Week 45 - The Build

 I left it last week pondering the shield around the steering column. The gap between the column and the brake pedal is narrow so the shield needs to allow full travel of the brake pedal and full rotation of the steering column and be strong enough to resist a bit of a kicking.

Not so easy  - however using some plastic cups and a lot of masking tape I did manage to make what was a mould for some GRP. Difficult to see in the photo as the cups are transparent!

 

Anyway, here it is being glassed up...

.. it came out of the mould lovely and trimmed up with the angry grinder. The bad news is that it doesn't fit! The mould was quite fragile and I think the weight of the fibreglass must have distorted it!

Quite dissapointing really as it took a week to mess that up. I'm now wondering if I need one at all! A quick survey shows that most cars dont have one..

Onwards.

Week 44 - The Build

This week it's been more work on the interior. The cockpit sole is supplied as a single piece of grp. 

 

Can't think how this is supposed to go in as a single piece - too big for me anyway! Easy solution is to cut it in half!

It can always be glassed back together if required. Here they bits are in a trial fit.

 Still a few bits to be done before final fitting, including making a shield around the steering column down by the pedals. 

Here you can see how close to the pedals is the joint where the column joins the rack! It's almost possible to steer with a foot or even jam a shoe in there.

I'm hoping to make a glassfibre shield but need to improve my template making skills while lying upside down in the dark.

Week 43 - The Build

First job this week was to adjust one of the switches operated by the brake pedal. Part of the switch was up against the steering column which is not good. Here you can see where it's mounting bracket has been bent over a bit to give a good clearance.
 

Next job is to secure the morse cable that connects the rudder to the steering. The forward end connects to the starboard suspension spring which rotates as the steering is applied. the other end is secured to the rudder. Here is is!

Next job was the tightening up and tidying up of stuff in the wheel arches. Notably the trackrod ball joints, wishbone pinch bolt and tying back the brake pipe and wheel speed sensor cable. I've got some white PU sealer coming to seal all the through hull holes which will be done in a single seeion later.

The avid reader of this blog will remember the key falling out of the pto pulley. This has now been sorted out with a couple of dabs of weld between the key and the shaft and the key and the pulley.

An important feature of any modern motor vehicle is to have the ability to know the outside temperature. I've mounted the sensor on the outside of the scuttle near the fuel filler.

Because I can, I've taken the wires from the original 'bonnet open' switch to a pair of spring mounted bolts that are shorted out by a copper plate glued to the inside of the bonnet. Here you can see the plate and the contacts..

and here the contacts in more detail.

Week 42 - The Build

 Last week saw the impotant work on installing the dashboard cheek pieces. This week sees the installation of the rear speakers and the marine instruments. 

The rear speakers are from the donor Fiesta and fit behind the holes in the cockpit sides.

and its the same the other side. They'll get covered by the upholstery later. There doesn't seem a saensible place to put the original front speakers and so some smaller ones are on order which will fit. A photo will follow!

I have a NASA instruments echo sounder and log combined into a single instrument that will measure the water depth and boat speed when in the water. The echo sounder transducer is mounted in a tube bonded onto the inside of the hull at the back of the cockpit.

Here it is snuggled in behind the bilge pump. The space between the bottom of the transducer the the hull will be filled with oil.

The speed transducer requires a hole to be drilled through the hull. Not something I'm massively keen on in principle but its that ot no speed transducer. 

Well, thats the hole drilled ...

... and the tube fitted ...

... and with the paddle wheel transducer. Next is the display unit. I decided to mount this on top of the dashboard, partly as this gives easy access for all the cables and power supply. I made a bracket out of 4mm ply and covered it in the same van liner as the dashboard cheeks. The power comes off the ignition switch. I installed a switch to turn the display on or indeed off. Here is a quick view of it working.

 ... and here mounted in its bracket that is velcro'd to the dashboard. Cover on and cover off.

Next week its more small stuff, but I'm thinking its needs a bit of a road test to get the engine up to temperature and test the brakes fairly soon.

Week 41 - The Build

 Another long week since my last post and also the second anniversary of the ordering of the kit and 13 months since taking delivery of the first bits.

Anyway, last report ended with me sizing up the dashboard cheek pieces and seeing them as a not deparately good fit. so the first job was to rectify that. Firstly they needed a bit of reshaping including removing the tang at the forward end. The inner edge needed to be abit wider in places. Fibreglass can sort that out...Here is one side with a mold made from cardboard and masking tape.

 

Then they need covering in van liner cloth.This stuff is very stretchy and can be persuaded to follow almost any contour.

Here is the dashboard with them installed with the temperature gauge on the stbd side and the cut off switch to port.

The next job was to install the radio aerial! (It gives a clue as to the progress being made when that job came to the top of the list.) The kit did include an aerial that looked as it it had been made in the early '60s. It did have a coax cable which I used to extend the original cable. I actually added the new bit in the middle of the original as I wanted to keep the original termination. The inside of the A pillar had already been covered in vinyl so the top was peeled back...

 .... the coax threaded up the A pillar and across the top of the windscreen and out by the courtesy light...

... then screwed to the original aerial after a bit of nibbling on the roof ...

Looks pretty good I think. 

Next time its another myriad of little jobs...

Week 40 - The Build

 A bit of a busy week but one of mixed fortunes. Having a bit of a tidy up I saw this...

and that, my hearties, it the key to the drive sprocket that appears to have fallen out. I put it back in but it slides in and out quite easily. I've tightened up the taper lock hub as tight as tight can be but its still loose. I shall have a think before I spot weld it in.

So, it's on to the seat belts. The problem with the front belts is that the pretensioners have been set off and the belts are locked firmly in position. With my research assistant, Mr A Grinder, I set about finding out how it all works. Here is the patient on the operating table..

 

and here it is after the vivisection..

Very interesting but now beyond use! Time for another go. Fortunately there is another Fiesta in the loft from which I'd already removed the seat belts.

The pretensioners on these had gone off as well so perhaps a more delicate approach is required. All that is required is that the bottom of the pretensioner needs to be cut off ...

and then the rack pulled out...

Et voila!

Here are the belts roughgly installed. Not sure if thats right yet but we'll see!

Next job is to scope out the dashboard cheek pieces.A certain amount of fettling required but here they are roughly in position.

Here is the drivers side with the temperature gauge fitted..

and the passenger side with the cut off switch.

As you can see there are not quite the perfect fit or colour  - yet.

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..