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v6Max Clio Build Stuff
- Thread starter v6Max
- Start date
I finally got out to do some work on the car 
Finally the spare parts from KW had arrived; new height adjustment collars, new main and helper springs. I also had the K-Tec solid top mounts so the first job was to set about getting the old collars off...
I'll go into some detail on the process in case some of you are thinking of installing the K-Tec solid top mounts, need to replace the main or helper springs or are just simply interested...
The first part of the process is to remove the main and helper springs from the damper body, a process which needs to be done with the right tools if you're to avoid damaging yourself or the car or both.
If the height adjustment collars are not seized, measure the distance from the bottom of the threaded damper body to the bottom of the adjustment collar (you'll need this later to make sure you return the car to the right height). Undo the locking grub screw with an allen key and then using a c-spanner wind the collar all the way down to the bottom of the damper body; this will release enough tension on the springs that you can safely undo the top mount securing nut. Don't whatever you do simply undo the top nut without first releasing the tension on the springs.
If the height adjustment collars are seized then you will need to use a proper coil spring compressor to get the tension off the main spring. The best type is the design with a safety hook but there's very little room in between the spring and the damper body so be careful.
Undoing the top nut will probably need an impact wrench because you'll find that using a standard spanner will simply result in the damper rod turning. It's best to undo this nut with the strut lying on the floor and pointing away from you and anything else that you don't want damaged just in case there's still some tension in the spring(s).
With the top nut undone you should find that the lower part of the top mount comes apart easily there will be; the top nut, a spacer that passes through the rubber doughnut, a simple bearing and then the spring "top hat". If you're installing the K-Tec top mounts most of these parts, with the exception of the top hat, will no longer be required.
With the top mount removed the springs should simply lift off; they may have "bound" slightly to the height adjusting collar or to the collar that sits between the main and helper springs.
With the springs off you can now inspect the damper rod; it should be clean and shiny with no sign of corrosion; if not it needs to be cleaned because the corrosion will damage the seals. The bump stops should be in good condition and can be removed simply by pulling them off the damper rod.
I had to cut the adjustment collars off my struts this due to what turned out to be 2 reasons; firstly, as previously written, gorillas had over tightened the collar lock grub screws and secondly a "design issue" which it looks like KW have fixed. Basically the damper bodies appear to be stainless steel, the collars are annodised aluminium and the lock nuts are brass; The dissimilar metals appear to engage in some kind of reaction resulting in the them all binding themselves together. KW now ship plastic adjustment collars which should eliminate this problem. If you have the older design - I'd recommend that you get the newer collars and sort it out now rather than later when it could be a really painful experience.
I took the time to clean the threaded section of the damper body and to remove all traces of the corrosion around the old height adjustment collar location and then began the reassembly - new collars, new main spring, intermediate collar, new helper spring and then top hat.
The K-Tec solid top mounts do not come with any fitting instructions - this is very common and I think it's also likely the reason may people report problems with various parts because it's just asking for people to come up with their own "unique" way of doing things.
The main body of the top mount is formed from 2 CNC machined aluminium billets. The lower part has a thread on it and the upper part is a threaded collar which is then tightened down over the lower part once threaded through the original top mount hole in the top of the suspension turret. There are also 2 rubber washers and an o-ring seal which fit between these components.
In addition to the parts mentioned above the bag also contains; 2 aluminium spacers, 2 steel spacers/inserts and 2 large bolts which are used to secure the damper rod in the top mount. Working out which combination of these parts are required and which parts of the original top mounts are not is a bit of puzzle at first but it would appear that the answer is; none of the original top mount hardware is required at all with the assembly order being: Aluminium spacer goes on top of the top hat, top nut goes on top of the spacer locking the top hat and spacer down, steel insert/spacer goes on top of the top nut making sure it's the right way up (so that it engages in the bearing), lower part of top mount onto spacer and then finally threaded top mount collar followed by the large bolt.
I'll upload some photos so that you can see what the end result should look like and I'll include a photo of a rear strut so that you can see what sort of condition the struts were in prior to the work described above.
