Kenny's Kup

[Kenny.s]

I'm offshore just now so i'm afraid there wont be anymore updates for a couple of weeks.

I've got all the small parts being painted while i'm away, door handles, fuel flap, door mouldings, mirrors, side skirts etc The doors, bumpers, bonnet and wings are all just about ready, just need a final rub down and i'll get them painted next time home.

As mentioned previously we've just bought a house so progress on this will just about grind to a hault by the end of October until I get a garage built at the new place, which realistically looks like being next spring :dapprove:

 

[Kenny.s]

Despite thinking everything was going to grind to a hault due to the pending house purchase, things have actually been moving along quite well recently.

All the panels are now fitted, just need to de-nib a few bits and a give it a quick polish. Still got to fit handles, mouldings and mirrors, they're all painted, will fit those once it's polished.

The tailgate is the same colour everything was done with the same tin of paint, it's just the light in the picture. For what seems like a basic straight forward white, it changes "colour" a lot depending on the angle you look at it and the light source.

I've made up some lightweight interior door "handles" but forgot to take a picture, will get one tomorrow

Now that the panels are all fitted i've got so many different wee things I could work on, it's just a case of choosing something and getting on with it. I've got a full set of P4P poly windows ready to fit so I might look at doing that soon as well as getting a heated front screen.

Given the weather is now turning and not ideal for building a new garage I'm going to try and keep pressing on with it although the trip to the workshop will soon be 1hr as apposed to 5 minutes, none the less I might as well do what I can and then get cracking with the garage as soon as the spring comes.

 

[NorthloopCup]

Another good update kenny! It's good to see your still making progress despite the house purchase too.

 

[Kenny.s]

Sadly I've not got any physical progress to report on The only time I got near the garage last time home was to collect tools to do some work on the house :dapprove:

There has however been a development in the gearbox department, I seem to have gone and bought an ST75-14

Complete with shafts and the cup racer engine/gearbox mounts but I'm going to make my own cable operated gear lever.

I'm going to modify a subframe to take the racer mounts but also retain the 2 additional mounts I've got on the chassis legs to take the strain off the front corners of the subframe which as everyone knows are prone to cracking when the engine is attached to them. Ultimately the plan is a tubular subframe but that will have to wait a while.
Hoping to get down to the car tomorrow to de-nib some of the panels and then maybe get the poly windows in.

 

[Daz.]

Oooooft!

s**t got real.

 

[MG cup]

Nice wan Kenny, I'm not jealous :-/

PM me about your old box if it hasn't already gone please.

 

[Kenny.s]

Already gone I'm afraid.
I believe Gripper have made some more kits though or are in the process of doing so.

 

[Andrewclio]

Very nice! Best thing I ever bought for my car was one of those,
Just strip it down first and double check it, after the nightmare I had, I wouldn't wish that on anybody!
You keeping the ratios? very long final drive in clio cup boxes, might be worth changing to something a bit shorter like in the clio 3 cup st75 gearbox?

 

[Kenny.s]

Yeah, recon ill probably take it to bits for a nosey, the fact it's easy to strip down was one of the things that swung it for me.

What was it happened to yours again? seem to remember something about a bearing popping through the casing?

The ratios are very long yes, was thinking about changing a few gears as apposed to the final drive, quite like having a long 1st. Not to mention the gears are a lot cheaper than a final drive!

 

[Andrewclio]

Yeah, recon ill probably take it to bits for a nosey, the fact it's easy to strip down was one of the things that swung it for me.

What was it happened to yours again? seem to remember something about a bearing popping through the casing?

The ratios are very long yes, was thinking about changing a few gears as apposed to the final drive, quite like having a long 1st. Not to mention the gears are a lot cheaper than a final drive!

Ye there was 2 main factors that cause my box to sh*t itself!ha
one was there was wear to one of the dog ring gears which meant who ever put it together decided the best thing to do was not to tighten the nut on the end of the pinion to correct torque to stop it looking up a gear on the shaft! Secondly there are 2 main bearing which hold the final drive pinion in place, one in the main casing and the second in the end casing,which both have the same diameter but different widths, they had put the wrong size bearing in the main casing so the shaft had 'end float' so with these 2 factors together the final drive nut was punched through the end casing causing quite a bit of mess inside!!

