Stage 2 Commences!

Broadly speaking, stage 2 has begun! After waiting almost 2 months after collecting my kit, the bolt pack and rivet/adhesive pack arrived.

So as I've been contemplating ever since ordering the kit, where do I start? How do I move forward? So many questions and no clear cut route. One thing I did find helpful was Richard's build blog: http://richards-gbs-zero.blogspot.co.uk/ This has everything! A build sequence, torques, parts, tools etc. Top blog I've seen. Anyway, having speaking to a few people and GBS, there is no specific sequence of events, just advisory notes that can help speed things up.

The Plan

This is the start of rough order/list I decided on from various sources:

1. Differential - Apparently much easier without anything in the way
2. Seat back panel
3. Footwell panels
4. Side Panels
5. Propshaft
6. Master Cylinder, Handbrake & Brake Lines

7. Fuel Lines

8. Chassis Electrical Harness
9. Drivers side transmission tunnel panels
10. Drive Shafts
11.Wishbones, hub carriers and suspension.
12. Brake discs, Calipers 13. Clutch resevoir
13. Pedal assembly & Box panels
14. Steering Column & Rack
15. Wheels

And thats about as far as I thought really. Aim is to produce a rolling chassis, obviously a few things may be missing but we'll look past that for now.

My actual sequence so far:

1. Seat back panel

 Peeled away the strips to drill and rivet. This makes removing the film much easier. After riveting I decided to just remove the whole film as this would get covered by the seats so easier to remove now.

2. Rear drivers side wishbones and hub/suspension

You'll have to ignore the panel, I've found that pictures come last as I keep getting carried away before my phone comes out for pictures.

Major point! The rear hubs from the MX5 is swapped - Left is right and right is left. This will potentially cause some problems with the brake callipers and handbrake in the future but I am told by GBS that this shouldn't be a problem.....time will tell. 

One little problem, the supplied bolt for the upper wishbone is about 10-15mm too long on the shank (see right hand picture above), meaning either it's going to get packed out with washers/a spacer or I get a shorter bolt.

3. Master Cylinder & Clutch reservoir

A quick and easy fit of the brake master cylinder and clutch reservoirs. There may be a problem with the fitting of pipework due to proximity of the outlets but some fancy pipework should solve that issue.

4. Pedal assembly

Here you can also see the pedals are currently in. Plenty of copper slip and a bit of brute force to get the brake pedal, clutch and spacer into place. These will hopefully loosen up over time as they are all very snug currently. Accelerator pedal has been swapped from this picture. I decided there was enough space on the opposite side of the bracket (nut-side as shown) that gives that extra bit of space in the footwell. Don't want to be catching 2 pedals accidentally! Also allows a bit of extra space for the push-rod into the master cylinder.

5. Footwell Panels

These were put in after the pedals as I found that when trying to get the pedals sorted, I would have knackered this panel. May need a few tweaks due to panel gaps at the bottom but it will serve it's purpose for now.

6. Rear Passenger side wishbones & hub/suspension

Got held up on this due to GBS either not updating their bolt kit from the Sierra pack or with the new upper rear wishbone design. Eitherway I was missing 4 crush tubes so I couldn't get this done with the other side. I am now realising the garage space will soon become cramped when the car gets closer to being finished....but I've seen them built in less space so it'll be fine, I'm still young and bendy.

Again I've got the same problem on the top wishbone (I tried the bottom one but this didn't solve the problem so I kept them the same to avoid confusion later.

7. Side Panels

The side panels were something I wanted to keep until nearing the end to avoid damaging them, however I need to put the front wishbones through along with the steering rack so to save taking them on and off again I just bit the bullet and will try to be more careful with the car now.

It's starting to take a bit more shape now and resemble a car now. Once the front wishbones are on and some brakes/wheels, we should be well on our way!

8. ...... - Well thats as far as I've got so far.

 

The reason for this muddled up order, following offering up the differential, I found that adaptions need to be made further to chopping the wings off. Also the steering rack doesn't fit, initial thoughts led me to believe it was because of power steering, but its not.

A trip upto the GBS factory and a Q&A session with Richard led me to find that the differential needs grinding down to flaten out to help mount into the chassis, the steering rack is in fact off a Mk2 Escort, and the propshaft and driveshafts also need adapting to ensure proper fitment. Other things included engine mounts (I reckon I can re-use the brakets off the MX5 but need to measure and check)
Update in between writing this post ~ The MX5 engine mounts are spread between 15"-17", The Zero's are 17"-19". This could end up being tight however an extension plate may help solve the issue. Would be easy and simple to knock together.