Week 39 - The Build

 Busy week just gone and some big cosmetic changes! Really making some progress now. 

First job was to fit the fibreglass duct that guides the air from the outside through the raadiator and out the back of the boat. A key feature of this duct is that it secures the top of the radiator. Because of the way I installed the radiator and the gear cables and clutch hose etc, that part of the duct doesnt extend forward enough. I extended this enough with cardboard so as to make a mold for some fibreglass.

Here it is ready for the fibreglassing..

Here it is out of the mold...

...

and painted black to make it like it was always like it!

 and here it is all installed. The air filter is the blue thing and the hole above the engine oil filler cap will have a cover fitted.

Next job is to make a switch to connect to the 'Boot open' cable. A couple of spring loaded bolts to which are attached the wires and a copper strip on the engine cover.

Here it is in action..

Next job was installing the door mirrors, interior mirror,sun visors and the steering wheel centre for the hooter.

Here they are all done..

Week 38 - The Build

 First job with the exhaust mounting is to make a bracket to hold uo the silencer. Nothing supplied in the kit so its fabrication time. I do like a bit of bracketry! The plan is to weld sone 10mm steel rod to an exhaust clamp and bolt this to the plate that holds the dog clutch.

Here are the three pieces required. the clamp, a bit of bent rod and a sawn off bolt...

 

 

and here is the big metal glue gun...

 

and here it is sort of welded up..

As elegant a bit of metal work as ever I've seen if I do say. It is on the other hand almost useless as while it supports the exhaust it it wobbles about like a mad thing.

Take two includes an extra rod. I've managed to disguise the poor welding with plenty of angry grinder action. Here it is dry fitted to see if its any good. It almost perfection and will be getting plenty of paint. before final installation..

Here is a glimpse of what it will look like with the silencer installed

 

Week 37 - The Build

 Left it last week daring to swap the interior rear view mirror mounting. First job is to lay into it all with the angry grinder and see how it might fit together!

And here we are. A few gaps but that can be sorted out...

.... with a lot of Araldite.

Left it to set for a couple of days and it fits nicely.

Next job is to sort out the lights. Both the headlights on the donor were broken so ordered some nice Taiwanese replacements. A lot cheaper than the Ford parts but still impressively expensive.

There needs to be some minor adjustment of the mounting brackets first.

This photo shows the protruding bracket that needs to come off.

... the same thing from the other side.

 

and here it is gone!

 

They units then simplt fit into the hull and plug into the existing loom.

They do slighty foul the front corners of the bonnet but that can be sorted out later.

The rear lights are not from the donor. The supplied lights are fitted into a housing that then bolys to the inside of the hull and wired into the existing loom. 

Here they are in the housing from the rear..

and from the front.

And here is a short unimaginative video showing all the rear lights working.

... and the nav light!!

 

 

Next week it's finish off the engine bay by fitting the exhaust pipe and the ducting around the engine.

Week 36 - The Build

 After last weeks efforts it's now apparent that all the big jobs are done. Just another million little but important jobs left to do!

First on the list is wiring up the bilge pumps and the fan control. The kit comes with a pre wired switch panel for the pumps. As well as the switches it has a small fuse box, a switch for the nav light and a 'fan on' indicator light.

Here it is in it's unmolested state!

The first job is to add a hole for the radiator fan switch. The avid reader will recall the radiator fan should come on with the ignition but I've added a switch so it can be turned off and also a relay operated by the original fan relay to override the switch.

Next job is to wire it all up!

And here it is done. For ease of fault finding all the control wires are yellow!!

The next little job is to fit the windscreen washer bottle. This uses the bottle from the Fiesta and is mounted in the bow compartment next to the fuel tank. It had a good overnight soak in bleach to clean it all up before fitting. Here it is.

The next job is to fit the interior rear view mirror. A problem here is that the windscreen is from a Mk6 Fiesta and the mirror came off a Mk7 Fiesta. The mounting lug on the screen is different. 

Here is the mirror and a mounting bracket that fits the windscreen. Next week will see the new bracket attached to the mirror. It will involve the angry grinder!!

Week 35 - The Build

 Back again after another few weeks away on the boat! Quite slow getting back into it as I try to remember what I was doing and what I planned to do!

Something thats been on my mind for a while is the radiator fan mounting. At the time it seemed to obvious place for it was in front of the radiator as there didnt seem to be room behind it as it would be in the Fiesta. Engine cooling is something of a concern as the engine is almost totally enclosed within the hull. So the first job is to move the fan. The only way to do this is to first remove the radiator which means draining the cooling system. The only place to drain it is into the hull where a gallon of water disappeared under the engine. The fan housing neatly clips into the radiator and it all went back in fine.

Second job is to modify the dog clutch for the water jet drive. At present the clutch will only engage when the two parts are quite accurately lined up. This is no good as they generally wont be lined up. The plan is to chamfer the face of the cup to encourage smoother engagement.

Here is the unmolested cup.

and here it is after some chamfering..

It doesn't look that different in the photo and actually doesn't make that much difference to the clutch either! More grinding required!

Also been looking at the bilge pump wiring. Its a bit of a mess at the moment but is poart of next weeks jobs.

Week 34 - The Build

 Here I am back again. Nearly a month since my last post. I've been away on my proper boat for awhile but came back to make tremendous progress on the project.

From the last post it can be seen that I'd trial fitted the belts, pulleys, clutch and shaft to drive the water jet. 

It was with some concern that the kit vendor now does not sell the kit that I bought, but only sells the hull with the major mechanical components already fitted as its too difficult for the likes of me! Bit of a worry, so most of this weekhas been spent in lining everything up so it worlks without the belts flying off or the clutch not engaging. To line up the pulleys I used a bit of steel bar. The predrilled holes for the drive shaft bearings seemed to be a bit in the wrong place and so were enlarged as required. 

So starting off with the belt from the pto to the drive shaft...

This is with the engine running at 4000rpm. Proper noisy, but nothing fell off!

Any way, and to cut to the chase here it is all assembled (aprt from the Mole grips) and in action.

and its all operated from this lever next to the handbrake 

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!