Cheers guys, "design" might be over stating the case a bit Ash, it suggests forward planning:D . Not so sure about firing the lump up Ronnie, I'm still saving for the ECU:( , it would be nice though;)

D.

No actual progress to report as we're in the middle of our "silly season" workwise but I have had an absolutely brilliant day today. Mrs booked and payed for our Goodwood FoS tickets this morning (£618 for a long weekend away in the camper van:eek: but what a weekend:D ). I also had a good and lucrative day's work which is always a pleasant experience:D . Then I managed to do a bit of a deal that will pay for the Dragon's ECU:D. I haven't touched the beast since before Christmas as I have to get the exhibition trailer sorted, only four and a half weeks to our first outdoor show and I reckon I've still got about a hundred hours worth of work to complete by then so the Dragon is buried in the corner again . anyway by this weekend I should have the wherewithall to buy the Emerald ECU so it might just be possible to fire ethe lump up in about two months I reckon.

Happy daze, D.

At last a bit of good news to report, I have just won an Emerald ECU on the bay for £510 plus P&P, well happy now:D :D ! Yes I know there are cheaper ECUs available so don't bother yourselves telling me I could have got this that or the other for £XXX cheaper, it was an Emerald I wanted and now I've got one!:D :D

D.

Blooming heck Davy

You could have got a XXX or a YYY & even a ZZZ for less than that :D :D

Great news mate, it feels great when you manage to get the very thing you wanted :cool:

Nice to hear that you are still plugging away on you build even though you don't have the time due to your heavy work schedule .... At least the parts will be all ready & waiting when you return to building :)

Cheers Ronnie, the exhibition trailer is nearly done now and just three weeks to go before the first show. Hopefully then I can dig the beast out of the corner and get back to doing bits on it. I rexkon a couple of months before I'm ready to fire the motor up............watch this space:D .

D.

The Emerald arrived today, very well packed and complete with a brand new manual, Coms lead, software CD, and unused 36 way plug and wiring pins. Been scanning the manual and this baby has some cool features, really looking forward to getting it all wired up and firing the motor up now but its going to be a month or two before I can find any time to play:( .

D.

Nice one
 

Great stuff Davy :)

That is going to seem like the longest couple of months ever :D :D

Bet you'll be playing given half a chance ;)

Nice one Davey ,

I,m sure it,ll be a great feeling hearing the beast start up for the first time in a long while, don,t forget the first start up video :cool:

all the best with the next couple of months build progress :)

cheers
andy

Cheers guys, no worries on the first startup vid, I've got the cameras and floodlights sorted and tripods at the ready:D . I'm not even sure I'll have much time to dream about firing it up for a couple of months. This Saturday we move our second daughter, the following weekend we move our eldest daughter, the weekend after that we are at our first exhibition of the season. Two weeks later we're in North Devon for a long weekend with the mag I scribble for then two weeks after that is our second exhibition. A month later is our third exhibition followed Two weeks later by Goodwood for the Festival of Speed then another two weeks to our fourth exhibition...................I think;) . Its certainly going to be a hectic summer but no roadster this year:mad:

D.

Well so much for "a couple of months" to first start up! I finally dug the Dragon out three weeks ago but have had little time to do anything to it. The manifold I made still fouled the fuel rail and so needed some spacer blocks making to lift it clear, I have now made these;) ;) Over the last two days I've done a bit of "feel good factor" work and painted the cam covers, I think they look the dog's danglies!:D

D.

Goddammed picture won't load, I'll try again soon.

Lets try again to post a picture:cool: .

Hi Davey,
Where did you get the Emerald ?

Regards,

Wim

Ebay, if you're patient they do come up from time to time.

D.

And did you get a good price ?

Looks good Davey.

The engine will probabbly tap like hell for a good few minuets after start up, mine does it every time it's left for a few months.

Have you checked the tensioner blade's condition?

TT

Wgroove, I paid what I consider to be a good price.

Rob, Cheers mate:-D yes I expect it will tap for a while, not checked tensioners yet but will do before it gets run for serious.

D.

