Brett's RS GTD

[Andy Green]

Hi Brett,
I would look at reducing the height of the boss on the waterpump the tensioner mounts onto. The pump body may require re-tapping to ensure you don’t strip the thread.
Keep up the good work, you’re nearly there
Regards,
Andy

 

[Andrew Bone]

Hi Brett
I may have missed it, but upon the return of your motor from Franks ref the leaking water pump how did he resolve the problem, I have simular issues.
Regards A

 

[Brett James-McCall]

I hope to be able to tell you soon, as have thrown caution to the wind and am going to fill and try to start at the same time...

 

[Brett James-McCall]

So a long time without posting again, I have been quietly (and slowly) working away in the back ground.

Couple of things have been done to progress, one was to change the front demist setup. I originally had cut ovals in the holes and following feedback decided to use the older dash vents.

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We'll see how that goes when I finally test...

On the other side, I'd say one of my biggest faults is that I worry about things and sometimes stop myself doing stuff because I am not sure or have not done something before.

In the case of the dash, the way I had put in the loom I got from SGT was to connect it to the cross part of the chassis. Mainly because at one end is the relays and fuse boxes that dont' lend themselves to easily being taken out. And there was my problem in my head, I don't want to have to be massively unplugging everything, especially now as I probably will be pulling the dash regularly. So I finally decided to make another loom.

Here's what the chassis looked like to start

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Here's the dash as finally decided it

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Then I started behind

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and last night I finished the dash side, so now going to start on the connections in the chassis. The large connector is from a PCM connector from a Puma diesel engine in work

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Maybe I'll be in a position to try and start here by the beginning of next month some time (fingers crossed)

 

[Randy V]

Good to see you posting again Brett!
Wearing Camo out in the shop I see! :thumbsup:

 

[Keith]

+1 on Randy's comment Brett. Keep it up mate, you'll get there

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Ha! Yes Randy, can't beat a bit of Ny-Stop, make great working trousers

Another thing that has been completed is that the seats are now semi fixed in and I also completed most of the structure that I had envisioned in my head all those years ago. I wanted something that helped brace my hip area better and also a little storage box (how modern ). There'll be a lid going over it once finished

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Also, the final 3 dials have had different bezels ready for IVA so they are compliant as they are outside the exempt area

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[Brett James-McCall]

I've had a question about something on my dash, the turn switch to the right of the steering wheel - Well it is the Wiper Control

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The idea came from a GT40EC member many years ago and it is a unit in one.

It is a 4 position rotary switch

Clockwise: 1 click for low speed; 2 click for high speed

Anticlockwise: Intermittent - This has been done by wiring in a relay to get this affect. Here's a video of the test (cough, 4 years ago)



Push: drives the washer pump

The knob is a series one pie crust copy.

 

[David]

Also, the final 3 dials have had different bezels ready for IVA so they are compliant as they are outside the exempt area

They're outside the exempt area but the design of the dash is such that you can't contact them with an 165mm sphere. I 3D printed a hemi-sphere to test but you could do it with a cardboard profile.

So while you should validate your dash is the same (there is no guarantee yours is the same as mine!) I'd think it should be fine without having to change the bezels.

 

[Brett James-McCall]

David,
Maybe, but I'd prefer not to have to cross the issue at IVA and it took less than 30 mins for all 3 52mm and the Speedo. It wasn't much for the bezels too.

Brett

 

[Nick]

David,
Maybe, but I'd prefer not to have to cross the issue at IVA and it took less than 30 mins for all 3 52mm and the Speedo. It wasn't much for the bezels too.

Brett

Hi Brett,

I didn't radius mine but your route is much more sensible as I then had sleepless nights worrying about it (and other possible issues, oh the joy of IVA) as I heard one test station has failed cars on it.

Also think they look very smart where did you get them from? as it beats sticking foam around them which I believe some manufacturers recommend.

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Hey Nick, your car looks fantastic!

Bezels came from Smiths/CAI Gauge themselves. I think just over £20.

