Changing gear, cooling and cardboard body!!!

Well, quite a lot of progress to report for once as John and I spent all day Friday and Saturday and Sunday mornings working on the Mistrale. The most significant thing was the final decision about the location of the radiator. Ideally I wanted this at the front of the car but wanted to avoid the situation that apparently occurs on cars like the MGF and Elise, where the extra volume of cold water in the system causes problems with shock cooling. Although this may be unique to the K series engine, when coupled with the limited space available in the centre tunnel, it made the front look less attractive. The possibly controversial decision to put the radiator behind the rear bulkhead was taken, although the rear bulkhead may have perforations to aid flow. The advantage of this location is chiefly that the Fiesta radiator, fan, thermostat etc. can all be used - a great benefit I feel. In order to mount the radiator, it was necessary to get on with the mounting of the removable lower frame that sits below the engine. After some swearing at the pillar drill, the rear mounts for this were made although a little needs to be trimmed off the gearghange mount before the front ones can be made. There was also progress on the gearchange and transmission tunnel, both of which are nearly finished - the photos should give you some idea of how it works! Finally, a scrap TR7 yielded what looks like a nice, compact handbrake which will be easier to incorporate than the Rover item, although a VW Camper van handle might be promising. At the end of the weekend, I mocked up the rear panel in cardboard - hope you like it!!

Slowly slowly....

At last a little progress! Spent a few hours this morning during which time I pressed the bearings in for both front wheels and had a play with the gear change. The linkage coming forward from the gearbox was too long and was fouling on the rear bulkhead so I removed this, shortened it and put it back. I also tried a new piece of nylon block for the rod to run in, which seemed to work well, if a little stiff. hopefully with the leverage of a gear stick, this will amount to nothing - time will tell I guess! i have this week off for the kids half term so I hope to get more done later in the week. The garage has been cleared in preparation of the big move.......

Three Wheels...

The last few months have seen slow progress once more! I have managed a few short visits to the workshop, but despite this I've made some progress. The universal joint that transfers the gearchange action to the correct location has been fabricated using an old steering linkage. The plan had then been to use some nylon bushing to ensure that the shaft in the tunnel moved smoothly, however, this didn't work very well so I am now using more rose joints which should make for a solid feel to the shift. Finally, as a pre-christmas morale boost, I assembled one of the front hubs and fitted it which now gives a good impression of what the finished chassis will look like - my 'little helper' couldn't resist his first test drive! Best wishes to everyone for the new year and here's hoping that it brings me more days in the week so I can get the car to a state where it can come home quickly!

Plug

I'added a plug for a fellow builders site to the sidebar. If you would like me to do the same for you, just leave a message!!

TTFN

JC

Back to it at last.

At last some progress to report. Saturday began with John and I spending time aligning the brackets for the rear tie bars. These were adjusted carefully and the change in toe angle checked by using a laser pointer projecting onto a cardboard box 4m away. It was actually quite satisfying when the ‘sweet spot’ was found with no change discernible between full bump and full droop. I then set to work on the gearchange whilst john re-mounted the seats. I was never very happy with the previous mounts so they were replaced with threaded bar which now goes through floor rails. The gear change was prototyped in card first to ensure that the bracket fitted. It bolts onto the block using 2 of the transmission bolts. The lever is brought under the engine and now slides back/forth in a bearing. This will attach to a section of the steering column from the fiesta that has 2 UJs and a short shaft, before going along the centre tunnel. All in all, a satisfying weekend. At the end of it we couldn’t resist putting the back wheels on to see how it looked, and only lack of time stopped us assembling the front hubs!

I'm still here!!

Well, what a frustrating summer that has been - and I'm not just talking about the weather. last time i posted, I was looking forward to getting quite a bit done on the car. As you can tell from the lack of updates, this idea was foiled! I broke my shoulder 12 years ago whilst playing football and it chose this time to flare up again - I couldn't lift my arm, let alone do any cutting, filing etc. Unlike other times when it has caused problems, it took several weeks to settle this time and by the time it was usable it was school holidays and also time for a visit to canada with work! However, it is not all doom and gloom. Over the summer I sold the much loved MX5 - a bit of a girly car I know, but great fun nonetheless. This means that space has been created in the garage so the plan is for the mistrale to 'come home'. There is hopefully about a weekends work to get it temporarily onto 4 wheels so that it will go on a trailer - stay posted for more news!!!

Finally taken photos of the gear linkage. At the top right is the piece that slips over the input shaft on the gearbox. I now have to carefully make the vertical and horizontal pieces that will be mounted at the ‘front’ of the engine to hopefully give a smooth action. Hopefully I will get a fair bit done over the next few weeks as I should be able to get to the workshop in my lunch break for once - keep watching! P.S. Congrats to Lewis Hamilton!!!!