14-04-'04

A new page, this must be the last one! Tonight I did two small jobs: First I fitted a slightly modified wheel wrench under the bonnet. I had to saw off one of the legs of the wrench to make it fit. I screwed 3 16 mm tool clips to the ducting, and they hold the wrench firmly in place. I can only (and only just!) take it out with the spare wheel removed, but that's just what it's for, so no problem there!

Next job was to make and fit a side pod grille. The passenger side is done, the other one is a job for next time.

Wheel wrench fitted with tool clips

Side pod grille fitted

A very happy occasion is keeping me out of the garage for most of the time and it's the first time that it doesn't bother me :-). But occasionally I have to escape the midwife for an hour or so.

So I managed to do 2 very small jobs: I painted the inside of the roof panel (thanks to Richard who gave me the idea) and I cut 2 floor mats.

Roof panel painted black

Floor mats cut to size

12-6-'04

Zita is still keeping me occupied for most of the time when I'm at home. This morning she was very relaxed, so I finally managed to sneak into the garage for a few hours. I fitted an aluminium 180° elbow between the air inlet and the filter. I had it made at work to get rid of the small, but very noisy breather filter.

One of the central locking motors wasn't working anymore, but after taking it out and refitting it (twice!) it seems to be all right again. I have absolutely no idea what I've done to achieve this! I also took out the clutch slave cilinder to have it modified to accept a bleed screw. Hopefully I can put it back in next week!

New air inlet elbow

19-6-'04

Today I fitted the clutch slave cilinder again. Clutch operation is marginally better then before, but still not very impressive. The slave cilinder piston rod travels 12 mm maximum, which is only just enough to disengage the clutch.

The rest of the day my dad and I spent setting up the suspension. Once you get the hang of it, is a fairly straightforward job. Of course I won't know if the settings are any good until I'll be able to drive it!

Time to have another look at my to do list (not necessarily in the correct order):

1. brake and emissions test at local garage

2. fit interior mirror

3. torque up the drive shafts and fit rear hub covers

4. check shock absorber settings

5. finish deseaming and polishing the body

6. Apply for SVA test!

I also did a bit of work on my other (company) car: I installed an Ipod MP3 player connection kit. It fools the car stereo by posing as a CD changer! My plan is to do the same in the Libra (after SVA). The Ipod is a small, lightweight and powerful music source, just like a Libra V6!

Just another picture!

Apple Ipod posing as a CD changer

25-6-'04

2 Libras passed SVA this week (congratulations to both Barry and Richard!). I think this has something to do with my newly found energy to work on the car. Sorry Zita, daddy is in the garage!

Yesterday evening I torqued up the drive shafts, set the shock absorbers at 5 clicks from the softest setting and aligned the headlamp beams. I also checked the electronic speedo calibration, but it was set correctly. I also placed the rear view mirror in the standard position (i.e. the glove box), which is probably not the best place for it at the SVA test! Tomorrow I'm off to have the exhaust emissions and the brakes tested.

Headlamp beams aligned (for a RHD car!)

26-6-'04

Today was a very big day for me: The first test drive on public roads. I was offered a set of traders license plates, which meant that I could make a (almost) legal test drive and have a general safety check up.

About 200 metres from my house the engine made clear that he wasn't getting much fuel, luckily it was only another 300 metres to the petrol station! The test drive was very nice and the car feels very solid. The gear change and clutch still need some work but they're not so bad as I had feared. As long as I plant the clutch firmly at the floor, changing gears is fairly easy. Only 1st, 2nd and reverse need some looking into. At high speeds (80 mph and upwards) the front end feels very light and somewhat twitchy. Nothing that I cannot control, but I trust that playing with the suspension geometry can improve this. The brakes feel very good and evenly balanced, but I haven't been able to lock any of the wheels yet. The rear pads are brand new, and the front ones has only 50 miles on them, so they the haven't run in properly yet. Driving to the garage I used my left foot to wear in the brakes as much as possible.

At the garage, the car passed the brake test, but I was surprised to find that the rear brakes worked better than the fronts! The exhaust emissions (lambda value and CO, CO₂, NO_x and HC percentages) were found to be well within the legal limits.

Back home I wanted to share my joy with Zita and let her take place behind the wheel for the first time! I think I'm ready to book the SVA test now!

Brake test results

Underside inspection

In front of the garage

Inspection report

Zita cannot reach the wheel yet!

30-06-'04

My visit to the garage last weekend even made the local paper

Today I padded the heater with rubber foam. While I was doing this I also looked at ways of padding the steering column. I couldn't find any surface to glue the padding to, so I decided to make a cover out of aluminium perforated sheet. I made an U-section which I tie-wrapped to the column. The padding was then glued to the U-section. I must say that I'm very pleased with the result.

I also finally fitted the interior mirror and rounded off the edges of the openings in the rear Perspex screen. The rest of the afternoon was spent filing and sanding flash lines, seams and edges.

Heater padded

Steering column cover in progress

Steering column cover finished

Interior mirror fitted at last!

23-8-'04

I'm still waiting for the SVA test. One of the reasons for the delay was a slight issue with my chassis number. It was 2 digits too long! Last week I received the correct chassis plate, and the paperwork is finally in the mail, so I expect to hear a date shortly!

In the meantime I made a covering plate over the boot lock. This will make it a lot more difficult to open the boot lid in an illegal manner. The 2 countersunk screws cannot be unscrewed from the outside, since there are nuts between the plate and the boot lid. It also provides a sturdy base to mount the rear license plate. The covering plate is 2 mm aluminium with 4 sides folded over, creating a 10 mm space behind the plate for the lock mechanism. I finished off the edge with a rubber U-profile.

Boot lock covering plate