Driving! (2 in 1)

So, garage washing this time was floor 0 on Monday, floor -1 and -2 on Tuesday. My spot is on -2 and I got a borrowed one on 0.

On Monday went to the car after dinner. Wired the battery in and sat on the driver's seat. On Sunday I had noticed that, now that the tunnel has the aluminium panels in, my right foot would hit the brake when pressing the throttle. I was wearing my large basket boots so this time I took my Brazilian "Havaianas" (olá, Glauco!). Even with them, the foot hit both peddles. So, the front of the side panel was removed (fortunately, at the time I had to cut it to get it in without taking out the peddle box, and fortunately it was rivnuted into place).

With the car on, I drove it off. It was doing an odd "clang" noise from the tunnel, repeatedly, as if something on the transmission was hitting something. My fear was the UJ on the front half of the transmission hitting the prop-catcher. Slowly, did the 50m from my spot to the start of the spiral that goes from floor -2 to floor 0. Stalled the car two or five times just in that bit. Then, going up the slope, some 5 times more. Since the brakes are still not great, relied on the handbrake to hold me each time I stalled. In the beginning had the lights on but turned them off to save battery. On the 2nd section of the spiral, stalled some more and when I was almost at the top, the battery was drained to the point where the car would not start. Had to call the caretaker, that has his watching post at the top of the spiral, to help me push the car into place. After parking it there, had a look around for leaks, took out the battery and went home. The car in his borrowed space:

Tuesday after dinner went down (with the charged battery) again. This time it was easier. After wiring it all up, it was just a matter of reversing out of the spot and then moving away. From 0 to -2 is downhill so no stalling. Still the odd "clang". With the car back on his spot confirmed that there was a leak on the cooling circuit near the "T" that splits header-pump-radiator (where it leaked last year too).

Not as nice as I expected, but it was fun anyway. The best part is that last year, after parking it, I knew I had to undo a lot of things to get them properly done. This time I have it mostly final and from now on is just fixing the noise and the leak and put the bodywork.

Getting the Car to Run

I needed to confirm that the car would run, to know if I could move it Monday night. First task was to really get it running. Placed the full battery and connected it. Bolted down the driver's seat (which was a pain, now that I have the external panels getting in the way). Sat down and cranked the engine. First attempt, failed. Rested a bit, second attempt. Hand on the exhaust, I could feel some blobs of air coming out. It was trying... Rested some more, third attempt and it started running!

Left it idling and took a walk around the car looking for leaks and other problems. There was some smoke coming from where the headers bolted to the engine, I wondered if it was the exhaust paste cooking or some leaks. In the end, it was just the paste. The idle was a bit high, at 4.000 rpm, so I got it down to 1.900rpm. Checked the cooling level and all was good.

Turned the engine off, bolted the passenger's seat down and then the headlights. I don't have bullet wire terminals, so butchered a temporary job just to get them working. Tested standing, dip and main and all worked, although probably not pointing exactly in the right directions... The car was ready!

Headlights, Side Panel and Exhaust

The garage is being washed on Monday and Tuesday. I've got a borrowed spot on a different floor so that I can move the car during the night and get my spot washed. So, just like last year, it's move time!

Started by assembling the headlights. The lamp case had a rubber seal that had to be removed to put the dip and main lights lamp. Rubber seal back on, another seal had to come off for the standing lamp. Get the wires plugged and the wires through the hollow bolt on the casing and use the pins I'm holding on first photo to hold the lamps casing against the rim of the outer case. The rim had some groves where it slotted. Then bolt the rim to the outer case and job done. First one took me almost an hour, the second one less than 10 minutes. Experience does count!

Then, already on the garage, jacked the car up and riveted and rivnuted the underside of the panel. It went well so I could move to the next phase: grabbed the exhaust can, fitted it to the other part of the exhaust and held it all with ropes and the jack to get it in position. Drilled the plate that was on the can to attach to the car and the floor of the car. Bolted it all and it was all good. Before assembly I put exhaust assembly paste on the junctions. Then tightened the bolts on the clips that help hold the exhaust together.

This was all for the day. Jacked the car down and took the battery home to charge it. Sunday would be to try to get the car moving and do other small jobs.

Riveting the Cut Out Panels

Started the session with the file and rounding out the hole for the exhaust. The panel that is going to be rivnut'ed in did not slide to position as nicely as I wanted due to some pressure from the exhaust pipes. After some time filing in, it slid perfectly. Time to drill aluminium panel and chassis, then enlarge the chassis holes and put the rivnuts in. Bolted the panel and this task was done.

Held the front panel piece in place with a clamp and drilled for the rivets. Unfortunately, the engine being there, the panel moving slightly and me not paying enough attention made this task take ages. Had to realign or enlarge holes on the panel to make them fit with the holes on the chassis. Then I had a big fight with my PU adhesive bottle. It had gone dry and I was not able to extract any from it. After some wasted time trying to unclog it, and since I believe this will be the last time I'll use it, I just cut through the bottle. With the hacksaw blade posing as a knife, spread the adhesive on the panel as if it was Nutella on bread. Riveted the upper side and held the lower with clamps, to get the adhesive to dry in place.

On the picture it is not noticeable, but the front part ended up not fitting perfectly on top, because of the drilling issue. This means I have a 2cm (almost 1 inch) gap between that panel and the one held with rivnuts. It does not look that nice. I'll have to see if I can hide that later.

Next time I'll be jacking the car up (again), riveting (and rivnuting) the underside and putting the exhaust box in. Then, headlights and some driving!

Final (?) Driver's Side Panel Cuts and Exhaust

Based on last week's work, the goal today was to cut the frontal part of the driver's side in two pieces. One can be riveted, the other will be held with rivnuts, allowing access to the lower engine bay area. Dremmel followed by filing and emery cloth got me to the point below.

A trial fit was required to validate this last approach. Offered the exhaust to the engine and then tried fitting the panels. All seemed great. So, grabbed the Bardahl exhaust assembling paste, put some on the headers and attached them to the engine. Took some time getting it all tighten up.

Another trial fit was done to ensure once again it will work. There is a spot where I could enlarge the exhaust hole a bit to make it slide better, but it works as it is. Trial fitted the exhaust can to double-check the panel fits in and to check where the can is held to the chassis.

Next session will be riveting the panels to the chassis and then fitting the exhaust can and also attaching it to the chassis.

More Driver's Side Panel

Shorter session on the car, all dedicated to the 1st third of the driver's side panel. Trimmed and cut extra to enlarge the exhaust hole. Mixed use of a cutting disk on the dremmel and a hand file.

Then test fitted the panel with the exhaust headers in place. Turns out that I should have mocked up this with cardboard. Now the hole was big enough but due to how the exhaust, chassis and panel are, I can't move the panel enough to remove it and gain access to the desired area.

After some thinking, seems I'll further have to cut this panel in two parts, diagonally, so that the front part is small at the top and large at the bottom and can be rivetted. The rear part will be big at the top and small at the bottom and will be rivnut'ed in place. This will allow removing just that bit and gaining access to the brake oil reservoirs and the engine's oil filter. Left that cutting for next session.

Driver's Side Panel

I would feel bored if I was to take another session trimming the 1st third of the driver's side panel. So, and taking advantage of the fact that the neighbour that parks on my kit's left side was away, I decided to fix the rear two-thirds of the driver's panel.

After some pains doing the passenger's side and some observations I did regarding drilling, this time it went a lot easier. So easy that in a single session I applied all rivets, top and bottom! And still had time to trial-fit the front part, without the exhaust headers in place.

Next session will be to finish trimming the front (removable) panel and getting the rivnuts in.