Trials and Tribulations

21 Feb

ON THE ROAD Yes – up and running – just about! First venture onto the public highway last Sunday. Just a few miles down the A50 to the roundabout and back. No hood yet and it’s really not warm enough to try fitting it – the fabric needs to be stretched when warm – so with temperatures at best just a few degrees above freezing, longer trips can wait. Yesterday drove down to see John Greatorex at Stretton Airfield. I wanted John’s advice about the persistent cammy rattle from the engine. While John was listening to the engine it gradually ran rougher and rougher. On the way home the engine struggled increasingly to produce any power, and finally expired two miles from home. Returned home inauspiciously behind an AA van. The AA man thought the low tension ignition circuit was suspect, and sure enough replacing the (new!) condenser with one I’d had in storage for 30 years since my Scimitar days brought the engine back to health. John’s verdict on the engine wasn’t good – he recommends removing the engine and stripping it down. He suspects top or bottom end problems. To me, the rattle seems more camshaft speed than engine speed – but we’ll see. I’m proposing to let John sort it out – I don’t have space to store the car and strip the engine down. John Greatorex is at GT Cars Ltd, Appleton.

27Mar

ON THE ROAD AGAIN Poorer but wiser! Collected the car today after four weeks in John’s care. The rattle was far more serious than I imagined and has provided a costly lesson. ‘Foreign objects’ had been ingested into cylinders 3 and 8. John found parts of a 5/16” washer in no. 8 combustion chamber, where the damage was worst. The washer had entered the squish area between piston and cylinder head, rattled about and written off both piston and head. On no.8 the piston had been so battered that the top land was rubbing the bore, and had deformed to trap the top ring. The bore was marked. I had to quickly find a replacement block, heads and two pistons. Fortunately Paul at Abbey Sportscars came to the rescue and shipped the items direct to GT Cars. John and Dan worked on the Rover with the same enthusiasm they show for their ‘regular’ Ferraris, while sparing me the supercar rate! My Ace and its engine now feature prominently on GT Cars facebook page! The cause in No.8 and probably No.3 was a washer entering the combustion chamber. The most probable explanation was that the washer was unwittingly dropped before fitting the inlet manifold, entered an inlet port and lodged behind the inlet valve. On turning the engine over to set timing, the inlet valve’s opened and deposited the washer onto the piston, where it’s slid over into the squish area. Lessons learned: 1.       Whenever the inlet manifold’s removed, plug the inlet ports with rag or cover with gaffer tape; 2.       Immediately before re-fitting manifold sweep the inlet ports with one of those little magnets on a telescopic probe; I’ve now demonstrated this quite a few times and it seems to be 100% successful in recovering small washers; 3.       Consider acquiring an endoscope to confirm the inlet ports are clear. This can also give a view of the piston top via the spark plug hole. These are now available very reasonably – I’ve acquired one for £45 and it does work …. While the engine was being rebuilt I’ve been having silencers made for my own design of exhaust that will run well outboard of the main chassis rails and give more ground clearance. The upper part of the silencers fits close to the floor under the seats, between chassis outriggers. I collected these last week from JT Exhausts of Macclesfield. I’ve now got a month or so to get some miles under the belt and sort out the exhaust, hood and sidescreens before the Welsh Road Trip in May – let’s hope the weather soon warms up a bit!

23 Nov

Time spent rewiring front indicators and all rear lights, fitting the grab handle and a right hand handbrake. This allows the driver’s seat to be positioned closer to the tunnel, and further from the hood frame location which threatened to wear the leather. There’s plenty of room for the handbrake to the right of the seat, though the connection to the cable will need a bit of ingenuity. The carburettor has been re-jetted and re-needled to better suit the Rover engine.

28 Jan 2015

Where have the last two months gone? Well – largely taken up with Christmas and major kitchen refit. I’ve spent relatively little time on the Ace, though now the windscreen is refitted, much of the carpet is in position and the new handbrake’s complete and functioning. I need to tidy up wires, check all electrical functions and finish off under the dash, then seats and steering wheel can be fixed in place, and …. I think it’s just about ready for the road. I’ve then got to sort out the hood (I may get professional help) and get a pair of silencers made for my ‘improved’ exhaust system design, before I lose the current system to a speed bump! Silencer mock-up:

WEIGHTS: Useful info for Hawk build

I weighed many of the engine components during the rebuild. In addition I've weighed, or researched, or estimated weights of other components, all shown in the following two tables:

Table A

Component	weight kg	Comments
Engine, Rover V8	141.3	Powerlite starter, tubular manifolds; no power steering pump (detail see Table B)
Bellhousing	4.5	Weighed a similar type
Gearbox	40	LT77, weighed, w/o gearshift
Propshaft	4	Estimated
Axle , MGB Salisbury type	75	Weighed by others
Wheel	9.7	5.5J x15,  72 spoke; MWS data
Tyre	10.5	Avon 185VR15; manufacturer data
Leaf spring	9.1	Calculated
Coil spring	2.1	Calculated

