Rear Brakes - Revisited

It's been a bit of a struggle, but we got there in the end. To fit the Hispec IVA callipers, the uprights needed some minor modification....It's taken far too long, but to be fair to Hispec they did the modification and the callipers now fit perfectly. Basically, they say that the calliper will fit a golf, but actually it doesn't, it has the same hole pcd, but the offset is way out.What this all means is a). I now have plenty of Clearence for 13 inch wheels, b).the handbrake cable has a good un interrupted path. c). nothing is anywhere near the CV boot....All in all, a decent modification.

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A few pics of the engine mount and the drop I added to lower the engine. Also shown is the later J15 engine rubbers.

Sealing the side pods, and redoing bits I'm not happy with.

Things have slowed a little recently, no real reason, but probably because I'm doing jobs I'm not overly interested in......However, they need to be done so tough!.

First off are the side pods, or sills.........Most of my electrics reside in this area so it's important that they are protected from the elements. The problem here is of course they sit perfectly in line with the wheels, which of course are very effective water / mud / grime spitting machines. I've started with the basics which means getting as good as possible seal, but more work will be needed creating an actual wheel arch. Meanwhile some alloy fabrication is in progress (this will be powdercoated of course). I liked the look of the older 'riveted' cars, but there's no opportunity on the J15 to get this, so I opted to bolt the panels into the side pod.

I've also been doing....make that 're-doing' jobs that I've not been happy with, one of these was the fuel hoses from the tank. I've neatened them up, I can now look at them without pondering that I could have done them better :-)

What else has been happening.....Ahh yes....trim........interior is all but finished, and I've put the rubber u channel over the seats.

Lights and more carbon, and some fuel tank mods.

Long ago I decided not to use the rear lights provided with the kit...the simple reason for this was I had found some rather nice looking LED lights that would not need the larger holes cut out from the rear clam. Anyway, this is them, and I think will look good on the J15.

Back on to the fuel tank, on the back of some discussions regarding fuel tank venting, I decided to revisit my simplistic 'connect a pipe' system. As luck would have it, I salvaged the fuel tank vent from the Puma, and kept it!.....a simple solution, and the fuel tank is now vented via a nice valve that lets air out, but closes if there is fuel on it (i.e. if you flip the car).

Last but not least for this post.....the interior.

For the top panelling I'm using 2mm carbon fibre...for no other reason than I think it looks good. For the sides to remain IVA compliant I used some rubber strip (normally found on wheel arches). This was glued on and is also held in via the screws holding the panels down. The end result is a good quality panel, with a nice finish that (in theory) should not squeak, and offer some level of water resistance.....

The gear leaver uses the same gator removed from the puma, and is simple in design and clean looking.

New header tank

I was not really happy with the old alloy tank, it leaked for a start!........

I ended up studying a load of images on google of various OEM header tanks, and ended up with one from a Corsa, which, coincidentally can be found new on ebay for around £13!....As you can see from the above pic, the bracket angles fit nicely with the chassis and the tank is positioned nicely without having to fabricate and special frames......The only thing I may have to do is cut some small slots on the central tub to go over the brackets.