First 50 miles

 This morning dried up so I thought I'd take the car out on it's maiden voyage. A quick first few miles and back showed everything looking good, no leaks and no spray of diff oil so that's all sorted. A short wee break and a few more miles, visiting various relatives on the way. Everything seemed to be quite healthy. There were some unusual 'smells' but I can't tell whether they were from the car or from the outside world. After all it's a UK spring and all sorts of stuff happens!!

Once I'd got back and got the feeling back in my legs (heel rest and seat pad to be done very soon!), I had a look under the bonnet and round the car.

Firstly the screens worked well. I no longer have the draught on the top of my legs which was part of the wind chill I had from Bristol. I still get some wind buffeting in my face but it's tolerable to drive without a helmet now. I tried a few different screen angles but it turns out the one I had that 'looked ok' is actually the best one. So that's a huge tick in the box for getting to the kit car show.

Everything under the bonnet held up well despite the additional heat. Well, apart from one bracket. It's PETG but it's right above the exhaust, and it's in tension rather than compression;

 I suspect if it gets any more pliable the coolant pipe will become detached and drop on the exhaust. I need to reprint a new bracket and then encase it in steel, similar to what I did for the fuel pipes. 

Oh, on the subject of fuel pipes, no petrol smell anywhere. That particular demon has been well and truly exorcised.

The main thing that I think needs some work is the rear suspension. I modelled the upper wishbones off a Westfield design where the MX5 upright is next to the damper;

The problem is I then also included a camber adjuster;

I was thinking that the damper and the upright were close enough to not put rotational forces on the bracket. Unfortunately I was wrong, it is basically twisting the bracket on the bushes. It's not enough to unwind the bolt but at some point something is going to get upset. 

I have replaced the washers above with a solid plate as below;

But essentially what I need to do is make the wishbone wide enough to accommodate two bolts. The second bolt will then provide the shear strength to prevent rotation. That then gets me back closer to the Westfield design. The fact that Westfield used the design at all suggests it does work with the right layout. Another Westfield design also puts the damper off from centre;

As a short term fix I could just weld the plates together, but that won't allow me to change the camber and that's on my 'to do' list. I am wondering whether I have enough material to redo them entirely, including enough on the wishbones so I don't have those spacers (but still have the option of camber adjustment). I may have the bush tube but I am 99% certain I don't have enough of the seamless tube. 

Then I'm wondering whether I should change the design so the damper is directly above the upright so forces get transferred in a line rather than rotationally. But then I could make it so the joining plate is horizontal rather than vertical. 

I guess some planning/design is in order.