ca18det based mk indy and iva this year

[Swampy]

Hi chaps. Firstly an introduction to my car i have been building over the past ... well many years!
The chassis is the mk indy with outboard suspension. I decided down the route of taking all running gear from a nissan 200sx s13 chassis. So engine, gearbox, differential, half shafts, brakes, loom (modified), dash and uprights are all from the original car. Any further parts needed were taken off the shelf where possible or designed and manufactured by me. Curvy body work such as the nose cone, bonnet, scuttle, rear panel and wheel arches were bought from MK (front arches are from DAX). Any other panel work was made by me from aluminium, Then wrapped again by myself to its current colour you see in the pics.
I wanted to build everything from the nissan as it has a great following and very assessable aftermarket upgrade parts. I wanted to use as much of the original car as possible to help future proof the car if any spares are needed. The one concession to this rule is the steering rack which is currently from a k12 micra. Its small enough to fit in the mk chassis and works the right way round for the front 200 uprights.
It has been a hobby of mine for the past many years and this year i hope to put it through its iva and registration process.
I would dearly love some guidance with this and would like to meet up with anyone who has gone through this seemingly confusing task recently and with a car of similar nature to mine. There are so many different stories on the internet as to what to do and so a face to face discussion with some one would be most beneficial or at least direct correspondence.
Things i would like to cover are,
Vin number acquiring process
IVA test booking and possible pre assessment
Registration of vehicle for Q plate
and any other parts i may be unaware of in-between the above.
Look forward to hearing from you all and will use this forum to post the journey i have made up until now and hopefully through to first legal road drive some time this year.

[YellaBelly]

Welcome to the club chap! Certainly a nice looking car there and love the idea of using as much of the Nissan as you can. Cracking cars and yours should be pretty nippy

I built myself a Locost over about 7 years, made it through the IVA (after a retest) and had her on the road for about 18 months. Sold her when we moved down to Cornwall, but one of the guys in the club bought her (not sure if he still owns her though). Loved the experience, but wouldn't go through the IVA again!

I don't know what it's like now as things have changed quite a lot since I had mine, but you are best talking to Brian (Bulldog Bri) on here as he has just put his Locost through the test so should be able to give you some up-to-date feedback.

Feel free to put pictures up of the various parts of the car for scrutiny, I did the same prior to my test and it's amazing what simple things you miss even when building it by the IVA guide

Hope you get sorted by the time the decent weather gets here and look forward to seeing some action shots

Any questions I can answer I will try, and the guys on here are all very accommodating and I am sure they will help wherever they can.

Enoy the car, and one of the best clubs in the UK

JB

[Bulldog Bri]

First off, Welcome to the club...

Not sure quite how you get your VIN number now as that was done by taking to your local DVLA office for an inspection, now they are all closed best to give them a call and ask for one. During the inspection the car would be given points, 1 point for each part from a single car that you can prove, Engine, gearbox, steering, axles. And 5 for proof of a new chassis. This is where keeping any receipts and documents comes in. If you score over 8 you can have a age related plate if not then you'll be issued a Q plate (to be confirmed after the IVA).
Pre assessment isn't really worth doing as the IVA itself will do that and give you a list of jobs to do for the re-test.

If your local or have some close by that also has a kit car that has been IVA'd get them to cast an eye over the car and look for any loose wires , sharp edges, etc... I sure all light's are fitted to required heights and distances. And 'e' marked (fog light has a 'B' or 'F' mark)

My 7 took 7+ years to build and I had a few others look over it before it went off for testing and I still came back with around 25 jobs to do for the re-test

Getting a date can take 4-6 weeks so get the form of asap. Then, registration can take another 8 weeks, so if you want to be on the road this year, start the ball rolling soon


Good luck with it.

[Swampy]

"If your local or have some close by that also has a kit car that has been IVA'd get them to cast an eye over the car and look for any loose wires , sharp edges, etc... "

That was the hope in posting on here, to find some one who is and has gone through the test recently
From scouring the internet i read that you can make up the vin number yourself (which i have done) or ask the delve to provide you one in writing. With i did twice with no response. I even went to the local delve office in bristol to speak to some one in person and they were very useless about the whole thing. I wasn't surprised as i imagine they have many things to look after and not just my kit car but generally they were a bit of a nause...
Any way once i have a vin number and it is stamped in and on a chassis plate also then the iva centre will use this to associate it with its registration. Is this correct ?
As long as the vin number is so many letters long and unrelated to the car and very unique (as in the only one) i was told previously this would be ok ... (for a Q plate style)

[longtimecoming]

Hello there and welcome to the club. As far as IVA requirements go, you can download a copy of the manual, don't try to print it of as it is 100s of pages long. Just download it and save it for future reference. It it available fro VOSA web site under Manuals M1 IVA.  Good luck with the build. 


