DRL152K Marina based roadster rebuild

[martinclan56]

I have made and fitted the front cycle wing mounts. The wings themselves were intended for the rear of a "fat boy" motorcycle and are made of steel. They look the part having a bit more style than trailer mudguards I have seen used.
cycle_wings1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
I put a lot of effort into getting everything square and at the right height. I even temporarily disconnected the suspension torsion bar so I could move the suspension up and down to check clearance.
cycle_wings7 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
cycle_wings8 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
The wings stays are made from thick wall (2mm) tube. I wanted them to be weld free as this is where failures tend to occur. It's a pretty tough to bend. In the end I packed them with dry sand and heated them to cherry red at the bend points. The bends are pretty good with no sign of the tube wall collapsing.
cycle_wings3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
cycle_wings4 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
The wire you can see is for the indicators which I intend to mount on the wings - somewhere...
I fitted the wings themselves with some pretty substantial mounting plates both riveted and bonded in place.
cycle_wings5 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
Everything is pretty strong. You could (almost) sit on them!
Next job - headlight mounts.

[martinclan56]

Some good progress now as I have stopped going on holiday for a while....
I have now fitted the seats on sliders from Car Builder.
runners by Robin Martin, on Flickr
The sliders are nice and robust if a little primative. The main problem is the adjustment mechanism projects above the face of the slider to which the seat mounts. They do supply some little spacers but I didn't fancy the whole weight of the seat and it's occupant being taken on just the 4 mounting points. So I made some spacers, that will support the whole length of the seat, from aluminium box section. This also allowed me to compensate for the fact that the seat mounting centres were at 300mm but the sliders could only accomodate 285mm.

Before I could fit the seats I had to - err - adjust them as they were about 1cm too wide.
seat1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Now they are fitted you can see there is plenty of room between the seat and the steering wheel to get legs in. I might even fit some seat pads :-)
seat3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

The holes in the seat which provide strength (and look pretty) were a bit sharp on the edges. I ran a flap wheel arround them but for the seat belt holes I decided to fit some rubber U strip. This stuff is now available on Amazon and even includes an adhesive strip on the inside making fitting a doddle.
seat5 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Next major job is to work out how to fit the front cycle wings....

[listerjp2]

Hi Adrian, I just took the steering rack gaiters off, and smeared the grease along the rack having turned the steering to full lock, focusing on the teeth. I use bearing grease.

Thankyou

Adrian

[andyf]

Hi Andy, what grease did you use on your steering rack and how did you get in the rack.

Adrian

Hi Adrian, I just took the steering rack gaiters off, and smeared the grease along the rack having turned the steering to full lock, focusing on the teeth. I use bearing grease.

[listerjp2]

I would consider using grease. I've swapped mine to grease and it seems to be doing fine

Hi Andy, what grease did you use on your steering rack and how did you get in the rack.

Adrian

[listerjp2]

Thanks Adrian. A combination of poor memory and too much internet searching meant I had forgotten where the original idea came from.
I made the "device" from a short length of 1/4" silver steel, threaded at one end and a boss (from ebay) on the other. Fairly easy to do with just hand tools. The spring in the pictures is a bit too strong so have ordered some weaker ones from ebay. They take 3 weeks to arrive though as they come straight from China!

Yep I had to play around with a number of springs but still happy after all these years

Keep up the log, really enjoying it

[martinclan56]

Thanks Adrian. A combination of poor memory and too much internet searching meant I had forgotten where the original idea came from.
I made the "device" from a short length of 1/4" silver steel, threaded at one end and a boss (from ebay) on the other. Fairly easy to do with just hand tools. The spring in the pictures is a bit too strong so have ordered some weaker ones from ebay. They take 3 weeks to arrive though as they come straight from China!

[listerjp2]

I have modified the reverse mechanism for use with my remote gearchange. Not my idea - I copied it from someone else that had already done it.
It involves fitting a spring to the reverse lockout plate so it can be pushed to one side instead of having to lift the gearstick to clear it. Seems to work! But only time will tell how good it is in practice.
gearbox_mod3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
gearbox_mod2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

And I have pretty much completed the transmission tunnel and floors now. The floors are bonded in using Sikaflex 522 for strength and waterproofing. Should easily outlive me!
And I trial fitted one of the seats. Err - it didn't fit - too wide. But a bit of attention with some ratchet staps has sorted that. And there is plenty of room between the seat base and the larger than normal steering wheel that I plan to use. My extra depth doors should allow relatively easy entry and exit - I hope...
seat_trial_fit by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Hiya

Yep that was my idea and I can confirm that after 3 years it is still working fine.

