More arches, handbrake, seatbelt, bonnet etc

Turns out when there's just a snag list left it gets difficult to post something on just one subject. So this is a bit of a mix of tasks.

Firstly the handbrake. The new cable arrived and... well basically it was completely different! Shorter sleeve, longer cable, narrower ends that wouldn't fit in the bracket, basically completely useless if it had been going on the Seat Cordoba it was designed for. Thankfully all I needed was the inner cable, so a quick swap around got me back to a working cable.

Following recommendations from the Locostbuilder lot, I went for a 'non solder ferrule', basically a screw threaded sleeve with a hole in. I went for the DIY option as I didn't think any online were really up to the task (they were more like bike brake cables than anything that would hold a car). Once I'd got the bits and put it together, I found I had to pull everything tight to get it bolted in place. Not a biggie, more or less inline with the rest of the car. Ten minutes of swearing and plier-wielding got me this;

The ferrule and bolt extend 10mm either side of the bracket so they're not going to come loose. And the cable is clamped from both sides so is secure. Once the caliper side and handbrake itself were adjusted I was able to apply braking force with five clicks of the handbrake. I think any tighter the calipers would start to drag, but five clicks seems good enough. Of course, it has to actually pass the brake test but given I was able to wrench on the handbrake without the ferrule budging I'm happy that it's now complete.

The final job on the handbrake cable was to fix it in place, I've added a bracket to one of the clips holding the brake line in place so that's not moving. I've not secured it anywhere else though, the stiffness of the cable doesn't allow it to move at all. 

Next job, seats and seatbelts. First off I've made a boo-boo, I've used up the seat bolts! I had to get some more longer ones, because by the time it gets through the seat, the frame, under the car, through several washers and a nyloc, there wasn't enough exposed thread. I've got some longer bolts now, but there is a small fly in the ointment...

I got the seatbelt bolted up;

The shoulder fixing actually worked well with the edge protector. I'm not clamping directly on to the protector, there is actually a washer and a collar inside the fixing. However it's such tight tolerances that the fixing doesn't turn, I might add one more washer just to stop it catching on the protector.

The second belt fixing looks fine on the inside transmission tunnel, apart from it being a pain to bolt up it seems happy where it is.

The fly in the ointment comes from the belt clip on the outside. As you can see from the photos there's zero clearance between the seat and the side. While this shouldn't be a problem itself (the seat is soft after all), the seat frame is catching on the buckle. Even if Mr IVA was OK with it (the seat wouldn't move that often) I'm not happy.

However it appears that it just needs the seat lifting a little to clear the belt clip, and the belt clip itself needs to be solidly mounted (rather than using a collar to allow it to turn). I've cut some 5mm plate spacers to go under the seat rails, along with the longer bolts that I had to order anyway should put the seat a little higher and clear the belt. I did need to check the seat belt position though, hence the black box in the above pictures. The shoulder strap needs to be a certain distance above that reference point, thankfully I'm about 50mm clear so an extra 5mm on seat height won't affect things. 

The next subject is the overflow pipe for the engine cooling;

Not exactly exciting, it's sharing the cable clips I've used for the wiring. Metal plates bolted to the engine and printed brackets to keep them secure and abrasion free. I'm happy the engine wiring and cooling is now IVA friendly, I have a few more brackets to fix in place but that won't be difficult. 

While I was taking pictures I realised I'd not taken any of the bonnet position brackets;

The three corner brackets maintain the profile of the bonnet against the body, and the bottom one is a slider so as the bonnet comes down, the loose sides get pushed out and into position. And talking about positioning;

This is a rubber handle to hold the bonnet in place, with this engaged the bonnet is quite tight and rigid which is a good thing. It needs a rubber trim along the edge just to hold it a bit tighter, but at least that's all set. Well, it would be if I could find the other one!! I can't find the passenger side one, it'll be 'safe' somewhere. Shouldn't be difficult to fit once I find it.

And so to the nightmare of the current work, these blasted arches;

Trying to apply fibreglass upside down meant I got more on me than on the arch! I've managed to get several layers on both sides, and it 'looks' strong enough but I'm really not convinced it's hard wearing. The passenger side in particular seems to crack really easily. It doesn't help that the bonnet flexes, the edge is quite narrow, the aforementioned 'upside-down-ness' of it all. It'll get through IVA but may be the first thing that needs 'repair', I'll keep a roll of duck tape handy in case something goes missing on a drive! Long term I think it might call for some more printed brackets for stronger support, a bit like what the wire does now but a bit 'more'.

