VAK 1972 Clan Crusader

[bks974c]

On Sunday it was time to assemble the front end and complete the plumbing to the radiator, after Colin's visit I filled the system and could hear the sound of dripping water

Quick check reveals its coming from the back of the engine around the thermostat housing, ah hose clip not tight so easy fix. Still dripping Sat watching it trying to figure where its coming from as it appears to be from the top nut holding the housing on and that's a bit odd, the I spot what is best described as sweating from the housing itself, damn the hosing is cracked. No big deal plenty more of them.

Now time to start the car and run it up to temp for the first time, all precious starts had been only momentarily but it is unhappy to idle and has an electrical miss/cut out,
I can see the led light on the ECU flashing from green to red indicating it wasn't seeing the engine rotating. After playing around with it for a bit I phone Keith about something and he offer to bring a spare Crankshaft sensor over, Thanks Keith, unfortunately it was different from mine but we played around with it for a bitand got nowhere so went home.
We both went on the internet as text messages were forthcoming, one indicating the sensor should be a maximuim of .8-1mm from the trigger wheel. The gap was larger than that oh an easy fix then So today I put the sensor back on and got it real close and tried again nada

I had already ordered another sensor which I'll get tomorrow, Tuesday , which will hopefully sort it, if not, I can't see the Clan being ready for the National as there isn't enough time to messing about with the ECU or its wiring as I leave next Monday to give Colin and Co a hand to set up and it would be wrong not to be there when I said I would just to get the car ready.

Then it was onto the drivers door, last week I had a nightmare trying to sort the passengers one which suddenly wasn't latching properly and to cut a long story was the interior release cable being a little tight, Took a long time to figure it out The up side was by the time I had finished it opened and closed beautifully so now the drivers side was letting the side down, it too is now perfect Perhaps we can have a door closing competition at the National.

That done I fitted the window and slider to the n/s the flattened the bonnet and fitted it, when I took photos of what had been achieved it suddenly felt very little but its all progress

20170724_211718.jpg

20170724_211725.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

The Clan won't be finished in time for the National, so its a case of seeing what can be done before Monday when I leave, I have an MOT booked for 9.00am if it's ready and passes it will be there otherwise I will be car less and need to blag lifts. That in itself is not usually a problem.

Scott

[bks974c]

Windscreen in, dash complete. Everything is taking an age because nothing is standard so needs modified or faffed about to fit. Had to cover dog sitting duties for the last two days so working days have been a little bit shorter although got 71/2 hours done today and yesterday after I got home and walked the dog got new handbrake cables and sticky caliper sorted on Octavia ready for it's MOT on Friday

20170726_205356.jpg

20170726_205418.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Its been a hard slog with late nights but we've done it, got just enough done by 10.00pm on sat night to take it for its MOT this morning, that was until I drove it out to load on the trailer and couldn't get full lock at that point I was ready to throw in the towel. However it managed to pass the mot as it cleared on droop when tested
Fuelling still wrong and stalled after MOT and wouldn't restart, however came prepared with new plugs which sorted it.

Back to the shed and sorted the steering by grinding off the return on the arch lips, better but still fouling so raised the front end and it OK now

Loads of minor bits needed doing and some major ones, like a passenger seat, door cards so did what I could then Keith came over again to have another go at sorting the engine management. Keith has quite a lot of experience with Megasquirt but the Emerald is new to him and me and to be honest not the most intuitive system. I was convinced the mapping should be close enough for running the engine in 998 with R21 although originally set up for 949cc with R17 but on initial start up with massively over fuelling - looked like a mapped diesel. We sorted out the timing alignment but could see it was looking at the bottom of the table which seemed wrong but got it idling reasonable well by pulling down the fuel in this area. Today we had another play and found closed throttle to be looking at Load site 15 which we knew couldn't be right so did a TPS realignment which changed it to 1 and it fired right up and sounded so much better, reset the idle and called it a day. Thanks Keith.

Tomorrow I need to pack, do a service on the trailer, load the Clan and get off to Bromsgrove and on Tuesday arrive at Hole Park to give them a hand with the set up, Kent will see my first drive of the Clan Better be worth the trip

Scott

[bks974c]

Sorry to hear you won't make it.

The information we required is in the instructions but hell who reads the instruction first, they are the source of last resort.

Had we been setting up from start we would have followed them but we had a problem but didn't know the cause so jumped right in.
Emerald use different buttons to input info into different screens you just get so use to clicking on something and it opens.

