I'm afraid this page is currently very boring. Most people use the term "under construction", which means they couldn't be bothered to update it. I prefer the honest approach. Still, you could always amuse yourself by following this link.
Still with us? Good. My name is Jon Bradbury and I live on the South Coast in the not-so-sunny seaside town of Worthing. Many years ago I decided I wanted to build a kit car (because it looked like fun - hahahaha!) and this year I finally got to do just that.
I am building what is known as a Robin Hood Project 2B DOHC "Lux" kit car which is a 7-esque replica except its much heavier than the original mainly because it is based on a Ford Sierra (its also got a stainless steel spaceframe chassis and body panels so not much rust to worry about). The actual kit I have is a new model for Robin Hood Engineering (RHE) which uses the Sierra 2.0l DOHC variant for the donor car, either in carb or fuel injected form. This differs from earlier kits that mostly use a Pinto engined Sierra as the donor.
RHE supply build videos with their kits in which we see Richard Stewart, the owner of the company, assemble a kit from start to finish. Although he admits these videos are an amateur affair they are quite engrossing to watch, even if they have a tendency to miss out a lot of the intermediate work, or cover somewhat complex operations with very little explanation. For example, on the subject of the fitting of the pedal box: "Don't worry if you struggle fitting the pedals; we struggled to fit them and everyone else will struggle to fit them". Hmm. Some actual advice would be nice here apart from the admission that it is going to be difficult.
I'm not complaining, though. There is a technical line to RHE which Richard mans himself. But the real thing is, you buy a Robin Hood not to assemble it like so much Meccano, but to come up against problems (like the pedal fitting) and overcome them. Its not impossible to do this and its pretty satisfying. I have to say that it’s a good hobby and if you play your cards right you actually get a smart looking car to tool about in when you're finished.
My build progress has been very slow to date. This is due to family and work commitments. I usually manage up to four hours a week in the garage and haven't done too badly. There are a couple of other builders with web sites who are doing much better than me, though...
What I am posting on this website (for now) is a collection of images of the work in progress. This is because I don't have enough spare time to update the site with a proper diary as yet. However, I will, once I get hold of some decent web authoring software (at the moment I'm typing raw HTML in Notepad - not the quickest way of going about this).
I collected the kit from RHE mid December 2002. The first task to do, apart from finding homes for everything, was to get the chassis mobile. I spent an afternoon in the piddling rain making a dolly for the chassis to sit on. I then fitted the floorpan and rear subframe (a very straightforward job in which you learn quickly the futility of using anything other than cobalt drills for cutting holes in stainless steel. Here is a picture of the dolly / chassis taken after this job was completed, with the idiotically grinning owner trying out the driving position.
When I started my build, I didn't have a digital camera, so the pictures begin with the rolling chassis. This is the important first milestone in any kit car build as it allows you to move it around the garage / driveway easily.
Rolling chassis - totally different to the Project 2B, you can just see the recessed floor pan.
Closeup of front suspension. Looks the same as the Pinto based Project 2B.
Trial fitting of engine / gearbox / carburettor / exhaust. The engine is quite tall. To do this I bought an engine hoist from Machine Mart which has been very useful for pulling tree stumps and bushes out of the garden. It is a very wise investment.
Trial fitting the steering wheel, column and pedals. There is a problem with the pedal offset.
Close up of steering top bracket.
Alignment of pedals and steering. Note that the centre of the wheel (and the column) pass between clutch and brake pedals - very important to get this right!
Pedal box bracket side view.
Master cylinder & reservoir. Because of the pedal offset it has been shunted inboard to get the alignment right. The pedals have to be straightened and the bracket modified..
Overhead view of master cylinder and reservoir - way too close to the engine.
I have 4.5 inches of engine ground clearance before setting rear ride height properly. At the moment, the sump is the lowest point, although the recessed floorpan is coming a close second.
When trying out the pedal / steering wheel position, you need a temporary seat or your Recaros will get very dirty. I solved this by lobbing a load of bits of timber in there.
The alternator fit is awquard and you have to make up a special mount. The one fitted to the DOHC engine is enormous and needs cutting down. Mr Angle Grinder is your friend. Has anyone noticed that "angle grinder" also contains the word "grin"?
I had nothing lying around to use for a tensioner bar for the top alternator mount, so I bodged it from the Sierra's bonnet latch staybar. I think I will revisit this later on, as it isn't really adjustable unless you have a lump hammer handy.
This is the real problem with the alternator. The clearance for the steering shaft is very tight once the fan belt is fitted and you'll spend lots of time adjusting the alternator to improve it.
Trial fitting the nosecone / bonnet / scuttle. Engine clearance is tight. What a surprise!
Here's a picture of the modified pedals. After an afternoon of cutting and shutting, they are straight and the pedal box can be moved further back away from the engine.
The pedal mounting bracket also got the chop in order to get the pedals closer to the floor and provide more clearance for the master cylinder and reservoir.
The radiator supplied by RHE has the pipes on the wrong side, and is a tight fit. Here I am trying out another builder's idea to make more space (putting the fan in front of the chassis rail). It doesn't look promising...
The steering column bracket in place. This item is surprisingly rigid when fitted, but with the extra brace it is nearly immobile. Note that the column is adjustable and I have kept the up / down action. In case you're wondering, it does work with the scuttle in place, although you do need to widen the dashboard cutout to make space for the column trim.
At last we're getting somewhere. The modified pedal bracket is fixed and everything bolted into place (including the steering bush bracket). What you cannot see here is the engine position is fixed, bolted in and the propshaft fitted.
The radiator fitted. Much umm-ing and ahhing with the RHE supplied fan (see earlier picture). in the end, I decided to try it with the Sierra fan and no cowl, because it fits better.
A close up of the fan, with aluminium brackets to hold it as close to the radiator as possible without fouling. Note that in this position the polarity has to be reversed to get the fan to blow. On the donor, it is mounted on the other side of the radiator and sucks.
Another view. You can see the fan is pretty close. Doing it this way is easier but I don't know if it will provide sufficient cooling. It would be easy to fit the RHE fan later with a home made cowl as others have done if this proves to be a problem.
This is a much better way to connect the radiator top hose than what is suggested in the build video - it looks much neater too. The ribbed pipe section costs £9 at Halfords.
The bottom hose is connected in the same way, although it is a bit exposed here. In both cases, the appropriate donor pipe can be used if it is shortened a bit.
The tank, fuel pump and sender unit in place. I am using a plastic fuel line because I couldn't get hold of any copper stuff. It is much easier to lay as long as you plan the route carefully.
The routing of the fuel pipes at the carburettor end.
This is where the handbrake should be, in my opinion. I have a concern that it would have been hard to reach if left in the passenger footwell (SVA fail point if the tester cannot reach it, plus it would have got in the passenger's way). It is reigid and secured to the tunnel top by bolting through the chassis rails with threaded rod and several nuts.
Of course, moving the handbrake implies modifying the bracket that the cables go through. I cut the slotted holes out of the RHE bracket as one plate and welded it (the plate) to a piece of angle iron. Bolting this to the chassis rails it is resting on will give it enough strength.
A much better view. The angle iron has been sprayed with white primer. The handbrake cable, which needs to be shortened, has been trial fitted. One further comment : the boot floor might need to be raised slightly if you fit your handbrake like this in order to clear the angle iron.