IVA inspection manual: passenger vehicles (M1) - Publications ...

[Swampy]

Hello there and welcome to the club. As far as IVA requirements go, you can download a copy of the manual, don't try to print it of as it is 100s of pages long. Just download it and save it for future reference. It it available fro VOSA web site under Manuals M1 IVA.  Good luck with the build.   


IVA inspection manual: passenger vehicles

Yup got that and been following as carefully as possible

[Swampy]

Engine and gearbox positioning

[Swampy]

Changing the mc pherson strut of the nissan to double wishbone of the indy. Planning and drawing and manufacture (through water cutting) front suspension.

[Swampy]

The rears (obviously to conform them without the steering need it was a lot easier, however i will be adding toe adjusters to one of the wishbone legs in the future to make better).

Again template from originals took off what i didn't need (drastic reduction in weight from originals) then bought standard mk uprights without any drum or disc carrier on then made my own (computer designed and water cut from steal). the nissan hubs were very similar fixing to the ford style from which the mk uprights are based. Adjustment to the handbrake cable location was needed but not to much of a problem.

Standard Mk Indy wishbones used at rear currently.

Once IVA is passed and toe adjustments have been added i will be zinc plating all wishbones and steel parts as i have done already with some of the items.

[Swampy]

With the suspension made and the uprights in place i could now see if the diff and half shafts from the Nissan would work. Thankfully they did (almost to easy) with the track of an sx and sierra very similar indeed the half shafts fitted brilliantly.
I modified the chassis to accept the differential with when ok and strengthened any parts which i removed from the original chassis.

Throughout the early build i was stripping off the original yellow paint work with was very tatty. I then wax oiled the chassis and hammerite'ed the bare metal. (zinc premiered and painted the roll hoop)

[Swampy]

With all wishbones and uprights manufactured i started on the steering rack mounting (behind not in front as on the sierra setup). Position will probably be moved in future but as i had to start somewhere the geometry has been compromised. This can be amended in future with some grinding and welding. Steering column is from the nissan 200 cut lengthened and re welded with micro UJ at the rack end. Spacers were made to accommodate the extra length needed to reach the uprights. It was a little far away from our quickly made seat but wanted to use a dished wheel in the end so hoped this would accommodate (which it did in the end may still need a spacer)
A smaller oil filter was used from the larger sr20det engine (as used in the nissan pulsar gtir).
It was a momentous occasion and i felt a massive achievement no matter how shit it looked that the car sat on all four wheels. My good friend who i lived with at the time came down to congratulate me and i some how he got the first drive as i pushed him round the small car park like school kids again!
Clutch and willwood brake cylinders were mounted (clutch mc from 200sx and brake mc have been calculated with help from a friend bought and mounted). Brakes had to be re mounted as were sitting too high for the pedal. which i made and included the bias bar tube for smaller adjustment before locking (with weld) for the IVA. The brake systems seem to work very well. Braded pipes made to length by earls of silverstone and the rest were made by me from copper tube and a good swager (BUY RIGHT BUY ONCE don't bother with cheap ones off ebay !!!)

['The Gaffer']

That's quite an update and interesting read.

[Iancider]

Welcome to the club Swampy.

This looks like a very interesting project and well done. 

I've done an IVA and I would be happy to look over you car to see if I can see any problems prior to the test.  It is probably wise to have a pre-check because if there is something fundamentally wrong it could take more time than you are allowed to fix it and you are only allowed small failures on the day.  If a major is found you might have to go through a whole re-check.

On the VIN number- well as you have seen this is a bit of a mess currently because most local offices have gone and everything Kit car is handled by a handful of part-timers in Swansea.  From what I have read it looks like the inspection has gone because they cannot do it any more but ask at Swansea to be sure.  The link for the application process is: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/kitconverted-vehicles but note that the website is not entirely accurate and not up to date.  It is best to be a bit of a nuisance but be very polite to gain attention - there are not enough staff and a lot of knowledge has been lost but I have found people there very willing to help if they can.  In place of the inspection I think they are content if you send photos copies of receipts and the like to demonstrate the the provenance of the car.  As BuldogBri said you gain points to get an age related plate and if you don't have enough of the original components from the donor and ideally the VIN plate reference and engine number then you are destined to get a Q plate.  It is worth trying hard for the age-related plate because the resale value of the car is higher (not that the prospect will be in your mind at this point!) and you will be able to change to a cherished plate if you want later - not allowed if you get a Q.