This post is going to get too long so the next one is going to cover the other bits and pieces...
Finally the spare parts from KW had arrived; new height adjustment collars, new main and helper springs. I also had the K-Tec solid top mounts so the first job was to set about getting the old collars off...
I'll go into some detail on the process in case some of you are thinking of installing the K-Tec solid top mounts, need to replace the main or helper springs or are just simply interested...
The first part of the process is to remove the main and helper springs from the damper body, a process which needs to be done with the right tools if you're to avoid damaging yourself or the car or both.
If the height adjustment collars are not seized, measure the distance from the bottom of the threaded damper body to the bottom of the adjustment collar (you'll need this later to make sure you return the car to the right height). Undo the locking grub screw with an allen key and then using a c-spanner wind the collar all the way down to the bottom of the damper body; this will release enough tension on the springs that you can safely undo the top mount securing nut. Don't whatever you do simply undo the top nut without first releasing the tension on the springs.
If the height adjustment collars are seized then you will need to use a proper coil spring compressor to get the tension off the main spring. The best type is the design with a safety hook but there's very little room in between the spring and the damper body so be careful.
Undoing the top nut will probably need an impact wrench because you'll find that using a standard spanner will simply result in the damper rod turning. It's best to undo this nut with the strut lying on the floor and pointing away from you and anything else that you don't want damaged just in case there's still some tension in the spring(s).
With the top nut undone you should find that the lower part of the top mount comes apart easily there will be; the top nut, a spacer that passes through the rubber doughnut, a simple bearing and then the spring "top hat". If you're installing the K-Tec top mounts most of these parts, with the exception of the top hat, will no longer be required.
With the top mount removed the springs should simply lift off; they may have "bound" slightly to the height adjusting collar or to the collar that sits between the main and helper springs.
With the springs off you can now inspect the damper rod; it should be clean and shiny with no sign of corrosion; if not it needs to be cleaned because the corrosion will damage the seals. The bump stops should be in good condition and can be removed simply by pulling them off the damper rod.
I had to cut the adjustment collars off my struts this due to what turned out to be 2 reasons; firstly, as previously written, gorillas had over tightened the collar lock grub screws and secondly a "design issue" which it looks like KW have fixed. Basically the damper bodies appear to be stainless steel, the collars are annodised aluminium and the lock nuts are brass; The dissimilar metals appear to engage in some kind of reaction resulting in the them all binding themselves together. KW now ship plastic adjustment collars which should eliminate this problem. If you have the older design - I'd recommend that you get the newer collars and sort it out now rather than later when it could be a really painful experience.
I took the time to clean the threaded section of the damper body and to remove all traces of the corrosion around the old height adjustment collar location and then began the reassembly - new collars, new main spring, intermediate collar, new helper spring and then top hat.
The K-Tec solid top mounts do not come with any fitting instructions - this is very common and I think it's also likely the reason may people report problems with various parts because it's just asking for people to come up with their own "unique" way of doing things.
The main body of the top mount is formed from 2 CNC machined aluminium billets. The lower part has a thread on it and the upper part is a threaded collar which is then tightened down over the lower part once threaded through the original top mount hole in the top of the suspension turret. There are also 2 rubber washers and an o-ring seal which fit between these components.
In addition to the parts mentioned above the bag also contains; 2 aluminium spacers, 2 steel spacers/inserts and 2 large bolts which are used to secure the damper rod in the top mount. Working out which combination of these parts are required and which parts of the original top mounts are not is a bit of puzzle at first but it would appear that the answer is; none of the original top mount hardware is required at all with the assembly order being: Aluminium spacer goes on top of the top hat, top nut goes on top of the spacer locking the top hat and spacer down, steel insert/spacer goes on top of the top nut making sure it's the right way up (so that it engages in the bearing), lower part of top mount onto spacer and then finally threaded top mount collar followed by the large bolt.
I'll upload some photos so that you can see what the end result should look like and I'll include a photo of a rear strut so that you can see what sort of condition the struts were in prior to the work described above.
This post is going to get too long so the next one is going to cover the other bits and pieces...
