Not much progress on the Fury due to both the weather keeping me out in the Seven, and the lack of drive shafts which I want before I put the body work on so I can avoid damaging the orange bodywork removing suspension components. I'm assured, any day now.
In the mean time I made a lever for the reverse box, its in a nice position, not in the way of the handbrake and as far forward as possible. I've been learning solid works so I designed a handle which I will make up on a lathe if I can get one. I also designed a handbrake lever cover which will also be made in the lathe.
In order to fit the clutch cable I need some sort of spacer to go in between the hole in the bulkhead, the pedal and the cable sleeve, so I designed this, its long so it can be easily shimmed to the right length to provide adjustment if required, it has radiuses on all edges to avoid damaging the cable, and a slot to allow the cable to be fitted with a knuckle on the end if required.
I installed the transmission tunnel panel work, using m5 rivnuts, i'll cover this in material and use dome headed nuts on the final assembly.
I've now started on the wiring, i want to use as little of the R1 loom as possible, I removed the lighting and instrumentation, but left the connector for the gauges so that I can see any error codes.
I will then shorten and extend the R1 loom as required, so that it is one small unit with one spur going to the engine and one spur coming to the main fusebox/ignition switch.
I will keep the ignition key, mounted somewhere in the cockpit, as this has the immobilizer transponder in it, but will switch the main power (which in turn switches the ECU on.) not just the bike looms power. I'm slightly nevous about all this as its a big bit of spagetti to begin with, i just hope when i've tidied it all up, it still works.
I had moment in the seven today, driving home from work in the dark, I failed to see (nor expect) an unmarked speed-bump in the middle of the country on a two way highway outside of a village. The result was me being launched into the air at 80, a hard landing, and a very wobbly seven, the result was a snapped shock absorber, it had sheered at the knuckle.
On closer examination i think i may have introduced a design flaw by purchasing rose jointed shock absorbers, in order to shim the mountings so that the shocks sit right, I used big washers, these in turn restrict the movement of the knuckle, in full droop or squat at both sides this isn't an issue, as the shock is vertical, however in roll, i think i may have introduced a twisting force into the knuckle causing it to fracture. As a result i remade the shims to be smaller so that they do not foul the casing. I welded the the knuckle back on, if it fails again I shall replace the whole unit.
When i put it all back together something still wasn't right, it took me quite some time to realize that spring mount had come off one of the front shocks, thankfully it had dropped into the undertray. To stop this ever happening again, either due to me getting too much 'air' or some other failure, i drilled a small hole in them, and cable tied the spring to it. Once adjusted, everything was back to nor
The weather has been fantastic recently and with the contract issues i've had stopping me from going to the office (What a shame..) i've been out and about. I took a trip down the canal then the Waal to Nijmegen, then worked my way down the german border then up to Trier, then along the moselle to Cochem, then Adenau (sadly the ring was closed.) and that's when it all got a bit silly.
Now bear in mind the seven has a 21 liter tank capacity, my warning is when the needle o the gauge stops flapping around, that means there is not enough fuel in the tank to raise the arm on the sender significantly, or roughly about 3 liters left. I was running low on petrol, so i had a peep on the GPS for the nearest petrol station, the gauge was still wobbling at this point, so not really worried, off I go... I got there and it was closed, now the eiffel region is very pretty, but its not that densely populated, and the nearest big town is Koblenz, about 45km away. I had a look on the GPS for the next nearest one, still heading towards the autobahn to head north a bit before cutting west cross country. I got to that one, and it was closed too, never mind I thought, (needle not moving now.) i'll just add the reserve tank i cleverly keep in the back for such occasions.
What I didn't know until that point, was that when I cleared out he boot after le mans, I'd left the spare petrol tank sitting in the garage next to the other fuel tanks and explosive things out of the way, and forgot to put it back in. Oh dear (Or words to that extend.) I thought, and looked at the options for petrol stations, Mayen was the nearest town that I could remember seeing on a real map, but it was quite some way away, so i found one en-route that might do. It of course was closed, and on the hill into the next town, I started to get fuel starvation, it was all over just in time for me to get to the top of the hill and roll down into the village and pull up somewhere a bit better lit and off the main road.
