Brake Pedal

Finally got round to making the brake pedal bracket. After much cardboard prototyping, the parts were cut from 3mm steel. These will be welded onto a base plate which will bolt onto the floor plan - the aim being to provide some adjustment for differing driver sizes. However, the current setup causes the master cylinder to hit the front chassis rail, meaning drivers taller than me won't fit! The cause appears to be a mis-interpretation of the plans causing an inside measurement to be built as an outside one! Doh! There are several ways to improve this however for now I am going with what I've got in the name of progress!
Next is the mount for the clutch pedal, which shouldn't take long, before moving on to the accelerator.

It's home!

I've spent the last few weeks moving the car into the garage at home. A neighbour was kind enough to help with the loan of his trailer although it was only just wide enough - he uses it for an old 1900and something Vauxhall which is very narrow. I've been gradually shipping the smaller parts as I find room to store them - it's amazing the amount of stuff you accumulate, I'll have to have a clearance sale/giveaway soon (anyone for some Metro uprights and driveshafts?).

Last week I took 2 days off, one for christmas shopping and one to work on the car. However, as expected really, the shoppng spilled into the second day! Today though I got home early and finally made a little progress. I made the bottom 2 radiator mounts. One is attached to the removable lower frame and the other bolts to a bracket on the side tube. For this one I was able to re-use a suspension bracket made years ago but never used. It was quite satisfying cutting through one of the welds on it and seeing positive evidence of their solidity!

Hopefully the next item to progress will be the handbrake mount - I am trying to work from back to front finishing the areas already started (centre tunnel, pedals) before turning to the battery box, fuel tank and expansion tank.

Fingers crossed......!

Standing on 4 wheels!!

Spent this afternoon preparing the car for its 'big' day - I spoke to my neighbour earlier today and have arranged use of his trailer to bring the car home on wednesday! That meant a small panic to ensure that all was ready. I assembled the front hubs fully and torqued them up, then fitted the shock absorbers. That meant drilling out the mounts on the lower wishbones as they were too small (I got the pre-made from e-bay) - I think that they are made from titanium as they were a *** to drill. Job done now though! Ended up lowering the car onto its own 2 wheels for the first time. My 'little helper' immediately leapt in and had the privilege of the first journey - albeit 3 yards pushed backwards! It feels like real progress, just to get it onto 4 wheels at last, and it felt great to sit in it at the 'proper' height! Well, now it is coming home, there should be a few more regular updates so keep looking!!!

Back again!

I see that it is very nearly 2 months since my last update. Yes, there really has been that little progress - a combination of a busy July/early august at work followed by kids sumer holidays! Anyway, took a day off today in an attempt to make some progress. Firstly I managed to get the springs onto the rear shocks. The compressors that I bought were really only suitable for normal macpherson struts - the hooks on the inside fouled on the shock body if I used them as intended. However, I managed to hook the bottom end around the mini strut body and compress the springs enough to get the top mounts on. I'm not convinced how safe this was and made sure that I kept away from the 'line of fire' in case it went wrong!! I then turned my attention to the bolt in frame that sits under the engine. Some time ago I got 2 of the brackets for this made and today I made the other 2. They now need welding up. This meant that I could tack the radiator mounts in place - the bottom one will go onto the bolt in frame. Finally, for a bit of morale, I cut a slice from the middle of the beetle engine cover that I plan to use as a nose template. As I was running out of time, I clamped this quickly to give a (very) rough impression of what the front will look like. I hope that it is not so long until I post again!

Quick update

In between work, over the last few days, I've managed to get a little bit done to the rear calipers. The one on the left has been lightly cleaned to remove mud whilst the other then had corrosion removed with a dremel-a-like and wet and dry paper, then acid etched, then sprayed. Don't know if I'll get much more done before going away this week.

More brakes and pedals

Over the last few weeks I've spent a few hours, on and off cleaning the VW rear calipers. My conclusion from this is that I might as well have brought the brand new version from GSF or Rally Designs - twice the cost and would have needed new pads but for the effort in cleaning the old ones, plus the cost of paint, worth the effort!! Today I finally finished the clutch pedal, with just the bracket to mount the master cylinder to make now. I also did a check of the mini master cylinder with the Fiat remote reservoir and was very pleased with the results. Regrettably I have to take a few weeks off now because of work commitments - hope to be back in the workshop in August!!!

Rear brakes

Bought some rear calipers from a crashed Passat this weekend. Spent fathers day in the garage cleaning one of them up - quite satisfying but time consuming. Used a little wire brush attachment for my cheap dremel copy which seemed to do the business, unlike the Halfords brake cleaner which certainly didn't do what it says on the tin! Photos to follow....