The gear change linkage

The gear change linkage

Today recovering from man flu I could not resist opening some of the packets of deliveries accumulated over the week. I found the bits I needed to connect up the gear selector so I spent an hour in the freezing workshop but the effort was worthwhile.

I find the build notes are a bit confusing on this issue, Jeremy  supplies some of the bits preassembled (if you want them) take my advice buy them/ add them to the order. Unfortunately you are still on your own to devise a solution from the tunnel UJ to the gearbox selector rod and linear bearing. This bracket and linear bearing effectively reverses the gear linkage for the Sigma engine and points it forward. All you have to do is find an adequate additional universal joint (UJ), attach it to the rod from the gearbox and then attach the other end to the UJ sticking out the tunnel.

I think Jeremy suggests using the UJ out of the donor car and some 15mm bar and welding the whole thing up. This was not an option for me as this UJ from my donor Puma was f....d. I did however  find extra UJ steering joint in my parts box I had inadvertently ordered extra from RallyDesign RD820F - Group 4 coupling forged steel. RD also supply a splined shaft RD849 which is a 400mm shaft with splines to match the coupling. When the aforementioned bit arrived and after careful measurement, I parted off about 50mm off one end and knurled the first 20mm of the same end so the coupling coming out the transmission tunnel so the UJ could get a grip. I then bored one end of the new UJ with a Mag Drill of 16mm dia to match the rod from the gearbox. All I had to do was file a flat in  rod from the gearbox so a 8mm bolt can be fitted and locking the UJ in place. The only adjustment left now is the UJ coupling at the tunnel. I put all this together in short order and to my amazement the whole thing worked a treat. Perhaps not a Lowcost solution at £18 +VAT but a very robust one I assure you. The positive feel is better than my Westfield with the selector sticking straight ot of the MT75.

References

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

Engine fit and cooling system

Engine fit and cooling system

The engine, Ford Sigma/Puma 1.7 vvti, was refreshed by Sitek in Rosyth earlier in the year. The engine wiring loom and and ECU was removed from the donor Puma. So a lot of uncertainty was in my mind at this point in the build. A chap called Steve from the Westfield Sports Car club gave me a hand to do the install. The fuel system and tank are my own design which just added to the pile of things that could go wrong.

The install of the engine went smoothly enough, mainly as I did a trial install before having the chassis painted. Proceeded to connected up the fuel system and ECU, could not find the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) anywhere but decided we would proceed anyway. Connected up the battery, to my amazement the PAT's LED started flashing, I was so excited I did not even decode what it was telling me, my only defence was it looked very like the code my Ford Connect gives when the key is inserted.

Moving rapidly on, I put fuel in the tank and turned the key. The fuel pump ran and one of the fuel filter connectors at the rear started pissing fuel all over the floor. The leaking connector was one I made up quickly the previous day so I could retain the original Ford quick connect engine bay fuel pipes. Adding some PTFE tape to the 1/4NPT union did the business and the engine started, wow!

As the cooling system did not exist I thought it best to switch off the engine, the only problem was the engine remained on despite my efforts with the ignition key. Quick thinking, Steve pulled the connector off the coil pack, obviously he had done this before as I was very slow to react. I was thinking of pulling the battery terminal but I suspect that was probably  the wrong thing to do. As it was 9:30 PM and we had been at it all day (at least 12 hours) it was time to call it a day.

The list of problems at this point:

* Needs cooling system.
* Needs oil pressure light and gauge connected.
* Fault in the wiring keeping the engine on, power hold relay cct suspected in the Battery Fuse Box.
* No Alternator warning light on dash (never came on).
* Needs throttle linkage

cooling system

Of all the problems I guess a cooling system is number one. So I posted a note on the Lowcost forum asking what to order up in terms of pipes, bends etc. I did not get any answers that suggested a way forward that I liked so I decided to order up:

6 x 32mm x 90deg
3 x 32mm  x 45deg
1 x 1m x 32mm
1 x 32 x 32 x 25mm T piece Silicone
1 x 1m x 22mm
1 x 1m x 10mm
1 x 1m x 16mm
1 x 3m length of 32mm x 16gauge alloy tubing
1 x 3m  Length 16mm alloy tubing
1 10" high power fan
That lot came to well over £200 mostly from Rally design but I have not thrown away any parts and the system is fully connected.

I fabricated the Polo radiator mounting very like the suggestion from Jeremy except the Fan I mounted on a removable alloy plate with lots of hoses in it. The radiator is easily removed also with 6 x ss machine screws.

Oil pressure switch and gauge

The oil pressure gauge came with a sensor but I rapidly discovered I needed an 2 way oil adaptor to make both the switch and oil pres gauge work at the same time. All the standard adaptors gave no room for both the switch and sensor when connected at the back of the Sigma engine. I did find a site offering a flexible hose + 2 connection points for 1/8NPT devices but it also assumed an 1/8NPT hole in the engine. I made up an adaptor using a 1/4 NPT brass F-F and silver soldered the 1/8NPT bit on the end after turning the thread off the 1/8NPT part. I used a 1/8NPT pressure switch instead of the original Ford one.

