And as quickly as it came it's gone again... (well not quite that quick)

I can't believe how long it has been since I have written on this blog, and I can honestly say it's not because of the lack of interesting progress. If fact, quite the opposite, and the work has either left me no time to write or too tired to. After the first successful test drive the aim of the game was to work on the interior, the bodywork, and the loom. I also needed to get rid of the donor car, and with term starting on the 7th of Sept, and it taking up valuable parking spaces needed by teachers at the school, it would not be long before I was going to be registered in the bad books of many of them.

However, before I could get underway working on any of the above tasks, I was heading off up to Leeds for the festival, and an extended weekend seeing friends up there. I had a great time but upon returning I was asked to come in to school to help out with some work (unrelated to the car) in the run up to the beginning of term. With this work from 9-5, the need to get in contact with car scrap metal companies, and of course the fact that I was still trying to get as much done on the car before I headed back up to uni, that was a very busy week and not the easiest way to recover from a festival weekend.

Never the less I went along to the car at 5 everyday to soldier on through it. I turned my attention to the central column, and the handbrake assembly. My old DT teacher was in for the pre term induction week that week as well and really helped out, in fact he has been there after 5.30 for the last few weeks helping out; this has made progress so much easier.

The wooden top for the central column was made twice due to some badly made measurements by me and even with the correct ones it is still a very tight fit. The chrome gearstick ring could really have dome with being a little bigger. However after much jig sawing, drilling, routing and veneering the new one was made up and fitted.

While doing this we were also starting work on the body panels and electrics. The back body panel was the first to go on and looks great. With a bit of fine trimming and a lot of hammering it's a perfect fit.

Next to go in was the panel behind the seats and at this point it was important to ensure all of the eclectics running through the central column were secured and installed correctly. With all of that sorted I fitted the wooden central column with mastic and screws. I also fitted one of the aluminium side panels, I could not put both of these on before as I needed the access to screw in from underneath, a job that was difficult enough as it is.

With the central column in I could go to work putting in the gaiters for the handbrake and gearstick and start carpeting the interior. I had an order at this point that I had to logistically work to;

-Fit the central column
-Fit the side panels
-Carpet the bottom sides and back
-Fit the seatbelts
-Fit the seats
-Fit the outside panels
-Fit the dash

So I started working along that order:

While doing this we also focused on getting the headlights wired in properly and started work on electronics for the control of the fan that I had fitted to the radiator.

Finally I did some of the dashboard wiring for the dial backlights.

It was two weeks of phoning around and £50 before I finally got a company to come out to pick up a car that has no engine and no wheels, but finally today a company came from near Heathrow to do the job. I was, therefore, a little dismayed after all of the waiting to see them turn up in a flat bed truck little bigger than the car itself with no winch or crane capable of moving the car.

However, much to my surprise, and I think to the surprise of them a little, an hour later an engineless, wheel-less sierra was on the back of that truck. If you're wondering how, the answer is, "I don’t really know, but a lot of trolley jacks helped! Oh and some bricks for lubricant..."

So that is the situation as it stands, sierra is gone, interior is almost complete and the bodywork and electrics are following it all up with a promising air of progress about them. The car probably will not be complete by my birthday as I am heading back up to Nottingham on the 20th but it won't half have been close...

The much awaited video!

A finish for the dash and a dash for the finish!

So it turns out that the wiring loom is a miserable job. The most annoying thing about it is that some of the things that it connects to, such as rear lights, need the body panels in before I can fit them, so I cannot connect them up until I fabricate those, but on the flip side it is much easier to fit the loom without panels on. This is one of a number of cycles that stop me doing work and have me left sitting pondering for great swathes of the day.

In an attempt to break one of these cycles I decided to fabricate the dashboard out of some of the 19mm walnut veneered MDF that I had purchased for this job earlier on in the project. I started by making a cardboard template of the dash's general shape using a trial and error style of work. Using this I then traced the outline onto my MDF then cut it out using a jigsaw. Before I started cutting I cut through the veneer along the line with a scalpel to ensure it did not chip and lift off with the saw blade.

