Leather back rest

One of the things that bothered me was the leather always slipped down taking to other owners thay put screws though to stop this . 

I come up with another idea that was to weld repair washers on to 5mm bolts and then glue these to the back of the leather. 

Started by drilling  the holes ,then used double sided tape to make the bolts stick to were i wanted then used epoxy to permanently fix them to the leather.

epoxy fitted 

My poor son volunteered to put the under trays back under sufferance .

easier with the seats still out  

Roof ( hood ) Folding

 Since i bought the soft top and got Andy to show me the best way to fold it so it fits in the bag ,I have been  trying to replicate the process with little success. 

Having asked Andy to send me a guide i have now taken pictures to remind me ( and anyone else ) how its done .

ready for bag 

Steering next Part

 All welded up thanks to Steve ready to fit to car 

All welded note the guide hole for the correct  distance 

fitted and all working fine big thanks to Steve again !!

all back together 

Work in progress :- Wipers +Brakes

 Easy fix as the connection had come off the wiper motor 

Plug just hanging 

Now tie wrapped on .

not pretty but effective 

When my car went to GD to have new Diff fitted under warranty last November  Andy said that the brake bias wants changing 1/2 a turn as the back brakes are not doing enough work .

Easy fix I though but could not remember which way the brake cyls were and looking back at my blog i never mentioned it ( dam ) 

After a strip down of the wheel cover I could see the piston sizes and then realized that the back piston is in the middle .

Turned in 1/2 a turn 

work in progress :-Steering

 First job which was the most worrying was the steering ,i had found that there was a bit a play in the splines not much but enough to cause concern at speed ( 70mph of course officer ) 

After speaking to Andy i realized that I had not enough spline shaft entered  which was my fault as I had to move the steering wheel further out than first measured  to fit the shroud .

steering arm with the play in the splines 

removed to show that it wasn't in far enough hence the wear 

Only solution is to manufacture a new one thank goodness my bestie is a cracking welder .

bought a new ( from the scrappie ) lower steering arm and got another shaft from andy and will address that when the ice has stopped forming on the roof of the garage

as arrived before mods 

mods required 

We used the old spline as a spacer and made a bush so everything was a tight fit then fitted on the car to get the length of the arm made it as long as poss this time with only a 5 mm gap for body movement now waiting to be welded 

all ready for welding 

2025 update

 Well Happy new year!!  too cold for working .

yep its snowing !!

Jobs to tackle this year are 

•  the wipers still  don't work
• the steering gets a bit "drifty " at speed 
• the leather back plate keeps slipping down 
• the fuel gauge shows full at 3/4 and runs out just under a 1/4  ( ask me how i know !!!!)
• need to fit a cover so the roof can stay on 
• I need to do something to protect the top of the doors when the side screens are on 

PS look what Steve bought me for my birthday !!!! 

Looks ace in a frame 

  

Differential change

 My differential had been whining since the car went on the road and Andy said that happens sometimes and it should settle down  but i am not that lucky and it didn't . Andy said he would change it when he gets one back as there are two types and mine was the 4 hole type .

Went to Andy's and "helped" him change it now loads better and as a bonus there are 2 different ratios on the four hole and the new one was the same 3.45 to 1 so no need to re calibrate the speedo !!.

My baby in the air 

New diff with same ratio 

So that's were it goes !! 

One year on

 Been on the road a year now how quick that has gone .and managed to cover over 2000 miles.

My family have bought me a personalized number plate

 so after a year of being a 73 plate I  am now a 62 plate

What have I learnt, well the project is never over.

On the dales run out with the Northern  Cobra club  the weather turned so put the roof up which is a 20 minute job and the side screens .

All in all not a bad fit and only a bit of water came in so happy but 

The wipers have stopped working which is interesting in the rain !! 

and the side screens scratch the top of the doors in use due to them vibrating .

Two jobs for the winter then more to follow  

Bits and bobs (and dash cam)

 Whilst running out in my first year 2 things started to bother me 

1 No were to place my phone so navigating is a chore

2  My other cars have a dash cam but not this one 

first problem was an easy fix ebay to the rescue 

attaches with a sucker and stays put 

Second not so easy 

Didnt want to attach to the windscreen as didn't want the wires draping all over .Needed to come up with some way of attaching it to the body near the roll bars.

First task was power already  routed a spare pair of cables to the back of the seat when i built the car for a just in case .

So tied these in to the aux power switch and fitted a socket behind the drivers seat sorted .

socket fitted 

The second was not so easy there was  nothing i could find on the internet that suited my purpose so came up with something in stainless steel but all my attempts ended in the bin .

To the recue came Dave my work colleague and best mate since we were 16 ( so a few years !!) 

whilst talking of my dilemma he calmly announces that he thinks he can rustle up something on his new 3d printer, 

With a hint of skepticism we moved forward ,Well the results are nothing short of amazing.

So impressed with this it is nothing short of fantastic  and works a treat!

  

 

Modifications 5

 Went to the GD open day ,first time in the car and it was a great turnout and good to see fellow owners .

soo many cars but good to see 

While i was there met up with David from Canems who has now put a secondary map on my ECU . This will be used when the wife is driving or we are pottering somewhere as it limits the horse power to 40% 

430HP  @40%  is about 170 HP , 

Tried it on the way home and i still get the great sound but it performs like a normal car that is until  flick the switch and take my foot off the accelerator and then its back to the animal !