Wiring faults

It is not surprising I had a fault, in fact of all the scenarios I could envisage the engine running on fault was not that difficult I hoped. It took about 4 hours in the end to track down. I separated the engine wiring loom from the original Puma wiring and rewired the Battery Junction box throwing away all the unwanted wiring connection crap that you etc on a modern car. I could bore you with the details but two solder joints and a couple of bits of heat shrink solved all. The trick was to trace all the wires from the ignition RUN cct to the power hold relay. The mistake was somewhat obvious but not at the time of course. The Alternator light had the wrong supply on one end.

Remaining problems

The engine has now run successively for about half an hour with no major problems


* Engine temperature sensor falls off readily, needs new connector.
* No Vehicle Speed Sensor (don't know what impact this has yet)
* Extra throttle return spring required, will not return rapidly to tickover.
* Temp gauge sensor needs changed to the one matching the gauge.

Drive shafts

The next problem is to send the drive shafts away and get them friction welded. The nearside shaft is 40mm too long and the offside shaft 40mm too long. I have boxed them up and sent them off to a chap called Paul Sowersby at Driveshaft Solutions in Gateshead.

Rolling chassis

The next stage is to get to the rolling chassis with brakes.

References

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

Rear suspension and brakes

Rear suspension and brakes

There were no great surprises here after discovering the requirement to have a Hydra mechanical OEM calliper from Rally Design, if you do not use that part then your are on your own in terms of design. Once you know it is used it fits well allowing a 15" wheel but I think anything smaller would be a problem as that calliper although light weight is a big calliper as compared to say a VW golf part.

The suspension all bolts together as described in the build manual. The exception is the handbrake that I had to change the design of because of the GRP racing seat fit. In one of the picture you can see some of the modifications to the universal handbrake cable. I made a nylon bush and brass nipple to make things work smoothly. I had to remove the loop at the end of the handbrake cable as it fouled my alloy wheel rim.

I am not particularly happy with the location of the brake pipe lug so I will have another look at that after the engine fit. The brake pipe could be subject to heat from the exhaust pipe.

References

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

Front suspension and brake assembly

Front suspension and brake assembly

After doing the 4pot Willwood conversion to the Triumph (Caterham) upright earlier in the year it is time to put it all together. The only deviation from design was the rack track rod end extensions. I ordered what I thought were the correct part (rally design  DAR006). When I tried the rack (M2 Escort) the steering geometry towed in excessively but when I added the RD part at minimum adjustment I had excessive tow out. I had a look at the RD part that interfaced with the rack, the last 10mm M14 thread  had been omitted. I ran a bottoming tap down it and all is now well. I still only have  2 turns of adjustment ether end but I recon that is adequate. The usual adjustment is a tad of tow in so the two turns either side will reduce only slightly.

I had endless debate on the Locost forum about providing a locking device for the Hydraulic T at the front and rear. I eventually took a 6mm steel plate, a 6mm bolt, cut the head off the bolt and welded it to the plate after drilling and countersinking the hole.

The brakes are American standard so are the master cylinders  so I used all unf fittings and 3/16 pipe.

I am using the Euroquip flexibles as supplied by RD, unfortunately I ordered one of the parts incorrectly. Hope you have better luck than me!

The pipe  is a Nickle Copper alloy called Kunifer which is much more vibration resistant. It does not work harden to the same extent as copper.

Hopefully my pipe attachments to the chassis will please the IVA man but you can never tell.

References

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

The internal panels and floor

The internal panels and floor

The build manual dictates 1mm alloy on the sides and 1.5mm on the floor and foot well bulkheads. The sides are riveted every 50mm and the floor every 40mm all with 4mm alloy type. I used the sealed variety on the floor and exposed areas  and black anodised ones for the sides. and back. I decided to cover all the panels with carbon effect Vinyl.

The passenger foot well I used 2mm tread plate as this doubles as access to the fuel pump.

At this point I discovered a problem with the passenger GRP seat fouling the seat belt anchor at the tunnel. The seats are from MK Sports Cars and are a peculiar asymmetric design such that they have different fitting arrangements passenger and driver side. I will have to investigate this issue further. If necessary I will cut a lump out of the seat.

The rivets count is as follows:

Black headed
Near side outer      50
Near side tunnel    57
Back                      53
Far side tunnel      66
Far side outer        50
Back                      53
Tunnel back          24
Total                    353
Sealed
Floor                  200
Near foot well       40
Far foot well         40
Total                  280

Total at this stage 633

This in my opinion would have taken a long time with a hand riveter so I bought a Chinese copy of an air riveter. It turned out to be a piece of crap jamming about every 5th rivet. At least it was consistent and was good at getting into corners despite it's apparent bulk. I have never had much luck with riveters they appear all prone to jamming. I got supper fast at releasing the jammed tails.

There is probably about another 100 or so more rivets in the build. I must find someone I don't like to give that riveter to when I am finished the build.

Next

* Build up the suspension front and rear
* Connect up the brakes
* Inset the refreshed engine into the build
* Try to start the engine

The carbon effect vinyl is not universally popular but I think it is better than bare alloy panels and does sort of match the dashboard.

I tried the driving position and it is fabulous, worth all the work, pity about the passenger better be a small person!!!

References

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

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