First Outing

Yup, taken it for it's first drive today ;-)

Took a few last minute adjustments - the alternator, for example, decided to short out and start sending up smoke signals, so that was taken out and replaced. Windscreen and wipers went on (which proved to be important), and a few more bolts were tightened up here and there. We also had to bore out the clutch master to 7/8", refit and bleed. The clutch is still long, but at least it works. Once all that was, done, there was nothing stopping me from taking it out....

Of course, today is also one of the wettest days in Perth this year, with biblical rain showers, thunder and lightning all day. So I had a ten minute window to take it out on cold tires onto very wet roads - doesn't matter.



So, first impressions. Well, for a start, the brakes are waaaaay off being anywhere near where they need to be, which is alarming to start with. They just need to bed in (new pads, new disks, new everything), but there's not much feel to them at this stage. What I need to do is get a dry day, then go for a drive somewhere quiet and stand on them a few times from 50kph or so. This should get the pads into good contact with the disks, and improve the bite a lot. Other than that, well, I didn't drive it that fast or hard to be honest - I mean, new and untested car, no brakes, and terrible weather doesn't lend itself to lots of confidence. So perhaps tomorrow when the weather is better, I can take it out again.

Oh, and the new video camera? I forgot to set it to record when I drove out. Idiot.... ;-)

It's Running!

Yep, the engine runs! And boy, it sounds vicious, let me tell you. Starts up quickly, idles nicely, but the slightest twitch on the accelerator and it spools up extremely quickly.

I wasn't there for the wiring that needed to be done - down at my parents for the weekend. So all of this is second hand, however it all went fairly smoothly. Only concern was over a small fountain that appeared from a blanking plate. We'd removed the EGR sensor and blanked off this area, however one of the holes covered up must be linked to the water system, and when placed under pressure it sprayed a 6 foot jet of water from the engine bay, all over the laptop, of course. Frank resealed this up, however we were also getting a lot of water coming out of the exhaust. This implied that water was leaking past this seal and into the EGR system, which in turn was drawing the water into the exhaust. The risk here is that the cylinder can fill up with water, or that water simply speeds up corrosion etc. So we've put an aluminium stopper into the port, and this should stop any further leakage. I've also ordered a proper CNC-milled blanking plate with o-rings to seal up the water and EGR ports.

So, at this stage the only thing stopping me from taking it for a drive is the clutch. Initially, after the first bleed, I had the terrible thought that I'd blown the slave cylinder. The slave cylinder is the part inside the bell housing that pushes against the clutch to disengage it from the flywheel. A few of the guys had managed to blow the seals by over-pressurising the system, which means you have to take the entire drive-train out (engine and gearbox) which also entails unplugging the fuel system, water system, drive shaft, engine wiring loom etc etc. I had the tell-tale puddle of brake fluid under the bellhousing, so for a little while I was, well, worried I'd have to do the same.

Instead, it looks like I just stuffed up the bleed process (hooray!). It also appears that my master cylinder (the cylinder attached to the pedal) is too small, so it's extremely unlikely that I've done any harm. Instead, I've removed the master, and it's off to be bored out from 5/8" to 7/8" to give more pressure. Once this is back, I can install it, bleed it (extremely carefully), and take it for a drive. Should be on the road this Saturday ;-)

Nearly there...

Despite the lack of postings, there has been a lot of progress on the car - it's just that none of it is terribly exciting. Once you get the engine in, there's all sorts of prosaic things to do, like:

* Install dipstick
* Install water pipes
* Install radiator overflow tank
* Tighten suspension bolts
* Do a wheel alignment
* Align headlights
* Install throttle cable
* Put oil in diff, gearbox and engine
* Install car horns

All this and more has been done, but that's not exactly riveting stuff. I'm just waiting for the engine loom to be put in and the car will be drivable.

That said, the bills keep rolling in. For example, the oil I'm using is Redline Lightweight Shockproof for the diff and gearbox, and Redline 10W40 for the engine. The total oil bill was over $300, which suprised me. But I should be coming to the end of the bills as well.

I've also tested all of the electrics, and everything works fine - headlights, brake lights, reversing lights, indicators etc are all fine. There were only two problems - I'd installed the high beam switch in upside down (disaster ;-) and the indicators initially didn't work as the wiring to the relay was back to front. Both easily resolved.

So, any day now, I'll be posting the video of the car starting up for the first time - can't wait.