Been tinkering with the front bones during quiet moments over the last couple of days. As mine is not strictly a Haynes Roadster there is some room for "adjustment" in the design. Anyway I have the front top wishbones made and this afternoon I have started to set out the lower bones and plate. proving to be quite fun and its resurrecting some of the tech I learned in college 30 odd years ago. I still have all my old text books and "fundamentals of motor vehicle technology" is still a good read;) . Between that one and the Haynes manual I'm hoping it will all work out ok in the end:D

D.

Gas cut the lower front wishbone plates this afternoon then tidied them up with the 9" angry grinder. all marked out for drilling to take the ball joints. hopefully I will take them down to my mate tomorrow afternoon to get the 10 degree end put in (he has a 100 tonne press;) ) then I can get them welded up and once I've got the uprights reamed out I will be about two steps shy of a rolling chassis:D .

D.

Quick update: I've roughed out the lower front bones including fitting the Maxi ball joints, I need to cut the tubes to mate up with the bush tubes and then fully weld them. I seem to have a slight problem with the rear uprights, I think I've made them both the same hand so the drivers side is out of alignment bugger it! Still that can be fixed with a bit of gas axe and welder:D .

I'm now on an enforced "weekend off" because SWMBO says I've been doin' too much so tomorrow morning its a lie in, followed by breakfast while watching the GP qualifying then we're going to the garden centre for some seeds and stuff so I can spend the afternoon in the greenhouse starting my tomatoes and chitting my potatoes:eek: .

Sunday is going to be another slow start with brekkie provided followed by watching the GP, then a gentle walk to the local hostelry with No1 daughter for a couple of hours before coming back home to a proper sunday lunch, then an evening in front of the box with a bottle of wine at hand.

Its a tough life but someone's got to live it:p ;) .

Even better, there's a six nations match on telly tomorrow afternoon!

Doncha just love life? D.

Another brief update: over the last week or so I've been tinkering with the front suspension setup. Yesterday afternoon and this morning I've spent a few hours getting it all welded up and I'm close to a rolling chassis:D . Just need to hook up the steering and fit some dummy struts to the front then I can at least wheel the Dragon around. I had a trial fit of the Locust nosecone this afternoon and its about 2.5" too narrow at the front of the chassis so it shouldn't be too big a problem to stretch it a bit:rolleyes: .

Anyway here's a couple of pics to show the latest achievements with No1 daughter at the wheel:D .

well done Davey, looking good mate :cool:

That engine looks a beast :eek: bet you can,t wait to fire it up :cool:

be careful tho, looks like No 1 daughter has her eye on your car, she,ll be asking "Daaaaaaaad can i borrow the Dragon"? :eek:

cheers
andy

wow great work. Andy is right that engine is massive!

Ha Ha, well officially No1 daughter and No1 son are part of the build team, they did a good job of stripping the original heap of sh!t down to a bare chassis but have not featured much in the rebuild. Not entirely their fault as its all sort of happening out of the book via my head ( if that makes any sense) so there has been very little they could do.

As far as "Dad, can I borrow the Dragon?" goes its a definite "HELL NO!" They can come out and play with it when I'm there but that's it!;) No1 daughter is only just learning to drive anyway so I think it'll be a while before she gets behind the wheel of a running, living, breathing Dragon:) .

I am very pleased with progress so far but you're absolutely right, I just wanna hear that motor ROAR!!!!

D.

Cheers Dude, it is a tad on the large side, just like moi:D :D :D .

D.

Got two of them ;)

TT

Hi guys, I've been a bit tardy with updating my build site but the story to date is generally that I've got to rolling chassis stage and even have the steering connected (sort of). I bodged some temporary struts up so I can n ow roll it around the shop. I weighed the beast with flywheel, calipers and diff all sitting on top and it currently weighs a mahoosive 535KGs but the front rear split is about 60/40 at the moment, still got the rear end to frame up and mount the fuel tank, seats etc so I might just make it in under the 750KG mark. even though that is a bit heavy compared to a proper Haynes, or any other se7en type for that matter, it should still be pretty quick and fun.

Sadly now that our outdoor exhibition season is starting I've had to put the Dragon back into the corner as I have a trailer to build, and loads of work to do on our camper in time for our first show at Peterborough the week before stoneleigh. In total we have ten weekends out in the camper before September, six for motorhome shows and a few other events like stoneleigh and Goodwood FoS in July. I intend to try to get one day per month on the Dragon but finance is also an issue at the moment.

I must make time to update the build site.

D.

