It Lives!!

[Corsair613]

For those not on the Facebook page, here's the text of my post from this afternoon:

OK, it's official: my project is now a car! Inspection completed (honestly, it was fairly perfunctory, especially compared with a new experimental airplane's airworthiness inspection), title and registration are in hand.

Some glitches from today's ~120 mile round-trip ride:

- Speedometer is intermittent, but works maybe 85% of the time, but not ever in 2nd gear. Go figure.
- Water temp doesn't like traffic. Stop & go for more than few minutes results in climbing temps. It briefly hit 120 before increasing speed brought it back to just under 100.
- It's difficult to consistently select 3rd gear from 2nd. Downshifting from 4th is fine, though.
- Selecting reverse is still impossible from the cockpit and requires the gearbox rod to be pulled manually before entering the car.
- Rain required that the wiper be tried for the first time. It made four or five swipes and then dived for the right side, so we turned it off. A closer look on returning home showed that the wiper arm holes have no splines and so aren't positively engaging with the drive pins. We're assuming it's a bad unit, but will check with the factory.
- Found some oil on top of the left fuel tank and droplets on the interior bodywork behind it. Looks as though the forward oil cooler fitting is leaking slightly from the cooler's integral threads. Those threads weren't great to start with; I'll try just cranking the AN fitting down a bit tighter and see what happens. This was the first time the oil got hot enough to pass through the cooler, so we hadn't seen the leak before.
- Oil temp probe will have to be relocated, as it's useless where it is.
- Fuel level indications are poor. Don't even get me started.
- Proper alignment is badly needed.
- A/C charging is badly needed. Fan alone just moved hot air around. I might've lost five pounds in the automotive sauna, though.

Good stuff:

- Alternator is properly charging the battery.
- Oil pressure is good once the oil is hot. Around 3.5 bars at idle and 4.5 under load.
- Water temp is good when moving along.

Thanks for all the assistance and camaraderie over the course of the project. It's been greatly appreciated.

Ken

[Storer]

Congratulations Ken

Most of the issues you have are not uncommon. It will be a case of working through them.

Cooling.
Check water level, raise front of car to help bleed the system. Check fans work. Add water wetter to coolant. Fans triggered by ECU from an engine mounted sensor gives faster fan response to fluctuating temperatures.

Steering.
Bump steer just needs careful steering/suspension setup.

Aircon.
You know what to do!

Wiper.
The arms are alloy and the motor shafts are steel. The steel will cut the threads in the alloy once you tighten them down sufficiently.

Gear Linkage.
I suspect it is just a matter of adjustment. It does require a bit of trial and error to get right. Reverse will probably come with the adjustment.

Oil leak.
You know what to do.

Fuel sensor may need calibration.

All nice little jobs for the few days left before Christmas. I bet the weather will be more conducive for a Christmas day drive than it will be here.

Enjoy
Paul

[mt308]

Few thoughts:

1. Are your cooling fans bringing the temperature down in traffic? Water temperatures will climb rapidly then he fans should come on and at the very least stop it rising further. On mine, I have set fans to cut in at 97C then off at 92C (the old fashioned way with switch on the radiator). Previously I had a lower temperature switch but it stayed on for ever so I changed it. This works well. I also have a fan override switch so if I hit major traffic I can turn it on straight away. Once fans kick in the temperature comes down very slightly and certainly doesn't rise further. You could have some air in there that might work its way out after a run? Or problems with the fans - are both definitely coming on?

2. Fuel gauges - see my thread a few days ago. My gauge is of no use whatsoever - it goes from full to about 1/8 full when in fact still about 3/4 full. I am awaiting a piece of kit (see other thread) and will let you know how I get on. It should make it perfect in theory.

3. Speedo. I had the same issue. Fixed by making a small adjustment to the sender unit on the driveshaft (gearbox end, I think left side of the car from memory) to be very slightly closer to the cog that it takes the reading off. Probably 1-2mm adjustment was all it needed. Obviously it cant touch.

Good luck and well done!

Mark