Blimey... Could have been a LOT worse... Scary

Grabbed a couple of hours this evening, bled the clutch which works fine except the clutch pedal is in the wrong position, turns out the pedal box is a lash up so it's got to come out. 2 hours later with the assistance of a cutting wheel it's nearly out,, hey ho.

More work on the car last night and today. Pedal box modded along with a few captive nuts Pidgeon poo'd on.

 

 

 

Coat of paint applied and ready to reassemble tomorrow. Got on with some other jobs today, mainly sorting out and fitting panels in the cockpit, reattaching steering column and mounting the kill switch. If I've got time I'll paint the floor.

 

 

Also image below of the LED Headlights, they do look a little odd but they do work well. especially with the halo indicator/DRL arrangement. I've also fitted some small LED sidelights below the lights as they do not function as sidelights when the ignition is off unfortunately.

 

Those headlights look extremely wierd...   would be interesting to see them in action...

Those headlights look extremely wierd...   would be interesting to see them in action...

When I get a chance I'll do a little film clip showing them working. Good day on the car, pedal box in, though needs to be plumbed in and bled. I ordered a new bias bar and remote adjuster, which surprisingly turned up today so managed to fit that to the pedal box. Do now the front to back brake balance can be adjusted by the turn of a knob on the dash. Not IVA friendly but not an MOT fail either so why not.

Final fix interior and steering wheel is now in situ, an OMP wheel, a few others had their eye on it so good to get it on the car before it goes missing lol.

To do list is getting shorter, was hoping to blat down the road in it but time got the better of me, a few leaks need sorting and possible spacers on the back wheels, hopefully the snagging list will be short.

some short film clips, done by James on his phone today.

 

One of the cockpit, pedal box is out again sitting on top of the dash (don't ask lol)

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/buckmoreboy/26148284153/in/dateposted-public/

 

The front lights working..

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/buckmoreboy/26478920910/in/dateposted-public/

 

Engine start from cold, a bit rough though you get the idea..

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/buckmoreboy/26751979705/in/dateposted-public/

Looking good. Hopefully won't be long before she's tearing up the Tarmac

Looking good. Hopefully won't be long before she's tearing up the Tarmac

Not too far away though every time I do a job it turns into a mission. Finally got the pedal box back together and back in the car. All connected, just needs bleeding.

Went to fit the harnesses and found there were no reinforced mounting plates and captive nuts present for the lower mountings so a 5 minute job turns into a few hours.

Need to replace a couple of fuel hoses on the rear, fit seats add a bit of trim to the dash, fix a sump plug oil leak. Put the right length bolts in the steering wheel spacer. Overall not that far off at all.

Just snagging jobs then.

Thing with these types of builds is they never seem to end. Once you have them up and running you will always find areas of improvement or things you want to do different/better and they feel like they never stop.

Have to look at the positives though and look at just how much you have actually done.

Really is a great looking car. And love the lights

Went to bleed the brakes and clutch, brakes all good, couldn't get a pedal on the clutch despite it bleeding ok previously. Tried all the tricks In the book, sucking it through, backfilling, pressurising and leaving the pedal down overnight. Zilch nadda fook all except bloody brake fluid everywhere.

Swapped the master cylinder out for another new one, then bleed it.. Result all pedals are now working. tomorrow's plan is to replace the wheel studs as they are too short with the bells and alloys. Might grab a trade plate and try for a bit of a test drive.

Got an aero screen coming, found a second hand carbon one which will do for now, Been trying to order a new one for ages but the company can't make up their minds if they want to sell me one just yet.

Edited 6 May, 201610 yr by B33fy

Looking good for summer fun this year then?

Looking good for summer fun this year then?

That's the plan Richard, it's not far off at all. Jay at the garage is going to wizz it round Boss Racing for a geo set up next week then it should be good to go the following weekend. I'm not happy with the way it runs though that's down to the old style injection. Drilling through the ecu probably didn't help lol

I'll probably megasquirt it as soon as I can, along with the later injectors, inlet twin plenum, and Hotwire MAF. Will improve the running no end and give a little more power. (190-195bhp)

I'm keeping an eye out for a 4.6 lump to rebuild as well. They can go to 300bhp with the megasquirt and twin plenum without too much expense. Just needs 4.0 pistons to raise the compression, ported heads and a hot cam. That'll do me in a 600-700 kg car.

Sorry to say I'm still drawn to the grey primer finish with fluorescent highlights though that's a while down the road.

Did the leaky fuel hoses though found another lea that needs sorting. Also swapped the sump plug out as that had a bit of a leak going on as well. Then took it for a quick spin round the block. First impressions, pulls really well and great soundtrack. Handling a bit wayward and brakes need adjusting though overall a good milestone reached and a successful day with nothing breaking..

 

A couple of images below and a short film clip using a dashcam out of the daily driver.

 

 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/buckmoreboy/26836783566/in/datetaken/

 

 

Looking good Mike.

Might be the camera angle, but it looks a bit bigger than I was expecting.

I

Looking good Mike.

Might be the camera angle, but it looks a bit bigger than I was expecting.

It's big Richard, makes a caterham look like a corgi toy. Not the best looking model out there though the chassis etc is a solid design. I'll get an image of it next to a "normal seven" at the weekend, fingers crossed. One other in the club with a few more home comforts and 310bhp. Looks a little different with a full screen.

Did the leaky fuel hoses though found another lea that needs sorting. Also swapped the sump plug out as that had a bit of a leak going on as well. Then took it for a quick spin round the block. First impressions, pulls really well and great soundtrack. Handling a bit wayward and brakes need adjusting though overall a good milestone reached and a successful day with nothing breaking..