Having done this I made sure it would fit by trying to fit it in loosely. While it was in this position I took the opportunity to sit in the driver seat and mark roughly where I wanted the dials to be positioned.


The next step was to mark up more precisely where the dials should go based on my estimates. Having done this I used an interesting hole cutting tool borrowed off a friend. I did not have high hopes for it but I was proven wrong as it cut fantastically clean holes. I checked that it was good enough on the first hole by slotting in my petrol gauge. With it already looking awesome after one dial, I removed it and continued to cut the other 4 holes.

With that done I could not resist dropping in all of the dials and getting a sneak preview of what it was going to look like.

With that done I set about rounding the bottom edge with a router. It is an IVA regulation that the bottom of a dashboard must have a 19mm round on it. I planned to veneer this later so instead of having a simple round I set it in by about a millimetre to form a smooth finish when finished.

This in fact went a little too deep meaning the finish, although still great, was not as need as I had hoped. Later that night I took it home and ironed on the veneer to produce, what looks like, a solid wood curve on the base of the dash.

The next stage was to stain the wood to the darker colour that I had previously envisaged the dash to be. With two coats of that on and dry, it was time to varnish. I chose a matt varnish as I thought it was a bit more of a contemporary slant on what is a classically styled car, but we will have to see how it comes out. I need to put on three coats and I am still waiting for the second to dry. Each coat needs sanding down before the next making the process quite long. However I will post pictures of the completed look. The next job is to set about making the central column which will be made from the same wood, so I may film the process this time and post it as a YouTube video (no promises).

I will get that other video of it starting up soon, that I can promise, but until then keep checking. Between 3-5 weeks left before I must have it finished so keep checking in, in the run up to the end.

A very necessary update!

So, once again without photos I am writing another post, but rest assured that you are not missing out on much as the car does look very much the same as before. I felt that I should give the update on the temperature sender problem. I managed to dremel out the remaining piece of thread, but unfortunately the waste piece of brass fell back into the cooling system. After much laboured though I decided that the best option was to leave the waste in there and keep an eye on the temperature of the engine to see if it was blocking, ultimately the worst thing that could happen is that the waste piece of brass is pumped around and chips the coolant pump, but the work involved in getting the waste out is about the same as the work involved in changing the pump and it is not a guarantee that I would be able to remove the material. Either way, I left it and with a cleaning of the coolant thread using the appropriate tapping set I managed to fit the new temperature sensor. This was on Thursday of last week. On Friday I connected up the remaining coolant hoses and filled the system with coolant, oil and the tank with a small amount of petrol, and with part of the loom wired in, I tried to start the engine. It did not go straight away but after a little fiddling with the fuel lines she started beautifully and has done ever since. No silencer on atm so the engine sounds like a v8 and I really can't describe the excitement felt when revving it. My mate Charlie helped me with a panel for the fuse box and battery on the weekend and having let the paint on it dry over Monday we fitted that on Tuesday and gave the fuse box its now permanent home. It looks very neat. I had to work today but went down to the car afterwards and set about constructing the cardboard templates for the body panels, I may be purchasing the aluminium tomorrow morning. My x-dt teacher has offered to give me a hand attacking the job of unscrambling and wiring up the loom tomorrow afternoon so once that is complete it will soon be time to get those body panels riveted on and start going over the final fix. All very exciting stuff! And to add to that for I drove it for the first time this evening, it was not very far as the shocks have not been tightened up yet so low ground clearance prohibits me from leaving my drive, but the 5 metre drive gave great promise of things to come. I am so very excited about this car now and with the end in sight a final push is all that is needed in order to help me achieve the end goal. I'll try to get a video of the car running up soon, and will keep you posted on further progress made.

