RT rebuild thread

[stylussprinter]

The heads where all the work is done and the money is spent , bottom end's just strength

[se7ensport]

Dave

Do you have any pics of the cage yet? keen to see where the tubing is routed in relation to the doors.


Alex

[DH2]

Do you have any pics of the cage yet? keen to see where the tubing is routed in relation to the doors.

Only got a quick few with the body on, no close ups - it had to be dismantled to chop the temporary door bars out, and then fit into the van.
You can see that it was designed to all fit inside the cockpit, obviously. There is a definite knack to getting into the thing though!
Oh and it's not finished because I've not decided on the backstays yet, it will have to go back later to have them done and be powder coated.



Dave

[se7ensport]

Good to see it's nice and wide at the back, the standard hoop always looked a little narrow in relation to the body.

[DH2]

Must be overdue an update...

So after the car came back from Caged, life (actually, work too) was getting in the way of progress a bit. I got into a bit of a dip with the chassis, after my first attempt at trying to mount the pedals didn't work out. So I decided to distract myself by pulling the engine apart...



I then took a load of the bits to Scholar to be cleaned and checked. I also got them to fully balance the crank, pistons & rods, flywheel, and clutch. This meant I also had to buy a blingy clutch cover plate, as the billet flywheel I am using needs a "race" sized clutch. New set of big end & main bearings, and piston rings.



To ease the pain of having spent a load of money on the engine (ok the costs don't really compare), I managed to locate a metal oil pick up pipe - this was only fitted to early 1.25 engines, so is not all that easy to find - which will make the sump chop alot easier than fabricating one from scratch. The part was superceded by a plastic item.



I eventually gave myself a talking to, in order to pull myself out of the dip in progress (it happens, right?). So I got organised with all the bits needed, and sent my pedals to my friendly fabricator to have him weld them up with the balance bar tube and pivots/bushes. Very pleased with the job he has done - he is one hell of a good welder! This weekend, I got on with take two on the pedal mounts, and got them all done, tacked in for later full welding by someone better than me. Seems to have worked out pretty well so far - after paying to have them welded up, no cheaper than buying a cheap pedal box, but no doubt a better solution.



Next up I flipped the chassis over to remove the floor panels. Nice bit of bimetallic/galvanic corrosion between the floor and the chassis here - but only on one side, since at some point someone saw fit to replace the passenger floor panel with a galvanised steel sheet...?



On the backburner I am working on cleaning up the engine block, which is a bit tedious, and looks like I have a similarly dull job to sort out some of the rivet holes in the underside of the chassis. Hopefully will have some more interesting suspension stuff soon though...

Dave

[pigeondave]

Following on from our torsional stiffness discussion a few pages ago, I spotted this.

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/2/vie ... tid=173008

I wonder what advantages this holds over the bar across the back of the rocker towers.

[stylussprinter]

The towers on Fury's are low profile due to there being two chassis members each side quite a distance apart . The Stylus , due to having lowered top side chassis members to allow deeper doors , has higher towers which leads to more leverage of the rockers . Also the rocker spindles are a few inches further apart on Fury's , so less leverage.

[DH2]

Following on from our torsional stiffness discussion a few pages ago, I spotted this.

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/2/vie ... tid=173008

I wonder what advantages this holds over the bar across the back of the rocker towers.

As I inferred in that thread - make the chassis as stiff as you like, but it's no good if the suspension mounts are all over the place.
The OP replied that correcting that issue is in his plan.
It looks a bit bling to me, but... meh...

Having looked at replacing my rear rocker mounts due to their flimsiness, I found the front ones are bent too, so will have to start again on the whole lot

DH2

[pigeondave]

D'oh

Should really look to see who's said what.
I only look at locostbuilders from time to time.

[DH2]

Well, it's been quite a long time since my last update. Unfortunately, work (and a little bit of life) has been getting in the way of progress
But I have my spare time back a bit more now, so aiming to get back on with things.
A few updates since the last one...

I tidied up the underside of the chassis, and added a new cross brace to both footwells, which will allow the seats to be fitted lower.


Having removed my fingerprints cleaning the block and sump up, I dangled it back in the chassis to measure up for lowered sump modifications.


Measuring the oil volume using a spare sump, in the orientation that the engine is in the OEM install, to work out how the sump modifications can be done.


Work on the new rear suspension is finally on the horizon, so I have bought a pair of uprights, and done a little diff case modification.


Dave

[norma]

looking really good Dave - you're putting me to shame
Must get on with the fettling too!

[DH2]

looking really good Dave - you're putting me to shame
Must get on with the fettling too!

Not sure about that - it hasn't really moved on for a few months due to being busy at work.
But I am feeling re-enthused now (in time for crappy weather) and I might even be able to start building the jig for the rear suspension this weekend

Thanks for the encouragement... there's a looong way to go yet.

Dave

[stylussprinter]

As a matter of interest Dave , what make , model , mini/max amps mig welder are you using and has it got a euro torch
Your welds look good on all your pic's

[norma]

looking really good Dave - you're putting me to shame
Must get on with the fettling too!

Not sure about that - it hasn't really moved on for a few months due to being busy at work.
But I am feeling re-enthused now (in time for crappy weather) and I might even be able to start building the jig for the rear suspension this weekend

Thanks for the encouragement... there's a looong way to go yet.

Dave

OOh does that mean those rear arms + shocks will be up for grabs soon?????

[DH2]

As a matter of interest Dave , what make , model , mini/max amps mig welder are you using and has it got a euro torch
Your welds look good on all your pic's

I am using a borrowed Clarke 151TE with a big bottle of Argoshield. But I'm only really using it for tacking bits together, all the proper chassis welds are being done by someone better at welding than me.

OOh does that mean those rear arms + shocks will be up for grabs soon?????

Ah... hmmm... yes... erm... well the arms have already gone to a new home, I'm afraid. I have the dampers back in my posession now, just got to decide whether I swap them out for new ones or not. I've still got the adjustable panhard rod if you need one?

Dave