Accidents happen and when it's -2 in the garage, you're upside down with power steering fluid falling onto your head, a spanner in one hand, a hammer in the other and a torch in your mouth it's not surprising when something goes wrong; fortunately in my case it was my iPhone that caught the bad luck.
Anyway back to that scene described above - I needed to remove the power steering lines because I'm switching to an electrical power steering pump (less parasitic losses on the engine, simplicity blah blah). The lines run from the inside of the engine compartement under the off side of the car and then into the rack. They are a mixture of flexible hose (good) and rigid pipe work (bad) and this seemingly simple job cost about 2 hours, lots of bad language, a proper "hissy fit" and the aforementioned broken iPhone screen.
In reality it was just one of those typical jobs on a car which is fiddly, frustrating and requires a combination of finesse and brute strength (neither of which I'm particularly well endowed with). If any of you are considering doing the conversion a few things are worth bearing in mind:
1) Use a Citroen Saxo VTS/VTR pump; they're readily available on eBay and much cheaper than the Merc A-Class one which some people recommend
2) Make sure you note which is the high pressure feed and which is the low pressure return from the rack - you can trace the pipe work back to the engine bay; the low pressure return goes direct to the reservoir; the high pressure feed comes via the power steering pump
3) To get the pipe work out without cutting it is possible but will need you to remove the bolt from one of the petrol tank securing straps so you'll need to support the tank with a well protected jack
Because I had got the car up onto 4 axle stands in order to get the pas pipe work out I was also able to, finally, finish removing the last of the loom from under the car. This last part was the starter motor cable which is run separately and is secured alongside the coolant pipe work using large zip ties - it then passes up behind the fuel tank (even more "fun") before emerging in the engine bay. Given all the dire warnings on the internet about voltage drop using thin(ish) cable it was surprising to see what a narrow gauge Renault had selected for the cable and encouraging to see they had taken the precaution of adding a fusible link to it.
Next job was to remove the rear calipers because they're being retired in favour of Wilwood calipers - again a job that should have been fairly simple was complicated by that Gorilla employed to tighten up bolts - unfortunately the bolts are in a location which prevents the use of the impact driver so it was good old fashioned brute strength that was required.
With the calipers off (they're surprisingly heavy by the way - much heavier than the APs at the front) I then dropped one of the rear struts to inspect it and see if I needed to do the same work that I'd done to the front ones; the simple answer was yes... (again the collars were the issue).
Now I could start work on the interior - well almost - just needed to remove the handbrake - all I can say is that this was another of those simple to say but a complete b*st*rd of a job to do.
For me to work out the right height for the center console I needed to fit the Clio Cup dash top that I'd already brought from RSport in Wimbledon. The dash top is nothing more grand than a simple plastic moulding but crucially it has the correct curve in it to match the windscreen and the pre-drilled hole match appropriate mounting points in the car.
In my specific case, fitting it was slightly more complicated and required the removal of 25mm of the front edge of it and then the cutting of some of the body work in order to allow me to fit p-clips which will then accept the self tapping screws I'll be using to hold the dash top in place. A picture of this is in the gallery (well soon will be).
By this time it had got even colder and with the successful installation of the p-clips I called it a day and went inside to warm up and play the drums.
This week I'm off to Autosport to see if I can negotiate a deal on seats and an electrical fire extinguisher system, I'll be ordering the ISIS stuff I wrote about a couple of posts back, chasing BiggRed about the refurbishing of my APs and waiting for those nice people at KW to send me the parts I need for the rear struts.
Anyway back to that scene described above - I needed to remove the power steering lines because I'm switching to an electrical power steering pump (less parasitic losses on the engine, simplicity blah blah). The lines run from the inside of the engine compartement under the off side of the car and then into the rack. They are a mixture of flexible hose (good) and rigid pipe work (bad) and this seemingly simple job cost about 2 hours, lots of bad language, a proper "hissy fit" and the aforementioned broken iPhone screen.