It took quite some explaining to the ANWB control, as they had no idea what type of car I was driving, nor where I was, despite giving them the coordinates, town name, rough location, they just couldn't find it on their map, eventually with some googling, gesturing and bad spelling we found it, and an hour later the ADAC turned up with a spare can. I talked broken dutch, even more broken german, and nervous english, explaining that you have no fuel is quite simple, the procedure for getting new fuel seems harder, first you have to understand you need to pay for it, it will be eight euros, you must pay now. Then there is the paperwork, correcting spellings, and more signatures than a boy-band autograph session.
The guy was really friendly though, and he understood mostly what I was saying in dutch, not so much in english and he drove with me to the nearest petrol station as we determined it was actually about 25km away and that's pushing 5 liters of fuel allowing for getting lost and the hills etc. In the end it didn't seem that far and by 11 I was ready to set off.
I decided just to take the fast route home via Koln and Duisburg along the autobahn, rather than going cross country, it was a nice opportunity to test the top speed out. Acceleration is quite impressive until about 175kmh at which point its a second or so before each increment. Top speed is still undetermined, at around 197kmh i hit fuel starvation, i had this issue before and had to turn up the pressure in the regulator, but I expect its still a weak spot. That is still pretty fast though but the car is remarkably stable at this speed, i expected it to be a bit twitchy, but despite the air force hitting my head it was quite pleasant.
I got back to utrecht by 3am, but couldn't get into the garage due to a power failure and the emergency unlock thing not unlocking properly so the car stayed outside my house which wasn't ideal, the rain stayed off though thankfully.
In preparation for the le mans trip, I ordered a couple of intercom parts, most importantly the new headsets, i was convinced it was a fault with the one I had, so I ordered a new in-helmet set, and two 'training' headsets which are basically a set of ear defenders with a microphone and speaker attached.
The star com is a great intercom capable of two way driver/passenger communication, combined with car to car radio communication, hookup for an audio device (in my case an ipod) and a phone kit (amongst a bunch of other features.)
Based on the background noise, the star com will increase or reduce the volume of the comms system to compensate, then when one person speaks it will mute the radio. There is an additional Push-To-Talk switch mounted on the gearstick to activate the radio.
The problem is, whilst VOX works fine for the passenger, they talk music cuts out, it doesn't work for the driver, it seems that either the mic setting on the passenger side is too high, or the driver too low, the result is that VOX goes a bit crazy. On the trip this wasn't a problem, we simply talked over the music when required, but its a little frustrating at times.
The sound quality however is fantastic, driving with no windscreen, and just the open headsets at 85mph was crystal clear, we could talk normally with each other, although as you can't hear yourself the result was we were needlessly raising our voices.
I'll have a chat with star-com about the problem with VOX as I expect to use the same system in the fury.
I had a cracking few days driving as part of the trip to Le Mans, I left the thursday morning in very wet weather, scared the life out myself when I aquaplaned whilst overtaking a truck on the motor-way, and had a very very slow, and very very miserable trip down to Bauvais, fortunately it really brightened up, and the rest of the drive down was great fun. Paul did try to kill us by pulling out in front of a truck when we did our first driver change, but other than that things went pretty well.
The starter motor stuck at a petrol station en-route, it has done it once more since then in Germany, and it seems to be only when the engine is hot, and has been stood for a few minutes. The only other issue was the front left hub nut coming a little loose this was evident when braking as after a tight right bend, the brake pedal would have a bit more travel, this was easily nipped up with some added thread-lock for good measure.
The car was driving remarkably well, and most of the teething trouble seems to be gone now, I'm a lot more confident in the car. On the way back we stopped off in a very wet Versailles, there were roadworks and I wasn't quite sure were to go, and essentially drove up the main driveway, realizing my mistake (after pausing for a quick photo opportunity) i squeezed through a gap in the pavement into the real car park. It wasnt until we were done when we noticed that we had ended up in a car park you can only exit if you have a ticket, so we sneaked out the way we came in and despite a few confused workmen, nobody seemed to notice.
I left Paul with Kyle and Charlotte and hot footed it home, thankfully it brightened up in belgium and I was able to make some progress, it had been painfully slow moving on the way so far.
The car got a lot of attention both on the route, and at le mans itself, sometimes it can be a little overwhelming but for the most part its great fun and very good natured. I think we will make the return trip next year, or perhaps to the classic event instead.
