The tunnel

The tunnel

The tunnel in a Sylva is used for:

* The fuel pipes flow and return.
* The rear brake caliper feed.
* The gear linkage.
* Wiring to the handbrake warning switch.
* The cooling pipes to the radiator.

This tunnel is about to be closed up by fitting the allow and decorative carbon effect panels.

I may need a record of :

* Seat belt fixings
* Pipe clips every 300mm
* No vibration hazards to the critical fluid pipes.

 

References

Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html

Handbrake

Handbrake

The handbrake should have been one of the easier jobs on this kit, however due to a decision earlier in the build to add GRP seats the route for the handbrake cable is obstructed by the passenger seat runner.

Other problems

* The handbrake leaver as supplied fouls the dashboard.
* There is no warning lamp micro switch
* The handbrake needs to be compatible with the prefitted bracket in the engine bay and Hydra OEM callipers as recommended.

It was decided to purchase a kit for the rear cables as supplied by Motorsport-Tools + a balance bar for load sharing of the handbrake force.

I made a number of items on the lathe/mill.
1) - Device to adapt a handbrake cable from the lever to the balance bar made out of hex brass.
 and a bracket to shift the mechanism below floor level. The original design ran inside the passenger seat.

2) Adaptor connecting up the handbrake cable to the leaver and allowing the cable to be serviced/removed.

3) - A method of turning the cable thru 90deg.

4) A bracket for aligning the front cable to the wheel calliper cables

5) - A load sharing clevis assembly to connect up the handbrake while allowing c able replacement without removing the floor bracket.













6) An adaptor bracket to shift the cable terminations below floor level.



7) Test cables to try out the strength of all this and if it actually works





Now why did I put in those GRP seats?

References

Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html

Dashboard final fit

Dashboard final fit

The dashboard is one of the parts of the build that needs to be right. I feel if you have a tacky dash then it lets the car down big time it also has the potential to give the IVA man a very bad impression. The big issue with fitting the dash is you are on your own in terms of attachment recommendations. I decided to attach the dash in 5 areas to avoid a rattly car in the future. I will probably use some sealer on the top edge, to help with the latter once the car is well and truly finished.

1) Either side of the dash using the switch/closing panel as a fixing.
2) The steering column using a specially machined bracket out of 8mm alloy extrusion.
 3) Behind the 12v Power point using the knurled fixing to attach the dash.
4) Two brackets mid way along the dash, one next to the rev counter the other to the nearside.

A number of the midway brackets were bonded to the dash using Polyurathane adhesive.

I used a Playskool preformed carbon fibre effect dash overlay.

Midway bracket rev counter



Carbon effect overlay

Offside mountings 2 places

Neerside fixings 2 places

Midway bracket behind 12v outlet





The wiring and dashboard design

The wiring and dashboard design

The wiring loom needs to be installed at this stage as the inner panels need to be fitted immediately after this.

The wiring has consumed more time and effort than any other part of this project so far. This was a direct result of deciding to reuse the Puma ECU.The ECU controls among other things the progressively variable valve timing (VVT) which I definitely wanted to keep. It has the other advantage of saving you pots of cash on an after market ECU like an Omex and buying a engine wiring loom to go with it. The disadvantage of an after market ECU is that it is unlikely to control the valve timing progressively like the Ford ECU. The theory is I can get an up graded Ford ECU mapping to cope with the tuning I had done earlier in the year at Sitec Racing.

If you want to retain the PAT's (Passive Anti Theft) system then the Ford ECU from the original car must be retained. That ECU matches the keys and steering colum so be warned.



Dashboard fuse box

The original wiring from the Puma had a Central junction box that took care of all the non Starting and ECU functions. This was an overkill in terms of size and complexity that is not desirable in a light weight kit car.

I substituted my own design to replace the Central Junction box having three relay locations (only two used) and 9 fuses.