All good now, but did cost quite a lot to repair, saving loads by doing it myself tho

 

[EVOgone]

Get a final drive don't just change the gears.

 

[Kenny.s]

Why's that?

I had a look at the ratios and compared it with what was in the gripper box, changing 4,5,6 and keeping the same final looked to be a pretty good set up but if I need to change the final then so be it but I don't want to shorten 1st too much.

 

[EVOgone]

1st is too tall and you will bog at the start, lowering the final drive gives the best compromise and not loose you 5 places on the first straight.

 

[Kenny.s]

Granted if you just let the clutch out its going to bog down but if you've got a decent clutch that'll cope with some heat you can slip it off the line.
I've had several cars with a 1st gear that would do 50+mph and they launched really well.

I've got plenty time to weigh up the options, a shorter FD would need to be around 3.8:1 as a trade off between reducing the top end and not shortening 1st too much.
Ill enquire about the price and availability from Sadev, although I've been told Gripper can make them too so ill give them a call to see what they can offer.

 

[EVOgone]

Just sharing my experience, a good clutch will make it harder to get a good start.

Sadev FD are over 1000 quid but im sure a Gripper FD and Pinnion will fit a STDSA box but not a ST75. I have both and they look the same but need to properly measure it.

 

[Advikaz]

Mega work mate!

 

[Andrewclio]

Just sharing my experience, a good clutch will make it harder to get a good start.

Sadev FD are over 1000 quid but im sure a Gripper FD and Pinnion will fit a STDSA box but not a ST75. I have both and they look the same but need to properly measure it.

Ye I've never heard of gripper doing st75 final drive, but I may be wrong, plus if your after a 3.8 I may no some one up in Scotland that has one, he fitted one of these boxes to a corsa rally car and swapped the final drive, I could find out for you if you like?

 

[EVOgone]

Ye I've never heard of gripper doing st75 final drive, but I may be wrong, plus if your after a 3.8 I may no some one up in Scotland that has one, he fitted one of these boxes to a corsa rally car and swapped the final drive, I could find out for you if you like?

Kev M?

 

[Andrewclio]

No his name is Neil. I was going to buy the 3.8 off him until I found a shorter one from France for much cheaper

 

[Kenny.s]

Just sharing my experience, a good clutch will make it harder to get a good start.

Sadev FD are over 1000 quid but im sure a Gripper FD and Pinnion will fit a STDSA box but not a ST75. I have both and they look the same but need to properly measure it.

I appreciate that but a good clutch doesn't have to be an on off button, in fact, if it is like an on/off button it's arguable that it's not a good clutch !
A decent clutch should be happy to sit midway for a few seconds and cope with a bit of heat.

Ye I've never heard of gripper doing st75 final drive, but I may be wrong, plus if your after a 3.8 I may no some one up in Scotland that has one, he fitted one of these boxes to a corsa rally car and swapped the final drive, I could find out for you if you like?

Certainly, if you could ask the question that would be good, I assume this is for an ST75?

I was led to believe they (gripper) would make a final drive for the ST75 if asked.

 

[NorthloopCup]

I know a guy with a lot of spares for the sadevs so I'll ask him what stuff he's got if your interested? He's got s**t loads of gear.

 

[Kenny.s]

I know a guy with a lot of spares for the sadevs so I'll ask him what stuff he's got if your interested? He's got s**t loads of gear.

Yeah if you could ask that would be great, not sure what I'll need, the 3.8:1 FD is obviously the first potential thing on the list but given the cost of buying the box and the work I've got to do to the house we've just bought, I'll need to tread carefully for a while until things settle down.


I managed to make it down to the shed at the weekend to get a few wee jobs done.

