Fisher Fury Build Progress - May 2005

1^st May

Dissappointed that I couldn't make the Stoneleigh kitcar show this weekend. I was really hoping to get a look at a R1ot and to buy a lot of odd bits and pieces whilst at the show.

14^th May

My pip-pins arrived in the post this morning.

15^th May

I've previously cleaned up the sum baffle and washed it in petrol to remove any small metallic parts.

Drained the R1 engine of oil (sump bolt is 16mm) and removed a little over 1 litre left in by the dismantlers. Angled engine over to remove the sump, in order to fit the sump baffle. There are 15 in total, requiring a 5mm Allen key fitting. Bolts number 2 and 15 (as numbered in photo) were thread-locked and very hard to undo.

Once all the bolts are removed a sharp tap with a rubber mallet broke the gasket seal. This caused a flood of oil but I'd assumed this would happen and had a tray underneath just in case. I removed the gasket in parts as bits of it were stuck to the block and there was no way it would come off in one piece. I'd expected this and have a new one to replace it.

Pulled out the relief valve and fitted the supplied tulip. This just pushes back in place. Unbolted and removed the oil strainer and oil pipe to check the sump baffle fitted in place. These were also quite tightly done up. Removing both of these released yet more oil. I was very careful not to lose the o-rings. I checked sump baffle would fit correctly. It has to go on at an angle to get round one thing (circled in photo).

Using plastic sheets and small clamps, I protected the surrounding area from swarf and started by drilling two 1mm pilot holes into the casing for the two bolts required to hold the sump in place. This was followed by a 2mm drill bit.

16^th May

Brief interlude while I collect the various required drill bits and taps together. I need a 3.2mm (1/8") hole, to allow me to cut a thread for the 4mm x 0.7 tap. I will then drill the first 2mm with a 4mm drill bit to give the tap something to start in. Usual precautions when cutting threads are backing off every 1/4 turn and removing and cleaning the tap every 1.5 turns with an old toothbrush. I will cut the threads twice in each hole, first time with a taper tap and second time with a bottom tap. All in all, a time consuming process but, one I need to get right first time. Did I mention, I hate cutting threads!

18^th May

Have acquired/borrowed the required tools to finish fitting the sump this weekend. Spent a little time today cleaning the settled fine sludge from the sump. This photo shows the oil pipe that goes down into the sump. You need to be very careful not to lose the rubber seals on each end of this. Without them, oil will fall out of the sump.

I also stripped down and cleaned up my handbrake mechanism.

20^th May

Called Think Auto

to order my sandwich plate and remote pipe for mounting the oil temperature and pressure sensors.

21^st May

My stuff arrived from Think Auto

this morning! Only 20 hours after I ordered it. It looks superb quality too. All seems as expected and pretty much as described by Richard

. To get good compression on the seal, I'm going to have to machine down the inside by 2mm, to allow it to fit over the existing through-bolt nut, which sticks out about 1.5mm too far and gets in the way. I'm also going to have to remove a small piece of metal on one corner to clear one of the one pipe castings on the block.

Finished cutting the threads to allow the sump baffle to be fitted. With the right tools, this was not as daunting as I'd expected and it all went smoothly. Photo shows new bolts in place.
A trial fit of the baffle revealed that the two bolt holes don't align with the ones I've just drilled and tapped and it's not like I had a choice as to where they went! I fixed this by drilling two new ones in the baffle.

The next problem I noticed is that where the baffle is bent downwards at the edges, it comes out too far and will interfere with the gasket. The edges must not extend beyond the gasket face and I will need to trim these down. With the baffle in place, I ran a scribe around the edge to mark the cut line.
Perhaps the biggest problem to fix though is that the baffle does not have a hole for the oil level sensor, which is mounted in the sump. This will require a new 40mm diameter hole in the sump baffle. I guess the baffle was made for an earlier model, where this was not a problem. In retrospect it would have been almost as easy and a lot cheaper to make my own baffle. I'd expected to complete this job this morning, but I still have some way to go!

After lunch, I removed the baffle again and set about fixing the above problems. I used some snips to trim the edges back and my mains-powered multi-tool to cut out and tidy up the 40mm hole for the oil-level sensor. Annoyingly this goes right through the middle of one of the rivets in the baffle, which I removed completely. I don't want half a rivet bouncing around the sump! Tidied up the baffle yet again and washed with petrol to remove any little bits of swarf. A trial fit this time showed it all fitted together nicely. I now threadlocked the bolts in place, fitted the new gasket and torqued up the sump bolts. I also put a blob of white paint on the sump bolts so I can remember that I've torqued them up (10Nm) and check they haven't moved.

22^nd May

Made up mock up of the dash to check the switch gear looks right as I've planned it and the wiring behind makes sense. This has resulted in a complete rethink as it didn't look right and wiring behind the dash was going to be overly complex.

23^rd May

The one plus with working in London is that I get a few spare hours on the train to think and sort things out. Today, I pretty much finished the 'car' part of my wiring loom design. Ordered a few switches and bits from Maplin.