Spent an hour and a bit on the car. First swapped nuts from two bolts. There were 4 nuts with just 2 "cuts" on their faces, that were shorter than the others. Another builder told me last weekend they should be used on the upper shock mount bolts. Two were right (the front ones) and two were wrong (the back ones). Fixed that.
Then spent some time trying to hold the bottom pivot of the rear upright with pliers, protecting the thread with cardboard, so that I could undo the nut on the other side. Failed. I really need a proper tool, a vise grip I guess. Considering instead of spending on the tool to just take the pivot out and insert it the other way around, with the bigger part to the front of the car, since that way it will not rub on the inside of the wheel. But that's the easy (and lame) way out, I guess...
Last task was tightening the nuts on the front hubs that hold the ball joints and steering arms. The upper and lower ball joints were easy. The steering links I couldn't tighten. The threaded shaft rotates and I don't see how I can hold it in place...
Still unsure what I'll take as the next task, but it seems it can't be anything on the wheels unless it is something to solve my problems above.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Shifting!
I had been checking the web for pictures of other Aries or Stuart Taylors to see how the gear pivot was placed. I noticed that no one had the lower shaft on a 90º angle with the footwell chassis tubes. Maybe I could still use the holes I started drilling... So I undid the bolts that linked the lower pivot to the engine but it was no good.
Marked new places for drilling, got it done, some more filing on the gear knob and it all became assembled!
Jumped inside the car making engine noises and shifting gears. Then I realized I don't know how to really shift gears (forward moves me from 1st to 6th or is it the other way around? and where is neutral?). Jumped out, fiddled with the clutch cable nuts to make the clutch harder and then turned around the bolts that hold the pivot on the passenger footwell to make it look nicer. And there we have it, another major task done!
Last task was to drill holes to hold the handbrake lever. Measured, drilled the first hole with the 4,5mmØ so that I could then enlarge it with the 10mmØ. The idea was to then put the lever in place and drill the second hole with it there, so that I wouldn't miss it. Turns out that the chassis rail I have to drill is resisting the 10mmØ cheap drill bit. And it also resisted the 8mmØ cheap one I tried to make it in three stages. So I packed up and finished for the day. I'll be buying quality 6, 8 and 10 mmØ bits before going on the car again.
Marked new places for drilling, got it done, some more filing on the gear knob and it all became assembled!
Last task was to drill holes to hold the handbrake lever. Measured, drilled the first hole with the 4,5mmØ so that I could then enlarge it with the 10mmØ. The idea was to then put the lever in place and drill the second hole with it there, so that I wouldn't miss it. Turns out that the chassis rail I have to drill is resisting the 10mmØ cheap drill bit. And it also resisted the 8mmØ cheap one I tried to make it in three stages. So I packed up and finished for the day. I'll be buying quality 6, 8 and 10 mmØ bits before going on the car again.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Measure Once, Drill Twice
Only had about one hour and a half this weekend and managed to make it a bad time.
Started nicely by tightening up the bolt and nut that hold the clutch cable on the peddle (that was only hand tightened before). That went well.
Next task was to file a bit the gear lever on the sides so that it would fit inside the tunnel walls. It took a bit, since I was doing it manually, but it got done.
Then I sat on the car pretending to be driving to set where I wanted to drill for the gear lever. Ends up I forgot to double check and use something to mark each position or test. The linkage that goes from the lever to the top of the pivot can be somehow adjusted in length. But only to some extent. After drilling both tunnel chassis tubes side to side with a 3,5mmØ and then enlarging them with a 6mmØ (that still has to be enlarged to 8mmØ), I made a test fit and noticed that I drilled 2cm too much to the front than what the linkage can be shortened...
Now, I have two options... Try to make it fir having the pivot stand not in a perpendicular form (if that works) or re-drill in another place.
I'm very mad at myself. It's not a visible mistake, since panels will cover up. But I feel I weakened the chassis and list (precious) time because I didn't pay enough attention to detail or the task at hand.
More to follow next weekend...
Started nicely by tightening up the bolt and nut that hold the clutch cable on the peddle (that was only hand tightened before). That went well.
Next task was to file a bit the gear lever on the sides so that it would fit inside the tunnel walls. It took a bit, since I was doing it manually, but it got done.
Then I sat on the car pretending to be driving to set where I wanted to drill for the gear lever. Ends up I forgot to double check and use something to mark each position or test. The linkage that goes from the lever to the top of the pivot can be somehow adjusted in length. But only to some extent. After drilling both tunnel chassis tubes side to side with a 3,5mmØ and then enlarging them with a 6mmØ (that still has to be enlarged to 8mmØ), I made a test fit and noticed that I drilled 2cm too much to the front than what the linkage can be shortened...
