Brake lines (Again!) Steering parts and solutions

Well Last time I said I was going to run the brake line and clutch line down the tunnel with the coolant pipes. It became clear quite quickly this wasn't going to happen with fowling taking place between the brake pipe and coolant pipes which would of produced an IVA fail.

So a change of tact was needed, now the tunnel only holds the coolant pipes, secured by 3 P clips each, very secure and going nowhere any time soon! Then more P clips holding the vertical pieces of the coolant system as well. Perfect one area done in terms of securing.

The rear brake and clutch line I decided to attach to the top of the tunnel in the end, there is plenty of room there for all the pipes and cables so it fitted nicely. The IVA states it needs to be secure but I know for wiring it says maximum of 300mm apart. So I decided to start as I mean to go on with the brake pipes secured roughly 280mm apart along the clips. showing the IVA examiner I want to do all parts to a high standard should put me in good stead!

You will notice that the part down the tunnel has a couple of wide bends at the end and although neat, they could be better...why...Simply put if the flares leak and I need to re-flare I have enough slack to give it one more go! After that a new pipe is needed. It looks neater in the flesh and as I wont see the pipes in this position ever again was the most natural place to put the extra bit of pipe.

I had two other problems I needed to solve before moving on to the front brake lines and both these issues involved the steering area.

1) Steering Rack Column was too short
2) steering track rod ends were too short

Issue 1; The original design of the DDR was with a PAS rack with fluid drained and holes blocked, I didn't want this as it gives a heavy rack / steering and I already have plans for an electric PAS system later. So I wanted to change to a manual rack but this meant the column was too short (the PAS rack spline sits about 4cm higher then the manual rack). Queue bring in a family member and a custom column extender was made

You can see where the spline and the union has had a shaft of metal welded in, this moves the union further towards the bulkhead changing the angle at which the union goes across to the spline on the rack. You can see in the pic above, the steering column goes behind the brake pedal...now with plenty of space! Imagine that piece going to the bottom of the pic above where the join is and you can imagine how it would fowl on the brake pedal when pushed. The picture below shows good the space behind the pedal as well as the brake and clutch pipe in the background.

Issue 2; The tie rod ends as standard are too short and were pulling the Toe in on the hubs. Queue another family member coming up with a suggestion in case the larger ones weren't to my fancy (lucky to have a lot of family members in manufacturing). So some rod extenders were created and these bridged the gap nicely giving full adjustment. I seem to of got my family into the car as much as me with the steering rack piece and rod extenders both being done in a day for me. Pic Below;

Next will be to complete the front brake lines from the T piece and then get the radiator and new electric fans on to the front of the chassis and to make some supporting brackets.

Everyone likes seeing pictures and if you want to see them first or different ones, I am posting to twitter more than I thought I would so feel free to follow

https://twitter.com/kilerferret666