She Starts!!!

more to come in the next blog post...

Disaster Struck/Stuck

In short yesterday a massive case of 2 steps forward 1 step back, which I realise is not quite the expression but highlights the situation very well. After a really productive day of work fitting coolant lines, the new alternator mount and a coolant reservoir, we hit real trouble as the old coolant temperature sensor broke off, blocking the thread and preventing me from inserting the new one. Massive set back, and I am not sure how to resolve it. Easy-Out tool does not work and it is starting to look like I may have to drill the old part out. To make matters worse in trying to remove the problematic component I managed to drop a piece of threaded rod into the coolant system. It is amazing how quickly a really good day can go so bad!

I'll keep you posted on the progress of the resolution...

It's all going on for the last time,I hope...

Ok so I am quite happy to admit that I was a little short in my last few blog post, but that is because I have been so busy doing the work that when it comes to recalling it I was finding it a little difficult to maintain the usual wadding that I use to make the posts a little less dull for those of you who aren't interested in oil sump modification and just want to see a few more photos. Well its Saturday today and I chose to spend a day doing nothing. I would like to claim that it was scheduled but in all honesty a sizable hangover left me as good as incapacitated this morning and so being the ever innovative and accommodating planner I rearranged my car building schedule on the fly. This has basically meant that I now have time to leave what I hope is an epic blog post full of entertainment, media and all round fun. I am also trying to give it a helping hand with the application of a bit of positive mental attitude. You can't say I don’t try.

So where shall I begin... this was another eventful week as the time came to get the chassis powder coated and oh boy was I excited. I should say at this point for those avid readers who don’t know me that well that this whole blog would be far more true to life if read with dusting of unenthused sarcasm powdered across all text just before reading. No but seriously I was quite excited. I am not going to go into the details of the powder coating process but here are the key points: it's a bit like painting, it's a harder finish, and you have to remove everything you don’t want to be coated as well as anything that could melt in an oven. We had to take everything off the chassis. And before people rush to point out the lack of forethought on my part I was very aware that this was going to have to happen I just needed to make sure everything would fit before I got it done. Either way, with a little help from the son of one of the garages neighbours, an enthusiastic engineer/scientist of the future, we had the car stripped down in about half a day, and true to their word North London Powder Coaters (link added to sidebar) picked up the chassis up at 10am on Tuesday morning.

At 11am the next day it was returned in all of its bubble wrapped glory and it looked great. A really nice glossy finish thanks to its finishing lacquer coat. The one day turn around for a finish that good was pretty awesome but it does come at a price, it would have been cheaper to paint but the time it would have taken doesn't bare thinking about and the finish would not be comparable to the results that I got from the aforementioned chosen method. That's me in the photo...

That same day with some help from my dad we got the wheels on and with a short break at around 6 for food, and to help get the rolls that I share the garage with, we set about getting the engine in as well. Incidentally the car had its first feel of the public road as we needed it out of the way in order to get the rolls out so we just parked it up.

The engine went in with a little bit of physical encouragement and I decided that it was only right to do as I had done upon removal and record the historic event. Below is the sped up video.

When it was all done Charlie came over with his really nice camera (no sarcasm there) and took some great photos while dad and I sat, with a beer and admired our work.

With that done it was a big step forward in the construction and it was followed by a slight dip in productivity. I got the brake lines in the next day and the pedals in as well. I also managed to get the steering column in as well as the radiator fan. Charlie and I starting working on the template for the dashboard and dial arrangement but it really amounted to very little productive work. In order to stave off this period of low productivity we set about fitting the fuel level sensor into the tank, a job which proved to be very tedious indeed which served to make it all the more satisfying when it was complete. That was where we left work for this week and celebrated the incredible progress with a regrettable volume of wine, but hey you only build your first car once... Here are a few more photos from the build progress and I hope that the prose in this post has been of a more satisfactory standard. Cheers for reading and check back soon!!