I have kept the Classic ones for later

Brett

 

[Brett James-McCall]

So work continues and is slow (as usual) but at least it appears to be heading the right direction

Bar a few connections that still need to be sorted that were left not done on purpose whilst the rest were testing (Heater and electric water pump), I think I have got o the point where the new loom is debugged and I can now move onto the next step, trying to crank her over for the first time.

Going to be a few weeks before that happens though as I have age group European Championships next weekend!

This was the last test last night

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Well another little milestone reached, not without a large bump again...

Filled the system again on Friday night and.... Drip, Drip, Drip. COming from the inner plate of the water pump on the inner bolts. So had to take it off and a trip to Chadwell Heath where Customville had only one set of water pump gaskets left - Phew.

Reassembled and left over Saturday so once back from training yesterday with not much time, I swallowed hard and connected the final wire for the electric water pump and luckily it seems to work Need to do a weep check on the system when I get home tonight, but it seemed ok yesterday

 

[JimmyMac]

Looking good Brett and fingers crossed here.

If that pump gives you more issues drop me a line and you can have that Meziere remote pump and billet front end I mentioned a while back.

All the best.

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Thanks James, appreciated. No work on the car for a few weeks as I fly out to Denmark Thursday for the European OCR championships - Probably won't be able to bend properly next week LOL

Yours looks amazing!

 

[Brett James-McCall]

So back and hurting from the European OCR Champs, so I got to spend some time in the garage this weekend to try and start her for the first time...

Things gone right:
1/ Oil prime pressure gauge test and warning light - Tick
2/ Fuel Pump confirmed as working - Tick
3/ Fixed resulting Fuel leaks - Tick
4/ Hopefully fixed oil leaks (must remember to do things up tighter) - Tick
5/ Spin engine over without plugs - Tick
6/ Have spark - Tick

Not quite so right:
1/ Engine struggling to turn over with plugs in. Not sure if this is either that the battery is so old it has died, or not enough cranking power. It is an Odyssey PC925 with 900A cranking power, so should be good. So battery back on charge and looking for a power pack to see if I can get some boost for initial start

2/ Body fitment - I don't know what has happened but my rear clip used to fit in fine and great, now not so; seems a little misaligned and the exhausts seem to be sitting higher, or the body lower, resulting in having to do some grinding of the body where the exhaust exit. Not sure what has happened, the only thing I can think of is that when the engine spacers sitting on top of the mount I have were remade, they have been maybe a mm or 2 difference which has resulted in a slight tilt causing interference

 

[Randy V]

Brett -
Good to read you’re back on it....
Fiberglass bodies tend to sag when not supported properly for a period of time - could be your issue?
Regarding slow cranking speed -
A fresh engine has the most internal friction. Try connecting a heavy jumper cable from negative on the battery, directly to the engine block. If your problem is poor earth, this will quickly and temporarily resolve that.

 

[Andy Green]

Hi Brett,
as Randy stated, a fresh engine will be really tight and you've got twice as many pistons and hence twice the friction as most engines!
I had a second battery in parallel when I did my first engine start which did the trick
Keep up the good workl
Regards,
Andy

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Long time between posts and visits, as many will see in the news, life is a little challenging in the Blue Oval right now...

To sum up the time, well, I don't really get much time in the garage of what I have managed

A few bits over the summer that had me trying to turn the car over resulting in a few attempts and then a period of focus end of September/start October. The last part resulted in a few coughs and splutters and some Gas Monkey moments firing back up the carb: Spark - Check, Fuel - Check, Turning over - Check, but nothing so it was down to timing most likely and... battery cable.

November a new larger battery cable was installed 485A vs the previous 170A. It also meant a bit of new routing resulting in a shorter direct run that helped as well.

Forward to this month. Yes that's the time I haven't been in the garage. It looks like my old Odyssey unit has started to leak and just wasn't producing the power, so am ordering a new one PC1200 vs PC925, a 33% increase in initial crank. So in the meantime I have been hooking up the Ranger to provide some boost.

This weekend confirmed again the above and the fact that leaving something sitting doesn't magically fix anything. So after a quick chat on the phone to the Wheelwrights, I decided to go back to basics. Rocker covers were taken off, plugs out and I went about reverifying where TDC was and re-seating the distributor just in case. The result...