MadaboutKitcars

are u in over the next 2 days towed, as i got days off and was going to pop in for alook

Shouldn't the Dynamo mounting be fastened to the engine and not the frame? all the engine vibrations and noise will be transmitted through the bracket to the frame not to mention the movement of the engine will be restricted. maybe cracking the dynamo bkt.

just a thought
Martin

That looks like you have put the dynamo bracket on the chassis? If so when the engine runs it will move on its mounts and change the belt tension. You may need to make a curved bracket that goes under the dynamo and back to the engine timing cover bolts.

Beaten by Too slow!

i fix mine to bottom of engine i send you pic

I'll be in during the day for the rest of the week until about 2:30 in the afternoons if you want to pop in Phil.

You're all absolutely right about the dynamo bracket, I guess I just didn't think that one through. Thanks guys, I'll shift it tomorrow.

Towed I think that dynamo bracket needs to be fitted to the engine as otherwise the engine and gearbox will flex on their mounts and break the bracket. The enginel vibration will be felt through the car until that happens. Someone will correct me if I am wrong but thought I'd point it out so if necessary you can alter it before you put it all back together.

You're all absolutely right about the dynamo bracket,

That is why posting pictures of what you are doing is such a good idea. Not only does it give the bed bound like me something to look at, it gives you an extra set of eyes to sanity check what you have done.

Exactly what I was thinking. I had a few hours to spare before work yesterday to spend moving my dynamo and lowering my rad, and I just got on with it without doing my usual half a day staring at it while rubbing my chin, and then sleeping on it before knowing what I needed to do.

There have been occasions when I've seen people post pictures that've made me think 'Oh no, what are they thinking' particularly with too-high seating positions and poor wheel alignment in the front arches. I've generally bitten my lip on those, usually because it's too late to easily rectify the 'problem' by the time the pictures are posted.

I'd rather know if someone thinks I've cocked up part of my build though - it's the only car I'll ever build so I want it right, even if I have to strip bits down and start again. So, feel free to comment on anything I post in respect of the engineering. So long as it's not just plain insults I'll consider all criticism as positive.

MrTowed - I post up pictures positively hoping for people to point out the mistakes. I am sure I am making them, I just don't know what they are!

T, i hadn't thought to deeply about it either... i was just wondering whether to weld bracket on now before i paint chassis.

Well, we could start with riding motorcycles...

mountain bikes, not motor cycles - I don't need petrol to break things!

Mountain biking is surprisingly popular here in Norfolk, God knows why though as it's as flat as a recently ironed billiard table. Mind you, RAF Coltishall, near Norwich, was the HQ for the RAF Mountain Rescue Team. Never could work that one out, especially when I was based at Lossiemouth...

That's better...



Also moved the expansion bottle as the new dynamo position fouled it. I managed to modify my fabricated bracket to suit and I rather like the new position on the other side of the engine, it sits snugly in an unused space now.





Should be refitting the bonnet tomorrow...

Mountain Biking is far safer than ladders. I dropped 8ft and ripped my foot off, this guy did 80ft without serious injury!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPNI-51j008

Now, you know you requested constructive criticism....well, I have been a bit worried about how much you have lowered the front, and the resultant angle of the steering rack ends. I fear you may suffer from Bump Steer. Id
Neally the track rids should be level, so when one wheel hits a pothole or bump it does not effect the steering. As your track rods are already on the up, going up a little more will affect the track far more than if they started off level. The solution is to come up on the suspension or move the rack up so its all in line. Moriman had a nice pic of his suspension set up at the right height. I have a small uplift on my Burlington, which has quite an effect. I think with your present set up the car will be skittish.
ps, took me all day to write this!

If bump steer is an issue, I think there are a couple of options to help lower the outboard point and bring the steering arm angle down. Since the ball joint is top loaded, you could modify things to reverse this so that the ball joint is bottom loaded by reversing the direction of the taper. The main issue here is not knowing the strength of the track rod arm lug and the track rod load as it requires material to be removed from the upright lugs.



Alternatively, you can achieve the same effect with a trackrod end. Again there is compromise since you have to run the track rod end in single shear which is not best practice.



I'm a long way off considering the effects of bump steer on my build but yet again, very interesting to see other peoples experiences and solutions to problems. Has anyone else got similar geometry and had any issues with handling?

Thanks Seanick, I'm aware that my lowering job may create some, erm, interesting handling characteristics.

The backup plan if it proves to be too scary to drive is to replace my cut-down springs with longer, softer ones from an early Spitfire, probably paired with a thicker anti-roll bar. I've also thought about raising the steering rack, but I'd be worried that there'd be a knock-on effect that would create issues elsewhere.

For me though, this car is more about the way it looks, sounds and just feels, rather than its performance and handling.

I have to admit that after doing loads of calculations, well, allright, guessing, that about 85mm cut off the front springs would give the car the stance I was looking for, I went back to work for a few days. Then, when I had a couple of minutes to spare, I carefully measured and marked 95mm from the ends of the springs and attacked them with the angle grinder. So I actually took 10mm more off them than I'd planned for the extreme lowering I was looking for.

Once I've got my car on the road I'll report back on the handling and see where I go from there, quite literally.

You've all got me thinking now i'll have to get some pics of how mine has ended up so that you can compare dangle-angles as mine handles lovely and hasn't thrown me through any hedges...... yet.
Although it is obviously a bit of a harder ride than some may like as i've stayed with the original hard Vitesse springs and just bought thicker padded seats

nice too see you , car is on home run now ....good job try and pop in sun with barry cheers for tea keep up good work .

It's always nice to see you too Phil. Thanks for the hints on paintwork, will be calling on your expertise again, I'm sure.

Hope you can both make it over on Sunday, we'll get some snaps of three (almost) finished Spyders together...

Photos would be great. Did you know the collective noun for Spiders is a clutter

I'd have gone with 'web' myself.

Pics will be posted if we can get all three in the same place at the same time. Now be patient...

The collective noun for "G46's on the Road" is a myth ;-)

How about a sheath of G46's?

I'm referring to sheath in the context of scabbard rather than something with a pr!ck in it of course...

Oh, and scabbard because of the Scimitar donor.

Scimitar being a kind of sword, you see. Oh, never mind.