Scott

[ImpManiac]

I'm not sure how but I missed the last three pages of this!

Well done, Scott, for getting the Clan ready in such a short space of time. The car looks superb and, knowing you, it will be just as good under the skin too. I look forward to seeing you and the car down in Kent in a few days.

IM

[bks974c]

Karen and Amy and the dog have decided they are going away when I get back and can they borrow the Octavia, meaning the Scout as Amy prefers using this but as the other one doesn't have a tow bar that's not happening but have to give it the once over although it passed it MOT on Friday

20170731_143831.jpg

20170731_150733.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

National Update

Left Monday night and stopped over in Bromsgrove and got to Hole Park about midday and after getting set up gave a hand setting out the rally field.
On the Wednesday we managed to get it all done before the rain came on and didn't stop until the Thursday. Gave Sue and Andy a wee hand setting up their Awning again before the rain came on, so to stay in the dry gave Bob a wee hand setting up Club spares.

The girls and the dog had a change of plans and came down to Kent for a couple of days before heading to Cornwall on the Friday to a cottage they had rented.
Not impressed with the weather on the Wednesday, got soaked through and to add to their woes the heater/blower in the Octavia wasn't working- hadn't had time to look at it before we all left. So on the Thursday stripped the glovebox out to gain access, blower was fine but one of the heater flap motor was seized blown fuse, removed it and set flap to screen and all was well.

After the girls disappeared for the day I went out for the Clans first outing down to Hastings and back, not a great experience. Gearbox as expected was soooooooooooooooooooo noisy gear change crunchy in all gears except reverse. Front so bouncy with its 170lb springs, mirrors you couldn't see with.

However the upside was the engine was incredibly tractable actually driving around the rally field in top at 10mph without issue, temps help steady at 82 degrees so cooling system working fine.

Spent some time getting the mirror issue sorted managed to the interior and drivers side to where I was happy but work still needed on the passenger side. Oil was being blown out the dip stick which was caused by my catch tank and its plumbing being too small so creating back pressure, venting straight to atmosphere sorted that. Will work on a more permanent solution later.

The girls didn't get away until after lunchtime so missed the run so went of for a wee play, much happier with the visibility around me, still noisy and crunchy gearbox and on the way to get more cash despite being convinced I did not need anything this year still managed to put a big dent in a grand, these Nationals aren't cheap with all them shiny trinkets , the fanbelt tensioner bracket bent and caused the belt to rub. Just as I got to the entrance to the campsite it got thrown so pulled on to the hard standing and went in search of my tools that I had left with Vince Frost who had to change his clutch.

Belt was still there but a bit chewed put it back on and all seemed good until the Saturday morning when I decided to go for another run and only got round the campsite when it snapped. Managed to find an old style motorfactors who had the belt I needed about 7 miles away .
Got that replaced and then it was time for the Autotest, for a bit of a hoot I entered both the Clan and the Octavia Scout, I won both the classes I entered
The Clan was quicker than the 4wd Scout which was surprising considering the Clan was effectively on slicks and the Scout on all season tyres with very open treads however the tests were very tight for such a big car. I think that limiting myself to 5000 rpm as still running in helped avoid spinning out on the clan.

Sunday was a lovely sunny day, gave the Clan a wash and polish including getting most of the cone scuffs off the sill don't know how that happened
Lots of nice comments about the car, chatted with loads of people and at the awards got first in the Clan Class - well chuffed. Pleased the Eric got top prize for his Turbo Hillclimb Imp its a lovely piece of engineering.

Left Hole Park after half a breakfast at 9.30am and got home at 7.30pm with one stop.

Scott

[colimp66]

Great update on the National Scott and glad you got there with the Clan after the long hours and frustration that it was giving you the week beforehand. The trophy winning is a well deserved bonus to the effort put into a great looking and well finished Clan .
Hopefully the wee niggles will be ironed out soon and we will see it at the next meeting?

Cheers
Col.

[bks974c]

Since getting back its been a case of getting the garage cleared to accommodate the Clan at home.
Tonight I changed the temp sender which had failed at the National so idles and revs when cold now, bought 3 in case it happens again as well as the air temp one.

20170808_120351.jpg

20170808_191737.jpg

20170809_100359.jpg

20170809_103219.jpg

20170809_103205.jpg

20170810_205711.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Graham

Still very much a Clan Crusader just a number of IMProvements to suit its dual usage of track day and occasional road use car.

