Adjusting the Rev-Limiter

Following discussions with Jez my engine builder, he had informed me that it was OK to turn the Rev-Limiter up to 6000 rpm ( from the 5250 it is set at now). I was a bit worried that this would turn out to be a bit of a pain as I had hidden Mallory Hy-Fire unit away behind the dashboard - admittedly to put it out of the way of engine bay heat and water.

I needn't have worried - took out the three fixing bolts and it drops down as expected:

It was then a simple matter of unplugging the three harnesses and removing the heater vent pipe and Bob's your Uncle!Took the access panel off - twiddled the dial - and put it all back together - the under-dash panel went back as easily as it had come out.

Job Done.

Fog Lamp

Here's my nice fog lamp:

No good for SVA though - needs to be 'E' Marked and have a parabolic reflector. It also needs to be horizontal and parallel to the exis of the car. I cannot work this out without the wheels and suspension set correctly?

So here's a cheap adjustable 'E' marked parabolic reflector light mounted on a bracket which helps to cover the sharp edges on the light mount:

In position:

Nice?

Not!

Messing about in the Battery Compartment

Thought it was about time to fit the battery, but before that I decided to fit a drain to the compartment. Anecdotal evidence from numerous GD'ers reveals that despite their best efforts water can find its way into the compartment. I made up a drain from a 10mm microbore plumbing fitting with a flange on the back - pushed through from the inside and sealed in place with Sikaflex:

I forgot to take photo's of it being made so will correct that when I do the next one. It would appear to be easier to drill a hole straight down through the floor..... but the floor comprises marine ply sandwiched between fibreglass - marine ply is resistant to moisture but probably best not to eh?

Fitting the battery was pretty easy (2mm to spare on width) - connecting up the leads and "Battery Brain" gubbins was a bit of fiddle in the confined space but after a bit of effin' & jeffin' it was done:

A bit untidy perhaps but little scope to rationalise things - it will look loads better with the cover on! You can see one of the lengths of studding from my home made battery clamp - just painting the straps at the moment.

So what about the battery "brain"does it work?

Check this out:

If you remember I included a lead under the dash connected directly to the battery - bypassing the "Brain" - this allows me to charge / condition the battery without having to remove the wheel and access panel (even when the "Brain" has disconnected the battery) - just plug & play:

Time to re-group and consider the list of outstanding jobs.

Bits 'n Bobs and Power Self Sufficiency

Got some more of the little jobs done - Bonnet lock escutcheon plates fitted along with the SVA compliant washer jet. A bit of squirting water up the garage walls and it was adjusted:

And we also have a battery now!!! - got a good price on an Optima Red Top - 730 Cold Cranking Amps should be more than sufficient!:

The little fella on the top of the battery is a "Battery Brain". This clever little thing fits between the +ve post and +ve lead and will disconnect the battery if the battery voltage drops too low - this means that no-matter what you accidentally leave turned on - your battery will never go flat and you will always be able to start the car.

Now here's the best bit:

It comes with a remote control so you can remotely isolate the battery and remotely connect it again. Seeing as the battery is hidden way and you need to remove a wheel to get to it this will be a pretty efficient anti-theft device.

Cool

Electrical Test

Plugged the dash in - connected up the umbilical to the tin-top and ........

......... no electrical faults!

Looks like Andy wins a prize!!

I only found two unrelated faults: 1 - I had broken the O/S repeater bulb when fitting the lens. 2- Only one of the twin Air horns works? - air problem rather than electrical.

Here's the evidence:

So now I really should get a battery whilst I can still start the tin-top. Then, with no more need for the umbilical (and if I cobble up a gearstick and get my hands on a Vectra steering wheel) it should be able to move under it's own power for the first time.

Time for a garage tidy up now!

Gelcoat Repairs - 2

I had to admit defeat today.... with the current temperatures the gelcoat I mixed up was under-catalysed. So much in fact that most of the repairs just wiped out with acetone. So this time I mixed up another batch and added an extra drop of catalyst:

I also used a small halogen heater - moving it around between the various areas - to try and bring the temperature of the repairs up to around 20 degrees C.

After about an hour the left over gelcoat was beginning to harden and after 4 hours was getting pretty solid with only a slight tackiness due to the exposure to air. I'm pretty sure this time it will be OK.

Looking around for other jobs to do I fitted the battery leads in the battery compartment and added some additional power connections:

The smaller red and black wires coming from the studs are the direct supply to the Mallory 6AL Ignition Box.

The smaller red and black wires coming from the battery terminal clamps connect to a socket which will be place somewhere under the dash / passenger footwell and will allow a battery conditioner to be easily connected - as opposed to having to get into the battery compartment. The thick brown wire is the ignition feed and also fits to the battery terminal clamp.

