Panels, panels, everywhere

When I embarked on this project, the main part I feared was the alloy panelling......AND I WAS RIGHT!.

I'm just not enjoying doing this bit at all...Many an evening over the last week has been spent staring at the car for an hour with-out actually doing anything!. Fir panel I made didn't fit as well as I wanted (I've promised myself I will not put anything on this car I'm not happy with) and was scrapped!.

Anyway, after some frustrating hours, I've completed the two tunnel panels, the Gleko pins are a god-send as they hold the panels in almost as strong as rivets.

The driver panel is fairly long as it extends down to the pedal area. this makes handling of the alloy difficult.

The finished panels are going to be linished and powdercoated.

Onto something a little more interesting....the throttle bodies. I seem to have some sort of OCD when it comes to the TB's, I can't leave them alone...But, with my new found air filters, I needed a better way to fix them to the TB's....This alas meant different trumpets....So, I purchased (at a reasonable £20) 2 sets of outer rubbers from a gsxr 750. The outers are actually smaller than the inners hence why I could use them.

I think I'm happy now....but to re-cap!...Ready, take a deep breath...........I used the blue anodised air intake that I spent hours modifying so they would hold a back plate that would not fit, so I bought a filter that did not use a backplate, then some different trumpets that would fit the filter....what have I ended up with....bog standard GSXR750 trumpets with filters designed for a GSXR750    Phew!.....Yep...I'm an idiot!

Anyway, the finished article:

There is about 15mm between the air filter and the rear bulk head.....Not ideal, but I think I've made the best of a difficult situation with minium room.

Throttle bodies and engine mounts

My first issue...all be it minor.

I pushed it a little on the inlet length and to be honest, with the filter base plate in situ, they 'ain't gonna fit'!.

Plan B.....reduce trumpet length, remove base plate and re-think the filter situation....Thank you RamAir who do a twin filter that doesn't require a base plate, is designed for the gsxr throttle bodies AND 1/3 of the price of the pipercross...Sounds too good to be true.....ordered today, and we will see...Anyway, the manifold fitted perfectly :-) - Thanks Dad for milling the flange flat.

As you can see, not much room...but it will squeeze in.

On to the rear engine mount....I love this...the engine mount is made form the gear linkage stay (sits along side the gear linkage in the puma and is bushed. It's a simple case of cutting the end off, and crushing the tube..job done, one rear engine mount.

Finally, rather put a pin through the made up gearlinkage, I did the sensible thing and had it welded...no play, and the shift now feels fantastic.

It's here :-)

Spent a very pleasant day at Jeremy's picking up the chassis and associated bits. I also managed a quick blast in the demo car which was great as I'd never even sat in a Sylva J15 before.

It was a long drive up from Southampton, but a friend of mine (and fellow kit car enthusiast) came up with me and shared the driving. Also a big thank you to Jeremy's wife Stella who did a fantastic job ensuring our cups of tea never ran (she also does an awesome beans on toast). I also thought the dogs name was fantastic..........'Lola'.

First off......the colour.....I'll be honest and say I was terrified about this. The colour I wanted was gulf powder blue, but this was not possible, so Jeremy recommended French blue. He sent me a sample, but I could not really get a good feel for what it would end up like so, at risk, I agreed. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, the colour (IMHO) was fantastic, and I think will look great with either an Orange or Black stripe when finished.

I took up the Puma engine so we could get an engine mount welded up in situ. Of interest, the Puma engine has a different mount to the standard sigma / Zetec Se engine. This is down to the variable cam shaft gubbins needing more space behind the cam belt cover.

Anyway, engine went in, mount was welded up, and we left the engine in situ for the journey home.

Now, my plan was to get the chassis powder coated asap...But now the car is home and the engine is still in situ, it makes sense to do some of the installation work before I powder coat and panel the chassis. To start with, and ease me into the process, I'm tackling the gear linkage.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but the mechanical linkage found on the older Fiestas and the Puma really is very good, and to maintain this, Sylva developed a system for keeping it. The J15 and the Riot use a curved bar that comes back under the gear box and is connected to the selector shaft. Then, by using linkages from the Donor car you can maintain a decent quality shift.

I've taken a few pics of how this works, and hope this will help future builders as I could not picture it when I was reading the manual:

Dressed

As the kit is arriving on the 10th Nov 2012, I decided to get as much as I could finished on the engine. New clutch installed, gearbox mated, new starter motor and most of the engine loom completed and ready to plug in.

You may also notice the carpet in the garage!....Should be nice and cosy for the winter!.

Manifold DONE!!!!!....Yippiee.

Finally, after what seems like an age, the manifold is finished. And Jolly pleased with it I am too :-)

Was it worth all the hassle...Questionable!

I'll give it a polish before going on the car:

Pick up next weekend of the main kit.....How exciting :-)