MadaboutKitcars

Congrats on getting it all sorted and i'm teribly sorry to hear about your dreadful accident with the tips of the outriggers. I guess you'll just have to work with it with those gone.......

Like the Bonnet mod, it's exactly what i did to mine eventually. Now you have to decide: rounded scoop, squared scoop, bulge, blister(s) etc..
Just try not to to smash a crack in whatever yoo choose as soon as it's done, i can confirm that can be quite annoying

That's great, as the Spyder and A frame weigh less than 750kg's.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_200824.pdf

Useful link, Ben. That hadn't been written when I did my original research eighteen months ago. It suggests that an A frame is likely to be more legal for towing a kit car around than a Dolly. In the paragraph about the A frame, the last sentence (pun intended) says -

"However, while this is our understanding of the Regulations, it is only the Courts which can reach a definitive interpretation of the law."

This is quite a common nota bene in non-criminal legislation and usually gives us law enforcement types a chicken and egg headache - The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) generally won't take a case to Court unless there's been a previous 'Stated Case' that they can refer to for guidance (R v So & So for example), and we often end up banging our heads against the wall in trying to get them to prosecute minor contraventions of non-criminal legislation for the first time.

Now, the average Plod on patrol, and even the Prima Donnas in white hats and fast cars with no sense of humour know this, and generally stick to bringing cases they know will get a positive result. This means it's highly unlikely that any copper will ever even try to bring such a case. It would require the 'trailer' to be inspected by a qualified vehicle inspector and taken to a weigh-bridge. It would need a lengthy report writing and submitting to CPS, and the expected outcome would be NFA (no further action) as it would not be 'in the public interest' to continue with a prosecution.

Failing that, take a look at this link to the Road Vehicle Construction and Use Regulations 1986 -

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/19/made

So, you can either:

a/ design, fabricate and fit some mechanical and/or hydraulic mechanism to operate the brakes of your Sammio when it's attached to the A frame and you have to stop. Or

b/ take a friend along to sit in the driver's seat of the Spyder while it's being towed and who's competent and capable of operating the brakes when they see the brake lights light up on the back of the towing vehicle. Actually, you could rig up a simple system where you run a wire from the brake light circuit to a solenoid that triggers a big capacitor with its contacts touching your friend's right thigh muscle. Get them to softly ride the brake pedal and when you touch the brakes, Voila! A fully automatic bio-mechanical trailer braking system! Or, if you want to keep your friends...

c/ find an old rotor arm, break it and keep it in your pocket while towing with the A frame. Remove the rotor arm from your kit car's distributor and hide it (optional). If a particularly knowledgeable copper stops you and quizzes you about the efficiency of your automatic trailer braking system, produce the broken rotor arm and cite Regulation 19 sub-section brackets, b, close brackets. No Court in the land is going to believe that your home built special didn't break down...

And I'd love to hear from anyone who's actually got a conviction for towing a car with an A frame...

Are you allowed to tow mit ein A-Rahmen in Germany?

Nein! Nein! Nein! In Germany nothing is being legal. Or well built unless it is being built properly in a German factory using German engineering practices. eep:

When I was electric car racing in the USA I noticed that many trailers were unbraked and almost none had overrun brakes. The Americans seemed to think that overrun brakes didn't work and were dangerous, but didn't seem to have heard of the use of a hydraulic damper in the system which would make all the difference.

They did commonly use brake controllers. Usually activated by the brake light switch these would power electromagnetic brakes on the trailer. The basic kind would gradually increase the current to the brakes, whilst the more sophisticated version had a G force sensor (pendulum) to modulate the brakes. Versions were available for A frame towing.

Here's a company in the UK that sells a kit; http://www.unibrake.co.uk/

Whilst I've not personally heard of any prosecutions for towing an unbraked trailer that was too heavy (unless it was involved in an incident), I do know of cases where continuing the journey was prevented until a suitable replacement trailer was found.

I got stopped for a routine check which resulted in six points for towing a borrowed car trailer with no brakes to move some bags of cement. Three points under 'construction and use ' and a further three as they reckoned it constituted the outfit a 'dangerous vehicle'!!
The tow car was mot'd the day before and they confirmed I had not exceeded the 30mph speed limit. A fine as well which was over double the amount the judge charged the man in the case before mine for assaulting a Police Officer and public order offences. Justice I don't think.
With C&U points I couldn't hire a car or van for three years as well!
Happy days. Back to thread then. Sorry Mr T.

Apparently the French and Spanish police are milking the UK Campervans for being overweight.

Progress report since my DVLA inspection on Tuesday -

The thing that stuck highest up and furthest forwards through the council house telly sized hole in my bonnet was my radiator top hose. Now, I don't want my scoop to be too high so I decided a bit of re-routing would be in order. The top hose now ducks under itself after the U bend rather than sitting alongside, which solves that particular poser -



Next job was to cut out the air intake hole in the front of the bonnet, then make a 'barrel hoop' to fit -







It might not look that big but it's actually a five foot (give or take) length of flat steel bar. It then got a coat of silver Hammerite and was left overnight to dry.

Next step was to make sure the car was sitting on absolutely level ground as it's important to make sure that the headlight mounts on the front of the wings are exactly 90 degrees to the ground. After getting the bonnet sitting where I wanted it I secured the back edge in place with some self tappers - I screwed them partially through the bonnet before they enter the top of the bulkhead, leaving a gap so the bonnet sits flush. I then chocked up the nose with planks until everything cleared under the bonnet, and making sure that the tops of the headlight positions were both exactly the same height from the ground.

