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MooSPEED IV - Build Diary
March 2004
Not that much car stuff to report as I've now
started on a major new baby project.

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This project, although demanding at least has a proper manual.
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Here's another look at the exhaust
fittings I've been making up.
Pictured here is the Fisher manifold with the lamda hole plugged
up, going into a reducer made by Powerspeed. On the back of this
I've used the top end of the original R1 pipe to give it a slight
bend. There are two reasons for this;
- Firstly I have two different silencers with different diameter
pipes. This, along with another 1" adaptor allows me to unclamp
one and clamp on the other easily
- The 2nd reason is that the manifold isn't perpendicular to the
chassis. If a straight pipe was connected it would poke out half
way up the sidepod. The bend should hopefully sort this.
This is only a temporary solution as its impossible for me to
get to an exhaust fabricator at this stage. However, if it works
well I may keep it until I go for the turbo upgrade - it's not
on show after all...
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Here are the relays mounted behind the dash on a sturdy bit of
ally U section. This is also serving as a clamp to hold the ECU
in place.
I deliberated long and hard about where to mount the relays as I
was trying to think of somewhere hidden but accessible. In the end
I figured that I've never had a blown relay and they'd still be
accessible as the dashboard will be removable. Just not quite as
handy as the regular pop-out panel on production cars.
Ignore the messy wiring - this is pre-tidy up.
I may actually mount these on the other side
of this panel to allow better access without taking the dashboard
apart
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Something else I deliberated long and hard over was battery position.
I had plans to mount it low down to reduce the centre of gravity
but then it was a question of finding the right place. When I mentioned
it to Mark Fisher he reminded me that a bike battery weighs very
little compared to a car battery - any gains made by moving this
1 foot closer to the ground would be negligible.
Luckily my hand was forced when I went to buy the battery terminals.
I arranged to borrow the shopkeeper's heavy duty crimping tool but
had to get it back by the end of lunchtime - about 2 hours.
Rushed home, hastily decided where the battery was going, drilled
the bulkhead and fitted it as shown here. Got the tool back with
half-hour to spare !! This was the fastest job on the car yet. |


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Here's a shot of the headlights, I've just trial-fitted them
for now, they aren't wired up.
You might be able to see that the mounting points for the lights
sits just a bit too high. There are perspex covers which fit snuggly
over the headlamp bowls so I'm going to have to do some marking
up and filing down.
Haven't got a clue how I'm going to fit the
covers. I wanted to avoid self-tappers or bonding in with silicone.
I've bought some of these mega-tough micro magnets which I thought
perhaps I could embed into the plastic but it's not really happening.
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A few words on dependence - the kitcar jigsaw
This is something
you quickly have to deal with when building a car. It's like a big jigsaw,
you often can't fit a part you want as it's dependent on something else
being done. For instance, I can't drive it yet as the bonnet doesn't clamp
down. The bonnet doesn't clamp down because the clamp will be on the sidepod.
I can't fit the sidepod until I've completed the exhaust, etc.
Here's another one, I'm doing
the dashboard wiring but I can't fix the cables in place as I haven't
got the finalised switch positions. I can't do the finalised switch positions
until I've made a dashboard blank and fitted the drivers seat. Huh ? Well,
the reason is that I'll be placing the switches by ergonomics alone, aesthetically
they may be less than perfect. I'll do this by sitting in the drivers
seat (when I've decided on the position of that and fitted it) and then
going through the list of functions, horn, lights, indicator, etc. and
placing stickers on the dashboard where my hand naturally heads for -
I may even do it blindfolded 
This is the beauty of building
your own car - you decide where things are and how they work as opposed
to a design "board" who have to fit Mr & Mrs Average. The
switches I've gone for are following with the modern-retro theme, they
are 1950's style switches mounted in carbon fibre and sited alongside
a digital dashboard. Kinda goes with the 60's look of the car and the
ultra-modern powerunit 
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