Gear Shifter and Clutch Setup

Fitted the new M6 shifter cable to allow connection to the flat shifter which is mounted at the engine end of the cable. The flat shifter will allow clutch less up shifts by telling the ECU to cut the ignition at the time of change.

Fitted the new bracket from MNR to provide better alignment to the engine gear shift. Tested movement and adjusted the cable ends to the mid point.

Filled the clutch reservoir and bled the SBD slave cylinder. Removed the clutch engine casing to see the movement of the plates to make sure that the clutch was set correctly. Observed the clutch operating correctly with approx 5mm of movement in the plates. Adjusted the end stop on the clutch pedal.

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Fuel Swirl Pot

Had a Fuel Swirl Pot made up by Alloy Fabrications, really impressed with the service, I drew up a basic design and sent it over and they made the pot to my spec. 

Bonded the swirl pot to the top of the tank. The pot has AN6 connections for the bottom outlet to the high pressure pump, side input from the lifter pump and the fuel rail return and finally a top vent back to the tank.

This will ensure that there is always fuel available even under heavy cornering. Set fuel pressure to 3 Bar on regulator.

Replacement Tub Fitted

Managed to find some time over the weekend to get the new tub fitted. Used the templates to mark hole positions and then cut with various sized hole cutters.

Fitted the gold heat shield to the inside if the tub in the exhaust area. Once the exhaust hole was shaped I cut back the heat shield with a scalpel. This area now also has a double thickness fibreglass panel with a high temperature resistant layer of fibreglass and resin. Should now cope well with exhaust temperatures.

Pleased with the result, nearly back to where I was a month ago! Need to get cracking to get the car finished.

Templates

Started stripping down the suspension to allow fitting of the new tub, I have made some templates from my old tub to speed things up. Tried to make the holes tighter than previously.

Replacement Tub

Collected the replacement tub today from Rotherham. 

I'm happy with the new tub and this time it has been made double thickness all the way around. It's also fitted with heat resistant fibreglass and resin down the side where the exhaust will pass through the body. He whole tub is far more sturdy and maybe a little heavier, but a sacrifice that I am more than willing to make for a better quality build.

To help make sure that I don't get any more problems with heat, I have also bought a sheet of DEI gold heat protection to fit to the tub behind the exhaust area.

Slight Setback - Melted Body Tub

Not posted for a while due to a hold up in the build.

Had the engine running and noticed that the body tub around the exhaust area had cracked with the heat. Obviously quite disappointed with this set back, was getting close to getting the car on the road.

Looked closer and found that the tub gel coat was only 1mm thick at the top and 3mm+ thick with heat resistant fibreglass for the bottom 6 inches, would have been logical to have the same thickness from bottom to top. May have been a manufacturing fault but will need to send the tub to he manufacturers for checking. In the meantime I have spoken to MNR to get a replacement made.

Engine Running

Fired the engine and all seems good apart from a slight blow on the exhaust manifold  Attached a video with a walk around of the build so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9HDJ7x_V8w