Friday 11 April 2014

Driving the Zero!


FINALLY! The DVLA got my documents back to me following a letter from GBS confirming the chassis was new and unused and also part of a kit. To be perfectly honest, it's come at the worst possible time. The final couple months of my final year in university at the point I should be working on my dissertation....

Despite the obvious, I should do my dissertation first thought process, I still went and got my plates made up and went straight to Tamworth to put them on the car...well the rear one at least. I can't find a suitable place to fit the front plate without blocking the radiator or risking snapping it off on the speed bump right outside the estate. Well 1 month of driving around Coventry and a trip down to Wiltshire and back and no law enforcement has said anything yet, although I have carried it with me after throwing it on the ground a bit for the "it fell off officer" speech until the sticker plate comes to fit on the top of the nosecone.


This is the time I've been waiting for since starting the build, the final, road legal, self built car. Amazing. Still can't get over that thought whilst driving. "I built this!"
Now I haven't had kids, but if you have and thinking about starting your own project, then do it, kids are overrated...and more expensive according to my parents.....
 

The car has been on the road nearly a month now. I have driven it the 100 miles down to Wiltshire to see the family and back and also between Coventry, Tamworth, around Coventry and just in general really. Without any need for a daily commute to work, and including the IVA test drives of 120miles total, I have racked up around 600-700 miles already! They sure do fly by!
So far the only problems I have had are:
  • The battery going flat - turns out there is a drain somewhere, but a master battery cut-off switch has solved this issue whilst also improving security.
  • The steering wheel came off - well I more pulled it off by trying to use it to pull myself out the car. Stupid really but lucky as there wasn't actually much thread engaged on the previous bolts! Longer bolts acquired and used!
  • Fuel....yeah I ran out. Turns out the car will pull around 20mpg when driven relatively enthusiastically everywhere. Plus keeping revs at around 3000 as it sounds better than 2000....that's now changed and actually the 1000-2000 is much more pleasant to listen to.
  • Overheating issues in traffic. Originally just driving at below 30mph would mean overheating but a coolant top up solved this major hurdle. Although sitting in traffic for a long period of time also raises the temperature a bit. May look to upgrade the fan - it was a cheap ebay purchase!
  • Rain. Problem of having a fair weather car in the UK during April shower season. Not much I can do without controlling the weather...oh wait, I can buy a half hood! Shame that costs money I don't have yet...roll on the student loan! This is going to be my next purchase as soon as possible.

Overall the experience of building and now driving the Zero has been the best ever. Even with approximately 100bhp, weighing 550kg means that there is not much below £20k that can compete off the line. The thrill of being so close to the road and the acceleration is something I've never experienced before. Nothing can give you so much fun whilst simultaneously being so incredibly scary!

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Windscreen & Stone Guards

If you've come here looking for a comprehensive guide to fitting the windscreen, try this blog instead: http://richards-gbs-zero.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=windscreen
Richard is much better at documenting the process than me!

With the IVA certificate in my hand and the registration processing with the DVLA, my first post-IVA task was to fit a windscreen to eliminate the need for a crash helmet when driving.

I'd bought the windscreen kit from GBS and set about preparing the brackets and frame for painting black.

Fitting to the car is possible with one but easier with two people, I was by myself and no one was about to help so ratchet straps where the next best thing. There are a number of ways to do it, mainly cutting different parts of the frame, I went with the route that looked the best and with a bit of measuring, appeared to be a good fit....
I didn't have any cardboard or chipboard to practice with so was very careful with the glass. The brackets will require bending to fit, either to match the curve of the scuttle or to the frame. As you have probably seen from my previous posts, my build environment is literally a driveway or brick room, no fancy tools or tool racks here! Obviously bending with a vice would be much easier, but a wall and the back of the car worked ok to get the required bend to match the frame.

 Before this point - but without pictures, I used 2 self tapping screws to fit the bottom frame rail and top rail with a diagonal hole. This works well enough to hold the frame in one piece so it can be attached to the car like so.

Here is where the 2 hands is best. Fitting the ratchet straps and ensuring a straight fit of the screen was a difficult process running either side of the car, making an adjustment, going to the other side finding that the previous adjustment is gone and so on.




 Anyway I got there and the screen looks to be in a reasonable position. Here you can see the long over cut of the T-trim. KEEP THIS LONG AND PUT IT INTO AND UNDER THE BRACKET!!!













Otherwise this will happen! Duh.
This can be also by cutting the frame the other way so that the top frame rail sits on the lower. Hindsight is great isn't it?!













Overall the main objective was to fit a windscreen, difficult to get right on your own and kind of important when it will soon be the only thing in front of your face. Self tappers into the frame through the bracket (I went with 4 either side - careful when drilling with the glass in, its very easy to crack it (so I've seen/heard, I can at least get one thing right!)



