Steering complete

The steering column is now in place, along with the 10 degrees of deflection required for IVA. Obviously this pic exaggerates the angle;

But it has been measured and should be fine. The upper steering column is fixed at the top with the original sliding bolts which will disengage in the event of a crash. The lower fixing of the steering column is an exhaust clamp, again allowing the crush section to behave as it would have done in the MX5.

The upper part of the lower steering column is then supported by the bearing attached to the firewall. I did wonder why this was here as the column seemed pretty solid without it. But I guess belt and braces never hurt anyone. 

The bottom is standard fare, with the N pattern steering rack mounting welded into place. The left hand rack mount is actually the old MX5 rubber mounting, it fits the Escort rack perfectly. I need to grind down a weld to get it to mount flush though. From memory the right hand rack mounting on the MX5 was just a bolt, so that can't be reused. I'll make something out of metal for that side, not a huge job. 

For the next job, I need to mount the fuel tank. I've found someone on Ebay that makes fuel tanks for around £60, with an extra £15 for postage. He's only in Nottingham so I'll drive up and pick it up.

I need to make a frame for the tank. This is where I've moved quite a bit away from the plans. Because I have no need for a rear frame for the standard Seven tub, I've not actually got anywhere to put the gas tank. The tank sits behind the diff, sticking out of the back of the car. So I need to rebuild the back in such a way that it's as supportive as the original design, but doesn't use the rear hoop. Shouldn't be too difficult...

Steering angle

The steering rack is now in place and bolted up, and I have a problem...

As part of the IVA regs the steering column needs to have a deflection angle. This is so in the event of a head on collision, the steering column doesn't head directly towards the driver. (If only Senna's mechanics had that plan 😢 ).

Unfortunately, me trying to get everything 'just right' means that I've actually lined things up almost perfectly, IE no deflection angle. Which means I need to make some modifications.

The steering rack is in the right place, and cannot realistically be moved. I don't want the steering travel to be different between left and right. The tube between the universal joints can't really be moved either, it has the chassis one side and the engine the other.

What can be moved is the upper steering column. If I move the bottom joint of the steering column out towards the chassis wall, the angle between upper and lower columns will increase. But if I move the bottom joint, the steering wheel will be crooked. Last time I had that I was in an '85 Vauxhall Nova, and the whole drivers side was tipped towards the centre because the front wheel was in the way!

But it looks like I have no option, so I'll chop off the lower bracket and reweld back in the right place. Tomorrows job...

(Tomorrow)

Five minutes with a photo and some powerpoint boxes shows I have 8 degrees deflection with the brackets as I've welded them. So I've chopped off the bracket that is in that photo, and I will need to move it to the right just an inch or so to get the 10 degrees. 

Vernier

A while back I bought a vernier caliper from Aldi. It worked well, but the digital aspect of it was not designed for a garage, and died pretty quickly. So I thought I'd buy a standard one and hopefully get a decent one. Boy, was I wrong...

The scale is way out when set to zero, and no option to recalibrate it. So, time to find out what I can do, without having to resort to returning it.

Universally jointed

I had to post a picture of this, it's a remarkable piece of kit. It fits exactly as expected, and with bolt cutouts on both splines and drilled holes on this it'll be nice and secure. Looks like an M8 hole drilled through for a nut and bolt, while a threaded end might have been better I kind of prefer the need to add a nut.

The steering column has been chopped in half and marked for the 60mm lengths that need to be inside the thick wall tube. I've chamfered the ends slightly so it should be easy to fit. I'll then cross drill the tube and add some puddle welds as well as welding the end.

I've also done a red oxide coat on the rear suspension parts, they'll need a second coat then gold hammerite. The pedal box gets the same red oxide base but with a black top coat (it'll be deep in the foot well so no need for anything flashy). Time to get back on to the list and see what's next.

Steering

I think my next job is steering, so there's a few things to sort here. First thing is mounting, the standard bracket is renowned for bending and letting the rack wander, and that's not what you want if it's the only thing keeping the car going in a straight line. Some simple braces and/or reinforcement will do here.

