Craig's Xe track Nova (pb fixed to page 10)

[BRoadGhost]

Some proper parts going on here; good to see.

What I would say with the linkage is get it high up & far back THEN make it connect.

You're going to be in the 240+ club with that engine ;o

[Benn]

Straight to turret shifter will be nice.

[8valve-craig]

Cheers Ben, It needs a grease, and hopefully it will work with the syncro box. Will be a while before its fitted though.

Got home to a nice package today. Really pleased as a neighbour took it in, meaning no drive across town....



Like an early Christmas present, despite the fact they were bought by me...... for me.





Got them all in 52mm Electrical.

Oil pressure
Oil temperature
Battery voltage
Water temperature
Programmable Fuel gauge

Which mean as soon as the Rev counter is ordered i can start on my dash.

[matthew172]

stack gauges, mmmmmmm

[8valve-craig]

Yeah, nice, but they will have a knock on effect, as il most likely need to fabricate a dash and loom to suit, Not to mention the Stack Tacho to match them.

Just ordered 2x Cobra Evolution Pro's from Merlin, and a floor mounted bias pedal box, So hopefully i can be in the area to collect tomorrow.

[8valve-craig]

Had a trip to Merlin Motorsport today to pick up my latest purchase.

Cant reccommend those guys enough, brilliant place to deal, and very flexible on the advertised prices



2x Cobra Evolution Pro's. In GRP, standard width. Very happy with them.



Decided i didnt like the Corbeau's, so hopefully i can move them on for a good price.

[8valve-craig]

Worked on the cage today between around 10am - 5pm, and got a good chunk done. Stripped out the vehicles wiring loom, and then cut the cage out.



Layed it on the floor and cut out all the bits i didnt want.





Turns out they were additions made from near 4mm scaffold bars, and weighed a ton!

Then had a load of the bracketry to remove, which took a while



Actually managed to also remove around 2kg, in the bolts, washers and cage feet, as it will now be fully welded



Got the rear half back in, and with a little ratchet strapping got it into a better position than it was before. The 4 rear feet now tacked in place and solid.



Front half temporarily re-fitted, but will be coming out again a few times yet.



Will be collecting 14m of 2.6mm CDS this week, all cut roughly to size, so should have quite an impressive cage tacked in soon.

Full welding has been contracted to a proffesional who's a friend, as my welding skills are not up to scratch for anything safety orientated

[Iain]

What's the benefit of cutting the feet off opposed to just welding the feet to the spreader plates inside the car?

[8valve-craig]

Not a lot really, but the way it was fitted before made it tighter on the o/s B pillar than it was on the n/s. the only way to get it level was to either chop the n/s centre and rear feet off, and remove 5mm then re-weld them on, or chop the rest off too.

Also the feet werent quite mating with the spreaders all the way around on the rear arches, so cutting them off and dropping it down made better sense.

Agreeably i have probably lost 10mm of the height, but for a couple of kilo's and a cleaner installation im quite happy.

Got tons of holes to weld up in the floor from all the spot welds, so the 16 new ones from the cage feet are just a drop in the ocean anyway

[8valve-craig]

This week i had an idea what might work well as a cut down dash, So when i had a moment i took a mk1 dash out at the scrappy, and have today been chipping away at it.



Im not a fan of the cut down dash's which just sit in front of the driver, so instead have marked it up for a horizontal chop, doing away with all the bits i dont need, and hopefully still looking tidy.







The idea is, to keep the area over to the right of the steering wheel, to mount the standard fuse box, and then keep the headlight / foglight switch's and relocate the hazard switch to that side, which should keep it road legal, and tidy.

The old choke cable mount will now be used for the Life-Line fire extinguisher pull cord.

Not bothered about, heater, glove box, ash tray or clock, so that lot can be chopped off.



Once i had made the cuts i went around tidying up all the rough bits with the Dremmel and some rough paper. and cut off any brackets that would be visible from the front.





And the finished shape.



All edges smoothed off.











And thats done, for now. Will be getting a set of base model clocks to cannibilise this week, as i want to make a removable panel to mount some gauges in the original position, and then another over in the old radio slot for 3 more.

Really got lucky with these two mounts, as i can now use them to hold a bent piece of steel, for extra switches and warning lights if need be.



And finally what was removed



Not a lot, i know, but will make a load of difference to the interior. I was considering making my own dash, but to be honest this is just ideal. I am chuffed to bits with how it has turned out so far, and even better is that it will still bolt up to all but one of the original mounts, so shouldnt rattle.

Once the cage is finished il get it trial fitted, do some more cuts to accomodate it, then send it off for flocking.