Finding my horn...

 All the way through the wiring I couldn't tell why my horn didn't work. It was so bad that I thought I'd have to undo the loom to fix a broken wire. It turns out the solution was far simpler! While I was fault finding I unplugged the relay, and realised there was only three out of four connectors still in the socket. Replacing the wire and reinstalling the relay got me a very very loud horn Well, I was sat right next to the sounders so it's not surprising.

I've also had another look at the wires, a lot of them are now better fitted behind the steering column, and I can find a tidy place to route the handbrake switch wire. Problem is that I couldn't say the same for the brake pedal switch. The wire was too short to route properly. Still, I was only in the garage for an hour or so, so really I didn't expect to get everything sorted that quickly. 

As ever, a couple of fixed snags showed up a couple more. Along with the brake pedal wiring, I also found one nut that was regular rather than Nyloc so I'll need to replace that. I then have a few wiring brackets to print/attach. 

Once that's done I'll be able to permanently fix the cowl back in place, and that'll be finished. 

Last night I was also thinking about paint. I don't think the dashboard will come off easily as it is, but I think it can at least come away a little bit. So I'll do that, but still have to cover the dash with masking tape or plastic. The seats will have to be covered as well, although that's where my imagination failed me. I thought the seat side would rub against the freshly painted bodywork, but actually thinking about it now the seats don't come anywhere near the fibreglass. There's an aluminium arm rest between the seat and the body. That does make it much easier to paint the side though, and it only needs the aluminium masking off. 

Bank holiday tasks (wiring secured, seats fitted)

 I'm not sure what significance the bank holiday has, but I needed a page title. More tasks done off the snag list;

• The wiring on the bulkhead is now secure with the 3D printed brackets.
• The wiring down the side to the back is now properly secured, as is the boot wiring.
• The fuel relay wiring has been extended, rewrapped and installed correctly. 
• (The fuel tank is now properly bolted in, that was another snag I missed)
• The passenger seat and seat belt are bolted in. That ended up being the last job of the day as it was such a horrible job I didn't want to carry on!

And more jobs added to the snag list;

• One more earth lead needs a fixing.
• The brake fluid wiring needs fixing. I'm not sure about this one, it's a bit 'dangling in free air' so I need to figure something out.
• Wiring going from the fuse boxes to the dash needs bracing. Admittedly this was an old job but what I had planned isn't going to work. 
• Why doesn't my horn work?
• New tyres. Not for me to do but still a job to do.
• Bleed the brakes more. I'm not happy with the pedal, even though it's not assisted I still expect there to be more braking effort. The clutch pedal was ok but that's a much simpler circuit.

I also managed to get the car moving, which means the clutch is alive. Unfortunately the steering rack limiter are far too aggressive, I was doing fifteen point turns where any other car would do it in three. So they need to come off. I also need to check the self centring, it needs a bit more space to test it. 

Snag list part 1

 Yep, I'm officially on the last few steps now, and the biggest 'job' left is to go over all of the other jobs and make sure I've not missed anything. This will still take a while as I reckon there's all sorts just waiting for me. Here's a few examples that I've completed today;

• The battery isolator switch is installed, and now the battery can be properly secured. I'm happy with the routing of the big cables, they go behind the battery but need to stay loose so I can pull the battery in and our. It's not affecting the security of the battery, and I still printed and used battery connector caps. 
• The spark plug ignitor and some random resistor are now both bolted to the bulkhead. That was a fun job, I was just going to screw them into the metal but then realised the ends of those screws end up in the passenger compartment!! If Mr IVA is really fussy about being able to get to them, they're as pointy as they can be. I replaced them with regular nuts and bolts, now the only thing visible in the cabin are bolt heads. And probably just to be absolutely sure I'll print out some caps and stick them on.
• Similarly I've bolted down one fuse box and one relay. The flasher relay still needs some sort of bracket before it can be bolted down, and the other fuse box would block access to it so I have that to do.
• I've replaced many of the temporary loom ties with zip ties so again everything is a lot more 'fixed' now. Of course, I also found a broken joint. In this case it was with the expensive connector blocks I bought for the front and back. The cheap Chinese ones seem to be ok, but the expensive ones are causing me trouble. Ah well, live and learn and all that. I've still got a few more loom clips to secure, but they're inside the passenger side wall and I need the car out to get to them.

As for things 'yet to do', I have the following that I know about;

• One of the rear lights isn't behaving itself, I might need to print a new housing for it. The bulb doesn't stay in place, it's another issue where the bulb 'nubbins' aren't pronounced enough to fit in a plastic holder. Having said that, perhaps the new printer will be able to offer me tighter tolerances. I'll have to see where I left the design, hopefully it's not in Fusion because it's been a PITA to get things out of there and into Onshape. 
• The fuel pump wiring needs extending and repairing.
• Seats and seat belts need bolting down. 
• I have a few 3D prints in progress for wiring clips and holders, they'll need screwing on to the firewall so the loom is secure. 
• One last scan of the cabin to make sure it's all compliant
• Painting (again!)
• Edge trim in the cabin and on the wheel fenders
• Front suspension castle nuts need split pins. I doubt I can remember where the proper ones are, but I've got a box of split pins that will do nicely. I just need to find the box.
• Boot lock. 
• Test drive... Yeah OK, probably getting a bit ahead of myself there!