In reality it was just one of those typical jobs on a car which is fiddly, frustrating and requires a combination of finesse and brute strength (neither of which I'm particularly well endowed with). If any of you are considering doing the conversion a few things are worth bearing in mind:
1) Use a Citroen Saxo VTS/VTR pump; they're readily available on eBay and much cheaper than the Merc A-Class one which some people recommend
2) Make sure you note which is the high pressure feed and which is the low pressure return from the rack - you can trace the pipe work back to the engine bay; the low pressure return goes direct to the reservoir; the high pressure feed comes via the power steering pump
3) To get the pipe work out without cutting it is possible but will need you to remove the bolt from one of the petrol tank securing straps so you'll need to support the tank with a well protected jack
Because I had got the car up onto 4 axle stands in order to get the pas pipe work out I was also able to, finally, finish removing the last of the loom from under the car. This last part was the starter motor cable which is run separately and is secured alongside the coolant pipe work using large zip ties - it then passes up behind the fuel tank (even more "fun") before emerging in the engine bay. Given all the dire warnings on the internet about voltage drop using thin(ish) cable it was surprising to see what a narrow gauge Renault had selected for the cable and encouraging to see they had taken the precaution of adding a fusible link to it.
Next job was to remove the rear calipers because they're being retired in favour of Wilwood calipers - again a job that should have been fairly simple was complicated by that Gorilla employed to tighten up bolts - unfortunately the bolts are in a location which prevents the use of the impact driver so it was good old fashioned brute strength that was required.
With the calipers off (they're surprisingly heavy by the way - much heavier than the APs at the front) I then dropped one of the rear struts to inspect it and see if I needed to do the same work that I'd done to the front ones; the simple answer was yes... (again the collars were the issue).
Now I could start work on the interior - well almost - just needed to remove the handbrake - all I can say is that this was another of those simple to say but a complete b*st*rd of a job to do.
For me to work out the right height for the center console I needed to fit the Clio Cup dash top that I'd already brought from RSport in Wimbledon. The dash top is nothing more grand than a simple plastic moulding but crucially it has the correct curve in it to match the windscreen and the pre-drilled hole match appropriate mounting points in the car.
In my specific case, fitting it was slightly more complicated and required the removal of 25mm of the front edge of it and then the cutting of some of the body work in order to allow me to fit p-clips which will then accept the self tapping screws I'll be using to hold the dash top in place. A picture of this is in the gallery (well soon will be).
By this time it had got even colder and with the successful installation of the p-clips I called it a day and went inside to warm up and play the drums.
This week I'm off to Autosport to see if I can negotiate a deal on seats and an electrical fire extinguisher system, I'll be ordering the ISIS stuff I wrote about a couple of posts back, chasing BiggRed about the refurbishing of my APs and waiting for those nice people at KW to send me the parts I need for the rear struts.
2 parts to the update this week firstly Autosport:
I pretended to be a director of track-club and managed to obtain trade tickets for myself and 2 other infamous forum members; MikeT and TRW1 and found myself outside a chilled NEC early on Thursday morning. I've exhibited at the Autosport show twice and have visited it every year since around 2003 and this year there was a noticable change. The event was smaller and by some margin to; the major manufacturers and particularly those associated with rallying simply were not there, the Karting section was tiny in comparison to previous years and even stallwarts such as Demon Tweeks seemed somehow smaller and more restrained in their stands.
We had pretty much covered the entire show in 3 hours (so just about the amount of time it took to get there) where as in previous years you needed much more time than that. The engineering section was interesting (well assuming you like watching 100k+ CNC machines doing their thing) and there was, as always, some simply superb engineering on display from companies like AP.
I did have an agenda; to find a reasonable supplier for seats, to locate a couple of specific tools and to find a deal on an electrical fire extinguisher but ultimately I left empty handed which was a slight disappointment.
It was good to meet up with Tim and Mike both of whom, as many of you will know, are pushing the "envelope" in terms of development on the v6 and have been around the scene for a long time. We bumped into Fred as well and the amount of time we've invested in our cars was apparent as we carried out a roll-call of the number of years we've been waiting for our cars; ranging from 1 through to 3...