Wow, I've owned my second user, piece of crap, Locust (spit.....twice ) hoping to be a dragon/Haynes roadster(ish), kit(ish)car for a full year now! I know this is true 'cos DVLA (bless 'em) have written to me to say the SORN is due for renewal, gosh how time flies!

Having spent a thoroughly enjoyable weekend at Stoneleigh I've found some renewed enthusiasm for my Dragon:D . Got a bit of cash put by for some purchases (more news to follow soon hopefully) and I've got a rough plan for the next 8 days or so. Tomorrow AM is work, pm is trying to sort out the overheating fester, I suspect it has the wrong water pump causing a backflow:( !. Sunday AM is gardening followed by watching the GP with a beer or three:D in the pm. This is all followed by six full days of graft and then I plan to have the following Sunday working on the Dragon, watch this space folks:cool: .

D.

Missed this one Davey :o

Congratulations on the first anniversary of your build :)

Time does indeed fly .... It'll not be too long before I enter the 4th year of my build :o

If memory serves me right, I started about the beginnig of June 1997 .... Where the heck has that time gone :confused:

those bones look so much better than the originals in your early pics
looking good Ray:)

Cheers guys, ordered some ali tube, plate and flat bar yesterday to fabricate my inlet fanimold with, hopefully it will be here tomorrow. Got plenty of work on at the moment so I'm hoping to have Sunday morning working on it before getting back home by 12-1pm ish for the Monaco GP. If it all goes well I'll let you know and post some pictures (might even get round to updating my blogg-ish site) if it all turns out bad I'll just bury the evidence and save up for some more raw material:D .

D.

Inlet fanimold arrived today..................in kit form:D . Planning to start cutting bits up on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, nned to get some more oxy for the welding kit.

D.

Nice one Davey :)

You'll have to get some pictures up, once some progress has been made :cool:

Nice to know you are managing to find a few hours to work on the build :) :)

Soon as I have some progress to show I'll post a photo or two:D .

D.

Quick update:
I've been down the workshop for a few hours this AM and have now cut and machined the short pipes to take the itbs and I've made a mounting plate out of 6mm ali plate to carry them. I've also cut the six pipes to take the air flow from the bottom of this plate to the inlets on the head. I've yet to make the plates that will actually be mated to the head, they will be made from 50mmX19mm ali flat bar so that after all the welding is done they can be milled flat to mate with the heads. Here's a couple of phone pics, first one shows the itbs on the mounting plate and the second is the drivers view of the power unit. The itbs will stand about 7" above the bonnet line once they have 50mm trumpets attached:rolleyes: .

Now its time for the Monaco GP and a couple of tinnies!

Nice work there Davy, nice to see another one making some progress :cool:

Personaly I have not done a lot since my return from Stoneleigh :rolleyes:

You are going to need a nice power bulge for those & perhaps a booster cussion for your seat :D

Likewise, sitting here drinking a brew & waiting for the Monaco GP to start :)

Nice work Davey :cool:

"Booster cushion" :eek: i,d need a ladder :D

nice progress mate :cool:

cheers
andy

Ha ha booster cushion indeed, I'm 6'1" you know:D . It does feel good to be making some progress again. If I can get this fanimold done and then get an ECU (I want an Emerald unit but they are soooooo expensive) I can hear my baby roar! Don't worry, if it happens that way video will be shot! I've also had a look at mounting the fuel tank this morning.

Monaco looks like it should be a good race!

D.

Dave, I just got back in from hearing my baby roar for the first time, I gotta tell you - it's a grand feeling.

Coolio!:D S:D he sounds soooooo sweet:D .

D.

Finished cutting the tubes and plate for the inlet manifold this morning so I stacked them all up together to get a better idea of what it should look like.

Here's a pic.

D.

Davey,

They look tidy, I know where to come when I need mine doing for my bike carbs!

Cheers Ginge

I tried my hand at gas welding the ali this afternoon on a couple of offcuts.............what a bloody mess:( ! I'll give it another couple of goes and if I can't get it right its a visit to my mate with his professional TIG set to do the job properly, either that or buy a TIG set, Hmmm:p .

When you're ready I'll help you if I can Ginge ;-).

D.

is that for a BOA or the BOB engine. cuz if its BOA what throttle bodys you using and how much would you want for one of ur manifolds? because i will need to do it for my BOA

Hi Bobby its for a BOA, I'm using Honda CBR 600 throttle bodies. How much to do a fanimold for ya? Bloody good question, so far there's about £50 worth of ali involved and I dread to think how many hours it will take to complete but I've already spent about five hours on it. Perhaps better for me to ask how much would you be willing to spend and see if we can do anything around that. Trouble is its very labour intensive work and this one I'm presently making is very much a prototype. The other question is how soon would you need it?

