21-07-'02

Yesterday I bought a used 2 column car lift. It needs a bit of attention before I can install it in my garage, but I'm sure it will prove to be a very handy piece of equipment. Especially after I take out a part of the ceiling in the garage!

After some repairs and undoing the modifications the previous owner had made (thanks to my colleagues), I finally installed the lift in the garage and removed a small part of the ceiling. I also built a workbench from a sheet of underlayment and some scrap wood, and installed a lot of lighting (got them from my boss!). Now all I need is power on the 400V socket, and I'm ready!

Car lift installed in the garage

14-09-'02

The first parts are in! I went to the scrapyard for a LHD heater blower unit. My local scrappy had one lying on the shelf, but unfortunately it was without the housing. The next scrapyard just had a '93 114Si in, so I had to take it out myself. This is the first real work done (upside down under the dash, with my feet on the headrests). It would have been a little easier if I had read the Metro manual first and had taken out the glovebox! I also took out the 3-speed fan switch, as GTM delivers a one speed switch only.

17-09-'02

The car lift is finally working!

Picked up the kit, engine and donor parts yesterday. Did a first inventory check with Eric and Peter from Oracle, and that was the end of our 23 hour working day.

Today Angela (my better half) and I did a second check of the parts and cleared the garage by moving most of it to the attic.

twin engined pick up truck!

The tub on the lift

The right hand side front suspension is on the car. The disc on top of the spring just touches the damper mounting.

Detail of front suspension

Enlarged the pedal box opening and drilled mounting holes. Trial fitted the blower and heater unit to look how difficult it's going to be to connect these with the provided ducting. It needs to be mirrored!

I had to cut out a piece of fiberglass to mount the spreader plate on the left side damper mounting. There were 2 bolts on each side of it.

On the right front suspension I've bent a few bolts. It looks worse than it is on the picture because the top holes were drilled slightly upwards. Still, I'll have to replace them and prevent the new ones from bending.

Plan was to fit the steering rack, but I received a standard Metro rack instead of the ordered high ratio TF rack.

How to mirror the ducting? (below the heater)

Spreader plates on left side front suspension

Bent bolts on right side suspension

There are a few unresolved issues with my parts:

I received a loom T0902, which is not on my checklist and an unidentified loom (see picture, it's next to T0902).

The steering column has not been lengthened.

My rear brakes aren't skimmed to 10 mm. Perhaps this is not needed with my MGF rear brakes?

Loom T0902 and Loom ?

Steering column not lengthened?

Unskimmed rear discs

Drilled the petrol filler cap opening. The front and rear suspension are on the car, minus the hubs. I trial fitted the engine frame with 2 temporary bolts (I didn't receive the fastener pack T0403). I wanted to drill the remainder of the holes, but I found that the spring on the right hand shock absorber is very close to engine frame. At the moment there is about 3 mm room between them. And according to the drilling dimples on the tub, the engine frame still needs to go further outward. Lets hope I don't need to adjust my suspension inward!

Spring is very close to engine frame

Arial view of rear suspension

Right hand rear suspension and petrol filler cap opening

I still have a slight problem with the engine frame. The small mounting plate on the right hand side doesn't reach the tub, unless I pull it outwards, which results in contact between the engine frame and the spring. Would it be ok to put a shim in the space between the tub and the small mounting plate?

Fitted the handbrake lever and cables. Getting the holes for the grommets right, proved easier than I thought! I chamfered the holes to get the grommet to fit (the groove in the grommets is very narrow, because it was meant to be used in sheetmetal). By the way, the distance between the cables is 45 mm on my handbrake, which is 5 mm smaller than what the build manual drawing says.

I also cut the hole for the gearchange lever. The knob on my handbrake lever has let go of the (fake) chrome. If anyone has a nice solution to fix this, please let me know.

Space between small mounting plate and tub

Holes for handbrake cable grommets, distance 45 mm

Handbrake and gearchange hole

Today was used to work on various donor parts. I cut off the filler pipe of the petrol tank and disassembled the rear hubs. One driveshaft wouldn't come loose. I will take it to my work to get the shaft and the bearings out.

The brake lines are on, but I need 5 P-clips more than GTM supply, so I need to go out and buy some. On the rear I improvised a little because of my V6 monocoque. To place the bolt for the T-piece, I needed to cut a hole inside to reach into a enclosed space. On the front I struggled with the excess length of the lines to the master cylinder.

I also placed the heater pipes and attached the hoses at the rear. Since I have a V6, I doubt that the lengths stated in the manual are correct, so I dare not cut them yet! 