Today I changed the oil pressure relief valve as although the oil pressure is OK its not quite what I'd expect to see on a freshly rebuilt engine, it certainly boosted cold oil pressure but only marginally improved hot idle. So will be dropping the sump and fitting the new oil pump I bought at the National, the clearance on the existing pump were OK but not on minimum and so took a chance on it. The crank/bearing clearances were at minimum so happy its not them at fault.

Stripped the stub axle off the drivers side as before its MOT I found a lot of vertical movement which I sorted by wedging a small washer in between the carrier and the hub.
I was surprised to find it still there when i stripped it, I then dismantled the kingpins which was surprisingly easy and can reuse all the components . I then filed the worn areas flat which will allow me to fit a thick plain washer next to the bearing washer and take up the play.

Stripped the track day suspension off the Green Clan and put it back to it standard suspension, ride height remained the same but softer so will be much nicer on the road hen it finds a new owner. Fitted the suspension to VAK instead of the 170lb springs which are too hard for road use, however I could see the benefit on a long sweep onto the motorway the other day absolutely planted with no roll but it needs to meet both its roles with little of no changes as the green clan handled great so happy to stick with that set up for the time being.

As I had to remove the caliper to deal with the stub axle I got to thinking about the brake pads which lacked a little bite, the green Clan had Mike Dents -Moose - brake shoes all round and the feel and stopping is superb, VAK does not have the same initial feel so ordered up some EBC green pads. I would have gone all out for the yellow ones to match the car but they appear not to be available for the standard pad just the XR2's which are a bigger pad.

Scott

[bks974c]

The Edinburgh and Fife Area Centre are having a run to Ladybank Car Show tomorrow then onto Anstruther for a chippy, Clan in bits so got stuck in.

First of was the water pump pulley I picked up at the national which of course meant realigning/spacing the pump, unfortunately the alternator one didn't fit the Denso unit but for a fiver each no big deal.

20170811_210525.jpg

Re fitted the modified stub axle and stripped the rack to fit a new boot and adjustable TRE's however slight issue so transferred the HI ratio pinion to another body and shimmed it up and filled it with Landrover One Shot Liquid Grease so no more leaks hopefully. Lovely and smooth.

20170817_202922.jpg

Installed the front suspension from the green Clan and set the tracking, steering much improved however still sits quite high, next on the list is to set the camber to 1-2 degrees negative by adjusting the spring platforms.

Replaced the door mirrors as the torpedo ones did not have enough adjustment.

20170819_200940.jpg

Washed and hoovered the Clan for tomorrow.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

about to refurb my steering rack (correct a leaking end cap) ..where do you buy the rack grease from Scott (what's the spec)?

[bks974c]

An excellent run with the Imp Club today - Thanks Jim Fraser

Meet up at Keith's were I was provided with Tea and Bacon rolls before meeting up with the others at Halbeath - 7 Imps I Clan 1 MG midget
Scenic run to the show at Ladybank where we spent several hours wandering, look at the jumble and cars. Met several friends and stopped for a chat before we set off for chip suppers at Anstruther losing two Imp but gaining Alan B in his as some had other things to attend to.

When we got to Anstruther is was heaving as it usually is on a sunny day so when to Pitenweem the next village where we got our suppers and sat around the harbour eating them.

Clan ran faultlessly, mirrors working as they should. steering nearly sorted - wee adjustment to centre the steering wheel. Added a couple of new things to the todo list - squeak from the rear shock top mount - more annoying than the gear whine change the sunvisor to an opaque one - sitting at traffic light you can't see the lights in the green clan it works because you sit much lower so the angle id different.

20170820_155247.jpg

20170820_160409.jpg

20170820_162025.jpg

20170820_162044.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Removed the sump to replace the oil pump, more time was spent cleaning the old gasket off that actually changing the pump and sump.

To make all things equal I also changed back to the original oil pressure relief valve - result at idle oil pressure is 50psi but doesn't increase much as revs rise which is to be expected as they are design to blow off at 55psi I believe. So put adjustable one back in and idle still a nice 50psi but revs to nearly 100psi hot, I was looking for around the 75psi mark so screwed the adjuster all the way out and no change so thought I try another standard one but no difference from the original.

I do have a standard one that produced a nice 75 psi hot but don't know which engine its currently on so settled for the adjustable one screwed fully out but with enough thread not to fall out.