Now onto the more relevant part; the car:
I had only one task that I wanted to carry out at the weekend and that was the creation of the template/buck for the centre console. The basic idea was to make something out of 6mm MDF that would "prove" the basic design I had sketched out on paper and could then be used either as a buck for laminating or, if the design was simple enough, as a skeleton to be skinned in some appropriate light weight material (carbon fibre...perhaps).
Now it was cold, I mean properly cold at around -8 so I suffered for the car at the weekend I spent about an hour jumping in and out of the driver's seat building a cardboard template to get the basic angles and positions correctly before labouriously transferring the template to the MDF ready for cutting.
I had planned on using my el-cheapo retina burning laser guided MacAllister jigsaw to make the various cuts but I'd not bargained on:
1) The free blades being crap
2) Only the wrong type of blades being for sale in B&Q
3) The laser guide being offset from the blade by 5mm
4) The blade holder twisting the blade about 2 degrees
5) The sole plate being bent
Basically the reason the jigsaw was/is cheap is because it's a complete and utter pile of useless rubbish and therefore quickly marked my return to the status of "tool tart" as I ordered a proper trade Bosch jig saw.
This of course left me with a few problems:
1) The template could not be finished
2) I had hyperthermia
3) I was somewhat "angry"
So I called it a day, went inside, got warm and played the drums...works every time.
My frustrations have carried on this week however; K300 are being unbelievably slow in getting back to me regarding the spare parts for the KW suspension, BiggRed have left a garbled voicemail about my calipers and the coating "turning" and ISIS have only just shipped the kit.
Now the thing is, this is nothing unusual, from the 205 project I soon learnt that suppliers are one of the main challenges; you cannot run this sort of project on the basis of ordering parts 5 days before you need them because most motorsport suppliers operate on a different time system to you and I, one which allows time to arbitarilly expand and contract and this can have a rapid and detrimental effect on your timelines.
This weekend will be more work on the centre console and also the final fix of the dash top (BSR-Aerotek have disappeared - see another supplier "problem" - so www.tastynuts.com are supplying the fittings I need for this. I'll take some pictures this weekend of the console so that you can see the direction I'm going in - safe to say it's "different" from the norm in order to take account of the very low seating position in the car.
I pretended to be a director of track-club and managed to obtain trade tickets for myself and 2 other infamous forum members; MikeT and TRW1 and found myself outside a chilled NEC early on Thursday morning. I've exhibited at the Autosport show twice and have visited it every year since around 2003 and this year there was a noticable change. The event was smaller and by some margin to; the major manufacturers and particularly those associated with rallying simply were not there, the Karting section was tiny in comparison to previous years and even stallwarts such as Demon Tweeks seemed somehow smaller and more restrained in their stands.
We had pretty much covered the entire show in 3 hours (so just about the amount of time it took to get there) where as in previous years you needed much more time than that. The engineering section was interesting (well assuming you like watching 100k+ CNC machines doing their thing) and there was, as always, some simply superb engineering on display from companies like AP.
I did have an agenda; to find a reasonable supplier for seats, to locate a couple of specific tools and to find a deal on an electrical fire extinguisher but ultimately I left empty handed which was a slight disappointment.
It was good to meet up with Tim and Mike both of whom, as many of you will know, are pushing the "envelope" in terms of development on the v6 and have been around the scene for a long time. We bumped into Fred as well and the amount of time we've invested in our cars was apparent as we carried out a roll-call of the number of years we've been waiting for our cars; ranging from 1 through to 3...
Now onto the more relevant part; the car:
I had only one task that I wanted to carry out at the weekend and that was the creation of the template/buck for the centre console. The basic idea was to make something out of 6mm MDF that would "prove" the basic design I had sketched out on paper and could then be used either as a buck for laminating or, if the design was simple enough, as a skeleton to be skinned in some appropriate light weight material (carbon fibre...perhaps).