The steering column has already been fitted, and makes use of the collapsible column as a safety feature. The second feature will then be a universal joint to put a bend in the routing. And therein lies the problem...

MX5 steering columns are finished with a 5/8" x 36 splined end. Mark 2 Escort racks are finished with a 9/16" 36 splined end. Neither the standard Escort or the standard MX5 UJ's would work. And besides that, the bar is too short to get from one to the other!

The solution for the latter is to cut the bar and weld in a thick wall tube to extend it down to the rack. But there's no point in using the splined end if it won't fit to a UJ that can then go on to the Escort.

After a quick ask around on locostbuilders (the bible for home builders!) a kind gentleman gave me the name of a steering specialist who, purely by coincidence, is just down the road in Birmingham. They stock (amongst other things) a 5/8" to 9/16" UJ. Hopefully the price will be similar to the Rally Designs joint which is £24 plus postage. If it does work out to be a decent price, then I'll get one of those, extend the steering rack exactly as described in the book, and do away with any messing around with different sized shafts. Then all I need to do is buy some thick wall tube (15mm ID, 21mm OD seems to make sense although I may have to warm it up to get it to fit as 5/8" is 1.5875cm).

Oh, and before I forget, the specialist is Kiley Clinton Engineering. Fingers crossed for good news in the morning...

(update) £45 + vat... so not a huge saving over the spline shaft + coupler from Rally Design, but it looks like a far better solution. And a proper forged unit rather than just pressed steel. Now I just need to find the thick wall tube, and if it's anything like the other tube I've bought the post and packing will be more than the tube itself!

Brake pipe straightener

A while back I purchased some rollers that were designed for 3d printing, but they fit brake pipes almost perfectly. So I was going to make a low cost version of this;

This particular one costs £140, I plan to make something very similar for less than £5. Watch this space...

More painting and 'to be done' list...

Chassis painting went ok, the welds look decent in the right places (some of the caps to seal the tubes are a bit 'rough', but they only need to be watertight rather than strong). And of course, when I took this picture I noticed the bit I missed on the lower suspension bracket...

The pedal box and the suspension parts also got a coat. So now it's on to the next job, which is.... erm... not sure!!

This is what I have left to do;

1. Steering rack supports and brace. Three strips of metal to hold the steering rack. As with other items I'll be over-engineering this, as a common complaint is vague steering due to insufficient bracing.
2. Brake hard line to flexi pipe support plates. Four small pieces of metal that will hold the joints between the flexi and hard lines. I need to figure out what these are, I think they're just 1mm plate with a certain sized hole in. The flexi pipe then feeds through and a d clip holds it in place.
3. Engine mounts. Oooh, I may have to get the engine in place to figure out where these go. That'll be a new experience for me, the first time I've lifted the engine in place! I may have to wait until summer for that though, to get the engine and chassis into the same place in the garage will be impossible. 
4. Gearbox mounts. As above, something to be done in decent weather.
5. Roll bar. Now the book has the roll bar, but I want to wait until after I have the bodywork to do mine. And basically I'll just buy a ready made one.
6. Pedal box fixings. A metal strip across the top with four welded nuts so it can be mounted in the car, not a big job. 
7. Steering column modification. Not difficult, but has to be done properly. And I won't have the required tube so I need to buy some.
8. Radiator and mounts. Completely forgot about this one... I guess I ought to find a suitable radiator.
9. Propshaft to be modified. Definitely not a diy job, even if I felt confident enough to weld it I doubt I could get it balanced up afterwards. I'll find somewhere to get that done.
10. Fuel tank. Steel is the obvious solution, but I might see if I can find something lighter.
11. Fuel and brake pipes.
12. Handbrake.
13. Electrics. This can be an entire blog all on it's own!! 
14. Bodywork. To be purchased, I wonder if this is the year I place my order at Stoneleigh. Best take my cheque book.
15. Paint the rest of the chassis and the rear suspension parts. 