Well done, I really am enjoying your blog.

Regards

Adrian

[martinclan56]

I have modified the reverse mechanism for use with my remote gearchange. Not my idea - I copied it from someone else that had already done it.
It involves fitting a spring to the reverse lockout plate so it can be pushed to one side instead of having to lift the gearstick to clear it. Seems to work! But only time will tell how good it is in practice.
gearbox_mod3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
gearbox_mod2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

And I have pretty much completed the transmission tunnel and floors now. The floors are bonded in using Sikaflex 522 for strength and waterproofing. Should easily outlive me!
And I trial fitted one of the seats. Err - it didn't fit - too wide. But a bit of attention with some ratchet staps has sorted that. And there is plenty of room between the seat base and the larger than normal steering wheel that I plan to use. My extra depth doors should allow relatively easy entry and exit - I hope...
seat_trial_fit by Robin Martin, on Flickr

[greyV8pete]

Excellent workmanship!

[martinclan56]

I have completed the rear of the exhaust by fitting an off the shelf 45 deg bend. Cutting the 45 deg slash on the end proved to be a challenge but in the end I found out how to make a template using Google.
exhaust_tip1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

I have bonded in the transmission tunnel and floor on one side. Everything is help in place with an industrial strength adhesive (Sikaflex) The mechanical fixings are really just to hold everything in place while the adhesive sets. And to persuade any future MOT tester everything is secure!
floor1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
I have directly trimmed the panels making up the transmission tunnel with an automotive vinyl. I am not a big fan of carpet in an open car :-)
A bit dissapointed with the vinyl though. It came from a well known supplier but I found it marks and nicks very easily. Too late to change it now though.
To make up for the lack of carpet I have used sound deadner mat on the inside of each panel.

While I was at it I added the floor level seatbelt mounts using some FIA approved spreader plates.
seatbelt_mount by Robin Martin, on Flickr

[listerjp2]

Progress has been a bit slow recently with one thing and another. But I have made a prototype of a gearstick extension gizmo. By default the Marina gearlever is a bit of a stretch - even in the Marina. BL's attempt at fixing this was simply a longer gear lever that was cranked at the base. I think mine is better :-)

gear-lever1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

gear-lever3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

It's only at the protoype stage but it works fine. Notice the cr@p welding. I accidently nudged the amp control and discovered (afterwards) that I had been using far too many - amps that is.

Looks brilliant and , like me, your showing off your engineering. I am loving your blog, it reminds me of my build. Keep up the good work.

[martinclan56]

Progress has been a bit slow recently with one thing and another. But I have made a prototype of a gearstick extension gizmo. By default the Marina gearlever is a bit of a stretch - even in the Marina. BL's attempt at fixing this was simply a longer gear lever that was cranked at the base. I think mine is better :-)

gear-lever1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

gear-lever3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

It's only at the protoype stage but it works fine. Notice the cr@p welding. I accidently nudged the amp control and discovered (afterwards) that I had been using far too many - amps that is.

[Ye Ol Ripper]

It does state that the car should be "laden". So with a full tank of petrol and 2 adults on board you would expect at least a 1 inch drop in ride height. I would say yours is just right at 8" unladen.

Mine was measured with £15 of fuel but without me in it . Because I was crawling around underneath with a tape measure . Once I am in it , due to my portly frame, I realistically weigh double that of a light person. I do have stiffer Marina Estate torsion bars at the front & 5 leaf rear springs( usually 2) on the rear.

With an additional passenger it still clears the speed humps.

[andyf]

jon_cox that makes sense, and is probably why I had negative camber and dents in my inner wings

Ye Ol Ripper My camber is set at 0 at the moment which seems to be working well. since switching to coilovers and increasing the caster it turns in well and doesn't tend to understeer.

PS what I do need to do is put some grommets in the holes left where I removed the torsion bars