Snag List

Just lately I've been working through my snag list.

1) Gearbox mount needs amending.

When I fitted the gearbox rubber and bracket it was 12mm away from the body (in order to keep the prop shaft level) so this weekend I took off the rubber mount, used a crow bar to pull out the rubber bit and then trimmed the bracket down my 12mm. Plenty of Sikaflex into the mount and 12 hours later the rubber part is solid again.

I have also never been happy with the threaded bolts holding on the bracket. The metal in the chassis only allows a couple of threads and I though a combination of an M10 and an M8 bolt would suffice but putting the bracket back on I just wasn't happy with the fact things wouldn't tighten up as much as I wanted to and I was scared of stripping threads completely.

The solution was to drill right through the chassis and into the tub in one of the holes so that I could but a long M8 bolt through with penny washers and nylocs. This was much easier to tighten and I am much happier with the thought of so much torque going through the gearbox and its mount.

2) Boot Gas Struts Not Fitted

I had attached the boot brackets as per the AK instructions (19" diagonal to rain gully from boot hinge) and moulded them in with P38. All I needed to do was rivet on the boot hinges (11") lower bracket and let some gas out of the struts to allow the boot to open/close.

3) Lambda sensor wires hang down

The lambda wires needed to be clipped up into place under the car to prevent them from snagging (an IVA fail). Again, easily fixed with a couple of p-clips and rivnuts each side.

4) Brake pipe and Fuel pipe adjustments

Whilst under the car doing the gearbox I noted that I had a small leak on one of the brake pipe connections. Easily tightened and sorted. I also noted that my fuel pipe had a bit of excess play so I quickly added another p-clip to ensure it stayed clear of the prop shaft.

5) Indicator and Headlight Bulbs

I had major issues sourcing the correct bulbs for the lucas lights as they came with clear bulbs and I needed amber for the indicators. They also came with blue tinted headlights and they must be white light for IVA. LED versions for the indicators didn't work well at all, then I tried Halfords (didn't fit) and CBS in an attempt to get the right bulbs. All sorted now after finding the article below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_light_bulb_types

Essentially the R5W bulb that came with the indicators is a sidelight bulb, hence the problems finding it. First you need to check the cap base, for me this was a BA15s. This makes sure its the right size base. Secondly you need to check if it is opposite of offset pin. For me it was opposite, which was a P21W as opposed to a PY21W which is offset.

Getting silver/chrome bulbs also helped avoid the fried egg look.

6) Washer Jets

I finally got around to completing the washer jets too. This was simply a case of cutting Halfords washer jet tubing (5mm) to lengths of the right size to run along the wing around the coil packs I had fitted and up to the first jet.


Here I cut the tube and inserted a 5mm T-piece. Two other lengths were then cut to run to the jets and it was held in place by cable ties attached to cable tie base plates.

In order to hold the tubes in place I used 5mm spring clips from ebay for the S&J washers and 7mm for attaching to the washer bottle pump and the T-piece.

7) Fuel Sender not working

The fuel sender that I had been given, which seemed to fit the AK tank well does not work with the Smiths Flight gauge it was actually for a smiths classic gauge. After speaking to Europa Spares they confirmed that I needed  different sender. It is cut and fit in a very similar fashion to the previous sender I fitted, however, its smaller and doesn't fit the holes in the AK tank. This meant I needed to fit either an adaptor plate or bond it into place. I decided to bond it into place as there would be fewer surfaces connecting which meant a lower chance of leakage.

Even fitting this sender as per the instructions wouldn't quite get the gauge right as it was working backwards. I am not entirely convinced the gauge isn't faulty but luckily the instructions said "if the gauge works backwards check the diagram as you may have bolted the transducer upside down"; this led me to just fit it upside down and now its working. It seems very sensitive though so I may suffer from a jumpy needle whilst driving.

Perhaps a generic electronic configurable sender would have been a better option; just look at how sensitive the needle is. Theres about 13 litres of fuel in the car from dry to get the needle to this point.

8) Alternator wing adjustment

On the AK the alternator touches the wing so you need to cut out a small square in order for the body to sit on right and to ensure the alternator doesn't get damaged. I have the built the wing up with fibreglass and p-38 so that its still protected from all the crud being sent up from the wings. I completed most of the work some time ago but I just needed to sand it down and paint it up with isoflex rubber paint.

T56 Reverse Lockout

The T56 has a solenoid in it which is there to prevent you from accidently selecting reverse whilst driving forward. The solenoid is designed to allow you to overpower it in an emergency but doing so will eventually contribute to early failure of the gearbox.

