Tightening Hubs

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.

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.

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...

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...

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.

So Many Tasks and So Little Time

Only had a hour and a half to work on the car this weekend. Started by slightly trimming the footwell ally panel. It was a tight fit and clashed with a weld, so I made it get in easier. When I was going to apply some PU adesive to clamp it and leave it to dry, I noticed the can was dry. I must have closed and stored incorrectly. What a pity, it was a great product. Managed to extract just enough to clamp the panel. Left it drying to be riveted next weekend.

Following task was trying to center the shaft that runs through the hub on the rear wheel. I was using a tool that should be able to hold pipes but the shaft still slipped and WD40 didn't help me undo the nut. When I was puting it all back together it hit me that maybe with the brake disk in place the wheel will not rub on the shaft. I'll have to see if I can check that one of these week nights.

No pictures since nothing relevant was actually archieved.

Clutch Cable and Front Disks

Spent some time slightly shortening the bolt that should hold the clutch cable on the peddle because it was a hard fit. Later went to the car and used it. Steve from Aries had told me not to tighten the bolt too much because it should have some play, otherwise the cable would suffer. It's such a tight spot that I can't tighten the bolt. Need more small tools for it, since I bet Steve meant "don't over-tighten" and not "make is so that it will come apart after 2 red lights"...
Then, and after seeing pictures from another friend builder, I fitted the other end of the cable on the engine clutch lever. It looks nice! Unfortunately, I probably did something wrong since when I step on the peddle the clutch lever doesn't move all the way and then it doesn't go back to previous position when I lift my foot of. Will have to ask for help on this.

Grabbed the front disks and bolted them on the front flanges. It's only hand-tightened since I forgot to take with me the allan keys. This has been happening almost every time since I have to carry all tools around to the car, no matter how much planning I do.

I took with me a wheel to trial fit it on the rear hubs, that are basically done. Glad I did so. On the right side it went well and looks marvelous. On the left side it didn't work as well. The shaft that runs through the hub and is threaded on both ends was not centered. When I tightened the bolts last weekend it stayed bigger on one end than on the other. It's so off to the rear that it rubs the wheel inside. I tried to un-tighten that nut and move the shaft a bit forward to make it centered but the nut does not move and since both nuts tighten on the same direction, the other one can't help. I'll have to try again armed with some WD40. Otherwise, will have to ask for help on how to do it (cut off a bit of the shaft?).

Last bit was checking the ally panel to put on the passenger's footwell. I need to slightly trim a bit to make a better fit. My plan was to apply the PU adhesive and fit it so that it would dry and stick and tomorrow I would go with the driller and apply the rivets. Ends up I didn't have enough time for that.

EDIT: Later in the night I was still thinking about the clutch cable issue and suddenly I had an idea about how to make it work. The cable runs inside a bigger tube and the tube has nuts on both ends (as visible in the photo above). If I used the nuts to pull the tube away from the two ends, it would make the route longer. Today while showing the car to a cousin, I made the adjustment and I now have a fully functional clutch peddle!