Thought I should do at least one update a year.
I have decided to with electric cut off and electric fire extinguisher, a bit more expensive but I can’t be doing with sticky cables.
Holes cut to flush mount them.
Fitted and spaced to suit mock up labels.
Started looking into the engine and what needs to be, toyed long and hard hard with changing tack and going with a modern engine, decided that a Renault lump would be best value for money but then changed my mind again and will be going with a sprint lump.
Thought it was about time I took the block out of its box and gave it a look over.
The above pic shows how small the water ways are on an early block compared to a late block below.
These two pics show a mocked up exhaust manifold using copper pipe and pipe lagging. It is all sized to my calculations, only time will tell if I am somewhere near. The only way to cram it in there and keep the lengths correct was to go up with 2&3 and down with 1&4.
This pic shows the adaptor to join the Vauxhall column to the sprint rack.
This one shows the bulkhead shroud complete with notch to allow the sub-frame to be removed should it be required.
I have purchased some Jenvy throttle bodies, again not the cheapest route but the simplest. I have also made some strut brace mounts and fitted the strut brace from the rx7 with a few tweeks.
A pic from underneath checking clearances are good.
I have made a new gearbox mount picking up off the other mounting holes on the gearbox as I had left no where to run the exhaust.
Pic showing it fitted and my first mounts which have since been cut off.
The steering column mounted to the cage c/w new wheel and quick release boss.
I have decided to keep a heater but have gone for an aftermarket one as they are considerably smaller and lighter.
I have made a quick shift to fit the standard box, feels much better, may end up make a sligthly quicker one depending how this feels one the car is going.
I am replacing the standard tunnel with an aluminium one to cope with the different position of the leaver and create a little extra room for the exhaust, I have also shrunk it a bit in places to give more room for the driver. This is a mock up in cardboard, will make the proper one later once I am sure nothing else will change.
I have fitted a rad from a diesel fiesta which fits snugly between the chassis rails, I will knock up some ally wind deflectors at a later date.
I have further modified the inner valence to give a cleaner air flow through the extra holes I added in the outer valance.
You can see how much more rad you can see through the front panel, I have also started making a cold iar feed from the inner head lamp.
I have modified the front subframe yet further as I am going too go dry sump, this will give the clearance to mount the pump down low. New one on the left and a standard 1850 one on the right.
It is a tight squeeze and should fit snugly below the rad and above the front spoiler. I will need to fabricate new brackets for the anti-roll bar once I have finalised the position of the sump pump.
I am fitting a crank damper from a BMW in place of the dolomite one, as you can see this is much larger and has a trigger wheel built in.
It clears the subframe with enough room for the pump drive to go on the end and still clear the fan.
I have knocked up a rough prototype sump to make sure everything will fit before order the pump. The rear needs tapering off to clear the steering rack and I will probably move the channel slightly more central if the pump position allows.
Because of the restrictions of room in the engine bay the dry sump tank will be being fitted in the boot, because of this I am also going to fit the oil cooler in the boot in what used to be the fuel tank well.
Not shown in the pics but I have also made a dashboard mould plug, mocked up the centre console, relocated the wiper motor to the passenger side and fitted a smaller and lighter motor from an RX7. I have also knocked up a temporary pedal box to make sure it all fits and works.