Plenty Of Progress

Firstly sorry for the lack of updates, i've just been too busy to spend time writing it all up. I promise myself i won't leave it too long between updates as it takes ages to write up otherwise, but inevitably i fall behind then have to spend a couple of hours uploading pictures and writing my drivel. So here goes......

Before Christmas the aluminium mounting plates from www.precisionwaterjet.co.uk  arrived, looking very nice and definitely substantial

We'd decided not to get the mounting holes cut out during the waterjetting so that we could fine tune the position of the engine, the last thing we wanted was to have made a mistake in the drawing causing them not to fit!So using a combination of the MDF templates, measuring, trial fitting and a bit of luck we got the mounts plates mounted to the engine itself. The holes in the engine its self are 11mm, so had some 12mm bar machined down so they would pass through, with 10mm threads added either end. We then dropped the engine in place in the car and drilled through the top two ears to hang the engine. 

With the engine hanging we checked and aligned everything and drilled the bottom two ears

As the engine mountings are not all in the same plane i had to pack out the plates with washes for the trial fit, but once it was all in place i jumped on the lathe and knocked out a couple of nice ali spacers. The lathe seems to be an important RGB garage tool, and very much like the mig welder i have no idea how i survived without it!!! I just need to convince dad to get a milling machine now!!!

With the engine hanging in the two brackets we were amazed how solid it was, there was no obvious movement however much i pushed it around. But its obvious that it needed some bracing, especially in the longitudinal direction, to ensure the continued forces would not break the mounts or engine lugs.

After plenty of head scratching we decided that we would use the 2 main lugs (1 x front and 1 x rear) on the top side of the engine and copy Dans idea using notched tubes and plates. Rather than welding a face on one end of the tube where the bolt passes into the engine we decided to keep the tubes longer, also allowing us to add a web, and turned down some steel top hats to pass a long bolt through the 2 ends.

We haven't got a tube notcher, but I found a very handy little program on the web, Tubemitre, you tell it the diameter, gauge and angle of tubes to be joined and it creates a paper template that you print out and wrap around the tube to be cut, then using what ever means you have (angry grinder in my case) to cut out the notch. I had my reservations, but it was bang on and it created some nice joints!! What wasn't so easy was getting the angle onto the flat mounting plates to the chassis, which resulted in some not so great joints!!

The picture below shows the rear upper mount, since the photo i have machined a wedged spacer up so that the nut has a square face to tighten up against, not the jaunty angle shown!

Happy with the mounts we retired for the day. On returning to the garage Dad had his doubts about the upper rear mount, it really needed some extra bracing to the chassis as it would tend to try and twist the chassis tube, which is made worse by the fact its mounted through a 25 aluminium  square section spacer between the chassis rail and bulk head. Looking at the option we decided to add an extra tube down onto the chassis top side rail, again using the notching program and some angry grinding.

The engine was now solid, i'm confident we could lif the entire car by it now!!! It is over engineering, but hopefully means no nasty engine mount breakages like at snetterton last season!

Next up was the clutch linkage. The nice people at Yamaha decided to fit the clutch arm on a spline, so it was very simple to slide it of the arm off and reorientate to suit . This means a very short and direct cable that could be mounted direct to the new engine mount. Its also meant that, after buying a crimping tool, the old cable could be cut down and reused. This wasn't a money saver as it cost about 4 times more to buy the crimping tool and ends than a new cable, but it means we can make our own cables up to exact lengths in future. We drilled out a piece of steel bar, put a slit in it to pass the cable through and welded it onto the upper engine chassis tube via an ear and a web.

You can see the short run of cable below. I also turned down an aluminium top hat so that the cable seats nicely into the pedal box, rather than the horrid angle shown in the picture.

The gear change was next up, originally i was going to use solid bar arrangement as per Dans car, but due to the paddles lever arrangement, dash position, pedal box and engine mount it was looking. The other option was to stay with a cable as the setup was with the blade. The issue with this is that the direction of rotation of gear shaft is opposite to that of the blade, so that means that to go up the box i would need to pull with my left hand rather than my right hand. Not a problem if starting from scratch but after 2 years driving like this i was worried i'd start getting confused. After a look at the possibility of turning the paddle upside down to put the lever on the other side we concluded that it would entail a lot of work, and that it would be far easier for me to learn to use my left hand to go up the box!!! So finger crossed i don't blow it up my first time out!!! The cable was source from Dads mate who does auto gearboxes, we have no idea what it is out of, but it was exactly the correct length and had a nice crimped on mounting plate that lined up nicely with the engine mount!! The only mod we needed to do was to cut the one end off and thread it to accept the rose joint for the connections to the paddles. We also have a spare to carry with us incase of breakage, but this is very unlikely as its very substantial!!

With the engine all in place we could also finish the prop and reverse. Most of the work was already complete for this, we just had to assemble the it all to the aluminium centre bearing/reverse mounting plate and then fit the mounting lugs to the chassis. Below are a couple of shots of the assembled reverse and prop in the vice.

Access to the top of the tunnel for welding wasn't easy and the chassis tube is only 1/2"  so we decided than rather making separate little ears to mount the centre bearing mount via the cotton reels, it would be best to use a piece of angle that spanned the tunnel and allowed two good welds either side. The lower ears were impossible to weld without getting the car up on a ramp, plus would make fitting/removing the prop and assembly very awkward, if not impossible. So we decided the best plan was to bolt this through the 1" chassis tunnel members. There is no real reason for all the radi cut into the brackets, it just removed some unneeded metal and looked better IMO 

A few shots of it installed, although its very difficult to get a clear shot

Access to the engine prop flange is now very easy so i can keep my eye on the bolts, even though they will be extra secure as we are lockwiring them due to the easy access, something that wasn't possible on the blade.

With it all in place it was the moment of truth. We connected it up to the battery with a couple of jump leads and i sat in it ready to power up the solenoid. We both had visions of the car moving forward, but to our relief it not only moved backwards, but also moved and a decent pace and made no nasty gear crunching sounds. IT drove around the gravel drive no problem and easily ran over the 40mm block we put directly behind the wheel. So the reverse is a success, and i intend to drive all round the paddock in reverse from now on, as its the only time it will ever get used!!!

With all the mounting brackets finished and associated bracketry we removed the engine and sent the brackets away for plastic coating. In the mean time i started fitting the fuel lines and ordering everything needed for the fuel and oil lines. I have been musing over what to do with the fuel pumps and lines. The simpliest was to fit an inline high pressure pump direct from the outlet of the tank, and run a return line back from the fuel pressure regulator on the rail, but i wasn't surepr if the tank would be baffled enough to ensure no fuel starvation. After various plans and ideas we decided that we would keep the original blade low pressure pump to feed a swirl pot that has the original R1 pump mounted in it (i got the pump included with the engine),  mounted in the engine bay. This meant running a return pipe back to the tank aswell, but as the tunnel was looking a little conjested with the reverse i decided to run 2 new pipes down the outside of the chassis. Obviously this is covered by the side pods so hopefully protected from damage.

This is the swirl pot return line. luckily there was an extra inlet on the top of the tank that was blanked off, so i just had to screw in a fitting

The one thing i haven't mention, or even photographed, is that during a brief holiday away from the garage for the Fury, it had an exhaust system built by Tony Law Exhausts. which looks excellent. I'll get some pics once the engine is all back in.