Prop Me Up

Here comes a milestone moment in the build! 

First I wanted to say that when I started writing this blog I did it both as a record of my build and as a guide to others following in my steps. I received a nice email from a reader recently letting me know they enjoyed the blog which was highly motivational for continuing so I just wanted to say thanks to all the people who come and read my articles. 

I have now installed the prop shaft which means the drive train from front to back is connected. The car could, if the engine started yet move under its own power.

Alas we are some way of that milestone; I was hoping for Christmas but I now think it could be Feb when the its alive.

Fitting the prop shaft was fairly straight forward with the body off as I had lots of room to do it. 

1) After applying a small amount of copper grease to the slide yoke splines I inserted that end into the gearbox with the rest of the prop shaft below the differential nose. 
2) Insert further than it needs to go so that the flange end can be "carefully" manoeuvred onto the differential nose shaft.

Now to avoid the short interlude in the process that I went through whilst going to the hardware shop it will be helpful if you have 3 M12 * 50mm bolts with 2 washers on each and a M12 Nyloc for each. I had 35mm bolts which were not long enough. I am assuming here that you have a 3 hole diff nose.

3) I found it useful to slot the bolts through the prop flange before sliding it fully onto the diff nose as there are very specific positions where the bolts fit through. Some gentle tapping with a small tap hammer was required in my case. 

4) Tighten the bolts flush (not tight) and then go around each again fully tightening. I needed two 19mm spanners for this as I could not fit a socket on the bolt head.

Don't forget to ensure your prop shaft UJ's are fully greased.

Contrary to what the picture looks like, I have good clearance to all parts; I was especially pleased that my fuel pump bracket and pipes have plenty of clearance given that this was a bit of a gamble.

Once this was on I could move to filling the gearbox with fluid. The Tremec T56 Magnum recommended oil is Dexron III grade Automatic Transmission Fluid (at time of writing). Please check the tremec website for the latest recommendation. 

The fill point on a gearbox is on the side so unless you have bought a oil pump designed to do the job (Sealey 1L Litre Mini Pump For Engine/Brake/Gearbox Oil/Fluid/Cleaner TP6804) or you already have a funnel you'll need to do what I did and have a Blue Peter moment.

Basically just fill it until it comes out of the holes and then screw in the plug.

Pictured left is the device I made using a water bottle, duct tape and a bit of left over fuel hose after completing my fuel line (Pictured Right)

I have just used a Torques jubilee clip fitting for now but I am unsure if this is strong enough so I may change this in the future. I've sent an email to AK asking what they do before I decide.

I'll be fitting the side-pipes later just to keep them safe and then I need to strip the parts off the car to polish them up.

Like I said, a few jobs to keep me busy.

Finally - I also realised that the BMW Streering rack has a small black plastic cap on it. I have confirmed with AK that you just pull this off and dispose of it. This is pictured below:

Undo the hardwork

One of the frustrating things about building a kit car of this complexity is that amount of times you have to fit something just to take it off again later.

For example, the car looked great when it came back from AK but due to the amount of work still needed on the engine bay I had to take the exhausts back off, get the friends around to remove the body and hoist that back up to a working height and then start disconnecting the great pipework Jon at AK had done in order to fit the thermostat and polish/clean up the aluminium housing. 

I still have the polish to do and I've also order a new thermostat from ebay (US) as the delivery was much cheaper than from GM Parts Direct. This was only 40$ and I did already have one but it didnt seem to be working well and so I thought "better safe than sorry". 

Note: You can no longer buy the thermostat on its own, you get the housing with it as part of a single unit. 

The pedal box had to come back out as did the clutch and brake master cylinders.

In hindsight, I should have removed the stainless cover and then bought and fitted:

1) The heater box
2) The side vents
3) The front vent wire mesh
4) The triple nose vents
5) The brake and clutch Servo
6) Ensure all engine/gearbox work was complete

All before sending to AK as that would have saved me a load of re-work. Hopefully the readers of this blog can learn from this.

One thing I did do is mark out with tape about an inch above where the bell housing goes so when I fit the heater I can ensure I have the correct clearance.

The research on the heater system continues but there are a couple of other jobs I can do in the meantime. 

Its back from AK already

When the Cob went to AK I didn't expect to see it again for a few weeks given how busy they are so I was surprised when halfway through my holiday I received an email saying the car was ready for collection.

First, I promised to provide feedback on grim salvage who took the car to AK. They were excellent, arriving bang on time, taking their time to ensure it was loaded carefully and secure including using extending ramps due to the car being so low. The driver was friendly and it was well priced as I mentioned before.

I even received a text from them to say the car had arrived at AK safe and sound. 

Whilst on holiday in Turkey, I sent them a text to try to arrange for them to pick up the car and they were flexible enough to say yes at short notice, without paying any deposit, arranging all over text. 

Having arrived back home in the UK at 4am on the Monday it was 9.30 before I text them to check all was ok and they were nearly at AK and had the car with me by 2pm for cash on arrival.

I can't recommend these guys highly enough.

Jon at AK had also gone beyond what I had expected, not just making a tidy job of the stainless headers and sidepipes (which look great), but fitting all the water pipes which I had purchased, including the air intake and filter. I am very happy with results and this now puts me in a good position to crack on with the build.

The AK team had even sorted my accelerator pedal out so it no longer rubs on the body which saved me another job. 

So now I have a wiring loom, lights, locks and door catches which I could fit but I want to get to starting the engine for the first time. For that I need the heater, battery, battery cable, switches and gauges to be able to properly fire things up safely.

To sort the heater ill need to decide on which way to go as I'm still not sure about using the standard AK option.

More research is now needed.