Rear suspension

 It's been a very busy week and weekend, so I think it's time for 'updates' rather than 'update'. first off, rear suspension. The driveshafts were a bit more of a headache than I thought.

I have the original driveshafts from the donor, but removing them from the uprights killed the ends. Even if I could have got a nut back on, god knows how long they'd have survived. So I bought some new CV joints, not a big deal and not that expensive (£13 each plus postage). Then a fellow builder passed me an entire drivetrain, so shortened propshaft, a diff and two driveshafts. To make it easy on myself I decided to use the entire driveshafts as is, and keep the new joints for later servicing.

Unfortunately that's where I came unstuck. Turns out the CV joints I had use a larger nut which doesn't fit the donated driveshafts. And of course there's no way of me finding a replacement nut. So it was back to the original plan, reassembling the donor driveshafts with new CV joints. And of course, just as I was mid-job, I realised I had no CV grease...because I wasn't going to need it, because I would use the complete driveshafts!!

Anyway, long story short the driveshafts went in perfectly, and that meant I could tighten up all the bolts on the rear suspension. That took about an hour and absolutely killed my shoulders, but at least it was a job done.

That's when I realised my brake cables were not good. I'd fitted them as I had planned, and it looked to be nice and clear. But it turned out it was a bit too close for comfort, for no real reason. Routing them above the wishbones left them much more in free space and better for inspection. Of course, rerouting them required another caliper removal and bleed, but I'm much happier with the routing now. As it turns out the brake pipe and the handbrake cable follow a very similar route from start to finish, so I'm going to clip them together. Hopefully it won't cause an IVA issue, if anything having both cables support each other and stay clear of moving parts should work in my favour.

Oh, and the last snag for the day. The roll bar screws that go into the top suspension mount were too long. So I came to tighten up the suspension mount and found I couldn't get the nut in there! So I've had to shorten the roll bar bolts, and now everything can exist in the same space in time. 

And now, it's on to the snag list... all the big jobs are done, it's time to go over everything with a fine tooth comb and get it ready for testing. Cue next blog post...

Working pedals and injectors

 It was another good evening yesterday, with many jobs completed. I guess the first job was the brake bleeding. As expected when I took the rear calipers off and turned them upside down I got so much air out of the nipple. With both sides done the pedal has really stiffened up, I can't get it to the bulkhead anymore which is basically the aim of the pedal. I've yet to try it in anger basically because I wouldn't get the car moving to be able to stop it yet!

While I was there I also got the clutch pedal sorted. It didn't have the plunger installed initially, I'm not sure how I'd forgotten about it but there you go. One thing I did have to consider was the security of the plunger. On the brake pedal it's actually retained in the master cylinder, but the clutch is a simple push. I need not have worried though, given I had to have the pedal at full travel AND push the clutch cylinder in just to get the plunger to fit, I don't think it's coming out on it's own. With the plunger in place and the required pin and clip to secure it, I had to adjust it pretty much all the way out so the clutch cylinder actually closed with the pedal all the way back. 

Once I'd finished inside, I added some fluid and used the Gunsons to push it round the loop. As I posted quite a long time ago, I retained the loops in the pipe that the MX5 uses, just so the engine can move without damaging the pipe. But of course that meant it wasn't going to easily bleed. The gunsons sorted it out very quickly though. 

And then the interesting bit came up... This clutch had basically been sat for a decade without moving. So initially the pedal didn't move! It took a bit of pressure to get it to open, but once it started moving it was good. The only concern I've got now is similar to what I used to get on the bike, in that the clutch may be seized shut. Not permanently seized, but enough to cause an issue. Again I won't find out until I try and run the car with the full drivetrain. Essentially I need to have it in gear with the rear wheels in the air, get things moving (slowly at first) then with the clutch pedal in I need to stomp on the brake. That should cause the clutch to open, and assuming that's successful I can then start using it like a standard clutch. 

As a side note, now that both pedals have resistance I can definitely tell why things are normally servo assisted. The car will definitely go and stop, it's just my leg muscles will get a workout doing it! 

As a last job I also fitted some new rubbers to the pedals. The gas pedal didn't get anything, but then again it doesn't need it. Strictly speaking the clutch pedal doesn't need one, but as I bought the rubbers as a pair I put it on anyway. I can see why there has to be a non-slip surface though, even with the car not moving I can see it's so much easier to use the controls when your foot doesn't slip off.