Now it was cold, I mean properly cold at around -8 so I suffered for the car at the weekend
I spent about an hour jumping in and out of the driver's seat building a cardboard template to get the basic angles and positions correctly before labouriously transferring the template to the MDF ready for cutting.I had planned on using my el-cheapo retina burning laser guided MacAllister jigsaw to make the various cuts but I'd not bargained on:
1) The free blades being crap
2) Only the wrong type of blades being for sale in B&Q
3) The laser guide being offset from the blade by 5mm
4) The blade holder twisting the blade about 2 degrees
5) The sole plate being bent
Basically the reason the jigsaw was/is cheap is because it's a complete and utter pile of useless rubbish and therefore quickly marked my return to the status of "tool tart" as I ordered a proper trade Bosch jig saw.
This of course left me with a few problems:
1) The template could not be finished
2) I had hyperthermia
3) I was somewhat "angry"
So I called it a day, went inside, got warm and played the drums...works every time.
My frustrations have carried on this week however; K300 are being unbelievably slow in getting back to me regarding the spare parts for the KW suspension, BiggRed have left a garbled voicemail about my calipers and the coating "turning" and ISIS have only just shipped the kit.
Now the thing is, this is nothing unusual, from the 205 project I soon learnt that suppliers are one of the main challenges; you cannot run this sort of project on the basis of ordering parts 5 days before you need them because most motorsport suppliers operate on a different time system to you and I, one which allows time to arbitarilly expand and contract and this can have a rapid and detrimental effect on your timelines.
This weekend will be more work on the centre console and also the final fix of the dash top (BSR-Aerotek have disappeared - see another supplier "problem" - so www.tastynuts.com are supplying the fittings I need for this. I'll take some pictures this weekend of the console so that you can see the direction I'm going in - safe to say it's "different" from the norm in order to take account of the very low seating position in the car.
The costs of the project are escalating somewhat! Yesterday I shelled out £400 to K300 for parts for the KW suspension this included the frankly frightening cost of £17 per bolt (lower strut mounting) and you need of 8 of them.
I'm tracking the costs of the project and in the spirit of openess I'm going to publish the Excel spreadsheet at the end so that you can all see where the money was spent; it may be sobering reading for some or encouraging for others
I'm going to take some more pictures so that this becomes more than just a huge thread of text but prior to that I'll just run through this weekends activities...
The main priority at the moment is completing the centre console design - this is more important than it sounds because it will form the support for all the switching in the car; I sit too low and too far back to make the dashboard a viable location for any switch gear. I can't start re-wiring the car or sorting out the brake lines until this is done so it's on the "critical path" as it were.
The previous weekend had turned into a disaster with that cheap jigsaw meaning that I had to start from scratch. On the positive side this gave another 5 days to really think through the design, do a few more sketches and buy the materials.
So the first decision was what to make it out of? The default response in most cases is glassfibre although carbon fibre or alluminium were also thought about. My original plan was to create a mold and then push that over to some people I know who can do the layup but in the end that most popular of hi-tech motorsport materials, plywood, came to the rescue.
I'll make it clear at this point that primary concern with the console was function i.e. it had to work as a proper support for switches, had to position them in the right place for the driver etc however I did have one eye on the design and I did want something that "looks" right and therefore a simple straight edged and sided design wouldn't have been right.
After much throught and experimentation it turned out that plywood would work; in the right section (4mm) it's flexible enough to form curves but strong enough to resist the normal bangs and knocks that it will be subject to (for proof of this see below for my test).
So after spending probably 10 hours or so I had finished the basic form leaving just 2 further pieces to be cut. Then the whole assembly will be taken apart and glued up - this will allow me to remove the screws from it. The finished article is light and strong - I'd hazard a guess that it's equivalent to a 5mm think glass fibre structure. When it's completed (which must be this weekend if the project is not to start falling behind) it'll be sent, well packed, to CBC to be flocked.
Here's is how I tested it - bear in mind that by the time I came to do this test I'd put 10 hours into the actual construction so this took a bit of courage because if it went badly wrong I'd be back to zero - with the console on the ground I stood on top of it; 12 stone of me and it didn't break; I reckon it's strong enough.
