bag.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Wheel Bearings Done

As I said before, I had the chance to get the wheel bearings fitted at an auto shop. I went this morning with my friend and future builder José to that place, that he knew and recommended.

The shop was "Antero Pereira Classics & Racing" and the cars that sat there to fix, prepare or restore were wonderful. Besides several Mini, there was a Lotus Elan, an MG TD (I think), a BMW 2002, a couple of Ford Escort RS, a 4th generation Chevrolet Corvette and a racing Porsche 996 GT3-RSR. Some of the cars race on Portuguese classic championships, the Porsche on the Portuguese GT Championship. Talks were about the last season race, the last hill-climb, next year's championship, regulation changes... I even met the Porsche driver. Visiting that auto shop was, in itself, a wonderful experience!

Back to my car, even with proper machinery, preparing the parts to receive the 8 wheel bearings and inserting them took a while. Watching it happen was accompanied with questions about what I was building followed by some warnings, advices and stories about converting the registration of UK registered cars. I also got some advices on front upright assembly.

Three hours later I was back home and very happy!

(2011/01/01 EDIT: Before pressing in the wheel bearings would have been the right time to press or hammer in the wheel studs on the flanges... I left it for later and it is still looking to be a hard problem to tackle...)

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Steering Column

I may have the possibility to get the wheel bearings inserted using a professional press, so I changed my plans for today and went for the steering column.

It was pretty fast to understand the parts and trial fit them all. As anticipated, had to change the break pipe route and after that was done, it was a matter of plugging parts together.

There seems to be enough space around there. I had previously looked into that area with some concern, since there is the engine, master cylinders, oil pipes, engine hoses, clutch cable, manifold... But it seems it will all fit in the end just like a cleverly designed Lego.

When I was going to bolt it all down, the wife and kid showed up after some cycling and wanted to help doing it.
The kid takes very seriously the need to use an helmet on the "race car". He didn't take as seriously the need to tighten the bolt assigned to him and got distracted with the protection cover for the reverse box lever.

After having it all bolted in place, I had to fight the urge to go get a seat and the steering wheel just to see how it feels... But managed to cope with the urge and just rotated the steering column to see the steering rack and arms moving.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

First Attempt at the Wheel Bearings

I looked for pictures online of hub carriers and wheel bearings but could find none that would help me with the task at hand. I asked for help on the locostbuilders forum and two members helped out, one with a link to a page with great instructions. Later I received an email from a blog reader pointing to the same page. Thanks to mcerd1, Dingz and Iain!

So, laugh moment... I test-fitted the "oil seals" thinking they were the "outer racers"... Now I really know what each part is. Armed with that knowledge, I went to work on the car a bit.

After a lot of hammering, I quitted without pushing any outer racer inside. When I started to apply a bit more strength, it would always pop up. Since the hub carriers are painted inside, I postponed the task to a next time. And first I'll scrap the paint off the inside walls, every micro-millimetre will help. I'll also try to get a piece of wood or harder material that may fit over the racer so that I can hammer it all inside at the same time. And try to do it on a proper hour, hammering wheel bearings at 23h30 in the night might make someone mad, even if I'm working 3 stories below ground...

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Preparing the Hub Carriers

A week and a half ago I sent and email to Steve with questions regarding the hub assembly. He replied to me on the first working day afterwards with a very detailed set of instructions.

The first step was to check the inside of the hub carriers where the wheel bearings are going to sit and check for burrs caused by tools removing the previous bearings. If found, deburr. I did so with some grinding tips on my driller.

When I was offering the bearings outer racers to the hubs just to see how hard would be to hammer them in, I got some doubts on how far they had to go in and that probably I spent the last hour deburring an area that wasn't the right one... And the right one needs a bit of work... I'll have to look for pictures of the bearings inside the hub carrier to be sure...

Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Steering Rack

My kid has been asking me to go with him assemble the car wheels so that we can make it run. I explained him there were lots of other things to be done first but, since I told him before we were going to do it together... I had to make it happen.

