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 

  

Brakes Clutch pipes

 Was never totally  happy with the way the brake and clutch pipes went from the chassis to the body  as seemed to be in the way and just attach to the reservoir  but couldn't see an alternative 

That is until i got talking to Global Hydraulics  who told me they could make new pipes with an elbow on each end .

Three  things i had to be careful of was 1:- the angle needs to be spot on ,2:- the length needs to be spot on and 3:-the treads are different  so had to identify the right thread .

Had a selection of elbows to work with and used my pipe as reference for length and angle.

Old pipe with new elbow used as templete for new pipes 

The new pipes were made and then fitted by Steve ( the perfectionist )so happy with the result  bleeding is the next job but time for a beer now,

Pipes in and secured with metal bracket courtesy  of Steve
flex pipes secured with "P" clips  

New pipe elbows really neat job dead happy 

Huge thanks to John from Global Hydraulics ( Grimsby ) 

Cold

 I have heard all about these cheap diesel heaters so fed up of being cold so bought one 

quite easy compared to building kit cars  2 brackets 2 holes for intake and exhaust  plus a battery 

took us about 3 hours and really impressed and a lot cheaper to run than propane heaters ofrelectric fan heater 

can feel me fingers at last .

cheap to run and warm 

Dash board part 7

 Been to GD and got a replacement Start button and at the same time got advised that the button will not carry the intended start current !!! 

So Relay now required , fitted the relay on one of the gauges ,as per a previous post i intend to use the engine start light as an oil pressure light so this means that i will need to supply a feed to the light an then the iol pressure sensor will evevitivaly earth it putting the start light on when there is no oil pressure ie engine stopped .

Relay can be seen attached to fuel gauge with the feed coming from the volt gauge  

The gauge lights i have fitted using male spades for the positive but the negative i fastened to the gauge nus to try and increase the earth paths  

Left the speedo and tacho Gauges out to make it easier to fit the dash (hopfully ) 

 

My inspiration

On my way to choosing the way my GD would look, I saw the Gardner Douglas demonstrator and took a ride in Larry's car. I liked the black of both cars, so that is what I chose. Black, no bonnet scoop and a Euro chassis. The finished car will have an LS3 6.2 litre engine producing around 430 bhp and 425 ft lb torque.

GD demonstrator (this has bonnet scoop, mine will not)