So overall not actually that much more to do. Some jobs I can't do, some jobs will take me five minutes. 

Uprights done

Well, that's the uprights finally finished. This cold weather was making painting very challenging, the hammerite was drying but staying soft rather than properly curing. Ah well, these will now go into storage somewhere until they're needed again.

The next job is to go over the chassis with red oxide primer. Because it's been stored in the garage for so long the front end has collected some surface rust. So I'm going to take this opportunity to go over the chassis with a fine tooth comb. As I clean the rust off, I'll check all the welds and fix them as required, then give everything a coat of primer. I realise I'll need to clean it back off when I have to weld things on, but at least it won't get any more rusty.

The only problem is that because I've been working on the back of the car, all the garage 'stuff' has migrated to the front. And I don't really want anything covered in primer. Time for another garage sort out I guess.

Hub painting

The hubs are coming along nicely, a couple of coats of red oxide and then gold top coat (yep, sticking with the iron man colour combo!). Despite the photos they actually are the same colour, I think the front hubs had just dried a bit more by the time I took the photo. I've also included a couple of suspension brackets that needed to be done. I still have all four rear suspension arms to paint, but that needs a bit of set up. I might try and do that Wednesday, depending on whether the weather leaves me stranded in Leeds.

Oh, and a note to my past self... remove the driveshaft nut BEFORE dismantling the car!! I've had to do all my rear end work with driveshafts attached to the rear hubs. It's been fine when sorting out the suspension linkages and similar, but a pain in the bottom when I only need the hub on it's own. And I still don't know what the bearings are like!! They seem to turn quite smoothly, but it could be very different when the engine is trying to turn the wheel to move the car.

Ah well, not something to think about for now.

Breaking news...

It is with regret that I must announce the passing of the brake disc shields. I did all I can to save them but they were too far gone...

To be fair I actually didn't try too hard, I just got fed up of trying to get them clean so they got removed. Five out of six bolts came undone with some persuasion, the sixth needed it's head ground off. No matter, it's not as if I'm going to put replacements on!

Front hubs are now back in the bucket of Deox C for their last soak before removing, cleaning drying and painting.

Music musings....

Yes I know, audio options are not exactly top of the list when it comes to kit cars. However, the MX5 donor seats come with speakers in the head rests, and it seems appropriate that I make them functional for those longer journeys.

The plan is to have an 'invisible' audio system, that is entirely driven from my phone. Bluetooth connection to a pre-amp receiver, to a small amp that drives the seat speakers. It's similar to what I have in the tintop at the moment, a Bluetooth receiver going to it's aux-in. It obviously still needs a power source, but that's easier than an audio source.

Problem is, it's not the best quality, so I've been trying a few things. First test was to try an alternative to Bluetooth. As people may know, phones are powered by USB, but in my tintop at least it causes a horrendous earth loop when the phone is plugged in (partly why I use Bluetooth, no earth loop!). So headphone out is a no-no (unless I resolve the loop part). I do have a USB DAC which works, so I bought a phone USB hub off Ebay and tried it. The DAC works fine (plug and play, excellent!), and the sound quality is actually really good. But as soon as I plugged power into the hub, I got a high pitched squeal.

It also turns out the hub can't actually supply power, so I'll have to see what the seller says about that. If I can resolve the squeal, then it might be useful to be able to just plug the phone in and go.

To summarise, I can go with;

1. The bluetooth receiver which isn't the best quality but is easy to get working.
2. The headphone socket which is better quality but causes an earth loop.
3. USB DAC which is the best quality but I have a faulty hub so couldn't power the phone.

Time to jump on Ebay and see whether it's actually faulty or whether it's just something about my phone.

(Update). The seller accepted it being faulty and I got a refund. I've now ordered a different hub so I'll see if that is any improvement.