The two of us went for some work on the car. I thought mounting the steering rack would be something easy that he could help with. Unpacking was half the fun, playing with tools the other half.

We placed the steering rack on the car and screwed one bolt/nut, where he helped while it was still not requiring too much strenght. His attention span shifts quickly so we stopped the work and went back home. After he went to bed, I came back to finish up.

The rack had lots of play inside the mounts, the bolt holes didn't line up well... Something was missing. Inside the rack mount plastic bag there were two pieces of plastic that I had discarded as "not needed". Ends up they were spacers to put between the rack and the chassis, on the mounting points. I had to trim them a bit to fit but, after a while, the rack was mounted and with no play. I was happy and I hope the kid too.

After that work, it became clear that I'll have to reroute the brake pipe section that goes from the 4-way to the chassis, since it will get in the way of the steering arm when that gets in.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Rear Upright Assembly (the start)

Today I planned to assemble all the rear part (minus break stuff). So I laid the inner hub, rear upright, hub carrier and outer hub. (The inner and outer hub are sometimes also referenced as rear stub axle and flange, it seems).


I first bolted the hub carriers to the rear uprights. It didn't take long to get it done.

But when I was looking into the rest, I understood something was missing there. The inner and outer hub join through the hub carrier hole, in a tight fit. But they are expected to rotate. So, some bearings should go there to help it. The box that has all the rear parts contains two wheel bearing kits, but I'm not sure how to assemble them, so I'll write to Steve.

Since I was unpacking, I went looking for the lobro joints. Also found them...
Later back home I read that the driveshafts are held inside the lobro joints with the help of circlips. So now I know what's the purpose of some circlips tapped to one of the driveshatfs.

Since I have identified the CV joints, I believe that, when I understand how to deal with the wheel bearings, I'll have all I need to assemble the rear axle (minus the breaks). I have set as a goal to have it all assembled and in the car, including breaks and suspension, by the middle of November. Looking a bit tight...

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Differential Supports

My goal for today was to attach the differential supports to the diff. Since fitting it on the car requires drilling some holes, I'll leave that to later, when I have all the rear axle and transmission axle in, so that I can be sure I'll drill them on the right place.

Once again, Steve from Aries made my job very easy! The supports were wrapped together and had a plastic bag tapped containing the bolts, nuts, washers and rubber discs that will hold the supports to the chassis. The nuts and washers that hold the support to the diff were screwed on the diff. It didn't take long to have it all done.

Then I unpacked the parts that will bolt onto the rear carrier (that fits on the suspension arms). I just wanted to look to the parts and see if I could understand how they go together. I think I figured it out, I'll just have to look to some pictures again. Bellow, all the parts unpacked and laid out.

If I can manage to work on the car again tomorrow, I'll put some photos up with the assembly disposition.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Rear Break Pipe Fitted

Today I fitted the rear break pipe. There are three pipes, all labelled. The bigger one had an indication of what side should go into the master cylinder. The smaller ones only had the labelling stating they were for the rear.

I started by unrolling the big pipe. Then made the necessary bends to make it leave the master cylinder crossing under the front break pipe making sure they wouldn't touch. This was a bit hard mostly because working with a long straight pipe inside the tunnel was cumbersome. But in the end I got a result that pleased me.

Then it was a faster task of putting it through the tunnel, strapping it temporarily, making small bends to make it pass the crossing chassis tubes without touching them.

When I got to the rear, I placed the 3-way on the end of the pipe and worked from there. The smaller pipe that will feed the left rear brake was really easy to bend and place. The other one was a different story. I initially bended it in a way that made too much pipe hang away from any chassis tube, so I couldn't put p-clips on it later. So I straighten it and re-bended it in a different way, that gave me more places to p-clip it and, thus made me feel happier.

