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MODS 2

Driving back, it was clear that the engine was still running too hot. Looking at other installations (especially John Littlechild's) it became obvious that mine was different in two respects - first, the radiator was much lower, and secondly the routing of the water hoses/pipes was much more complicated! In particular, my bottom hose went round the side of the engine above the exhaust manifold. I don't think that the positioning of the hose above the manifold was a problem as I'd got a heatshield in place. But there were lots of curves and bumps for air-locks to live and prosper.

So the first job was to redesign the cooling system. The new system is shown below -

[pic of system]

As you can see, it's much simpler. I also moved the radiator further up - this helps the routing of the hoses as in the original installation the input for the radiator was at the same height as the horizontal sections of the radiator bracket on the chassis, meaning that the hose had to wiggle around it.

The net effect is that I've got rid of 5 silicone right angles from the plumbing, thereby saving weight and wiggles. The only problem with redoing the plumbing was the mess I made draining the coolant (I'm sure I didn't put that much in....) and the fact that Merlin Motorsport sent me 28mm diameter ali tubes rather than 25mm. Thank you so much, Merlin. My forearms have nearly recovered now....

I'd never been that happy with the driving position in the Fury - although it seemed OK when I was building the car, when I was driving it, I felt too far back and it was a bit of a stretch to the pedals. So I moved the driver's seat forward by an inch. Originally the front of the seat was attached to an ali sheet using rivnuts in the seat which was then pop-rivetted to the chassis cross member running along the widest part of the seat well. I moved it forwards by an inch, attaching the ali sheet to a piece of ali angle (great stuff, ali angle) straight in front of the cross member. When I originally mounted the seat I made brackets attaching to the ali panel across the back of the seat well and moving the seat meant some new brackets.

I'm still not that happy with the driving position - I'm still a little too far away from the pedals, but sitting up too high and upright. Another change is on the cards....

I also eventually got round to finishing the trimming of the interior. This largely consisted of making up the ali angles to go at the edge of the carbon fibre panels. The ali trim is made from 5210 grade ali, bent in a Clarke sheet metal folder. They're held in place using stainless bolts in rivnuts placed in the chassis tube. The Momo bits on the top are Momo universal sill trims which I got from Demon Tweeks. Expensive, pure ponce, but I like them! What I'm particularly please about is that the ali trim holds the carbon sheets in place (they have a tendency to bow upwards in the middle) and fit snugly without needing to be glued to the carbon sheets.

[pic of trim]

Time was running short at this stage, as I wanted to take the Fury up to a weekend in Norfolk with a bunch of old college friends. The final mod was to remove the reverse box and fit a straight-through prop instead. I still have mixed feelings about this one. By the time I'd removed it, I largely got the reversing box sorted. Tweaking the position of the box slightly improved the vibrations and I'd got it to stop spitting all its oil out with a breather hose. In the end, I decided that since I was planning to go racing in the car I could justify removing the reverse box on grounds of weight and using an electric reverse in the fullness of time.

The new prop has a torque tube section in the rear and a centre bearing which is held in place using a bracket which Mark Fisher supplied. Removing everything was a right royal pain in the doodah, as was putting it in. Still, no change there! Changing the prop also meant I had to redo the clutch. My original plan for the clutch slave cylinder [link] worked with the reverse box in, but the different angles and prop widths with the single prop meant that the clutch slave cylinder fouled the prop and there was no way a bit of minor fettling was going to solve this one! So I ended up installing the clutch the way that Mark Fisher does. I still think it's a bodge, so I'm planning to make an adaptor plate to allow everything to line up properly.

Travelling up to Norfolk, two things were noticeable - the water temp gauge was erratic and then died completely, and the neutral light was on the whole time. As I was driving at night, I ended up removing the bulb from the neutral light, as it was rather too bright. Both of these problems have now been diagnosed if not fixed!

While up in Norfolk I had an unintentional off-road experience - I was sure I was in 3rd when I floored it coming out of the roundabout, but it turns out I was in 1st. Ooops. No real damage done, although the brakes needed pumping up to get them to work. Oh, and the speedo was only working intermittently. Limped home, only to get rear ended by some stupid old moose in a Vauxhall Astra at some traffic lights in Cambridge. She then pissed off while I was taking my helmet and harness off, so I didn't get the number. If you know a middle aged woman in Cambridge with a pale blue Astra Mk III, ask her if she has ever hit the back of a small black sports car. If the answer's yes, I'd be very interested to know..... Fortunately the damage was limited to a smashed foglight and some minor chipping in the gel coat at the back.

More to follow.....

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Material Copyright © 1998 Dan Bromilow