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June 2004

This months update includes;

• Indicators
• Under-bonnet painting
• Suspension upgrade
• Bonnet-support.

Indicators
Indicators have been a bit of an ongoing saga for the past couple of months. One reason is because I'm a fussy whatname and secondly because I'm being a bit dim with regards to the wiring.

I haven't been able to find a set of indicators for either the front or the sides that I particularly like.

I'm not overly keen on the motorbike fairing type that are commonly used in the headlamp bowls. Someone suggested fitting an amber bulb in the headlamp unit itself, after having bought 5 different types of indicator off ebay and subsequently re-selling them this could be something well worth looking into. For the time-being I've decided to temporarily fit a pair of the bike-fairing versions which were bought from M&P for the bargain price of 10p a pair
Wish I'd bought loads of sets for that - I'm sure I could've re-sold them on ebay for a quid at least...

The side repeaters have also been a pain to find exactly what I'm after. Part of the problem being that everyone wants smoked, coloured or generally fancy side repeaters - finding bog-standard plain orange ones to match the orange bodywork is more of a challenge.
I can see that I'm going to end up with the standard oval shaped versions. The simplest choice is often the best. I actually already have some simple oval ones in my vast stockpile of indicators but they aren't 'e' marked and hence won't pass the stringent government test. I've also got some Skyline ones which I may fit for the test as they do comply and then retro-fit the dangerous ones.

Nissan Skyline side repeaters	Oval side repeaters but not E-Marked
Iridium indicators	My 10 specials !!

The next problemette is due to the wiring, for some reason I just can't seem to fathom out how the flasher unit and everything else is supposed to go together

I bought a couple of simple flasher relays off ebay but they are 3 pin jobbies. Couldn't suss out the 3rd pin.
I've had some ideas from Brian Beavis from the Sylva register and from speaking to a few others but it all seems to be overly complex involving the need for a specific hazard switch and suchlike. I wish I could remember how I done it on the Westfield, I had two simple chrome lever switches, one was a double pole switch which was used for the hazards.

At Stoneleigh I bought another cheap flasher relay and a cheapo hazard switch - these were so I could meter out the switch and re-wire with my own chrome toggle switches, I'll sell the hazard switch on afterwards. I've now got this sussed but it's a bit awkward to sort it with the switched ignition for indicators and non-switched for indicators. For the time-being I'll leave it in place and just use the hazard switch as-is. I'll come back to this once I've got more time on my hands and start on the car improvements.

Under-bonnet painting
OK - this may be a bit boring for an update but thought it might be worth mentioning what I've used. I initially painted on some protective sealant stuff called Wunderseal. This is supposed to prevent stone-chipping on the underside of the wheel arches. These would show through as a star-pattern on the external gelcoat.

This is very weird stuff, so thick that if you held the pot upside down it wouldn't flow out immediately. A bit awkward to paint on as it's quite sticky. Unfortunately, although I've laid it on as thick as I can it dries and shrinks back a bit - the final finish not being as thick as I hoped. However, it does feel a bit "rubbery" so hopefully it'll work.

I then overpainted this and the whole underside of the bonnet in black. Word of warning - I painted this without leaving adequate ventilation. I didn't realise at the time as you sort of breath in the fumes and get used to it but I did suffer - along with the rest of the house when the fumes filtered out of the garage.

Suspension upgrade
I'm already upgrading stuff even though it's not been on the road !!

The reason I'm doing it now is that Mark Fisher kindly allowed me to upgrade the existing suspension at a reasonable cost to Protech shocks and harder and lower springs. The original spax units haven't seen any road use anyway - just been supporting the stationary car for the past couple of months.

I hadn't actually intended getting lower springs but like an idiot I re-assured Mark that I already had 7" springs fitted as standard. I say like an idiot as I measured them with the weight of the car on them - DOH !!

Still, I would've wanted to lower it at some point anyway - I think they ride too high as standard. I'll no doubt change my viewpoint the first time the sump gets smacked and dumps the oil out.

Bonnet support
With the whole of the front end on the Fury flipping forwards there is a need to fit some means of stopping the bonnet hinging all the way forward and smacking the nosecone on the tarmac.

I initially fitted a 6mm threaded rod bent to shape between the radiator support and the left hand bonnet webbing support. This was OK until I simulated a gust of wind against the inside of the bonnet by giving it a bit of a gentle shove. The bar just bent along with the radiator support - it then proceeded to strip the thread straight off the rod

The second attempt was made with a piece of cable and supporting from the bonnet webbing to the front suspension mount - if this bent then I wouldn't want to drive the car This does seem OK but is on the limit in terms of tension I'd say.

I might try and find some way of fitting it to run to a point higher up as this would take the strain off completely in terms of the lever-effect. I don't know how much the bonnet weighs but I wouldn't like trying to throw it - it moves 6 foot or so at the back edge, imagine this movement to be down to a few inches at the fulcrum (where it hinges from) and you've got some idea of the force it's trying to support.

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