1-9-'03

Tonight I finished off tidying up the wiring above the radiator and on the drivers side. I also placed the threaded rod for the spare wheel. I used a polyester disc (I've got plenty of those!) with a rubber disc glued on it to secure the wheel.

A while ago I also found a scissors jack at the scrappy that fits perfectly in the spare wheel mould. It's from an old Suzuki Alto and it's low enough to fit under the Libra with a flat tyre! Only the handle needed modifying to fit in the mould too. Now I need to find a clever way of clamping them in place.

Wiring on drivers side and spare wheel

2-9-'03

Very little work was done tonight, because first I made a test drive in the vehicle that probably will be towing my Libra to the SVA test: my dad's brand new VW T5 van.

After this I made some restrictors for the windscreen demister vents because the airflow was very unevenly distributed. It is much better now, with a slight emphasis on the drivers side airflow. I made the restrictors out of some left over pieces of polyester. They're 56 mm square with rounded off corners and fixed inside the vents with 2 self tapping screws. The passenger side restrictor has a Ø10 mm hole, on the drivers side it's Ø25 mm. There's no restrictor in the vent in the middle.

New GTM towing vehicle

Windscreen demister vent restrictors

9-9-'03

Last weekend I briefly visited the Zolder circuit where Team GTM was present with 5 cars! After I got home I just had some time left to wire the indicators into the remote central locking system.

Today one of my colleagues made a beautiful new aluminium handbrake knob for me. This was a hell of a job: the thread size is very strange (pitch 0,9 mm) so he had to make a tap to cut the thread. Actually he made three, because the first two broke! When I tried to fit the handle in the car, it became clear that I needed to move it about 15 mm to the rear. This wasn't too difficult although I had to remove the gear change rods temporarily. The cables are connected and the handbrake is adjusted. The handbrake warning light is also working. I filled up the old mounting holes with bodyfiller.

I also started cleaning up the dashboard interior by removing some unused wires.

Handbrake fitted, old mounting holes clearly visible

17-9-'03

Just one very small job was done last weekend: I soldered a 1kΩ resistor in the tacho connector and placed an IN4007 diode (using a connector block) in the brown/yellow wire to the battery warning light.

Tonight I replaced half of the water in the cooling system with antifreeze. With an agricultural backpack sprayer I pumped 4 litres of pure antifreeze into the radiator vent hose at the expansion tank end. The same amount of water was forced out of the expansion tank. This way no air could get in. I let the engine run for about half an hour, and it looks like it worked perfectly!

I fixed the scissors jack in place with a pull strap looped through 2 slotted holes in the battery cover.

Diode and resistor on back of instruments

Fixing strap for scissors jack

20-9-'03

While I was updating this page I received a message that my wheel nuts are half way between GTM and my house. It won't be long now before the wheels hit the ground! If I manage to get the car lift working again, that is, because the motor made such a terrible noise that I took it off to get some new bearings fitted.

I protected the rear light wiring in the boot with petrol hose. On the other end of the car I fitted both side repeaters. These will be replaced with clear ones after SVA. The wiring loom was hot melt glued to the inside of the bonnet.

Rear light wiring protection

Side repeater fitted

Front wiring loom glued in bonnet

25-9-'03

One of the heater hoses was resting on the radiator, to stop this I clamped both hoses to the radiator ducting. I also modified the top fixings of the battery holder. If necessary, it can now be removed without reaching inside the tub (very difficult once the carpets are in place). I simply replaced the nuts with plates with tapped holes. These plates are kept in place by a pair of extra bolts.

Yesterday I picked up the wheel nuts, so the car is finally on it's wheels! There are only two things stopping me from driving it now: My clutch isn't working yet and it's illegal to leave the driveway!

Of course I also still need to set up the suspension and tighten all the suspension bolts.

Heater hoses clamped in place

Wheels have finally touched the ground

Top view of rear left wheel

Front view of front right wheel

Last weekend I visited the open day at the GTM factory with the other Dutch Libra V6 builders: Robert and his friend Ming. It was a very rewarding day for me, since almost all my missing parts were ready. I picked up a pair of shorter rear shock absorbers, a clutch connector, a connector for the third lambda sensor and my trim panels! The only thing remaining missing is a pair of headlamp covers.

First job last week was to fit the new shock absorbers. The left driveshaft is now clear of the steering arm even with the wheel off the ground. All the suspension bolts were tightened with the car on it's wheels. The connector for the lambda sensor was also fitted.

Next job was fitting the clutch connector. This was very difficult to put together without getting air in the system. For two evenings my attempts remained unsuccessful. After I bought another litre of brake fluid I was able to assemble the cylinder to the hose while both parts were immersed in brake fluid. The clutch is working now, but I think there still is a tiny amount of air left because it takes the full travel of the pedal for the clutch to operate.

