03/03/02

I knew I would not be able to get much done this weekend as I only had a few hours on Sunday to work on the 2B.

Anyway, because my engine is the EFI init the Plenum Injection Chamber has to be lowered to fit under the standard bonnet. As I now want to fit the bonnet and nosecone it was time to start on the plenum chamber.

I got hold of a spare inlet manifold from the scrappies, it came complete with Injectors, fuel rail, throttle valve, cables etc. I am going to follow the guidelines of Dave Wilson from the RHOCAR site , (http://www.rhocar.org.uk/buildtipz/024.shtml).

First off I cut up the manifold as per instructions, then spent ages ensuring the cut faces were flat and parallel. Next I made up the blanking plates to cover the old exit holes. On the last blanking plate disaster struck, my drill bit shattered and went through my finger !!!. Blood everywhere and lots of crying out in pain. My wife told me to sit down and test, so I sat in the car and drove to Halfords for a new drill bit.

I found however it was pointless trying to carry on so I gave up for the day. Pictures to follow, (not of my finger !), when I finish lowering the plenum, I can't hold the camera very well at the moment.

09/03/02

Finger seems to have healed up enough to carry on where I left off last week. So, on with lowering the plenum chamber. After cutting up all the required bits, and making sure I had a nice flat face, all the holes were drilled ,(very carefully).

The pipes were attached to the adapter plate, then the adapter plate screwed to the plenum chamber. Every mating surface was also coated with araldite.

Once everything was screwed together, the injectors were re-inserted, along with the fuel rail and the throttle valve. The return valve had to be relocated using on eof the many available mounting holes in the side of the chamber. The whole assembly was then bolted back onto the engine.

Now the moment of truth, would it start? if what would it run like ?.

I needn't have worried, it started first time and ran like a dream no problems at all. I have re-used the air flow meter hose , just pointed it downwards so that the air flow meter 'hangs' down beside the dizzy.

Well good job jobbed that, even if it did take a couple of weekends and a drilled finger. Now that the plenum has been lowered I can crash on ahead and fit the bonnet.

10/03/02

Assembling the two halves of the bonnet together went well without problems, it does all seem very floppy and weak at this point. I lowered the bonnet into place to check clearances and was pleased to find that nothing 'hit' the underside of the bonnet. After carefully adjusting the position and after making sure everything was okay, I drilled the holes for the rear pivot points. I needed a couple of washers as spacers to make sure the edge cleared the sides when the bonnet was lifted.

Well now I had a lifting bonnet, (albeit a wobbly bonnet), so onto the nosecone.

It took a bit of time to cut out the middle of the nose cone with a hacksaw blade, but it turned out quite well. When I offered the nosecone to the front edge of the bonnet, there was no way it came even close to the shape of the bonnet, so I bend the bonnet by hand until it almost fitted the nosecone. Several self tappers later and the nosecone was fitted. It even 'clips' nicely under the bottom chassis tube.

Almost looks like a car now..

With the bonnet on I can now fit the dashboard and the front in-fill panels.

16/03/02

First job of the day, make up an exhaust bracket to fix the silencer to the side panel. I bought a couple of rubber cotton reel bobbins from Halfords, then went all the way back to get some nuts for the 3/8 unf threads !!, I though we were metric nowaday's.

I ground off the fixing plate on the silencer as I needed to rotate the silencer to get the best clearance from the side panel, which then meant the supplied fixing was in the wrong position. It was then a case of fixing my bracket to a 53mm exhaust clamp, then fixing the bobbins to my bracket. Just to make things a bit more sturdy I also made up a support bracket fixed to the inside of the side panel, bolted to the side tube. This now means my outlet is angled slightly downwards towards the ground instead of straight out at right angles, maybe the sound waves will be slightly muffled once hitting the ground and help with the dba levels at SVA test.