A tryout of the passenger footwell panels. At the top you can just make out the driver footwell panel that has to be bent towards the passenger side, so the battery tray will fit properly.
Trying out the battery tray position. I hadn't put the returns in yet for the front bit (where the dotted cuts are) because I wasn't sure they're needed (turns out they are).
Whilst fitting the exhaust I noticed it was rather a long way off the side of the chassis (because my engine is nearly straight) and so I decided to try and bend it up and in a bit. The collector box got distorted as you can see but this is going to be nearly invisible because it faces the body.
The outer pipe of the exhaust join gets a bit bent too. Not to worry though, it'll be hidden by the nice SVA-compliant clamp I am supposed to fit.
This is not called the loom of doom for nothing. My donor was a GLS trim so it had electric windows, central locking, electric mirrors and an alarm. All of which I had to cut out. The first thing to do was to lay the loom out on the drive and try to figure out what to remove. Nah, its easy really.... not...
I thought I'd save my back and lay the loom in the car first. This helps a bit because you get to try some wire routing possibilities out, plus you can see what needs shortening. I cut out the wiring that goes to the doors (this I had already identified as not required). Some odd circuits are left like the back window demister, because you never know. Maybe one day I'll have a hard top for it.
At this point I decided to try and start the car. I fitted the battery and rolled the car onto the drive. The ignition was turned on but I could not hear the pump starting up, so spent a few hours tracing the wiring and found nothing wrong. Then I thought "what the hell" and turned the engine over anyway. When I released the key I could hear the pump was running. This is because - as I later found out - the ECU only starts the pump up when it can sense the crank rotating. D'oh! Wasted all that time for nothing. Anyway, I cobbled the exhaust together, cranked the engine over and eventually it started!
I tried the clutch and gearbox out - no probs there. I had not fitted the driveshafts so wasn't tempted to take it for a spin to the end of the drive. No bad thing as it turns out because the brakes were not fitted. So the next job is... you guessed it, the brakes.
The rear calipers and disks. Each caliper is reconditioned and painted with Hammerite lacquer (two coats). The discs are new and the parts that are not contacting the pads are also lacquered to try and prevent unsightly rust. The carrier brackets are painted in black Hammerite. Note the rigid brake pipe which is covered using the Sierra's windscreen washer hose and wound with tape, then clipped to the suspension arm with P-clips.
This is the wrong way to connect them. There is supposed to be a flexible pipe that allows the calipers to move slightly as the brakes are actuated. I've corrected this.
In this next section, I am going to try and describe how the wiring loom has been laid in the chassis. This is a fairly important thing to consider as you need to ensure that it is all clipped in properly with nothing chafing against it. Also, it needs to be away from the fuel lines, which poses certain problems due to the very difficult point between the pedal box and engine, where you have a great fat bit of loom passing through along with the fuel lines (flow and return) and the rear brake line. It is all very congested.
The diagram below shows my first attempt at laying the cables. Apart from the bit I already mentioned, it is fairly logical how you lay it, but be prepared to try several different routes. Here goes...
The fuse box is mounted on the battery tray directly behind the engine. You have to cut out a square hole that matches the bottom of the box in the tray to do this. I used the gasket as a template to mark out the shape I needed, then cut it with a Turner nibbler (drill powered nibbler tool), which went through the stainless like the proverbial knife through butter. A slot for the wires and four holes later and the fuse box is bolted into place.
Fuse box in place. The slot is on the right hand side covered in duct tape - this allows you to fit the box without cutting any wires.
(See image below) Underneath the fuse box is a great fat loom that basically splits two ways:-
1) Bottom right hand corner of the picture shows the part of the loom that goes aft of the fuse box (in the schematic, it splits four ways : Steering column, Main Switches (including instrument unit), Aux Switches and Rear lights / Fuel pump & sender.
2) The other branch goes to the engine bay under the pedal box (let's call it the "main engine loom"), from where it doubles back on itself and re-crosses the chassis underneath the bent crossmember (in the schematic, this is shown as a red dotted line). It is attached with the cable ties that you can see round the chassis member. It goes to the battery and starter motor and has the engine subloom connectors dangling off it (under the battery) as well as the fuel pump relay (pink box) and one other relay (yellow box). Let's call it the "Power Sub Loom".
The clipped cable on the chassis cross member is the engine sub loom which branches from the engine bay loom under the pedal box (red line over chassis cross member with the "x" marks in the diagram) and is connected to the power subloom under the battery tray.Under the fuse box. The battery tray has been lifted from the passenger side so it is vertical.
There are several other sublooms branching off from the main engine loom under the pedal box. They are shown in the diagram as Engine Sensors, ECU, Front light circuits / horns / fan / coil (which also has a connector to the main power loom +ve feed, shown in dark green).
Now, if you think that is hard to understand, just try doing it! The main problem with this describing sort of thing is that most of the pictures I have taken do not show much, because it is difficult to make out the actual wire routing. I cannot get my camera at the right position to capture all this, which is why I drew the diagram.
One of the things I have read about the SVA test is that electical and fuel lines should not be bundled together. Unfortunately, this meant that what I had done with the main engine loom was wrong, because it crossed (and came into contact with) the fuel lines as they come out from under the battery tray. The only solution was to move the loom so that it is all on top of the bent cross member. In order to do this, I had to remove the pedal box and lay the loom underneath it, where it just fits (quite tightly). It now passes through through the battery tray (exiting through a cutout) and is clipped to the chassis rail, passing on left to right across the pedal box. Doing it this way means that it needs to enter the engine bay through the driver's footwell end-panel, but fortunately there is a handy kink in the loom just at that point.
Note that the battery tray cutout is lined with clip-on trim to prevent cable damage.
The brake and fuel lines are routed between the pedals and gearbox (clipped to the driver's footwell left hand panel).
All the action in this next shot is is the upper right hand portion of the image. It shows the brake and fuel lines coming from the front of the car towards the rear. The black lines are fuel flow / return and the copper line is the brake pipe running to the back axle.
Attaching these lines to the footwell panel isn't easy... This picture was taken from under thae car looking upwards. The sheet of stainless steel that occupies the bottom right area of the picture is the driver's left hand footwell panel. From there they pass right to the rear of the car, clipped to the central longitudinal chassis member (above the propshaft). On the other side of this member is the rear loom which is also clipped into place but in such a way that it does not come into contact with the fuel lines.
Loom and piping going to rear of car under the handbrake (ie, in the propshaft tunnel). This is the hardest place to fit it all, but gives the neatest result. In order to get the drill in to make the mounting holes, both tunnel side walls had to be removed. Once they are reattached, nothing will be visible in the cabin.
Since the rear brake and fuel line routing isn't quite finalised at this stage, we'll just take a quick look at the boot wiring. This shows - sort of - the route of the wiring loom at the rear end of the car. The idea is to attach the loom to the right hand side (as viewed from the front - that would be the passenger's side) and follow the line of the boot edge. At the first upright, the nearside rear lighting connections drop. Then, following it round, we have the fulel pump / sender / boot light and number plate light wires, unwrapped. At the left hand upright the driver's side rear light connector drops. This arrangement keeps the wires away from the fuel lines which are clipped to the chassis rails that go under the fuel tank.