If I can be of assistance let me know and send me a Private Mail (PM).  You will see at the top of the Home page (Contact) and them you can contact me via my forum name.

Good luck
Ian

[Swampy]

Thanks for your comments so far chaps. I will be in touch to ask for some help for sure. feel free to ask any questions on the build if i spark any interest good or bad i will try and stay open minded

with chassis being stripped generally and the engine now in place with the steering column located i could focus on fitting a radiator and intercooler and start working out how to plum them both in. I had bought most of the front end body work previously to work out the height of the engine and so could use this also to work out what would fit behind the nose cone... EVERY THING WAS TIGHT! rad was ok but intercooler needed modifying. The radiator may still yet need to be made bigger but until i do some proper road testing i won't know. It seems to hold temperature correctly at the moment anyway. Plumbing for water routes took a bit of tie making sure the flow was correct through the engine and turbo. I only truly finished this in nov 2014 as the thermostat wasn't working properly (flow problem again). Also the inlet manifold would not fit under the bonnet so a new one would have to be made. This will be the start of tomorrows post as its quite cool and deserves its own bit

[Camber Dave]

Welcome to the club Swampy.

Looks a really good build. And good to see a different donor car.

Sorry to point it out but there have been threads on the Locost Forum about front wishbone failures.
In summery they normally break when braking or/and after curbing on track.

The cause seems to be the stress raiser formed at the end of the gusset plate holding the damper (ie mid way along the tube). There is a large bending moment in the lower arm because the damper is located part way along a 'bridge ' between the inner bushes and outer ball joint. I wouldn't have mentioned it but you have used oval tubes, better for braking loads but weaker than round in vertical bending.

Otherwise a cracking (sorry) build.

[Swampy]

Sorry to point it out but there have been threads on the Locost Forum about front wishbone failures.
In summery they normally break when braking or/and after curbing on track.

The cause seems to be the stress raiser formed at the end of the gusset plate holding the damper (ie mid way along the tube). There is a large bending moment in the lower arm because the damper is located part way along a 'bridge ' between the inner bushes and outer ball joint. I wouldn't have mentioned it but you have used oval tubes, better for braking loads but weaker than round in vertical bending.

Thanks for your comments about the bones and also the comments about the build.

I hadn't heard of the wishbones breaking before so thanks for the information. I had changed the design (as mk did also in later wishbones) to allow a slightly longer webbing on the damper pickup plate  (see pics).





Im happy with using the oval section for the moment as it too has benefits from strength in a horizontal plane over circular tube. But I will keep an eye on them (when it finally does get to a track or road at least). If they do bend or fail i will look into other designs.

What i have found with this build and something that has changed significantly in how i do any work is you have to start some where. Any problem with the car (and there were many) even having an idea in my head of how to fix it was a start and from that start i could then make alterations and progression.
There are many things that i would do different on a future build and there will be imperfections in mine and others eyes on this one. I have never tried to skimp on safety throughout the build either and am happy that it will be safe enough to do what i want with it initially. Upgrade may be necessary in the future.

[Swampy]

So, the air inlet plenum...

Having set the engine in the car at a height i was happy for ground clearance it was soon apparent that the inlet wouldn't fit under the bonnet. I chose a scooped bonnet to try and help this to no avail (although i would still have chosen this style bonnet whatever as i think it looks cool! ).

A bit of grinding to the original inlet proved i was going no where! I decided to make a new set of engine mounts any way (bit stronger as i wasn't happy with original ones) and lowered the engine slightly from where i had first started.



So with the intercooler mounted and the engine mounted i had two "start points" to build or design something to sit in the middle. I could also delete some unnecessary pipe work from the Nissan system that i didn't want and add some that i did with extra vacuum takeoff's.

[Swampy]

With access to a ally fabrication shop I could make what ever i wanted pretty much in sheet metal. Friends at work could then tig together the parts i had made whilst i sat patiently watching my design come together through auto tinting glass.

Again with this i had a start and end point and had persistently browsed the internet for what was commonly available and ideas. Currently the options for the ca18det inlet manifolds are slim. There are options for the 2 litre it seems but i didn't want to chap and change when i could make exactly what i needed from scratch. At the time i also owned a Nissan GTIR and the plenum on this was in the style that i wanted with a sloped reduction towards the ports away from the throttle body. Inside the plenum was also ported as standard much like what you get from velocity stacks. So after researching those i set to work designing what i wanted on cad.



