At the end of the day you get what you pay for,pay peanuts get shite.Personally have had no dealings with Saturn but Handy and Spud are on the forum a lot and would be easy to contact and always seem willing to offer advice and feedback on anything without pushing you to anything they sell.

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback its always nice to see.

The polybushes themselves are actually very cheap for what they are it is the stainless steel crush tubes that make up the majority of the cost, they are not standard steel tube and need to be made from stainless steel rod, drilling them and finishing off in the lathe. So for 22 of these they do put the price up a fair bit.

TBH mine are bought in and sold at more or less cost price just to make them available so i'm not sure how they, if like for like, can be offered so cheap.

Everybody has a choice......:)

All the Best...>Andrew

i have 3ge set and yes thoes little tubes are where all the money goes but now john has closed 3ge
if you dont want satern ones for any reason.
rally design do some (may need mod'ing slightly) and so do superflex but i think thay will be expensive

just one of thoes roadster non standerd parts i guss:o

Will go for saturn ones when i got the spare cash. Nice shiney red ones lol.

Good news is i ordered a 8x6 shed so can store all the extra garage stuff in the garden and have some work space at last!

Epoxy Mastic 121 arives monday so can start to paint stuff. This weekend i plan to mount the Diff. Clean up the diff any any other parts so i can crack on with the painting on monday. Also want to do part4 of my youtube vids as it been 6 months from my last one.

It feels so good to be back into the build again. :D
Also thanks for everyones replys!

Out of interest what size bolts do you guys use for the driff brackets to chassis? i was thinking m12 x 40 with thread lock nuts. Would that be too long?

Edit: went for 40mm as i can allways cut them down after.

I Have used some M12 X 40 set bolts for my diff mounting brackets ( All I could find in the workshop ) , to be honest, they look a little bit over the top for the job :o

I would imagine that M12 X 30's would be ideal :)

Noticed that you have gone for 40's, like you say, not a problem to trim them to the ideal length ;)

Thinking of using 2mm steel sheet for the floor of the chassis and to get it on sooner rather than later. Im just unsure about having rivited and bonded ally taking all the stress and train from the chassis twist and will feel alot safer with welded steel sheet.

Anyone have any tips on the weld order to stop the sheet from distorting and looking nasty?

plenty of tacks about every inch then weld short lengths leaving each to cool before doing one next to it
the more tacks you have the better and thay also help heat transfer to the tube so your sheet dont buckle as it expands when you weld
another tip is if you get some zinc weld trough spray and spray the bottom of the tube and top edges of the sheet it will help preventing rust in the bit your not going to get paint in on the overlap :)

Ahh sweet! also i presume thats welding on the outside of the chassis. i guess i should just do tacks on the inside or would that need seam welding as well?

Todays update Part 1
Had a massive garage sort out. Built a shed and moved all the mess into it. Still need to find a home for the Milling machine stand. Also built the table/workbench.


Engine/Welders in new home.


Chassis in new home. Not much space around the side but will do for the time being.



Ahhh the current problem. The holes in the chassis diff plates are 11mm wide >_< were bought from 3ge last year, they are ment to be 12.5 right?(dont have book to hand atm). I went to go bolt the diff up and found it wont fit. Then found the 12.5mm drill bits wont fit in my hand drill. Cock is all i can say! So anyhow i cant exactly remove them and dont want to use smaller bolts.

Today's update Part 2
Allmost finished the 7.5inch Granada Diff brackets. The 25x80mm ally round is going to be cut down and then drilled with a 12.5mm drill to make a nice spacer rather than using a load of washers.

First bit fitted to chassis! Feels great to bolt something on. The 7.5inch diff looks nice and chunky thats for sure.
Anyone know where i can get a new diff breather plug?

Had to do a bit of squashing modding and cutting but managed to fit the Sierra steering column bracket onto the granada shaft. Granted it sits below rather than ontop but the bolt holes are still in the same position so i think it should be ok. If anyone thinks it might be a problem let me know before i start welding stuff up!
Have to admit i do prefer the Granada stalks and cowel.

Oh also looking at the revision for the mt75 plans it highlights that one of the uprights from the tunnel needs to be changed to a new size but one is not listed. Dont suppose anyone knows what the tube size is along with the cut angles ect.

Excellent somebody using the exact same Granada gear as me ...looking forward to the wiring up bit ?

I cant wait........ I have a Auto RB25det skyline engine loom, Granada steering gear and nothing else so i can foresee alot of restless nights and hair pulling.

That steering wheel is hideous!!!!! :D

Even worse than a sierra one!

Good for iva though until it accidently falls off afterwards

Indeed! the main reason i need it is for age related plates. But i do prefer the stalks compared to the sierra. Indded at some point im sure the wheel will drop off somewhere to be replaced by a nice new one.... :D

Still need to mill down the 26 into a 25 on the pully cover.... Also need to install cross bars below the engine mount but will do that when i next remove the engine. Real glad i did the chassis stretch!
Monday it will have its wheels!