Brake lines at rear

Brake lines in front

The engine frame problem has been solved! Once I fully tightened the large mountings, the small mounting plate was touching the tub. All the suspension parts and the engine frame were taken off again, to get them powdercoated.

In the meantime progress is slow, because I caught a terrible cold. Today I mounted the eyeball vents. They can't open fully and turn at the same time, because they hit the dashboard (where the heater goes in). Is this only in LHD Libra's?

Eyeball vents in place (minus one screw)

It's freezing cold and the heater in my garage is far from sufficient. So time spent in the garage is very limited. Next Saturday I can collect my parts from the powdercoater.

I fitted the pedals in the car, but had to take them out again. I'll have to bend them as they are way too far to the left. The clutch even hits the side wall! This is because the pedals are designed for a RHD setup, but luckily this can be solved quite easily.

A few items were added to the tunnel: hydraulic clutch hose, brake vacuum pipe and the main loom. The holes for the radiator pipes and center seatbelt mountings have been drilled also.

Due to the very cold weather, the powdercoater hadn't finished my parts today. So it was time to focus on something else: the wiper mechanism.

Warned by the comments on Harry's site (look at the build diary, April 21), I drilled the mounting holes slightly higher than the indentations. I had to cut off a small edge of the moulding next to where the heater goes. I also bent the motor mounting bracket very close to the motor and rounded off the moving parts of the wiper mechanism to avoid hitting the bulkhead. The original rubber bung wasn't pressing against the bulkhead very well, so I modified it with a piece of rubber I found in my dad's barn (I guess it fell of his tractor!). I drilled a hole in it, and cut a groove in the outside. The mounting bracket was pressed in this groove and with the help of an extra bolt the wiper mechanism is now rock steady!

I also holesawed the heater hose holes and P-clipped the battery leads to the tunnel.

Wiper motor with extra fixing point, modified bracket and rounded off moving parts

On the right of the 2 heater hose holes, the extra fixing bolt can be seen.

The front suspension is back on the car, after being powdercoated. Before I mount the rear suspension, it's easier to access the petrol tank, so I trial fitted it before painting. This was actually very easy, since my tub is on a car lift. There is however a problem with the petrol filler pipe. Due to the shape of the V6 tub it doesn't line up with the tank opening. It doesn't reach the funnel either. For a correct fit on both ends the pipe should move about 20 mm towards the funnel. For this I would need a large vertical oblong hole in the tub, but I think it's wiser to modify the pipe!

Also I'm not sure if the filler pipe won't clash with the engine when mounted in this manner.

Tip for other V6 builders: solve this before fitting the rear brake pipe. I had to remove mine to fit the pipe and I will need to change it to avoid the filler pipe.

Petrol filler pipe inside

Petrol filler pipe outside

The ducting between the blower and heater unit needed to be altered, because I'm building a LHD car. I cut the ducting in 2 halves and cut away a lot of material around the heater connection. I fixed the right hand side heater blinding cap in the ducting, and connected the 2 pieces of the ducting with 3 pieces of plastic and some screws. It took a lot of fiddling, but after some alterations it looked like it was going to fit. I closed all the gaps and reinforced the ducting with fiberglass. It looks terrible but it works! To clean it up somewhat I taped in the complete ducting. Of course I also cut out 2 large holes in the blinding cap. I also sealed off the left hand side opening of the heater with a piece of plastic and duct tape.

Also took a good look at the my gearbox today. I noticed that I'm missing the slave clutch cylinder!

Ducting mirrored

Ducting mounted on heater

Missing slave clutch cilinder

Mounted the bended pedals (temporarily) so I can decide the best route for the throttle cable. I also took some unnecessary components off the engine: the power steering pump, the airco compressor and the belt tensioner. The oil cooler is still there. I need to figure out a way to connect the 2 hydraulic pipes together.

According to the GTM manual a part of the aluminium casting over the cambelt has to be sawed off. I think it's the part where the power steering pump attached to, but to be safe I'll wait for a drawing from GTM. I'm missing the piece that has to come to between the GTM engine mount and the engine frame. No such problems on the gearbox side!

I also holesawed the 2 large holes for the Rover loom in the bulkhead and removed one washer tank support on the radiator ducting. It's on the wrong side for me, and it interferes with the blower. I repaired the hole with gelcoat, fiberglass and resin. It needs some touching up, but I'm very pleased with the result, since it was my first attempt.

Bent pedals: Clutch and throttle 40 mm to the right, Brake 30 mm to the right

Unmodified aluminium casting and GTM engine mount. How to connect this to ...

Outside of radiator ducting (to be painted)

Removed washer tank support on the inside of the radiator ducting