Table B – engine detail

component	weight kg	Comments
block	31.8	weighed
crankshaft	18.2	weighed
cyl heads (pr)	16.4	weighed
flywheel	13.6	weighed
exhaust manifolds	8.2	tubular, estimated
starter motor	3.6	Powerlite
inlet manifold	6.8	based on Rover, weighed
clutch	5.5	estimated
connecting rods (8)	4.5	weighed
pistons (8)	4.0	estimated
crank pulleys	3.9	weighed
timing cover & oil pump	3.4	weighed
sump, oil pickup	3.2	weighed
camshaft	2.7	weighed
rocker gear	2.7	weighed
carburettor(s)	2.7	based on 2 x SU, weighed
fasteners	2.7	estimated
water pump	2.5	weighed
rocker covers	2.3	estimated
followers	1.6	weighed
distributor	0.9	weighed
	141.3

24 Oct	V5 received from DVLA last week. Number plates ordered straightaway and now delivered. Christopher Neils have made good progress over the last couple of weeks and a visit today saw the car freshly painted, though still with doors, boot and bonnet to complete. Very pleased with the colour – Mercedes Tealite Blue. Hopefully I’ll have it home by the end of next week.
06 Nov	Collected the car last Friday – very pleased with the paint job (thanks Kevin, at Christopher Neils). I’ve started to fix parts on, mainly lights so far. There’s a lot to do in the interior, trim, carpets and dashboard mods not to mention a right-hand handbrake conversion I’m planning to give the seat clearance from the hood frame location and lined up better with the steering wheel.
16 Nov	Overriders are now fitted front and rear, and the new reverse and foglamps. Nothing’s wired up yet though! I’ve had to spend some time fitting the tonneau  - due to kitchen fitting starting on 26th, access may be required to the garage – in which case, rain or shine, at least half the car needs to move outside. The position for the fasteners was clearly marked on the tonneau, though a couple needed slight adjustment. No great difficulty in fitting the lift-the dot fasteners in the tonneau, even without the special punch – it’s really not necessary. The male fastener pins around the back of the cockpit weren’t too difficult – each is located with a small fibre washer insulating it from the paint, and fastened through the fibreglass with a washer and locknut. Note that the fasteners supplied by Gerry were too short with only 10mm threaded length, and I obtained some with a 15mm shank which were fine. The front fasteners fitted through the scuttle top and except for the outer pair, landed just on top of the dash. This needed moving to allow locknuts to be fastened on the back. The outer pair of fasteners needed some spotfacing under the scuttle to allow the nuts to seat properly. I’ve now fitted the gearbox cover made for the BMW-engined Aces – it fits the gearlever position perfectly, which now has the Cobra rubber boot gaiter and stainless retaining ring.

25 August	Made a pressure bleeding adapter from some alloy bar, a piece of radiator hose and a couple of jubilee clips, and managed – with a bit of leakage from around the top of the reservoir – to bleed the front brakes. The pedal now feels much improved. I’ve offered up the sidescreens, shortened them and drilled and located the ferrules. I used a woodworking fixture to pilot the hole normal to the curvature of the door skin. I’ve bolted the ferrules through with 1/2” UNF nuts and capped off with rubber covers in case of an issue at IVA retest. I’ve discovered the screen alignment isn’t perfect –something to address after painting. I’ve made ferrules for the hood sticks – something missing from Gerry’s hood kit!
08 Sept	Today passed my IVA re-sit! A real landmark! The examiner – not the same one as for my original test – looked at all the points addressed, wheel arch extensions, different seats, locknuts on steering and suspension components, spacer on Panhard rod, wash bottle firmly tied. The rear fog lamp was tested, as was the field of view through the mirrors. The brakes were tested again to check nothing had got messed up. I’d arrived just over an hour early, but I was seen to as soon as I’d got the car off the trailer, and by the time my booked appointment was due, I was putting the car back on the trailer again, ready for home! Overall I found the IVA process fair enough, the examiners at Chadderton were polite, professional and helpful. Nevertheless it was quite stressful worrying about the possibility of a second failure! Other things – I finally collected the elusive cockpit carpet set and ‘BMW’  gearbox cover from Gerry at the Donington kit car show. At least this gave me an excuse to have another close look at the Ace on the Hawk stand. Using some budget carpet I already had I’ve been trimming the boot, complete with lift out plywood cover for the spare wheel . Nothing’s glued in place yet but loose fitted it all looks quite passable.  I’ve now made a start stripping down the body in readiness for painting next week. I’ll be sorting out ‘IVA’ parts no longer required, and I’ll add a list in a future post.
10 Oct	The car’s still being prepared for painting – I took a couple of pictures at Christopher Neil’s bodyshop. After three weeks DVLA seem to have discovered my application and a call from them this week confirmed it was being processed. Fingers crossed!

