View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook

What is the 2B
[Or, dietary tips for Sierras]

The Build Diary
['99 - Aug. '00]
[ Aug - Nov. '00]
[December '00]
[Early Jan '01]
[January '01]
[February '01]
[March '01]
[April '01]
[May '01]
[June '01]
[July '01]

The SVA
[Did my 2B pass?]

On The Road
[Whats it like then?]
[And now it's been improved!]

New for 2003
[Suspension Mods]

New for 2002
[Engine Mods]
[Fuel Filler]
[Custom Instuments]
[Rear Shocks]

Tricks & Tips
[including do as I say, not as I did!]

Major Problems
[Or how to talk to the Manufacturer]

So you think you've got problems?

Gallery
[Or,some necessary light relief!]

Wifes View
[Or, are you coming out of that garage....]

Links
[Other maniacs who have tried this]

About the Authors
[If you are really bored...]

July 2001-07-16

This month saw the last few jobs done and the sva approaching.

The mirrors live on top of wooden plinths to raise them up to an acceptable height. They give a pretty good view. The 'interior mirror' lives a right angle bracket in the absence of a windscreen, with a couple of 6mm tubular stays. It gives a bloody useless view and wobbles around into the bargain!

The tyres ended up being Firestones for £40 each, so I only got four and will carry a can of instant repair stuff around till I can afford a fifth! They are only "t" rated but I don't intend doing 110 mp/h anywhere just yet.

The final ceremony was the peeling off of the plastic coating on the bodywork, and as I was buffing up the fibreglass on the nose cone, the sun broke through and a deep blood red car glared out at me. Somewhere in the background an orchestra began playing the music from 2001, and large numbers of naked women started to cavort around me…..Well the sun came out anyway.

Well, today is the 16th of July, the car is in the garage, soaking wet and dripping gently! It was MOT day today, so of course it rained. Well what did I expect in the middle of an English summer? I wore a crash helmet as there is no windscreen and the flyscreen I am having made is not ready yet.

The mot went ok, the car failing on indicators flashing too fast. It's a bit picky but they were going at about 190/min so I suppose that's a bit much.

Driving back the rain got going in earnest, and whilst I initially cursed, I found that after a few minutes I started to enjoy myself, a lot even. It was like being on a bike again, people looked at me and smiled the smile that people use when viewing a person of apparently limited intellect doing something faintly stupid. I didn't care, I was being different, and if they wanted to smirk in their air-conditioned biscuit tins then let them. I was having fun. Mind you, doing up my jacket might have been a good idea in the circumstances!

July 2 2001-07-26

The indicators have turned into a little saga all of their own. I originally wanted to use the ones off my old katana, but they had no e marks, so I bought some nice little oval e marked ones. They turned out to be only fittable with 10 watt bulbs, hence the speedy flashing. I bunged the Katana ones on to pass the mot. Next I bought some mini indicators with 23 watt bulbs, and they worked just fine, but the quality is crap, so the insides of these are now in the little oval ones, held in with the kitcar builders friend, Silicone sealant!

Large amounts of the same sealant is now adorning every vaguely sharp edge on the outside of the car for the sva, it will all peel off afterwards (I hope!)

As I approach the dreaded sva, I am expecting a few things.
1) the car will fail! The main areas of concern to me are things like the seatbelt mounts and h/brake mounts, and the nit/external projections. Also the steering self centering.
2) Once I get the MAC certificate, I suppose the vro will take about three months to register the car, bye bye summer!

This is pretty much the end of the Build Diary as such. Next installment- post sva, coming soon to a screen near you!

Click here to find out what happened - Did the 2B pass?