Bodywork & rear lights

Some interesting developments recently, including another slight change of plan in terms of bodywork.

Originally the plan was to go for a bright orange gel-coat body and order it in about 6 months’ time (depending on progress) and then allow for a 3 months lead time. About a year ago FSC’s fibreglass supplier had to change but unfortunately the new supplier has had some gel-coat colour match issues. 

Anyway to cut a long story short a body has come up that isn’t orange and has these colour match issues but is a standard body with doors and Le Mans bonnet. At the right price this means I can afford to have the rear lights ‘frenched in’ and the bodywork painted – and possibly even in the colour I’m really looking for plus the advantages of a painted rather than gel-coat finish (more than a co-incidence I’d say…).

So on the basis there is now a body and the rear lights are to be ‘frenched in’ the need to sort out the rear lights came to the forefront.

The main objectives for the rear lights are as follows:

·         LED technology

·         a minimalist look – including reflectors

·         fog and reverse lights incorporated as opposed to ‘stuck on’

·         minimal number of light clusters (two per side preferably)

·         close placement of light clusters to ensure styling, especially when ‘frenched in’

After a lot of rummaging around the main problem I was finding was meeting the IVA minimum spacing requirement between the O/S stop light and the O/S fog light, i.e. 100mm minimum, whilst still looking good.

All the light assemblies I could find resulted in either huge spacing between light clusters or a separate ‘stuck on’ fog light solution being needed. That was until I looked again at the Hella LED mix and match solution.

With this I realised the following arrangement was possible and gives a spacing of approx. 60mm between the cluster pairs (with a hope that a smaller spacing is possible based on seeing the physical design of the illuminated area of the lights themselves):

	N/S outer cluster	N/S inner cluster		O/S inner cluster	O/S outer cluster
Outer ring	Indicator	Reflector		Reflector	Indicator
Centre	Stop/Tail	Reverse		Fog	Stop/Tail

 
Anyway more to follow once the lights are ordered and can be checked etc.

N4JB Engine Rebuild Complete!

Two posts in one day - 'Engine Reconditioning' page updated showing completion of the rebuild.

It's been a busy summer...

I won't even try to come up with a list of excuses in terms of what's kept me away from updating the Blog... apart from holidays, work, a change in plans etc.

Many thanks to BlatterBeast (http://blatterbeast.blogspot.co.uk/) for posting a comment and retriggering the enthusiasm to post (and an appreciation that people are following the ‘action’).

Anyway the good news is that progress has continued in spite of a change of plans - which is probably the best place to start…

The change is to disc brakes instead of drum at the rear and a 3.62 LSD differential (along with the associated change to Lobro, bolt-on, drive-shafts) instead of the 3.62 ‘open’ diff.

I’d started out the build with the logic of using what I already had which was a drum brake and open diff Sierra rear end (originally for the Tiger). Once IVA’d I’d then source a LSD, and hopefully disc brakes, and change over. Well one day during the summer an XR4x4 rear end came up – and hence one of the distractions…

The LSD has been rebuilt to ‘as new’ standard by BGH Geartech and FSC are sorting out the ‘bolt-on’ drive-shafts on the basis of a direct swap for the original ‘push-in’ drive-shafts. Overall this means no additional cost in terms of drive-shafts which is one of the main reasons for the making the change now!

With the new diff in place the required propshaft length has been confirmed and FSC are also sorting this at the moment - in addition to the drive-shafts.

Visited Steve @ FSC, last weekend, and collected the following in addition to the diff and rear disc brake calipers:

1)      Radiator

2)      Fan

3)      Windscreen wiper motor

4)      Header tank

HiSpec front brakes

A very nice set of HiSpec brakes came through. Vented/grooved discs and 4 pot calipers.

Very straight forward to fit on the offside:

Alignment of the caliper with the disc looks good:

Sadly not the same story on the nearside - the outer edge of the disc is rubbing on the caliper itself:

Turns out the wheel bearing on the nearside upright wasn't seated properly to the flange was too far outboard and in turn the disc. The splined washer was the problem. I happened to be visiting FSC so they kindly sorted it out very quickly.

Looks tasty all set up and with the pads fitted:

Three quarters view of the offside (bling!):

O/S Driveshaft + Fuel tank

Apologies been a while without a post - had a few distractions...