I used a some polystyrene to model what i had drawn on the computer to see if it would fit before i made the ally one. I drew the manifold flange on cad also but decided to use the original one to save costs (as the casting was good it could be welded with no imperfections). The ports on the engine were oval and after searching for the correct velocity stacks on the internet in oval form (very expensive normally made from billet) so i decided to get circular ones and then squash the ends to the right size. After squashing some scrap tube of different sizes we found a size that would be perfect to allow the right port size and a decent intake ID for the stack itself.
It was then a case of producing a jigsaw for the fabricator at work (AL the great) to weld.



Tac'd together at first to double check it would fit then sent back to be finalised.
The finished item looked brilliant and was the completing piece (apart from the exhaust) to allow the engine to run as standard again.
Ideally i will take it off and send it for clear anodising to keep its finish when i have the engine re built after IVA.
Final additions included a throttle cable holder (throttle body was rotated 90 deg to fit better) and various vacuum take off so no T'ing off was necessary. Also i decided to keep the breather re-circ and idle control speed actuator in the inlet. The pre throttle pipe from intercooler is large enough to accept a BOV in the future if i want to add one.
An air filter adapter and pre turbo inlet pipe was also made from ally pipe and mounted directly in front of the turbo.

[Swampy]

The build along the way has never been to "sort one piece then move on". It has been about managing all achievable current jobs and projecting what may be needed in the future. This for me included paying for the parts and then also having time to do them around earning money. I will be the first to say that i haven't dedicated every free minute to the project and the time it has taken to get to where the project is now shows this. However juggling the different areas of the project takes a certain skill and commitment of its own and can feel very daunting at times.
Hopefully with posts like this one it will give people who are starting out or perhaps mid way through a build hope that an end can be achieved.

So moving forward. Along side the then current goal of trying to get everything together to make the engine run, I was aiming also trying fit body work, work out wheel choices and achieve the final goal of passing an IVA test to make the car road legal.

I will carry on showing what it took for me to progress with the engine start up and move back to the other areas later on.

With the coolant system set up and the inlet and turbo pipe work made i moved on to the other side of the engine and making and fitting the exhaust.
I didn't know how the sound would be with a one box system. Having the turbo on it would help for sure but the rest was just guess work and aesthetics of looks. Running the standard turbo at the moment but with the potential of upgrading in the future i wanted the exhaust to be adaptable. So i bought an elbow off of ebay for the turbo down pipe flange and added a short down pipe with integrated screamer pipe. Using a V Band clamp i then finished off the exhaust outside of the car with a one box scilencer. I bought straight pipe and cut it into angles to make the bends.
I regret this now and is something i look to change in the future to pre bent pipe. If i was to do it again i would have invested in a decent metal cutting rotary power saw to make good cuts. Instead i used a hacksaw and although the end product does the job it was a bit of a ball ache.



The body work at this time was also needed. Its like one job needs lots of other unachievable jobs to be completed to progress! I needed the front side panels and the floor to be on so i could make mounts and judge distances. Also the rear arches needed to be finished so i could get the exhaust to sit and look right. When your looking at a chassis with no parts on it seems very daunting indeed however if you just keep focusing on the little bits, a week goes by and if you look back at what you achieve its massive and takes decent chunks out of what you want to achieve in the end!
I made lists of jobs that had to be done. It meant i could keep track of what i should be doing instead of just sitting in the garage crying with my finger up my bum not knowing what to do next. Although the lists got bigger as soon as i tried to complete the jobs they do eventually get ticked off.

I tack welded the exhaust together on the outside and had my friend at work tig most of the parts together to look nicer. I get carried away when mig welding and it can end up quite thick. I did manage to keep a couple of welds i was proud of the rest i sanded back and polished.



I have looked into ceramic coating the exhaust but for now i cannot justify the cost and i would like to replace some of the parts for bends and also may change the turbo so i will probably just heat wrap it for the time being if temps get to hot.  I also didn't want to ceramic coat the silencer and utter parts as i thought cleaning would be difficult.

[Swampy]

Moving towards fueling the car. I ordered a £200 fuel tank off of alloy fabrications. I thought i would save time and money buying an off the shelf item that was specifically designed for the indy. NOTHING IS EVER SIMPLE THOUGH IS IT?!
The tank came with my small requirements of filler neck size and feed return pipes added.
And it didn't even fit the chassis! I think the problem was that it was designed for the indy R perhaps ... i couldn't be bothered to find out what the problems were i just wanted it in the chassis . The tank also seemed small so with help of my girlfriend (she deserves a mention as she did intact help a lot with this part) we used the tank as a template and wrote on it new dimensions and angles and sent it back with a written report of what i needed instead. The guys there were so helpful and made a new tank to my specifications. I just payed for postage with was more than fair.