Now for a brief interlude. The front suspension parts as supplied by Robin Hood will rust very quickly if left unpainted. However, they are exposed to a lot of flying crap from the road and most paint finishes (especially the easy to use ones like Hammerite) will tend to chip off on impact at the sort of speeds you'll be doing in such a car. The solution I have opted for is to get as many of these parts electroplated as possible. This is a picture of the first batch of parts:
Say NO to rust! Its a shame Robin Hood could not have supplied these parts plated like this in the first place. It does not cost a lot of money to do.
What we have here are the upper and lower wishbones, shock absorber brackets, the eight crush tubes that go inside the Nylaspa bushes and various nuts that are used for the steering arms and top suspension joints. I'll be painting some clear lacquer on these parts in the future but for now they can be fitted back on the car as-is. Total cost of this minor but essential job was £25 at my local friendly electroplating firm.
One thing to note is the lack of ball joints on the lower arms. These are supposed to be screwed into the "O" shaped bits you can see on the larger wishbones and Robin Hood do this just after welding it up when it is still very hot. The idea is that the wishbone shrinks around the joint and effectively locks it into place. We builders are not supposed to be able to remove them, but I've noticed on the RHOCaR discussion forums that several builders have had them unscrew of their own accord whilst the car is being driven! No accidents yet, thank God. Anyway, I thought I'd try mine and sure enough, out they came. Bloody hell. On the one hand I was pleased (because it meant the wishbones could be plated without damaging the joints) but on the other hand I might have had a nasty accident. Various suggestions have been made by RHOCaR club members as to hoow they can be locked safely into place. I think I will screw them back in and tack weld around the join. They will not be going anywhere then!
But back to the build. I wanted to see if I could get the car moving under its own power, so its time to put those shiny wishbones back on the chassis (with nice shiny plated bolts too).
Now you can see that plating the wishbones makes all the difference. I spent three hours reassembling both sides of the front suspension and putting the nosecode infill panels in. To do this it was necessary to offer up the side panels in order to work out where to put the bottom returns (sorry, I meant 90 degree bends) in the infill panels.
I fitted the front brake pipes and brakes then bled the system. Strange hissing sound as I pumped the foot pedal.... Do'h!! Forgot to tighten up the rear brake pipes, and now that evil fluid is all over the garage floor.
Some colleagues of mine are following the build and wondered what the car looks like at the moment. I took this picture; the answer is that it really doesn't look that much different to the last full picture. What you can't see here is all the work that has gone into getting it this far.
Time for a drive.
Having bled the brakes, fitted the rear halfshafts and torqued up the propshaft bolts, its time to whack the exhaust on and go for a spin to the end of the drive. This is the very first time the car has moved under its own power (I would have tried it earlier on but I thought it wise to wait until the brakes were fitted first). Here I am after a 3 hour session in the garage falling asleep at the wheel with a chirpy little co-driver, my daughter Amy. Don't touch that, dear, its hot...
Having done this I fitted the driver's seat.
*** WARNING *** These seats are HEAVY.
I had to lift it in and out a few times in a very confined space before I'd marked and drilled the holes. Once in, it feels as solid as a rock. Running the front strengthener inside the cockpit allows the seat bases to be tilted back slightly which improves the comfort no end. The kit is beginning to look more like a car now.
Then I fitted the passenger footwell panels. I have replaced the little black self tappers used to secure the recessed floor to the folded side bits with some decent 6M bolts with nyloc nuts and penny washers. That floor isn't going anywhere now.
This is the passenger's footwell. The black bar in the foreground is the front floor strengthener.
Next job is to replace the little orange bladed fan from the Sierra with the much more substantial (and cowled) Honda fan that came with the kit. I managed to shoehorn it in between the radiator and engine, and only then because the alternator belt has such a gap in the middle of it that the fan just fits. I think this is correct as the fan appears to be a "sucker"; the blade profile is designed to pull air through the radiator from behind. In the build video it is mounted on the front side of the radiator and wired backwards so it pushes but I couldn't get it to fit (engine too far forward, but only by an inch or so).
Believe it or not, this actually clears the engine and drive belt.
Having wired the fan up, I needed to test it, so I drove the car out of the garage onto the driveway, marvelling at how comfy the seat is. I left it running for half an hour and came back to find the water had boiled over and the fan hadn't started yet! After a long time spent posing questions on the RHOCaR Discussions site, I realised it was because the radiator cap wasn't a high enough pressure and there wasn't an expansion tank in the system (although I had plumbed in a catch tank). The next day I reworked the pipes to incorporate the enormous Sierra expansion tank and left it to run. This time the fan came on, but only when the temperature was at the very upper point of the "Normal" zone on the gauge. This might be caused by me only using water as a coolant - I need some antifreeze in there. Also, I am now after a small (non-Ford) expansion tank that will actually fit under my bonnet.
Because the steel strap at the rear (right hand side in the picture) is the sole strengthener for both seats' rear fixings, it needs a brace to stop it deforming in an accident. I welded up another piece with lugs which go from the strap to the front handbrake mounting bolt, thus bracing it against the chassis rail that forms the tunnel top. This picture was taken from the passenger side with the tunnel side pulled back. Behind the brace you can see the propshaft.
Whilst we're on the subject of strengthening, I just thought I'd show you how I tackled the pedal box, which goes all twisty when you press the clutch pedal. Well, not any more...! This steel strap is welded to the chassis and passes through the same hole in the scuttle that the steering column does. The pedals are now rock solid.
The next thing that was begging to be done was the side panels. I'd put this off until now because I didn't want to disconnect the front brake pipes in order to get them through the panels. Remember to follow the instructions and don't start drilling any holes until you're happy with the sidepanel, bonnet, nosecone and scuttle positions. In my case I had to move the panels quite a way away from the chassis rails to get a perfect join with the scuttle, with the nosecone and bonnet temporarily fixed on with duck tape. Remember also to make sure the scuttle is sitting square, by measuring the distance between both sides and a symetrical pair of reference points at the front of the chassis (say, the headlight mounting flange on each side of the car). The two measurements should be the same, obviously.
Time to press on. One afternoon I decided to have a go at trimming the dashboard. I modified the Sierra's instrument panel as per the video and attached it to the dashboard. I planned to have a piece of camping mat foam cut to shape and trimmed with black leathercloth stuck to the dashboard with carpet tape (double sided sticky stuff.. very sticky). Unfortunately, it doesn't look that good, but it is SVA compliant. Since all this is coming out anyway after the test (so I can fit a set of Dolomite instruments instead) I am not too concerned about it.
I will have to redo that bit behind the gearstick anyway because I need to fit the rear fog light switch, so I should be able to get rid of the creases in the vinyl. On the plus side, though, the steering wheel can still adjust up and down as well as in and out thanks to a bit of cutting out of the opening.