I then decided to reduce the idle speed and re programme the ECU, I played around with it and found the best setting was a 1050rpm base setting and the ECU getting involved adjusting the fuelling and ignition if it drops below 950rpm.

Oil pressure now 40psi at idle - that fine.

Will see what a cold start up is like tomorrow.

Acorr

[ImpManiac]

Did you remove the oil sump mounting studs? That takes an age!

Good work!

IM

[bks974c]

Removed the gear linkages from both Clans and planned to swap them as the green one has a fully rose jointed one that would hopefully work better with the dog box.

Well that was the plan

20170823_142552.jpg

different lengths, so had to make up a new one for VAK as it was longer and shortened the one going on the Irish Clan.

Scott

[ImpManiac]

I'd be interested to hear how the Rose jointed linkage works out with the dog 'box, Scott. It should be a good combination, you'd think.

IM

[bks974c]

Rose jointed gear change working well but not quite as nicely positioned as the Irish clan which was positioned slightly further back, the original one was angled back.
Will try it for a while and see if I need to change it.

Fabricated the passenger seat mount and exhaust mount which had broken when the exhaust had caught on the trailer.

20170825_182650.jpg

Removed the Brantz and clock from the rally car and mounted in VAK.

20170825_193843.jpg

Cut the plywood for the door panels and gave them a coat of fibreglass resin to stop them warping WHEN they get wet.

20170825_182659.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Today racked up 700 miles since I attended the National so time for a wee update.

20170829_155327.jpg

20170829_155319.jpg

20170901_174723.jpg

20170903_174634.jpg

20170903_174703.jpg

20170903_174617.jpg

Engine is proving superbly tractable with loads of power, currently rev limited to 7500 purely because it was set up for the R17 with the R21 I need to raise it to 8500rpm.

Its very under geared for the road with 70 mph at 6000rpm but should be ideal for the track days - its a compromise building a car that can be used in multiple roles.

Transaxle is not getting any easier to live with as the whine still drives me crazy and still not fully mastered the joys of a dog box - sometimes I get it right and it like butter just not every time.

Braking with the EBC green pads is much better with an improved bite.

Scott

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Looking good Scott.

I have the same top gearing in a straight-cut 1/2 JK box ...but I love the whine! That said I DO have carpets and heavy under-felt fitted!

I'm hoping to get the Clan back on the road before the end of the year. I've fixed the steering column (welded the outer collapsible cage back together!). Looking forward to developing the thing further ...much to do!

[bks974c]

This weekend was the Bo'ness Hillclimb Classic weekend, as well as the hillclimb itself on the Saturday and Sunday they have added another event
the Saltire Bo'ness Trophy a 95 mile regularity and autotest rally. Along side this there was a road run to Balmaha with a good number of Imp Club members taking part.

There were two Clan entered mine and Scott Fanning in his daily driver (one of the early BMW conversion) navigated by Hugh Liddle.
The start was at the Bo'ness and Kinneil steam preservation railway where I met my navigator Emma who was a novice doing her first regularity event
after getting her settled in to the car and discussing the approach to the regularities and calls for the autotest and how to work the trip and clock it was time for the off.

First up was the first autotest a gravel yard at the railway a spin round the cones which found us with the fastest time then onto the ceremonial start in the town centre and then test 2 a tarmac car park still with parked cars In the end the cars weren't an issue but they may have been a distraction for some as again we were quickest by a sizable margin.

Onto a transport section which took us away from the built up areas in to the foothills of the trossachs to the start of the first regularity which took us along roads which I remembered from the 2013 National. Results show we were only out by a total of 3 seconds over the 3 check points an excellent result for anyone never mind a novice.

Transport section to the Sheriffmuir Inn for test 3 where Scott and Hugh were quickest then onto lunch at the Dunblane Hydro for lunch - think we all could have spent the rest of the day there but soon it was onto regularity 2 which took us to Aberfoyle - our penalty was 12 sec which placed us 3rd again not too shabby.

Final section of the day took us onto Balmaha on the side of Loch Lomond where along the way we had to collect a number of pieces of information.
At Balmaha were were greeted by the people who had taken part on the road run, a quick run around some cones on gravel finished the day.

A coffee and some tray bakes followed while watching the rest of the competitors complete test 4.

