Friday, 26 November 2010
Fitting Radiator
Radiator was positioned roughly in the right place, the top about 4" above the chassis top rail, then we drilled 2 3mm holes in the top of the brackets on the chassis and used zip ties to hold it in the right place before putting the nose cone on to check for clearance. Once ok, we drilled 6mm holes in all 4 positions and used M6 cap head screws to bolt it in.
Engine Mount
Engine mounts were made using a piece of 5mm mild steel drilled to suit the holes in the block, with some 3x 1.5" box section with a cap welded on the end. In this cap an 8mm hole drilled, and some heavy duty Capri engine rubber mounts used, these have an M8 stud sticking out each end.
On the other end of the rubber bit, I had some mounts left over from I think a mk2 Escort RS2000, probably from Rally Design. The Zero chassis was then drilled to suit, and all bolted up with nylocs.
On the other end of the rubber bit, I had some mounts left over from I think a mk2 Escort RS2000, probably from Rally Design. The Zero chassis was then drilled to suit, and all bolted up with nylocs.
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Oil Cooler; Done.
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Thursday, 23 September 2010
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Engine and Box Together at last
A quick update, minus photos unfortunately due to both of us wanting to just get on with it rather than stopping to take pics!
We bought a clutch from ebay but picked the wrong one, sent it back and got another wrong one in replacement, cancelled that one and ended up with the bargain of the century from http://www.buypartsby.com/, a little over £100 for a clutch kit - for 228mm B204L Turbo. Note that if using the hydraulic clutch cylinder from the Omega, you need the hydraulic Saab clutch type. Our Saab was a cable clutch originally. The clutch catalogues refer to it as 'Concentric bearing' and it differs as the spring fingers on the clutch cover are slightly rounded off, and the matching hydraulic thrust bearing is flat faced rather than round faced as per the cable clutch type. Clutch kits for hydraulic type tend not to come with a new thrust bearing.
Now I've read in a lot of places that the cylinder needs spacing out from the gearbox as the Omega has a huge thick dual mass flywheel, but the Saab one is skiny. Places like SBDevelopments sell spacers if needed. We put a straight edge across the clutch fingers and mesured distance to block face (64mm), then measured depth from bellhousing face to clutch bearing face, also 64mm! So unless something is wrong, we can't see the need for a spacer. Time will tell...
Before fitting a clutch, you need a spigot bearing, we got one from ebay, from memory its 21mm OD, 15mm ID, check it fits on your gearbox shaft before bashing it into the end of the crank with a bit of wood and a hammer. Try freezing it first to contract it slightly before installing.
So, we fitted the clutch to the flywheel using an alignment tool, which didn't help so we had to loosen clutch cover bolts, move the friction plate dead central then re-tighten cover screws.
Next we lightly greased the input shaft and mated the gearbox and engine together. It takes some wiggling but all of a sudden will drop into place. Bolts tightened up and voila! One very heavy lump of metal swinging from the engine crane to be installed in our chassis.
We bought a clutch from ebay but picked the wrong one, sent it back and got another wrong one in replacement, cancelled that one and ended up with the bargain of the century from http://www.buypartsby.com/, a little over £100 for a clutch kit - for 228mm B204L Turbo. Note that if using the hydraulic clutch cylinder from the Omega, you need the hydraulic Saab clutch type. Our Saab was a cable clutch originally. The clutch catalogues refer to it as 'Concentric bearing' and it differs as the spring fingers on the clutch cover are slightly rounded off, and the matching hydraulic thrust bearing is flat faced rather than round faced as per the cable clutch type. Clutch kits for hydraulic type tend not to come with a new thrust bearing.
Now I've read in a lot of places that the cylinder needs spacing out from the gearbox as the Omega has a huge thick dual mass flywheel, but the Saab one is skiny. Places like SBDevelopments sell spacers if needed. We put a straight edge across the clutch fingers and mesured distance to block face (64mm), then measured depth from bellhousing face to clutch bearing face, also 64mm! So unless something is wrong, we can't see the need for a spacer. Time will tell...
Before fitting a clutch, you need a spigot bearing, we got one from ebay, from memory its 21mm OD, 15mm ID, check it fits on your gearbox shaft before bashing it into the end of the crank with a bit of wood and a hammer. Try freezing it first to contract it slightly before installing.
So, we fitted the clutch to the flywheel using an alignment tool, which didn't help so we had to loosen clutch cover bolts, move the friction plate dead central then re-tighten cover screws.
Next we lightly greased the input shaft and mated the gearbox and engine together. It takes some wiggling but all of a sudden will drop into place. Bolts tightened up and voila! One very heavy lump of metal swinging from the engine crane to be installed in our chassis.
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Sump and pickup pipe
A long time since the last post... due to me getting married and Mike's packed stag-do/wedding calendar, but progress has still been made.