It's a shame I am going back to 4-pot for my build as my heart has always been with 6's

It's going to be fun by the looks of it, and the chasiss stretch may make it a better drive dynamicaly too.

TT

Yeah with any luck the stretch might do something good for a change! heh.
Still a real shame that you are not doing your v6 but i guess you can allways change back in the future after the IVA.

Pic update from other threads.

Been thinking about what to do next. So here is my battle plan.

1) Get wheels on to make sure it all fits ok.
2) Remove engine/diff/bits
3) Weld steel floor on (2mm maby 3 advice needed)
4) weld more braces in
5) turn back over and reinstall everything
6) buy triton seats and get them mounted as low as pos (metro runners?)
7) figure out steering column location install steering rack and start scuttle area.
8) Big problem with steering rack to column expected as alternator is in the way.

Thas my next month or so planned out. Dont suppose anyone can think of anything else i should do while doing that lot?

Looking great :cool:

May I ask.....the extra braces you have put in beside the engine bay, are they welded to D1 & D2 or do they just pass eachother? ( can,t quite see from the pics ) , it looks good :cool:

I,d suggest 2mm steel floor , or even 1.6 if you are mounting the seat runners on boxed tube welded into the chassis between the tranny tunnel & cockpit side rails.

Nice work :cool:

cheers
andy

The cross braces are welded to D1 and D2 as they butt up against them. Atm only tacked and i think i will make some guessets as well. Think that will be ok or should i just leave them unwelded.

If it was my build & the extra braces passed that close to D1 & D2 then i,d be inclined to weld them fully together, no real reason other than it would look neater/ possibly stop them vibrating against eachother & maybe even create stronger rigidity of the engine bay ( IMHO ) :)

Thought of something to consider for your next weeks work......the little brackets to hold the brake pipe unions where "hard pipe" meet "flexi pipe".

I,d like to say ....I enjoy reading about the updates of this build :cool:

cheers
andy

Was thinking that it would be a pain to paint between them so welding them together seemed like the right thing to do.

Ohhhh yes good idea! must not forget those. Will check my box of bits and see what else needs attatching.

Also the wheel arch bit that goes past the elbow of the driver will be made from bent tube rather than the book sheet bits. also the same with the top of the bit going from the arch to the scuttle. But that will all be done once i have started on the scuttle area.
I plan to build a full cage into the chassis amd mount the window onto it along with the scuttle. This will allow me to fix a removable hard top for the winter months)

:eek: :D you,ll be telling us you are putting a heater in too ? :p

would the window be PRE or Post IVA ? thinking demisters / wipers etc lots of work etc for the IVA regs ;)

cheers
andy

post iva stuff. Im planning on using a Smart Roadster windscreen/dash/wipers ect. Or maby a new (old) mini screen that has the right engravings. Indeed heaters and demisters will all be installed. Depends on what i can find but i really want a nice curved windscreen that seals properly.

But that is a little in the future :D first things first i have to just get the basics done. The scuttle/windscreen surround and cage will all be done on the 2nd phase heh. But saying that if any of you guys know of any cars that have the same windscreen width at the roadster and look nice please let me know.

me is thinking about this too.....will be watching closely :)

smart roadster windscreen is 1260mm wide my chassis will need a 1030mm wide screen. Bugger there goes that idea lol.

Just a quick update to the build thread with last weeks progress. Deff need to do something with the sump. Ride height im happy with even tho its a tad bit heigher than normal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta-Zeleug1A

Wow what a fantastic day! SO nice to be able to work in the sun.

Prop shaft is fabbed up and is ready to be sent to get made up by a prop shaft company. The slip yoke has 1/2 inch of movement so that should be ok. Or do you guys thing there should be more play?

Prop shaft gearbox yoke in its final location.


Prop yoke pushed in as far as it can go.

Quick rack installed. Think thats all installed ok. If anyone sees any problems let me know!




Sump height.


Pully cover now shows RB25 rather than RB26. So no more false advertising.

Ops double post.

very nice, quite like the meatyness of the engine!

that thing is going to be a monster and down right deadly on wet roads :eek:

Jake

Seats arived. Had to put them in and see how it looked. Also had to jump in..... feels great! Now i have to work out how to fit the rails and seats so they can be removed at a later date while using ally floor.

:cool: Looking great

As for seat runners.... do you really need them? I asked myself the same question :D in the end I didn,t fit any seat runners, I,ve placed the passenger seat as far back as possible & the drivers seat is positioned to suit my height/leg length....after all , my reasoning was I,ll be the one doing the driving, :)

makes fitting the seats alot easier too :o , I too have an ali floor .

cheers
andy

Humm I was under the impression that the drivers seat must have runners for the iva. If not then that's sweet news!

And we thought our MX5 engine was going over board, your car will be rather quick indeed.:)

This will be a monster, you sir, are a nutter!! :D



I'm quite jealous!