The break pipes are done. I still started looking at the suspension arms but had to postpone that. Next tasks will either be that or fitting the diff. I looked at the clutch cable but don't know on the engine where to link it. So I just ordered the Haynes Honda CBR900RR FireBlade (92 - 99) Service Manual, that I bet will be useful in many other situations, including engine tuning later on.

(2011/01/01 EDIT: Check the final pipe layout on the December posts when they got riveted. It also changed on the rear)

Friday, September 10, 2010

All Bush Tubes Fitted!

Today I had control of the hammer again so I went on into finishing the suspension arms. All arms now have the bushes and tubes fitted in and are ready to be attached to the chassis.

Again, no photos since it was the same job as before. And I was getting quite fast at it! Since it didn't require much thinking, it made me notice that it would be nice to have some music to listen while I work on the car... Have to see how to get that.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Front Brake Pipes

Since my wife needed the hammer to persuade some Ikea furniture into assembling itself, I had to postpone the suspension bush tubes work and do a different task. So I laid out the front brake pipes.

As I told before, Steve sent the brake pipes cut to size, braided and labelled. The 3-way was labelled as "rear of car", so the 4-way had to be for the front. And had to take the pressure detection for the break lights. The photos on Aries site also helped me understand how to lay out the pipes and connectors.

I recall the fact that, since I'm building a LHD, things look a bit out of place from what is regularly seen on the web. For instance, my front brakes master cylinder is on the inside of the car.

So I started by attaching the pipe to the master cylinder and laying the pipe over the outside chassis tube. The inside one is "covered" by the engine, so the outside seemed the natural route. I just hope it doesn't conflict with the clutch cable.

Strapped the pipe, the 4-way and the other small pipes with plastic straps. Just got the sensor in now to cover the entry into the 4-way, minimizing the odd chance of some dirt getting inside the brake pipes.

Later on, will have to drill the holes on the chassis for the rivets from the p-clips that will hold it all in place.

(2010/09/25 EDIT: After mounting the steering rack, it became clear that the pipe from the 4-way to the chassis, on the last picture, will have to be placed in a different way, otherwise it will mess with the steering arm)
(2011/01/01 EDIT: Check the final pipe layout on the December posts when they got riveted)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Suspension Arms On-going

Today I didn't had much time on the car, and spent it all on the suspension arms.

First I finished putting in all the rubber bushes. Then I started on the bush tubes. There are now 5 tubes in (of a total of 20). Two suspension arms (that I don't know yet if are front or rear) are done. The rest I hope to do tomorrow. No pictures because this work does not differ in any way from the single bush and tube assembly I photographed last week.

There is a slight chance I'll hang the suspension arms on the chassis before my vacations are over...

Monday, September 6, 2010

Peddle Box is Assembled!

I finished my first "big task" on the car! The peddle box is assembled and in place. It just lacks being bolted to the car's floor (and installing the clutch stopper and the clutch cable).

Steve told me that if I pulled the gaiter out from the master cylinder, I could rotate the threaded bar. So I started by pulling them out. Later on I noticed that if I tried turning the gaiter instead of the threaded bar, it would also work.

Then I started to assemble the brake bias bar. NEVER underestimate a job's difficulty! Putting the circlips on the brake bias bar took me 1h40m and the 2nd circlip got in with my wife's help. The way I managed to spread the circlips to put them on the bar groves was using a piece of steel wire and point pliers. As stated, 1h40m later, that part was done.

The rest of the peddle box was easy to assemble. Then I got it on the car, attached the master cylinders threaded bars to the ally bits on the brake bias bar, and screwed it all in, putting the gaiters back in place.

I can now sit on my car and press the break peddle! The peddle box still needs 3 nuts to go through the floor (I need to drill the holes first). The clutch still needs a stop bolt behind. The clutch linkage is still missing. But it's my first big task performed!
(Note: still need to see if the break bias bar is skewed downwards on the inside or if after everything was properly screwed in it got horizontal).