The sump is very deep on the Saab so we knew we'd have to cut it down. However, the pickup pipe design means that taking much more than the angled-wedge bit off would be tricky, requiring baffles and sump extensions. So we made a compromise and took off the wedge, roughly 1" on the deepest bit, meaning the engine will sit slightly higher than planned. Besides, the gearbox bellhousing sits pretty low anyway so that would still cause an issue with the sump any shallower. Sump modified by AS-Motorsport in Essex, who did an excellent job and quite reasonably priced.
Pics:
Next I had to modify the pickup pipe which needed shortening. This was done using a Mig Welder. Not really necessary but I ground the welds smooth in case of any bits of spatter that might dislodge and damage the engine.
The sump is very deep on the Saab so we knew we'd have to cut it down. However, the pickup pipe design means that taking much more than the angled-wedge bit off would be tricky, requiring baffles and sump extensions. So we made a compromise and took off the wedge, roughly 1" on the deepest bit, meaning the engine will sit slightly higher than planned. Besides, the gearbox bellhousing sits pretty low anyway so that would still cause an issue with the sump any shallower. Sump modified by AS-Motorsport in Essex, who did an excellent job and quite reasonably priced.
Pics:
Next I had to modify the pickup pipe which needed shortening. This was done using a Mig Welder. Not really necessary but I ground the welds smooth in case of any bits of spatter that might dislodge and damage the engine.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Pedals
Had another go at the pedals cause with the bushes in, the brake pedal would not move on the pivot shaft. The others were fine with a 14mm drill bit run through but not the brake pedal, so I wrapped 120 grit sand paper round an m10 bolt, shoved it through the middle then spun the pedal around it (for ages). Did the trick! Also cleaned up the surface of the pivot tube with 180 grit wet and dry.
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| From Zero 010510 |
Panels
Time to start some panelling. Inside ones first to practice and no-one will see if it goes wrong...
Tip: buy some decent 3.2mm drill bits, cheapo ones break/go blunt in seconds.
Includes the step where the furthermost forward panels are on the gearbox side of the tubes for a bit more footroom. Gearbox was checked to make sure it allowed this arrangement without hitting panels.
Horrible gooey black sealant stuff used, needs wiping off with white spirit when it squeezes out the side during riveting. P.S. those lazy-tongs riveters would never fit in the gaps, just a normal hand riveter seems best.
Tip: buy some decent 3.2mm drill bits, cheapo ones break/go blunt in seconds.
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| From Zero 010510 |
Includes the step where the furthermost forward panels are on the gearbox side of the tubes for a bit more footroom. Gearbox was checked to make sure it allowed this arrangement without hitting panels.
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| From Zero 010510 |
Horrible gooey black sealant stuff used, needs wiping off with white spirit when it squeezes out the side during riveting. P.S. those lazy-tongs riveters would never fit in the gaps, just a normal hand riveter seems best.
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| From Zero 010510 |
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Rolling Chassis!
Some more good progress this weekend. We got the wheels on and the whole thing dropped down onto the ground from the tressles, thanks to some extra help from a few friends! The car has increased in weight by quite a lot already! The car seems very low to the ground, but I guess thats mostly because all the things that sit higher such as the bonnet, seats, dash etc are all not there yet...
The main task we wanted to achieve was to test fit the engine within the engine bay to establish how our rather large saab engine might actually fit! I spent quite a bit of time removing all the inlets, exhausts etc from the main block to allow us to see how it would fit in with the gearbox. As you can see from the picture below, the engine is looking fairly sparse without all the supporting parts!
After much effort, we go the engine actually into the engine bay and sitting fairly nicely close to the position we would expect to install the engine.
The main task we wanted to achieve was to test fit the engine within the engine bay to establish how our rather large saab engine might actually fit! I spent quite a bit of time removing all the inlets, exhausts etc from the main block to allow us to see how it would fit in with the gearbox. As you can see from the picture below, the engine is looking fairly sparse without all the supporting parts!
After much effort, we go the engine actually into the engine bay and sitting fairly nicely close to the position we would expect to install the engine.
The saab engine mated with the omega gearbox seems to be fairly short, as there is a significant amount of space in front of the engine, which could be useful for positioning parts we have to move to fit it all in. The engine being positioned more centrally helps the weight distribution too! Our main concern was the height of the engine, but it seems to be not too bad compared to the height of the bonnet:
We have planned the two side engine mounts and it looks like we can convieniently reuse the gearbox mount from the omega box to fit nicely into the mounting point. So we will try and get them all made up soon to allow the engine to be fitted into the car, saving us valuable garage space and allowing work to begin on all the supporting parts for the engine. The alternator will need a new mount fashioning, the water pump will need to be modified a bit to fit. The exhaust and turbo piping will need to be almost from scratch. While the inlet side will be using the manifold from a saab 9000, which is a better shape, but will still need to be modified a bit.
