Now that the bodywork was all back on, it was time to err... take the bonnet off again :)
Best time to do any sika bonding is first thing in the day, that way, you can let it go off for a bit and remove the masking before you finish up. I started on the bonnet grills, well, except for the rad grill which was AWOL. The front 'cooling duct' grills were trimmed and dry fitted to the apetures as I did for the rear canopy. A bead of sika was run around the edge and smoothed off with a finger.
Now that the sika was out, it's a good idea to do as many bonding jobs as possible to stop it from curing in the open tube. So onto the sidepod covers. I masked up a seam between the cover edge and the sidepod and ran a thin bead of sika to seal it. A brace was put in place which it cured completely, but the masking tape was removed later in the day, along with any excess, to avoid the sika from 'ribboning'.
Finally, well as far as bonding was concerned, I moved onto the headlight covers. Whilst I'd bonded them in place, I decided to fill the narrow gap around the edge to avoid debris, polish etc. from accumulating there. The cover and the bodywork were masked off to leave a 2-3mm gap all round. The gap was filled with sika which was smoothed/squeezed into place with the edge of an old credit card. As with the sidepod cover, the sika was left to semi-cure, then the pvc mask was removed to leave a perfect sika seam all the way round the cover.
With my sika bits curing, I could move onto the cockpit where I had more work to do.
First up, I set about replacing the stack function switches that I'd previously fitted. The first set were nickel plated brass, but disappointingly had corroded just from ambient damp (and my workshop is pretty dry) over the last few months. I managed to source some stainless steel replacements and these were fitted. They look great and should stand up to the odd drop of water alot better than the first set!
Moving on, I had to attend to a potential SVA issue. The SVA test requires that you show that the brake warning light works. The standard factory supplied switch performs this function, but I use a set of warning lights instead. I had intended to use a timer circuit to keep the brake light warning lamp on for a few seconds when you first turn on the ignition, however, a simpler and dual-function solution was to fit a earth switched pin switch to the handbrake. That way, not only does it show that the brake fluid warning light works, but it also functions as a handbrake warning light :) I made up a bracket that fits to the original handbrake mount and ran the earth wire under the carpet to the warning light. A simple solution and it works a treat :)
With the handbrake effectively finished, I could finally fit the GRP tunnel to the gearshift mechanism. I need to fettle the fit a bit, but it looks great with the leather gaiter and gearknob :) I'm undecided whether to paint or trim this piece or even leave it as is? The seats are a very tight fit I believe, so I'll wait until they're in before I make my mind up.
Next up, I decided to fit the luggage pod covers. These carbon fibre honeycomb panels fit tightly into the laser cut cills and may require a little fettling to fit. Once mine were in, I was chuffed to bits with the resulting look. With the carbon fibre panelling the interior is starting to look even more stunning!! :) Definitely in line with my luxury roadgoing supercar vision.
Last job of the day was to bleed the brakes and clutch. The brakes were done without a problem thanks in part to Marts new vacuum bleeder. That said, there's no substitute for the old pedal pumping :) The clutch was more of an issue. Despite bleeding it twice, I still had no clutch :( It seemed to work once, but then, nothing. Some investigation didn't show up any obvious problem, but I recalled from another site that in fact, when bleeding the slave cylinder, you need to remove it and turn it the other way up (as it would be when fitted to the original Porsche donor). Mart in his wisdom ;) inisited that this was bunkum. We persevered and finally decided that the only thing that could have happened was that the clutch arm had come free of the fulcrum mount. So, yup, I ended up removing the canopy and transmission AGAIN!
And you know what? THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT!!! More head scratching ensued and we speculated that it might be a duff slave cylinder. However, it bled OK so it seemed unlikely (and they're bloody expensive too!). In desperation, I said we should try bleeding it the other way up. Martin looked sceptical, but we'd run out of options. The slave cylinder was removed and inverted (so it was the 'right' was up) and we tried again. The result? Well, suffice to say that Martin now has a VERY red face!! The bloody thing worked first time - gah!! All that effort for not taking 2 mins to try the other way. Ah well, hopefully any future builders won't make the same mistake ;)P
So the clutch issue soaked up the day really. Still, more progress made as the SVA date gets closer. I heard from the factory that it's due on the 19th April, so the car will go up to them on the 8th to give them a week to check it over and fit the windscreen. Seeing as I'm off skiing for a week and away on business which wipes out another weekend, all of a sudden, I seem to be rapidly running out of time!!! :-o
So the time is rapidly running out now, with only this weekend really to work on the car as I'm away on business next weekend and the following weekend the car is due to go to the factory! Therefore, the objective today is to get all the 'SVA' jobs done as some remaining jobs can be done post test.
That said, the first job I tackled had nothing at all to do with SVA! It was to get the interior lights working properly. I must have had brain-fade when wiring this lot up originally. Basically, the principle is that the lights can be in 3 states according to a toggle switch. Position 1 means that the lights are permanently on (override), position 2 disables them (off) and position 3 means that they are switched via the door pin switches. However, my original wiring was abit arse about face, so I had to remake some connections and run an additional wire from the near side to the switch position near the ignition barrel. Tedious and more time consuming than I'd like, but it was satisfying getting it all working, especially as it also trips the alarm ;) The door pin switches were mounted in the centre of the hinge plates, making a very neat job which hides them well. They are impossible to bypass without opening the door - again, for security of the alarm.
