Build Diary
of a Roadster (Kit Car)
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OK,
so I built the go-kart and found out that, because it was built for off
road
use and
not as a standard racing kart, there was no place to ride it
without having problems, so what to do as a project next?
One
option I
looked at
was Autograss racing. I picked up information on building a
formula 600 car, did many an Ebay search for 600 cc bike engines
before it dawned on me that I was still trying to build something
that could only be driven at certain events, and even then, only if I
was prepared to race!
I looked at the possibility of taking a
formula 600 through an SVA test and putting it on the road, to do
this would be a difficult task, not just a matter of bolting on
lights, but a full and smooth body skin, a rear differential, wheel
arches or mud guards, collapsible steering column etc. No! a
formula 600 is
not meant for the road.
I then found a strange forum on the Internet,
with people building their own cars! Some even making their
own chassis, based on the idea of the Caterham and many others, and
helped by a book published by Haynes. Build your own Sports car
for as little as £250. The book now seems to be out
of
print, but a new one hit the shelves in February 2007 called: - Build
your own sports car on a budget.
So for just under £18,
I bought the book. I marvelled at the concept and have set myself an
unrealistic task of completing my own car in two years.
There
is help out there, hundreds of others with the same idea, many
are building, many have built, either from scratch or with a bought
in chassis
and parts.
There is a forum dedicated to the book I bought: - http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/index.php
The
author, Chris Gibbs is the moderator. He posts amendments to the
book, helps with ideas and drawings for variations from the
book covering gearboxes, engines etc. Other builders supply
ideas and answers to many questions, pictures, drawings and support.
All
in all, a community to the same end.
Another
forum
is http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/
This is a generic builder forum and can provide lots of information and
chit chat.
23rd
June 2007
Bought the board to
build the chassis on 19 mm ply x 2440 mm x
1220 mm, also a load of scant to strengthen and keep it flat. A
small tub of white paint to help with the marking out. Then a
week working away from home before I could get back in the garage.
5th
to 7th July 2007
Back in the garage, another
quick coat of white paint on the board,
worked out things like a cutting chart, ordered the steel from K
Steels, expecting delivery on Friday. Started to mark out the chassis
on the board and fit blocks to keep the bars in place.
Steel arrived Friday morning
as expected. Raining, so continue with the
board until finished.
I know that it is bad
practice to cut all the steel up but I could not
store it without, so, out came the band saw and over a hundred cuts and
several hours later; I had a pile of smaller lumps of steel.
The bandsaw is one of the
best things I could have in the garage for
this build, it is certainly a lot easier then sawing by hand. It
can make cuts up to 45 degree angles, with the milling machine being
used for all angles above this using a large end mill.
With the board now on
legs, starting to lay out the bottom of the
chassis, cutting
angles as I go, again with the bandsaw. Slot all the pieces in
place, weld up the front frame as it would not hold it self and this is
what you get: -
It needs tack welding together before I go any further.
14th & 15th
July
2007
A bit more over the past week when time allows, tacking the
frame
together and then this weekend start to fit the uprights and top frame,
tack welding it as I progress.
25th
& 26th
July
2007
Did not get chance
over the weekend, so had a go during the
evenings. What a disaster! I added four diagonal braces,
two in the sides in the arm rest area and two in the top seat back
area. When I checked them I found the seat back diagonals did not
match and discovered the back was leaning over by a degree or
two.
Enough to make one corner to corner measure 125 cm and the other 126 cm.
So the tack welds were ground
out, the back braced, pulled and hammered
and then re-tacked. I also managed to set some paper's on fire,
so need to take a bit more care with combustibles in the area.
28th
July 2007
Cut and angled the pieces for
the rear suspension area, jigged it up
but have not attached to the chassis as I need some plates for
suspension area.
I have ordered the plates
from a supplier on the forum and they are
being laser cut, bent and should be with me in about two weeks.
Also on order are Maxi ball joints and Transit drag link ends,
basically to make sure I can get the ball joints, I have been told by a
motor factors they are now obsolete!
Spent enough money on it this
month, £141.12 on Steel tube,
£163.18 on the laser cut parts and £69.92 on the ball
joints and drag link ends. £374.22. I think some of my "not
used for a year or so things" need to go on that Internet bid thing!
11th
& 12th
August 2007
Back from holidays
this weekend so another chance to work in the
garage, attached more diagonals, started on the transmission tunnel,
attached the rear sub-frame for the differential. The pile of
tube bits slowly getting smaller as I put them into place.
As I am
building the chassis as the book, I have
starting to look for a Sierra as a donor, initial thoughts are:
-
- Type 9 gear box
- Either 1600 Pinto or 1800 CVH
- Saloon not estate car (diff) (Only for the 1.6 Engines 1.8
& 5 speed seem to be all the same)
- Also later model year such as 1991 to 1993
- Sub £300
There is a better chance with
the later model years of less corrosion
to deal with, possibility of ABS which means disks all round. I
am not after a very powerful engine just a simple installation at this
stage. Time will tell if I manage to meet the target price.
17th
to
26th
August 2007
Work on the Roadster has been
a bit slow this week, forgot to go and
buy more 19 mm RHS must get some when possible to complete
the back section.
The laser cut parts arrived
and happy with them, saved my a lot of time
and effort trying to make the pieces the hard way by hand.