OK, Nose cone time. This was quite easy to fit, but you do have to consider its position in relation to the bonnet because you want the bonnet to be pulled down so as to nearly close the gap when shut. The nose cone is secured at the front by a piece of angle iron and three M6 set screws. These will probably be replaced by hinges because I like the idea of a forward tilting cone, especially as I will probably put the washer bottle down there eventually (same place as the Sierra so no need to modify the loom... Hurrah... Anyway, at the sides there are a couple of angles screwed to the top of the headlight mounting brackets that the nose cone braces against (no bolts - it is held down by the leading edge of the bonnet). Here's one in action:
Now's a good time to check your engine / bonnet clearance using a suitable precision tool, which you simply lay on the car from the scuttle's leading edge to the nosecone's recessed trailing edge.
Job's a good 'un.
Now for the rear wheel arches and back panel. In the video Richard refers to the
m as "easy fit" panels, which they are, relatively speaking. Alot of trial fitting is required to get them just right and believe it or not, the angle grinder is your friend here, as it makes it very easy to cut the curves to match the side panels. You need a sanding disk attachment, and with one of these and a fine grade disk, the rear wings are very, very easy to shape to fit the side panels. Remember, take your time and trial fit repeatedly, marking the excess material as you go along. Do not be tempted to "go for it" and hack off a big chunk at a time - you'll regret it because this join you are forming is important and highly visible. Make sure also that the wheels are in the middle of the arches on both sides, as Richard states in the video. Finally, try to achieve a slight slope on the top edge of the wings as viewed from behind. This is the result. I'm holding the panels in the pictures because at the time of taking them the wings were not permanently attached.
Once you're happy with the shape and position of the rear wings, all you need to do is take them off along with the rear panel and bolt them together, then refit them. Make up some little brackets to attach them to the top chassis rails (as per the video) and that's it, apart from the stone guards which don't fit properly and will require some fettling. I might not bother fitting them anyway (just use some helicopter tape to protect the panel) which is why I made such an effort with the panel joins.
Now for the Cycle wings.....
My DOHC Kit was supplied with the extra wide front cycle wings. This means that, with a bit of effort, it is possible to get a reasonable fit without cutting holes in the wings for the brackets, as others have done. You can also get a wider tyre under there (in my case I've chosen 195 / 55 R15 Toyo Proxes which have this really nice tread pattern and are highly regarded but not too expensive).
Cycle wing brackets are made up of a central bracket that the dummy McPherson strut passes through and two arms that actually hold the wing in place. These are attached to the central bracket by sleeves and there are further brackets (lugs, really) that are used to fix the central bracket to the hub carrier. The arms are supplied in the form of the infamous "multi bend pipe" in the kit and you have to cut various sections from it in order to get the desired pieces.
The first thing to do with the multi bend tube is watch the video. Then watch it again. Make cuts where specified. Remember : "Measure twice, cut once". Cut the sleeve pipe into four equal lengths. Then, you can fit sleeves to the central bracket and try it out with the arms on the car.
You're very likely to find that the braket doesn't fit and that the pipes need to be bent to get them closer to the wheels. This is certainly the case if you have the Robin Hood supplied "Arays" alloy wheels as they have a different offset (basically means they stick out more) to the Ford items, so you must get a tyre fitted to one alloy before starting and fix it to the hub where you're fitting the cycle bracket (I suspect that is because the kit is sold as "one kit + one donor" so it makes sense for the brakets to fit the Ford wheels).
When trying it out, make sure the bracket is fixed properly to the top of the hub carrier and that it isn't sagging - use a G clamp to hold it in place.
This is what you're trying to achieve. It's the rear of the bracket. The gap here is quite small, because I won't be passing a bolt all the way through the tube to fix the wings into place.
And here is an overhead view. The gap at the front to the left of the picture is spot on. It looks like the rear bracket arm is crooked (I took this before fixing the positions).
Make sure the bracket arms (front and rear) are level relative to the tyre - this avoids inaccuracies caused by camber settings in the front suspesion. This means you can't use a spirit level unless your wheels are truly vertical, which they won't be, especially if you've been jacking the car up and down all day. In my case I lined the front and rear arms up with a horizontal tyre moulding mark. Once you're happy with the positions mark it up and drill / fix the bracket arms into place like this:
You can see I've cheated by welding the sleeves to the bracket centre. Sadly I'm a lousy welder so it looks pretty rough at the moment. If you are a lousy welder too then I'd recommend bolting it instead.
Around now you'll be wanting to attach the bracket to the hub carrier. There are three attachment points - on the top, using the tab and at either side with the little L shaped brackets and the elongated pinch bolt that Robin Hood should have supplied you with the kit. This is fairly straightforward stuff - do the bolt for the top of the hub carrier first, though, and it'll make things easier when you're doing the pinch bolt brackets. Make sure the position of the cycle bracket arms is spot on before drilling. Now refer to the picture. "A" shows the top bolt, with the lug bent over. Clamp the bracket in situ and use a cold chisel to do this and you should achieve that nice double bend that gets the lug to line up with the top face of the hub carrier. "B" shows one of the little brackets secured to the pinch bolt.
Next up you need to drill the bracket arms where the cycle wing will be attached. What I decided to do was weld captive nuts to the arms so that the wings could easily be removed, and there would be no bolts sticking out near the tyre tread. To do this I had to drill 12mm holes that the nuts (M6 flanged) would sit in, then weld the nuts around the flange. It's a good idea to put a bolt in there to give a clamp point and to help make sure the nut is square. As you can see, mine aren't, because I welded it in situ. Doing it on the bench is a much better idea because you can use a bench drill and clamp the bolt properly when welding.
Oh well. Repeat the procedure with the front arm. You're now ready to trial fit the wing itself. Use a spirit level to check that the wing overhangs the front of the wheel. I'm not sure of the SVA requirement for this (front of wheel rim or front of tyre) but I played it safe and went for the tyre option.
This means the back is raised somewhat so it may be necessary to fit an extension to reduce spray.
Now comes the tricky bit - the wings themselves need to be drilled so the bolts can pass through them. The trick I used was to screw dome headed bolts with cross heads into the captive nuts, line up the wing using the spirit level and my hands (for center position over the wheel) and give the front of the wing directly over the bolts a whack with a rubber mallet. This leaves a "witness mark" on the inside of the wing, which you can then drill for your bolt holes. Now, attach the wing to the front bracket arm, line it up once more and whack the back. Drill the holes at the back of the wing and affix to the bracket. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well it isn't. You'll spend alot of time trying the wing on in order to get it right. Here's the finished result.
You don't have to mount your wings so close to the top of the tyre, by the way. I just like the look of this as the tyres appear to be lower profile than they actually are. The total time to do this was a day to bend the bracket arms to the correct position and a further couple of days fiddling with the wings and brackets to fit them, so you can see it's not easy to rush it. And if you do, you'll end up with something that doesn't quite look right, like this:
At least the other side looks much better... The next job to do will be a tidy up of the welds then it's off down the electroplater's to get it all plated like the wishbones.
The various cycle wing parts.
Track rod extensions. At the top of the picure you can make out the driveshaft gaitors I have fitted to please the SVA man. Without this, the bug nuts that are used to tension the shock absorber springs would fail as external projections.
Dummy McPherson struts.
Fuel filler elbow pipe.
Front grille, with the panel cut out as per the build video (basically with a hacksaw blade, plus my best mate Mr Angle Grinder and a sanding disc to finish of the edges. The grille is held in with friction. Just be sure that your drill holes for the legs are accurate!