First up I de-nibbed the panels and gave them a quick machine polish, didn't go OTT, just enough to get them shiny, the stickers will cover the bad bits

Then built up the doors and fitted the poly windows

I debated for a while how best to secure the windows as the doors are quite flexible and the seals didn't want to meet the window, especially along the bottom. Some water is probably going to get in regardless but I wanted to try and limit it where I could.

I spoke to James to see what he did with his, said he wasn't overly happy with his but it gave me an idea.
The door seals have metal in them so I decided to drill through them, catch the top edge of the door and though the window, M4 countersunk bolt and nyloc. Works a treat, ok you can see the heads of the bolts but so what. Only had a few bolts the right size so there's a few more to go in next time I'm down there.

Interior door release, much lightness

 

[mark123]

Looking good Kenny.

You bought some hinges from Renault for your doors didn't you IIRC. They have a pin with a screw thread on the end?

Did they just fit into the std mounting on the shell or did you get a new bit for that part of the hinge as well? Reason I ask is one of my donor doors had the hinge with a pin and clip the other had the pin with the threaded end. I'm not sure if both types fit the same hinge on the shell side.

Thanks

 

[Kenny.s]

Yeah I bought the bolt on hinges and they're all interchangeable.

They come with new sleeves for the car side but I never used them, they were the same size as what was already in there, I assume you get them in case they're worn or you had to get rough to remove the old hinges.

 

[Martin.]

Love this. The doors look awesome.

Keep us updated with pics

 

[Kenny.s]

Not a huge amount to update, got about a day and a half at the car.

Finished bolting the front windows in and then started work on the gear lever. Typically got carried away with it and didn't really stop to take pictures lol

Thankfully I had a nice hefty bit of 12mm plate from a previous project which worked well as a jig. First up I marked out and tapped x4 holes in the plate in the same pattern as that in the tunnel and then started piecing together the various bits from what ever I had laying around, ended up using some left over 25mm T45 roll cage tube for the lever, bit OTT but what the hell.

The lever drilled to take another bit of tube which holds the 12mm I.D bronze bushes, which were about £6 from an online bearing place iirc

That was welded up and the bushes pressed in, a bit of 12mm O.D stainless tube with a 2mm wall was used as a sleeve through the bushes, left about 1mm longer so it can then be bolted in tight and not bind up on the sides of the bushes, it also and brings the bore down to M8.

Skip a few steps, almost finished

Offered up in the car

It still needs the mounting points trimmed down and tidied up but you get the idea.

I'll probably just cut a bit of ally plate to cover the old hole in the tunnel.
Will need to make some adjustable stoppers to limit the travel in both directions to about 18-20mm and then weld a bolt on the top for the gear knob.

 

[haimsey]

Great work. Certainly looks the part

 

[.J.a.m.e.s.]

This thing is never ending, its nearly had 100000 views!

 

[Kenny.s]

This thing is never ending, its nearly had 100000 views!

Your telling me its never ending!! Lol

Safe to say its snowballed a tad from what I originally set out to build but I should have known better, I can't do things by halves but what the hell, I'm enjoying it.

On that note I've just bought the damaged Sodemo F4R from Ian Seriously impressive bit of engineering. I'm going to get the head sent away next week to see what's involved with repairing it.
I'm no expert but it doesn't look too bad, certainly seen a lot worse be repaired successfully.

 

[.J.a.m.e.s.]

Sounds great... How much have you spent so far... What's your overall cost looking like :s

 

[Kenny.s]

No idea (probably don't want to know either!) and no idea lol

Most of the expensive bits are now bought but there's still a few biggies to buy.
Such as:

Bits to fix new engine
ECU
Throttle bodies
Springs
Tyres

If the new engine goes in from the kick off, its going to be dry sumped so there will be a few quid in doing that but I'm not going to risk destroying the steel crank running it on a wet sump.

Or I may just chuck in the standard engine and use that for shake down etc.

I've done as much of it my self as i can or had it done for mates rates so I've saved money on quite a few things, admittedly only to end up spending what I saved on other stuff.

 

[jk675]

Looks spot on mate

 

[.J.a.m.e.s.]

