Windscreen Washer: I've fitted the washer bottle that I bought a while back. I managed to get an aluminium bottle that, with some grinding and polishing, looks quite good. It's simple enough to fit, I've mounted mine on the front of the passenger foot-well bulkhead. The washer pipe is routed along with the wiring loom through the bulkhead and behind the dashboard. A three way splitter is used to take the feed to each jet, with the pipe passing through the bulkhead just below each of the jets. I've used a couple of IVA friendly jets from CBS, placed equidistant from the centre line marked earlier
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| Washer Bottle in place |
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| Washer Pipe to Jet |
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| Washer Jets |
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| Lower Gas Ram Bracket |
Gas Rams: A job I've wanted to do for a while is to fit the gas rams, these are what will prevent the bonnet from falling when it's open and will allow me to do away with the broom handle prop I've been using up to now. First job is to fit a couple mounting brackets to the front of the engine bay (the exact location is detailed in the build manual). The angled brackets bolt through the inside of the wheel arches and are further supported by a bolt that goes through the inside rim of the water gulley around the engine bay, these are countersunk and will be filled and invisible once painted.
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| Upper Gas Ram Bracket |
The upper bracket is located on the inside of the bonnet. The exact location is found by marking 11 inches up the engine bay from the lower bracket and transferring the measure to the inside of the bonnet. The factory supplies a set of 4 brackets (for bonnet & boot) at first glance these seem to be all the same, but actually the bonnet brackets are a couple of mm wider. I fixed these with rivnuts and and a couple of M5 screws. With all the brackets fitted the gas rams themselves can be installed.
Fitting the gas rams first means allowing some of the gas to escape, they are delivered fully pressurised and rock solid. The gas is released by means of a small valve at the top, there is no science to this, first stage is to let enough gas out that you can compress the ram by hand - just. You are also advised to do the bonnet first so if you let too much gas out you can use the ram in the boot (and this is advice worth following!). Fit each ram individually and allow more gas out until a single ram just fails to hold the bonnet open. This was my mistake, I left the bonnet fully open and the ram at maximum extension it seems this will hold the bonnet open whatever the pressure, it dawned on me that I needed to close the bonnet a little. At this point I had let too much gas out! fortunately not so much that I couldn't use it on the boot. Below is the finished job, the bonnet opens smoothly and doesn't foul anywhere. NOTE - fitting the rams causes the bonnet to move toward the rear of the car, so don't fit the bonnet locks until the rams are on.
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Bonnet and Gas Rams
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| Boot and Gas Rams |
The boot rams are pretty much a repeat of the bonnet however the lower brackets are bonded to the inside of the boot, I've added a couple of M4 screws through the gulley around the boot to help support them.
Bonnet Locks: As mentioned above the gas rams cause the bonnet to move so I left the fitting of the bonnet locks until I'd finished that job. There are two bonnet locks each with a handle and a spindle that passes through the rim of the bonnet, this turns a locking plate that locates underneath the edge of the engine bay. The location of the locks is determined by the position of the rim of the bonnet, equidistant from the centre line and close enough bulkhead to allow the locking plate to engage, but not so close that it catches the rim when opening. Usual story, start with a small hole and open up until you can fit the lock through, this is secured with a couple of self tap screws. I made up a couple of stainless steel brackets that fix to the bulkhead and take the load from the locking plate (rather than the fiberglass body). Then just slide the locking plate onto the spindle, adjust as required to get a firm fit and tighten with the grub screw. Finally the excess length on the spindle can be removed.
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| Holes Marked and Cut |
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| Lock Fitted |
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| With the lock plate fitted |
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| From the Inside |