Yeah if the tensioner blade is worn then a big failure my not be far away.

The hydraulic tappets take a bit of time to settle after a lay up, but if your hearing a rattle in the timing chest then the tensioner or a guide is probably goosed.

TT

Nice work Davey
 

Looking very smart indeed davey :) :cool:

At least one of us is making some progress :o :o

AND I'm back in the room! It has been way too long since I've had any playtime with the Dragon. The Emerald is still sat in its box and is likely to stay there for a few more months ( read as next year at least :-( ). The good news is that because I've been a good boy for the last few weeks and spent every spare moment on insulating and lining the camper van I nkw have 1.5 days free to play :-):-D . The Dragon is already sitting on my four post lift and first job tomorrow is to check the chassis and wheel alignment. After that I will tackle jobs as they pop up for this weekend, it just feels so good to be having a crack at the beast once more :-D .

Stand byfor updates LOL, :-D

D

Hopefully here is a piccie of the Dragon on the lift awaiting my tender ministrations :-D .

D.

It seems not to be! I am using my tablet at the moment and the photo editing software doesn't seem to have a resize function. Added to which the "select file" button doesn't seem to work with Android devices.

I'll post zome photos tomorrow evening hopefully.

Great news Davey
 

Hi Davey

Great to hear that you have managed to wangle some time for your build :cool: :)

Look forward to seeing some pictures of the Draggon, been a while mate.

I cuss those darn fangled Android gadgets, my pea brain cant cope with those :o :D

Hi Ronnie, both my phone and thd tab are android units and overall I love it. Just new versions of techy cak to learn :-D

D.

Must admit Davey

My Samsung Galaxy S is by far the easiest mobile phone I have ever had :)

I guess that it is easier for me to follow the pc'ish user interface

All I got to do now is find out how the heck I managed to screw up the MMS settings :o :D :D

Well I've had a good but slow day today. First up was to take some measurements to check everything was ok, I started with corner weights as my coilovers are not adjustable (this can be easily remedied later on). Thankfully they are exceptionally good coming in at 165 kg each front and 170 each on the rear with all tyres set to 20 psi. I have four individual wheel scales and I took four readings so that each wheel was weighed with each unit then took the average reading for each wheel. I also checked the rear wheel alignment which came in at 5 mins toe out and equal about the centre line of the car. The front end will be set up later. Overall I am a very happy chap with this :-D .

I have also now fully welded the front coilover mounting brackets, both on the chassis and the lower wishbones. I've added some gussets (you gotta love that word :-) ) to the lower wishbones as the coilover brackets are off centre on mine (see earlier postings).

I've also welded up the rear suspension top plates and the rollbar, back braces to be added later.

Stupidly I left the camera with the car in the workshop so I can't post any photos tonight, I'm going back for four hours at it on the morrow and will do my best to remember the camera :-):-D

D.

As its worked out we have very little work in this week, both a good and bad thing, good cos it meannss I get to play with the Dragon but bad cos it means little or no income this week:eek:

Anyway, I've been playing today and have managed to fit the heater (my feet cramp badly when they get cold and I really don't do pain), finish off the pedal box (top hung) and fit a working handbrake ;) . I do have photos but they're on my laptop which presently seems to think its a chopping board!

D.

How's it going with the Dragon Davey
 

How are things with your project mate :)

Hope you are managing to make some time for the Dragon :cool:

Hi Ronnie, not had chance to do anything for a few weeks as I've been concentratingg on getting the camper finished off then had to put a new rear arch on daughters festerin fiesta and work has picked up a bit recently. Next jobs on the list are to finish the chassis, couple of struts to add to the trans tunnel plus rad mountings then strip it all, flip it to complete welding underneath then its off to the powder coating shop. Would be nice to get it coated in January. I really must get a flickr or similar account sorted as wel las updating my webshite.

D.

Don't envy you that job Davey :eek:

Managed to get my eldest to scrap his crappy Escort van this year, good job too, that would have needed yet more mega welding to get that through one last test.