No idea (probably don't want to know either!) and no idea lol

Most of the expensive bits are now bought but there's still a few biggies to buy.
Such as:

Bits to fix new engine
ECU
Throttle bodies
Springs
Tyres

If the new engine goes in from the kick off, its going to be dry sumped so there will be a few quid in doing that  but I'm not going to risk destroying the steel crank running it on a wet sump.

Or I may just chuck in the standard engine and use that for shake down etc.

I've done as much of it my self as i can or had it done for mates rates so I've saved money on quite a few things, admittedly only to end up spending what I saved on other stuff.

money is just money

you came into this world with nothing, you leave with nothing...
...

except pubes

 

[.J.a.m.e.s.]

keep up the good work, this is my fav project thread

 

[Kenny.s]

Unfortunately i've not been able to get near the car for about 6 weeks

Some of you may be aware that I bought the damaged Sodemo F4R from Ian Godney it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
After contacting a few places, the head has been sent to John & Mike at Race Engine Design for a full diagnosis, their initial thoughts are that it can be repaired, the pressure test will reveal if the damage has gone into the water jacket or not, fingers crossed it's not.

 

[matt91]

wow just read through this, awesome work some hours have been put into this!

 

[Fred3030]

Hello,
Congratulations first for you work on this vehicle, this is wonderful !!
I'm trying to build same moto supports but I don't know where can i find silentblock to fix on the girder ?
Sorry for my english, i'm french
Fred

 

[Kenny.s]

Hello,
Congratulations first for you work on this vehicle, this is wonderful !!
I'm trying to build same moto supports but I don't know where can i find silentblock to fix on the girder ?
Sorry for my english, i'm french
Fred

Hi Fred, hope you got on ok making your engine mounts, any more questions drop me another PM


Crikey, nearly 3 months since the last update :dapprove:

Status on the Sodemo engine isn't good.
The damage in the combustion chamber wasn't too bad but unfortunately there is a deep crack running from the chamber up into an inlet and exhaust port. Despite them trying for near 2 days to weld it, they had to admit defeat. Even if they did get it to close up, the chances are that it would likely fail again once in use.
The crank and rods are ok though, so I will most likely just put these bits to one side and leave it as a back burner project.

Anyway, on with the little progress I've made of late.

I got a set of engine/box mounts with the ST75 and a wee while later I picked up a cup racer subframe. It's got a few dinks and marks on it, and needs a coat of paint but generally it's in reasonably good shape.

I know they are prone to cracking though so I wanted to devise a way of transferring the front pick up points over onto a new subframe.
So, a few hours, a few bits of heavy gauge tube/plate/angle I had a somewhat crude, but nevertheless functional jig.

The bosses have a 10mm bore and were bolted to the original subframe before welding to get the position/angle correct

(I mig'd up that hole before drilling btw)

I then sleeved the holes in the jig down from 10 to 6 using a bit of tube and drilled through both sides of the subframe using a long 6mm bit

The next step was to drill out with a hole saw, that required a bit of judgement as there was nothing to keep the angle but at least the centres where in the right place so it couldn't get too far off where it should be.

Engine and box bolted together and sat in position, the rear cup racer mount fitted to centralise it.

Worked out pretty much spot on

I still need to make up some plates for the tops of the tubes, or I might get some bits turned up on a lathe. Thinking I'll probably get the whole lot shot blasted too and add some seem welds to it for good measure. Ultimately I'd like to do a tubular subframe but that'll have to wait a wee while.

Got a little more done on the gear lever too, just the retainer for the reverse cable to make now

Hopefully get back down next weekend to do some more.

 

[Grant89]

Not a bad update at all, well worth the wait IMO. I've been following this for as long as I can remember!

I love all the little details on this car that the average person would never even think of or consider.

I might have missed this somewhere but, where does the PAS pump and alternator attach to?

 

[Russ Rallye]

Looking really good mate, some really nice engineering going into it. Shame about the sodemo head, is there anyway you could get someone to 'copy' it using a standard f4r head and do all the machining etc on it or is a different casting etc?
Russ