Transportation costs came to £550 - cheaper than driving, which is worth remembering for the future!
Thursday, 10 September 2015
And it's gone!
...and finally, the car transporter arrived at my house to take the Zero back to GBS for its pre-IVA inspection with Simon. It should be delivered some time next week and hopefully ready to collect by mid-Oct. Fingers crossed!
I made a half hood from a tarpaulin to try and keep it dry on the journey home. Thankfully, there's a Pimlico Plumbers' van above it to keep the worst off it too :)
Transportation costs came to £550 - cheaper than driving, which is worth remembering for the future!
Transportation costs came to £550 - cheaper than driving, which is worth remembering for the future!
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Finishing touches
The car transporter was due to arrive today at 3pm and I had a list of minor jobs to finish before its arrival. Thankfully, the driver cried off, so I got a reprieve! However, on the task list for today:
Speedo calibration
Indicator repeaters
Boot cover fit
Door fitting
Nut covers / IVA trim
Speedo calibration. Easy. Turn on ignition with reset button held in. After 3 seconds, the speedo goes into set PPU mode, the magic number is 013021; input this number and it's done.
Indicator repeaters. My original ones blew because I wired them in the wrong way round late at night when I should have been in bed! I bought some clear-lensed repeaters from Car Builder Solutions and they fitted straight in. I bonded 3 cable tie bridges under each wheel arch to fix the cable in place and ran the cables through the wing bracket tubing:
Boot cover. Press studs look bad as I don't have (and couldn't find!) the mini-machine that is needed to fit them. I made my own from a block of hardwood, but they press stud caps are all slightly damaged. In slow time, I plan to drill them off and refir new ones when I have the correct tools.
Door fitting. Also straight forward, but a little fiddly! I followed Simon's instructions from the GBS Owners' Club forum here: http://www.gbsownersclub.co.uk/forum/technical-talk/doors/
I used M5x16mm bolts with washers and locknuts and they seem to be a perfect fit. The hinges are sided and have to be fitted to the correct side of the car so that the door can be lifted off the hinge. I chose to bolt the lower part of the hinge to the inside of the windscreen bracket, just so that it looks a bit neater without the doors fitted, but I think that either side of the frame would work. The top tip from Simon is ensuring that the rear of the door is supported before finally tightening all the nuts - I concur as the left hand door was very tricky to remove and refit until I did this. Here's what they look like now:
Nut covers / IVA trim. Fitting nut covers is about 1,000,000 times easier than fitting IVA trim, however they were both easy enough and needed doing. IVA trim is fitted to the nose cone, front wheel arches, exhaust / suspension / steering holes in the body work, seat belt ancher points, headlight brackets and inside the boot.
The only outstanding issue now is the door sill trims, but I need to find someone who is able to kink them inside edges for me. I tried the metal workshop in the village, but his machine is a monster and will eat the trims, so I need to find someone else.
Speedo calibration
Indicator repeaters
Boot cover fit
Door fitting
Nut covers / IVA trim
Speedo calibration. Easy. Turn on ignition with reset button held in. After 3 seconds, the speedo goes into set PPU mode, the magic number is 013021; input this number and it's done.
Indicator repeaters. My original ones blew because I wired them in the wrong way round late at night when I should have been in bed! I bought some clear-lensed repeaters from Car Builder Solutions and they fitted straight in. I bonded 3 cable tie bridges under each wheel arch to fix the cable in place and ran the cables through the wing bracket tubing:
Boot cover. Press studs look bad as I don't have (and couldn't find!) the mini-machine that is needed to fit them. I made my own from a block of hardwood, but they press stud caps are all slightly damaged. In slow time, I plan to drill them off and refir new ones when I have the correct tools.
