Sylva J15 Build Blog: Mirrors, exhaust and wheels

Mirrors, exhaust and wheels

Mirrors

The mirrors recommended by the manufacturer are from a Yamaha YZFR1 motor bike. The trouble is, the after market ones I bought off flea-bay, had no compliance markings and a troublesome 2 hole fixing. They did have a good antiknock feature. It was obvious to me this fixing method although adequate would take a minor miracle to get them drilled in the right position first time. The adjustment range was minimal once in place. Most motorbike mirrors have a single M10 x 1.25mm fixing thread giving lots of angular adjustment that can be locked off with a special nut and plastic shroud for the IVA man.

PaulAS from the Locost forum started a thread which highlights all the problems with wing mirrors and the J15. All I can say is thanks, without that thread I would have gone down the same rat hole as everyone else. Paul came up with some compliant mirrors with the correct markings that are also very cheap from the Furore parts supplier. The key issue is the correct position of the mirror although less critical than with the other mirrors it needs to be in line with the ridge in the GRP moulding and 160mm back from the bulkhead (exactly). If you don't put it there it restricts your ability to access it easily and will not give an ideal field of view in other positions.

I decided to cut away the GRP mirror mounting position with a 22mm hole saw. A bold step I realise but I wanted more resilience from the GRP panel. I turned a stepped and threaded aluminium section that filled the hole again and provided a reinforcement to the GRP panel where the mirrors are mounted (with the addition of PU adhesive of course). The purpose of this is to provide a location strong enough to survive a small knock. You will have to view all the pictures of all this before it all makes sense and I strongly advise looking at the PaulAS thread on the Locost forum. In future I may add a break-away spring for the odd knock from everyday use. I still like the Yahama mirrors but they would have to fit in with my reinforced GRP turning, perhaps they can be modified post IVA.

Exhaust

I decided to tack weld the tail section myself. I will decide at a later date if I am brave enough to weld it up (obviously to to the same standard as Graden of Stainless creations). The reason for the two stage approach is I could not work out earlier where I wanted the tail section to exit and I wanted to test fire the engine before fitting the GRP panels. The choice of a Westfield 5" can from my SEIW was in fact a good choice (and no longer temporary) as it has a built in CAT.

When I ran the engine for the first time with the boot/rear GRP moulding in place (I could only do this for the first time with the exhaust tail section tacked in place) I found the GRP moulding getting too hot, over 40degC and climbing. I managed to source an extra large 500mm x 500mm reflector and insulating panel for a Motorbike fairing supplier on eBay which cured the problem.

Wheels

The wheel choice was made earlier but I have only just had them back from the refurbishers painted in mat black of course. They are off a Mondeo Verona and now they are on the car for the first time they look great (many thanks to Angus who found them on eBay). I was struggling with the wheels choice they now suit the car (no compromise) in my opinion. They could do with a little Sylva motif, later! The wheel are 6J x 15 x 40 the tyres are 185 x 55 x 15 Yokohama AD08's

Other activities

I have also been doing a lot of small and not so small tidying up jobs like the fuel system cover panel, tank one way up-side-down valve, steering wheel extension, sharp edge avoidance trim etc When the weather perks up a bit I plan to test the brakes, Video to follow!