Hubs

The next bit of cleaning is the front and rear hubs. These came from the donor MX5, and while they were in usable condition, a few years of sitting around has left them dirty and rusty. In particular the brake dust guard on the front hub is pretty bad. Then again, that's about normal for most cars, and I tend to remove them when they get too bad. Fingers crossed these might be ok, but only time will tell.

The rears were first, an overnight soak in deox c rust remover got rid of a lot of it. I did make a bit of a mistake though. You're meant to scrub the metal on a regular basis to dislodge the bits of rust. I did do this, but I was scrubbing it in the rust remover bath. So basically I was giving the rust remover so much extra work to do!! What I should have done is took it out and scrubbed it separately, that would have allowed the rust remover to only work on attached rust. As it stands the rears are now mostly done, but I've got through an entire bottle of rust remover doing it.

For the fronts, I'll be doing it properly. I have one bucket of 1:20 rust remover (1 part remover to 20 parts water), then in another bucket I have water with washing up liquid. There's a hub in each of them now, what I'll do is every so often swap them over, and whichever one ends up in the water bucket will get scrubbed. Hopefully this will make the rust remover go a bit further.

Having said that, the rust remover has been truly excellent. It's not overly cheap (and even more expensive if you use it wrong!), but being able to just leave the part in a bucket to sort itself out is really useful. I had planned on electrolysis first, but I was having real trouble with finding a location where it wouldn't get interfered with by wildlife or the elements, where I can DC power safely, and where the gases can escape. At least the rust remover can just be done in the garage.

Pictures of the hubs to follow, I should do a before and after but because I didn't do a 'before' it will be just an 'after'. Then on to the next job.

And done!

Well, I think they came out quite nice. All seals and rubbers replaced, I reused the pistons and sliders because despite them looking pretty rough initially, they cleaned up very nicely. New bleed nipples (the old ones were just asking for trouble), but the handbrake mechanisms just needed a bit of cleaning and greasing. The last bit to add are the small chrome pad sliders, I could probably just put them on when the pads go on. They were similar to the pistons, just needed a bit of a clean.

They're now in sealed bags where they will hopefully be ok until I come to use them.

Next job, steering rack. Hmm, I wonder where I left the track rod ends that I bought...

And cleaning...

The cleaning is going well, although it's proper back breaking work!! This is the result of a weekends hard slog. Turns out the best stuff so far is the Deox-c that I had bought a while back. Whilst it doesn't seem to work immediately, what it does is loosen the rust so it can then be rubbed off with a green scouring pad (the washing up kind of pad). What was apparent though is that the bare metal very quickly gets a haze of rust almost as soon as it comes out of the solution. What I'll need to do is remove each part in turn, give it a scrub and dry then paint it.

In terms of other parts used, I've bought all new seals (£30 for all four corners), new bleed nipples (a fiver) but I'm going to reuse the sliders as they seem ok (apart from needing a clean as above). I also have new copper washers (no brainer for that one to be honest). I'll be reusing the various bolts as well, again they just need a good clean.

And the rears are a challenge. As I figured out, the pistons are screwed in, so it took the whole of two minutes to remove the pistons. Problem is, the bolt that screws them in also needs to come out (there's a seal that I think has perished on one), but it needs a circlip removing that is inside the caliper. I've ordered a pair of internal circlip pliers that I am hoping are narrow enough and long enough to get inside. Once they're out, I can replace the seal and check the handbrake mechanisms.

Apart from that, I seem to have lost a rear caliper bracket (but I still have three!), and I may have to replace the rear pistons as I'm not sure they are usable.

In other news, I am now the owner of an Escort Mark 2 steering rack, obtained for the princely sum of £40!! It looks almost brand new, it still has end caps on and protective paint on the threads, so I'm not even sure it's ever been mounted. I'm going to remove the bellows to peek inside, but if everything checks out I won't be doing much else to it. Oh, apart from finding some decent mounting brackets. I'm tempted to go for solid mounts, but I'm also thinking it might make the ride a bit harsh.

Cleaning...