Now, I have two options... Try to make it fir having the pivot stand not in a perpendicular form (if that works) or re-drill in another place.
I'm very mad at myself. It's not a visible mistake, since panels will cover up. But I feel I weakened the chassis and list (precious) time because I didn't pay enough attention to detail or the task at hand.
More to follow next weekend...
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Gear Linkage
Drilled and applied the rivets I didn't do last weekend. This time besides eye protection and ear mufflers while drilling, also used gloves when using my big rivet pliers to avoid bleeding from knuckles when hitting the chassis. I should get some ISO certification for work safety!
After that I drilled to bolt the rotating arm that supports the gear changing mechanism. One if it's bolts goes through the chassis, the other bolts on the ally panel. Pretty straight forward. Spent some time fastening all the bolts on the linkage. It was my plan to do all the linkage and then sit on the car shifting gears. Unfortunately, had lunch arrangements and had to leave with just two holes to drill for the gear lever...
(Barely) Visible in the photo is the fact that I bolted with the bolt head inside the engine bay. Should have done it the other way around, for a better finish inside the passenger footwell. Sometimes it seems I'm not paying attention to detail. Will have to do those bolts again next weekend.
Last week swapped some emails with Steve from Aries about my current tasks at hand. He was not sure I would be able to fit the panel and linkage without taking the engine out, usually people only put the engine in later in the build. Thanks to my 90º drill extension, I managed to drill in tighter spots, so I got it without touching the engine. Was very happy with that.
I think that after doing the gear lever, I'll get the throttle peddle just for the kicks, and postpone pipes a bit more...
After that I drilled to bolt the rotating arm that supports the gear changing mechanism. One if it's bolts goes through the chassis, the other bolts on the ally panel. Pretty straight forward. Spent some time fastening all the bolts on the linkage. It was my plan to do all the linkage and then sit on the car shifting gears. Unfortunately, had lunch arrangements and had to leave with just two holes to drill for the gear lever...
Last week swapped some emails with Steve from Aries about my current tasks at hand. He was not sure I would be able to fit the panel and linkage without taking the engine out, usually people only put the engine in later in the build. Thanks to my 90º drill extension, I managed to drill in tighter spots, so I got it without touching the engine. Was very happy with that.
I think that after doing the gear lever, I'll get the throttle peddle just for the kicks, and postpone pipes a bit more...
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Passenger Footwell Ally Panel
Spent this weekend car time riveting the passenger footwell ally panel. The panel was partially glued with what I managed to extract from the PU stuff last weekend. It helped a bit to keep the panel in place.
Unlike previous rivets (pipework), these 4,8ø rivets were thick and hard. When I tried to rivet my first one, didn't have enough strength! Had to use both hands and squeeze them between the legs to get the rivet in place. These were not like the 3.2ø rivets and I was anticipating a hard and long session. After some 5 rivets, I no longer managed to do it. It even seemed like I was bending slightly the rivet pliers.
That was when I recalled a day in May 2010, when I visited Steve at Aries, during my process to select the kit car to order... He was giving me tips about building, showing me doing a kit car is not that hard and how he could prepare stuff to make it even easier. Then he grabbed his "heavy duty rivet pliers" and said that one of the best advices he could give me was to buy one of those. I had one that my wife had offered me on my birthday. Went upstairs to grab it and... It made all the difference!
After that it was just trying to juggle such a big plier between chassis and engine and go around applying the rivets. Didn't manage to finish it but before packing up I assembled the gear linkage to see where it would need to be bolted to the chassis. Had to fight a big urge to sit on the driver's place and pretend to be driving and shifting gears... This is bringing up the kid I have inside.
Unlike previous rivets (pipework), these 4,8ø rivets were thick and hard. When I tried to rivet my first one, didn't have enough strength! Had to use both hands and squeeze them between the legs to get the rivet in place. These were not like the 3.2ø rivets and I was anticipating a hard and long session. After some 5 rivets, I no longer managed to do it. It even seemed like I was bending slightly the rivet pliers.
That was when I recalled a day in May 2010, when I visited Steve at Aries, during my process to select the kit car to order... He was giving me tips about building, showing me doing a kit car is not that hard and how he could prepare stuff to make it even easier. Then he grabbed his "heavy duty rivet pliers" and said that one of the best advices he could give me was to buy one of those. I had one that my wife had offered me on my birthday. Went upstairs to grab it and... It made all the difference!
After that it was just trying to juggle such a big plier between chassis and engine and go around applying the rivets. Didn't manage to finish it but before packing up I assembled the gear linkage to see where it would need to be bolted to the chassis. Had to fight a big urge to sit on the driver's place and pretend to be driving and shifting gears... This is bringing up the kid I have inside.
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