Had the day off work yesterday while the weather was cool, and so got some more jobs done.

 

Added some more to the front arm suspension jig, to correctly align the ball joint mount, as it is lean back, and well as angled inwards.  For the length of travel that I have in the front, its important that this angle is right, so that it doesn’t hit the full travel of the ball joint. This took a good few hours to get right, and to make up the appropriate parts to hold the arm securely in the right spot.   I also made a little piece that bolts into the jog to allow me to use a hole saw to cut the suspension arm tubes at the correct angle to fit the circular mount that holds the ball joint in.

Got the ball joint mount welded on, added in all of the bracing and finished the swaybar mount.

The front suspension arms are done, just needs some paint.  I still have the two spare arms to finish, but they will have to wait until after this first event.

 

I pressured up the fuel tank to check for leaks, then cleaned it all out to make sure there are no bits of metal left inside it.  No leaks or other mods needed, so it is sitting in the pile of things to paint.  Another job ticked off.

The front cross member was all bent up in the crash, so had to prepare another one.  Cleaned all the oil and crud off it, and welded up the areas that are prone to coming apart.  Added some extra thickness to the mounting bolt holes, as the spare cross member that I have had the hole on one side elongated, so the mounts are now stronger, and back in the right location.  So that’s all complete and in the ‘to be painted’ pile.  Once its painted, the rack needs to be bolted on, and setup in the car, so that I can weld the last mount to the chassis of the car.  That will be the last major bit in the engine bay, then it can be cleaned up and painted.

Th crash also totaled the right hand side engine mounts, so they need to be remade as well.  I made a start on those, just need to wait until the engine is in the car to get them lined up before I finish weld them.  It sounds bad, but them bending saved the engine block from being ruined, so definantly the lesser of two evils.

Hopefully tonight after work I can get a few more things done.

That’s how long it is until the first event of the year!  Take into account that scrutineering is during the week before, its just over 8 weeks to go………

That is all the more scary when it currently looks like this.

Huge thanks to JC who spent the day yesterday helping fitting in the floor, which is now all tacked into place.  A bit more welding, and some grinding and then I can paint it and start the re-assembly.

Since the last post:

The front suspension arms, including spares are 90% complete.

 

All of the seam welding was done

 

The new pedal box is in progress

 

New fuel tank completed

 

New tank meant new fuel pump and filter placement, so that needed a couple of brackets.

 

Strut tower re-enforcement and strut brace mount complete

Plus I’m sure a lot more, all that I failed to take a picture of.

I’ve ordered a bunch of different parts, ready for the reassembly- so many more parts than you would think have been destroyed.  Everything from gearbox cross members being bent, to simple things like relays that are now in two pieces.

More soon…