Back to work at last

After a lengthy break, I got started again today. Last week, John and his family, and me and my family, had a holiday at Center Parcs. John will now be away for a while so I am on my own. Now that I have the gearchange sorted, I set about making the 'N' frame - this will bolt in position under the engine to stabilise the back frame that mounts the rear suspension. I got this done but further progress was frustrated as someone has borrowed the pillar drill. Hopefully I'll be able to make some more progress at the weekend.

New Year KISS

It has been a slow few weeks - partly due to 'Royal Visit' from mother-in-law and her mother over christmas, and partly due to Johns house move. However, spent last night in workshop and have finally (I hope) resolved the gearchange. Originally I had intended to use a combination of rods and cables, that I sourced frmo a Fiat Coupe a mate was scrapping. Wasted a couple of evenings trying to get it working nicely but I was never happy. Last night I tried again, but the new linkage I tried just pushed the selector into an arc of movement outside of the possible range, so in a fit of pique, I junked it all and reverted o the original plan of a simple rod, as per GTM coupes and the like. It seems to work! Forgot camera though! Sorry. Also, yesterday I ordered front shocks and springs from Protech - very nice, helpful people and thoroughly recommended! Hope everyone out there had a good Christmas, Happy New Year to you all and keep watching! Front end is next...

A day of contemplation!

Fans of the series American Chopper will be more than familiar with our day today - you know the scene, 'Pauly' gazing wistfully at uncompleted bike, 'Senior' walks in - what the **** are you doing?, when will you finish?. Today, John and I spent a couple of hours plotting and scheming, working out the best way to run the gearchange. To help, we lifted the car onto axle stands and carefully levelled it. Yesterday, I drove to Thetford to Ellistons and collected my hubs. uprights, discs and calipers, which took some time, but well worth it as they look great.

Latest 'progress'

We've had a busy week. I got lucky and won a set of wishbones on e-bay - should save a lot of time and the parts that we've already made can be used when we start on Johns car. As we have decided to ditch the Fiesta rear subframe, I've also been getting quotes for the CDS tube for the rear suspension - it was much more reasonable than I thought so I will order that soon. Had a minor panic when I could not contact Ellistons kit parts for a while - I've paid them for a reconditioned set of cortina uprights and hubs, however, eventually contacted them, thanks in no small measure to those helpful people on the locostbuilders website. Finally, John and I spent Sunday morning making the rear gearbox mount and working on the gearchange mechanism - pictures of the mount are here. Plans for this week include collecting the front hubs, when it will at last be time to finalise the front of the car and get some wheels on!!
Finally, this week was novel for one final reason. For once it was John who left the workshop dripping blood - this is normally my speciality and I've been keeping antiseptic manufacturers in business for some time!!!

Progress.....

Spent the last week making the parts for the front wishbones, ready to assemble them this week. Showed Johns father in-law the project and couldn't resist doing the following!

Finished with Fiesta!

A profitable morning today (despite a few bottles of red wine last night!).
John stripped the last of the donor parts - the rest of the loom, the master cylinders and the gear change. I acquired some miscellaneous parts from a scrap Fiat Coupe and a Mondeo. Now we can make a bit of room in the workshop and get cracking. Hopefully I'll get to collect my reconditioned Cortina Hubs this week and work can begin on the suspension.

More progress

It's been a busy week. While John removed the wiring loom/ECU, steering column etc. from the Fiesta, I continued to make the secone engine mount. I also had a busy e-bay week, securing an escort steering column and some track rod ends, and some Fiat Coupe back lights from a friend. Tonight, the fuel pump was removed from the donor - just the pedals and hydraulics to go. Here are the pictures of progress so far