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(Continued from page 14)

compensate for this.  I then measured all tubing positions of the front end very accurately and cut access ports for them in the front sections of the side panels.  I then put the panel in place and fastened it.  The nose cone was more complicated.  I offered it up in what I thought its position may be and trimmed the sides to neatly but in the side panels.  I then adjusted the vertical height of the nose cone and then stepped back to look at it.  From the front it was neither level not was it wide enough to cover the radiator.  I then cut it up the center to widen it and modified the sides to make the nose cone level.  I then fiberglassed stiffeners inside to fixe it in the shape I wanted and set the section that marries in with the bonnet so that it was nice and flat.  I checked the alignment with the scuttle roughly in place to see that bonnet line will clear the air intake manifold and screwed and clamped it so that I could remove it and have it hold its shape.  I then added more stiffened over the next few days to lock every thing in position.  I am now reasonably happy with its mounting, alignment and shape.  It also covers all the vital bits it needs to.

The scuttle was next.  Same deal here, I had to widen it and nip and tuck it so that it finally had the alignment that I wanted and every thing fitted, as it should.  The dash was next and I have had to glass in a dash bulge to allow for the curvature of the dash panel from the Sylvia.  This will be a fiddly, long drawn out job with lots of small glassing jobs over the next week or so.

I took a bit of a break from glassing to designed my windscreen and order the material from Metal Land in Cairns.  I also ordered some additional SS to make mudguard brackets and rubber for the windscreen, panels and where ever else I needed rubber.  I also ordered tyres, settled on Yokohama A520 195*50*15.  Also ordered my headlights from John's Rod and Custom in Berwick Vic, rear lights, high mounted stop light, number plate light, front indicators, SS piping for my exhaust, SS custom muffler, a sheet of Aluminum for the panel behind the seats, pair of horns, new brake shoes, and a pair of fans for the radiator.  These are the bits I will need for the next stage of construction.

I decided it was time to bite the bullet and calculate the front spring rates.  I have all my weights now and took a second round of measurements to confirm the front end mechanical leverages.  The shock attachment point on the bottom wish bone was 270 mm from and pivot point and the wish bone length the center of the tyre was 450mm.  The shock is inclined at an angle of 67 deg from the horizontal and the whole system has a mechanical advantage load factor of 1.81 for calculating the load on the shock pivot points and the spring rate.  I also noticed the rubber bushes in the shocks were compressing too much and need replacing.  I fitted urethane bushes of the HiLux spring bush, perfect fit.  With all the above information and the weights I have for the car, passengers and pay load I have decided on a coil rate of 66lb/in at the wheel which calculates out at 118 lbs/in for the coils.

Coil Specification:

Free length   265 mm
Compressed length  80mm
Load length   150 mm
Coil inside diameter 50mm
Coil wire diameter 9mm

Having decided on that I tried to chase up some one who could make them and eventually found Thomas Spring works down on the Gold Coast who confirmed my figures and had the wire I needed.  He quoted $50 each and so I am happy that if they turn out too stiff then the cost of having a new set made is no big deal.

I got a call from Thomas Springs who told me they had to alter the spec slightly.  The added some coils and reduced the wire diameter to 7.5 mm.

The cargo barge arrived on Sunday, its now Thursday and some of my stuff has arrived.  The windscreen material, my rubber, sheet of Aluminum and the radiator fans.  I will work on the fans first and give the car a good run to see that they have the airflow to keep the temperature under control. The fans are out of a Mitsubishi and are in two parts.  One fan was for the radiator and for the Mitsubishi air con.  The overall measurement, height and width, of the two together is a perfect fit over my Nissan Silvia radiator.  Shear arse...believe me and I'm very happy with it.  I rubber padded the fan housing that is in contact with the radiator and fastened it in place.  My service manual STILL hasn't arrived and is a constant pain so working through the wiring to pick up a power supply was very painful.  With that behind me I tested the fans and they certainly move some air.  Next I ran the engine for 30 min and measured the temp drop across the radiator.  75 % of the Temp drop occurs in the top 25 % of the radiator in coming temp is around 165 deg and out going temp is about 80 deg.  I will get a proper temp gauge and do the test again to be sure.  I certainly don't have a cooling problem.

I fitted my horns next and I think that is the last bit of space I have under the bonnet.  I did drop a mounting bolt and it did appear on the ground below so there is space in there some where but it isn't very usable.

It's now Feb 18.  Today I glassed in the widening strips in the nose cone and the scuttle so its looking much more like it should but will need fairing once the glassing is all done.  While I was waiting for this to set I started looking at the rear section.  The complication here is to allow for the side intrusion panel which pushes the side fiberglass panel out about 25mm.  To get over this I had to glass a curved step and fair it in the panel, which the guard attaches and have it flat against the chassis.  I've cut the drivers side and have decided to do both sides at the same time.  The passenger side rear quarter panel has the fuel filler coming out of it which needs finishing, so I modified the delivery pipe and finished the filler cap piece.  The last thing to do here was to buy some 45mm fuel hose and connect the filler pipe to the tank delivery pipe.   

My DIETZ head lights arrived so I fitted the 85/100 watt QH lamps as did my front indicators, reversing light and high mounted stop light.  I have also ordered my new exhaust system and have decided to mount the custom muffler cross ways in the rear section behind the fuel tank.  The system will be built around 2.5in SS pipe and will have an expansion piece at the turbo flange that enlarges the original 1.75in pipe to 2.5.  The Catalytic converter has the same center webbing at the 2.5 of the same make so I intend cutting off the original flanges and welding the 2.5in pipe straight in.  Doing this will allow me to move the C.C. further to the rear in to clear space, raise it 60mm and get it out from under the floor pan.  This increases my center ground clearance by 40 mm.

(Continued on page 16)

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