Well time for a small update, progress has been painfully slow. I have sat down and had a think about why this is taking so long and how to manage it better to ensure it is ready before Christmas.

I think an already long list of mods and a large slice of spec creap has ultimately made it impossible to get the car ready in a year but I honestly didn't think it would take this long. I had hoped to have the car ready for the MLR sprint at Kames near the end of July and then the MSA sprint at Kames the week after. Well that didn't happen so in all honesty I had to step away from it for a few weeks to save my sanity and stop me ending up in anger management!

At the minute the car still need the wiring for the car i.e lights etc finished and a small amount of wiring needed to the engine loom. The standard looms have all been removed so not single wire remains form the factory wiring. The new looms are made using thin wall aircraft spec wire which is significantly lighter than its normal equivalent current capacity wiring. The weight saving over a whole car is staggering, the other bonus is it simplifies the wiring keeping all the wiring to make the car drive from the non essential stuff like lights wipers etc etc Wiring the car yourself also means if it goes wrong at an event then you know where to look.

I am also going to pull the engine out and have the heads ported, valves changed and 14mm head studs fitted as well as a refresh. That will allow me to run man size boost and man size revs.

Other than that its pretty much then cosmetic.

Engine as it is now, not fully put together but fitted to mock up many of the new parts and the engine loom.

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Intercooler pipework was really looking tatty so had them given a wee tidy up by lockey at HYDROtek, given what he had to work with they have turned out really well.

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Fibreglass doors and Perspex windows are now painted and fitted really happy with the finish on the doors - big thanks to Derek at Leeson Coachworks in Kilsyth have been using them for years having the many cars I have bumped fixed. Does mean a whole new lot of lettering to be done.

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Same vain Morrette covers and oil cooler intake duct also painted. Intake duct courtesy of Frayz who posts over on 22B, he is currently making an RCM reverse style vent for pre-facelift classics. The only company that used to make them for pre-face lift bonnets, ETS racing, went out of business last year.

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Rear diff mount has worked out really well

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Switch panel is a work in progress and this is just a mock up for wiring purposes, I hope to have a properly etched switch panel soonish.

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Hyd handbrake and bias valve fitted

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reservoirs fitted to a wee panel I made up, made this panel while fighting anger at the way things were going, didn't think filing could be therapeutic lol

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front braces fitted, bit of a mix of clours but they will be covered by a splitter come undertray so colour doesn't matter they wont be seen.

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ECU arrived - big thanks to Mark at Lateral for sorting this quickly. Its an S6 with the full active knock option. I have maxed out the inputs so will be going for a Syvecs 10 input/output CAN expander and GPS/Accelerometer package not cheep but will add a lot of functions including DBW throttle. Going down the DBW route opens up a lot of other avenues such as an easier way to implement anti-lag.

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Aim dash also arrived which will be connected to the Syvecs via the CAN bus. I havnt fully decided how to mount this yet as the dash is a light weight fibreglass affair so not that rigid so need to have a think about that.

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I have decided to go back to a full size alternator so had to swap out my carl Davey alternator bracket for this one that Alyn at AS Performance is producing cracking fit and finish and very light. It also has an adjustable double bearing ended adjustable arm for setting the belt tension.

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And that's it kind of up to date.

Awesome update arch. Really looks like you've made some great progress. I'm on my phone so can't make out, what's the silver bar on the tunnel mounted next to the shifter.

Vent will be ready soon, sorry its taken so long :)

some neat touches there Arch, nice to see the long distance engineering support works...........:thumb:

Frayz, its a 5th/6th gear prevention bar..........

Thanks sorry ment to reply ref vent but forgot, no mad rush now mate.
As Alyn says, its a bar to stop me taking 5th gear when I go for 3rd. Most of the sprints I don't need 5th or 6th so just block them off.

Thanks Alyn alternator bracket fits perfectly really nicely engineered, nice and simple and light. Spacers for the diff mount are perfect too :thumb:

Frayz sorry meant to say, oil cooler duct is perfect nice piece of engineering - thanks

Ah I thought it was a prevention bar but with the extended length shifter on the phone screen it looks almost like part of the linkage.
Really nice build though mate, I like this car alot :)

Arch, can you have the AIM dash on a plate on the steering column touring car style rather than hacking up the glass dash?

Now funny you should say that lol, from the pics you will note that the mounting bracket thingy on the column is still there. I will cut the bottom half off and I have a Gucci bracket which has been made to mount the Aim dash onto the top of that bracket so looking at that and see how it sits, if it looks ok and I can see it then I will go that way if not will mount it on the dash. But the idea off the dash is to be no more than a light weight cover that can be quickly removed to give access to the wiring etc

Cool, sounds good Arch :)

Cars looking good mate

just a quick one

lockey doesnt work for me, I just dont want people getting mixed up we dont deal with carbon dipping even though it does look like a good job :)

If you'd had me do them they'd be covered in real carbon :)

oops sorry for the confusion will edit the post.

Quick update, lots going on in the background, engine is coming along nicely, huge thanks to Alyn at AS Performance for all the help with the rebuild of this.

