Classic Le Mans 2014 - Vehicle Prep (2)

Along with the steering issues, the list of jobs needing to be sorted before the Le Mans trip are:-

• Bell housing cover to be refitted
• Change oil & filter
• Fit mesh to oil cooler and brake ducts
• Fit document holder and and fire extinguisher to transmission tunnel 
• Investigate knocking behind dash
• Make and fit side screens
• Sort problem with gauges giving high readings 

Given time available, I had to call on Adrian at SH Autos to give me a hand with these items as well as the steering.

As at today the side screens have been made and fitted, the oil and filter has been changed and the bell housing cover re-fitted.

As the Le Mans trip is a classic/historic event, I thought it would be nice to 'dress' the car in period race livery. With some help from my Marketing Manager (who is a complete whiz on Photoshop) we have come up with the  following concept.

Headlamps

Sunday 2nd February

Swapped the headlamps today for Lucas P700s

I once saw a GD at the factory with these fitted and I was blown away by them

Nice Rear End

As Total Kit Car magazine had requested to do a shoot using my car, fortunately for me Andy agreed to tidy up a few of the jobs I had scheduled to do.

So off came the fog and reverse lights, the Q-Jacks were fitted as were the Wind Wings and Side Louvres/Grilles.

I hope readers will agree the rear end is rather sexy now...

Post IVA Photoshoot

Saturday 18th January 2014

Today was another massive day in the story of this Cobra build. Andy had advised me last week that Steve Hole, editor of Total Kit Car Magazine, was visiting the factory and wanted to do a feature on GD and what they had in build. Andy told him about my car and said it was a good example of an old school Cobra and Steve asked if I would object to him doing a photoshoot and write up on my build.

As you can imagine I was delighted with this news and needed no encouragement to agree. I arranged with Andy that he would strip back all the nasty ugly IVA bits and bobs and make the car look pretty in time for the shoot.

When I walked in to the factory and saw my car gleaming I couldn't hold back the smile - it looked every bit as good as I hoped it would when I first set about my build - better in fact because it has been built to my exact specification, by me and my good mate Ali and there isn't another car anywhere in the world that is the same as this. It truly is unique and I love it.

Sadly, when I arrived at the factory, the rain was pouring and the sky was black and the chance of a photoshoot seemed impossible but after a cup of coffee and a good old natter with Andy and Steve about the build the rain stopped and we were able to get a few photos taken. To add to my pleasure, Steve was really complimentary about the car and said if the images come out ok he wants it to feature on the front cover of the Stoneleigh issue of the magazine and he also asked if I would object to having the car on the stand for the weekend. Andy also told Steve that he would gladly have my car as his factory demo car - high praise indeed from the main man himself.

Steve has promised to send me copies of his professional images, but for now heres a few I took myself.

Mean and Menacing

Reflections

Cute Ass?

6.3ltr V8 455bhp EDA Blueprinted Engine

Ready to Rumble...

Rear Number Plate Lamp

Having sorted the wiring inside the boot for the rear number plate lamp, I wanted to fit the rear number plate to the car.

I had seen a great little bracket on Ryan's car when I was at Blyton and I decided to copy his idea.

Basically, the bracket mounts behind the number plate lamp and then the number plate is bonded to the bracket. This way the number plate sits square to the car and doesn't have to be bent to the shape of the boot and the boot doesn't need drilling.

To make the bracket, I had a small piece of aluminium lying around and I started by drawing around the number plate lamp as a template. I then cut this section before making the two 90deg bends that are required to suit the shape of the boot.

The bracket has to be folded twice at 90 degrees to fit the shape of the boot

Fitted behind number plate lamp using same fixings

Fitted

And with the number plate mounted

Number Plate Bar

Having fitted the front number plate bar, I got a piece of MDF and cut this to the size of a standard UK number plate.

I then stuck the number plate on to the MDF and on the reverse side I marked a centreline and then used P Clips to secure the assembly to the bar.

Originally I had planned to use a stick on number plate on the nose cone.

The advantage of this is that it would allow more air flow to the rad and I thought it would look cool but when i positioned the stick on plate I thought it looked better this way - still can always change my mind later.

Number Plate Bar

The front number plate fits to a stainless steel bar which runs across the nose cone.

This is mounted to the inner wings by a couple of bolts either side. With hindsight this is something else I should have at least trial fitted with the body off which would have made access and marking much easier.