The O/S driveshaft returned from FSC having been lengthened. All looks good now and the 'plunge' is just right. Picture of O/S all assembled:

Along with the driveshaft also came the fuel tank. This took a little bit of experimentation to be happy with where to position it laterally and fore/aft (top mounting holes then drilled):

Side shot - hopely far enough back but not too far:

Straps fitted and view of the built in sump for avoiding fuel starvation etc.:

Final view from the rear:

Next is front brakes - HiSpec...

Gearbox trial fit

As part of working on the tunnel top panelling needed to figure out where the gear lever will come so decided to temporarily fit the gearbox (including the bellhousing, clutch release arm, bearing etc.):

Side view:

Also needed to figure out where T9 oil filler plug would come - not great news but think a blanking grommet and hole in the tunnel side panel might work okay for maintenance etc.:

Front diff mount spacers

FSC supplied spacers for the front diff mounts however they did't fit - both were too short and too long... (if you see what I mean).

In preference to using a set of washers decided to source some aluminium tube (obviously thick wall):

Cut and power filed carefully for a snug fit (O/S shown):

Nice solid fit and very tidy looking (N/S shown):

Just needs some copper slip sprayed inside to protect against corrosion and then torquing up.

'In Suspension...'

Having got the diff in decided to fit as much of the suspension as currently possible, turned out there was quite a lot that could be fitted.

Front end with Protech shocks, Escort quick rack and steering column extension in position:

Nearside front

Side view of upright. Decided to use washers (to protect the powder coat) and temporarily plain nuts (to preserve the nyloc nuts) until the she's got wheels and is on the ground.

Not yet sure how I'll torque up the top ball joint (or even what the torque should be). The rocker arm is shown set as far back as possible to improve self centring of the steering (shock also needed setting back to match):

Viewed from the front:

Offside front

Similar story although top rocker washers need adjusting since they're not yet the correct combination of sizes to take up the fore/aft play:

Viewed from the front:

Offside rear

Once the handing of the rear uprights and top wishbones were figured out it was pretty straight forward to assemble the rear set up. In this case it's a drum brake set up which means the uprights are fitted with the flat face pointing to the rear. With the lower mounting for the uprights it took a couple of tries to get right the number and position for the washers so that the upright is held solidly when the long lower bolt is tightened:

It's going to be a pain to set up the camber and toe in. For the latter the upright needs to be moved clear enough to allow the front rose joint to be screwed in or out (see bottom left in the following picture). This means removing virtually completely the lower bolt, and therefore the spacing washers etc.:

In the above picture you can see how the front bolts on the top and bottom wishbones need to be oriented so that once the rear panel is fitted the bolts can still be removed (nuts to the front - so to speak). Get this wrong and removing the wishbones would be a nightmare.

Nearside rear

The only difficulty on the nearside was that the lower mounting holes on the upright needed filing out a little since one metal tube hadn't been welded on quite square and therefore wasn't aligned for the bolt to go through easily.

The rear end then looked like this:

Drive shafts

With the drum brakes Sierra Tripod drive shafts are used. These are modified (shortened) and rebuilt by FSC. The following picture shows what the rear end looks with the drive shafts fitted:

However it quickly became clear that there was a problem with the length of the offside drive shaft since it didn't protrude through the upright enough to be compressed as the bearing carrier is bolted on:

Looks like it's back to FSC for the O/S drive shaft.

On the offside a quick experimental assembly of the upright spacer, brake back plate, bearing carrier, hub and drum to prove it all fits together - this showed up that the four bolts through the upright were too short by about 10mm so will need to sort these as well - looks nice though:

Diff

With the chassis the right way up, hopefully for good, decided the diff should go in next. The nice and shiny 3.62 open diff is fresh from BGH Geartech:

Before starting the powder coating needed a little bit of protection... Shares also now in pipe lagging! In the following picture the chassis stand, seen bottom right, needed to be moved to the left so that there was enough room to get the diff in:

The process of fitting started by getting the unpaid help involved and then turning the diff on its side. It is then inserted upwards from the bottom until it's as high as possible and then tilting it forwards:

 

The use of a luggage strap really helped to control the process of moving the diff around inside the chassis framework that exists where the diff is situated:



View from the front:

Once the diff was in position on its side, but supported by the strap, the two pairs of hands made the next stage relatively easy. The diff then needed wiggling around and rotating back into the upright position:

Having measured the diff top mount beforehand the expectation was that it probably wouldn't fit in easily. Sure enough it was about 1mm too wide. Managed get the PowerFile far enough into the chassis framework to grind off enough material from one end of the diff's top mounts - took two attempts to get it right for a snug fit into the chassis mounts.