 

A couple of images below and a short film clip using a dashcam out of the daily driver.

 

 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/buckmoreboy/26836783566/in/datetaken/

 

Daft question - are those front wheels on the right way round?  Looks like the tread pattern should be rotating the other way...

Daft question - are those front wheels on the right way round?  Looks like the tread pattern should be rotating the other way...

Well spotted Skomaz, The wheels were removed to bleed the brakes, I threw them back on the car on the wrong sides, to take it down the road and realised at the time, though left them as they were off again to replace the wheel studs once back at the workshop.

Apparently I left some 11's when pulling away, more likely a "1" though I did contend this despite it being on camera, It's not fitted with a slipper yet and it was probably all the oil brake fluid and sh1te from the workshop floor.

Hoping to do a bit of a run at the weekend with the southern kit car club. We just post up a suggestion for a run and other lunatics sign up if they are interested, then we go for it (figuratively speaking your honour) I've a little route planned around east Kent finishing at a greasy spoon as usual. The guys are keen for me to get back out on the road and no doubt there will be a few of us out and about. I'll post up a run report with the obligatory images if I make it.

A few suspension issues and wheel clearance issues have appeared, noticed when Chris was welding some seat belt mounting plates on for me. This means a fair bit of work that will probably put back the final geo setup. At the moment the plan is to fit a new set of springs (picked up today) relocate the rear wings/adjust the exhaust position and mountings and fit longer studs and spacers etc. There's also a problematic rear brake caliper which should be a quick fix (clean up and reset).

As mentioned, Chris at Snodhurst has welded some new lower seat belt mounting plates, so the belts and seats can finally be bolted in.

Not holding out much hope for a run on Sunday though may join a local one if anyone's out there, as long as the car is drivable.

Went to fit the springs and found that the suspension is basically seized up. The springs in the back were very soft it was all the joints causing the problems, that said the springs needed swapping for slightly harder ones. So cut along story short I've been busy stripping and rebuilding the suspension. 3 out of 4 corners done so far. For some reason I've detested every second I've had to spend doing it.

Edited 14 May, 201610 yr by B33fy

The basic problem is yet another design flaw, which resulted in the crush tubes not protruding from the bushes, resulting in the bushes and tubes being pinched in the mount stiffening the suspension, along with rust and no lube etc. Sanded down the bushes so the tubes stuck out slightly freeing up the bushes. All cleaned, lubed up and fitted along with new stiffer springs all round, as the factory recommendations are known to be a little soft.

End result we know have working suspension:). I also adjusted one of the rear wheel arches so it didn't catch the tyre and fitted the 16mm spacers. Ideally I would have liked 0 offset wheels to avoid spacers, 13 offset was the smallest available, hence the spacers. Went for a hub centric set, rather than those tin pot flat universal things, I wouldn't use them as the wheel needs to locate properly on the hub.

Anyhow all done and the wheels now fill out the arches nicely and the are no clearance issues when I give it large bouncing up and down on it lol

Seats need bolting in, MOT possibly tomorrow then off to Boss Racing for geo setup. Then dare I say it, a possible trip out next weekend.

Edited 15 May, 201610 yr by B33fy

Car now MOT'd and taxed, took it for a quick spin to get some fuel took the long way back and smoked a few cars while I was at it. Good fun...while it lasted, got bit of an oil pressure problem and a tappetty engine. Needs further examination.

Car all set up up now, picked it up from Boss Racing earlier today, couldn't give it much as conditions weren't good, though fairly compliant until you give it a boot full... Sounds the mutts nuts.. Lol

Took a tow rope just in case, though it was the MB threw a hissy fit, switched the wipers to auto and everything conked out down a narrow lane on the way to Boss. Eventually got it going again albeit with the engine management light on. This cleared after the short stop at Boss.

A couple more jobs on Saturday then out on Sunday all being well.

Edited 18 May, 201610 yr by B33fy

Great to hear

...and it was going so well..

Took it for a quick run Friday evening, after adjusting the CO2 idle settings and it conked out. Towed back to the workshop, been on it pretty solid over the weekend, no joy. It seems somethings breaking down with heat soak. As it starts when cold and gets worse and conks out as it heats up. Fingers are now pointing to the "flapper unit" which is an older type MAF. This is relocated over the exhaust in the Viento, from the inner wing on the SD1 Vitesse. Probably leaning towards. Megasquirting the engine sooner rather than later.

The fault has been niggling the mechanics at Snodhurst so they have been tinkering when they can. The throttle position sensor has been changed, I swapped the injectors back to the Vitesse injectors from the twin plenum ones as the bigger injectors were causing over fueling. We tried three new coils, new fuel pump.. etc etc etc..  30 year old system at the end of the day.

 

Looks like the cause is a fancy little black thing in the ignition amplifier module, which eerrr... amplifys the ignition signal.. the signal goes to the coil and also back to the ecu to tell it its running and to fire the injectors, looks like this gets heat soak and stops working. The nearest replacement part I found was in Australia.. **** the garage owner used the part number and a bit of detective work and found that the part was used on some Peugeot commercial vehicles and he had the part at the workshop within an hour or so.

 

All plugged in and run up to temp with the fan cycling in and out and everything doing their thing. all good so far. Wiring all needs putting back, then possible run out this evening to see what occurs, fingers crossed it'll all be good.

 

If sorted,  I'll hold on fitting the megasquirt as I'd like to do that as a mini project, got it in my head to build a 4.6 lump circa 300-320bhp running ITB's and megasquirt   and throw it in the car at some point, be rude not to.. should be a riot..