Lilspeed's "about flippin time" Freestyle build

[Lilspeed]

Right, yer we go then!
Thankfully today I finally managed to get this out of the workshop after a weld/paint-a-thon.

Which left a suitable sized gap for this ;D

This is how I bought the buggy last June. All the important bits are present. Engine in (998cc destined to be changed for a 1275) and running gear fitted, side panels fitted (with flamin pop rivets, which is annoying as I'd prefer them to be removable and don't want the backs of 50odd pop rivets rattling around inside the frame!), and the wiring in mid process.

So the first task was to start stripping out in preparation for some changes I want to make.

The wiring that's been done so far is ok, but I'm going to start again as I've got a digi-dash and some other toys to go in.
I also want to change to pendulum pedals to free up space in the passenger footwell.

The plan is to get it ready for IVA early next spring, and on the road for summer. Ambitious? Hmm . . . . . . . . Maybe :-\

I think I've got a sneaky solution to the fuel tank issue, which I'll share when I've looked into it further and it still seems sneaky and not stoopid!

 

[Lilspeed]

Well I've made some progress over the weekend. My plan to convert to pendulum pedals was somewhat scuppered when I discovered it wasn't possible to get hold of a box or the design. So this weekend has been about trying to make a mock up of the design from pictures in build threads on here.

Saturday didn't go to plan - partly due to a catastrophic hangover, and partly due to my old 1275GT refusing to give up it's pedal box without a fight. At one point I gave up and went to spent 2 fruitless hours searching a mate's workshop for another pedal box, but in the end I had to go back to the GT with a bigger hammer and with a good dose of swearing and violence it finally hit the deck.

Today was a complete turnaround though! I'd scrounged some sheet steel off the fabricators next door to work on Friday (free, but galvanised - so the welds are the stuff of nightmares) so I set about roughly scaling a few dimensions off pictures and the rest of it seemed to fall into place as I offered things up. In the end I came up with this.

The new clutch master has yet to arrive, so I haven't drilled any mountings for that but the positioning is sorted. And I decided not to notch out the steering column support on the buggy until I've got the finished item laser cut and fab'ed, so the whole thing will move across to the O/S another 30mm yet.

In other news, the floor pan is now full of holes after taking out the old pedals, so these have to be filled in. The previous owner had stuck aluminium tread plate down on top of the steel floor with copious amounts of silicon sealer, so that had to come out. The floor underneath was in a right rusty old state so I spent a while cleaning off all the silicon and flaking paint and next job is to weld up the holes and slap on some new paint.

 

[Lilspeed]

Time for an update.

Holes in the floor/bulkhead welded up . . .

. . . and the butchery of the spring plates repaired. Seems the previous builder felt the need to enlarge the holes with an angry grinder and cutting disc. I forgot to get pics but needless to say it was not pretty! Much neater now . . . .

. . . . a bit of primer.

At this point I got sidetracked by a friend in need. I popped up to London for a weekend to help weld up a rusty Mini, and in return for my services he very kindly gave me something to weigh down my trailer on the way home

Should do nicely for the Freestyle - a 1275 A+ Metro lump with 34k on it. Superb!

So I immediately put it to use . .

Yep it's time to tackle the loom. To be honest I've not been looking forward to this job but it's going quite well so far. I've unwrapped the "modified" loom that came with the buggy and am now busy re-routing wires to go to the centre console switch panel I want to make and also for my Acewell dash. The plan is to make a nice tidy loom that the Mini wiring diagram still applies to.

Not lightning fast progress so far I'll admit, but the great thing for me is I'm really enjoying working on it.

Ah, nearly forgot - template for my pedal box is with the laser cutters. So I should be able to see if I've got it right or not soon!

 

[Lilspeed]

The good news! - The pedal box has landed!

The bad news - I didn't get it quite right.

It's not a major problem, just that when I'm happy with the pedal positions the pedal box is about 10mm too high and touches the fibreglass front cover. I'm going to trim off the top of this pedal box to use for the build but in the meantime modify the template and get another shorter one cut. Could be a while though as the laser cutter is very busy.
Otherwise I'm pretty chuffed! It cost me £20 to have it cut as a one off, so I can't complain about that really.

Onward!

