My Madmatz set arrived this week. Very happy with these, and should look lovely once in:
Fancying a change I’ve moved onto sorting some interior bits. First up transforming it into the International Space Station with some silent coat sound deadening, followed by Dodomat for insulation:
I’ve started carpet lining the living area. We’ve gone with anthacite grey, feels very cosy (ignore the rough edges, I’ve not trimmed it down yet!):
Fitted my slightly nicer fuel pump from heritage too:
I’m having a few issues getting the engine to idle properly. It will quite happily run with a small amount of throttle applied, but when released it fails to idle properly. I’m thinking it may be the idle jet in the carb not working as it should. The carb was one thing I didn’t look at when assembling the engine so I’ve stripped it down and will clean it all out to see if that helps.
Engine lid on tonight via sneaky use of a bit of paracord:
Number plate and door catch back on too, OMG! Just need to replace the plate screws with black ones at some point:
I fitted the cheapy fuel pump I bought a few years back to replace the old dead pump and lo and behold it only bloody started!
I’ve a better quality pump on the way so I’ll fit that, check it works, then refit the SVDA dizzy and set the timing etc and it shouldn’t be too far off a spin round the yard (brakes first though)!
Each step is a little closer to being on the road!
Wired up the reversing lights and fuel shutoff valve:
A few bits back from the powder coaters so built up the quarter lights with new seals and powder coated frames:
Powder coated Window wiper arms with new hella blades:
Painted a few bits. Repainted an engine lid hinge I wasn’t happy with (I’d painted it in the open position so when closed had a bit missing paint) and front wheel caps:
Insides of the bumpers and track covers painted (I don’t have enough racks to hang it all from to paint both insides and out):
Front grill and petrol flap:
Max came down over the last two days to help with sorting the brakes and to try and start the engine. The front brakes bled fine, however the rears wouldn’t even produce fluid. There were no leaks in the line so I disconnected the line from the master cylinder. When pumped no fluid was pushed through so it was off with the cylinder for investigation. I ended up stripping the cylinder and I think I’ve tracked down the culprit:
This is the seal between the front and rear pistons in the cylinder so I think the fluid is leaking from the rear piston to the front piston rather than flowing into the rear brake lines. I think I’ll take a look at getting a rebuild kit and repairing this.
We attempted to start up the engine tonight! The starter motor turned over fine which is a great sign, however the engine didn’t kick into life. After investigation it would appear the fuel pump has died (assume the diaphragm has dried out and cracked) so I’ll fit my spare pump I bought a while back to see if that helps. In addition the SVDA Dizzy I fitted wasn’t producing a spark so I’ve put the 009 back on for now. The SVDA dizzy has a pertronix unit fitted to it so I wonder if it’s duff?
It’s far too cold and damp to paint the bumpers and other bits, even with my little Infrared lamp, so I’ve been busying myself with a few other bits.
Gave the air filter a few coats of satin black, and reinstalled in the van:
Fuel lines installed with the addition of a fuel shutoff valve:
Cut and polished the engine lid:
And the same treatment for the rear hatch. Warmed the hatch window seal in a bucket of hot water (car thermometer said it was -1 today!) and fitted to the window:
New door seal, and rubber block fitted to the striker plate:
Picked up the bumpers, front grill and track covers from the shot blasters. The only bit that needs some further work is the rear bumper. Shot blasting revealed some rot on one side, and some impressive dents:
Luckily it was just isolated to this section so I let some fresh metal in, and got the worst of the dents out with a hammer and dolly:
And there were 5 holes drilled in it (presumably for a towbar?):
I have no need for them so welded them up:
I gave the welded sections a skim of filler, and then into epoxy and high build along with some others bits I had cluttering up the workshop (rear bumper needs some further shaping yet):
As are the indicators (front ones are yet to go in):
Not so much success on the horn front:
I’ve traced this down to a dodgy steering coupler. I’ve a new one on the way from heritage, and if that doesn’t work C&C have said theirs definitely will as it’s a copy of the original.
Steering wheel painted and ready to go back in:
And I’ve finished up my spare wheel carrier. It’s pretty solid, and looks the part to me.
Tubing bent to shape:
Top mounting plate welded to the tube:
Main plate welded to the tube to support the wheel studs:
And then studs welded to the plate. I just need to cut the threads into them:
And a test fit of the wheel. Wheels on the front are a bit of a love ‘em or hate ‘em item, I love the look personally:
Because I’m a careless moron the bottom third of the poptop was covered in grinding dust.
I couldn’t remove the dust with a fingernail so went over the affected areas with some wet and dry, followed by 3000 wet on the DA over the whole roof (first time I’ve been brave enough to machine colour sand, figuring the roof isn’t easily seen should I screw up):
After buffing and waxing it looks miles better:
With the help of some of the lads down the yard the poptop is now back on the van and out of the way:
Second corner now cut and polished, with both rear light clusters and engine lid seal in:
And before I forget, I put this stubborn little devil in. The fuel breather hose tucked up the left corner:
Stripped the steering wheel of its peeling paint job:
And gave it a coat of etch followed by a few coats of high build.
I’d repaired a few cracks in it with some epoxy putty. With some primer on, there are a few further hairline cracks I need to fill, before I can paint it.
Drilled the bumper to take my new hella lamps:
Made a start on my front wheel mount. Thus far I’ve fabricated the top mount which consists of a plate bolted to the airbox with a 10mm rod poking out of it (this needs cutting down to size, I’m not planning to impale any pedestrians!). This will support the top of the A frame, which I need to finish this week (one of the guys opposite has a tube bender I can use).
Started cleaning up the poptop to get it onto the van and out of the way:
And have started testing the electrics. This is a very good sign as it means I’m getting power to the cab, and to the engine (I heard the shutoff valve click so it’s getting to the coil).
