Week 33 - The Build

 Well - lots of progress in the last few days!

The cooling system leak is fixed. There was a bit of aluminium pipe used to join two rubber hoses that was just a little bit too narrow. Replaced with a section of larger bore tube and all is well. There may be trouble ahead with the cooling system so perhaps more on this later!

The battery in the Fiesta wouldn't hold a charge and has been festering in my garage for ages. Thought I'd give it one last chance and use it anyway to see where the battery leads could best go. It seems to have recovered now and starts the car every time. Anyway, I've repainted inside the port bow section and installed the battery.

Here is the bay ready for the battery and box;

and with the battery in her box!

Next job was to instal the temperature gauge. The sensor unit was installed the the engine outlet hose...

whats a couple more jubilee clips!

and here is the gauge in action! It seems almost certain that the thermostat is either missing or stuck open. It's now almost inaccessible so it can stay stuck open for now!

Both the temperature gauge and the battery isolation switch will be mounted in the dashboard side extension pieces when the time comes.

So, the next exciting part is the trial fitting of the water jet drive components.

First job is to attach the pulley on the gearbox pto shaft, Straight away its obvious it wont fit on as the hull is in the way!

The black line shows what needs whittling away!

and here we are with the whittling complete and the pulley fitted.

Next bit is the belt and half the dog clutch...

Here it is from inside the engine room ...

and here from the wheel arch.

The previously mounted ECU is now in the way and so has to be moved.

 

 

Next is the shaft to the transfer box ..   here it is with the clutch disengaged...

and with the clutch engaged...

It can be seen that the shaft attached to the transfer box with a flexible joint and it's alignment is going to be ever so critical to ensure smooth operation. 

The last job here was to re-mount the ECU. Needed to make some brackets and here it is all neat and tidy and hopefully well away from flailing belts and pulleys.

Next big job is to line everything up!

Week 32 - The Build

 Another long week into the build and almost no progress! 

Key features are 

a) the cooling system only leaks when I'm not there. Could be that someone is emptying the header tank into the footwell when I'm not there. Possibly not as all the boys at Up To Scratch are honest hard workers who wouldn't play such a prank on the bosses Dad - probably.

b) I've installed a battery isolation switch in the cockpit. It will eventually be mounted on the left hand side of the dashboard. Here it is unmounted...

c) All the warning lights go out when the engine starts! Not sure why or how but last time I tried the abs, traction control and engine management lights stayed on which are MoT failures. (sometimes it makes more progress when I'm not there rather disappointingly)

Here is short video of it.. The only light that stays on is the 'engine room hatch open' warning light and thats because it's open!

So, the next two priority jobs are to seal the cooling system and get the brakes working.