 

[Lilspeed]

Well I'm a bit annoyed about lack of progress on the buggy lately! I was ill over christmas, and have really only been getting a Saturday and then Sunday morning at the workshop each week. Hoping that the lighter evenings will soon bring more progress before the "S" word starts being used! (Slacker )

Since the last update I've sorted the height issue with the pedal box by chopping 40mm out of the pedal arms, which lets the box sit 40mm lower. So that's all fixed in position now.

Next on the agenda is to get the engine in. First job there was cleaning it as it had a leaky rocker cover gasket and was in a right state. Then I thought I'd better whip the head off to give it the once over, and discovered some very pitted valve seats and worn guides So it seems I'll be borrowing the head off one of my other motors for the time being to save some time and money. The bores look great though thankfully!

So I've been spending time cleaning and painting lately. Not my favourite job but the results are pleasing!

I've now got the 'box in bits to change the final drive ratio. It had a 3.44:1 in, which is a bit low I think, so I'm changing it for a 3.1

I've also been giving some thought to the fuel tank issue. My "cunning plan" I mentioned earlier was to fabricate a rectangular tank to fit in the space between the front suspension. But I'm now going off this idea, mainly for worrying about what would happen in a heavy front impact.
I have a couple of 9l fire extinguishers, and I'm hoping that one fitted behind the driver seat, partitioned off from the engine bay will keep Mr IVA happy.

 

[Lilspeed]

Had a big box of goodies from MiniSpares turn up Fri, so I'm all ready to fit the engine now.

Seats ordered last night.

And I've spent yesterday welding sills on my Dad's rotten old van and today I have to fix the daily. Gggrrrrrrr.

 

[Lilspeed]

Progress!!

Spent yesterday putting the lump in.

Not much work, but feels like a big step forward!

Needed another head to use on this engine for the time being ,so today I was FORCED to pilfer the ported big valve head off my old 1293 trackday motor ;D
Should give a useful few more horsies!

Stripped it out and inspected. All was well so just a lick of paint and it's ready to go on.

Then I got the buggy up on stands and stripped all the hubs off so I can re-shim all the ball-joints and give the brakes a good going over.
As suspected, the front calipers were found to be brand new and in excellent condition which saves some time. Also found out I'm missing one of the handbrake cable brackets off the rear hubs, and the one I have has been butchered so I'll have to make some new'uns.

So that's how I left it today.

My seats arrived last week, haven't got any pics yet but they are luuuurvely Fibreglass shell ones off ebay from a place called KitBitsDirect.
My only worry with them is that they're quite a tight fit in the buggy so I'm hoping that they don't have to have front to back adjustment for the IVA, and/or that the tester is as tall as me!

So quite happy with this weekend's progress. My original deadline is obviously right out the window now, but I'm still hoping to get to have some fun in it this summer!

 

[Lilspeed]

Still plodding along!

I managed to get all the hubs stripped last weekend. I've also now paintstrippered the previous builder's attempt at painting the suspension components. If I had to guess I'd say they had a mouthful of cheap black paint and spat it at the fully assembled hubs! Seriously, discs and all!
I'm in the process of giving everything a fresh coat now. Apart from the discs! ;D

While the hubs were off I decided to do something about the CV joints on the front as there was another bit of creative engineering here!

Driveshafts cut off with a grinder and the joints pumped full of silicon sealer. Quick and effective but not my style!

So after some time on the lathe . . . . . .

Saving around a half kilo of unsprung weight on each hub must be all good.

So now the new balljoints, wheel bearings etc have arrived in the post this week so I'm looking forward to building it all back up this weekend.
And I hope I now have everything I need to get the brakes sorted too so I've got to get grafting!

 

[Lilspeed]

Been a while since I posted so better bring this up to date.

Sooooo, hubs have been stripped, painted and rebuilt with new balljoints, bearings and track rod ends. Driveshafts now have new outer and inner gaiters too.

Got the pedal box mocked up so I could start making some brake lines.

However . . . . . it was at that point I realised that I'd got the pivot point of the pedals too far away from the cylinders! So as the pedal is pushed down the pushrod goes into the cylinder at the wrong angle and jams up. No biggy really I guess, trial and error. I've put the laser template right and am waiting for a new one to be cut now.