The rears are actually behaving themselves just with the fibre reinforced filler. Part of that I suspect is because the body is so much more rigid, so I'm tempted to just add another layer of the filler and smooth it flat. 

I think that's all the little jobs I've done over the last few days. Many of the jobs need repeating on the passenger side (I have a tendency to do work on the more accessible side because getting to the passenger side usually needs the car wheeled out of the garage). I still need to start the car and check it runs. I need to fill the fluids (brake/clutch fluid and coolant). I do need to find some black paint for under the bonnet, that should be a lot easier to work with than the car paint that will be visible. 

Arches first step

 As it turns out, sitting on the couch knowing I could be in the garage was a big incentive for me to go do stuff! Admittedly it wasn't all successful but it was still progress.

First was the seatbelt mounting cover, I had printed them in the week but not taken any photos;

I think they work really well, all radiused edges and the same thickness as a washer. Whether they'll hold up to abuse is another question, but once the hole is drilled and the seatbelt is bolted in place I'll be able to see more. I still don't know whether to have it solidly bolted or with a collar so it turns freely, but I can try both. 

Next small job was testing the edge trim;

OMG was this horrible to fit!! I think it's because the fibreglass thickness is uneven, but this took far too much effort to fit. It looks 'ok', but it doesn't fit smoothly, particularly behind the seat. Having said that, the same stuff applied to the arches looks really good;

The curve I decided on for aesthetics also appears to be within the bend range of the trim. In addition, with it being metal with a consistent width, it went on far better. I'm tempted to go with a few drops of glue particularly on the ends, just for added security, but I'm happy with that.

I guess that leads me on to the arches. As mentioned the GRP was not happy having to bend 180 degrees, so the plan was to use some reinforced filler to make a better angle. It actually worked really well in my opinion, bonding well to both surfaces and creating a nice base for the GRP. 

It needs a quick sand before the GRP can go on top, but this on it's own has made the arches feel really solid so I'm definitely on to a winner here. The rears were similar, although that's only a 90 degree bend to deal with. All four corners are now waiting for the last step.

And then the final task was to get the rear calipers fitted. The arches needed the wheels removed for access so while they were off I put the calipers on. This was certainly the most eventful part of the day. Turns out the handbrake cables go almost directly vertical which was unexpected. Considering I needed to change the routing of the cables anyway this isn't really an issue, but it does change my plans for the fixings. So that's another task added to the snag list.

The far more pressing issue was the brake line itself;

The flexi hose also goes vertical, and as can be seen on the picture it gets friendly with the wheel before it heads to the car!! I have a feeling the original MX5 may have used right angled connectors for this very reason.  Still, there was a pretty easy fix, just point it down instead;

This works well and keeps the flexi away from everything important. Ignore the caliper end, it looks like it's rubbing on the caliper but it's only because the bolt isn't fully tightened. The flexi is stiff enough to respond well to bolt angles so won't be difficult to fix. 

And now on to the bad news of the weekend, the loss of the front handbrake cable. I started as I had planned, to create a U shape with a ferrule. It looked like it was going to be very strong and secure, until I tried applying the handbrake. Then even after clamping the ferrule the cable still wanted to pull out. A quick check on locostbuilders suggested a blob of weld. Unfortunately while I got a blob of weld on the wire, it make the wire so brittle that the whole thing just snapped off. 

So I've ordered a replacement cable (three times more expensive this time round) and some solderless cable nipples. More specifically a length on internally threaded rod that will have a hole drilled in the side, the cable pushed through and a pair of M6 bolts clamping it in place. That should be a strong enough fixing for a handbrake. I need to make the hole every so slightly large (10mm instead of 9.5mm) but that should contribute to the strength and security of the cable. I could even double up on the fixing if I want to follow my standard 'belt and braces' approach.

Overall a mixed weekend, but considering I wasn't planning on doing anything it was pretty productive. On to more fibreglassing now, then that's the arches all done and ready for paint and trim. 

Halt in the work

Every year since I've started this build, I've been able to spend Fathers day in the garage. Even if things were going really pear shaped, or family was taking priority, I got Fathers day in the garage. Except for this year.

