SKCC - Southern Kit Car Club. A Club for kit car owners across Southern England. Kent, Sussex, East Hants, Surrey, Berks, Middlesex, London

Looks good Rich, I did a similar thing, but I hid it under the passenger dash side to keep it underneath so as to keep it waterproof hopefully.

Jason

With this being the middle weekend where I usually do not go out for a run and also rain threatened I decided to have a look over the brakes in search of a squeak noted on last weeks run. But also wanted a look under and around the underneath of the car to check for any work required. A quick strip and clean of the parts and a reassemble was all was needed, plus I spotted a couple of small things on the car that I will sort soon.

Decide it was time to check out the sump guard on Marian due to the scrapes and bump she has suffered on the last few runs on the farm tracks.
I made a steel guard a couple of years ago under Daves ownership, the depth of which is governed by a low chassis hoop after his Ali one was worn out, that’s doing a fine job at keeping the sump oil tight.
One missing bolt replaced in the guard fixings after nipping up the sump bolts in hope of stopping a small oil leak

So used the weekend to sort out a couple of issues with the Robin Hood, first was replacing the weeping rear wheel cylinders, cleaning up and painting both the back plates, reassemble, replace a seized brake pipe and secure the joint from flexi to fixed brake pipe where it had never been done properly by cutting a brake pipe union to make a couple of thin locknuts now you can do up the fixed brake pipe union without the other half of the joint moving.
Did one side at a time to make sure I had a real reference to go with the pics I took.
Just bleed them out and seem to be okay but will need a road test.
Then worked out a way to secure the dust covers that go over the inside of the drive shaft bearing as there was no room for any nuts I had so unable to get R clips to fit I settled on E clips.

In preparation for last weeks run I heard a rumble at the front of the engine that I used a stethoscope to confirm was the water pump but as it was not leaking I ordered a new one via eBay and went on the run including beach’s head.Being a bit of a bumpy route it caused the the long suffered arch support issue to rear it ugly head on the passengers side.
Sorted out the water pump with no dramas and decided to take the arch support completely off to see what I could to improve the situation.
This involves taking the Sierra based stub axle off the passengers side, first snapped bolt whilst working on the car so far but I managed to get the stub axle off after having to disconnect the flexi brake pipe due to routing.
Once it was all off I managed to remove the broken bolt and set about stripping the paint off the arch support, grind out a couple of cracks, weld and grind back, then set about repairing the troublesome area. Few extra welded spots and a corner section of 19mm box welded in as opposed to a big fillet weld previously.
All painted up waiting to dry before reassemble.

Looks nice and solid

Any progress on Eleanor?

Been out and about in the Robin Hood over the past few months, the rearranged Kent Tour with old mate John as passenger, navigator. He has not been out with me since the early days of the Locost being complete including track day at Brands.
Apart from the shell seat bringing on an old war wound and the awful on off rain storms I think he enjoyed the day enough to tell a few mates about it for next year and agreeing to drive next time providing the seat is better than the passengers.
Car run well apart from grounding out more than usual with the extra weight.
Couple more breckie runs came and went before successful run to Stoneleigh for the over night stay on the club pitch before a run to my parents for a quick visit, overnight stay and a soft bed after the tent the night before.
Then on last weekends run I noticed some vibrations and a lot of slack in the drivetrain when taking up the clutch, post run investigations showed there was excessive wear on the prop shaft rear UJ, and further looking at the construction of the car showed it would only come out front or backwards and def not up or down. Not wanting to take the engine and box out I set about taking the diff out this morning, stretching into the afternoon due to the top diff mounting bolt being seized and having to brake out the big guns including more than a few Uga Duggar’s on the air gun and a few choice words whilst contemplating having to remove the whole Dion, to make any headway.
Finally the top bolt started to rotate and half hr later it was out, followed by the diff and the prop shaft.
Time for a sneaky beer, later I managed to get the rear UJ apart with vice, sockets and some heat to realise that damage had occurred to the casting area and not just the UJ so will have to look to send it away for repair or replacement

Took some time to get the prop shaft repaired given I was waiting for a reply from a previous supplier I emailed only to finally phone and get no answer so assume they have gone to the wall.
New random company seem pretty good, sent the old bits in rather than having to measure the size and a few days after I sent it they were on the phone confirming what was needed, exact cost etc.
Once back I have given it a couple more coats of satin black, access inside the tunnel is not bad from behind the gearstick area so I was able to feed the front of the prop in much easier than expected.
Once that was in place the diff went back in with far less of a fight than it came out, drive shafts are back bolted in as I lost the good light so the tricky springs and clips for the shoes will have to wait.

So you're back on the road now

Well done