MNR Vortx Kit car build site - Here comes the cavalry

Here comes the cavalry

Things weren't going too well, on Friday I took the airfilter off to have a play with it, being a clumsy oaf I managed to put a heavy box of cleaning stuff on top of it. Thinking I was going to cry when I saw it, I was actually quite amazed. The ITG filter has a metal mesh that makes the height of the filter. This was now nicely squished, the inside height of the filter is now 30mm and the outer edges look a bit curved. Out to the garage I ran, the filter was refitted and the bulge placed on top, bearing in mind the bulge hasn't been cut at the front it looks like I'll be in luck as it now fits (ish!) Things are looking up for the weekend. My Dad is over to help with the engine so let's hope it all goes well.

Comments of "I hate easiouts", "Never use easiouts", "Easiouts are tools of the devil" gave me the idea that easiouts are bad. Funnily enough, I agree.

We removed the engine by 10:30 and laid it on it's side. Further comments of "You silly billy", "Oh drat", "That should be fun" were not heard, the comments I heard can't go here!

Whilst he was working on that I was fitting the clutch mounting boss to pull the cable further into the engine bay.

The Diamond tipped cutter for the dremel lost to the easiout, so did the tungsten carbide drill bits.

I carried on with wiring, Dad carried on cursing at the easiout. Fortunately there was enough brass left for him to drill around the easiout without damaging the head. The easiout was unable to stay in and was wiggled out with some pliers. Unfortunately it didn't want to be photographed and dropped onto the floor to never be found again.

The oil cooler bolt was drilled and tapped to 1/8 NPT and so was the sump. The oil temperature sender fits nicely near the passenger bulkhead, unfortunately the oil pressure sender won't mount into the cooler bolt so I need to remote mount it. Fortunately I have the female/female adapter already so all I need is a pipe with male 1/8NPT ends on it to screw into the cooler.

With that done we got the engine back in and the wiring loom connected. I filled the engine with 3.5 litres of cheapy bike oil to flush the engine down. Once the rad is back in I can start it up. It's bypassed at the moment so I can't run the engine as the water won't cool. I can test it still I tested that it turns over though, which it does. The FIA switch does it's job and my wiring loom is all good. That means I can finalise that.

We sorted the clutch cable routing. it now runs in a straight line to the clutch along side the bottom chassis rail. I need to make up a bracket to hold it in place. We knocked up a temporary bracket that needs tidying so we can play with clutch feel. Sitting in the driver's seat I pushed down on the clutch. It's a nice positive feel and doesn't feel too binary. Checking it again there was a nasty bang, followed by the ping of something metallic hitting the garage door, followed by swearing.
Fortunately it's not bad! The solderless nipple on the clutch cable has pinged off, I'm a bit worried about that as one attempt shouldn't break the clutch cable. I'll get on to Chris at MNR to get that sorted.

We looked at the Brake bias bar as I'm not 100% sure on how it works. the way it's installed the bar can slide from side to side, this is obviously bad as it changes bias. As I understand it, the bar is setup with more of the front pushrod screwed into the clevis to give the starting point. I've noticed that some use washers either side of the pedal pivot to stop the clevis binding. We also noticed that there are 2 circlip grooves on the bar, these are perfectly positioned to stop the bar sliding from side to side but I've seen no mention of them being moved. That's something I need to talk to Marc about.

The last job of the day was starting the mock up of the scuttle panel top. The car is now in the position that jobs need to be finalised as there is less and less to do so things are becoming more final! eeek!