There are a number of minor issues I've been wanting to address for a while, since the last rolling road session where the coolant pipe split, I've been running with a far from optimal cooling pipe as its above the filler and needs a 90 Degree bend in it. I purchased a 90 degree hose connector, (its plastic but I've used these previously without any issues so here's hoping.) and plumbed it in again with the bleed tee just above the manifold. I was having issues with pushing out the fluid into the expansion tank and not sucking it back in, so i bought a new filler cap (Didnt solve the issue.) and I noticed that the fan wasn't working because the wire had broken at the earth point, so I replaced that too. I shall also upgrade to a profan just to be on the safe side, it keeps cool enough but i expect in really hot weather its going to struggle, especially in heavy stop start traffic.
Temporary hose...
Final replacement, could benefit from a new outlet as the current outlet on the manifold is at 45Degrees where 90 would be better.
I bought a cheapo fuel filter to use as a plenum for the megajolt and installed that in preference to the walbro filter that I shall now use in the fury as originally intended.
It didn't make sense to use this filter as a plenum as it was an order of magnitude more expensive than this one:
The spring had come off the throttle assembly, I expect I put it on wrong last time round and have refitted it, this time also with a cable tie so that it can't move around.
En-Route to stoneleigh I found out that the alternator was totally borked, no major casualties except an embarrassing stall on the M25 which led to some stress as it wouldn't start again, and of course a flat battery at stoneleigh. Mike sorted me out with a new one and its working perfectly.
There are a few minor things I want to resolve:
* Intercom, when driving you cant really talk with the passenger, and I'd like to be able to talk to Paul on the way to lemans. I have a starcom advance but the headsets are wonky so I'll get an aviation style one as well as an in helmet one, I'd like to use the ones from Peltor, but will need to either make an adaptor or just use the starcom ones. * I broke an aerocatch (What is it with bonnets and alternators at stoneleigh?) and will need to replace it. I'd also like to put one in the top of the bonnet as it moves around a lot. * I need to set up the brake balance better - its too far forward now. * I also want to paint the inside floor, but now it looks like a farmers field. * There is an oil leak either (hopefully) from the seal on the gearbox, or worse from a seal on the engine which I'd like to replace. * On the more long term wishlist i'd like to shorten the steering rack to reduce bump steer, and put a quick rack in.
Despite quite a few rather annoying problems at stoneleigh, the car is running great. Paul and I covered some serious distance, in poor weather, on poorer roads (Single track country lanes.) without batting an eyelid, starting first time, every time. We both had smiles on our faces the whole time, and its surprisingly comfortable. We both gave it a pretty hard thrashing, On the way back paul asked what the red light on the dashboard was that kept flashing - I explained it was the shift light, but that didnt stop it staying on for extended periods of time. I turned off the A14 a good hour before Harwich and went cross country. You have to be seriously careful when driving hard as its a fine line between powering out of a corner, and powering into a ditch. The rear end kicked out a few times although very progressively, but I get the impression if you aren't paying attention it will really bite.
Paul and I were really giving it some through the country lanes, the good news about slick derbyshire countryside is you rarely get the chance to go fast enough to get a speeding ticket, and despite the odd tractor and local, they are usually pretty quiet which makes for fun driving.
They are rather muddy though, and the car was completely caked, not to mention the occupants.
The wings on a seven are a constant headache, there are two common failure points, the first is the metal bracket which runs from the upright and holts the cycle wings in place. Due to bumps in the road, wind and air turbulence, stones and other objects being thrown up from the tires, rain and other debris vibrating the wing, the wing-stay is prone to metal fatigue. The common failure point is at the base where it joins the upright, and at the bend at the top.
The second failure point is is the joint between the wing which is fiberglass, and the stay which is metal. I opted to glue my wings to the wing stay, in doing so I drilled holes in the wing stay to provide space for the glue (PU Adhesive) to key to, I also made the fiberglass as rough as possible, however this started to fail.
Both sides have failed in the same way, the rear most glue has separated from the outside working inwards, the drivers side failed first. I noticed it as it was bouncing around on the way back to cambridge, I did my best to reduce the movement using some cable ties, and inspected the passenger side to notice it was also coming off although not quite separated.