Now that all three pedals do something, I moved back to the injectors. The seal kit had arrived so I removed the old o rings and filters, then set about cleaning them. After some thought on how I get the carb cleaner from the can to the injector, I came up with a contraption to manage it. Having a twelve volt source to open the injector on hand, I got started. And swiftly realised a can of carb cleaner can apply quite a bit of pressure in terms of the solvent released. After a few repeated attempts and patch repairs to the pipe, I managed to get a good stream from each of the injectors. To be fair I couldn't tell much difference between before and after, but I'm confident now things will be at their best. With new seals I could put them back on to the rail, and I could tell things were a lot more secure so I'm optimistic it'll help with fuelling. There may still be a leak on the inlet side causing things to run lean, but at least the fuel side will be good. 

What's next? I think the drivetrain can be installed now, then I can bolt up the rear suspension. More paint of course (I got some thinners for the remaining paint to see if that improves how it flows). The battery isolator arrived so once that's installed I can then permanently install the battery and not have to worry about disconnecting it. I need to tidy up the wires behind the dash so they look good for IVA (and the brake pedal switch doesn't get bashed while I drive). Once that's done I can fit the cowl and permanently install the steering wheel. 

Oh, the boot lock is required. That's a bit of design and some 3D printing no doubt. It's never going to be a properly secure boot (a bit of a pull and the fibreglass will bend enough for any lock to disengage) but at least I can get it tight shut while it's driving. 

Then I'll cover VIN numbers and plates, but I'll need to do a proper corner weighing again. I'll try and do it with maybe half a tank of fuel but also add a few kilos as I want to err on the side of caution in case I don't weigh it right. 

A quick check on the 'common IVA fails' I can see that wiring in conduit is favourable, I'll get some suitable conduit and get it covered. It's mainly around the engine which I was going to cover anyway. 

Anyway, that's enough update for today, time for me to go draw a brake fluid warning sign. 

Brake bleeding

No posts for four weeks then two in two days... cue some random bus joke...

So just to feel a bit more positive after the paint fiasco, I thought I'd have a go at brake bleeding. As I mentioned yesterday, brake bleeding an entirely empty system is several degrees harder than just changing fluid, mainly because the idea of pumping the pedal to build up pressure and then opening the bleed valve doesn't do much when the 'pressure' is all air instead of fluid. I managed to dig out my Gunsons Eezibleed but of course the cap was nothing like anything I had. A quick check online showed the universal cap was still available, but £25! Given that it was just a plastic plate I thought it ideal for a 3D print, so I did that. 

The newly printed cap wasn't 100%, and there were still air leaks, but I remember that with the real caps as well. It's usually to do with the pressure being too high but even with the leaks I was able to provide some pressure to the fluid. First sign of it working was the front right, with a few drips coming out of the bleed valve. Tightening that up then showed the front left doing the same. 

Unfortunately that's as far as I could get, because while the front ones were accessible without having to take the wheels off, the rears aren't. Having said that, I have the tunnel cover off at the moment, and I can hear gurgling at the T joint between the two rear calipers. I take that as a good sign, while gurgling suggests there's air still in there it also means some fluid has managed to reach that position. So next job will be to raise the rear of the car, remove the wheels and open the bleed valves. Then repeat the process.

Once I have fluid to all four wheels I can then start refining things, or more specifically looking for leaks. I do already have one weeping joint that I need to resolve. On the master cylinder there is an adaptor thing that connects one of the brake lines to a banjo joint. That seems to be leaking ever so slowly. It looks to be a fairly small part so I could replace it, however a bit of Googling suggests I'm missing copper washers either side. I'm not sure why I'm missing them as I didn't take that apart at any point, but then if it hadn't been apart I also wouldn't expect it to start leaking now. So first job will be to add a couple of washers to see if it resolves the issue. Touch wood there aren't any other leaks, so it looks like my flaring technique is up to scratch! No doubt once the pressure gets up I'll find some more but that's another day. 

As with all jobs, getting started on one has highlighted a couple more. First issue is that I've forgotten to put 'anti slip provision' on the pedals. IE rubber covers. Some builders have used sandpaper as an anti slip surface, given the pedals are flat that may be an option but surely that must wear out over time. Then again, rubber also wears out, over a much longer time of course. Unfortunately when I got the car it had some horrible metal ones that are meant to look nice but would never pass IVA. To be honest I didn't like them at all, I still have them but I really ought to just throw them away! 

Catchup, painting and 'little bits'

 And another month gone just like that. To be fair, two weekends were taken up by being on holiday so there's not a lot I could have done about that. Pesky family life getting in the way of important car goings-on...

So there really isn't much left now, hence the 'little bits' in the heading rather than anything substantial. I turned the car around and reversed it in the garage, there seems to be less room now but at least I can get to things on the passenger side now. And as expected it's a bit easier to reverse into the garage given the angle of the drive vs the garage door.