So I Photosynthed it to give you all a better look

This is just a quick, not very good, photosynth of the car just before we remove all of the stuff for powder coating. I'll do a better one at a later date, the photos on this were taken on the iPhone so not v good quality...

Forgive me readers for I have sinned, it has been 9 days since my last post...

...and a lot has happened I have basically worked on the car for 8 days straight usually from about 10 in the morning to about 11 in the evening. During this time I have stripped and painted the rocker cover to a vibrant red, taken off and modified the sump so that it has the appropriate ground clearance, and the painted it, ground down and repainted the exhaust manifold, modified (shortened) the oil pickup pipe to work in the new sump, removed the old fan from the engine, painted the engine mounts a bright heat resistant red, welded the engine brackets to the chassis, ground down the gearbox mountings and welded on the mounting plates to the chassis, mounted the engine in the chassis, welded on all of the engine component brackets, welded on the roll bar and the remaining seatbelt brackets, made the seat mountings for the passenger seats, started work mounting up the pedal assembly, completed the front suspension and wishbone brackets, mounted on the front and rear suspension assemblies, Modified the front hubs to accept the Austin Maxi ball joint, put on the front and rear wheels, started work on the exhaust system, ground down the steering rack mountings and attached the steering rack, shortened and re welded the prop shaft and made and welded on the front headlight bars, and I think that is about it.

I could write out in full the small problems I encountered and the things that went right but as you can imagine I would be here for a while. Either way there is one thing worth pointing out. Everything that I am mounting on at the moment does have to be removed so I can powder coat the chassis. The ony reason that I am mounting it all on now is so that I can see whether it will work and whether there are any other things that I need to weld on before I do the coating. Once the chassis is coated, welding anything more onto it means damaging it. I am now left with just a few more jobs and I am slowly getting through them. What remains to do now is remove everything I have spent the last few days attaching and get the chassis ready for its coating. It's getting there though and with only 6 weeks remaining I think, although I am inevitably still very nervous about it all, I am on schedule.

Here are some photos of the progress over this last week:

Break time is over

Hello all. I am back and finally over the lack of sleep that I received on the journey back to England and the paid work that I have been doing over the last few days. A lot has happened and I don’t know what to include. The seating issue is so close to being resolved now. In short they sent me one of the seats in the new style but incorrect colour to see whether it would fit. It did not but it was narrow enough for me to justify narrowing up the central column of the car so it fit. I then ordered two more seats in the correct new style and colour. They arrived yesterday and I have yet to see whether they will fit, fingers crossed.

The old style seat in the correct colour with the new style in the incorrect colour

Almost all of the remaining parts from the donor car were removed just before I left to go on holiday. It's now truly a shell of a car. The wiring loom was a complete pain to get out of the vehicle as you can't cut it and it runs like tree roots throughout the car. But that job is done now so no need to fret. After removing the pedals from the sierra in the slight hope that I may be able to adapt them for use in the new car I have been disappointed and the lead to yet more expense purchasing a pedal box from kit parts direct, along with a roll bar and new brake lines. They should all be arriving on Tuesday of next week. This does hold me back a little as I am aware that the pedal box and steering column sit in very close proximity, this makes me disinclined to work on the steering system this weekend, my original plan.

I have moved the project into its new home where it should be completed. It's not quite as worm or as bright as the workshop but it should do just fine. My biggest fear is doing the work right next to the Rolls Royce as I am all too aware of the damage that welding and grinding sparks can incur, either way I am sure I will find a solution to that. That is about where I am up to at the moment and this is the beginning of the final part of the project, the 10 week stretch to the end. I have had to pull out of Kilimanjaro due to money problems, which pisses me off royally but I suppose if I look on the bright side I do get more time to work on this car.

New garage area with engine and chassis togeather at last

Leaving on a jet plane...