I had a trophy for one of the organisers that I had picked up for them at an event in March and was showing him the engine when I spotted a puddle of oil, bother. Quick look underneath reveals a stream of oil coming from a hole in the alloy sump - a stone must have clouted it during the test.
Applied some epoxy putty which I carry in the spares which steamed the flow to a drip, there was still oil above the minimum levels so set off for Stirling where we bought a gallon of oil and some chemical metal and back to Bo'ness to drop Emma back at her car.
Back home I sorted a slightly better repair until I get around to getting it welded and sort some form of protection for the sump.

Sunday saw us set up the cars as part of the classic cars displays, the Clans were on the Imp Clubs stand, we ended up with 4 Clans and about 5 Imps and a midget - we let John on as he is a Clan Clover owner

During the lunch break the competitors in the Saltire Trophy had a final regularity up the hill, you had to choose which average speed you wanted to run
at and were measured against that. We elected to go for 30 mph which would have meant matching similar times to many of the hill climbers so stripped the excess weight by removing the tool box and spare wheel

We did the hill in 36 seconds which meant we got zero penalties at the first check point and were 2 seconds early at the finish and scored the lowest penalty so got maximum points which secured us the event win

Two wins from two events, well pleased with that.

20170903_174503.jpg

20170903_174511.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Fife Imp Club meeting tonight so took the Clan along since it had stopped raining

As I put more miles on it the better it gets, pulls cleanly to the 7500 rev limit in any gear just need to get raise it now

The box seems to work better the harder you drive, gearchange is slicker.

Heater and blower are hot and effective and engine temp sits at solid 82 degrees which is the thermostat temp. saw it rise to 84 when using max revs for 2 miles up the steep hill after crossing the Forth Road Bridge so the cooling system has plenty of reserve.

This was the first time out in the dark and pleased at how effective the lights were, but I know now why the Clan put the instruments in a pod - without it we have a very effective heads up display

So added to the todo list is a dim switch for the instrument cluster and the high beam warning light as it dazzlingly bright.

Find I had confused my dates and had double booked the Scone show and the End of Season Track Day at Forrestburn on Sunday, I elected to go and play at Forrestburn so there is a space available on the stand at Scone - contact Jim Fraser if interested.

Scott

[bks974c]

Couple of pics from Bo'ness Saltire Trophy

21369098_1905796759669538_1572507956446031479_n.jpg

21317836_1905796809669533_8991856275699733832_n.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Small Video


Scott

[bks974c]

In preparation for my first track day in VAK I up'd the rev limit and reset the steering so the wheel was straight.

20170908_185923.jpg

20170908_190000.jpg

Forecast was not good for today and so it proved, wet and windy best describes it, I had on the Toyo R888R which I was rather nervous about as no idea how much or little grip they would have in the wet. In the end I was pleasantly surprised how well they worked in the relative cold and wet but was always a bit wary.

It was poorly attended possibly due to the weather forecast but that meant you got lots of runs but did require you to do double marshalling stints, I recon I did 30+ runs in 3 hours based on the amount of gopro footage I took. Due to issues with my phone and the Gopro app I've ended up ordering a new phone so hopefully future videos will be better.

Video here

VAK ran faultlessly and the heater did an excellent job of keeping the screen clear although I have identified two further areas for improvement, the wipers arm and blades need to be longer to increase the clear area of the windscreen and to modify the accelerator stop as it was jamming fully open on a couple of occasions

Scott

[colimp66]

Well done at Boness Scott and that's a good video from Forrestburn too. Sounds like it is going well for you and I see you have a passenger seat fitted now too

Hopefully see it at the next meeting later this month.

Cheers
Col.

[bks974c]

Eric Morrey had entered his Turbo Imp for Doune Hill Climb near Stirling, a round of the Leaders Championship so I asked if anyone was interested in joining me in going along to show support in his efforts. 3 Clans and 3 Imps confirm they wanted to go, I organised to meeting up at Dobbies Garden World a few miles from the track and arrive in convoy and park up together.

This morning we had an Clan cry off so had 2 Clans and 2 Imps plus a couple of moderns arrive within minutes of each other at Dobbies, after a quick chat we set off for Doune.

20170917_100458.jpg

Had a chat with Eric about how practice on Saturday and this morning had gone, he was very pleased with his times especially being his first time here noting that it was a very quick track and quite intimidating as a lot of the track is enclosed on one side by armco and the other a stone wall with the hill behind it - I did note they have put a wooden fence in front of the stone wall but it was a very solid fence which I'm sure is not to make it any better for the cars just less expensive to fix than a stone wall

Loads of nice comment about the car and Eric happy to chat and answer questions about it.

