23 May 10 ..... Nitrons, Driveshafts and Wheels

Just a short post to report on progress over the last week or so. Really want to get the car down on it's wheels so that I can get the suspension all torqued up and see how the suspension and steering alignment looks to be about right by eye before a full geo. Not having the springs for the single way nitrons I had off junks that came with the donor car has delayed getting this done. Finally they arrived and mighty fine they looked in the box. I went for 450F/550R ratings with 150lb helpers based on a poll of drivers that I had asked at rounds earlier this year.

Wasn't too difficult a job to mount them on the bodies once I had worked out how to remove (and set up again afterwards) the removeable end fitting that contains the rebound adjuster. Obviously the pre-load has to be guessed at this stage and subsequent ride height set when the units are on the car and it is down on it's wheels.

Next job was to get them onto the car which was straightforward enough except that I had forgotten that it is easier to adjust ride height if the units are fitted upside down. Of course, you guessed it, the helpers were at the bottom which is not good practice and even worse, the writing that said nitrons and spring rating were upside down - disaster!. For those of you that know me, you know I have to have it right!!

Moving on the units were fitted on the car with new bolts and nylocs, courtesy of Eliseparts who supply a complete suspension bolt kit. Much easier than trying to source from your local ironmongers (and cheaper probably!). The spherical bearings at each end of the unit were checked for play once more then re-greased. Each of the bearings has an 'o' ring between the bearing and the spacer inserts. These were checked, fitted and the units bolted up and torqued at 45Nm. As they are bearings and not bushes they can be torqued up with the car on stands.

Driveshafts next - the job was made simple due to the gearbox and shafts being new and much easier than trying to refit used (and possibly worn) shafts into a well abused gearbox. They snicked in at the gearbox end nicely and then the hub end threaded through the refurbished hubs with new bearings after disconnecting the upright at the top ball joint. A new driveshaft nut went on which will be torqued up when the car is back on it's wheels.

 Pics of the finished n/s and o/s shafts in place. Taken a guess at the camber shim thickness required only so that it looks about right by eye and it will be geo'd properly later.

Bolts at the hub end on all four corners were torqued up and the ball joint nuts tightened.

So now I have all four corners complete with all bolt fixings torqued except for the wishbone bushes.

  

Getting closer to getting it onto it's wheels for the first time. The donor car deal included a set of Compomotive MO's in ET spec (i.e. offset).  Rears were new and still boxed and finished in the satin black that I wanted. Fronts came with a pair of nearly new AD06's fitted and were in silver. I had also picked up a set of part worn ET spec Yokohamas AO48's (much thanks to Ben Pitch for those). So it was off to the local tyre fitters to fit the the rear tyres onto the virgin rims and remove the AD06's from the silver front rims so that I could get them painted to match the rears. This will be diy job. 

Couldn't resist a trial fitting of the rears. It was good to establish that nothing fouled and they looked right. Looked pretty good too!!

With both rears on it was time to stand back and refelect on the fact that I am getting there............    

15 Apr 10 ..... Fitting Clutch, Gearbox and Installing the Engine

 

Main job for this weekend was to get the engine finished and installed in the car. I had decided not to strip and rebuild it as you would normally expect for racing, but the engine was low mileage and most in the trophy run the engines as they come.

The last few weeks have been spent fettling the engine. It's taken a while to get all the bits that were missing from the engine including map sensor, injector wiring harness and front timing belt cover.

The engine has had the VVC timing checked, new cambelt and manual tensioner and new plugs and leads. The timing was set following the instructions in the elise manual. Pretty simple job involving aligning cam pulley and crankshaft markings. Whilst the engine was up on the stand the sump was removed to fit the Eliseparts sump baffle. Comes in 3 aluminium laser cut parts that are assembled inside the sump and are interlocking to retain them. Required a small amount of hand fettling to fit properly but worthg doing. The sump was refitted with the appropriate sealant.

Next job was to fit the Eliseparts lightened flywheel. It's a piece of art so couldn't resist a few record photos. A new set of flywheel bolts were fitted and torqued up.

 Not  sure how much lighter it is but quite a bit of metal is removed compared with standard. Once the flywheel was on I could finally fit the crank position sensor by pushing it fully home and bolting up.  

The new AP uprated clutch was next to go on after degreasing the flywheel and pressure plate faces. I had also bought the Eliseparts alignment tool. The job is simple enough with the friction plate fitting between the pressure plate and the flywheel with the alignment tool inserted through the friction plate into the end of the crankshaft. The pressure plate is then bolted up using new bolts and threadlock. 

The engine was then lifted off the engine stand using my engine hoist ready for the gearbox to go on. The box is a new close ratio PG1 unit bought as part of the original project car bundle from junks.

The box went straight on and bolts torqued up. Then the whole assembly lifted into position and located on the new engine and gearbox mount. An eliseparts tapered bolt was fitted to locate the gearbox mount to the chassis. 

Finally the engine was in the car. Seems to have taken ages but it was worth all the effort to see it sat in the engine bay. The Janspeed large bore 4-2-1 manifold was fitted with a new gasket, then the silenced cat replacement pipe and Janspeed s/s supersport exhaust system was offered up and bolted loosely in place so that I could check the fit and alignment with the rear clam fitted. As you can see from the photos, it wasn't far off.