First off, the pedal box. I couldn't see a way to make the supplied parts fit so I had to go for my "best guess". There is no mention of it on the build video; in one shot it is missing then suddenly it appears, as if by magic. However, I should point out in the interests of fairness that I did modify the pedal mount bracket so I've had to make an infil panel which you can see on the bottom left.
Front lights trial fit. I got a bit bored one day and decided to whack the front headlights and indicators on. The indicators are of course going to have to be moved outboard for SVA (this is the "no more than 400mm from the outside edge of the vehicle" rule that I'm trying to satisfy). The headlights are not yet wired but I've used some silicone to stick the sidelight looms from the Sierra directly to the back of the sealed beams, where the little windows are. Since the car is going nowhere fast these units are protected by plastic bags. One more thing to note here : spurred on by the dire predictions made by Richard in the build video about Caterham owners wanting to steal the Robin Hood archer badge for their own cars, I stuck it firmly to the nosecone. They'll never get it off!
I felt pretty good about the front lights so I decided to do the same at the rear.. except that these are only held in place with one grubscrew at the moment. They're wired temporarily to the Sierra loom (oh, apart from the fog light). For an encore I fitted the petrol cap which was absolutely child's play, then ripped the plastic coating off. Looks pretty good, eh? The reversing light is not going to be put on until after SVA as I want one that matches the fog light (or better still a high quality pair) and I don't want to be drilling holes in the back panel that might later become unnecessary. You don't need one for SVA anyway (although the fog light is mandatory). The fog light is mounted on a little metal bracket drilled to the underside, so if it is removed the holes won't be visible.
I've finalised my (temporary, for SVA only) dashboard switch layout, and got rid of those nasty creases. Although I will need more padding here because the fog light switches both have non-radiused cowls. I didn't relly think too hard about this. That is why there is a front foglight switch (but no front foglight) as well as a rheostat for the as yet unfitted wiper mechanism. I will probably take these out and blank the openings for SVA, just to be safe.
Unfortunately the dash still looks really, really pants. Especially with that off centre instrument pod. Who cut those holes I wonder???
At last the rear ride height is set. Only after burning out the last 10mm cobalt drill! This is a bit higher than I want but I expect the rear shockers to settle slightly. I can always wind up the springs if it goes too low. The Arays wheel fills the arch quite pleasingly.
Here is the bit where we bodge the rear suspension infills. Originally, I had taken a couple of sheets of stainless steel and bent them, origami fashion, into a good approximation of a shroud to cover these little corners at the back of the cockpit where the rear suspension intrudes. It all looked wonderful, until I tried to fit the driver's seat and found it wouldn't go back far enough as it fouled the pretty shroud. So it's out with some thin (.5mm I guess) aluminium sheet, a couple of really big hammers and the silicone (£1.99 a tube from LiDL!!). This particular aluminium is almost thin enough to wrap around the suspension bits by hand, like tin foil. It took about an hour a side but I doubt it'll leak as there are plenty of other places for the water to get in first. A tip here is to use self adhesive foam strip under the panels to form a gasket. Don't worry if a hole appears in the ally as it can be sealed with the silicone. Then just use a finger to smear silicone all over it for that really professional finish!
Now back to the engine bay. I was a bit worried about the heat output from the 4 into 1 manifold supplied with the kit and have fabricated this heatshield from thin aluminium sheet. The heatshield material is a woven glassfibre mat with a coating of foil and I've glued / riveted it to the panel for a professional look (only thing on the car that is!). The chassis tube to the right of the heatshield is wrapped in a tape made of the same material to protect part of the wiring loom that runs along it.
This odd looking arrangement is the handbrake cable guard. It's really a former for the trim (which will probably be carpet) that I'll be attaching later on.
Underneath the steering wheel are lots of pointy bits that the SVA inspector is not going to like. This is a picture of the heavily padded panel that covers them. It still looks bitty down there so I expect I'll have to revisit the thing before SVA. You can just make out the speedo cable which is going the long way round behind the pedals. This cannot be a long lasting solution - it is bound to break because some of the bends are quite severe. And there's even a bit of carpet in there!
On the passenger side, I've opted to attach some (badly fitting) bits of hardboard under the dash. These will look much better when they are trimmed and in any case are only temporary to get me through the SVA. Got a sense of deja-vu yet?
The first bit of carpet goes down. This is the sable carpet suppllied with the kit (I got tonnes and tonnes of the stuff) and doesn't look too bad. It's not glued down because it is so rigid you can just wedge it in between the chassis tubes. A couple of grub screws secure it to the vertical panel at the back. I'm quite pleased with the way it looks.
Now for the boot. The DOHC kit is supplied with a pair of side panels that yo u fold to fit. You don't get a boot floor section to cover the fuel tank or a ba ck piece. On my car I've chosen to cut some pieces of exterior grade ply to perf orm these tasks as you can see in the picture below. A really useful thing to us e for the bottom panel is aluminium angle strips (like angle iron but ally). These come from B&Q and cost a couple of quid a metre. I've basically used it at the rear to make a cradle for the plywood base to sit in and this makes it really easy to remove should I need to get to the wiring underneath. At the upper left of the picture you can see the inertia switch that cuts the fuel pump off in the event of an accident and the fuel filler pipe is on the right. There is a big gap visible between the back panel and floor, basically because I didn't have enough wood to do the job properly. There is no problem with doing this as the carpet is waterproof so skinning the inside will give a dry boot. However I will probably redo this area after the car is on the road. The blue stuff is foam packaging that I have put over the bootlip (and chassis rail where the seatbelt mounts are) to protect the rear panel (and my head whilst working on the car).
This panel (on the left hand side of the picture) is the quadrant infil for the drivers side. There is quite a bit of fiddling to be done before it can be made to fit. You have to cut loads of it away especially on the curved edge, so I opted to cut slots and bend the panel over in tabs that fit underneath the fibreglass arch. It isn't a perfect fit but that is eventually all going to be hidden by trim. On the right hand side of the picture you can see the little plate that needs to be made up to cover a hole in the deck. Richard says (in the video) that this was originally intended to route the fuel lines to the underside of the panel but in fact you don't need to do this as there is plenty of space under the tank and you have a nice run of chassis rail to clip it all to. So here is the only example of a pop riveted panel on my car (all the others are screwed in just in case I need to dismantle at a later date).
Sadly the passenger's side quadrant didn't go quite as well!
The next thing to do is to cover those springs with something. Thin Ally to the rescue, again! This stuff is just strong enough and child's play to work with. All I did was cut them to shape with a pair of tin snips and screw them into place on the alloy angle, then a quick planish with a hammer. Looks good and is removable if I need to get to the upper shock absorber mounts. The passenger cover is on the left and the driver's is on the right. Guess which one was done first...?
Now for a couple of exterior shots. I've taken all the plastic from the outer panels and the car really is starting to look nice.
We now move to the fiddly matter of trimming the interior.
The first thing to do here is some more work on the handbrake cable guard, in this case, a cover for the end, under the handbrake itself. This is another job for that thin ally plate. It is rivetted to the guard because I doubt I'll ever take it off. I did think that it would be a good place for the "Passenger Ejector Seat" button, or better still the cigarette lighter socket, when (if) I fit it.