To address this you can purchase a little device from Accutech which connects to the solenoid and the speed sensor. When it detects you traveling below 5mph it activates and releases the solenoid allowing reverse to be selected with ease.

As you can see its a tiny device which simply screws into place.

Dashboard Prep

I've slowly been working through getting the dash completed as you may have noticed from a few of the pictures posted but I thought it was about time a give it a post of its own.

The first thing you will need to do is fill around the glove box as you'll find it needs some tidying when it comes from AK. I decided not to bother with the whole printing images and moving them around and instead decided to let my creative juices flow as I did it. Also known as "winging it".

Start by fully masking the centre of the dash and then find a centre line. I put the dash into position in the car and that allowed me to mark from the centre of tunnel up to the centre stay of the windscreen. Perhaps not a perfect centre by measurement but it looks perfect by eye which is more important for something you look at every time you get in the car.

From here I cut out the tacho and speedo holes first, leaving enough room in-between for the push to start button.

Then I just worked my way down the dash, measuring and cutting as I went. I chose just three gauges. Fuel, water temp and oil pressure. I didn't bother with a clock or oil temp as I'm not going to track day it that often and I have a watch..

Next was the switches which are the billet aluminium from car builder solutions. There are five in my dash; Hazard, Rear Fog light. Electronic Handbrake (with built in warning light). Sidelights and Dipped beam.

The lights are from S&J. I have chosen two indicator lights which I have fitter in the centre above the start button then the charge, oil pressure and high beam warning lights on the right of the centre of the dash.

The ignition switch hole is hidden on the side of the dash, the long gap at the bottom is for the heater controls and the hole on the right is for the steering column.

And here it is with all the gauges and controls fitted.

Wiring the dash is a long job. I recommend having at least a full day available to get on with it uninterrupted. The image below allows you to see the ignition switch.

The AK manual, as always is not as clear as it could be especially where the warning lights are concerned as some need to be earthed and others need a live feed. This caused a few calls to AK and Jon was helpful as always in figuring out the issue. What you need to ensure is:

1) Charge warning light - live
2) Main beam warning light - earth 
3) Oil pressure warning light - live
4) Indicators - earth

I think the above is pretty tidy compared to some that I have seen but I'll be tidying it further when I do the final fit, after the leather has been fitted in the new year. At least I know that all the gauges and switches work.

Wheels have arrived!

As the title suggests my wheels have arrived from Vintage Wheels in the US. I chose the Shelby 427's and found Bob at Vintage very easy to order from. All I had to do is tell him that it was an AK Gen II and he knew all the correct offsets etc.

Including nut covers, spinners, VAT, import duty and delivery they set me back just less than £2K which is pretty good given that AK charge 2.5K + VAT for halibrand replicas.

Best of all the saving will pay for the tyres :-)

I cant fit them just yet as the car still needs to go for paint and I don't want to risk them getting damaged so sorry folks, youll have to put up with a picture in the packaging for now.

Steering Column Lower Bracket

Its true what they say:

"Buy cheap, Buy Twice"

I had bought a cheap bearing for the lower bracket and then spent money on a custom made aluminium spacer. This cost around £40 but it was too big.

AK make a lower bracket with a nylon bush and stainless bracket. At £65 it is far too expensive but it fits easily so I went with it.

Fitting is simply a case of drilling two 6mm holes and bolting through with M6 and nylocs. I have now attached the column extension to the BMW rack (with M8 and spring washers) and its now ready for the main column to be fitted as soon as I am finished with the dash wiring.

Lower Body Wings

If you want to get lower body wings I advise doing it before paint. They are very poor quality as AK no longer have an original mould. Fitting them before paint allows the paint shop to blend them in.

You could do this yourself but they require a lot of work.

Fitting them is quite a quick job but it does require two people as they need forcing along the bodyline as you drill and rivet into place. I placed a rivet every 2-3 inches.

It transforms the front profile.

Heater mould Pt 2.

Sorry there has not been a great deal of activity on the blog as of late but I've been trying to finish my MBA assignment plus move a datacentre a work. What little time I have I've put into dealing with a few items on the snag list so I'll post on that soon.

Last weekend I painted up the heater cover that I made and this week I finished off mounting the relays, smiths gauge fuses, electronic handbrake controls and the reverse lockout unit.

Note: AK only advise a single power feed for the gauges, however, Smiths advise a separate fuse per gauge. Given most companies do what they can to get out of replacing goods if they go faulty I decided I would individually fuse them.

I'm quite pleased with the end result now that its painted and fixed into place. The silentcoat fitted covers the brackets holding it in place and will allow the carpet to have an even finish when fitted.