Luckily that didn't stop me running brake and clutch lines. I decided to use the original flexi lines for the floor mounted pedal box and make some copper lines to make up the extra distance to the pendulum box.

I've finally made a decision regarding the fuel tank! Going for a wedge shaped tank behind the passenger seat.

Bit of CAD going on there! (Cardboard Aided Design)
I've cut a hole in the floor and this will be boxed over to create a completely separate compartment for the tank, so it will fit up from underneath the buggy. Surely Mr IVA can't complain about that?!
I'm having the tank laser cut in one piece so I can fold it up and weld. It'll be just over 2.5 gallons, which isn't too bad I reckon, but if range is a problem I've always got the option to fit another one behind the driver's seat at a later date.

And today I made the exhaust.

Rather pleased with that!

Starting to look the part now. Loves it I do ;D

 

[Lilspeed]

Mmm, shiny stuff

I Scotchbrited to key the surface and then sprayed with Rustoleum Stove and BBQ Paint. We did the same on the exhaust on my mate's buggy 3 years ago and it's only just starting to show some small spots of rust now. Very good stuff!

 

[Lilspeed]

My laser cutting was done last week so I now have the MK2 pedal box and my fuel tank. So I spent Saturday at work making up some bosses for the filler neck, sender mounting and the supply/return fittings and using the folder.

Then Sunday at my workshop having myself a weld-a-thon ;D

And then the BH Monday pressure testing and fixing a leak or two.

Feels soo good to get that job done! It's been my biggest worry since I started the build so I feel like it's all downhill from here.

Bet it won't be though!!

I've got the rest of the week off work so I'm hoping to get a good bit more done. Stay tuned . . . . . . . . .

 

[Lilspeed]

The latest tinkerings . . . . .

Fuel tank cradle finished

Fuel tank and cover fitted

With a seat carefully balanced in position!

And filler neck in position. Need to make a bracket for this yet though.

The seat is 1/2" further forward with the tank cover than I wanted it. Think I can live with that.

And my wheel arches arrived this week.

Working on the seat mountings now.

 

[Lilspeed]

Progress!

Seat subframes made.

And painted along with the fuel tank and gubbins.

Test fit of the seats. Very happy with these for the price, when they're bolted in I can grab them at the shoulders and shake the whole buggy. Double skinned GRP so they're good and rigid.

Mk2 pedal box back in to get position for the 'sideways' pedal. ;D

Dash panels taking shape.

Plenty of space for wiring and hopefully a bit of storage.

Fusebox mounted and wiring in progress.

Which led to the first signs of life!!

 

[Lilspeed]

Well progress has been a bit slow lately. I've been a bit pre-occupied with job hunting so haven't been thinking about the project so much. Starting my new job in 3 weeks though so now it's back to the workshop!

Big day today! It ran! 8)

I managed to get the engine loom connected up, still needs tidying though.

Put fuel in the tank, and was very relieved to find that it stayed there ;D

Found that the fuel pump I lovingly cleaned and painted was in fact a leaky piece of scrap

Lack of spark cured by a condensor change, and then it coughed to life briefly on 2 cylinders!!

Pretty chuffed considering that was on random plugs and leads from under the bench!

 

[Lilspeed]

Bit more progress this weekend.

I've been having problems working out the handbrake mechanism. I've only got one of the original hub end cable brackets from the kit, so was planning to make another and be sorted. But whichever way I try, I can't find a way to get the cable to run from the lever to the bracket without touching the brake pipe or the CV boot. I've looked at my mate's buggy, and studied pictures on here and can only conclude that my backplates may have been drilled slightly differently, putting the lever in an inaccessible position. So I decided to start again . . . . .

The new arc'ed actuators are 6mm thick so I'm hoping they won't bend open! When it's all connected up I'll yank on the handbrake and see if they deform at all. Fingers crossed because now the cable pulls directly in line with the lever.

In other news, I bagged a Morris Minor radiator fan on ebay recently, as they draw air through the rad instead of blowing like the mini one. Fitted it to my mate's Freestyle and instantly cured his overheating problems so decided mine needed one too.

This one was expensive at nearly 7 whole english pounds. ;D

It needed chopping down slightly and a bit of Nitromors made it prettier. It's been sprayed orange and fitted now.

