Slow progress!

Well it's been quite slow over the last few weeks. all that's been done is the diff housing (the boxy thing at the rear). I started to fully weld the chassis after strapping it down to the table with ratchet straps, they help to stop the chassis warping.

I also managed to manufacture a few of the plates I need for various mounts & brackets. now that I've finished work until the 4th Jan, the build is on the back burner!

This would be a good point to wish all the blog readers a very Merry Christmas & a Wonderful New Year

 Have a Cool Yule peeps :)

Still welding! & I may be some time.

Just another pic to show progress as the welding / measuring is taking it's time to get right. Also had to spend a bit of time drying the welder! You can just see a coffee ring bottom right of the table, some absolute ass knocked my (his) coffee onto the controls of the mig. Still working, thank god :)

I'll need to sort out some more Argon gas for the mig, almost empty :(

Signing off, Twin

Note to self.... Don't put your coffee on the build table!

The Welding has started!!

Hi Peeps :)

I finally took the plunge & put the Mig to the chassis. It's starting to take shape, minus the front frame that you can see at the rear waiting for me to make a wooden jig to help with the shape of the frame.

More to follow very soon.

PS found out today I'm going deaf! :(

Oops!

Had a go at welding the other day! not to bad really, I had a few snags with the wire feed at first. I started to get hang of it then & ended up with some nice welds on my test pieces. but not good enough to show a pic, so all your getting is the welder :)

After a while I noticed my left hand was stinging & looked decidedly tanned! "Note to self" wear gloves next time" "insert silly ass smiley here"

As promised, here's some links to some really helpful people (in the Roadster world that is) in no particular order....

Haynes Forum

Locost builders

3GE components

Saturn Sports Cars

Talon

Sierra Owners

Kitspares.co.uk

Then you have eBay & your local scrapyards who can help with bits, so happy hunting if you decide to take the plunge.

L8ers all :)

Twin

Still can't weld!

I'm now ready to start welding. I've got all the base rails cut to size (using the grinder) & in place ready to tack weld.

As you can tell by today's title! I've now come to a grinding halt! (sorry about that) :p

If there's anyone who wants to give some teaching in the art of Mig Welding, then drop me a line :)

A none welder signing off!

TTFN :)

Lathe Work!

I had the chance to play on a lathe, so i had a go at making some of the other bits for the roadster.

The first was the mushroom adaptors for the front hubs, you need them to fit the upper wishbones.

I'm happy with the end result :) all that's needed now is give the hole a taper.

Then it was onto the suspension crush tubes, I'll need 16 but U had enough steel for a few extra. I'm now looking for the bush material so I can have a go at them.

That's this blog just about up to date now :) I'll add some links to the sites/forums i'm using for info.

Off to learn to weld!!

l8ers :)

The steel & build table.

Thanks to a friend "Edwin" I got 90% of the steel at cost price (£70) He even lent me his spare chop saw, what a star :)
So the day was spent on his farm, cutting & labelling all the chassis parts.

I forgot to mention that i'm doing the build at work, so after moving the steel from N Wales to Gosport (by Portsmouth) the job then was to sort out a build table. the idea as to use a 8x4 sheet of ply braced up to keep it flat, I spent a few days building that. I was given 4 sets of legs for the table that were different sizes! improvise, adapt & overcome! a few extensions later & its all nice and level :)

 

A quick lick of paint & then onto the marking out with a little help from some conti-blocks. I'm now ready to start the fettling of the steel with all the correct angles using the grinder with a 1mm cutting disc.

That'll do for now, a few bits n bobs to add tomorrow and we should all be up to date :)

Regards,

Twin

The Donor!!

Back at the end of April I bought the donor car off eBay for £205, a nice little G reg 2lt Twincam Sierra.

Since then it took me quite a long time to strip it out to claim the bits I needed, with the intention of selling anything left over on eBay. A few bits have gone to help recoup the costs.

The engine & box came out no bother :)

The rest of the strip went like clockwork, the only real problem was moving the shell about. A sturdy trolley came in handy on that front, but H&S had a to put there 2 penith in so on went the straps :)

Until later folks :)

About Time!

A quick thanks to anyone who's taken the time to read this.

This is my Haynes Roadster build diary, that I should have started in April!
With the help of the Haynes manual....

....the intention is to build the roadster using the bits from my Ford Sierra 2lt twincam donor, while staying happily married to my darling wife.

I've got loads of updating to do, as the donor is now fully stripped & the unwanted bits are on eBay :)

Most of my chassis steel is cut to approx length & marked up. The build table is built, painted & ready to go.

I'll add some pic's along with some of the more complicated bits that I made on the lathe.

until next time :)