Our missing Imp arrived having been waiting at the wrong Dobbies no names .

On Eric's first timed run he equaled the class record, on his second run he was 1/100's of a second slower but won the class quite comfortably. On the way out he told us he had also won best prepared car - all pleased for him, it is really a credit to him.


Return from 2nd timed run.

20170917_192132.jpg

I was the guinea pig for the first set of the driveshafts Eric has done for others, slightly changed from his original as the spigot is now part of the driveshaft rather than the gearbox output shaft and he has made some tools to make further examples quicker but needs more 7/8 driveshafts.
Just need my transaxles back to fit them

The weather had been good all day with the sun even showing it's face a few times but that all changed on the way home when the skies opened requiring a tentative approach driving on the R888R 's - no incidents to report. My brother Craig had chosen to travel back with Keith in the Volvo, the Clan being just too noisy and cramped for him, we drove on past the point we had agreed to stop and swap over as so wet and a few miles on it was dry again - the joys of the British weather.

Scott

[ylee coyote]

It was me who could not make it ...medical issues unfortunately ,just had some minor surgery today which will mean us missing the WWW ....before I was always missing meetings and trackway cos the car would fail ,now it is me falling apart !!
Looked a great day and good turnout ,it is about 10 miles from my house and I am really gutted not to make it ,the wife was even looking forward to an extended shop around the antiques ....
Glad Eric did well ,his car is so nicely prepared

[bks974c]

Been feeling guilty about not using the Clan so as the sun was shining took it up to the shed to swap over the wheels and tyre to something more suited to the time of year.

Lots of wheel options but few road legal tyres so opted to use Karen's off her Sport as it going to be a while before its back on the road, being 6x13 WITH 185/60/ tyres. Previous experience of the rears rubbing on the inner wheel arch had me check the clearance first - all seemed OK until I tried to drive it and the drivers side was rubbing, all the extra weight

Option 2, in fact the only other option was take the rally tyres off the Rally car 5x13 with 165/65 tyres, rather old but will have to do. Still minor rubbing but hopefully some 10mm spacers I have ordered will take care of that

IMG_20171029_161825.jpg

IMG_20171029_161903.jpg

Scott

[617sqn]

Be careful, Scott. Old tyres can be dangerous especially if they've gone hard. People get killed by using unusable stuff like that. There's that infamous story of the guy in the Mgb some years ago.

Andy G

[bks974c]

Thanks for the concern, I am wary of using stuff beyond their best hence the reason I mentioned it. They are 9 years old so more than 6 but less than the 10 which I'm happy with.

Engine and box coming back out next month so only a few weeks of use anyway.

Scott

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Just a thought for brief discussion ...

Tyres have different wear rates and some are softer with higher wear rates.

For example the AVON CR500's are sticky/soft track/road tyres and have a wear rate of only 20 versus 200-300 for a normal summer road tyre. And I guess winter tyres use a softer, higher wear rated compound too. So these softer tyres will still grip well when old as the rubber hardens. If cracks develop then that's a different ball-game ...they need to be scrapped.

I'm using quite old CR500's on the Clan for summer use - I don't use them in winter - I have proper winter tyres for that.

[bks974c]

Time to pull the engine and box - dog box heading for a life on track which it was meant for.

Front jacked up highlights a small issue of sump clearance.

IMG_20171202_111440.jpg

IMG_20171202_111507.jpg

IMG_20171202_111613.jpg

Love the look of the current ride height but going to have to raise it if I don't want to be constantly repairing the sump.

Scott

[bks974c]

IMG_20171203_125222.jpg

IMG_20171203_130007.jpg

Sorting out suspension and transmission options

Scott

[bks974c]

Having looked through the rear springs, it looks like I have 3 sets of Montes, two sets of standard and two of RAC. RAC and std have the same free height.

There was a set of standard 7 coils on VAK, tried the an RAC's- 8 coils and it made no difference to the height however with the engine and box back in I'm assuming they won't compress as much but will have to wait and see by how much.

Taking the idea of adjustable platform rear Pete Richards has mentioned on the forum I started on my version.

IMG_20171205_135244.jpg

IMG_20171205_135528.jpg

IMG_20171205_143554.jpg

IMG_20171205_174224.jpg

More to follow.