The next picture shows several things. First of all, you can see where I've formed a piece of the sable carpet supplied in the kit over the handbrake cable guard. It is clamped into place. This stuff needs to be heated before you can bend it easily, but once it cools it holds its shape. The next thing you'll notice is the tunnel top cover which is cut using a paper template. Finally, you might notice the white padding on the tunnel side, which is fixed on with spray adhesive. This is a very thin material which is used as an underlay for laminate flooring. It is very cheap, non absorbent and should provide the right level of padding.
We jump forward quite a bit here. This picture shows the interior trim starti ng to come together. The carpet on the tunnel top sits in the channel formed by the tunnel side panels (they're about 1cm taller than the chassis tubes). The panels are then edged with clip on edging which passes over the front edge of the formed handbrake carpet, finishing it nicely. The black leather cloth is stuck to the padding on the tunnel sides and clipped on with the edge trim. There is also edge trim around the base of the handbrake, clipped onto a bent piece of alloy angle that goes round the base of the handbrake lever. The gaitor is just a glued together piece of leather cloth and isn't particularly good (it's too small for one thing but I've run out of the material so it'll have to do). You can also see that I've put clip on edging around the gear stick hole in the carpet to finish it. The overall effect is quite sombre, which wasn't what I was after, but I never liked the sable coloured carpet anyway. I expect I'll redo it all after SVA!
The carpet under the driver's seat was reasonably easy to fit, using a paper template first. The driver's seat is in, too. This is a bit of a fiddly job and it was important to line it up with the subchassis I put under the floor. The thing to note here are the bolt sizes. The rear bolts are M10 8.8 and the front M8 8.8. M10 at the rear is important for me because I'm using the Recaro's seatbelt mounts for my harness (instead of the chassis side and handbrake angle arrangement proposed by the build video) so these have to be a minimum strength. I fitted the seatbelt after the seat, just to prove it could be done by one person as is required by the SVA.
I've sat in there to check the driving position and it is pretty good. What's more, the seatbelts fit me! Brum! Bruuuum!
The passenger seat is now in, along with the carpet.
I'm starting to carpet the boot floor and sides now. Using wallpaper (backing paper) and masking tape, it is easy to make templates for this area. There is a piece of plywood behind the strip of carpet at the back of the picture which supports it. In the corner is the inertia fuel cutoff switch, covered with a folded piece of carpet. The carpet edges are not radiussed, so it is necessary to cover them with edge trim which finises them off nicely.
This is a picture of the rear deck and bootlid. There are three pieces of thin plywood cut to a rather complex shape. The idea is that the deck sides extend forwards and down over the wheel arches. This covers the part of the rear arch which is where your right elbow is when you're driving (or left if you're the passenger). The trim is comprised of some thin foam glued to the panels then the RHSC-supplied rubberised fabric on top. I'll be the first to admit this isn't my best work but it will pass SVA.
The bootlid itself is hinged using piano hinge along its rear edge. This is hidden by the trim covering. It is secured by extra stong Velcro strips with the soft side being used to cover the top edge of the rear panel. I didn't have enough material to cover the underside, unfortunately, so it looks pretty crappy when open.
First up are the front brake hoses. Initially I had secured them to the side panels as per the build video but it is a well known fact in the RHOCaR community that this is usually a fail point as most SVA examiners seem to think it is insecure. The answer is to open the side panel holes with a stepper drill (to 20mm) and pass the hose union through them using the grommet on each hose to protect the pipes. Then, behind the panel, a more secure (separate) bracket can be fabricated and installed. The hose union is secured through this bracket and there is a shake proof washer to make it tight against the bracket when the union is tightened. This is the driver's side union and bracket. You can see the grommet passing through the side panel.
On the utside, the grommet looks pretty neat. That other bit of rubber round the hose used to be on the other side of the grommet. It's been cut off (carefully) and relocated to hold the protective spring further up the hose. The grommet is then slid down the hose to the approprite position. When doing this, bear in mind it is a tight fit on the hose so you have to pull hard. Although it looks as if it is bonded to the hose, this is not the case and it will move.
For completeness, here is the passenger side hose union, bracket and grommet.
I am quite pleased with this approach as it looks neater and more professional than the old way, plus I think it will be OK for SVA.
The next thing bugging me is the clearance between the carburettor and the br ake master cylinder. There are two options for dealing with this, obviously, and they are either to move the engine forward or the pedals backward. I opted to move the pedals as it is an easier job and there really isn't space to move the engine. The pedal box was dismantled (yet again!) and new holes drilled for the mount points. The whole lot was shifted back by about one and a half inches and the clearance issue is resolved. Two other things were done to improve matters. The fabricated "P" clip that held the loom under the master cylinder (on the inside of the cockpit) was discarded as I felt it might damage the loom. I added some padding to the underside of the pedal mounting bracket to protect the loom inside the engine bay. Finally the clutch cable is re-routed so it shouldn't foul the carburettor either. I also sprayed the mounting brackets whilst they were out of the car to prevent corrosion. The finished article is here. If you compare it with the earlier pedal box pictures you can see the improvement.
Side view from the passenger side of the car. I will now have to rejig the stainless steel covers to suit.
The final SVA concern is the alternator positioning. As originally fitted it looks too close to the brake pipes that are clipped to the top chassis rail and it is also tight around the steering shaft. The brackets I'd made up to secure it were pretty awful too. To remedy this there are a number of modifications.
The alternator mount is returned to something more resembling the Ford item. This has the effect of lowering the alternator, thus clearing the brake pipes. However we still want it to stand away from the engine more than it does in the Sierra so four M12 bolts are used as spacers. This is a rock solid support now.
The next thing to do to improve steering shaft clearance is to take the alternator out and grind as much away from the casing as possible. Some of this grinding is visible in the next picture.
This wasn't enough to sort the problem out fully. It was necessary to adjust the angle of the steering rack relative to the shaft by raising the front edge of the rack. I fitted M12 nuts as spacers at the front of the rack, and this has two effects. First off, the rack universal joint pivots downwards, thus lowering the front of the steering shaft. This provides the necessary clearance with the alternator. Secondly, it dramatically reduces the angle the U/J has to swivel around when steering, which in turn reduces the effort required to steer. This is a common modification made to Robin Hoods as the U/J nearest the steering rack often binds its yokes when rotating if it is fitted straight to the chassis. Here's the rack mount modification.
With reduced steering effort, it should help improve the self-centering action of the steering (evidence of which is a requirement for SVA).
I've begun to do the final fit of the plated cycle wing brackets, having finally acquired a set of tyres for the Arays wheels.
It's not going too well as I've fitted the passenger side front section to the driver's side bracket, so the wing doesn't fit. Fortunately the bracket sections are secured together with M5 bolts so dismantling shouldn't be too much of a problem... D'oh!
OK, the cycle wing brackets are assembled now. The plating makes a real difference as these pictures show. Also, you'll notice there are some covers on the non-radiused parts for SVA, although this job isn't completed yet.
This is my solution to mounting the exhaust. You're supposed to drill holes in the side panel to do this but I prefer a separate bracket. This assembly has to be covered somehow prior to SVA and I think the easiest solution is to cut a slot in the heat shield and slide it back towards the pipe exit.
