Sunday, September 16, 2012

Final Fan Position and Front Prop-catcher Done!

My morning on the car started with some work on the fan. Since a few weeks ago I figured out I could get it spinning on the other direction by inverting the wires, I now could put the fan behind the radiator. Cut the temporary plastic wraps, slid the fan behind and quickly attached it.

The "official" way to hang the fan on the radiator is using some straps and passing them above and under the rad fins. But I've read several stories of people that had the plastic wraps cut through the fins. So I used those wraps and the holes I had drilled on the rad "lips". Used the rubber washers that came with the fan to make it be away from the rad, thus there is no touching. Connected the battery to ensure that all was working as expected. Very happy with the final result!
Then it was time to get the front prop-catcher attached to the car. Lifted the passenger side with the jack and placed the catcher in place. Glued some masking tape under the car and drew where to drill. With the 90º adapter and a 4,75mmØ drill bit, made the initial hole. From the top with a 10mmØ enlarged it and hand-tightened the catcher in place.

Added the transversal bolt. The idea behind it was to prevent the spearing effect if the front of the prop was to come loose. This was an after-thought and now I believe that it will not work as intended (I hope I never find out) since it's too low and too near the rear of the prop to stop the front hitting the asphalt.

Jack down, jack on the drivers side, more masking tape and the same exercise repeated. It was a bit harder than the other side since I drilled the hole on the catcher 1cm to far from the tip and I had to remeasure a few times to be sure it would be OK with the chassis tubes on the footwell.

This is the final result, from the drivers footwell, from the underside and from the passengers footwell.
After this got the car into neutral, released the handbrake and pushed the car back and forth a bit to be sure the prop was not even near to rubbing the catcher. There is a 5mm slack on the tightest side.

Next is doing the catchers for the rear prop and p-clipping the wire loom in place (at least on the tunnel) so that I can put the tunnel panels and outer panels in. And finish the suspension setup!

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