April 7

- Panelling -

After a brief discussion on Cam7, I decided that rather than go for 16 gauge all round, I'd do the floor in 14 gauge, just for an extra bit of protection from rocks and other large immutable objects. Mackays delivered the sheets direct today. They are very big - I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fit them AND the chassis in at the same time...

April 9

- Garage -

Alex and Sumy (his Caterham 7) became in need of a new home a few days ago. Alex moved into my spare room, and the Zoomzoomsoomster moved into the garage.

Where it promptly bled brake fluid and oil over my nice new floor.

So, when Alex was away for the Easter weekend, I crawled around on my hands and knees, wire-brushing the floor, painstakingly removed Sumy's emanations; I sealed the floor; and painted it a smashing green colour - which is the nearest I could get to cucumber...

April 22

- CTG -

Earlier in the month I had emailed CTG a company that make bespoke CFRP propshafts, begging them to make a prop for me, citing the racing success of the Phoenix, the glory, the huge potential market...

They declined, apparantly because they don't yet have the capability to produce the slider part of the prop, needed to allow relative motion of the engine to the diff.

"It is anticipated that this will be a bespoke (with associated cost) part in 6-8 months and a production-type component in 12-18months."

I'm pretty sure I'll be suffering from a severe bout of upgradeitis by then, so we'll see...

In the meantime, if I want a CFRP prop, I'm on my own...

Apr 27

IanG rang to say that the chassis and bits are ready for collection . A small flurry of phonecalls and emails later and I've booked a van,for Friday, and DH2 has said he'd like to come along as well to help out - and no doubt poke his nose about at the STM workshop as well.

April 30

- Collection time -

Today is chassis collection day - DH2 and I barrel up the M1 and arrive at STM just before lunch time.

IanG has done a trial fit of most of the easily attachable bits to check that it fits, so when we first see the chassis it's already got quite a few bits on it:

The engine has been checked over, and his been given a clean bill of health. Dave pointed out that it was missing its throttle bodies, which was something I'd noticed before, but mentally filed away in a 'never to be thought of again' bin in my brain. Ian initially seemed sure that I had them, but then something sparked in his head and he remembered that he had a set with no engine, tucked away in a box. He also found the air box, in case I need to use it (I'm worried that noise will be too loud for SVA without it, but I'm also aware that it'll need a hole in the bonnet if I do use it

The reverse mechanism is nearly ready - Ian picked it up from his machinist whilst we were loading up the van, but when he inspected it, it was missing a little indent that allows it to fully retract into its bracket, so he kept it and will send it on later. He looked baffled when I started talking about ways to wire it up safely, so that it can't be engaged whilst the car is in any other state than idling in neutral. It turned out that my assumption from initial inspection that it was a Bendix type was wrong - it's pulled into place with a lever, and then activated. You'd have to be a muppet to do that accidentally!

The bodywork seems OK - it's got a few voids around the edges, but Ian had warned me that the moulds were a bit rubbish. The GFRP also seems a bit thin in places, but I can always reinforce it later on, if needed. It's certainly quite light - the rear tub weighs significantly less than the bonnet alone of the 21.

Sidepods		Bonnet and tub

No news on the rear calipers yet - Ian's not had a chance to play with them. I tried to take them away, and he wouldn't let me, so I guess he's still keen He's got some Compomotive CX-R wheels in at the moment, which are one of my current prefered choices, so he's going to test those for clearance over the calipers. He'd not got any front discs in either, so those will come later.

No cooler or pipes yet - they are still experimenting with the best layout, so they're going to wait until they're sure they've got a good arrangement before getting my pipes made up. Ian's car has got some ducting on the front now, to force air up through the cooler, and some shrouding to force air into the radiator as well.

The tank is in place in the car, but Ian has forgotten to make the modifications for the GSX-R1000 fuel pump. He's going to have to send the tank along later, along with the other bits that aren't quite right.

Then I make a nasty discovery - I thought I'd already paid for the pump, but in fact I haven't. I think Ian thought I was having him on, but I really did think I'd paid for it. Honest!

The chassis has been modified so that the oil filter doesn't need to be remotely mounted anymore - one of the chassis rails has been shunted over a bit. That saves £70 of piping - which I must remember to get a refund for!

Hmmm. Another little Craigy aberation - I thought that the steering column was included in the chassis pack price. It's not. I've ordered one now. At least I know that it'll have a quick release boss on it now.

IanG and team are experimenting with different damper lengths at the race next weekend at Brands Hatch - once they've figured out what's best, they'll send me on my front shocks. The rears are attached to the car already.

The front uprights have had their modifications, but I think I'm missing something, as there is no way to attach them to the upper swingarms. Also missing is one of the long bushes that run through the swingarms

This page last updated on: Thursday, Aug 24 2006