Nope, this year I will be sitting on my back side, doing almost nothing, all because of a bad tooth. Or more specifically a removed bad tooth. Being drugged up on painkillers isn't too bad, but busting a blood clot because I was leaning over the seat isn't going to do me much good. So I've got a couple of weeks/weekends of downtime. 

I'll have to see what 3D prints I need, working in front of a laptop is probably the most productive I can be. Or I might build some Lego cars, I seem to have a backlog. I did also want to learn a bit of Blender. 

Post sticky weekend

 Once again a bit of a mixed bag. The rain briefly held off long enough to do some back end jobs, but not long enough to do anything proper. Not surprising really.

So from the 'sticky weekend' list:

All the arches are now temporarily fixed in place;

As expected they look a bit 'stuck on' at the moment, basically because they are! Hopefully when they're finished and painted they'll look a bit more like they should be there. I also cut the underlying arches on the front to give my wheels a bit more clearance. And this is where it 'deviated from the plan'.

So fibreglassing 101 includes the line 'don't try to fibreglass round a sharp corner'. And with me leaving a 10mm lip of old body, I'm trying to do exactly that! Of course it failed miserably, it didn't bend round the corner so I couldn't get it to attach to both the body and the arch. It basically lifted and created a bubble between the resin and the mat. To be fair, it's decently strong and it did adhere to both surfaces, so I'm on the right track. I just need to improve that one edge. I've ordered some reinforced filler to go in the gap and create a decent surface for the fibreglass to go on to. I'll probably have to sand the existing stuff back as it looks awful. Then a few layers of new stuff for strength. 

Overall though I'm happy that they'll fix in place well, and I won't have to do anything too clever post-bonding. I did try an experiment with resin on a spare piece of aluminium;

And it turns out this is a really strong fixing. Don't get me wrong, I think I can still separate the metal from the resin if I use some tools, but I was able to bend the aluminium and it stayed stuck so I'm happy with the approach.

The brackets and sliders for the bonnet are now glued on and work well. There is an occasional 'hook' on the passenger side that I can't quite tell what's happening, but that seems to be wearing down so eventually it'll sort itself out. I'm very happy with the bonnet though, it sits really well and just needs the tie downs to make it permanent.

The gearshift gaiter is also done, again very happy with how that turned out. It's now properly fixed to the surround and when it bolts back together I'm expecting it to work fine.

The roll bar trims are in place, another success. It reminds me very much of the trim pieces you see on Cobras, and for me to end up with something that normally lives on a 60K+ car means I must have done something right! 

And now the seat belts. I remember saying that I'd be really annoyed if they don't work? Well, I'm not 100% happy with them. The reel fitted well, I'm very happy with that and it extends and retracts as expected. A sharp pull locks it, all that funky stuff. I had to make some sleeves for the other fixing as the holes are 15mm and the bolts are only 10mm. Fortunately I had some matching tube and after some time with an angle grinder I had some appropriate spacers. I hadn't really planned on doing flexible fixings but it just worked out that way. 

The first struggle I had was getting the seats back in. With the seat belt buckle in place I couldn't just drop the seats in, there's just not enough room between the seat sides and the body. A bit of careful angling of the seat managed to get the seat in place. The other side wasn't as bad, that just needed the seatbelt pulled in front of the seat. At rest I like the way the belt sits, it's easy to access even when retracted.

When I'm in the seat it's slightly different. The height and position of the upper mount means the belt sits very close to my neck. A lot closer than I had expected. It's definitely a comfort thing, I might need to add a pad or something post IVA. While I'm on the subject of IVA though, I did check and the regs say that it must not slip off the shoulder. It's definitely not going to do that! I think overall it does it's job as a seat belt, it doesn't pull tight against the seat so I won't fall foul of the 'structural seat' rule. It's easy to apply and can be removed with one hand as per the book. 

Getting the seats bolts down is certainly going to be a challenge, and the movement fore and aft is going to be even more restricted. Not that that is a problem, the runners are mainly there to allow ease of fixing rather than proper adjustment. After all I doubt my wife is going to be driving it anytime soon! On the subject of fixing, the seatbelt wasn't actually that difficult to fix. With the centre panels removed getting to the back was pretty easy, and holding a spanner in place with a ratchet in the car made things simple to tighten. The seats have a bit more distance between front and back, but fixing a spanner in place inside the car and a ratchet outside should sort it. 