In order to get the horizontal centre line, I measured from the floor to the bottom of the nose and from the floor to the top of the nose. I then halved the distance between the two and added that to the dimension from the floor to the bottom of the nose to give the centreline.

This was then marked onto the inner wing and drilled through slightly oversize to allow for any misalignment.

With the car sitting on a level surface, I used a spirit level to get the bar lined up then tightened everything up. Just need a piece of MDF now to mount the plate on :)

Bonnet Strut

 The worst thing about this build as it nears completion, is that I am faced with all the jobs that I have been putting off because I didn't fancy doing them any earlier for one reason or another.

The next item on this list is the boot and bonnet struts. Having had a good look at a factory car that was on the GD stand at Silverstone Classic, I felt somewhat more confident and decided to take on the bonnet strut first. Andy said he could supply a bracket for the boot strut, so I will leave that again for now.

So on to the bonnet strut. I had originally planned to fit gas struts but because I have fitted a stainless header tank for my washer bottle, I don't have the room to do this now.

The standard strut has a bracket at both ends. One of these needs removing as it bolts straight through to the inner wing.

Note bracket removed from one end of top strut

The bracket is removed as the lower mounting is simply bolted onto the inner wing

Positioning of the strut is critical as you need to ensure that you get the maximum amount of opening but without the strut actually fouling. The lower mounting position is fixed first. This is broadly in line with the chassis cross member that supports the header tanks. I drilled a hole and then fitted a Rivnut and bolted the lower mounting loosely in place.

A bolt runs through the strut as is locked in place against the rivnut using a plain nut. A washer is then fitted between the locknut and the strut and a further washer sits between the bolt head and the strut

I put the strut in its closed position and then opened it back up about 10mm to allow some free play. I then put some masking tape on the bonnet and wing and marked the centreline of the upper mounting bracket onto the tape.

Centre line of upper mounting bracket

Centre line transferred to bonnet

Before doing any drilling, and remembering that mantra about "Measure twice, drill once", I used some duct tape to test fit the bracket in place and check the operation. Once satisified this was all ok I drilled the holes to take the rivnuts.

Centre line transferred to underside of bonnet and hole drilled for Rivnut

Rivnuts fitted - they don't sit flat as the bonnet reinforcement is curved

Dome heads finish the job nicely

Voila!!

Roll Hoops

Wanting to get the car finished by the end of May, I'm throwing some extra hours into the project at the moment and I took the day off with the plan being to fit the roll hoops.

I wanted ot do this when I was feeling fresh and not after a long day in the office and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time in case things didn't go according to plan.

Opinions and techniques for fitting the roll hoops vary form the plumb line method as used by the factory to a steel rod and template set up as I believe created by Steve R. Time taken by other builders to fit them also seems to vary greatly and I  must admit to being somewhat nervous about starting this task.

Before starting, I had a good chat with Alan GD who explained how to set the car up level and then how to use the plumb line method. I had already sourced some 12mm threaded bar and some plywood to make template but after listening to his advice and discussing/arguing with my co-builder Ali I decided to go with the factory method.

With a method agreed, I started to look at how to physically implement the plan and it became clear I was going to need a new drill or at least a 90 deg angle chuck for my existing drill as its too big to get in the confined spaces inside the boot. I managed to find a suitable attachment in stock locally at Screw Fix but this wasted a whole lot of time and it was nearly lunchtime by the time I actually got started.

However, after a full afternoon I had got both roll bars trail fitted. Admittedly, they still need to be filled with expanding foam (apparently this helps reduce road noise from being transmitted up from the chassis), bolted up in place and then the holes in the scuttle tidying up and rubber gaiters fitting but the bulk of this daunting task is behind me.

The following summarises the method I used.

1. The car was jacked up until it was level both front to back and left to right.

2. The rear wheels were removed for access

3. The rear coil spring retaining bolt was removed so that I could get access to mark the position of the outer leg mounting hole

4. Having marked through the holes in the mounting brakets for the front two legs small pilot holes were drilled through from under the boot. The same was then done for the rear leg (although this position is flexible to a degree as the bracket can swivel left or right a little.

5. I then used a hole saw of similar diameter to the legs to open up the lower pilot holes. This gives a clear view of the mounting holes.

6. A plumb line was then taken from the centre of the mounting hole and the position marked on the underside of the rear scuttle. This is a little tricky but lying in the boot helps!!

7. Pilot holes were then drilled into the top scuttle from the underside. These holes were then checked for accuracy by running the plumb line all the way through the hole. A couple were a little bit out so were re-drilled. Then the holes were opened up with a hole saw and dremel.