We'll see how the gelcoat repairs turn out tomorrow.

It's cold up North...... Brrrrrr.

Well as luck would have it - temperatures plummeted last night - max / min thermometer in the garage showed a minimum of 5 degrees! and it was still cold this morning. As a consequence the gel has not fully gone off yet. So heater on and time to fine something else to do.

I got my hands on another intermittent wiper relay - this time off a Vauxhall for a bit of compatibility - and using the info supplied by Andy I revised the wiring diagram - this time to include a wipe feature after using the screen wash (fingers crossed that is):

And after a little bit of re-wiring the job was done:Just needs testing now.

More Electrics and Hydraulics

I have plugged all the bits of looms together and tested as much of the electrics as possible:

All seemed OK until I got to the intermittent wipe function - I had cobbled this together using a generic intermittent wipe relay and had greatly underestimated my knowledge of automotive electrics!

However, Andy has come to the rescue and pointed me in the right direction (shame I mullered the relay by trying to re-engineer the way it worked).

Brakes and Clutch are now bled (Thanks for the loan of the left leg Warren!) and seem to be all OK.

Now I need to sit down and figure out what direction the build is going to go in next.

More odds 'n sods & Electrics

Spent some time painting various assorted pieces of metalwork ready for installation. This included the handbrake bracket - which now has the handbrake fitted and is now ready to go:I also started sorting out the dash loom and making the required amendments to it:

Apart from the amendments required due to my particular set up there are some changes to make to the standard loom because of the use of the Vectra steering Column. Firstly the washer is originally configured as a switched earth. With the Vectra column this becomes a switched live so the green wire to the washer needs to be replaced with an earth.

Secondly the horn relay becomes a switched live as opposed to a switched earth and the relay wiring needs to be revised as per the diagram below:

Now had I known this before I Installed the main loom and relays it would have been much easier to do bearing in mind where the relays are:So it was upside down in the footwell again to get the relays out!

Finally I sat down and worked out the wiring extensions required to fit the Vectra column switches:

Oh... and I connected up the clutch and brake hoses in the engine bay but havn't bled the systems as I'm home alone today!

Plodding on........

Still waiting for a call re: windscreen...... in the meantime I've made a little progress.

I've fitted the throttle cable using a universal throttle cable from Venhill. These cables have a separate Teflon liner to reduce friction.... plus you can get them in different colours:

For future reference... a standard M6 quick release carb fitting fits nicely onto the Edelbrock throttle arm stud. I had to change the throttle return springs as the standard ones were a bit too strong. The throttle pedal has a nice smooth action with no jerkiness.... shame I'm missing some electrics and a fuel connection.....would be nice to start the engine again.

Please excuse the milk container - it is holding the ends of the braided fluid hoses to avoid drips. I wasn't going to connect then until after the steering column was fitted just give a bit of room.

I have also been thinking ahead regarding the dash layout and the wiring amendments required to incorporate my preferences and existing changes I have made:

Firstly changes to the dash wiring:

And then the installation of the Mallory HyFire Unit (A digital version of the MSD 6AL):Ultimately my intention is to combine all the these separate diagrams with the GD wiring diagrams to provide a single diagram for the whole car.

Finished wiring the lights

That's that then. Finished wiring the lights in the boot:

Having completed wiring all the lighting I set about checking everything - including hazards and indicators - using a 12v power probe on the main body loom dashboard connectors. Everything checked out OK.

With no news on the windscreen front it looks like I might have to start thinking about fitting the dreaded roll hoops!

Wiring the front lights

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the headlights and front indicators have a lot of excess wiring. On factory cars this all appears to be pushed back through the holes in the inner wing - connected together with bullet connectors and bundled up - in a place which is pretty awkward to get to

I didn't fancy doing this.... so instead I got hold of some proper waterproof headlamp connectors and cut the loom and lamp wires back. There are four wires to each headlight and two to each indicator. However the indicators have wires that loop out to the side repeaters. Because most waterproof connectors employ wire seals that only work on single wires - you need to use a four way connector for the indicators but loop the wires like this:

The rest is straightforward if a little cramped working inside the wheelarch. The two connectors were fixed to the inner wing with two p-clips with a single fixing:

A much tidier job.... and much easier to remove the lights when it is eventually time for painting. One thing I've noticed.... all these small jobs seem to take longer than I thought?