I thought it was about time I fitted the swept wings, but only temporary until I had fitted the alloys to make sure the wheels were covered adequately. The swept wings are quite easy to fit, all I did was make sure the wing was up against the front wishbone, then put one self tapper in the other end 7 ½" up the side panel. I could then lift the front up and down to find the required height. Then simply flattened a short length of the supplied tube to make up the front support. Rather than use the supplied 1" box section for the middle support, I used 3mm flat which looks better when bent.

Now I used the supports as templates and made up two more for the other side. Both wings now fitted.

Now I needed to fit the alloys to ensure the wings were in the correct position. A quick trip up town and I had five lovely RHE alloys fitted with 195x50x15 tyres. I must say the look a bit tasty. When fitting the wheels I had a nice surprise in that there was plenty of clearance between the front wheels and the sliding pillar suspension. There has been a lot of problems in the past with the sliding pillar suspension clearance, but the RHE alloys must have just the right amount of offset, I needed no spacers at all.

The swept wings were now positioned to cover the wheels and wheel rims .

17/03/02

Fitted the headlights first, noticed the sealed beam connectors do not have provision for a side light. Apparently the connectors from a Mini will fit and have a built in side light. I intend to make up two dashboard, one for SVA with the Sierra gauges and on with separate gauges from http:\\www.greengauges.com. So to start with I am making up the Sierra version, this is accomplished by cutting down the Sierra 'pod' and fixing it to the back of the dashboard cut-out supplied by RHE. This sheet metal dashboard has cutouts to silhouette the Sierra gauges and give the impression of separate gauges. It doesn't look too bad and once the dashboard is covered with leather-cloth will do for now.


Once that is done the dash is trimmed to provide clearance for bonnet action and simply held in place with a few screws.

23/03/02

Spent Saturday at the Exeter Show, picked op loads of goodies; Edge Trim, Carpet (Dark Grey), Dark Blue Leather Cloth, Gearstick Gaiter, 7" sealed beam units with sidelight, Loom connectors for headlights, spiral wrap, Air Horns, flexi cable protector. Plus a few tools.

I bought the sealed beam units because the RHE ones with the kit have no sidelight !, these ones have the sidelight and the loom connectors to fit. I had also heard the RHE lights were also a bit crap to say the least.

Also met another very nice chap with a Robin Hood 3A, it's nice to see and talk to another fellow builder. All in all, a good day out.

23/03/02

Nice day today so I had to mow the lawn and stuff, but still found time to out the screen together and fit to the 2B.

I took my time putting the frame together, checking each time that the frame shape fitted the screen. It was a bit of a pain getting the glass in once the glazing rubber was in place, but with the help of a small screwdriver and a lot of patience it finally went in. Next I very carefully cut the bottom rail to length, inserted the rubber and pushed it home.

Now at this point I taped everything up nice and tight with gaffer tape, then re-checked everything was square. I was a bit concerned about the next bit, screwing a long no 6 self tapper in at an angle to hold the lot together, but surprising it works quite well and the frame seems nice and firm.

This next bit is a real pain, namely forming and fitting the screen pillars. Put loads of masking taoe around the area on the bonnet you will be fitting the supports, otherwise you will scratch the body work quite badly. It take several attempts to form the pillar which has a curve and a twist. Once the shape of the pillar seems about right, (I kept offering up the screen as a test), screw one of the pillars to the frame. It does seem a bit flimsy using just small self tappers into the pillar, but does work quite well. (Remember to grind off the sharp point of the screw).

Now with just one pillar attached, offer up the screen to the bonnet, and put one bolt into the bonnet. Now the screen is held in place, it is a lot easier to form and attach the screen pillar on the other side. Once again lot's of trial and error.

There are lots of sharp edges on the screen pillar, which will have to be rounded off for SVA, this will be done when the pillars are removed for painting.

The rubber seal at the bottom fits quite nicely and seems to form a good seal. The whole bonnet now seems to have 'stiffened up' now.

Well that's it good job jobbed.