Look forward to seeing the Dragon chassis all powder coated :) :cool:

It wasn't too bad a job actually Ronnie and the new mig welder made light work of it. I chucked some 0.6mm wire on and on power setting no1 it just mullered it. Quick skim of filler then let daughter do the rubbing down, quick couple of coats of basecoat (Ford Performance blue metallic) then three coats of clearcoat and job done and all for £42.

D.

Sounds like you made light work of that job Davy :)

How Green with envy am I, having a daughter who isn't afraid to get stuck in & help out :cool:

All I get from my 2 is " Dad, broke & fix it " :rolleyes:

Perhaps I'll have better luck training my new Granddaughter up :D

Our eldest daughter Zoe is brilliant, she will have a go at anything and always succeeds. She did a HND in fashion design but worked her way through college with part time jobs. After college she has worked mainly in catering and is now catering manager in a garden centre restaurant and a bloody good cook. she comes down to the workshop whenever possible and loves to have a go at new skills, she's mastered MIG, TIG and gas welding so far and she put in plenty of hours stripping the donor Granada down with me.

D.

Oh me oh my, I haven't posted anything on here since December! Well I managed to grab a couple of hours this morning and got the old Locust nosecone cut in half ready to widen it. I've followed Eternal's lead and fastened the two bits together with thin plywood to fit it up. I've got the brackets welded onto the chassis to fit the nosecone now so just a few weeks work with GRP laminating and bucket loads of filler and lots of sanding before I give up, chuck it in the skip and commission someone to make me one properly:D . To be honest I'm tempted to speak to the local company who will shot blast and powder coat the chassis for me as they do GRP work. It could be worth a ton to get it done properly.

Anyway here's a link to my facebook photo:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

D.

Due to a no show customer today I managed to get another couple of hours in and I now have the radiator mounted and the cooling fan tacked in place. Rad is from a Citroen C5 HDI and so is the fan. The fan is a huge unit fed by 6mm sq cables and on full pelt it blows like a hurricane! Hopefully cooling won't be a major issue.

D.

H5 rad sounds like a large unit, is there much clearance when the nosecone is in place ?

Vertically the read just about fills the rear end of my nose one, horizontally there's about three inches at offside and two nearside. Its deliberately offset to clear the steering column.

D.

Just a brief update to let you all know I haven't given up, fell off the planet or anything. Being a double bank holiday weekend You might have thought we'd be away in the camper or perhaps I'd get a few days on the Dragon, not so. We had planeed to redecorate the spare room at home this weekend but I never quite found the time to aquire a double glazed window unit for it so we decided to remodel the office at work instead, extending it by 1.3 metres, doesn't sound too much does it! Bleeding knackered after three days of serious demolition and reconstruction but we're over the hump of it now.

So what's that got to do with roadsters I hear you shout. Well because we've been so busy for the last three months my bank balance has improved no end as I haven't had time to spend anything so the other day I went online and had a mooch for headlights, mirrors and instruments. Got me a pair of 5 in 1 headlights/sidelights/DRLs/indicator units (some people don't appear to like the looks but I do so there!), a pair of F1 mirrors with LED indicator repeater built in and a Vapor digital dash. £500 lighter in the ban kaccount but I can't take it with me when I shuffle off this mortal coil (no plans on leaving yet, way too much living to do still) and I only plan to leave debts when I do go.

D.

One day the dutton will live again, :)

TT

It was never a Dutton, its worsee than that, it was a Locust!

D.

I finally managed to get a few hours on the Dragon today before the British GP so I'm glassing in the centre of the nosecone where I've had to widen it. I followed the lead of another builder who had done similar and pop riveted aly sheet across the break then glassed over the inside face, I'm now filling in the top surface with glass and resin. It may be ok when its done or it might be a complete cock up and end up three inches thick with filler:D . Got
planet rock on the radio, loud and the estate is currently empty except for me;) .

D.

Hi Davey

Pleased to read that you are managing to find some time for the Draggon :)

I am sure the GRP work will come out just fine :cool:

Looking forward to some progress pictures when your ready.

Been avidly following your progress from the start mate & can't wait to see the full transformation. :) :)