IVA - first attempt!

24 July	IVA yesterday. Quite an experience! A relatively small number of issues raised, requiring a retest already booked for September. Good news is that brakes, lights, interior and exterior projections all passed OK, the exhaust was quiet, just 86dB. Minor issues were that the connection to the rear fog light had come adrift, the washer bottle wasn’t properly locating in its holder, and some locknuts are required to augment the steering rack and front suspension attachment. A nearside mirror is required as the interior mirror was judged too small for an adequate field of view. Slightly more tricky, the Panhard rod fouled the diff cover plate. I hadn’t noticed this, and think it was only evident because I had a full tank of fuel for the first time. Should be able to resolve this with some additional spacers, but clearance is tight between cover plate and spare wheel well. I’d fitted the MX-5 seats and looped the seatbelt through the guides on the shoulder of the seats. This meant that the seat belt runner was higher than the mounting point, which means the seat is in compression in the event of an accident, which it wasn’t designed for and is unacceptable. I think if I remove the belt runner from the seat, or just swap them over, and remove the subframe I’ve used between seat and floor, I can make it acceptable. Needing a bit more headscratching – the rear wheel arches don’t quite cover the tyre as they should, which requires some ingenuity to attach some sort of narrow mudflap over the rear section of the arch. The front brake flexible hoses are stretched on full lock – despite having been supplied specifically as MGB upgrade items. I think I need hoses about 50mm longer. All this should be able to be sorted out in time for the booked retest on 8th September.
02 August	I’ve dealt with the more minor issues from the IVA test – steering and suspension bolts passing through the threaded plates supplied by Gerry now have locknuts, with some thread protruding. I’ve raised the position of the wash bottle so it no longer fouls the chassis, and secured it to the bracket with a cable tie. A connector had pulled off the foglight wiring, which I’ve re-soldered and checked. I’ve fitted the nearside mirror, and raised the position of the offside mirror so the rear view isn’t obscured by the rear wing (an unrecorded comment from the inspector). I’ve obtained some longer front brake flexible hoses which weather permitting I’ll fit tomorrow. That leaves a couple of issues over which I’ve exchanged some correspondence with Gerry: I’ve given the Panhard rod some clearance from the diff cover by fitting a half-inch spacer and longer bolt at the axle end of the connection. The clearance loaded is now around a quarter-inch, which should be OK even down to the bumpstops. Gerry was surprised and queried correct fitment, he’s only occasionally had to use a single spacer washer. Gerry was also surprised about the rear wheel arches – this point doesn’t seem to have arisen before. However, I have the correct wire wheel axle, adapter hubs, and the wheels and tyres supplied by Gerry. The track (which is easy to measure on the trailer) is the same as that quoted for the MGB. The photograph shows a cardboard extension fixed in place to show the extent of the non-compliance – which is a maximum of 15mm. After some deliberation I decided against progressing with the Mk.3 MX-5 seats. I felt their size might mean the seat belt still rubbed on the seat even if the guides were reversed or removed. I’ve got hold of a couple of early MX-5 seats in good condition that will fit more easily, without modification except to remove the adjustable runners, and with more room around the belts. The seats are smaller, with adjustable headrests. I’ve made a gauge to check the compliance with the IVA manual, for both minimum height and distance to seat belt anchorage. On both counts the measurement seems comfortably within the criteria. If the sun keeps shining today I should get them both fixed in. While fitting seats seems a simple job, the length of time required to do it properly shouldn’t be underestimated. Due to the location of chassis members the attachment bolts can’t always be fitted to correspond with the seat tappings, so some form of subframe is usually required which needs to be sufficiently robust. Although the seats in the Hawk don’t transmit the seatbelt loads, it’s surprising how much load does pass through the seat attachment – just try braking hard without the bolts in place! The omission of the adjustable runners isn’t an issue for me. The Hawk isn’t designed to fit large people, and while I’m not tall I need the seat as far back as it will go.
03 August	Fitting the seats: This took much of the day, but the seats are securely fitted and appear to be IVA compliant. The seat belts fit without rubbing the seats. I took some measurements to compare with IVA requirements: Dimension IVA requirement measured Minimum height, point ‘R’ to top of headrest 700mm 750mm Headrest height 100mm min 190mm Headrest width 170mm min 220mm Seatbelt mounting to seat centreline 140mm min 180mm Seat-headrest gap in lowest position 25mm max 0mm Vertical height, point ‘R’ to seatbelt mounting 450mm min 500mm
11 August	New front brake hoses are fitted. I’ve got some ideas for adapting the fluid reservoir for pressure bleeding, which is my preferred method, so I’ll sort this in the next week or two. Made and fitted the wheelguards required for the IVA. They’re quite rigid and don’t look too bad. That’s all the failure points addressed now.