I also added some strengthening to the pedal box mounting area, as advised by Danny.

Made a right mess of my paintwork! But I can totally see how the bulkhead could flex so well worth it I think.

I did loads of boring P-clipping of cables and conduit too, but it's all good progress!

Not far off a test drive round the field now! 8)

 

[Lilspeed]

Well, still working toward a test drive, I decided I needed to get the rear arch mounts made and fitted so I can do the final assembly of the rear suspension and hubs.
I've been putting this job off for a long time now! I'm using GRP replica Ariel Atom arches and knew I wanted the mounts to be slender and tidy like the Atom ones. Thankfully it turned out to be one of those jobs where all the pondering and planning paid off and I'm well chuffed with the result. 8)

Obviously it'll be considerably prettier for a coat of paint! The pics don't really show the bends I had to put in the stays which was the tricky bit to get right for both sides. But a bit of blowtorch action saw me right and they bent no trouble. They're sturdier than I imagined too. I'm making the front ones tomorrow while the going is good!

 

[Lilspeed]

Success!!!

Took the buggy for a nice little pootle round the farm today

I got the rear suspension and hubs finally assembled yesterday, so all that was left to do today to get it moving was to bleed the clutch and brakes. I just had one small leak where the copper line from the clutch master joins the flexi line to the clutch, which just needed a tweek up, so for my first ever attempt at making brake lines I was pretty happy.
I have got a couple of problems to sort out now though. First is the gear linkage, which touches the chassis at the rear bulkhead, so looks like I'll have to get the blowtorch out and persuade it not to. The other is the brakes; I've bled them through pretty thoroughly, and I've got a solid pedal but it's about 3/4 of the way down the pedal travel :-\ Investigations will continue next weekend!

 

[Lilspeed]

Couldn't resist a little drive in the sunshine again today!

I eventually got the tools out and did a bit of work on the dash panels. I now have the pedal box and fuse box partitioned off to make a small storage area.

Next up is making a cowling to cover in the Digi dash and steering column which could be a headscratcher, but then the centre console and engine cover, both of which I've got fairly well planned out, and it should be more plain sailing from there on.

I just wish I could warm up the workshop a bit! Bloody bivverin' by the time I packed up today!

 

[Lilspeed]

Ah yes! I seem to remember I was building a kit car!

Well, the cold weather and dark evenings have pretty much put a stop to my tinkerings for the last 4 months.I did wrap up for a couple days in the workshop over the xmas break but motivation was as much of an issue as temperature, so nothing much has happened since early last December.

Anyway, conditions are much more favourable for buggy building now, so I'm back on it
So, over xmas I made a start on my centre console.



I'm using the same method I used for the dash panels - bent 6mm bar with sheet steel infill panels. Reasonably easy to do and the bonus of 3mm radii on all the corners to keep the man from VOSA happy.





That was as far as I got before the new year. I eventually got back in the workshop last weekend and decided I'd better sort out the bits that go under the centre console. So, gear linkage support bracket . . .



And handbrake cable . . . .



Very nice to make the handbrake work as that's the last part of the major mechanicals done My redesigned actuators on the rear hubs work a treat and the handbrake seems really strong so I'm well pleased.

Then centre console fixed in position . . . . .



. . . and switch panel . . .



Next is running some wiring in to the switches, and fixing the handbrake cable in place. Anyone have any good pics/suggestions of cable routing?

 

[Lilspeed]

Had this week off work and managed to get a bit of time on the buggy

I decided the best plan of action would be working toward finishing all the fabricated parts, so . . .

New extended headlight brackets with indicator mounts



Framework for engine covers





The plan is to cable tie in aluminium mesh to fill in the gaps, with a box/air scoop sort of thing over the carb and filter. But I'm waiting for more 6mm rod to make that now. Not the sturdiest structure in the world, but I kind of like it more with the engine on show so I'm thinking the covers may get minimal use anyway.

I'm now working on the arrangment to hinge the GRP front cover, which would be a lot easier if the cover was the right shape to fit in the hole in the frame! ???
Anyway, hopefully I can persuade it to fit somehow.

Feels like I'm getting somewhere with it now at last!