I secured the hoop in place with Gorilla tape and made some brackets up to connect it to the front cross-member, cutting slots in the cross-member to take the brackets. I had to remove and refit the bonnet half a dozen times during this process and checked and double checked the positioning of it each time before moving on to the next step, which was to bolt up the parts of the brackets and tack weld them in place -







Once that was done it was another check to make sure nothing had moved, then, without moving anything, I used bonding paste to fix the hoop into the front of the bonnet.

So, it's now a case of waiting for the bonding paste to dry before removing the bonnet, permanently welding the brackets to the cross-member and giving everything a lick of silver hammerite. It might not look like much work, but getting to this point took me all day yesterday, 9am to 8pm! and two hours this morning.

Here's how it looks at the moment -



I might carry on with it tomorrow or I might just go to Goodwood, haven't decided yet...

I'd say carry on, but that's so i can read/look at some more pics... so a bit selfish! It might be nice to do something different?

Anyway, i like the stance and the hose looks a lot neater.

Thanks Gary. I like the stance too. There were times when I worried that I might have cut too much off the front springs, but, looking at it now, I know I got it the way I want it.

Oh, and the Honda Civic radiator fits perfectly. The way I've mounted it leaves the bottom edge of the core level with the bottom of the air intake and there's about 1cm clearance above its cap and on the 'shoulders' on each side. It's clearly up to the job of keeping the straight six cool enough: it's designed for the screaming 160bhp vti engine after all. Here's a link for anyone that's interested in fitting one to theirs -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONDA-CIVIC-1-6-1991-2001-CR-X-1991-1998-MANUAL-RADIATOR-NEW-2-YEAR-WARRANTY-/290765615855?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3AHonda%7CModel%3ACivic&hash=item43b2fb32ef

Quite Cobra...ish! Can i say that?
I got my radiator when you first mentioned it.

Ooh, don't say that while Gary J's about.

It does a bit from the front, but I think it's much prettier than the Cobra from every other angle. I'm not a big fan of most Cobras btw, I like the 289 shape, but I'm afraid the 427 is a bit too macho for my liking - it's almost as if the owners are trying to compensate for size anxiety in the trouser snake department... eep:

Bonding paste is now set so I thought I'd get a few pictures while the sun's still shining -











More tomorrow...

Wow, another milestone passed, you're almost motoring now !!!!
Definately looking the business. Can't wait to see the power bulge style and fitment.

I'd say it does look like you have spend a lot of time getting it right.

No short cuts taken here.

Keep up the good work, Paul.

Are those rear lights held on with blu-tac? They seem to move around a fair bit

Well spotted that man. They're not held on with anything at the moment, they're self adhesive and I'm not going to stick them down until I've sorted some proper plinths out and painted the car.

I should have known it would all be under control

I've made a start on fitting up my bonnet this morning. I'd already bonded the hoop into the nose cone and welded in the brackets, but on checking it a couple of days ago I found that the Hammerite on the hoop had reacted with the bonding paste and caused the hoop to come loose.

I'd used six generous blobs of bonding paste at spaces around the hoop but I hadn't completely encased it. The bonding paste was still in place and effectively acted as a set of clamps into which the hoop could be pushed, leaving it in exactly the right place, but it wasn't fixed. I tackled this yesterday by fibreglassing it fully in place after giving it another coat of Hammerite -



That picture was taken before I sanded it down so it looks a bit rougher than it actually is. The hoop is now fully secure though.

Next job was to fit a couple of alloy bonnet pins to the upper surface of the bonnet, and set the back edge of the bonnet level with the top of the bulkhead using a couple of thicknesses of sticky backed sponge strip stuck at strategic positions under the bonnet.

I've put them under the bonnet rather than on top of the bulkhead because there's a bit of a gap between the two that will need to be filled forwards from the edge of the bulkhead. I'm aware that isn't exactly self-explanatory, but it'll become clear when I actually do it (I hope).









The way I've got the bonnet set up, it now opens far enough to access service items and it'll be a relatively simple job to remove it for work on the radiator.



Next job will be to cut down the bits of the bonnet that form the lower rear of the wheelarches and fit a second pair of bonnet pins, locking ones this time, to the sides of the bonnet. Then I'll be smoothing down the back edge of the bonnet and filling the gap between body and bonnet. More tomorrow...

Great to see. It must be very rewarding to be at this stage.

Thank you, yes, it's taken a lot of work and there's a way to go yet, but it's beginning to look like the finishing post is in sight.

I keep toying with ideas for how to improve my bonnet closing and i was never sure about fitting those type of pins, but seeing them in place on yours i do have to say that those bonnet pins look very nice! Starting to come together nicely.

Cheers Dave. The ones pictured are a pair of these -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300747509905?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Gotta say, they're great quality for the price and were a doddle to fit. I used some brackets I had left over from fitting a kitchen, drilled them to fit the threaded bar and screwed them to the bulkhead.

They also do recess plates for a more aerodynamic finish -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JJC-Competition-Recessed-Alloy-Bonnet-Pin-Plates-Silver-/280934889625?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4169063899

I've got a pair of locking pins for the sides but I'm not sure if they'll fit yet as they need a fair bit of clearance underneath them -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILVER-RACING-STYLE-LOCKING-CAR-BONNET-PIN-PINS-SET-NEW-/251052855074?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a73ea8f22

If I can't get them to fit I'll just get another set of the sliding type fitted to the top of the bonnet and hope nobody messes with the bonnet. Should find out tomorrow...