Winter Jobs

Well it's getting to that time of year. Dark in the evenings, damp or wet most days, salt starting to go down on the roads. Combined with the preparations for Christams the opportunities for a decent drive out are diminishing. So thoughts turn to the list of outstanding jobs that never got completed because I was too busy driving the car or simply too lazy to do them!

After 2500 miles I am pretty happy with the car. Hand on heart there is nothing that I would have done differently and nothing that detracts from my enjoyment of driving the car. The to do list simply comprises of tweaks or niggles - nothing major.

By the time I had sat down with a pen and paper I had drawn up quite a list:

CHANGE FRONT CASTOR ANGLE
After my visit to GD for Andy to set up the suspension I had taken a lot of castor off. Whilst the car still runs true and self centres...... I prefer the steering to be a little heavier than it is now.... but not as heavy as before. Maybe just swap one shim over?

TWEAK FRONT CAMBER ANGLES
The total camber on the fronnt is more or less correct, but there is slightly more one side than the other. This is a function of the fact that the Jaguar Camber shims only come in 1/8 and 1/4 inch thicknesses. So I'm going to need an accurate camber gauge and some bespoke shims.

CHECK BUMPSTEER
Obviously changing the castor and camber will affect the bumpsteer - so this needs to be done again. Before I do this I'm going to make a bump steer gauge so that the whole process becomes much more simple and quicker. I have some ideas already on how to do this so watch this space.

INCREASE REAR NEGATIVE CAMBER
One of the outcomes of Andy's test drive was that the rears would benefit from a tad more negativve camber - they are more or less at zero degrees at the minute. A simple enough job made difficult by the restricted access to diff output shafts.

INCREASE REV-LIMITER TO 6000rpm
Simple Job, just a bugger to get the dash bottom cover back in afterwards...... probably why I had been putting it off? Perhaps I should have made it more accessible? not that you want to be changing it every 5 minutes though.

INDICATOR SELF CANCELLING MECHANISM
Works OK 95% of the time - needs a slight modification to cover the 5% that they cancel too early - nromally when indicating right and approacing a roudabout with a curve to the left on approach. I know what needs to be done - just havn't done it yet!

FIT HOOD
Yup, had to concede defeat at last. The absence of a hood effictively limits you to day trips. I an hoping next year to venture to France for a week or so. Therefore a hood sort of becomes a necessity. Linked with this are the side screens. Not sure if I want to go with the GD ones or do something a little different???

FUEL FILLER PIPE
It still smells a bit...... need to investigte what alternative possibilites there are. The fluroelastomer lined Silicone filler pipes are not necessarilly vapour proof. The fluroelastomer has to be dilluted as in a concentrated form it does not adhere to silicone!!!! Quality control can be a problem. Again not a massive issue but if I am going to have a purge on niggly things then I might as well add it to the list.

FUEL TANK
The standard tank is around 10 gallons. On a long trip being sensible I can get 160 miles before needing to fill up - mainly due to the 0.64 overdriven 5th gear. Whilst hooning around on the last drive out to hartside saw me nearly run out of fuel after 90 miles - a wildly swinging around fuel pressure gauge gives you a good indication that you aint gonna get much further! The problem is compounded by the rural nature of Northumberland where you could end up 40 miles from the nearest petrol station quite easilly. Thinking about the possibilities of either increasing the size of the tank or providing an auxilliary tank. My neighbour has a freind who is good at welding stainless.... might come in handy.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Thought about it during the build...... sort of then forgot. Plumbed in or not plumbed in????? need to decide.

BRAKE VENTS / OIL COOLER OPENING
Fancy fitting some stainless woven mesh to finish things off, but leave the rad opeining as it is. Might fit a top baffle plate to the coil cooler as GD now do.

ROLLING ROAD TUNING
Still would like to get this done only there is nowhere close by. But having a hood should mean no problems waiting for a nice day to go further afeild.

Plus quite a few other little odds and sods including some routine maintenance ready for the spring.