Lots still to do, but feels like we are making some good progress.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Wishbones and diff
Some good work this week, working a few week nights and the weekend. The aim now is to get suspension, steering and diff in to see what space issues we're going to have with the Saab and engine and Vauxhall gearbox.. We'll have to remove front suspension to get side panels on.
1st job, tidy up the rough edges of the insert tubes, redrill the insides (I think) with a 10mm drill bit. Clamped in a vice with a couple of pieces of wood to protect the tubes.
We then tried to get them into the wishbone bushes but the hole was way too tight. So, a 14mm drill bit run through the middle of the bushes did the trick. Tubes were still a tight fit but lightly copper-greased went in ok.
After that, wishbones were attached to the chassis with the supplies hi-tensile bolts washers and nuts. Then the shocks were fitted.
Next up, Diff was fitted. We lifted the diff upwards roughly in its fitted position to allow the middle of the bolts to be fitted into the slots. This allowed us to look through the badly pre-drilled chassis holes and mark on with a Tip-Ex pen where to Dremel out to see the diff holes. Several hours later and the front and upper mounting holes were done.
Note the washers used to centralise the diff. We did this by lining it up roughly central between the front 2 mountings which looked pretty square to the chassis, then selecting the correct number of washers to fill the gaps between diff and chassis brackets.
The rear mount was to far away from the rear mount plate so we'll have to get 10mm longer ones to reach.
On checking the diff flange, it isn't quite at 90deg to the chassis rails. I wanted to fix this but Mike reckons the prop joints will be fine with it..! We'll see.
Driveshafts next, we had some 'issues' getting everything lines up as the hub bolt pattern is not square but only by a small amount making it difficult to keep everything the right orientation. The 4 spacer plates each side need the holes redrilling for 11mm to get it all to fit. Marker pen lines to help us remember!
Brake back plates, these are handed and should go with cylinder at front, handbrake entry from the top. No bolts with the kit so needed to buy M10x40 8.8 grade bolts and nyloc nuts to bolt everything up.
Front hubs next, the bores for the wing-stay/ball joint adaptor had a quick sand to remove surface rust and the same to the wing-stay to reduce the thickness of powder coating slightly. Then with the aid of a chisel to spread the clamp the stays dropped in.
Aligned as shown.
Then bolted to the balljoints (not fully).
Sierra master cylinder and steering column dropped in place, and steering rack loosely bolted in. Annoyingly GBS give you balljonts, a new rack, but no track rod ends... back to ebay for those.
All bolts so far have come with the kit, been bought from Screwfix or B&Q, and specialist ones like the bolts that appear to be 3/8" that pinch the hub up are from places like www.Namrick.co.uk
Now ready to put drum, discs and wheels on so we can see how engine, brake/fuel lines and loom can fit in.
1st job, tidy up the rough edges of the insert tubes, redrill the insides (I think) with a 10mm drill bit. Clamped in a vice with a couple of pieces of wood to protect the tubes.
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| From Zero 050410 |
We then tried to get them into the wishbone bushes but the hole was way too tight. So, a 14mm drill bit run through the middle of the bushes did the trick. Tubes were still a tight fit but lightly copper-greased went in ok.
After that, wishbones were attached to the chassis with the supplies hi-tensile bolts washers and nuts. Then the shocks were fitted.
Next up, Diff was fitted. We lifted the diff upwards roughly in its fitted position to allow the middle of the bolts to be fitted into the slots. This allowed us to look through the badly pre-drilled chassis holes and mark on with a Tip-Ex pen where to Dremel out to see the diff holes. Several hours later and the front and upper mounting holes were done.
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| From Zero 110410 |
Note the washers used to centralise the diff. We did this by lining it up roughly central between the front 2 mountings which looked pretty square to the chassis, then selecting the correct number of washers to fill the gaps between diff and chassis brackets.
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| From Zero 110410 |
The rear mount was to far away from the rear mount plate so we'll have to get 10mm longer ones to reach.
On checking the diff flange, it isn't quite at 90deg to the chassis rails. I wanted to fix this but Mike reckons the prop joints will be fine with it..! We'll see.
Driveshafts next, we had some 'issues' getting everything lines up as the hub bolt pattern is not square but only by a small amount making it difficult to keep everything the right orientation. The 4 spacer plates each side need the holes redrilling for 11mm to get it all to fit. Marker pen lines to help us remember!
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| From Zero 110410 |
Brake back plates, these are handed and should go with cylinder at front, handbrake entry from the top. No bolts with the kit so needed to buy M10x40 8.8 grade bolts and nyloc nuts to bolt everything up.
