Road legal and dissapointed

[carlknight1982]

I knew there would be some teething troubles but i have to admit im devestated. first road legal run in the car, got her upto 55mph and watched the temp gauge hit 105 degrees, WITH the rad fan running! that wasnt the worst tho, I just couldnt get my knees into a position where they were comfortable under the dash, how taller builders fare i dont know! specially spud at over 6ft!

Im going to try to move the seat back a little, but again this isnt the worst issue, the worst issue is the clutch is slipping like a bastard at anything over half throttle above 40mph and forget 5th gear completely.

Plans for the weekend are to fit a new thermostat to help with air locking problems and hopefully cure the overheating, move the seat back if possible to give me a little more clearance around my knees, if not i may have to trim the bottom edge off the dash, and try to adjust the slip out of the clutch but maintain a decent pedal.

all in all not as bad as it could be just a kick in the nuts

Carl

[adrianreeve]

All fairly easy to sort Carl, get them sorted, go for a long blat, and you'll remember why you built it in the first place! Good luck!

Cheers

Adrian

[robo]

Its called a shake down, and its all normal stuff. You just need to work your way through. The seating thing is probably the worst as the rest of the problems only need the spanners. I built a cobra about twenty years ago and all was well mechanically but i could not place my left foot anywhere after changing gear and had to hold my foot away from the clutch pedal. I ended up with no seat runners and bolting it to the floor direct with spacers at the front to raise the squab to support the back of my leg.

Bob

[Bonzo]

Hi Carl

A real shame to read about your teething troubles.

Definately worth changing the thermostat & double checking that there are no air locks lurking about in the cooling system.
Air locks can be a bit of a devil to shift at times.

Check you have a little free play on you clutch arm, may simply be slightly over adjusted.
You should be able to reach the clutch arm on the geabox from the engine bay.
Grab hold & give it a wee rattle back n forth, if it is seeming a little tight, perhaps it would be worth trying to slacken the cable a little if adjustable.

I guess with this kind of car it is just a matter of adopting a different driving position.
Quite short me & after sitting in mine, I know that I would never be able to sit as I normaly would in my regular car.
With my wonky bones, that's going to be real fun

Hope you get it all sorted soon

[twinturbo]

Air Locks:

If your using the sierra headder tank, place your finger inside the opening for the cap and over the expansion return hose, pump the radiator hoses. This often dislodges air bubbles, you can also remove the highest hose in the system and extend it upwards a few and then fill from there.

It may also be a water pump issue.

TT

[spud69]

Hi Carl,

We probably did over-tighten the clutch and can be got at easily. Once you swap for the smaller wheel it should make the driving position better, that was the main problem for me was my knees hitting the wheel. The radiator is also ample to cool the engine, we did have an issue with the thermostat sticking slightly but removed it and freed it up so that should be fine, air was awkward to remove from the system though.

Teething that you only comes to light after a good shakedown. Did you get the car on the rolling road, should be going well now. Good to see you got it through the DVLA though.

All the Best.....AndyH

[carlknight1982]

havent hit the rolling road yet due to funds, ive replaced the stat and shes still gettin too hot, im going to let her cool before trying agian.

i replaced the stat with an 88 degree stat so it opens earlier too as the one fitted was 92 degree.


TT - im not using the sierra header tank but thanks for the advice there

it'll get there lads i only mfelt like that cause she drove so well at IVA

[Bonzo]

Hi Carl

Giving it a little more thought, did your fuel mixture need to be leaned off a little in order to pass the IVA emissions test ?

Weak fuel mixture would certainly make the engine run hot.

A rolling road session would be the way to go, performance wise, you'll be glad you did