The simplest option would have been to apply more glue, but obviously over time this shall just fail again. I could drill it, however that has its own issues, you create a stress raiser that over time shall crack and fail. Instead I decided to reinforce the joint. I cut and drilled some plates from aluminum that match the profile of the inside of the wing, I then mounted these with PU over the metal wing-stay, subsequently there is a much larger surface area for the glue to adhere to. Should this fail in the future, it will be relatively easy for me to bolt the wing to the wing stay through the aluminum. I'm hoping the copious amounts of glue will also dampen some of the vibration (Much like a metalastic bush) and increase the lifetime of the rest of the wing stay. The issue is of course that repairing it now that there is no feasible way of separating the two parts is going to be very difficult.
I removed the black plastic U-trim, i originally liked it, as it gave a nice line to the edge of the car, but its started to fade a little so I'll run without for now.
Finished by covering in adhesive and clamping in place until it set.
After a quick polish to remove my muddy finger prints, its looking pretty good.
I've been wanting to do something about the somewhat antisocial amounts of noise coming out the exhaust for a while. I actually really like the sound, its brutal, at tick-over it sounds just slightly angry, but when you hit the throttle its like you've opened pandoras box. There are a number of downsides to this however:
You can't hear yourself think when idle, let alone when moving.
Nor can you hear your passenger
People who can't tell the difference assume your a chav.
I Can't go anywhere near a racetrack
Something had to be done. I bought the original silencer from a chap off LocostBuilders who was (And still is) making them in his spare time. Its about the size I want and the quality is outstanding. Titanium baffle plate, and stainless steel other bits, I wanted to avoid changing it if possible, so decided to repack it.
I wasn't sure if it originally had any wadding, but it did appear to be getting louder so assumed
that it did at some point. There are also rivets at one end, so thats a good indication. Doing some research, there are basically three possible things you can use to pack the interior of the can. The first is wire wool, being metal it has a fairly good lifespan, its fairly loosly packed, so should perform fairly well, but as a result provides the least sound deadening. The second option is much the same, only using a ceramic wool, this can be packed tighter and has better sound deadening, it also burns out quicker. There is also a matt which is wrapped around, this has better deadening but as its woven rather than loosely packed, has poorer flow.
I opted for a highbred form CBS, its basically a sausage shaped assembly, wrapped around a cardboard tube, the theory being you replace the cardboard tube with your baffle plate, and its easy to apply. It is made up of a layer of wire wool, and matting on the outside. It cost about twenty pounds and was money well spent. It didn't slide on how I expected, but it was trivial to assemble. First removing the canister from the car, I started by drilling the rivets and removing the baffle plate and tailpipe assembly from the canister itself. I took the opportunity to clean the carbon deposits from anything i could reach with an air gun, this was actually a bit stupid because it meant my whole garage was now covered in carbon dust and I couldn't find the dust masks so had to stop for a day until it cleared.
I then unwound the wrapping and wool from the cardboard and wrapped it around the baffle before re-assemby using 3.2mm rivets.
Whilst the canister was off the car, I also fabricated a stronger bracket for the canister itself. Currently it is mounted using a stainless steel clamp bolted to a rubber bobbin which itself is bolted to the car in shear. These are notoriously weak, and this is asking for trouble. The bobbin was in reasonable shape, with some cracking but it was pretty strong. I used a pair of mole grips to get it off as it was pretty tight, so I figured that makes it strong enough to reuse.
I cut some 4-mm aluminum angle bar down to 4-cm, and drilled, countersunk, and de-burred two holes to provide a solid mounting, and another on the other side to mount the bobbin two. I then drilled an additional hole in the chassis and inserted an M6 steel rivet-nut with some PU adhesive to try to seal it a best as possible. I drilled out the holes in the mounting to 7-mm, as my tolerances were not accurate enough to use 6-mm holes sadly, I mounted the bracket slightly lower then the lower chassis rail to keep the canister in pretty much the same location as it was and adjusted the position of the clamp to match the new mount.
The car is much quieter now, I can clearly hear the induction noise which sounds rather nice. The down side is I can also hear the other mechanical noises and now think the car is about to break every time I turn, brake, steer, hit a bump, rev the engine, engage the clutch, or anything that causes any minor mechanical noise. I'll need to desensitize to it again.
The fueling is now of course in need of some adjustment, so I'll book the session with Fred and see how things go. Before I do that I want to replace the bearing in the carb as its causing some free play in the spindle which manifests as an imbalance on minor throttle openings.
