Delivery Week...

Just to say the blog will get updates probably once a week (maybe twice) but I've decided I'm going to tweet pics along the way more regularly than the blog, with blog being a build diary which will have useful updates and pictures.

The tweets more along the lines of pictures and comments. I do tweet my thoughts on other things as well but nothing OTT. if you want to follow me for the delivery pics you can on

www.twitter.com/kilerferret666

I will start the DDR tweeting from the moment the delivery truck arrives next week :)

Little bits going on while I wait...

Well the wait is almost over! Boat comes into Dock late on the 25th. It will be a few days after that for delivery.

In the meantime I've been ordering other little bits I know I need and that I don't require the car to measure to ensure they fit.

So I've ordered a new water washer jet system, its a small unit holding 1.4litre which is plenty and gives me flexibility on where I mount it. I was going to use the MR2 system but it was dirty and old and for the price of £15 i'd rather have a new looking system to give it that better look. I will use the current wiring loom and then it can still work off the steering column stalks.

As well as this I decided the fans and metal shrouds for the radiator were just to heavy and not looking as nice still as I hoped, so I bought some new 12v fans with a high CFM of 2000. This should be plenty and help with cooling, I will be making some ducting later on in the build which should aid this further.

I've also ordered a new horn and some little side lights to meet IVA requirements.

I previously gave a quick guide on brake pipe flaring, although they were coming out well it was hard to get it right 99% of the time and if its not right and wont seal it would need to be cut off and re-done. They were not coming out flat and the reason is as you screw the die in further to create the flare it wants to twist the claw round, giving you an uneven flare.

So I bought a 2nd tool, this tool has not produced one bad flare. same principal in clamping but easier by just pushing the handles together, but the screw sits on a flat plate platform which cant twist meaning it goes down flat and even every time. The tool was not expensive at about £30 as well. The tool model is a Sealey AK5063

Throttle Pedal

The car requires willwood clutch and brake pedals which match nicely together and look professional. The gas pedal that's suggested was by a different make and to be honest wasn't too my styling (all other areas black and this pedal was bare silver metal) but that's the advantage of a kit car you can make the car your own as well. So I've been looking into pedals a lot based on what will fit the area and also the look I want.

So below is a comparison of the pedal I've bought and the original;

The pedal will actually fail the IVA test in its current state as its a requirement to have an anti slip surface, so i've ordered some self adhesive anti slip tape for that. The photo below is with me holding the brake pedal in roughly the position it will sit next the throttle pedal.As you can see I think the styling goes well and should work well together.

The pedal can be adjusted for the amount of travel so I will be able to configure it to open the throttle over the full pedal movement range if required. I plan on sound proofing and carpeting the floor so that will move the feet's natural resting position higher up the pedal which will make it more comfortable as well.

Brake pipes and double flaring

As part of the IVA test, all brake lines / fuel lines including hoses must be securely mounted to the chassis. I will be using the below, these are clips which have a collar which when pushed into a 6mm hole, flares out on the other side of the hole, holding the pipe line secure.

To get a professional finish and better pedal feel. I will be using Kunifer pipe throughout the car's main body for the Brake lines and clutch and using braided hose to attach to the callipers and the clutch cylinder. Kunifer pipe should ideally be used instead of standard copper, Kunifer pipe is slightly different to copper and has better corrosion and fatigue properties to just copper alone.

One of the problems when buying some pipe is that it comes coiled up so unwinding by hand can leave you with no perfectly straight piece of pipe. The easiest solution for this is a bit of 4x2 and to drill a hole that is slightly wider than the pipe. In this case a 5/6mm hole for 3/16 pipe (A good mix of metric and imperial there!). Pass the pipe through it and this will make the pipe straight and give a good look finish.

Brake lines require flaring for unions and the joining to hoses. so my flaring kit and some pipe arrived so I decided to give it a go. This was my first ever flare, so it can only get better from here with some practice.

First of all cut your pipe with a cutting tool, this is the easiest tool to use and will give the best cut, it will also leave only a little de-burring to do.

Once you have cut the piece you want, you need to clamp it in the flaring tool, with a piece sticking out above. The amount sticking out will depend on diameter of the tool and it should be the length of the base of the first flaring piece as shown below.

You now need to turn the piece over and place the thin end inside the pipe and put the clamp on ready making sure everything is lined up.

You now need to tighten the tool ensuring the flaring tool is squashing in an even fashion across the tube or the flare will be poor. this should be done so that no copper pipe can be seen between the clamp and the flaring piece, then undo the flaring tool, leaving the piece in the clamp and you'll be left with the below;

Following this you now just redo the flare again with the clamp and tool itself (shown above) but this time be careful not to go to far, this should not be squashed flat but be done firm. This will leave you with a flare like the below;

This was the first ever flare I've done so they will get better with more practice but for a first go to understand the principle it was good enough.