The tank included baffles inside, a feed and return and a spare inlet. After i received it back i needed to modify it further but the plans were in my head. So i took it back to work and made/added a new feed and return ports and bought a outside gravity fed inline pump, pre filter and post earls fuel filters (of different gauze sizes). I also bought an earls roll over valve for a breather.

I wanted the fuel tank to use the same senders for the 200sx dash so i cut a hole in the top of the tank and made an inspection tank with a viton seal sandwiched between. I bought a fuel tank specific fitment from demon tweaks to allow the electronics into the tank with fuel resistant wire also.
In the future i may change the system to use a swirl tank but for now it just acts as a better version of the original in the nissan so should be adequate. I don't know how big the tank is capacity wise but it looks a lot bigger than i have seen in other MK's. I will measure it in the near future and post. Basically i wanted a tank big enough so i didn't have to stop all the time with road driving.
I bought a universal fuel cap which i now realise isn't IVA proof as you can take the key out when its away from the car. So i will make an anchor for it to keep it attached to the tank (IVA acceptable).
Fuel to and from the tank runs in copper pipes through the tunnel. At each end are fuel/oil specific silicone hoses acting as flexible joiners.

[Swampy]

Electronics...
I know it can be a sore and even stopping point in some builds but as it happened i quite like messing around with 12v car electrics. Don't get me wrong its frustrating at times but with a more modern car and properly coloured wires with tracers it shouldn't be too hard.
Having said that i think it took me 4 weeks to understand, remove unnecessary parts (like abs electric heating and locking systems), shorten and re fit into the car in some sort of order. It astonished me how much weight i had saved just from the original loom. The engine is running the standard ecu fuse box and relay box it has in the car. There fore should prove helpful to anyone taking the car on after me (or even me in the future) to relate to a standard 200sx s13 wring diagram to make some sense of wires inside some of the bigger parts of loom. I wanted to keep as much of the 200sx loom and wiring in as possible. If i was to do it again i would add my own fuse/breaker and relay box instead to keep things tidier.







Al wires where hoped were soldered back together and heat shrunk individually. I used material loom tape to wrap all parts of the loom and attached it to the chassis with TC105 cable tie blocks. I had kept all of the grommets from the donor car and used them for any through chassis areas.
I added stack dials to the dash and a couple of after market switches to turn on fog lights and hazards. The coolest gadget added was the stack water gauge. It has an ecu in it which i programmed to turn the spall fan on (through a relay) when the water gets to hot and off when at the correct temp. This saved having extra sensors in the water plumbing and generally was pretty cool. The other dials on the dash are the standard 200sx ones with kept things simple.



There was something else that i think is pretty cool in the build and along with the inlet manifold i think its one of my favourite bits on the car. The rear lights (very sad i know). I wanted to replicate or sort of copy the look of the skyline rear lights and the best way to do this was through the luxvision LED ring lights. They went cheap and needed a housing made up which i did with aluminium pipe and lathed the internal diameter for a perfect fit.
They do not sit vertical level and i will need to add a fog light just for the IVA, but i think they look cool and smart at the same time.

[Iancider]

I am utterly impressed with this.

Can you explain to me what a screamer pipe is - I have not heard of that before.

Regards
Ian

[Swampy]

I am utterly impressed with this.

Can you explain to me what a screamer pipe is - I have not heard of that before.

Regards
Ian

Hi Ian, thanks for your comment. Is there anything in particular you like?
A screamer pipe is the waste gate pipe from the turbo. It's the slang name really. On some cars people choose to have the pipe venting straight to atmosphere with no silencer (hence the screamer name).
I will continue to post my effort to date over the coming week. I will also be finishing off the small list of jobs left in the near future before the iva and show my process through this also.