This is a shot of the nearside from the rear. Thbe exhaust clamp is a traditional U-bolt type affair which I think is not going to pass SVA. I need to change or cover it prior to the test. The exhaust heat cover was assembled as per the build video and the result looks pretty good.
The car is starting to look really finished now. Here's a front side on view. You might notice I've secured the bonnet on with the RHE supplied bonnet catches. I was going to cover them with some contrivance made of vinyl and padding but on second thoughts it's probably best if I get the rubber SVA compliant catches instead.
Finally we have the menacing front view (the suspension still has to be setup as you can see the camber's all wrong).
I HAVE APPLIED FOR THE SVA and the date I've proposed is the 16th June 2005, which gives me about three weeks to finish the car.
I have a set of VIN plates made by another RHOCaR member (thanks Bill!) and I've now fitted them. One is riveted in place on the firewall (front of the scuttle inside the engine bay) so it is obvious when you look in the bonnet. The other one is welded to the chassis cross member that the front suspension is bolted through, facing front so it is visible through the grille in the nose cone. It's welded because I think it has to be permanently attached to the chassis in some way (although I could be wrong, in which case I'll need to get the VIN stamped directly onto a chassis rail).
The battery tray needed some work too, principally to hold the battery down and to provide some protection against exhaust heat. My solution to securing it is to use a piece of aluminium strap bolted to the battery tray panel with self tappers, plus a piece of angle iron that the front of the battery sits on to stop it moving forwards or backwards. A heat shield is secured to the strap with a small self tapper and there's a piece of foam to act as an insulator for the positive terminal which is badly exposed. I could imagine taking the bonnet off and catching the +ve terminal. Ouch.
I'm wiring the headlights in permanently now and so it's time to sort out a cover for each of the 19mm nuts that secure the headlights. I just drilled a 12.5mm hole in the covers and threaded the wire through them. There's some flexible pipe that covers the thread and wire as it goes through the side panel hole, so it looks like this:
The flexi pipe actually came from the Sierra's loom and has a slit running along its length. It will be secured around the thread with a zip tie (after the lights have been aligned). That edge trim round the light bracket is off the Sierra's door opening. Looks nice and safe for SVA!
I did a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing when thinking about where to put the side repeaters. The SVA manual isn't too clear about it, but it does make some exemption for a Lotus 7 style car that has a body that narrows towards the front. I ended up calling the SVA centre in Southampton and asking the examiner for clarification. Turns out they're not too fussed as long as it's visible to the rear (as defined in the SVA manual). So, I mounted them above the exhaust exit on the nearside and the same place on the offside. And they are visible from the rear (well 15 degrees out as per the manual). These are not the Sierra's repeaters but a set of aftermarket jobbies that blend in well with the stainless steel when they are not lit. They're E marked and don't have any projections. Expensive but well worth it.
The rest of the build is mostly going to cover preparaition for the SVA.
First up are the indicator extensions which are needed for the motorcycle style indicators fitted to the nose cone. They are supposed to be within 400mm of the side of the vehicle (this is usually the rear wheel arches on a Robin Hood). To make these up all you have to do is dismantle the light fittings and make a tube from thin aluminium formed round a pipe of suitable diameter. Like this:
This made up tube isn't what I actually used, it's just for illustrative purposes. Anyway, fit one end of the tube over the black rubber bit that goes into the silver indicator body and planish it so it takes on the shape of the black bit. Doing this gives a more secure join. Then, insert the other end of the tube into the indicator body. Wrap some black insulation tape tightly round the join then continue wrapping it round the tube so it covers it all the way down to the join with the black rubber end. Now, carefully planish the overlap in the aluminuim tube so it's not sticking up. Finally, wrap foam around the join at the indicator housing end and re-wrap the whole thing in black tape again. Then reassemble the housing, threading the wires down the extension tube and through the rubber mount and reattach it to the nose cone. This is what you end up with. It's easy to see why they're called "comedy indicator extensions"!
The next job is to properly mount the seatbelts on the Recaro seat bases. What's required is for the buckles to be bolted to the seat base through the "top hat" washers so they are free to move round and the seatbelts themselves do not chafe on anything sharp. The other requirement is that the mount must be capable of disassembly without damage. This implies a captive nut if it's mounted to a box section but in the case of the seat bases the threaded holes are just as good.
Fitting is a trial and error affair as there are several possibilities. Just remember the points above. In my case, one belt on the passenger seat (furthest away from the tunnel) required turning over so the buckledidn't foul the seat base. The resulting twist was passed through the lap buckle and no one would know. The other thing you might need to do is put some trim over the exposed edge at the base of the seatback to stop the belt from chafing, like this:
On the driver's side, an extension plus longer bolt is needed for the mount furthest away from the tunnel because the spring in the raise/lower mechanism gets in the way.
The inner belt mounts are, thankfully, straightforward and don't require much thought to get right.
Once you've mounted the belts it's a simple matter to clip the covers on and refit the seats. Now, when you lift and shake the belts, you should hear the buckles moving against the "top hat" washers, which is how I expect the SVA examiner will check them.
Whilst we're on the subject of seats and seatbelts, I had a chat with the SVA examiner and he's advised that a piece of angle iron attached to the underside of the car would probably be required to provide extra strength to the rear seat mounts because my belts are attached to the seats. Oh well, there goes my ground clearance!
Now for the chassis side rails. They are trimmed with a piece of rectangular trunking cut in half lengthways and covered with foam and leathercloth. This is the passenger side (haven't done the driver's side yet) and it also shows the SVA cover I contrived for the exhaust mount bracket. Using this trunking gives a nice flat top to the chassis rail that you can rest your elbow on. It is one of the easier materials to work with. It is attached by pushing it into the scuttle gap at the front and one screw at the rear, so there aren't any annoying screwheads sticking up along the top surface.
Now round to the bonnet. Where it comes down over the scuttle there is an unprotected edge that isn't folded inwards because it's supposed to overlap the scuttle side. The best fix for this is to use some leftover bonnet edge trim and mitre it into the corner. A few dabs of translucent silicone covers any exposed edges and whilst doing this I secured the main trims to the bonnet edges because they keep coming off when the bonnet is removed.
You can use a file on this material too if there's any concerns about that corner.
In this next section, we're doing more SVA preparation. The test is confirmed for the 18th June 2005 which is 10 days from the time of this writing.
I wasn't happy with the exhaust clamp or the crease in the 4 into 1 bit of the manifold (because it was not a 2.5mm radius). I took the shiny stainless clamp off and put the U clamp back on, rotated inwards. On the crease in the manifold I smeared a load of exhaust paste, let it dry and filed off the excess.
The clutch cable is held away from the engine with a zip tie. This prevents any fouling.
To cover the front suspension parts I have used a PVC hose with an internal diameter of 25mm. It's sold in lengths of 3 metres by B&Q and they call it pond hose. Here is a picture of the cycle wing bracket which has various exposed edges. Note the nut covers which are from Tifosi.
The top wishbone joint gets the same treatment. This is a piece of PVC hose slit along its length, placed over the joint and secured by zip ties. Easy peasy.
I did the same thing with the seatbelt buckle covers, except there's a hole for the bolt head to go through. The cover is secured by the bolt cover and the buckle is free to move underneath it.