After some persuasion in went the top bolt mount bolt, although narrowly missing the top wishbone mount (it's very tight). The current rear bolt and front two mount bolts are all too short and the front mount spacers aren't right, but apart from that it's perfect:

I'll look to sort out the correct length bolts later.

Front rocker arms

The front top rocker arms have nylon top hats fitted each side through which a steel tube ferrule is fitted. The idea is to have a tight fit on the ferrule so that there's no slack in the front suspension. To do this the nylon top hats need to be reamed out - but by just the right amount.

To do this a reaming tool was made up using a section of scrap steel tube, slotted, sand paper fitted into the slot and wrapped around to make it a reasonable fit in the top hat opening. With this fitted into a drill and rotated in the correct direction it created a sanding effect to open up the holes:

Each side of both rocker arms was then reamed gradually and the steel ferrule checked for fit regularly:

A bolt was then fitted through the ferrule tube and tightened up so that each rocker arm could be put in a vice. With the bolt held in the vice the ferrule couldn't move and the resistance on the top hat bushes and freedom of movement could be checked:

The lengths of the ferrule tubes may need modifying to allow them to fit into the chassis mounting points.

Modifying Rear Uprights & Sealing Underside Panels

Rear uprights

Unfortunately after some experimenting with the fitting of the rear hubs and spacer plates discovered there was a problem with one of the uprights. As can be seen in the picture below, the upright on the left has one of the driveshaft hub mounting holes too close to the upright's side plate. There isn't enough clearence for the bolt head:

After a bit of head stratching decided it was best to grind away the side plate a little to create the clearance needed - out came the Dremel with a sanding wheel attached - just the right size for the job:

The plan will be to get the uprights powder coated for the exposed metal should be sorted.

Floor panelling

Having got the floor panels back from powder coating and getting ready for sealing and riveting realised I hadn't read the build manual - doh! The build manual is fairly clear that the preference is for the large pop rivets to be used on these panels (for added strength if someone tries standing) - the panels had been drilled for the small pop rivets so out came the drill again.

A little time later, and with some unpaid help, all sorted. Also shown in the photo below are the front fillets which I think I'll get powder coated as part of a second batch of parts to be done:

Sealing the underside panels

Since getting the first panels back from powder coating I'd been waiting for improved temperatures but finally ran out of patience and warmed up the garage a bit. Sikaflex 221 datasheet indicates not to apply below 5*C or above 45*C (the latter wasn't going to be a problem). From talking to Steve at FSC the main issue is viscosity at low temperate making your arms ache. But based on the datasheet there is curing time which can be very long, even days.

Trialed the application and riveting approach on some scrap ali and square section first. Once happy, tube and garage warmed up, I got cracking and the sealant flowed nicely:

Having read a few build diaries decided to 'dip' the rivets in sealant to increase the sealing effect:

Finally also got to try out the loaned air powered riveting gun (thanks Gary from the Southern Area Tigers Owner's Club!) - did the job beautifully. One trick was to make sure the exhaust air from the gun didn't spray oil on the surfaces to be sealed (no aching arms though!):

The end result with the sealant curing nicely in the warmth:

 

Although the front fillet panels will be powder coated before fitting the chassis can now be turned upright for the final time and left that way (the front fillets will be fitted from underneath when available).



N/S Side Panelling

Finally got back to doing some panelling.

Following the same approach as used for the O/S the N/S side panels have been aligned, clamped, measured and drilled:

The plan is to get some of the panels powder coated on the inside surfaces (at least), to match the chassis, and provide a consistent interior colour and finish for the passenger compartment. I'll see how this turns out.

Once the floor panels are powder coated I can get them fitted and sealed at which point the chassis can stay the right way up and I can fit a lot of the suspension, diff etc.

FSC delivered some more parts a while ago, the rear uprights (along some other smaller parts):

And the first FSC supplied Duratec exhaust manifold (although it may be missing a Lambda sensor mounting boss, I need to check whether the sensor mounts instead into the silencer...):