New jobs added (after all, it wouldn't be a productive weekend if I didn't identify more work to be done!):

• Redo the upper seat belt trim piece. With the moving belt guide the old trim piece is no good, it's too tall and doesn't functionally work (even if it is an IVA pass). I want to make a new trim piece that covers the top surface but leaves a gap for the upper washer. That will go on first, then the belt guid will bolt in place, then there will be a nut cover for on top. It's a bit more of a complex design but shouldn't take too long to create. It might take a bit more effort to print, I'll have to see what to do there. The current trim pieces were printed end on, I might try and do the same.
• Sand back the fibreglass bubbles and apply filler as required before trying again.
• Fill the gap in the handbrake with JB Weld. I need to do this before I permanently fix the handbrake as it needs to come out of the car. 
• Tidy up the bottom lip on the front. I think it's just the standard 1.5mm radius requirement, so five minutes with some sandpaper will sort this one. It will need trimming first though, particularly one corner where it's not particularly attractive. I'll jack the car up and possible get the laser level on it for reference. 

A sticky weekend

 I've just seen the weather forecast, and it looks like the engine start is postponed yet again. I do want to plan this weekend though, just so I know what options I have.

And that comes to the subject, because I think glue and other adhesives will form most of this weekends work. From the snag list;

• Cut the front wheel arches as required / Fibreglass in the aluminium mudguards. I've been putting this off for a while but it's about time I just got stuck into it. I do want to see whether fibreglass resin attaches to aluminium though, that will make or break this plan. If it doesn't stick then I have some extra work to do.
• Glue on the printed brackets and sliders for the bonnet. Nice and easy for these, although it does need a bit of finesse for the sliders. They've been printed, they fit well, they need to be screwed and glued in place.
• Glue on the gearshift gaiter so it doesn't become unattached. This could be tricky, I might take my time with this one. Tiny areas to glue and very visible results so I don't want to get it wrong.
• Bolt on the rubber tie downs on the corners. This could be a lengthy task but also fairly enjoyable. Of course the main problem is working space on the passenger side, but I can deal with that. 
• Paint the body. Not anytime soon, still undecided whether IVA is first.
• Reattach all the trim pieces (roll bar, seat corners, seat belt edges). More gluing, again not difficult but will need some finesse. I was doubting whether these should be done before paint, but I could say that about a few things and end up not going anywhere.
• Bolt in seats. Ah yes, that could easily go to the top of the list. It's going to be fiddly but I really want to see whether my plan works for the runners. If not there could be some more work to be done.
• Bolt in seat belts. Similar to the seats, they can go in now and I can see whether they work effectively. I've done so much work on seat, belts and positioning that I am going to be really annoyed if they don't work. 
• Fit mirrors. These can go on although I just know that if I do, I'll spent the next few weeks bumping into them!
• Add boot lock strike plate. While I don't really need to be properly outside for this, I would be working at the open garage door which is going to get wet.
• Add boot lining. Nope, not needed for IVA so I'm going to leave this one completely. 

That's got to be enough stuff to get on with, I don't see how I can run out of stuff. I am going to print this list and pin it on the board though. 

Weekend update (exhaust and handbrake fix)

 Well, more of a midweek update as I didn't really get much done on the weekend. It was the kit car show on Saturday, a great turn out and it felt like more than previous years which is always a good sign. Lots of cars for sale though, either it was the same as previous years and I've never really paid attention, or there are genuinely more people selling up. 

So that was my Saturday, then a bit of slab work kept me busy in the afternoon. Well, technically that same work kept me busy Sunday because I managed to drop a slab on my foot and not be able to do anything too heavy on Sunday!

Anyway, enough of that for now, on to the exhaust. As I may have mentioned before, the headers wouldn't come off without me disconnecting the rest of the exhaust, so that's what I did yesterday (Tuesday). Once all the gaskets and sealants were in place I could bolt it all back up. For the most part it worked well, but now I can see how rigid it is when bolted up I do have my doubts on how long it will survive without a flexi section. It's not difficult to put a flexi in place, the layout does accommodate one inside the engine bay but it would mean two more joints. I'll add that to the post-IVA list maybe. 

In the meantime, tonight's exercise will be the handbrake cable. The plan will be to make the cable as loose as possible, then mark where it hits the balance bracket. I'll then make a loop in the cable and clamp one of the ferrules on to it. Two would be more secure but there's not enough room, using just one ferrule means I can squeeze it inside the bracket and not compromise any gaps.