[Swampy]

With the intake, water system, exhaust (no silencer), electronics (engine side at least) and a string for the throttle cable i started the engine up in january 2013. It had been sitting for quite some time. I had been turning it over by hand now and again through the years sat and had given it a new cambelt, water pump and oil change just as a kind gesture just before starting. With small issues of a slightly dry injector it fired into life (on three to start with then eventually four). It again was a big occasion for me. The pop and flame coming from the exhaust and turbo chatter/whistle did make me grin as to what i had made! It may just seem like an engine running in an expensive cradle (which it was), but for me not having done anything much like that before, only in smaller engined cars like mini's or at work with pre designed wiring kits and people around to ask what went where and actually manuals to follow, it was an achievement.
So far all the wiring was ok apart from i had sent a positive feed to one of the water temp sensors instead of an earth, but i soon found that and all other points seem to be good. I was also happy with this having cut so many wires and taken so long over it going mad tracing wires physicaly and also through old wiring diagrams on the computer from nissan.
Some where amongst all of that time i had a propshaft made from a company in bristol (H J Chard and sons) on the feeder road. They were most helpful (slightly more than i thought it was going to cost but buy right buy once!) and that meant also for the first time i had a self moving chassis. The clutch pivot point was too high and gave quite a hard pedal. I moved it as low as i could on the pedal keeping the master cylinder where i had positioned it but it still would have given me a blister i recon driving through traffic. The master cylinder is 3/4 of an inch and i couldn't make this any bigger. So i looked at the size of the slave cylinder and found that Nissan motorsports or Nissmo made a cylinder that reduced the pressure by up to 14% on a standard car.

"Nismo has developed an oversized slave cylinder
to reduce the pedal load when using a sports clutch, improve half-clutch
operating characteristics and provide proper clutch connection positioning,
the size of the operating cylinder has been increased from 3/4 inch (ø19.05mm)
to 13/16 inch (ø20.64mm). This reduces pedal pressure by as much as 14%
compared to a standard part."

With this knowledge in hand i found that a Toyota Yaris also had this larger cylinder bore and with a low budget in pocket at the time, i had a local machine company increase the size of mine and i fitted the piston of the Toyota to the Nissan housing and plunger and made my own Nissmo equivalent for a lot cheaper. The result was a much more bearable pedal. In future if it is still too tough i will lower the master cylinder some more but this will have to be done whilst the engine is out and it is definitely in for the time being (until its rebuild after IVA).
Here is the video inside the garage not long after i had first got it started. (There are breather problems that were also later sorted)

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YncGSHYvgII" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here is a quick walk around video from soon after i got it running and back on its wheels.

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/obKJpI933mc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There is an unknown whine from the engine wit have looked into but cannot yet find the culprit so will inspect further when engine is rebuilt.

[Swampy]

Right now to back track a little.
Bodywork.
I had bought Fibre glass body work from MK quite some time ago. Nose cone, bonnet and scuttle to make sure i could mount the engine and radiator in place. However before all of this could be fitted side panels needed to be fitted which meant floor had to be fitted.
When i bought the chassis it had a steel floor on which had been damaged. Also the seats had been bolted to this with shocked me as it was very thin. I beefed up the seat mounts adding some angled steal braces and then fitted a ally floor i think it was 3mm thick. I bought the whole sheet and cut it to size on the guillotine at work. The sides were made from a thinner sheet possibly 1.5 mm. All were riveted and siliconed in place.



I wanted the cockpit to be enclosed and the engine bay to be vented through the side panels. For cooling and for a purposeful look. Again the panels were made at work on the guillotine and hydraulic bender. I then cut the holes for the wishbones and steering carefully with a mixture of hole saws and a jigsaw. The front edge of the panels were trimmed inline with the back of the nose cone which would be added later.

With the floor on i drilled holes for the seats and fitted them as low as possible and on runners. They don't move much but just thought it would be a nice feature. Through the ally and more importantly the angle steel they feel solidly mounted.

I will add to the rear of the floor after the IVA to include an ally diffuser. It will take a bit of drawing up / designing as the fuel tank sits quite low. I feel that there is quite a gap at the rear of the car and it looks a bit ugly so having the diffuser in should help with this (even if it does nothing for areo ).

My plan for the engine side panel exits is to make some ally fins that are housed inside. again more for looks than real aero. Much like that of the back of LM Prototype cars of DTM style arch vents.

[Iancider]

Hi Ian, thanks for your comment. Is there anything in particular you like?

All of it!

And now I know it sounds good too!

[Swampy]

After the aluminium outer body work was fitted i also made a bulk head to hold the battery, fuse box and brake fluid reservoir. I wrapped this black in the end for looks. An aluminium cover was made for the steering column and riveted with silicone to the bulkhead. This meant i could fit the scuttle panel, bonnet and nose cone. Everything relies on everything else to fit its a constant juggling act!
I didn't want the bonnet to be easily removable from the car instead hinged and proped with a permanent stay. The same when for the nose cone, but i didn't want to join them like some west fields so the nose had to stay separate. I bought stainless piano hinge and a stainless bonnet stay for the bonnet. I bought the same hinge for the nose (smaller obviously) and made stainless rope stays to attach it to the chassis to stop it falling to the floor.




