Mikeb's Builds Thread

[MarkB]

Wood blades in a jig saw work well on ali, fine blades just clog up that's why angle grinders and cuttings discs are no good. Pendennis use what look like small woodsaw blades in 4" angle grinders, now they are scary things to use

[ozzy1]

I'm sure there is a dimension wrong in the book for the steering rack mount spacing

I think there is an amendment from the book angle to 108' i recall.

[MikeB]

its not the angle, your right there is a mod for that, its the spacing between holes, .

[MikeB]

Chassis chassis, oh chassis, hope your happy now that you nearlly b*****y finished.
Well there we have it, chassis number 2 finished. A massive milestone. Really looking forward to the next phase of the build, a lot less angle grinding and welding. I'm proud having done the chassis but its a long slog!

Painted it with epoxy mastic from rustbuster, just used the cheapy spray gun that came with my compressor, it looks good. The standard finish is a gloss black, I bought the starter pack but will need another to do underneath and a second coat. I used some wet and dry/wire wool to rub down the chassis finished with a wiper over of thinners, note to self don't leave a big roll of wire wool around when grinding, well that is if you value your garage!!!!


IMAG0224 by mjb22001, on Flickr

IMAG0218 by mjb22001, on Flickr

IMAG0219 by mjb22001, on Flickr
I've also added a second plate for the zetec engine install after IVA from recollection its in the right place so should save me welding come upgrade.
I notched the top rail to clear the cvh thermo housing and added a 25mm rail behind the notched one to add the strength back into the chassis.
I've also left off two of the diaganols at the rear to fit a bigger fuel tank, the roll bar rails will add the necessary support in this area, its pretty tough as is!

[MikeB]

Talking about carbon wings, forgot to say I have got these beauties.


IMAG0225.jpg by mjb22001, on Flickr

They are very very light (not that FG weighs much) and they look niceeeeeeee.
There's a guy on locostbuilders that makes them.
I believe they retail around £170- £200 for fronts.

[MarkB]

OOO pervy wings aye

[baz-r]

Originally Posted by MarkB

Wood blades in a jig saw work well on ali

i use cutting fluid for drilling and jigsawing ali works wounders and cuts like lighting

cooling with duck oil/wd40 also works as when the blade gets hot the alli welds its self to the blade keep the blade cool and the sh1t dont stick simples

i got air shears tho

[MarkB]

Another neat trick is a dry bar of soap rubbed on the blade... works on grinding discs too so ali doesn't clog the disc..

[John.W]

Another neat trick is to buy a cutting disc for aluminium.

[MikeB]

A bit of an update for you.

Finally started to attach something to the chassis, this time brake lines.
I've ran the the front to rear brake line in the chassis, its looking really good
I also got hold of a ebay manifold from a westfield, its a well made stainless number for a 1.8 cvh so it will suit my zetec upgrade later.


IMAG0233 by mjb22001, on Flickr

It will foul against the diaganol though, where it exits the side of the car,
The picture shows the manifold but it needs to move to teh right inline with the current central engine mount.
Raising the angle of the diaganol should give it the clearance and not affect the chassis stiffness much. I also need to mod the engine mount, on the exhaust side of the cvh there are two possible positions for the engine mount, a central one (fouls this exhaust manifold) and a forward one off the old alternator bracket. If I use the alternator bracket this will be identifical to what is needed for the zetec to so may as well do the mod now. I 'd already put the plates on the chassis so not a big job.