All the lights in the kit have sharp edges where the lens screws are recessed into the lenses. Most people fill these recesses with clear silicone but I decided to use self adhesive drawer buffers which come from B&Q. They are made from flexible clear PVC and look OK on the lights.
The rear deck screws need to be covered too, as they're cross head screws. These are press on covers from B&Q.
The comedy indicator extensions have been shortened in order to stop them flapping about in the wind.
On the cycle wing I had used M6 bolts with cross head domed tops. These have edges on them so I've swapped them for proper bolts and secured Tifosi covers on the heads.
Underneath the car there is a subchassis (pictured further up the page) with angle iron rails. The corner of these angles are not radiussed so I have used black silicone to attach a trim strip from the donor to the driver's side rail. The passenger side is exempt because it is technically under the car (that means it's not contactable by a cone having a 30 degree slope on it, because the exhaust is in the way).
The casing of the foglight needs to be radiussed where it meets the lens cover. You can't get a 2.5mm radius in this as the plastic is too thin, so it is enough to blunt the edge with some sandpaper.
The filler cap as supplied has a contactable edge all round it. I got round this (geddit?) by sticking tadpole beading to it.
The Sierra switches have cowls with lots of sharp edges. I played around with them, trying to file the cowl down but in the end decided to attach a cover that provides a recess for them to sit in. The other two switches previously shown are removed because there's nothing for them to switch (one was the front fog light and the other the intermittant wiper delay rheostat).
Here's my solution to the radiator catch tank issue. It's an aluminium drink bottle, secured in place with a bracket made from ally strip and zip ties. The bottle is supposed to catch any overflow from the water system when it gets too hot, then when it cools down again the caught water is sucked back into the radiator. I'm not sure this will really work because the DOHC engine cooling system design is supposed to be pressurised. There is a 20 lbs cap on the radiator to achieve this, so I reckon the system will work with the bottle for "emergency venting". It's been run on the driveway until the fan goes on with no problems, but with proper engine loading (ie, normal driving conditions) we might get a different result.
Here's a home made plenum chamber. It's made of that thin aluminium sheet I used to made the indicator extensions. The various pieces are held together with silicone and the inlet pipe is rivetted to it. This pipe (leading forwards) is the air intake pipe from the donor. Under the nosecone it's connected to a piece of trunking from the Sierra's demist system.
A bracket holds the air intake in place, and a piece of aluminium gauze I had lying around serves as the "performance airfilter".
Of course, the top engine breather pipe has to be connected. I drilled a hole in the plenum chamber, inserted some plasic pipe and sealed it with silicone.
The lower wishbone mounts at the back didn't look too good. They are just a single L shaped bracket with one bolt through the wishbone bushes and one bolt through the chassis. Due to the amount of packing required, the wishbone bolt is quite long and there is a danger that the mounting bracket will rotate around the bolt that secures it to the chassis. The solution is to stick a second bolt in there, offest from the main M10 bolt.
I also had to secure the bottom radiator hose join to stop it flapping about. Here is a picture of the bracket, bolted to the chassis where the brake pipe union bracket is. To connect it to the radiator hose I've just used a jubilee clip around the joining pipe.
And on to the bonnet catches. Everyone knows they are not SVA compliant. I wanted to use them (with covers) but in the end decided to buy a set of rubber catches. Here's a picture of one of them. Because they're flexible they are very forgiving of the mounting position, so if you get it wrong (as I did) there's not always a need to redrill. In fact, some of the holes used were the ones I'd originally drilled for the metal catches.
The last two items to be dealt with are the mirrors and the exposed edges of the louvres on the bonnet.
The mirrors that come supplied with the kit don't seem to be long enough, so I extended them using threaed rod. The technique is to gut the mirror stem in half, slide a suitably sized piece of threaded rod into each piece and use a vice to crip the stems onto the rod (they are U-shaped in cross section). Then wrap all in insulation tape. The result loos like this:
The mirror is mounted on each side as far back as possible on the scuttle and at the point where it can stick out the most. To make sure there are no edges here, the screw holes are filled with clear silicone.
A stand needs to be fashioned for the rear view mirror. This is a folded piece of scrap stainless steel, covered with black vinyl cloth.
The bonnet louvres are a bit of a problem. Some people think they are exempt from testing, so I had a really close look at the regulations and it seems they are not. I decided to make a padded cover up with a bit of hardboard, some foam and left-over vinyl. It is attached to the bonnet with plasic zip ties.
By Jove, it looks crap!
A final check round the car turned up an edge on the spare wheel holder (hoop protruding from the rear panel), so it was wrapped in insulation tape.
So here we have it - a Robin Hood 2B, ready for the SVA. Here's the SVA report.
With a little pre-test checkover by another Robin Hood owner's Club member the night before, I was up at 5:30am for the 60 mile drive to Southampton.
The car performed flawlessly on the way there.
The test result was a fail, but on some minor points which were:
- Top seatbelt mount bolts aren't strong enough (they were supplied by Robbin' Hood) need to be 8.8 marked. I sourced new bolts (12mm 8.8) and fitted them.
- Rear seat bolts need to be shortened as they're grounding out (so it's "out with the angle grinder", then!)
- Bootlid needs a latch, velcro on its own isn't good enough and wouldn't normally be used by a manufacturer. To get round this, I fitted a latch from the Sierra (originally used to hold the rear seats in the upright position). The moral here is : "Keep as much stuff from the donor vehicle as you can".
- Mirror extensions and indicator extensions need to be covered with self amalgamating tape, not insulation tape. Well, that is easy enough to rectify. Self amalgamating tape is easily available from any electrical wholesaler and it costs peanuts.
- The cover I made up for the louvres in the bonnet was deemed temporary. I'm surprised the tester din't wet himself laughing on this one! In the end, I cut some normal edge trim to size, checked for any sharp edges, and clipped it on:-
- Exhaust bracket has contactable edge. Not at all surprising, given it is one of those u-bolt thingies. I replaced it with a (very expensive) stainless steel bracket that looks more like a jubilee clip.
- Some bits of wiring need clipping up. These were the (unconnected) rear speaker cables which I hadn't secured properly.
- Front caliper spring clips need to be fitted. Oh, that's a pain. I couldn't work out how to fit them when I reassembled the front suspension. However, with a little more thought and patience, I subsequently managed it.
This amounts to an evening's work (once I acquire the trim and self amalgamating tape), then I will have a MAC.
What the tester did say, however, was that it was one of the best put together kit cars he'd seen and without doubt the best Robin Hood he'd seen, ever (a comment he repeated at the end of the test). He was particularly impressed with the sub chassis under the seats and the strengthening of the steering column supports and pedal box. The fail list is also one of the shortest he'd ever filled out.
I am very happy with this result and his comments actually mean more to me than a MAC (although getting both would have been nice!).
CO2 and HC emissions were negligible, brakes passed easily, noise level was 92db (!), nothing was said about the filler cap (which i had difficulties sealing properly) or the unmarked plastic fuel pipe.
It didn't miss a beat on the way home, either. Easy 70 mph cruise all the way with no fuss or drama. The DOHC sure is an under rated engine!
So, it's off to get some trim, then book a retest. HA!
Result : PASS!!!
(And here's the MAC to prove it.)
And here we have the finished article.