Scott

[bks974c]

Got some more work done on the rear suspension arms

IMG_20171228_135657.jpg

IMG_20171228_151006.jpg

IMG_20171228_170155.jpg

IMG_20171228_170210.jpg

Using 40mm set screws gives 30mm adjustment at the spring which will give me 52mm/2inches at the wheel. Exactly what I was after

Scott

[bks974c]

Rest of the welding done on the first trailing arm, once other side done need to think about rear disc options.

IMG_20171230_103337.jpg

IMG_20171230_104253.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Today spent cleaning and selecting good useable hub shafts and flanges - its a surprising to me how much wear a lot of them have including ones that have never seen any hard use. It appears that its not just the lock tabs that are soft, compressing and then causing the driveshaft/nut to fail in competition.

Cleaned up the mating faces to ensure not high spots that would result in a false torque setting.

One driveshaft ready, other waiting assembly.

IMG_20171231_151235.jpg

IMG_20171231_134339.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Adjustable camber mod for the front now done, removed material from the top and bottom of the hub carrier and tapped it.

Sourced parts to make up a bolt with an allen key end to allow the bolt to be turned easily without removing the shock absorber.

The bolt doesn't adjust the camber but allows the camber to locked when the desired position is found, I have +/- 2 degrees
this is not total camber but what can be added or subtracted from that set with the ride height.

IMG_20180105_142219.jpg

IMG_20180105_142238.jpg

IMG_20180105_142448.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

The rear discs are a long way from being sorted, the clan body is very close to the wheel - it needs spacers just to clear which means the caliper needs to moved outwards.
This in turn means the disc has to have a very small top hat height and they aren't that common so still looking for a suitable disc then I can move on to caliper mounting.

Scott

[bks974c]

Another job ticked off, cooling pipes rerouted - much happier but it was a pig of a job just hope it doesn't leak

IMG_20180107_122746.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

Spent several days trying to eliminate a small amount of play in the newly modified stub axle assembly, once I had eliminated all play in the various components the real problem revealed itself - loose wishbone bolt

At least its done now

Scott

[bks974c]

Got my repaired and modified sump back so fitted it to the new transaxle (close ratio helical, quaiffe ATB in a strengthened casing).

Refitted it all to the Clan along with Eric Morrey supplied twin UJ driveshafts.

IMG_20180224_122211.jpg

IMG_20180224_124155.jpg

IMG_20180224_185106.jpg

IMG_20180224_185148.jpg

IMG_20180224_115651.jpg

Scott

[Keith 'Supaimpy' Laming]

With the rear discs , why not make them two piece? , you can make a mounting piece then bolt together similar to a motorcycle . Possibly even recycle /use the centre of a drum turned down?

[ImpManiac]

The car is coming along very nicely, Scott!

It might just be the photo but the engine oil sump appears to sit rather low to me. What will the ground clearance be? Also, what is the purpose of the stub that you have welded to the camshaft cover? Is it simply a breather pipe? Sorry if you have said somewhere in an earlier post.

IM

[bks974c]

Some more progress but as always modifying stuff is never straight forward, the modified driveshafts allow the wishbones to droop further than before so the springs become loose so now need to fit some check straps. Work continues on optimising the length of the driveshafts.

Was looking for a dimmer switch as the instrument lights reflect off the screen at night so took a chance on a Jaguar switch but requires addition components probably a resistor or two currently acts as an off/on switch which will have to do for now.

IMG_20180302_133549.jpg

IMG_20180302_133558.jpg

IMG_20180302_133603.jpg

IMG_20180302_141035.jpg

IMG_20180302_164239.jpg

Scott

[bks974c]

At Forrestburn last year a slightly concerning issue with the throttle showed up, when pressed down hard the pedal would slip over the edge of the stop and then hesitate before releasing so a redesign of the throttle stop was required.

Surprising amount of time spent setting it up to JUST achieve full opening of throttle bodies, the inner wheel arch hole is slotted which allows the adjustment.

IMG_20180303_151938.jpg

Scott

[ylee coyote]

Have you considered helper springs instead of straps ? My springs are quite loose and was considering using these to allow me to drop the front a little for the track

[bks974c]

George

Helper springs would be fine for the front as readily available but the rear is an unusual diameter so would be much harder to source without getting them made which will be expensive compared to the check strap from a LandRover. £12 for enough to do multiple cars.

The function of the check strap is two fold, the first to stop the spring falling out, the second to limit the pull out of the inner spider from the transaxle. The second issue is only relevant because of the modified driveshafts so not relevant for everyone.

Scott