Doorhandle fitting, Interior bits and Test drive

Its been a couple of weeks since the last update. Mainly because I decided I would not do anything on the car last weekend, I needed a bit of a break after 10 months of almost solid work.

Once Id fitted the door mirrors previously I moved on to the door handles with a clever method developed by my uncle. It meant no gastly bolts showing and also spread the weight across the fibreglass well.

Since then I have also put the first layer of sound deadening in the door. It will need some noise absorber in there but Ill put that in after the test and at the right time.

Next I fitted both door struts correctly so the doors worked as intended.I still need to make a holding arm for the rear.

Following that I checked all the lights again, its important to keep checking things and that they continue to work. all looked good! The required rear reflectors were also put into position.

I then arranged to take the car to a quiet private road for a test drive, few reasons for this. Bed the brakes in even just a little which is better than nothing. Test the brake bias was correct and also check self centre steering was compliant.

So first the loading, the cars quite high on ride height at the moment but even so the front bumper had to be removed to be loaded.

Luckily the truck had a winch so saved me having to have the first proper drive trying to get it on to the trailer! So it was unloaded and the brakes were tested and slowly bedded in. They work really well, but then 4 pot calipers at the front from a skyline and the rear brakes moved outwards on larger discs for more force...they should do! The steering was self centring fine as well. So we got to the brake bias test...the video below shows initial setup.

Now I was only revving up to about 3000rpm / 3500rpm as this had been after a few runs but didn't want to push it too hard, also the exhaust has the DB killer in it which will be causing high back pressure and zapping performance anyway.

As you can see though the brake bias was to the rear, a few more runs and it was adjusted correctly and the fronts were locking first as required.

Since then I have now fitted the handbrake gaitor and other parts of trim over sharp edges as to not fail on that. The main pieces I have to still work on are the dash area for the dials and then tidy the interior.

Outer bodywork, Emissions and Noise, IVA prep and little jobs

So first of all I continued with the outer bodywork, making sure the exhaust fitted the rear hole but the bodywork was close enough to not require another test in terms of radius, I then refitted the fog light so it was vertical.

At this point I then retested the rear lights and one indicator didn't work...Took a few hours but I traced it back to a connector which was a bit loose within the car so tightened it all back up.

I also fitted the rear reflectors to meet the test requirements. They have been fitted high up to pass a requirement that they are always visible even when a door (in this case rear section) is open. I will use a stay to hold it open at a height which means the reflector and lights are still visible from the rear.

With the number plate light already fitted and the catches flush this means this area of the car should pass the IVA without any difficulties.

Next I did some more work on the wiper, although complete the motor mechanism was so strong in its movement it was actually moving / twisting the bracket made originally. This may be down to it being too thin, however I actually think a further brace would of been needed anyway to remove all movement. So I may a brace that covered both axis of movement, when testing this the good news was all movement was gone and the wiper motor was now stable.

With the exhaust now fully fitted including being welded it was time for two important tests. Emissions and Noise test. So I fired the car up got it warm and performed the noise test;

At Idle;

at 4000 RPM; (the manual states 2/3rd's of max power and max power on this engine is at 6000rpm

Although I expect its a bit louder then that more around 93Db, however that is with 2 backboxes and a Db Killer in the exhaust so the noise shouldn't be an issue.

Next was emissions, being an EFI engine I had strong hopes of being ok and being a 92 engine doesn't require a cat test. Which does mean a letter is required to prove engine age (don't use an im port engine like me, been a nightmare to get proof from Japan!)

So I bought a gunsons gastester off ebay and did the test....good news well under the required emissions so that shouldnt be an issue either.

Next was the wing mirrors, now these were never going to be pretty looking through cars that people have built that are similar or even the Ultima to some degree I knew they'd need to be out wide and up high...so I tried to get an idea of where.

Once I knew roughly where they'd need to go the mounting was put in....

Not pretty but they should do the job and give the visibility required. with the mirrors done on the test fit and the final settings to be done closer to the time. The outside of the car is finished (for now at least)

So I moved on to the interior, with a few jobs left to do inside before being ready for the test. The first rule is the radius of edges, Im taking no risks, anything they want to touch with that sphere is being covered.

However the amount of jobs now is beginning to drop and leaves me with only interior jobs and an extension of one area of wiring near the engine. I'm feeling pretty good about whats left and the possible time frame I have to do it. Hopefully the weather will be in my favour for the next couple of weeks.

Weeks work and glass fitting

So the main job that was about to take place was the side window fitting. So with this in mind I worked on the fitting of the doors again to ensure I had as good a fit as possible. Bodywork simply eats time!

As well as this I fitted the reversing light and then moved on to calibrating the speedo...this turned into a bit of a nightmare as the dakota control box wasn't getting a signal....so up came carpet and wire testing (least I have the answer on whether the car is serviceable!) In the end I found out it was because of 2 reasons....the mr2 wiring actually ran an earth wire all the way back to the dial cluster (brown wire) which no longer was connected, so Ii earthed that.
And then spliced off the actual pulse wire rather then relying on the output from the ECU...it then worked and I could calibrate it on axle stands.

I also bled one of the front brakes of air as I believed it had a bit in it and worked on the brake bias bar to try and get the balance of front to rear right...still not sure I have this right yet.

Following that, it was on to the window fitting. I have had glass windows made by mobile windscreens from a template and these are E marked.... the fitting went well, however these windows will only be fitted for the test before reverting to perspex with race style window openings. The glass had to be bent slightly and does the job intended for the test. When it comes to final fitting after the bodywork it will be even better.

What this also did show up is I will need to make brackets to support and push out the rear clamshell, not important for the test, but important afterwards and great if I can get it done beforehand, the fibreglass has not held its shaped perfectly whilst its been off the chassis and these areas have dipped, a bracket pushing it back out into position will solve this.

I realigned the headlights and they seem better although still not perfect.

As well as this the final exhaust piece has been laid up and test fitted and is looking like a good fit! So I hope to complete the exhaust this week as well and I've bought a DB reader and a emissions reader... Be nice to know before the test how I sit in both areas and do what I can to pass both areas!

The final jobs that are important are beginning to drop off the list now, which is nice with the main big one of fitting wing mirrors being done in the next couple of weeks.

VOSA have taken payment for the test itself so I expect to get a phone call soon to choose a date. Its weird to not finish a car to 100% in bodywork terms for this test, but its definitely getting there.