 
I wasn't overly happy with the screen but since doing this and writing this up, I have gone back and just touched it up a bit, improving it a bit more to my likening....although without testing it properly yet until my registration comes through, we will see how it goes.
To update, I have had the registration through and the screen is secure on the bumpy roads and "speed capabilities of the car", if you know what I mean! Perfect.
 
 
The other part of the first post-IVA plan was the stone guards on the rear arches. Some people claim these have failed on a sharp edge, which they will if not perfectly bent to fit the arches. Something simple and makes me feel much more confident about the life of the arches. Also, I think its a nice finish on the arches too, but that's just me.
Update again, they are a great saver. The amount of times I've heard them working, ping, ping ping, the stones aren't damaging the GRP in a hurry!
 

Tuesday 11 February 2014

IVA - Take 2

It has taken a bit longer that expected but I finally managed to juggle my university work and sorting the car out to prepare for the final IVA test. The problem was being 30mins away from the car is finding the time and motivation to get over and do the work, some of which was quite daunting in the sense of not knowing if the huge task would even do anything to solve the problem, specifically the self centring issue. Whilst many had said that castor was the problem, the only explanation was that the front wishbones were on wrong....but that would be a massive task and from memory, they only went on one way. CHECK THEY DON'T FIT BOTH WAYS AT THE FIRST STAGE!!!Anyway, I also found that with toe out, rear wheel drive cars will benefit by gaining self centring, which seemed to be wrong due to the wheels looking to be having a lot already...however, getting hold of some gauges I found that it was actually 2 degrees toe in! So with a bit of toe out...it worked! to the extent of having a bit anyway.

Now, on to the test! This was booked for February 11th, 13:00 this time, I didn't fancy another 6am start. This proved to be a great choice as the forecast was meant for heavy rain in the morning and should pass before I planned to head out....how wrong was that! Whilst it did just about stop by the time I planned to leave, the weather had changed from heavy rain to a blizzard! It was so thick and despite being wet, still managed to stick in places! So much that I nearly gave the test centre a call to see what the process was for cancelling on the day due to weather! However, as it started to ease off I decided to crack on anyway, I wanted this car to pass so probably would have driven in the snow!

I got to the test centre again with about half an hour to spare and a soaked right elbow. Post IVA trim will be some extended flaps on the front wheels to reduce the spray from any puddles! Despite that it was a joyful drive with no issues at all. Couldn't have gone better. However, things couldn't go right the whole time....Roy came out to start the test at 1, asked me to bring the car into the IVA lane, "Sure, no problem!" oh wait....the battery was flat....no lights left on, nothing left to drain the battery, but something had. The car had been stood without a proper run for a few weeks but still started up first time and drove without any issues. This puzzled me and Roy and didn't look good for the retest. Roy grabbed a battery booster and jump started the car. This was left running for the whole test and only turned it off at the end of the test.
With a short list, we flew through in an hour and all the bits I could fix, were fine...not pretty in places, but fine. Then onto the two things I knew I would struggle with. The brake test and self centring. Up first was the brake test. NOTE: this is done on your stated maximum weight, I wasn't sure so had used the Mazda MX5 details....1200kg....that's twice the weight of the car! So ensure you chose wisely! Probably would have passed first time using a weight of 800kg instead!
Anyway, it was right on the limits and Roy accepted these as they would only get better as the pads bedded in more.
Finally the self centring. I was never sure how exactly this was assessed but for those like me who don't know, the examiner will simply take your car around the site, turn hard on the wheel then let go at around 15mph. It is then up to the examiner to determine if there is self centring or not. I had a tiny amount bringing it about half a turn from centre both sides so Roy was happy with it. He stated he'd seen better but had also passed worse and agreed that a full geometry set up post IVA will help greatly and once the new parts loosen off a bit more with use. As a result, this was a big tick on the sheet!

So, for those of you keeping score, that was all the previous fail points passed. Which means.......

THE CAR HAS PASSED IT'S IVA TEST!!!!!

After 12 months of building, an actual, road legal car is finally the end product! 18months ago I never thought this would happen, hadn't even crossed my mind, however it has and I succeeded! Even my own mother had doubts and expected me to give up when she found out about my plans!!!

Now begins the DVLA paperwork challenge....

Thanks for reading and I hope you have found this blog useful. I must admit it's been nice to write and hopefully it has proved to be helpful in your build or interest. Enjoy some pictures below!
















Stay tuned for further updates to post-IVA work and anything else I feel like putting on here.
As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment or email me on:

 
I'm always happy to help and answer any questions you may have. Thanks again for following!