D.

not too soon not got the chassis rolling yet. have you machine the adaptor plate from ovle to round? cuz if not i would be able to get that done for you would make flow better.

Hi Bobby, I assume you mean the base plates that mate directly to the heads. No I have bored them yet, I'm just in the process of aligning them and marking them up. Before I weld them all together I'll make some drawings of the various components so it can be repeated easier if it works out. I'm away from today till Monday so nothing is going to happen till next week now. I hopefully will be able to get occasional internet access so I'll check in here for updates.

D.

I've turned the Dragon round so I can get at the engine a bit easier, even just pushing it round felt good:D

Anyway, to the point of this posting! I've decided that the type 9 gearbox just isn't going to like Cosworth V6 grunt being forced up its layshaft so I'm switching to MT75 (if I can get the right one at the right price), besides which it has become apparent that I got the wrong type 9 anyway, mine is a four cylinder jobbie when I need a V6 type. So my type 9 is up for sale if anyone is interested, there is also a type 9 V6 bellhousing available separately. The box cost me £100 or thereabouts, its dry (minus oil) and as far as I know hasn't been overhauled. The bellhousing and clutch release fork cost £250, all I want is my money back to put into a stronger box. PM me if you're interested or you can phone me during normal working hours on 07891 441883.

Cheers, D.

Well over the weekend I had a bit of a windfall so I've just bought a pair of seats, the same ones Ginge got from Stoneleigh, for £138 off Ebay and tomorrow I intend to buy a V6 2WD MT75 gearbox! Its £450 inc delivery but bearing in mind I paid £250 for an ali bellhousing and clutch fork for the type 9 I think it is a fair price.

I'm getting desperate to do some real work on the Dragon now!

D.

Davey,

It must be great to be getting on with things, I can only imagine!:mad:

Those seats are great, they hold you really well. They might hold you a little more than they hold me though.:D

They are obviously a little higher than the fibre glass ones, which I like, being used to driving a Range Rover.

Must be time for a few pictures on here.:cool:

Happy building.

Cheers Ginge

We are just so busy at the moment that I'm not getting much time to play with my dragon, its intermittent fits and bursts of about ten minutes at a time just lately. I had hoped to have Saturday afternoon on it but I'm now sorting my brother's clutch out instead:mad: . Still sorting out my inlet fanimold at the moment.

D.

Just done the deal on the MT75 V6 gearbox, it is a 2WD unit too so no bodging about making a hybrid:D .

D.

Been out today to Malvern to collect my suspension units, they're Koni dampers although sadly non adjustable but for £74 with springs what can you expect;) . They'll do as an intermediate step to further the rolling chassis. I must have met every doddering, dribbly eyed, dickhead with a licence today. What annoys me most is not the fact that they only do 45 MPH in a 60MPH limit but that they still do 45MPH in 30MPH limits!:mad:

I spent a couple of hours at the workshop afterwards on the inlet fanimold, its coming on.........slowly, but its proving to be a tricky job as the tubes have to go from round (for the itbs) to oval where they meet the cylinder head flange and they need to be cut at compound angles...........oh what fun:D . I will post some photos once there's something to really show.

D.

Sound's like you have a had a good day out .... What are those Sunday drivers doing out on a Monday, no excuse, they could have collected thier pensions on Friday !! :D :D

Pitty really, Malvern is quite a nice place.

Glad to hear at least one of us has managed to get some time in the workshop :o
My annual garden clean up is taking a lot longer than expected :(

I look forward to seeing some pictures of your progress Davey.

:D its a Bank Holiday of course , they all come out of the woodwork on a bank Holiday :eek: :D

Davey, sounds like you,ve had fun, look forward to seeing the piccies :cool:

cheers
andy

Cheers guys, could be a week or two before any worthwhile pictures, All I've done so far on the fanimold is rough out the shape of and bore the ports through the mating flange plates and start to form the transfer tubes, got one somewhere near so far. Oh yes I've machined up the top tubes to take the itbs and the top mounting plate. It'll either be a work of art or a pile of scrap!

D.

Wahey, my seats arrived this morning and they fit into the chassis perfectly and they're really comfy too! Hopefully my new gearbox will arrive either tomorrow or Thursday but I'll have to leave it till Saturday afternoon/Sunday to fit it as we've got too much work on at the moment to do it during the week.

D.