Aliblast completed the painting of all the suspension arms so I took them round to Colin at Regent Motors who let me use his 20T press. Most of them went ok except the cantilever top front arms that needed a special spacer to let me get into the bushes with the press. I used an old tailstock from a Myford Super 7 and a wheel nut + washer.
I made an alloy drift for the rear wheel bearings that needed pressed in.
Having difficulty identifying the rear brakes. I thought they were standard brakes off a Golf MK4 but it turns out they are VAG Hydra OEM's from Rally Design (believed to be Passat parts). The disk is a MK3 Fiesta 230mm x 10mm.
I want to uprate the front brakes to vented and Willwood 4 pot, I sent 2 emails to Rally Design looking for advice with no reply so far. I don't think customer service is their strong point.
The
The chasis painting is next, I made up an adapter for Alastair McGills chassis jig so he can paint it once he has given it a light blast. I am currently waiting on Frost Restorations delivering more paint.References
Contents http://sylvabuild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sylva-j15-is-kit-car-designed-by-jeremy.html
Congratulations on choosing the J15, its a fine looking car. I'm enjoying reading what your up to; I'd like to have a go at one of these myself but I'm tossing up wether I can let go of my (perenially) almost working midget. Time and cost is also a factor, being an engineer is one thing but I'm nowhere near retired.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have made some choices that mean stepping out of the assembly process and move into design an manufacture, did you have to do this or was a choice for personal reasons?
Cheers from Aus.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI have two other cars a Westfield SEIW/Duratec and a Jag V12 Soverign. In my opinion the design of the Sylva is better than both of them and I am looking forward to the running finished example.
However the J15 is deficient for me on three fronts
* No design support for GRP bucket seats
* The fuel tank reduces room in the passenger footwell
* Has no dedicated wiring loom
* No provision for a header tank mounting
The fuel tank issue I was aware of and almost prevented me purchasing the kit. It caused me the most angst and thanks to Bryn Jones of Allyfab I think the problem is under control.
I am most pissed with Frost for delaying my project a month due to lack of stock control. They get a special mention:
http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-rust-products/por15-rust-solutions.html