That should leave me with as much flexibility to tighten it up as possible, after all the cables will only stretch over time. They're not going to shrink. 

It does mean that the self adjustment may not work as that relies on the ratchet mechanism working in the caliper. However even on the stock MX5's that auto adjustment rarely works, and most of 'the internet' manually adjust the calipers directly before adjusting the cable. Not a difficult process, just 'old school'. 

And of course, there is something in the IVA manual about it;

A parking brake lever, actuating linkage, cable or associated component must not be obstructed in its travel nor foul parts of the vehicle 

And;

Parking brake reserve travel and locking positions are required to allow components such as brake cables to stretch without diminishing park brake performance.

This could be a fail point if it's judged to be too close. The other option I've been thinking about is a spacer on the handbrake cables. This is where they're currently mounted;

It's a simple bracket, reinforced by the folds. If I use an appropriately cut and drilled piece of steel, I can bring those back 20-25mm or so. A couple of tacks to hold it in place and that would be fine. And just typing I think I'll do that anyway. As with everything on this car, I'm always thinking about keeping very clear of IVA rules. Moving it back that far will mean the cable can travel as much as it wants (the caliper itself will stop it operating any further). 

And I've just realised there's an issue with that. The cables use clips to retain them in the hole. If I move the hole I still need to be able to retain the cables. 

(quick dive into the garage...)

A quick measurement of the bracket and the cable gives me some options. The widest part of the cable is 25mm, that goes on the outside. There is then 13mm on the narrow part and 19.5mm on the last part. So whatever I use for the bracket has to accommodate a 20mm hole. In terms of thickness I'd estimate 2mm maximum, which is fortunate as most of my metalwork is also 2mm max!

The bracket is 30mm deep so that would be good for the 25mm square section, maybe with a bit of profiling on each side. For the clips I would simply cut out an access hole above both cables, while that might make the cable clips difficult to remove at least I'd be able to get them in there in the first place. Having said that, this extra bracket needs to resist compression forces rather than tension, so I'm wondering whether bolting it in place would make it simpler. Then at least the whole unit could be removed with the cables when it came to unclipping them. It would also mean not having to weld anything near my newly upholstered seats. There's enough room for an M8 bolt with washers so no danger of it being weak. 

That's that then, a small bracket to cut and fix, then the whole adjustment issue goes away. And to think, a lot of this is caused by wanting an 'invisible' handbrake! I was keeping an eye out at the kit car show for other cars that have no visible handbrake, I couldn't see anything like what I'm doing. The closest I could find was on a couple of trikes where the handbrake was a pull handle. I've seen that before where it locks in position and it's twisted to release. That was still visible though, less intrusive than a handbrake but still not 'clean' like I want it. I should have looked for early Caterhams, although just checking the site plan there wasn't a Caterham stand. 

Oh, last thought before I post this. This whole process will move the sleeves back an inch or so, but the brackets on the cable are fixed. They should go into welded brackets before heading to the calipers, I may have to review that routing. It's not like the speedo cable that has to be gently curved into position, but I still don't want them pushed into unusual shapes on their way to the calipers. I could always cross them over to reduce the bend tightness, I'll see what I need to do once the bracket is done. 

(Later that day). Well, that plan failed. By the time I'd cut away enough metal to fit in the gap, with the correct holes and big enough slots for the clips, I ended up with such a weakened part that it wouldn't have worked! I think the failure was right at the beginning though, trying to cut it from 25mm RHS. It might have been rigid, but having to remove three sides from a four sided tube was never going to work. 

So the new plan will be a metal plate bolted to the front of the same bar, with a reinforcement at the bottom against the old bracket. The same approach though, fix the cables to the plate then bolt the plate to the car.

One thing I did see was that crossing the cables won't make much difference, the next bracket isn't very far away so it won't move by a significant amount. 

(Update from the 9th). After the first failure, I went uber simple and just used a drilled plate.

As mentioned I could only use 2mm because of the fixing clips, but it's plenty strong enough. I stayed with the idea of clipping the cables in place first then bolting it to the car, with three bolts going to the original cross member and the original fixing plate. The last picture shows a much better 'home' position for the plate, with plenty of space for adjustment and slack on the cables. Just one last job to do here, fix the front cable. That needs the handbrake in it's final position, which needs the JB weld alteration done to get rid of the sharp edge.