Differential Paranoia

The main cause of my paranoia at the moment is the thought that the differential may not be serviceable – I can wait no longer – out with the socket set and off with the diff back plate. Fortunately the diff is in good condition – full of oil, no wear or rust and apparently no excessive backlash between the crownwheel and pinions – I’ll have to find something else to worry about now!

Expensive Scrap Metal?

I spend some time looking at what I’ve got for 200 quid – it doesn’t seem like much!

I think we're gonna need a bigger garage!

Time to get the Donor Parts – only they are in the West Midlands and I’m in Newcastle upon Tyne – (Couldn’t find anywhere closer!). So more internet and phone calls secured a cheap hire for a transit pickup.

NOW FOLLOWS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT TLS VEHICLE RENTAL:

T for TOTAL
L for LOAD OF
S for S###E

“I’m sorry but we don’t appear to have your booking” I only made it yesterday and you confirmed it to me!!!

So I find myself armed with a 7.5 tonne shed on wheels – I’m sure Roy Shneider in Jaws said “I think we’re going to need a bigger garage!”

So following an uneventful (if somewhat lengthy and boring) journey at 60mph and what appeared to be 6mpg I find myself the proud owner of a heap of scrap metal and a V5 for a Daimler Double 6 – this is perhaps the most important thing as it will avoid ending up with a “Q” reg – I will be able to retain the donor’s registration.

In the Beginning - was there Light?

So where to start? – With an attempt at explaining why!

I am a Chartered Structural Engineer currently responsible for the Bridges and Structures stock at a Local Authority. It is unfortunate in my chosen profession that career progression entails increased “management” activities which increase to the detriment of hands on engineering. The hands on engineering bit was the challenging bit – that’s not to say my current position is not fulfilling – but I have had to accept that I can’t spend the rest of my life designing bridges – we all have to move on.

Therefore in a desperate attempt to avoid the onset of dementia I needed to find a project to keep the “engineering” parts of the old grey matter working.

I remember a few years ago looking at the possibilities of building a kit car but I think I managed to sidetrack myself by taking my bike test and then wasting all my money on motorbikes!

So kit cars were revisited and then I remembered about replica AC Cobra’s (try this wikipedia link)– and before a conscious thought could be formulated – a decision had been made! There then followed a period of research – browsing magazines and the internet. I didn’t need much more convincing, all I had to do was choose a manufacturer.

To me (and my engineering brain) there appeared to be only one option – a Gardner Douglas 427 – I’m not going to go into an in depth discussion of the pro’s and con’s of various manufacturers – there’s plenty of that to be had elsewhere on the net! – and in any case this is very much a personal thing, common sense does not necessarily apply!

STEP 1 – IGNORE LOTS OF OTHER STEPS (COST – BUILD PROGRAMME ETC)

STEP 2 – FIND THE DONOR COMPONENTS

THE PLAN? - Reconditioning the donor components (front and rear axles, suspension, differential and drive shafts) appeared to be the most b*ll aching task to me - so the plan was to get through this without totally pi##ing myself off - if tis was the case then I would go ahead with ordering the chassis and continue with the rest of the build.

First thing you need then is a donor car – I was planning to build the Jag based version of the GD 427 so I was gonna have to find a Series II or III XJ6. However on second thoughts I didn’t think the domestic authorities would be too taken with me dismantling an XJ6 on the drive (wouldn’t fit in the garage) – plus how do you get rid of it once you’ve taken all the running gear off?

Quick whiz on the net – followed by a phone call secured a front and rear end off a Series III together with a choice of V5! - all for 200 quid (guaranteed fit to be reconditioned) – too good to be true? Only time (or blog) will tell…….

The first posts up until the 10th December will be just be catching up with what has happened up until the 10th as that was the date I decided to write a blog – possibly to just record events for myself – although there may be someone out there that finds this interesting???

P.S. I think I may end up using my own blog as somewhere to organise all my info and on-line resources!