8. The roll hoops were then passed through and positions checked by running the fixing bolts into place. 

After all that it was time for a cold beer...

Next time I will tidy up the holes, fill with foam and fit the rubber gaiters. Need to read up on what people do for sealing the lower holes and then look at getting the carpet in as the roll hoops pass through the carpet in the boot and they cant be bolted in place until this is done.

Boot Lid

One thing I haven't got  around to sorting out yet is the boot lid. I had test fitted it some time ago and it looks ok but I thought it was about time to get it finished.

I have read several other blogs and the common practice for fitting the number plate lamp is to thread the wire through the nearside hinge and then drill a hole in the boot lid behind where the hinge attaches and feed the wire through the strengthening rib of the boot lid. Some seem to have more luck with this than others - with some people able to thread form the hinge right the way though to the number plate lamp and others needing an extra hole or two at each corner. My plan was to feed it through as far as the the hole for the boot latch and then feed back up to the number plate lamp mounting position from there.

The boot was marked up and the position for the latch established and a hole was drilled.

This is where the square bar passes through from the handle on the outside to the latch on the inside

So far so good... but it wasn't to last :(

To make matters easier, I followed Ryan's idea and cut the loom close to where the wire passes through the hinge. This would allow me to feed the main wire through with the boot lid off the car and I could later join the two sections using bullet connectors which will be handy if the boot is to be removed again at a later date.

My first attempt was to use a length of wire (an old coat hanger straightened out) but this was too rigid and I had no joy.

I then borrowed a proper fish wire kit of a friend of mine and thought it would be plain sailing now I had the right equipment - how wrong could I have been.

I managed to get the fish wire all the way through but at the last minute (and I still dont really know how it happened) the wire fell backwards between the two skins of the boot lid and got stuck.

No matter how hard I tried I could not free it. I left it for a few days and a couple of colleague had a go at freeing it but still no joy so the only thing left was to drill into the strengthening rib and poke something else back in to free it.

The photo below shows just how many times I tried without success. Now I have to say this is really embarrassing and I had vowed not to list this on my blog but if the blog is to be a true record of my build progress then it needs to be recorded here!!!

Boot lid looking more like a Dalmatian than a Cobra

Even after all this the offending wire remained well and truly stuck (couldn't even see it) but I managed to get a new fish wire in and pulled the number plate wires through.

Screen 4

Stuart from Carsmetic has been in and polished the scuttle for me and it looks amazing. There is certainly an argument for getting a professional to do the final polish - he said his job would have been a lot easier if I hadn't caused so many scratches trying to do it myself.

Now this has been sorted I fixed the screen in place for what will hopefully be the last time. Started off by bolting everything back up and checking the rake angle of the screen etc. Then, when everything was tight I removed the screen from the support legs so that I could fill around the gaps where they pass through the body with silicone and then fit the escutcheons once the silicone has dried.

The gap needs filling with silicone to prevent leaks

Dash & Screen Support Bars

Now that I have test fitted my screen and got the holes in the legs in the right place, I could move on to fitting the screen and dash support bars.

This was a simple case of working out which way round they fit and then tightening up the bolts.

The screen support bar also needs fixing to the body. There are two brackets that have to be bolted to the transmission tunnel. The position of these holes were marked, the support bar removed and then rivnuts fitted. The dash support cant be bolted in place until the tunnel carpet is fitted.

With hindsight this is something else that I wished I had done before the body was on the car as I could thenhave got access under the transmission tunnel. I decided to fit the screen with the body on as I was worried it might break when wiggling the body on to the chassis.

Oil Cooler 3

With a hour left before needing to head home for the day, I decided to fit the oil cooler into the nose section of the car. I could then determine the best fixing position for the thermostat and, if necessary, cut the hoses to a more suitable length.

I had bought a mounting bracket and fixing kit off GD rather than messing about trying to fabricate my own. As usual the holes in the bracket don't quite align with the holes in the cooler so these needed opening up.

To determine the position of the fixing holes which would be drilled in the undertray I marked a centreline on both the undertray and the oil cooler and lined the two up. I fitted the bracket to the top of the oil cooler and put this in place in the lip of the nose cone. I then marked the hole positions and drilled them in place.

NOw the GD fixing kit comes wiht spacers which are designed to be fitted between the undertray and the GRP below. With this in mind, I drilled right the way through the GRP but when I went to put the spacers in place this seemed pointless. The gap between the tray and the GRP was a lot bigger than the spacer and there were only spacers for two of the four fixing bolts.