... but I am pretty sure I'll be back in about a week, assuming this holiday doesn't get even more out of hand than it already promises to be. Yes the date has come and I am flying off to Malia with some friends for a week. This does of course mean that I will not be writing any on this blog in that time, nor will I be working on the car. However when I return I will be uploading a post that I was not able to finish and getting you all up to speed as to where I am with the project. The last two weeks have been busy and I think, touch wood, that I am a little ahead of schedule. That's all really and I look forward to rejoining the project with renewed energy!

Deep seated issues, more parts and engine removal

Well as you all know the seats arrived a while ago however, there has been a little bit of trouble with them. On the website of the company that I bout them from they are advertised as being 420mm wide. When I tried to fit them I found that they were 530mm wide and they don’t fit. Without boring you all any further, I have got to get some different seats, widen the seating areas or possibly both. Europa Spares have a different seat in the post for me to try and if it fits they will collect all three incorrect seats and make me up some new ones in the different style.

I received another batch of parts mainly lights, but also a chromed fuel cap and the 4 point harnesses. You should all see them as I fit them a little later in the build. The chassis is almost fully welded and only a few more brackets need to be put in place. I am really waiting on these seats now though. While I wait though I phoned up a powder coating place and got quoted only £60 to powder coat the whole chassis so this is definitely on the cards for a little later on in the build.

I removed the engine from the sierra yesterday with a little help from my mate Charlie. We started at about 2pm and after a lot of draining fluids cutting cables and unbolting parts we had jacked out the engine and gearbox as a complete assembly by about 10pm. The video below shows some of the removal sped up. There are some pictures that I will add to this post a little later.

So close and yet so far

Just an update on the work I've done. The chassis is coming along very fast, faster than I thought it would have, and all that remains to do on it is Weldon some of the plates for things like seatbelts and wishbone brackets and then ensure I have full welded all the joints as a large number of them are still spot welded or partially full welded. Never the less it looks, upon general inspection, pretty much complete but there is still so much to do.

Other things that are on order are the dials, I bought a set of 5 for £199, I will post photos when they arrive, and the four point safety harnesses. I would like to moan about the cost of the harnesses but I suppose of all of the things on the car, they should be seen as reassuring when tethered to a hefty price tag. Years 9-11 were a little disinterested by the prospect of calculating the speedo ratio so I ripped off the dashboard myself and conducted the appropriate calculations with the assistance of my old DT teacher (57.5, not his age but the rev of the speedo cable per 100 turns of one rear wheel).

The sierra has got to come off the road on Wednesday due to tax expiry and this triggers the next stage of the project which is the dismantling of the donor car. I may have to wait until I return from my holiday in Malia before I can begin to do this due to the aforementioned problems with garage space. I'll let you know what the result is. If my thoughts are confirmed however, it will mean that I may be left twiddling my thumbs for a week with nothing for me to get my teeth into. I may just have to do some sunbathing in some of the hottest days of the year thus far. Poor me...

Hmm, so much to say...

First things first, the seats have arrived and aside from being a little redder than I expected them to be, they are perfect. I am sitting in one while I write this post in fact. I chose not to have a head rest for two main reasons, the first being that the seats with headrests cost about £270 each whereas these ones "only" cost £145 each. The second being the fact that I felt these seats looked a little more classic and in keeping with the rest of the design idea I have for the cockpit as you will hopefully see as the car comes together.

The chassis is coming along swimmingly, far faster than I thought it would. The slowest part seems to be the fine cutting of the metal, which I am doing at home in the garden to the already vocalised dismay of the neighbours. The assembly and welding is quick although it is already provided me with a catalogue of inevitable minor injuries in the form of cuts and burns. I won't include pictures.