One of the things I've yet to do is clean up the donor parts. In this case it's mainly the brakes. The ones that came off the car were definite MOT failures, but when I took them off I was hoping they'd clean up. Having said that, I also bought a complete extra set of brake calipers, discs and pads for £80, so I have double of everything.

And I needed it!! The first front caliper came apart quite easily (if a little mucky). I did the compressed air trick to shift the piston, and it came out with an almighty crack. I was off to a good start.

The second one I picked up was missing a dust seal, not good. Turned out the piston wasn't going anywhere, in or out. So I removed the sliders, carrier and other spare parts, and marked that one for the bin.

Third one wasn't much better, it had a dust seal but was ripped. So again I scavenged what I could and put the caliper aside. So that was a working left caliper, a failed right, a failed left.

Thankfully the last right hand caliper piston also came out quite easily, although the sliders didn't. Still, overnight soaking in plusgas should solve that one.

I'd made enough mess by this point so I stacked up the rear calipers ready to dismantle them sometime today. Then it's a good scrub and grind to get rid of the rubbish, followed by a coat of paint. The new front seals are on their way (£14 for both sides including slider boots).

By the way, for anyone using compressed air for removing pistons, heed the warning about them coming out with force. If there isn't anything to stop the piston coming out, they will end up flying. Fortunately the front caliper was big enough to contain the piston, however I can see the rear piston is small enough to shoot straight out. Leave a brake pad or flat metal in the caliper to stop it doing damage. And keep your fingers out of the way!

Next job after the calipers, removing the surface rust off the chassis and putting the first coat of oxide on it.

(A quick note to self... the rear pistons won't 'blow' out, they're fixed in with adjuster screws. In some ways that makes them easier to dismantle, although it still won't work if corrosion has set in. Anyhow, that's this weekends job).

Fixed pedals and new holes

Quite a productive hour today;

The clutch pedal has been straightened and welded up so it sits in between the brake pedal and the transmission wall. The hole has been cut for the brake master cylinder, and I've positioned the gas pedal for fitting tomorrow. 

The gas pedal should be even easier than I expected;

Basically I need to make two brackets off the cross member to hold the spring where I've clamped it. It did occur to me that the cable mount is at an odd angle, but it can be quite easily bent to shape. 

The clutch master cylinder is on order, so I'll wait for it to appear before cutting the clutch holes. Then I need to make stops for all three pedals. Bent pieces of metal work for the manual, so I'll do the same!!

Then I need to figure out how to bolt the entire unit to the chassis, shouldn't be too difficult but I want to make sure it's reinforced. 

Two down, one to go (ish)

Well, there you go. Two pedals mounted on the back plate...

So a few things spring to mind. The plates were a good choice, the thing is rock solid. If I can finish the top and bottom bolts then there will be no flex at all. On the flip side, the welding was awful. Good penetration (pretty patterns showing through the other side), but so ugly it needs cleaning up.

But the main issue is the clutch pedal. I had hoped to retain the angle of the arm to keep the master cylinder out of the way of the engine. But having it in the right place actually has the two MC's in the same place. So I had to move the pedal 20mm to the left, which means the foot plate itself is right against the side of the foot well. Unless I want to spend all my time pressing the clutch with the side of my foot, it needs to be moved.

Tomorrow I'll cut off the plate (again!!) and reweld it in a better place.

But thankfully the brake pedal sits underneath the steering column absolutely perfectly, so I'm well happy with that. And plenty of space for the gas pedal, which will hang from above.

Hmmm, I need a shoe to measure...

Here's to getting the car finished this year! Well, at least moving under it's own steam, actually getting it finished is in the hands of VOSA and DVLA so that could be any time!

Pedal box next stage

OK, a quick review of previous posts shows that the clutch pedal is actually offset to the right. This was to avoid the transmission tunnel in the original MX5, and will do exactly the same job here. So I'll mark up the position of the master cylinders and drill holes to mount in the required position, but also retain the spacing that I had originally planned for.