Managed to bend the rear tubes RP1 & RP2 on an old pipe bender I
have in the garage, new it was worth keeping!
I attached the rear top
suspension points and then realised I had then
at the wrong end so out came the grinder to take them back off and then
another go, think I got it correct this time.
Hoping that, in a few weeks,
all the sections will be fitted
and then the chassis can be fully welded. I have to make up the
jigs to attach the front and rear wishbone points and tack these in
place, 4 tubes for the transmission tunnel and finish off the rear of
the car, perhaps three to four weeks then!
1st
to 3rd
September 2007
Done a bit more,
progress is slow, as I am not getting a lot of
time in
the garage. Have attached the round tube, finished off the
transmission tunnel and done the steering supports. Wishbone
brackets to tack on next, jigs first!
15th
September 2007
Just an update on recent
progress, the chassis has not changed much
from above. I have made the front wishbone mounting jigs and have
tried fit the wishbone brackets. I seem to be 8 mm ( 4mm per
side) out on the lower front frame mountings and this seems to be a
mixture of mounting the uprights inward slightly from book and the
brackets having at most a mm out on height. Nothing to major and
will be sorted either with a packing piece to fasten the brackets
onto, or I might just rebuild the front frame before the chassis
is welded.
Pre-fabricated wishbones have
been ordered from a supplier on the
forum, and the parts should arrive in 3 weeks time. I also
received a few missing pieces from the laser cut parts, this was down
to the book not always listing the correct number wanted, so until you
build it you never know!
Lastly for whenever I get the
donor car I am having a straight cut
reamer reground to a 1 in 8 taper required to modify the Sierra
uprights to take the Maxi ball joints.
This should also allow me to
make my own mushroom inserts for the tops
of the Sierra to take the Transit drop link ends. Nothing like a
bit of forward thinking.
So although not much is going
to show over the next few weeks.
Once the wishbones arrive these will be fitted to the jigs to make sure
all is a good fit and the brackets will then be welded in place, then I
also hope to have the chassis fully welded.
Simple
cutting jig
to help with cutting compound angles
On some of the steel
tube sections you have to cut two angles at
the same time, such as the 14° and 26° angles on FF2 and
FF3.
Well with a normal band saw or cut off saw, you can set one angle and
have to find a way to set the other.
So perhaps this little idea
will help. It requires a bit of maths
and a few bits square tube, I used 19 mm. The maths bit is all
about a right angled triangle.
Tan (ø) =
o/a or opposite over
adjacent sides. The opposite in this case is the 19 mm from the
tube and Tan 14° = 0.2493, so the adjacent length works out to be
76.2
mm or close. a = o/Tan (ø)
So I made a jig with these
two lengths as in this picture: -
The opposite length is the
top piece of 19 mm tube and the adjacent
length is 76.2 mm or closest I could make it.
So you rest a square tube on
the edges and it will sit at an angle of
14 degrees. Put this in the bottom of the vice, rest the tube
across the corners then clamp up. Set the cut off or bandsaw
over at 26 degrees and the compound angle can be cut in one go.
The jig
shown has two angles on it, 14 on the left and 17 on the right.
Hope it helps.
22nd
September 2007
I have remade the front frame
and aligned the two verticals U1 and U2
to meet against the brackets when using the front wishbone jigs.
Therefore I should have less of a problem when they are attached.
The old frame has been re-cycled, as in cut up so I may reuse the
straight bits if needed. Time has also been spent rearranging the
contents of the garage to allow me to walk around the chassis without
having to climb over everything.
6th
October 2007
Bit of a gap again before
work continued on the chassis. I have
reworked a Cosmo Welder, putting on a Euro torch and a separate power
supply for the wire feed. Results with it are now quite
good. It is a 130 amp device with bottle carrier and top lid
containing the wire. Anyway have been doing some welding with it
on the chassis, actually started last weekend but only a small
amount. Managed to get a few hours in today before my welding
mask started to fail! Tried replacement batteries but with no
change so think before I dazzle myself altogether I need a new
mask. One comment, there are lots of joints to weld up and lots
of grinding to do as well in my case!
Views here with the chassis
upside down and one on it's side. I
am trying to do all the "from top" welds, then turn it over and do all
the welds that are once again "from top", then turn on side
etc. Hopefully this will make it easier for me to do. Must
get them walls painted sometime.
As I mentioned above, I had
cut all the steel tube in one go, well as
the
chassis progress continued I found the odd error in my cutting chart,
things
like missing the odd metre from a piece of bar. Small
discrepancies in the book where the appendix is not listing
quantities of tube, so I found these errors when trying to put it all
together. Such as not cutting 4 off
SB1 and 2 off SB2, 2 off is this and that. Cutting FF2 and FF3
too short at 320 mm instead of
359.5 mm. So all in all a few mistakes, so to help any others I
am including a link to my cutting charts at the bottom of the
page. As I find mistakes I will update this link. Saved
as a normal text file it could be opened by any basic text
package. Do not forget this is for an as book build.
If you wish to contact me,
please E-mail by clicking on the
following link and then remove the "spamtrap" Email
Updated 25/08/07 Cutting
length chart is here
for 25 x 25 mm tube
Updated 25/08/07 Cutting
length chart is here
for 19 x 19 mm tube
© A Hodgson