Given that the door pins were the last bit of wiring (spoke too soon - read on), I could final fit the fusebox/relay mounting plate and inspection covers. The fusebox plate was easily fitted, by drilling a central hole in it, to allow the back of the inspection plate lower mounting rivnut to clear it. The plate is held in place by 2 M5 countersunk set screws. The relays were attached to the plate with some industrial strength velcro, with my additional relays (4 of them) mounted to the top of the standard lot. I used velcro as it's easier to service the relays should any fail.
Upon unwrapping the inspection plates, I found that they, like the coolant expansion tanks, were now supplied unpolished? I wasn't really keen on putting them on in this state and they also weren't really in keeping with my carbon fibre theme. So, I decided to use them as templates for the carbon fibre. The results look a million times better and really suit the car. Very trick too ;) The back side of the covers were sealed with some of my left over draught excluder from the windscreen frame fitment to stop any water ingress into the electricals (not a great combination!).
Next up, I realised that I'd still yet to fit the breather hoses to the rocker covers. A quick trip to the local raceparts supplier saw me 75 quid lighter in exchange for some -12 braided hose and jubilee clip hose end finishers - ouch! Still, putting plain old black rubber ones one didn't seem to be doing it justice (and I've saved more than it cost on the breather tank). A simple job to cut them to length and fit. I need to make up some support brackets for the hose as, from experience, the weight of it quickly destroys the rubber collars in the rocker covers as the filter caps rub against them.
Like a berk, I then realised that my next job should have been done first as it required some sika bonding (and therefore curing time). Namely - the remaining bonnet grills. The radiator exhaust grill was trimmed a bit until I achieved a good dry fit. Then it was a simple case of fixing in place with a row ov rivets along the bottom (top in the photo) edge, where the grill has the 90 degree bent return. The top (bottom in photo) edge was bonded in place with a bead of sika, braced and left to cure.
The radiator intake grill is also easy to fit. The top edge (bottom in photo) is held in place with 4 countersunk M5 set screws. Make sure that when you centralise the grill over the apreture, you take into account the position of the holes in the mesh for the mounting hole positions. The lower edge (top in photo) is pre-bent over the lip of the GRP, but you may need to bend it a bit more for a good, tight fit. Then simply sika in place.
Next up on the SVA checklist was an issue I had with my aircon controls. Basically, SVA regs. state that in the flat portion of the dash, anything that's outside the 'exclusion zone' (the area behind the steering wheel and 127mm all round it) is subject to some 'safety' criteria. In short, nothing may protrude more than 9.5mm and anything that protrudes more than 3.2mm must have a 2.5mm radiused edge - got that! Now, most elements of my dash are flush it (or near as dammit), but the aircon knobs stick out a good 12mm ad aren't of the required radius. I'd actually spent the last 3 weeks trying to source an SVA compliant 'knob' - but a suitable item eluded me! The nearest I got was a pair of guitar volume control knobs (an inspiration that hit me when staring at one of my geee-tars in the lounge the other night). These have a domed top, so comply with the radius, but need cutting down to comply with the 9.5mm protrusion rule. So after sourcing a pair and getting set to fit them, it struck me that it would be FAR easier to just move the controls under the dash! (as per the standard factory position). I have an acrylic mounting plate under there anyway for the proximity detection unit (this unit senses when people get near the car and 'chirps' the alarm as a warning ;). As it relies on disruption of a magnetic field, it's has to be mounted on a non-conductive surface. Anyway, with this plate in place, I simply drilled it out for the fan speed and thermostat controls and moved them :) The holes in the dash were filled with some blanking grommets so that the controls could, errr... be moved back at some point ;) Hopefully, one happy SVA examiner!
Happy that I'd overcome this hurdle, I thought it pertinent to do a quick check of the other bits and bobs that the examiner would be looking at. This is where I hit a snag. Bascially, the horn, which I'd got wired up and working the other week, decided not to play ball. At first, I couldn't figure out why it was dead until I realised the fuse had blown! Ha-ha, easy fix I thought. Errr... no. Upon replaceing the fuse and trying again, a tell-tale 'zzzt' meant the fuse blew again? I was a bit stumped by this seeing as it was working only a week before? I convinced myself that I must have disrupted something in the wiring when fitting the door pins etc. and spent an age checking and double checking the wires - but no problem? I then considered just how the horn was operated. Basically, it uses a switched live with a feed from the fuse box. Hmm... but what was causing it to blow? I tested the horn independently, by running a fused live to it and it worked no problem. I then removed the steering wheel (the horn buttons are mounted on it) and tested the continuity of the connections to the quick release boss. Again, no problem? However, by accident I short circuited the quick release boss connection to the boss itself - fuse blows! Gah! Basically, I relised that when I tested the horn last week, the steering column was not connected to the UJ on the lower shaft - therefore, no earth! Needless to say, in this state it worked fine. However, when you connect it, it earths the upper shaft, so operating the horn shorts out the live to the earth and blows the fuse :( Question is, how to solve it?
Actually, I ran out of time at this point and had to make my way home, which was only fair as Hels was due a rest from Charlie and it's Mothers Day tomorrow, so I intend to spoil her a bit :) I've been thinking about the horn issue and I think that the best way is to modify the horn operation to be switched earth, not swtiched live. I just need to run an earth to the horn from the steering wheel. Ah well, it'll have to wait for a couple of weeks now!