More Lights

I decided to continue fitting the lights - this time at the rear - the idea being that this allows me to finish off all the electrical looms,

It seemed to take a long time to fit the four rear lights but this was mainly due to taking my time to ensure both sides were level and spaced the same:

Next I thought I would fit the number plate light,,,, easier said than done! The cable for the light has to run between the two boot lid skins along the strengthening rib. First of all it has to pass through the hinge and into the boot lid (remove the hinge whilst propping the boot lid so you can take it off to drill the holes):

For the life of me I could not get my cable puller pushed all the way round the strengthening rib as the corners were too tight. So I had to resort to what the factory do and drill two holes in the corners:

When done a grommet soon tidies the holes up:

You will need to remove the boot latch to help feed the cable. I found my cable needed extending and the boot latch hole was a convenient place to do this.

I drilled the holes for the fixing bolts on the outer skin but drilled a bigger hole on the inner skin. This allows enough room to get a socket in to tighten the fixing:

And when you are done two more grommets again make it a tidy job:

So there goes another day in the garage - slow progress - but I'm finding it takes longer doing these kind of things as it will be obvious if something is not level or doesn't match across the car.

More Parts & Progress

Picked up the next batch of parts yesterday - with one notable exception - the windscreen. Supplier problems means it will be at least a few weeks until this is ready. Also the steering column wasn't finished.... but I can't fit that until the screen is in so it didn't really matter. In addition quite a few of the bits I picked up can't be fitted until the screen is in - lets hope it's not going to be too long?

I started the day with a bit of an awkward task..... fitting the front under-tray. The tray fits between the radiator frame mounts and the radiator itself. Now obviously I didn't fancy taking the rad out! So the solution is to offer up the tray and mark where the radiator fixing bolts will go - and then cut some slots:

In order to create some room for the tray to fit between the rad and it's mounts I slackened off the radiator lower fixings (don't take them out... they are a bugger to get back in) and loosened the radiator support frame bolts. I could then use two bits of wood to move the rad up a few mm. It all then turns into a bit of a Chinese puzzle .... but eventually it was in and the rad fixings tightened up again:

The tray also bolts through the inner arches and helps to pull them in and stiffen them up:

All that was left to do then was to bolt the oil cooler to the tray:

Job Done! Having spent most of the morning mucking on with the tray I was after some instant (relatively) gratification... so I fitted the front indicators and headlights:

Big difference... really starting to look like a car now. I didn't fit the rubber sealing rings on the headlights as by omitting them it allows the headlamp surround rings to fit flush to the body. Any water that gets through is only going to get inside the wheelarch...... and it will be wet in there anyway. The wiring with the lights is over long so some alterations are going to be required.

Engine Bay - 2

Today I plugged the engine bay harness into the body harness (3 plugs). I decided it was untidy and must be dealt with. So I fashioned a cover out of some aluminium plate:

Seems tidy enough to me.

Apart from that I haven't done a great deal.... except wait for the next batch of parts to be ready.

Main Body Loom - 4

Time to finish off fitting the main body loom. I tidied up the section where it emerges into the engine bay with a couple of p-clips a la GD. I then spent the best part of an hour getting the large grommet to fit!. I had made things worse for myself as my additions to the engine loom meant that there were more wires passing through the grommet and therefore less flexibility in the grommet:

A single p-clip tidied things up a bit in the boot although there are still a lot of wires to run yet. I'm going to leave these until I fit the lights, fuel pump etc.

I wired up the horn to include connectors easily accessible at the top rather than fishing around underneath once the body is on:

The twin fans have a connector each, but there is only one connector on the supply from the loom so two had to become one:

Not much left to do now before the body is fitted!! So the next batch of parts has been ordered for collection mid may and will include: fuel tank, steering column, lights, dashboard loom, dashboard and roll bars.

Main Body Loom - 3

Time for some more wiring. First off was to fit the rear section of the main body loom. This connects to the front section of loom in the passenger footwell and is p-clipped to the bulkhead: The loom is then p-clipped to the floor adjacent to the tunnel: Before disappearing through the rear bulkhead into the boot: Next came the slightly confusing bit. The front part of the loom runs forward for the lights / fans / horn. It exits from the n/s engine bay and runs under the inner bonnet lip: Looks obvious in the photo - but as you can see in the previous photo it is not visible normally. The main part of loom then runs across the front of the body p-clipped to the bonnet hinge pin moulding:The plug in the foreground is the connection for the fans. Inside both the weelarches the wires for the lights pass through grommets but the wires for the repeaters have to run to back up inside the wheelarches???:I would have thought it simpler for these wires to run from the dash, through the bulkhead into the wheelarch compartments - but hey ho - that's the loom I've got and I'm not going to pull it apart! Having run up the inside of the wheelarch the wires finally run though a grommet into the wheelarch compartments: Just need to sort out the bit of loom around the heater pipes.