The nose is located by two Live lock tridair's on the top of the chassis. The bonnet is fastened by two aero catches glued inside with loctite dp 490 chassis glue. These are also lockable.



With the nose bonnet and scuttle pre fitted and fixings made they could be wrapped Thats a later post (although you've all already seen the colour!).

[Swampy]

Fitting the rear panel was next and was fairly straight forward. However with all the fibre glass panels from MK it didn't fit as well as hoped, more so it was a bit thin in some areas which i wished i had re-enforced with a bit more material before finally fitting. Its fitted now though and isn't a problem. Just something i may do in a future winter rebuild and advise others to look out for before fitting.
The wheel arches at the rear needed me to choose a set of wheels. This is so much harder then it seems, also with the correct size tyres. At least i had a start point and an idea. My start point was to keep the same rolling radius as the standard 200sx setup of 195,60,15. I didn't want massive rims on the Indy as i don't like the look as much, i didn't want really small ones either. So i decided on a deep dished 16". Dished wheels always look an inch smaller than they are so i thought this would fit in perfectley. I bought some rear arches from MK but decided they were too skinny as the standard s13 wheels only just fit underneath. So I sent them back and bought there wider option. I can't remember how much wider they were but it was fairly significant. I took measurements from the hub to the outer edge of the wheel arch as i wanted the rims to be at least flush with this (I don't like the "hover craft" look that some kits have where the arches are really wide with skinny wheels tucked right inside ... whats the point?). The rears still required a bit of trimming at the lower front sides for clearance in suspension squat. I would have also liked them to sit a bit higher in the arch at the rear. I will just have to see how they sit after a bit of road use and everything settles. I may end up cutting and re modelling them.
I looked up what sizes other kit cars had including the caterham's and decided on 8" fronts and 9" rears. Quite big generally and i may regret it but when they arrived and were fitted they definitely looked good.
Also style was something i was conscious of and it ended with a toss up between minilight style, rota Grids or these xxr 531.



XXR 531 16x8 Gloss Black 4-100/4-114.3 [+0mm] 205/50/16 R16 87W Toyo Proxes T1-R
XXR 531 16x9 Gloss Black 4-100/4-114.3 [+0mm] 245/45/16 R16 94W Toyo Proxes T1-R

I looked around for the front wheel arches and decided on the clean look of the dax Rush. I wanted to mount these as cleanly as possible and as close to the wheels as possible as again i don't like the front arches floating high above the wheels at the front praying mantis style. I ended up fitting them on stainless brackets i made up and mounted to my Mc person strut modification parts. The arches were glued with Loctite DP 460 and then further layers of fibre glass and epoxy resin were added. They are very strong and the stainless bar seems to be doing well. I will have to test the vibrations at speed and adjust if needed. Also the front wheels can just be removed without removing the arches which was a requirement i wanted.



I still have one to mount (just through laziness, not got round to it) and i would also like to find some smack rubber to coat the inside of front and rear arches to stop or help crazing when the undersides are pelted with gravel, any one have any ideas for this would be most helpful!
I am also yet to wrap the front arches ... I'm not sure if i want to leave them in the black gell coat or have them the same as the rest of the car.

For the IVA test i will put the standard Nissan rims and tyres back on as they will be fully covered by the arches with no exception as stated in the rule book (That will look odd!!! 15x6 front and back).

[Swampy]

With the outside panels fitted, I wanted cover the top of the rear panel. I liked the look of the mohair items you could get for caterham's but without taking my car to the workshop in oxford the company couldn't do a lot. Plus the price was more than i wanted to spend at the time (focus on getting it through the IVA is priority not niceties). So instead i made an aluminium cover and wrapped it.



It does the job for now. I also made a rear bulkhead panel out of aluminium and you guessed it i wrapped that also. I have been using satin black for any of the interior panels.



I then drew up plans for the interior panels (tunnel). I didn't really research how others had done it but i new that i didn't want to many bolts or rivets showing inside the cockpit. I chose to make a front and rear section for the Tunnel, after some card board cutouts had been made i went back to work and cut and bent more aluminium into shape.




With the two sections made separately it allows me to inspect the tunnel without taking all the dash board and scuttle off. Hopefully this will make engine/gearbox removal easier when it comes to it.



Whilst in the work shop i turned up an outer and button for my handbrake lever as i couldn't find a nice after market one that didn't look utter shite. I had already bought a gear knob with was in ally so they work together quite well. I glued this to the original nissan mechanism which i had fitted whilst doing other chassis work previously.