Other things that happened this weekend; the ISIS kit turned up (see my previous post about electrickery) and in the "metal" it's very good also in a rare departure for most companies "kit" actually means everything you need so in addition to the modules they include all the wiring loom(s), terminators, grab bag of fuses and a real suprise; a printed manual - kudos to ISIS.
My refurbished calipers arrived from Biggred - they've done a superb job with the only niggle being that they've ended up costing £100 more than I was quoted during the initial conversation with them.
I finally got the dashtop installed in the car; the fittings from TastyNuts turned up and worked a treat, being black aluminium countersunk bolts they also "disappear" and don't reflect in the windscreen.
Ok, promises, promises; I will grab some more pictures and get them uploaded. Until next time...
I'm tracking the costs of the project and in the spirit of openess I'm going to publish the Excel spreadsheet at the end so that you can all see where the money was spent; it may be sobering reading for some or encouraging for others
I'm going to take some more pictures so that this becomes more than just a huge thread of text but prior to that I'll just run through this weekends activities...
The main priority at the moment is completing the centre console design - this is more important than it sounds because it will form the support for all the switching in the car; I sit too low and too far back to make the dashboard a viable location for any switch gear. I can't start re-wiring the car or sorting out the brake lines until this is done so it's on the "critical path" as it were.
The previous weekend had turned into a disaster with that cheap jigsaw meaning that I had to start from scratch. On the positive side this gave another 5 days to really think through the design, do a few more sketches and buy the materials.
So the first decision was what to make it out of? The default response in most cases is glassfibre although carbon fibre or alluminium were also thought about. My original plan was to create a mold and then push that over to some people I know who can do the layup but in the end that most popular of hi-tech motorsport materials, plywood, came to the rescue.
I'll make it clear at this point that primary concern with the console was function i.e. it had to work as a proper support for switches, had to position them in the right place for the driver etc however I did have one eye on the design and I did want something that "looks" right and therefore a simple straight edged and sided design wouldn't have been right.
After much throught and experimentation it turned out that plywood would work; in the right section (4mm) it's flexible enough to form curves but strong enough to resist the normal bangs and knocks that it will be subject to (for proof of this see below for my test).
So after spending probably 10 hours or so I had finished the basic form leaving just 2 further pieces to be cut. Then the whole assembly will be taken apart and glued up - this will allow me to remove the screws from it. The finished article is light and strong - I'd hazard a guess that it's equivalent to a 5mm think glass fibre structure. When it's completed (which must be this weekend if the project is not to start falling behind) it'll be sent, well packed, to CBC to be flocked.
Here's is how I tested it - bear in mind that by the time I came to do this test I'd put 10 hours into the actual construction so this took a bit of courage because if it went badly wrong I'd be back to zero - with the console on the ground I stood on top of it; 12 stone of me and it didn't break; I reckon it's strong enough.
Other things that happened this weekend; the ISIS kit turned up (see my previous post about electrickery) and in the "metal" it's very good also in a rare departure for most companies "kit" actually means everything you need so in addition to the modules they include all the wiring loom(s), terminators, grab bag of fuses and a real suprise; a printed manual - kudos to ISIS.
My refurbished calipers arrived from Biggred - they've done a superb job with the only niggle being that they've ended up costing £100 more than I was quoted during the initial conversation with them.
I finally got the dashtop installed in the car; the fittings from TastyNuts turned up and worked a treat, being black aluminium countersunk bolts they also "disappear" and don't reflect in the windscreen.
Ok, promises, promises; I will grab some more pictures and get them uploaded. Until next time...
It's not bad is it!
I've lost track now of the hardware we have/had since I'm no longer really involved in the project.
Did you get a look at the JP1s, the 2-11 and the Exige S? Nice bits of kit especially the JP1
If you want any specific information about the Spider feel free to ask me; it was my "pet" car and I've had a lot to do with it and I'll be open and honest with you.
I've lost track now of the hardware we have/had since I'm no longer really involved in the project.
Did you get a look at the JP1s, the 2-11 and the Exige S? Nice bits of kit especially the JP1
If you want any specific information about the Spider feel free to ask me; it was my "pet" car and I've had a lot to do with it and I'll be open and honest with you.
