The start of this month marked a return home as the uni term finished, this meant I could make a big push to get the car running and driveable.

The pictures above show the first weeks progress. Much of the week was spent trying to make the pinto alternator fit. This was solved by a combination of making a new bracket to hold the alternator to the block and also move it back around 20mm. Moving it back meant I had to make a new pulley for it, no big problem on the lathe, but it all takes time. I will upload pictures when I have some. I also had to skim around 10mm off the diameter of the alternator fan, it was either this or leave it off. I have heard that it will be OK without one, as the alternator doesnt really do a lot of work in a Locost due to its such low power consumption, the heaviest draw being the main beam headlamps at 120watts (10amps) whereas in the sierra the highest draw would be a heater and rear screen heater at around 30amps each. Anyway the problem is solved now, and meant I could retain the original engine equipment and connections on the loom and it was cheap too (i.e. freeee!)

The other list of jobs completed in the first week are:

1. Accelerator cable adaptors made and cables fitted and adjusted.
2. Exhaust manifold trimmed up and fitted (damn nice it looks too if I say so myself!)
3. Radiator fan fitted and wired in
4. Rear wiring for lights and fuel pump completed and tested
5. All front light wiring finally cut to length and tested
6. New electronic ignition system fitted and statically timed
7. Dashboard wiring completely finished and tested
8. Battery connected and all circuits live tested (no smoke yet...*touch wood*!)
9. Headlight brackets drilled out and headlights trial fitted
10. Cooling system plumbed in ready to test run engine
11. Fuel hose fitted and clipped in
12. Diff, gearbox and steering rack filled with oil
13. Loom wrapped and attached to chassis (where practical)

Firing it up...

Saturday 16th was the day when the engine was test run. I was prepared to spend the whole day messing around trying to get it to run, but thankfully I didnt need to. I filled it with water and petrol and then found I had a couple of small fuel and water leaks. They were all quickly fixed, just requiring tightening the hose clips and one of the carb banjos up.

I let the fuel pressure build up so the carbs were full of fuel and then pressed the start button. There were a few pops and bangs and a couple of backfires then nothing. This continued for a while, but once the fuel had got into the engine it started up OK. It was running very rich and kept backfiring so I altered the advance a little and it solved the backfire issue. There was another issue to do with fuel running out of the bores of the carbs, lowering the fuel pressure a bit seems to have solved this problem though.

By the end of the day the engine was running fairly smoothly and idling at 1000rpm. I have yet to set the advance with a strobe, but I will do that later this week hopefully.

The engine runs quite hot at the moment, this could be down to several factors, but with the fan running it holds a steady 80deg on the temperature gauge.

I have since had the rocker cover off and reset all of the rocker clearances and changed my rocker cover to one with a filler cap at the back so it will fit under the bonnet. Once the engines had a bit longer run it needs the headbolts torquing back up and then it will be ready for the road I hope!

You can view a short video from Saturday  (hosted on google video)

Alternator Modifications

The picture above shows the new alternator pulley fitted and with a shorter belt, ignore the mixture of cable ties and general messyness, most of this was put together in a hurry to get the thing running!

Rear Bodywork and Lights

I spent the 23rd and Christmas Eve fitting my rear lights and bodywork properly. The wings and bodywork were bolted onto the chassis in their final positions. The rear ride height was checked and found to be low but equal each side so it was left as it was. The rear lights on the wings are 400mm from the ground to the centre of the lens which puts them well above the minimum height of 350mm to the bottom of the lens. I measured one side from the ground and the other from the bottom of the wing, comparing measurements side to side. The foglight was arbitrarily placed above the minimum height and towards the drivers side. The numberplate light was tricky to measure out to ensure it was in the centre of the panel.

The headlight positions are fixed as the brackets are part of the chassis. The front indicators were positioned far enough forward so that they are visible around the front wheels at all angles. They just need extensions fitting to meet with the requirements for the distance from the outermost edge of the bodywork. The side repeaters were placed on the scuttle so they are very visible.

Underbonnet panels

The panels for the tops of the footwells were cut from 1.5mm ali sheet. The panel on the passenger footwell was riveted onto the chassis and this supports the header tank and battery. The panel on the top of the drivers footwell is held on with 3 bolts into rivnuts. This is to allow easy access to the pedals for adjustment and in the event of maintenance being required. The fusebox will be bolted down to the drivers footwell panel.

The scuttle firewall (no pic yet) is riveted to the scuttle with long peel rivets. This is also made of 1.5mm ali sheet. A rubber panel seal will be fitted on the bottom edge of the scuttle panel to seal against the footwell tops, this will keep any spray out of the electrical system (most is behind the dash and the fusebox is waterproof anyway). A small piece of tube needs to be cut to cover the steering column but this may be a later additon and is non essential at the moment.

Tuned Up...

I spent the 27th setting the engine up properly with a strobe. The timing was set to 15deg BTDC as this seemed the best setting - most sources seem to think between 14 and 16deg is right for an engine in my state of tune. The engine no longer misfires or backfires and doesnt seem as rich with less unburnt fuel in the exhaust. All of this was expected as I found that the timing was initially about 6deg BTDC and so was miles too late. Idle is now about 1100rpm once the engine is warmed up and is pretty smooth considering. I also needed to rebalance the carbs which was no big deal. I also noticed the seal on the header tank lid had gone, this was replaced and the system now pressurises properly and the engine no longer boils up with the temp gauge staying at 88deg. The difference in the engine is quite suprising, it is much snappier off idle and sounds much better in general, the next test will be when trying to start it from cold. I also need to get the emissions checked as I would rather not fail SVA on something that simple.