I guess the first thing is the great big green elephant in the room. Paint. Oh boy do I hate paint. I did some trials on a small panel, and everything seemed fine. It went on well, the biggest issue was dust and thinners. The former was just my mistake, I moved a box just after doing the paint and managed to get some dust into the air. The latter was interesting though. The white spirit did not mix with the paint at all, even at only 10% mix it didn't actually thin the paint. The panel was covered in voids and was not going to work on the actual panels. 

This is the test panel, the bit on the left is dusty and the right hand side is thinned;

The first test was to paint the boot panel. It seemed to go on fine, although there was yet more dust. The paint didn't float as well as it did on the first test piece which was a bit disappointing.

I flatted it back ready for the second coat, and realised a couple of things. First was that painting green on green is actually quite challenging, I'd missed a few square inches in the corner were there was no paint! The second was that it was still not cured, so there were a couple of points where I caught it with something pointy and scarred the paint. 

On to the car then, admittedly I probably jumped the gun a bit and in hindsight perhaps should have done a bit more work. But then again, what other work could I have done, it's not as if there was an issue with panel prep and the thinners experiment failed. So I went full in with the bonnet, rear arches and more coats on the boot.

As with most paintjobs, it definitely passes the twenty feet test, but fails when you get closer. The arches do look better in the correct colour so I'm happy about that. There's just a bit too much texture visible. It also didn't cover the filler, as can be seen on the arch above, and in this example;

A second coat was never really in doubt but this just confirmed it. I have now done the second coat, I've not taken pictures as it really went pear shaped...

Warning, rant ahead... So as mentioned I hate paint. I did the second coat yesterday, and it just went from bad to worse. Rubbing down the paint again, the same thing happened and I managed to get back to the base surface. I also scratched it on a few points, and the orange peel is even more pronounced. There's also runs, dust marks, and to cap it all off when I was closing the garage and giving up for the day, I heard something drop on to the car which was the final straw. To say it was a low point in the build was an understatement, I still haven't ventured into the garage but I guess I'll resign myself to it at lunchtime and get some pictures. 

What I have done is order some thinners. I'm not sure whether it's the paint or the temperature here, but the paint is far thicker than what I would expect. It doesn't run, which means it can't flow, which means it won't flatten. I've gone for the proper thinners, I don't know what it's made of but it was clear white spirit wasn't appropriate. Once it arrives and I've thinned the paint I'll have one more go (still on the bonnet obviously, I don't want to venture on to the body until at least the bonnet is sorted).

So that's it for paint for now, the documents suggest 7 days to fully cure so it should be good for next weekend. Of course, when it's fully cured it might be too hard to sand but I'll cross that bridge next week. 

What else is there? Oh yeah, the poor running. I finally managed to get the injectors removed and measure the seal, so I have a kit arriving this week to overhaul the injectors. I also have some carb cleaner and a 12 volt supply to open the injectors and get the internals cleaned. It'll be interesting to see the jet pattern, given that the injectors were the things stopping the engine from running in the first place I reckon they're going to be horrendous. At least this way I don't have to buy replacements though (which at the last time of checking were several hundred pounds even for a second hand set!).

I reprinted some new hub caps, I stopped trying to be clever and just went for a straightforward flat cap. They look fine, they fit well and I don't have to fill, sand, fill, sand, paint, fill, sand etc. 

The seatbelts run smoothly now they're at the right angle, that was fiddly to get them in and out!! There was me thinking that I was being clever not relying on captive nuts, instead I had to contort myself into a very unusual position to get to both sides of the fixing! I've got to do the same three more times to get the other mountings in place, the transmission tunnel side should be fairly simple but the outer one will be a pain in the proverbial.

The seat risers worked well, they now clear the seat belt bolts when sliding back and forth. Again, I need to bolt the seats in place and be in two places at the same time. I think I mentioned before that I had at least 20mm or so before the seat was too high for the seat belt, and the spacers were only 5mm.

Other little bits... battery covers are now printed and clip in place, I haven't permanently added them as I still want to be able to disconnect the battery. Having said that, being able to disconnect the battery is a good long term goal so I've ordered a battery isolator that I'll mount on the bulkhead somewhere. 

Ah, brake bleeding, that's another big topic. So I've tightened up all the connectors (I had forgotten how many I'd just left finger tight), filled up the reservoir and pumped the pedal. As expected, nothing happened. I've bled a completely dry system before (on my bike) and normal bleeding approaches don't seem to work. I need to dig out my Eezibleed and hope it's not degraded over time. It was hard enough to use when it was brand new, all bets are off now it's at least 20 years old!

But I want to get the brakes bled before I add the driveshafts. I always prefer to know that I can stop before I know I can go!