Monday, March 23, 2015
Paint and more
So, since the last post, what has been going on? My plan had been to paint the car by hand, using flag silver paint from tools direct. I began by prepping the chassis, which took ages, mainly because of the large amount of light surface rust that had accumulated over the years. In some places, the only thing to do was to apply Jenolite as it was impossible to get into some of the angles with sandpaper. I began painting the engine bay and quickly discovered that the finish using the silver paint I had bought was disappointing to say the least. After a lot of angst, I eventually reverted to rattle cans to spray the chassis. I used the Wickes equivalent of Smoothrite and initially I was really pleased with the results. However, after a while, I noticed that when I touched the chassis, I was finding a silver residue on my fingers. Whether this was a result of the temperature whilst I sprayed, I don't know. Fortunately I had an old can of clear lacquer in the garage. First tests were not encouraging, but I eventually found that if I applied it in very light coats, the results were good. However, by this time, I had run out of lacquer......
Parallel to this activity, I was quite busy at work and also managed to bring back a decent dose of 'air conditioning flu' which wiped me out whenever I had a day free! However, with the paint nearing completion, my mind was turning to the final build up. The brake master cylinder that I had been using was donated by a kind locostbuilder and was of unknown condition. When I went to strip it, I found that it was completely seized and rusted up. A new one was bought from Huddersfield Mini Spares for the princely sum of £39.99! Also of concern at the front of the car was the steering link. The Sierra link that I had used a rubber disc as a vibration damper. When I designed the rack geometry, I incorporated some offsets to allow impact resistance, however, this meant that the rubber disc was rotating at an angle, acting like a universal joint. I wasn't happy with this and so looked at the options. To buy a new triangular link UJ, splined shaft and 'Group 4' UJ was going to cost the best part of £100! The Sierra downlink that I had was a '2 piece' version and I discovered that there was also a single piece variant. Also, in my stock of useful bits, I had a TR7 steering shaft with the correct splined UJ on the end. The shaft itself was slightly bent, so no real use. I also had some offcuts of CDS tube left over from making the rear wishbones.
Having bought a single piece down link, I cut it down to length, along with the TR7 link and made a sleeve from the CDS tube. I welded this at the ends, but also drilled to to allow me to plug weld alone the shaft for extra safety. Whilst doing this, I was very conscious of the heat damaging the UJs. As I welded, the UJ was resting on a water soaked sponge and wrapped in water soaked blue roll. Clearly mixing water and electricity is not ideal, so if you choose to copy me, BEWARE!!!!!!! However, I survived and, most importantly, so did the UJs! All they need now is a clean up and a coat of paint!!
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