I will make a gaiter for the handbrake lever and gear stick this week or next week also with will pretty much finish up the cock pit ready for IVA (with some radius covers here and there).

I also made two wing mirror mounts from ally with will be glued to the inside of the scuttle this week. Again using DP 460 maybe even with a thin layer of fibre glass (impregnated with the same glue) as a token gesture.

['The Gaffer']

Very nice work

[Swampy]

Today had a very helpful visit from Iancider. Nice to see a finished kit car on the driveway (although it was his nit mine).
Talked through some mods i needed for the IVA but generally glad to see that i was on the right track.
This week i also started to add the wing mirrors. The first one went well and seem very strong so will now carry on with the other side (possibly tomorrow).



I added an additional rear fog light for the iva, wired it in and disconnected the other one (for test at least).



Then i added some stainless steel jubilee clips to the steering rack to stop the uprights fouling on the lower wishbones. With out rack stops they were so close but i don't want to risk them failing at the test and it was easy to add them so i did. 18mm-25mm jubilees did the trick.

See the before and after pics for differences (to follow).

Then to finish the day off and test the steering lock i took it for a spin down the lane ... (Gotta fit the front N/S arch soon as got covered in dog shite)

[Iancider]

Believe me it was my pleasure - this is a lovely vehicle and beautifully built.

Ian

[Iancider]

Believe me it was my pleasure - this is a lovely vehicle and beautifully built.

Ian

[Moleman]

Looks very nice. When is your test set for? 

[Swampy]

Ive got a bit if real work on now untill around may. so will have to wait to see if it settles out some time so i can book a date. untill then ill be making sugested radius modifications and finishing off the job list i have. reality is a road sighting towards te middle / other side if this year. but it will come



I just had the breif thought that i could get some one else to send it through the test for me. But then i slapped myself into sence and although the thought of having on the road is something ive wanted for a long time, doing it myself is something i wish to accomplish along with the rest of the build.

[Swampy]

Just a bit of research back to where my side indicators were Ian.



So as long as they pass a radius test, on the front edge of the rear arches is fine (from the rule book).




A second worry of mine was that the hazard warning light had to be red. But it just stipulates that there should be a tell tale light and doesn't comment on its colour. My switch itself emits a dull green light when sidelights are on and a brighter light when active (along with both indicator lights on the dash flashing together).

Can any one tell me how many (if any) switches should light up when side lights are on for IVA regulations. I can't seem to find any info in the manual.
Obviously there are no lights on initially when you get into the car at night for example. So you in theory wouldn't know where the sidelight switch is in the first place! But is this a requirement for other switches???

[Bulldog Bri]

My lighting switch doesn't light up at all its an old stalk switch from a Mk2 Escort and that passed the only switches I have that any lights are my hazard warning switch that lights up red when in use (flashing) in time with the indicator dash warning lights. And the fog light switch has a small light on it again only when in use.

[Swampy]

My lighting switch doesn't light up at all its an old stalk switch from a Mk2 Escort and that passed the only switches I have that any lights are my hazard warning switch that lights up red when in use (flashing) in time with the indicator dash warning lights. And the fog light switch has a small light on it again only when in use.

Brilliant, thanks for the reply...

[Lucky Ed]

Hi Swampy, a belated welcome to the club. That's a great looking build you've got going there and interesting to see some other running gear being used, it's really coming together now.

Referring back to Camber Dave's earlier post about wishbone design, I was a bit concerned about the new ones I have just fitted, as they seemed similar to yours. They were supplied by MAC1 Motorsports after a failure I had late last year, when I managed to break off the front lower wishbone bracket, whilst under braking on track. The welds stayed intact it was the 'wings' of the bracket that failed, either by load and or a bit of corrosion - either way I've added a small angle plate to beef it up a bit, proving the wishbones are strong enough in tension, but the vertical loading might be suspect.

I'm sure Dave is correct about the potential weakness, but I'm sure they'll be ok on the road, but you might want to keep an eye on them if you venture out on track. Looking at the difference in the photos, the bracing on my wishbones does appear to run slightly further inboard than yours, which might give them a bit more strength in a vertical plane.

Good luck with the rest of your build and hope to see you out and about later in the year.

[Swampy]

Cheers for the coment Ed. I will keep an eye on all bits. I herd about your mod to suspension pickup also. will consider this after i get it through the iva. also like your roll bar and caster adustments. They are both someing else i have been preparing for following iva.
I noticed on Ian's westie that he drove around yesterday the front wishbones ( didnt see the rears ) are also made from ovalised tube ... is this standard on westfields and do they have problems i wonder ?