Tomorrow I will be attempting to measure the number of revolutions per mile in order to order a correctly calibrated speedo. The automobile society at my old school has a meeting tomorrow morning down at the garage so I might let years 9-11 loose on my donor car and see what results, I hope I will be able to drive it away afterwards. With it now being the weekend, I am also able to use the garage and the space around it so I may, in order to appease my easily vexed neighbours, take the opportunity to fine cut the remaining pieces of tube steel ready to weld up on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Final little purchase that I thought I would include in today's blog post. In some of the spare moments that I had when I could not be bothered to cut and I did not have access to the workshop to weld, I headed to metrobreakers, my local vehicle scrap yard in order to get a new radiator as the one on the sierra will be too large for the nosecone of the new car.

The yard is actually quite fun to wonder around and see what could be used in your car, sooo many smashed up cars. As the book suggested I purchased one off a 2001 Renault Clio.

I also almost bought some new wheels for my car but I felt the expense could not be justified at this point. The radiator seems perfect for the job but did cost me £45 which I felt was a little dear for a piece of scrap but beggars can't be choosers and hopefully it will do the job.

Welding and Grinding Day 1

On Wednesday of this week I managed to get some time in the workshop at my old school so I could get going on the welding. The result of the one afternoons work is far better than I had hoped. I got a large amount done and what's more the parts I had cut were all the right lengths touch wood. My only complaint is that the English summer has hit in force and as fetching as my overalls are, they are also very warm. I can't write much now as I want to get back to the workshop but I will be writing again very soon and I will leave this post with some pics of my progress after day one of welding.

Visit to MK Engineering and a new Clutch!

I've made it home but not before heading up to Rotherham to collect a whole load of parts from Martin at MK engineering. I was ordering the fibreglass panels through him and I also decided to get him to make me some of the parts in the suspension area in order to save me from having to manufacture the jigs for them.

I headed off yesterday morning from Nottingham to Rotherham in the sierra; Jonny Silvester came along for the trip. After a much deserved, hangover curing, McD's we arrived at Martins at about 1 o'clock to see his very own self build parked up out front.

Upon wondering in we came across the parts that I ordered laid out ready to go, but martin insisted that he gave us a quick tour. He had an awesome setup with thousands of pounds worth of CNC equipment stowed away. It came as a surprise upon going into some of these buildings to come across the level of equipment he had. He also had a number of other cars that he was working on, all of which looked so intriguing; I really could have stayed there all day.

Next he gave me a look over his car and took me out for a spin in it. It was FAST! And with no windshield you really do notice it. It was also very noticeable how well it stuck to the road. He had a motorbike engine in this car meaning it was a far higher performance engine than I will have. So much fun though, it really made me want to start building.

Finally we packed up the parts that I had ordered and with a few more hints and tips about my particular build Jonny and I headed off, both agreeing that the visit was fun and Martin was a bit of a legend.

In other news after looking through the paperwork on the car we found that a new clutch had been fitted a year ago and it was still under guarantee. As my dad and I both thought that the clutch had felt a bit dodgy when pulling away in first, we took it into "Mr Clutch" to see to see what the prognosis was. The man there said that it did need replacing and in a surreal game of invoice/receipt top trumps he begrudgingly realised he was beaten and fitted the £130 brand new clutch for free. She now drives beautifully.

The next stage of the build is to start fine cutting the steel tube and welding the chassis or to start dismantling the car. Choosing which one to do first will depend on the nature of the workshop space that I get given first but as it stands I think I will be building the chassis, and that may start as early as the beginning of next week. Excitement! Keep reading, and for those of you from Nottingham, have a great Holiday!

Current Spend: £2,661.78

Money...

...get away. Get a good job with good pay and you're okay. All very well for Pink Floyd to say but as a student I don't have a good job, nor good pay, and money is running short. Going down the parts list stocking up I am seeing more and more holes in the budget. Stupid things like pricing for seats but not the slider that it sits on. However it's not too far out of control and with other projects under my belt it was not totally unexpected, so the project goes on. And with great spending comes great delivery. The latest batch of stuff ordered has come in and it's all so shiny.