I also need to weld on one more plate for the pedal brackets, this will sit parallel to the floor. Normally it's bolted to the floor, but there's zero strength in the floor. So in my case it'll be bolted to the frame. What I'm planning to do is cut out a section of the chassis and replace it with thicker steel. This will then be drilled and tapped to accept suitable fixings. I had thought of rivnut or similar captive nuts, but this will be inside the frame and amazingly fiddly to get to if they go rusty. So it's just easier to make it part of the frame itself. It also needs to be completely flush, which also removes the possibility of a rivnut.

Of course, I want to compare this plan with the original, just in case I've missed a trick here.

Some work (finally!)

I've been allocating an hour each day after the little one is in bed, to get into the garage and do stuff. The first couple of evenings have just been tidying (it's unbelievable how much stuff a garage will 'accumulate' when it's not in use!), but I've finally managed to get some welding done.

The bottom panel of the pedal box is now welded, although as expected it distorted whilst welding. In a way it worked in my favour though, when I bolt/clamp it in place it's absolutely rock solid. With a reinforcing plate across the top I think the pedals should be nice and firm.

And so, the next step. Welding the brackets for the pedals. I've got them out and wiped the dust off, and I remember what I had planned. I'm fairly sure on here there's also a drawing for the pedal layout, so I'll use that as reference.

Then I need to cut and mount the clutch and brake cylinders. The clutch cylinder will be new (the original was servo driven so won't be reused), but I'm thinking of using a new brake cylinder too depending on the price. Time to get shopping!

(Later that evening...)

Well, a new brake cylinder is out of the question, triple figures for the few that I can find. There are repair kits so I might try one of those if needs be. I've ordered a new clutch cylinder, car builder solutions has them for £40. The 0.7" apparently is not as common as the 0.75" (the latter being a Landrover common fit) so it's slightly more expensive. Still, it's ordered now, so I can get both master cylinders fitted when I do the pedals.

I also had another look at the manual, and it did occur to me that the clutch hole is where it is because it needs to stay away from the engine. Which means I may need to modify my drawing to be more in line with what they're suggesting. No biggie, just might be less space between the pedals than I had planned.

Time to go undo all the brake lines on the old cylinder, just to see what I'm working with...

More than a year...

Wow, I've just noticed it's been more than a year since I posted on here, and therefore even more than that since I worked on the car! The joys of having to go where the work is unfortunately, I haven't yet found a hotel where I can get some welding done in the evenings. Hmm, perhaps that would be a good business venture, a bit like a spa hotel but with spanners and stuff...

Anyhow, back to my car. Well, almost. Unfortunately the daily driver (A 2006 Saab) is suffering from a very rattly exhaust, probably either the front cat or the flexi pipe. Both units together are several hundred pounds to replace, and potentially a full day in an average exhaust builders. But it did get me thinking, what if I could make my own?

First job, learn how to weld stainless steel. This was easy enough, got some stainless MIG wire, turned up the settings as the interweb said, and then proceeded to blow seven shades of stainless through the plate I was practising with! Turns out the settings don't have to be that far off normal steel welding, and soon enough I was getting a good strong weld between stainless plates. I then also welded stainless to mild, because it did occur to me that the existing exhaust may not be stainless all the way, and I only want to replace the parts I need.

Now that I'm happy with stainless welding, I've bookmarked a catalytic converter, a length of pipe and a flexi. Total price just over £100 (with the cat being most of that!).

Next stage, figure out how to do the bends. Now the top of the cat turns a sharp 90+ degrees into the turbo, and I'm not confident I could get a sharp enough bend without compromising the diameter (not what I need straight out of the turbo!). So I found a thing on the internet called 'lobster cutting'. Basically you chop a piece of pipe into segments, each with a certain angle on them. Then if you rotate every other segment 180 degrees, you end up with a bend!

Just for an experiment, here is my first attempt at a lobster cut bend with some spare tube I had;

As you can see, it's just taped together, but I think it's actually turned out really nice. And it'll be more than enough to get the curve off the turbo into the cat.

Next week, I might get chance to work on the car...