Door fitting. Also straight forward, but a little fiddly! I followed Simon's instructions from the GBS Owners' Club forum here: http://www.gbsownersclub.co.uk/forum/technical-talk/doors/
I used M5x16mm bolts with washers and locknuts and they seem to be a perfect fit. The hinges are sided and have to be fitted to the correct side of the car so that the door can be lifted off the hinge. I chose to bolt the lower part of the hinge to the inside of the windscreen bracket, just so that it looks a bit neater without the doors fitted, but I think that either side of the frame would work. The top tip from Simon is ensuring that the rear of the door is supported before finally tightening all the nuts - I concur as the left hand door was very tricky to remove and refit until I did this. Here's what they look like now:
Nut covers / IVA trim. Fitting nut covers is about 1,000,000 times easier than fitting IVA trim, however they were both easy enough and needed doing. IVA trim is fitted to the nose cone, front wheel arches, exhaust / suspension / steering holes in the body work, seat belt ancher points, headlight brackets and inside the boot.
The only outstanding issue now is the door sill trims, but I need to find someone who is able to kink them inside edges for me. I tried the metal workshop in the village, but his machine is a monster and will eat the trims, so I need to find someone else.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Daylight for the first time!
Today was a good day - the Zero left the garage for the first time! I had to build ramps for the drive as the car's breakover angle is too low for the top of my drive, hence until now, the car has been trapped inside. Thankfully, it seems that everyone in the village is an expert in removing cars from garages, so they all came out to offer their helpful advice ;)
Anyway, it worked in the end. Here's the evidence:
Please note: professional driver, closed road.
Anyway, it worked in the end. Here's the evidence:
Please note: professional driver, closed road.
Saturday, 29 August 2015
Aux Panel Wiring
I have been faffing with the aux plug wiring for a while. There are a couple of issues:
- I was sent a hazard warning light switch for the aux panel when the Ford wiring is designed to use the switch on top of the steering column. I didn't realise until I had already fitted the switch to the aux panel.
- I was inspired by Richard Lincoln and want the Savage switches to illuminate with the side lights.
Once I had the plug wiring set up for the hazard lights switch, I set about modifying it to include wiring for the LEDs. Here's the schematic I ended up with:
It is simple in principle: there is a 5K6 resistor from aux plug pin 1 (side lights) to the +ve terminal on the LED along with gratuitous use of diodes to stop the current flowing back where it shouldn't go. The diodes are orientated so that current can only flow INTO the LED +ve terminal. The net result is that the LEDs illuminate dimly with side lights on. Then:
- The horn switch LED remains dim regardless of what's happening.
- The fog light switch is dim with the fog light off or bright with it on - the fog light feed comes from the dipped headlight signal, so only works when the headlights are switched on.
- The hazard light switch now flashes bright / off with the side lights off or bright / dim with the side lights on.
Overall, it looks great and now I'm happy.
- I was sent a hazard warning light switch for the aux panel when the Ford wiring is designed to use the switch on top of the steering column. I didn't realise until I had already fitted the switch to the aux panel.
- I was inspired by Richard Lincoln and want the Savage switches to illuminate with the side lights.
Once I had the plug wiring set up for the hazard lights switch, I set about modifying it to include wiring for the LEDs. Here's the schematic I ended up with:
It is simple in principle: there is a 5K6 resistor from aux plug pin 1 (side lights) to the +ve terminal on the LED along with gratuitous use of diodes to stop the current flowing back where it shouldn't go. The diodes are orientated so that current can only flow INTO the LED +ve terminal. The net result is that the LEDs illuminate dimly with side lights on. Then:
- The horn switch LED remains dim regardless of what's happening.
- The fog light switch is dim with the fog light off or bright with it on - the fog light feed comes from the dipped headlight signal, so only works when the headlights are switched on.
- The hazard light switch now flashes bright / off with the side lights off or bright / dim with the side lights on.
Overall, it looks great and now I'm happy.
Sunday, 28 June 2015
Steering Column Surround
I have a GBS surround which fits over the steering column behind the steering wheel, however, it leaves the bottom of the column unprotected. I bought a piece of aluminium from the local carpinteria metalica, cut out the shape, covered it in leatherette material and it ended up looking like this:
And when fitted:
Good enough for now :)
And when fitted:
Good enough for now :)
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Dashboard Fitting
I was looking for a way to mask the aluminium on the underside of the scuttle which would be visible once the dashboard was fitted. I have a number of bicycle innertubes which are waiting to be repurposed so cut one and glued it into place. I put a couple of smaller pieces where the scuttle meets the door sill to cover the gaps there:
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