I have a few parts inbound and some which will hopefully arrive in time which will make a difference to the original spec I had planned for the car.

The main job at the minute is wiring the car. I have got 75% of that done now. The engine loom isn't far away from completion, thanks to John Stevenson for his help with this.
I have spent the last few days locked in the garage working on the biggest part of the wiring which is the switch panel. This houses all the switches, relays and fuses for the engine side and car side. The idea is to keep it as compact and light as possible while retaining simplicity. The car will be fully road legal so there is a bit of time involved in the panel logic for the various MOT related functions.

All the wiring for the lights, fuel pumps etc is already sitting in the car waiting to be terminated and connected via the various connectors at the switch panel. The switch panel will be fully removable. I reckon there is another full 2 days work in the panel and probably a full day on the wiring loom. The man hours involved in doing this right is frightening as well as the cost of the various switches, relays and Raychem wire but the out come will be worth it.

I am waiting on an etched front panel coming which will have all the switch and circuit breaker legends on an anodised panel. The panel the switches are mounted on at the minute is temporary.

Few pics below of the switch panel at the minute. It still has to be tidyed up and the various wires neatly routed. What is there is tie wrapped quickly as there are wires being added all the time so most of the tie wraps etc are temporary. If I have time I will use looming thread instead of tie wraps to secure all the bundles together its neater but time consuming to do.

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Drawing showing what the front panel will look like, it will be anodised black with silver writing.

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That Looks spot on Arch,John sent me a picture of that etched panel but the size was too big for mine,Adam has nearly finished my main loom and the panel on the car so another couple of weeks and the cars coming up to Johns for him to fit the engine loom and the syvecs.

Looks amazing Arch.

If you need a hand with the old loom threading give me a shout. Have thread, can travel LOL ;).

nice, very nice work.

Cool so at that point I will get my new subframe :lol1:

If you want an etched panel I have used Greig Goodwin at 2G Products limited he would be able to make a panel too suit his email address if interested is greig@2gproducts.co.uk.

Cheers Phil will let you know how I am getting on.

Thanks appreciate the vote of confidence :thumb:

More progress made on the wiring front.

The switch panel is almost complete just the Cal knobs to fit and the Ethernet cable to fit on the front. Wiring wise its complete bar a wee tweek to the wiring for the sidelights and to finalise the wiring for the wiper. Not going to have an intermittent wipe that will be rainex but will have fast and slow speed. Still got 4 plugs to fit and sleeve which will be done once the wiring for the side lights, wiper and DCCD are finalised.

Front of panel with new etched anodised panel


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Side showing relays and fuses, these will be easy to access once fitted in the car. The systems that are critical will be on the front circuit breakers the unimportant stuff like lights, horn, wiper etc will be fused.

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Wiring inside the panel needs a good tidy but cant do that until its totally finished and tested. Its got a bit busy around the switches and would possibly do that area differently if I ever had to do it again but it will be neat once finished.


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Battery is mounted along with cable to easy access Anderson connector.

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All the car systems like lights, wiper, washer, horn etc are all terminated in an aircraft style terminal block using proper amp ring tags. I still have to make up the small stub looms that will run from the terminal block to the various plugs on the switch panel but there is no more than 3 hours work in that.

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Which battery you use?
Awesome work mate. Awesome.

Looks sweet that Archie,I ended up just fitting my switches etc onto a carbon panel nothing as fancy as yours tho,After faffing about It looks like my wiper motor is sorted Tim gave me some basic instructions on the plug i.e. the set up on the plug is generic even if the wire colours are different passed the info to Adam who looked at me as If I had 2 heads and just said piece of piss no problem will sort it next time I'm over like yours twin speed with back to park on the wipers.Arch I like the idea of the Anderson plugs what size amps plugs did you use ???, where did you get them from ???? as Im only using a small odyssey 680 gel battery myself so will need at sometime to add a bit of extra juice off a bigger battery when starting looks like the anderson plug is the way forward.

I understand that you have always the pc680 connected? How many days?

Golf_0 I have a small odyssey 680 gel battery fitted in my car the only reason for going down the same route as Arch is because you do a lot of stop starting during an event which will drain a small battery the idea on using the anderson plugs is to allow you to add an extra normal heavy duty battery to up the power for cranking speed to start the car which is where most of your power from a battery goes

Gus 175amp plugs and the bay of e

cheers Archie will get that sorted today

Archie, not used Rainex myself, so don't know how well it works. Could I suggest PIAA wiper blades?

Even now that mine are god knows how old, light rain just beads on the screen and blows off whilst driving.

Quality work on the switch panel and wiring. :thumb: I'll not show you the wiring on my car, most of which isn't my doing mind. :cry:

Micky I used to use the old tried and tested method…. arm out of the window with an old rag :) works wonders on the windscreen but fu**s your arm up :) on another note I have used rainex before and its brilliant stuff.

Another vote for rainex, been using it for years. It's very easy to forget you have wipers.

Joe

I bet even Mr Stevenson is impressed with that Arch...wow!