Layout drawing

The design process was as follows:
1) Produce a circuit diagram integrating the useful parts of the Battery fuse box and necessary ECU connections + the Dashboard fuse box functions.
2) Produce a wire routing table and importantly the wire size for each function
3) Make a crude loom template and start running the wires terminating in the Battery fuse box. Don't add the terminations at this point this can be done later. Tape the loom temporarily every 150mm or so with loom tape. Mark all the wire functions with labels ( I used masking tape and ball point pen).
4) Install the loom in the chassis with duct tape.
5) Design a dashboard and switch mounting plate.
6) Terminate all the wires in actual devices and test the loom. Pots's were used to simulate sensor feedback from the engine.
7) Correct the documentation so that faults can be diagnosed at a later date when we get the engine running.
8) Remove the loom and tape it up.
9) Return it to the chassis and clip it out.

The above took weeks of work and that is with a stripped down version of the Puma engine wiring loom did earlier in the year.

In the unlikely event anybody wants to follow my path I am quite willing to share all the design files.

Switch panel

More instrument cluster

Battery fuse box

Instrument cluster

dashboard metal work





Dashboard fuse box

References

Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html

Chassis progress



Chassis progress

The chassis moves into the blasting cabinet at Aliblast Services, how long has the Mini shell been there?

What an environment!

The chassis in primer

The chassis was primed in black etch and then given two coats of Por15 hardnose.

 

Decided to design my own chassis jig so I can protect the paintwork and turn it over more readily. I fab'd it out of 2" x 2" ERW (2 days welding). The basic design was similar to the one at Aliblast without the adjustable height (see above).

Custon design jig



The finished chassis  on the jig

References

 

Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html



Front Brakes

Willwood front brake conversion

The Sylva kit comes with solid discs and provision for HiSpec 4 pots. I decided that I wanted Willwood Midlite 4 Pot callipers and vented discs being an upgrade on what was designed. I have this configuration on my Westfield and I don't want lesser brake power on my Sylva compared to my Westfield SEIW. The front upright is straight out of the Triumph/Caterham parts bin being originally designed for a Spitfire.

Willwood make a conversion kit BK23K which includes discs, callipers, bolts and adaptor brackets. However they do not supply a set of fitting/modification instructions. The vendor merely gives the advice that "Wheel hub disc mounting face will need machining". In fact the vented disk provided is not even a good fit on the wheel hub, it is in fact off another car and the holes for the wheel hub have been added.

As supplied Caterham bits

The following information should help someone make the modifications without the head scratching I went through.

Process

1) Remove the wheel hub, and remove the wheel bearings and studs (pressed into the machined alloy billet).
2) Mount the hub in the lathe and remove 2mm from the face that contacts the steel disc all the way down to the size of the disk inner hole. This from memory is 62mm. I don't recommend any more than 2mm as this will make the body of the 4 pot protrude beyond the wheel hub face.
3) Thoroughly clean the part of any swarf.
4) Machine the forged steel upright in the area of the steering mounting. This is tricky to set up in the mill (I used a cast iron angle mounted on the bed). Remove sufficient material to give you a gap between the rear of the vented disk and the steering arm attachment.
5) Reassemble all the stuff with the new disc in place, check for clearances.
6) Select shims (I used 2mm washers) on the mounting points of the calliper to centralise it relative to the new disc.

Modified using Willwood bracket

Modification

Improved bracket

Due to a screw up by me at the early stages of trying to make sense of all this I decided for some reason to try and modify the mounting bracket. This resulted in a request to the vendor to get a replacement. He said yes sir that will be £80 + vat please. I looked at the part and decided it could be improved (too many parts, 3 parts into one) and not that difficult to make in the first place. Using my home modified CNC milling machine I put it to work.

I hope you have more luck than me making this modification, the information above should help.

References

 Motorsport Tools very helpful.
http://www.motorsport-tools.com/caterham-7-wilwood-brake-kit-midilite-4-pot-calipers-247-x-20mm-disc-p-250526.html

Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html





Solving the Fuel Gauge

Fuel system linearizer

The tank shape derived to gain extra foot well space for the passenger is not without it's problems. It is decidedly non linear when it comes to attaching a fuel gauge.

The results adequately show the inverted "L" in terms of linearity. As the tank is filled the resistance reduces linearly until 13Litres or 50% then the resistance changes slope making the last 50% equal to about a quarter of the change in resistance. So in practical terms when the gauge says 3/4 full it is only actually 1/2 full. Not very nice!

I invented a little box that corrects the above problem. If you are interested in the solution, I have added a link for the technically minded:
http://www.alastair-reynolds.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fuelsystemlinearizer/index.htm

References

Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html