Coolant System #2

Finished off the coolant system, fitted the breather hoses from the header tank. Installed the 25mm aluminium pipe section where the return from the radiator passes the exhaust manifold.

Fuel Filler

Measured and cut the rear panel to accommodate the fuel filler. Found that the panel was quite thin so added a piece spare panel that I had cut from the bonnet to brace the fuel filler.

Fitted the fuel hose between the tank and the filler, secured with jubilee clips. Fitted a fuel breather valve to the tank.

Exhaust Fitting #2

With the rear arches in place it became apparent that the exhaust was about 5 inches too long. The problem is due to the positioning of my engine, my chassis is non standard to accommodate a larger pedal box which gives more space. The engine is further back than other MNR's.

To make it fit I had to shorten a number of sections and re assemble. Just need to fit the exhaust bracket to finish off.

Rear Arches

In order for me to fit the exhaust I needed to fit the rear arches first to establish where to fit the silencer and ensure the correct gap. I drilled two M6 holes in the rear of the arch and held in position and marked then drilled. Fixed in place with nylon M6 bolts, washers and nuts. These are quite strong and will snap if I knock the rear arch on track which will protect the body tub.

The arches fit with the flatter end to the rear and the angled end to the front.

To get the correct gap I measured the area around the tyre to be even, then I noticed that the ride height was with the suspension in the unsprung state and that it may be different under load. I then adjusted the ride height on the rear shockers to lower the car and then jacked up the rear wheel until the shockers were loaded. With this I positioned the arch and fixed in to place.

Exhaust Fitting #1

Bolted the exhaust manifold in to place using hex bolts on the top side where I could gain access and for below used high tensile hex bolts. Fitted new Suzuki exhaust gaskets and bolted in to position. Aligned the joining pipe and the silencer and found that it would not fit.

After a little head scratching, I loosened the manifold bolts and adjusted the positioning to be further away from the body and then created more space for the silencer. Will fit bracket to support after I have fitted the rear arches.

Seat Fitting

Set out to fit the seats, decided to mount them in a fixed position and not to use the runners provided, the main reason was that I wanted to have the seats as low as possible and also the to have the same height for both.

For fixings, I bought some rubber anti vibration mounts from eBay which seem to be ideal. I made a template from the underside of the seat to provide accurate hole spacing. In positioning the seat, what became apparent was that there is a chassis rail that fouls where I planned to mount the seat. I drilled a hole alongside and then modified one of the mounts to fit. Drilled a full set of holes at 12mm and then bolted the seat in place.

Wheels On

As the hubs have now been fitted, decided to trial fit the wheels. Pleased with the anthracite look and how they go with the orange bodywork. Just need to get the arches fitted.

Prop Shaft

Decided to finally bolt the prop shaft in to place and to mount the centre bearing, this is a job I kept putting off. As the prop shaft is already in place and there is not much room for movement, this proved to be a difficult task.

Marked around the base of the centre bearing and then marked hole centres. Had a great deal of difficultly in drilling the holes and moving the bearing forward enough to get the drill in place. Finally decided to split the prop shaft at the rear and then to remove the front half. With this removed it made drilling possible. Initially drilled the holes 8mm for the M8 bolts but eventually came to the conclusion that this was too tight when trying to tighten the bolts by fingertip andb feel only. Re drilled the holes to 9mm to give a little more movement, eventually got the threads started and applied loctite for a secure fit. Tightened with a spanner and slowly tightened.

Fitted and bolted in place the drive cog for the electric reverse.

Dash 2 and Push Buttons

Fitted the centre panel and scuttle in to place. Fixed the Dash 2 to the scuttle and connected it up to he loom. Powered up and tested, all works fine except the indicators and hazards don't flash, maybe a wiring fault and one of the indicator switches has a yellow light instead of green.

Fitted buttons to the steering wheel to control the up, down, select and menu on the Dash 2. As the carbon mount has 6 holes, I have fitted two spare and may use them for lunch control in the future. Connected the buttons to the loom via a coiled cable, will fit a plug to the scuttle area to allow easy removal. Did try the Works Bell electrical connection kit but it fouled on the paddle gear shift and the paddle shift would need a full re design to fit properly, also the solder connections were also quite flimsy and kept breaking and shorting out. This didn't seem like a workable, reliable solution in a kit car environment so have gone back to a more basic method.

Really pleased with the Dash 2, the CAN bus works perfectly with the MBE. Will display and alarm on many parameters from the MBE including RPM, vehicle speed, oil pressure, water temp, battery voltage, injector duty, throttle angle and the facility for boost pressure / MAP in the future. Have also wired directly in to the Dash 2 fuel level, oil temp and fuel pressure. Connected the voltage return from the gear position sensor on the engine to he Dash 2 and shared the signal with the MBE which will provide the gear selected information to both devices.