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| From Zero 110410 |
Front hubs next, the bores for the wing-stay/ball joint adaptor had a quick sand to remove surface rust and the same to the wing-stay to reduce the thickness of powder coating slightly. Then with the aid of a chisel to spread the clamp the stays dropped in.
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| From Zero 110410 |
Aligned as shown.
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| From Zero 110410 |
Then bolted to the balljoints (not fully).
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| From Zero 110410 |
Sierra master cylinder and steering column dropped in place, and steering rack loosely bolted in. Annoyingly GBS give you balljonts, a new rack, but no track rod ends... back to ebay for those.
All bolts so far have come with the kit, been bought from Screwfix or B&Q, and specialist ones like the bolts that appear to be 3/8" that pinch the hub up are from places like www.Namrick.co.uk
Now ready to put drum, discs and wheels on so we can see how engine, brake/fuel lines and loom can fit in.
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Sunday, 4 April 2010
Detling Kit Car Show
Mike and I went to Detling today for the European Kit Car Show. Calling it 'European' is over-selling it a bit, it's a small show but 1st of the season so always popular.
Some Pics:
Nice Lights
Love the indicator stalks, a very neat dash setup.
Would look awesome in the Californian sun rather than the Kent clouds of misery!
Bonnet bulge
Awesome
This kit had a handy perspex cover allowing us to see how he'd done cable and pipe routing. Also note washers for diff spacers.
How cool is this little caravan! Only about 6' long.
Nice layout, very tidy
I want one!
Mev Atomic
Nice stance, excellent colour
Some Pics:
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| From Detling Kit Car Show 2010 |
Nice Lights
Love the indicator stalks, a very neat dash setup.
Would look awesome in the Californian sun rather than the Kent clouds of misery!
Bonnet bulge
Awesome
This kit had a handy perspex cover allowing us to see how he'd done cable and pipe routing. Also note washers for diff spacers.
How cool is this little caravan! Only about 6' long.
Nice layout, very tidy
I want one!
Mev AtomicNice stance, excellent colour
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Garage and Bushes
Made some good progress today, wrapping up a lot of little but important things.
Finished off a workbench strong enough to park a small house on, and got electrics sorted and most importantly additional lighting. 5ft tubes are cheap in Homebase, rest of it came from Screwfix and QVS.
Air filter/regulator can be seen in the photo, bargain-tastic at Aldi :-) £80 for a 2.5hp compressor.
Mike did some more parts prep, after Hammerite Rust Remover Gel, wire brush by hand, wire brush in drill, Cilit Bang Power Degreaser (!), then Black Hammerite Smooth.
As can be seen, finish isn't the smoothest! But the priority is performance on this car not perfect finish and Mike didn't want the extra cost and time of stripping, then a Vinegar Bath or Electrolysis to remove the thick rust coating.
Also finished fitting the bushes into the wishbones and pedals. Not too many problems, Mike had used a Dremel with sanding drum to clean up inside tubes as advised by GBS, and used a vice to press the bushes in (hopefully) nice and square. Tip: sand a small angle (chamfer) on the edge of the tube to help guide the bushes in. Pedal was ridiculously tight so some of the bush got shaved off (oo-er) on the way in.
Note: never been sure weather you can use grease or not to help assembly and prevent corrosion inside wishbone tubes, so we assembled dry. Hard work but went ok.
Finished off a workbench strong enough to park a small house on, and got electrics sorted and most importantly additional lighting. 5ft tubes are cheap in Homebase, rest of it came from Screwfix and QVS.
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| From Zero 030410 |
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| From Zero 030410 |
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| From Zero 030410 |
Air filter/regulator can be seen in the photo, bargain-tastic at Aldi :-) £80 for a 2.5hp compressor.
Mike did some more parts prep, after Hammerite Rust Remover Gel, wire brush by hand, wire brush in drill, Cilit Bang Power Degreaser (!), then Black Hammerite Smooth.
 |
| From Zero 030410 |
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| From Zero 030410 |
As can be seen, finish isn't the smoothest! But the priority is performance on this car not perfect finish and Mike didn't want the extra cost and time of stripping, then a Vinegar Bath or Electrolysis to remove the thick rust coating.
Also finished fitting the bushes into the wishbones and pedals. Not too many problems, Mike had used a Dremel with sanding drum to clean up inside tubes as advised by GBS, and used a vice to press the bushes in (hopefully) nice and square. Tip: sand a small angle (chamfer) on the edge of the tube to help guide the bushes in. Pedal was ridiculously tight so some of the bush got shaved off (oo-er) on the way in.
Note: never been sure weather you can use grease or not to help assembly and prevent corrosion inside wishbone tubes, so we assembled dry. Hard work but went ok.
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| From Zero 030410 |
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| From Zero 030410 |
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