TIPS
* Make sure you de-burr the pipe before flaring
* Use a little bit of brake fluid on the piece so that the flare tool doesn't grip and creates the flare smoothly and hopefully produced a better flare.

The Kit Delivery to Shipping Company Warehouse - Info on arranging shipping

So the journey has started....

DDR will deliver the kit anywhere local if the shipping company you have used requires, shipping companies often have a loading warehouse. The companies I have used to date have been fairly priced but for someone like myself who has never imported on this scale (or really doesnt have a clue what they are doing still!), they have been excellant on Customer Service and keeping me updated and explaining stages. I really couldn't of asked for more so far and im sure it will continue.

I used;

Miami - to Port in UK; https://www.freight-calculator.com/

Uk Port - My Door; http://www.johngood.co.uk/


So DDR have now delivered to the warehouse, below are some photos that are on their facebook page as well. The journey at sea from Miami to the UK takes roughly about 20 days, plus customs time.

The UK agent's I used have a deferment fee (optional) which means they will pay the customs charges and fees etc... and I will pay this to the UK agent with a small fee for doing so. This can speed up UK customs clearence by 2 / 3 days sometimes as UK customs will wait till your money has cleared before releasing the container.

Im expecting delivery once shipped and clearing customs to be the last week in October, just in time to spend the winter in the garage, hopefully the snow wont come this year!

The windscreen below better make it across safely!! Theres enough warnings on there!



Updates and The Car Dolly

The last month has been busy at work which is fine by me as the car is not here yet. However the car dolly
has almost been completed now with just the braces to go.

In the pictures below it shows you the structure, the actual wheel legs as I will call them will be closer together more towards the centre of the dolly, they are only where they are for balancing purposes as I have not put the bracings on yet which are required.

As you can see this gives me a slightly higher Dolly then normal and will make it more comfortable for working on the chassis and underneath the chassis. Each dolly wheel can take up to 200kg of weight which is ample, when working underneath axle stands will be placed underneath  in positions around the car in case the worse was too happen.

In the below picture you'll see the cross members can be moved so its possible to change where the weight sits across the frame so as the weight increases at the back I am able to adjust it on the frame to keep it stable. In the end my Gf's dad came up with the idea of what are like cup holders welded on, so it means they can easily be slid and stay in position just by lifting up the frame once its on the dolly.

As well as this because of the build starting in winter now which was not planned, the garage needed some help to keep any heat in at all. Its an old garage from the 60's and so has a corrugated roof which sits on the top of concrete blocks with plenty of air holes between! So firstly I repaired the sealant between the roofing parts to make sure there were no leaks and I then filled in all the holes with expanding foam. On the scale of things, working through winter in minus C temperatures this will make little difference but it will make me feel better, every degree it can keep in will help!

I've also bought two powerful halogen lights to light up the garage better and will be buying a small fan heater as well, that with the floor being matt'd will make it as comfortable as its going to get!

I'll soon have more pictures but here's a teaser pic of the car being prep'd for delivery which should be soon and I can provide more pictures.

Whats been going on...

I've had a lot of messages, about whats going on,when will the build start and from UK based people can I come and see the kit as you're considering it for yourself.

Well since my visit not a lot, as the prep work is now complete as mentioned. So I've been thinking forward in terms of the tools and areas of design I want to work on.

First of all when am I getting the car, DDR say my car is now ready, so I have been arranging the shipping. I've never done it before and it has been a steep learning curve. Once completed I will post who I used as so far the communication has been excellent so have high hopes for a smooth transaction!

So the first issue I've had is actually unloading, the crates are big and then this will be inside a shipping container on the back of a lorry which is 4foot off the ground. So I need to be able to unload without a fork lift etc..., luckily once the boxes of bits are out, the weight should not be too bad for 4 or so grown men to drag out, but tilting the box 4ft to the ground will probably cause damage, so I am building a car dolly for two purposes. One for removal and two to allow me to work on the chassis easily.

Below is the design (apologises for the poor drawing and not to scale)

The top pieces will slide, allowing me to change the distribution of the weight as the car is built, keeping it stable as well as using the L brackets (in red) to keep the rail gap stable and even. It will be made of 30 x30 box steel. I have seen a similar design used before.

It will be on lockable casters for easy movement. The shell will sit roughly 2 foot off the ground. I will release a more detailed list of measurements and materials once built so people can make their own if required. It should meet my needs as required.

This will drop the delivery to a 2 foot drop which the crate will be able to be tilted to without causing damage. the height of 2foot will also allow me to work completely on the car on the stand if required with the shell on as the height of the garage is 195cm  so I should be able to slide the car dolly in and out with the full car on it.