I particularly liked the warning light display and its surround. I was going to have to buy each warning symbol independently to get some nice looking symbols but that would have cost me a fortune, I am happy with this compromise though.

This lot all came from Europaspares, website in the list. This place is great and although it does share one of my pet hates with a large number of these parts websites, the absence of the vat included in the price, they redeem themselves with a great range. As well of the parts that I have included images of I also ordered, after much umming and aaring, the brown vinyl seats which have a 14 day lead-in time as they have to be made. I'll leave what they look like as a surprise until they arrive. I mention it however because of the help they gave when ordering. I rang up to sort out the order and delivery, Mary who works there was good enough to post out a sample of the vinyl that I was thinking of getting so I could get an idea of the colour; it's difficult to get a good idea on the internet. It arrived the next day and it was perfect, a definite example of going the extra mile.

Other than this ordering, the cutting of mild steel into the slightly more intricate parts is still going on in the background and I am spending a good portion of my time in the Uni workshop. However although labor intensive the results are not very interesting to photograph or write about. So I have not really bothered, but I may write more when I am welding the chassis together and I actually use them, don't worry (I could see that all my many readers were fretting that you had not heard from me in so long). That's all for the time being but as always I will keep you posted with my progress.

Current Spend (including seats):
£2,071.78

Shock Horror!

Shocks and the steering rack arrived yesterday. Unfortunately Rally Design supplied me with 1.9" dampers and 2.25" springs. After a quick phone call the guys at rally design sorted the mistake and sent a courier the next day to collect the incorrect parts and replace supply me with the right ones. Problem solved. I've also sent of the deposit off to MK Engineering, which is where I am purchasing most of the fibreglass panels. Current spending stands at £1,256.63 including everything.

Suspension Brackets and a Trip to Nottingham

I have put off writing this entry for a while, partly because I have been waiting for several things to happen before I wrote, and partly because I a struggling to figure out my audience and thus the parts to write about and the parts that should be glossed over.

I am still in the cutting stage of the build and a lot of my time is spent waiting for material to arrive. I have been able to fabricate the 16 wishbone brackets that attach the suspension and therefore the wheels to the car. This, as I expected, was a little tedious, making 16 of the same thing should be saved for a factory in my eyes, but at least they are done.

I also found out that the book that I am working from lacks continuity when it comes to the cutting list part quantities; this resulted in me ordering too little material which was very annoying. I won't explain in any more detail as it is boring, but what I will say is that if you are using this book to do this project CHECK YOUR PART QUANTITIES.

On Sunday my dad was a true hero and drove the 5 hour round trip to Nottingham and back to allow me see the car. It was much as I expected and it drives well, the lack of power steering can take one by surprise though. It was really great to finally see it though.

Yesterday I started to order parts and currently have shocks and a steering rack on route, I eagerly await their arrival and I will keep you posted. That's about it for the moment but I will leave you with the great words of Jonny Silvester,

"Not just a sierra but a laseeeerrrrrrrr!!!"

I feel saw...

It has begun... again... well properly this time. I mean the making has begun.

Today I became the proud owner of 12 metres of 25 x 25 x 1.6mm square tube steel and I started to cut the hundred or so lengths that will make up the space frame of my car. The University of Nottingham engineering stores did not have all of the material that I needed, so I took what they did and made a start with that.

I learnt how to use a new tool; the horizontal metal band saw. Possibly one of the least stressful tools to use with its quick lock clamps and the automatic hydraulic cutting blade and switch off (you just press go and it turns off when it's finished).

The result of my work was 28 lengths of steel cut down to rough dimensions ready to be taken home at the end of term. I also managed to find a place to store the parts in the engineering department.

As well as this I managed to get the relatively small amount of round tube steel 19mm dia. that I will need.

To give a rough idea of what this metal is actually for, here is a cad image from the book that shows the assembled space frame: