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3rd October: 2h00m:
Engine arrived this lunchtime:
After I took the photos I firstly took out the spark plugs to do an initial
check on the condition of the engine. Everything looked fine. I then began to strip off the
unnecessary bits-
- PAS pump
-
Exhaust manifold
After removing the exhaust manifold it became clear that the engine has a
minor oil leak from the cam cover- not a major problem as I intend removing it anyway to check the
condition of the cams. Hopefully a new gasket will sort the problem.
Further bits will be stripped off the engine in the next few days...
4th October: 1h00m:
Removed a few more things off the engine-
- The huge inlet manifold & throttle housing
- Big alloy bracket on the front of the engine
It's actually beginning to look quite small now, as though it might
actually fit in the back of a Mojo!
Also cleaned up the block, mainly from the oil that had come from the leaky
cam cover.
6th October: 0h30m: Removed
the sump to take to Sylva on Saturday.
7th October: 0h45m: Cleaned
the sump using degreaser, and then rinsed with water and washing-up liquid.
8th October: 0h45m: Finally
got round to putting the carb I stripped down ages ago back together using new gaskets and seals.
9th October: 2h00m: Stripped
down and rebuilt the second carb.
11th October: Collection day! Set off for Bardney
at 8.15am, arriving at about 10am. Jeremy was helping to make some mods to Tony Brumfield's
Striker, a very nice bike-engined hillclimbing machine. Gave Jeremy my sump and lower steering
column for modification- they will be sent back to me along with a few other items that weren't
available for collection on the day.
Went through the list of things that were to be taken away, so that we knew
what needed sending on, and then started loading. Everything went very easily into the Merc
Sprinter.
Finally took some pics of a Mojo 2 mid build, for my reference, and had a
long chat with Jeremy about gear linkages- the one I have been sent by fms is different to the one
Jeremy has used before. It may still work, but requires a bit of ingenuity; other wise I'll revert
to Jeremy's normal setup. Since Jeremy's race car is now a pile of bits in the corner of his
workshop after the recent crash at Cadwell Park, he loaned me a couple of his gear linkage parts to
ponder...
Arrived back home and unpacked the van, all finished by about 5pm.
Here are some piccies from the day:
12th October: 6h00m: Spent
some time pondering the gear linkage setup, and whether I would be able to use the parts I had bought
from fms. Cut out a cardboard template for the first aluminium panel- the drivers side of the
tunnel. Transferred the template to the first 18G sheet and cut out with a jigsaw, filed the cut
edges, and then made the 20mm fold along the rear edge to wrap onto the rear bulkhead. At this
stage I could trial fit the panel... at which stage I discovered my first mistake. Hmmm. The
panel fitted perfectly everywhere except along one edge, so there was nothing for it but to start again-
frustrating, but I had half expected the first panel to be a pain! Thankfully I could use the
first panel as a template for the second attempt, with just the inaccurate cut changed. I cut the
new panel out, and then called it a day...
13th October: 1h45m: Made
the fold in the transmission tunnel panel, and did a trial fit. This time, things were looking
better, but a lot of fine tuning was required around the footwell crossmembers to get a good fit whilst
clearing the weld material. Here's the result:
14th October: 2h00m: Spent
some more time pondering the gear linkage issue. Disassembled my linkage a little further to see
if I could make things work. May have found a solution, but still need to double check clearances
with other stuff that runs through the tunnel.
Marked out the passenger side tunnel panel, using the driver's side panel
as a template.
15th October: 2h00m: Cut
out the second tunnel panel, bent the rear edge as before and then spent some time fettling the fit.
No problems this time! Pondered the gear linkage some more...!
16th October: 2h00m: Had
a new idea for how to fit the gear linkage. It would require an aluminium plate to fit between the
top tunnel rails, folded up at the edges to give extra strength. Decided it was definitely worth a
try, so began fabricating the plate from 18G.
17th October: 4h00m:
Trip to the scrap yard for the Sierra steering column outer that I foolishly left behind a few weeks
back. Stopped off at the local Ford dealer to order a few bits and pieces.
Continued finishing the gear linkage plate. This was a fiddle as two
cut-outs were required, plus 4 holes for mounting the linkage.
18th October: 4h00m: Marked
out & cut out the passenger footwell end panel, then marked out and centre-punched rivet holes.
Clamped into place and then did my first chassis-drilling- scary! All went well, I then removed
the panel and de-burred the holes with a hand-held 6mm drill bit.
19th October: 2h00m: Marked
out the driver's side lower footwell outer panel, then centre-punched, drilled & de-burred.
I'm not rivetting the panels in place yet as it's best to do the tunnel panels first, and these are best
left until after sorting out the routing of some of the stuff that runs through the tunnel- mainly the
radiator pipes, but I may also sort out the rear brake line, fuel line and heater hose (I'm intending
driving the Mojo every day remember!) at the same time. Trouble is, the radiator pipes should be
bent to suit the top and bottom hose of the radiator, and I don't know which radiator I'm going to use
yet... So I'm stuck in a bit of a vicious circle!
20th October: 0h00m: Collected
my rivnut tool, plus picked up some plastic P-clips from Maplin. I'm only counting hours spent in
the garage, so ZERO hours today!
21st October: 2h00m: Decided
to fit the radiator pipes using rivnuts so that the tubes can be removed later for appropriate bending.
Fabricated some aluminium P-clips from scrap 18G plate, then fitted my first rivnut. Can you feel
the excitement?
22nd October: 3h30m: Finished
securing the radiator pipes. Drilled the first two holes on the inner face of the tunnel top rails
which will be used as fixings for my custom gear linkage setup- broke 2 drill bits in the process, which
called for an emergency trip to Focus DIY! £2.49 for 1 drill bit- ouch, won't be going
there again.
My plan for fixing the gear linkage mounting plate was to use rivnuts to
enable easy removal in future- oh what a mistake! I didn't check that the rivnut tool would
phsically fit to enable me to fix the rivnuts, and of course when it came to that stage, it was too big.
So now I had 2 great big 6mm holes which were good for nothing. I had a few futile attempts at
fitting the rivnut with 'unconventional' methods, then pulled my hair out some more whilst trying to
come up with 'plan B'. In the end I decided conventional rivetting using the large rivets destined
for the floor panel would work (and yes, the rivet tool would fit this time), so I drilled a
further two holes and, hurrah, fitted the plate in place, and then fitted the gear lever mechanism to
the plate. I then spent a minute or two 'practising' changing gear (despite the fact that the gear
lever wasn't connected to anything at all...) before calling it a day.
23rd October: 1h30m: Centre-punched
the driver's side tunnel panel, then clamped it in place and began drilling through and into the chassis
rails. New 4mm drill bit didn't last long, blunting after about 40 holes, so have to give up.
I'm going to stock up on plenty of 4mm bits to avoid future frustration!
24th October: 6h00m:
Equipped with some new drill bits, I finished drilling the driver's side tunnel panel, then de-burred
ready for fixing.
Before finally fixing these side panels, there were some
more jobs to do in the tunnel (sounds like the Great Escape!). I
fitted the master cylinder for the rear brakes and then began bending the rear brake line into shape.
I wanted to make a neat job of this, so took some time getting the straight runs 'straight' and
forming smooth bends. I ran the line along the inside of
the right-hand top tunnel chassis rail, secured using P-clips riveted in place at approx 200mm
intervals. The rear T-piece / brake pressure switch will be
fitted just to the right of the tunnel on the bottom chassis rail in the engine compartment.
I then ran the fuel line through the tunnel on the
opposite side to the brake line. I've opted to use rubber
hose all the way through. This was P-clipped in position,
taking care not to interfere with the handbrake lever and mechanism.
Update: The fuel line was later replaced for a
solid line using copper microbore central heating pipe- see Diary entry for May 2004 for full details!
Finally, I felt the urge to rivet my first panel into
place. Although not strictly in the order suggested in the
build manual, I decided that I could safely fit the driver side outer footwell panel (I still need full
access to the tunnel for another job or two), so applied a bead of car body sealant to the chassis
members that the panel will fit against, offered up the panel and pushed the rivets into position.
Then I got 'popping'!
26th October: 6h00m:
Final job in the tunnel for now was to sort out the cable stop for the gear linkage.
The Focus-based linkage I'm using will translate the fore-aft motion of the gear lever to the
gearbox using a rod, whilst the left right motion of the gear lever is translated to a push-pull motion
on a cable. I used an angle grinder to chop down the huge
original steel bracket from the Focus, to give a neat cable stop that I then drilled and bolted to the
plate in the tunnel.
Although quite a few more bits and pieces will have to be
routed through the tunnel (heater hose x2, throttle and clutch cable, loom…) I decided that these will
not need to be fitted as securely, so I'll be able to fit these through the removable tunnel-top easily
enough. Before fitting the panel to the tunnel I drilled a
hole to correspond with the harness mounting point in the chassis.
Then I carried out the panel-fixing procedure as before- sealant then rivet. Unfortunately one slip of the rivet gun resulted in a bit of a scratch on the panel.
I was MAD! Maybe it'll improve with some fine wet
& dry paper followed by a polish, but this car is all about driving after all, so I'm sure I'll soon
forget about it! Hopefully…
27th October: 1h30m:
Riveted the passenger side tunnel and footwell end into position.
At this stage I ran out of rivets, so a shopping trip was called for!
I reckoned I would need at least another 400 rivets, maybe I missed a bag when I picked up the
kit from Sylva. Anyway, no problem, I picked up 1200 rivets
for £15- that'll definitely be enough!
28th October: 2h00m:
Measured, cut out, centre punched and drilled the passenger side outer footwell panel.
29th October: 2h30m:
Riveted the passenger side outer footwell panel in place. Negotiated
some assistance from Liz to drop the chassis off the build stands and onto the floor panel, which itself
was sat on the floor. Once the chassis was centred
correctly, I drew round all of the chassis members with a marker pen, and marked what will be the
finished outside edge of the floor based on some dimensions from Sylva.
Then I sat in the car for the first time! It now
looks very small and low compared with when it was on the build stands.
Dragged Liz out to the garage once more to help pull the
floor panel out from under the chassis, and then turned the chassis completely upside-down ready for
drilling and riveting the floor panel in place.
30th October: 3h30m: Drilled
some pilot holes into the floor panel, to give a reference when marking out the holes that will be
drilled through from the other side. Marked out the hole centres for the rivets, centre punched
them and then laid the panel onto the upside-down chassis, and began drilling... After about half
the holes, my arms were getting very tired, so I called it a day.
31st October: 3h30m:
Finished drilling the holes, then de-burred them. Decided I had enough time to tackle the
riveting! 2 hours and 2 blisters later I had a finished panel. Phew!
Total time spent during September: 62h45m
(Crikey!)
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