I bolted everything up in place and to be fair it fits really firm and I cant quite see why I need to fix through to the GRP so I will probably leave this as it is now.

The only thing that needs sorting now is to get a couple more button heads as there were only 6 in the fixing kit and with my method of fixing I need 8. For the time being I have used a couple of socket cap heads to get the job done. No one will ever notice but I will know they don't match so I will have to change at some point - I've noted it on my snagging list.

Screen 3

Had a bit of trouble previously getting the batons to adhere to the car. Reading the instructions on the 'No More Nails' tube I noticed that the ideal temperature should be +10° C. As my workshop has thin aluminium walls and roof and it isn't heated, at this time of year it barely reaches that let alone stay above that.

Eventually, I managed to get them to stick on using a combination of adhesive and silicone. They doesn't need to be to firm as they have to be removed once the holes are marked on the screen legs.

With the batons fixed in place the screen mounting bolts are removed and the screen legs are lowered through the slots in the top of the wings/scuttle. They then pass between the baton and the mounting panel. I decided at this point to get the alignment as correct as I could and then just drill one hole which could be made oversize later if adjustment becomes necessary.

Again, another point to note here is the dimension required to get the screen rake at the correct angle. The build CD says 860mm but most of the build blogs say 930mm. Having spoken to GD, I think the 860 is for a Mark III not a Mark IV.

To get the 930mm right, I trimmed a piece of timber to length and wedged it between the roll of the rear scuttle and the top of the screen. This gives a nice solid point to ensure the other holes are all marked in the right positions.

Timber prop ensures 930mm distance from scuttle to screen top is maintained.

The other thing to get right is the gap between the bottom of the screen frame and the top of the scuttle. I've read about people making up all sorts of spacers to get this right but again with some advice form GD, they suggest that its more about getting the screen to fit with the rubber seal sitting properly on the scuttle. By default, this gives a gap of between 4mm and 6mm at each side once the escutcheons are fitted.

With this in mind I concentrated on getting the gap level each side.

Ensure gap both sides is the same

I also made sure that the screen was sitting 'square' to the car sides. This was checked by measuring from the edge of the screen (I used the outer fixing hole for the sun visor as a common reference point) to top of what is in essence the 'B' pillar.

Once I was happy with this the holes were marked and drilled and the screen was test fitted. The centre support bar mounting bracket was attached and the hole positions marked on the scuttle. With the screen removed these holes were drilled slightly oversize (5mm to accommodate 4mm button heads).

Im still not happy with the scuttle finish despite lots of rubbing down and polishing so I cant final fix the screen just yet but hope to get this done in the next few days as this will hamper progress otherwise. But all in all I'm pretty happy with how it looks :)

Seats

My interior arrived a few days ago and with a few hours spare to work on the car on my own I was looking for something new to do. Well, having a big box of new stuff and not getting to grips with it is like having new toys at Christmas and not playing with them so I decided I would have a look at how the seats and runners all go together.

As soon as I bought a seat into the garage I couldn't resist trying it in the car - just to see what it looked like - I didn't sit in it or anything like that... honest!!!

Just to see what it looks like

The runners are bolted to the underside of the seat using 4 button head screws that come with the runners. These bolt into captive nuts that are hidden under the leather of the seat. Once you know roughly where they are they are quite easy to locate.

I then used a bradawl to open up the leather and expose the captive nut and test fitted the button heads.

The first seat went according to plan but I ran into some trouble on the second seat as the one captive nut was defective. I was unable to repair this using a tap (my tap and die set seems to have a different pitch for M8 to the seat mounting bold) so i drilled a new hole and fitted a rivnut in line with the next position in the runner.

The runners were then fitted without further problem. It looks like the runners I have are of a newer design than on some of the other builds I have looked at as the adjuster bar is easily removable. This is a real a bonus for IVA as I understand the seat needs to be in a fixed position if the head restraints aren't seat mounted.

Couple of tips here...

1. Make sure you put the runners on the right way round, ie. check which end goes to the the front of the seat so that the adjuster bar isn't at the back of the seat.
2. The distance between centres on the seat mountings is 330mm - there is only one way up the runners go using this measurement. The distance between centres for the side of the runner that mounts to the car floor is 300mm - this is a pain as the car floor is predrilled at 330mm.
3. The spacers are used on the front mounting bolts only - no spacers are used at the rear which is contrary to the build CD