With thanks to James for providing image hosting here is a quick update with some images; you've seen most of these before but next week I'll be dropping another load of new pictures which will include rebuilt KWs with solid top-mounts, centre console, refurbished calipers and the ISIS wiring system. For now though:
Trophy Plenum
[album]991[/album]
Nest of Snakes Exhaust Manifold
[album]990[/album]
Side view of car
[album]989[/album]
Another side view showing some of the cage
[album]988[/album]
Front of the car as you may not have seen it before
[album]987[/album]
Doors n Panels (front door is OEM, 3 other panels are GRP and weigh less than the single door)
[album]986[/album]
Pile of bits; some going back and some not - next week you'll see this pile has grown somewhat
[album]985[/album]
Trophy Plenum
[album]991[/album]
Nest of Snakes Exhaust Manifold
[album]990[/album]
Side view of car
[album]989[/album]
Another side view showing some of the cage
[album]988[/album]
Front of the car as you may not have seen it before
[album]987[/album]
Doors n Panels (front door is OEM, 3 other panels are GRP and weigh less than the single door)
[album]986[/album]
Pile of bits; some going back and some not - next week you'll see this pile has grown somewhat
[album]985[/album]
Here are just a few pictures from the last couple of weekends. If you look at them in the Gallery you can see additional information...
K-Tec Solid Top Mount
[album]997[/album]
Poorly Rear Strut (this is what the fronts looked like before I refurbished them)
[album]996[/album]
Refurbished Front Struts
[album]995[/album]
Dashtop Preparation
[album]994[/album]
Caged Again - side view
[album]993[/album]
Bits n Bobs - the pile of parts grows...
[album]992[/album]
K-Tec Solid Top Mount
[album]997[/album]
Poorly Rear Strut (this is what the fronts looked like before I refurbished them)
[album]996[/album]
Refurbished Front Struts
[album]995[/album]
Dashtop Preparation
[album]994[/album]
Caged Again - side view
[album]993[/album]
Bits n Bobs - the pile of parts grows...
[album]992[/album]
I'll be posting a full update sometime in the early part of next week in the meantime I've uploaded some more pictures...
Race Technology DASH2 - connects to the ECU, DL1 etc and replaces all existing gauges etc
[album]1008[/album]
Console - getting there...
[album]1007[/album]
Console - read more about it in my next post
[album]1006[/album]
ISIS Kit; when they said kit, they meant it (other powercell and power distribution not shown)
[album]1005[/album]
ISIS Cells; one mastercell and one of the 2 powercells included in the kit
[album]1004[/album]
ISIS mastercell; The brain for the whole system, includes onboard diagnostics
[album]1003[/album]
ISIS loom; pre-assembled loom - looks a lot but is probably only 25% of what is in our cars as standard
[album]1002[/album]
Refurbished caliper - thanks to BiggRed...
[album]1001[/album]
Race Technology DASH2 - connects to the ECU, DL1 etc and replaces all existing gauges etc
[album]1008[/album]
Console - getting there...
[album]1007[/album]
Console - read more about it in my next post
[album]1006[/album]
ISIS Kit; when they said kit, they meant it (other powercell and power distribution not shown)
[album]1005[/album]
ISIS Cells; one mastercell and one of the 2 powercells included in the kit
[album]1004[/album]
ISIS mastercell; The brain for the whole system, includes onboard diagnostics
[album]1003[/album]
ISIS loom; pre-assembled loom - looks a lot but is probably only 25% of what is in our cars as standard
[album]1002[/album]
Refurbished caliper - thanks to BiggRed...
[album]1001[/album]
k1ano - thanks; the photo's dont' really show it clearly but it's tapered and curved and, hopefully, once flocked it should look pretty "production". The switch areas will not be flocked but covered in something else with a flocked "reveal".
Tim - I've got to go through the old loom taking connectors off it; I'm going to photo it side by side so all can see the difference.
Tim - I've got to go through the old loom taking connectors off it; I'm going to photo it side by side so all can see the difference.