With the clutch working it was time for a short test drive up and down the driveway. Alas it barely long enough to shift to second gear but it was great fun nonetheless! :-)

After this I fitted the bonnet and the bonnet hinges. I didn't follow the build manual's method. First I drilled and placed the hinge bushes in the bonnet. Then I aligned the bonnet and fixed it in place with the fasteners at the rear. I "dremeled" holes in the radiator ducting in alignment with the bushes. The holes for the fixing bolts were drilled using the hinge plate as a template.

Hydraulic hose connected to clutch slave cylinder

 Halfway down the testing track

Bonnet fitted

Bonnet hinge

6-10-'03

Tonight a few small jobs were done. First I fitted a custom made plastic circlip to secure the clutch slave cylinder, as I was missing the original one. The covers on the rear of the headlamps were fixed in place with screws and silicone sealed. I also glued some rubber edge trim around the blower air intake.

Final job was sawing a small edge of the front of the radiator ducting, giving the necessary clearance to open and close the bonnet.

Plastic circlip around clutch slave cylinder

Headlamp rear covers fiited

Rubber edge trim on blower air intake

Top view of opened bonnet

Today I fitted the driver's side door. Fitting the door itself was relatively easy, and I even managed to get the hole for the door striker in exactly the right position. Let's hope I can repeat that on the other door! More time consuming was the fitting of the door straps, switches and central locking wires.

I decided to fit the door straps with countersunk M5 bolts, using a plate with 3 M5 holes on the insides of both the door and the sill. Each plate is kept in place using a 3rd countersunk bolt which is covered by the strap, so the strap still can be removed easily. On the passenger's side I had to drill a access hole in the glove box to fit the plate. It took a lot of fiddling to get this one fitted!

Next to the top hinge I found the perfect spot for the door switches. Wiring them was easy: the connectors were still on the Rover loom. All I had to do was run an extra earth wire! The switches are used for the immobilliser and alarm system, but I also could connect a courtesy light.

The central locking wires are fitted in the least visible place between the door hinges. The hole in the sill is higher than the one in the door, to allow for the movement of the door. The exposed part of the wires is covered in heat shrink, which fitted so tight that I had to use fairy liquid. So there was no need to actually shrink it anymore!

First door fitted

Door strap and door switch

Access hole and door switch in glove box

Central locking wires and door switch

15-10-'03

The other door is also fitted. The glass doesn't line up to the roofline as nice as on the driver's side. I guess the shape of the roofline isn't exactly the same on both sides. The hole I drilled for the door striker on the passenger's side was less than 2 mm out of place so after a bit of "dremeling" I could achieve a nice fit. It's actually quite difficult to place it accurately, because the lock tends to pull the door down when it hits the striker. To compensate for this the door has first to be aligned a little bit to high at the rear (without the striker fitted).

I also improved the fit of the bonnet, by tilting the radiator upwards and cutting a bit more of the heater blower air intake. Only problem now is how to achieve a good seal around the wheel well. The supplied rubber seal is much to small to close the gap in most places.

Second door in place

Door strikers

18-10-'03

A 25 mm longer rod end was welded on one of the gear change rods. There's no way they can fall off the car now! I haven't done anything else to it, but after reassembly changing gears is much smoother than before!

The universal washer jets that I fitted a long time ago had a serious problem: There was a hole in front of the jets to let the last drops of water fall through the bonnet. But on the Libra this means water in the dashboard, especially if you try to pressure test the hoses by blocking the jets! So I took them out and ordered a new pair from the Rover dealer. I'm still waiting for these, but I already fitted the washer tank and tubing. I glued a sheet of black plastic (with a nice structure in it) on top of the tank, because it can be seen to one of the bonnet vent holes.

At the scrappy I picked up another inertia switch, complete with a connector and a bit of wiring. I took it out of a late model Ford Escort. Next to the heater I found a vertical plane to fit it. If needed, I can reach under the dashboard and reset the switch quite easy. I wired it into the fuel pump relay feed wire, so the fuel pump is switched off in case of a crash.

The wiring in the dashboard looks a bit neater, now I've tie wrapped everything in place. I still have to wrap a few connectors in foam, to prevent them from rattling. The ISO connectors for a radio are tie wrapped to the left side of the heater.

Lengthened gear change rod end

Washer tank covered with black plastic

Ford Escort inertia switch fitted

Dashboard wiring tie wrapped

Not much was done today, since I've caught a terrible cold. I just managed to get a pair of washer jets fitted. I also turned the inertia switch around, so I'm able to disconnect it without unscrewing it first! This might come in handy if I'm asked at the SVA test to demonstrate if the switch works. On the bonnet and engine cover fixing brackets, I replaced the self tapping screws with M5 bolt and nuts, so they can't work loose over time.