Updates

Since finally getting the Fury on the road back in July no updates have been carried out apart from trying to sort out the handling and stop the car from wandering at speed. Since having most of the setup carried out at TSR the only thing left was to adjust the rear camber a little more but if you remember we ran out of thread to enable us to screw in the top pivot arm. Having bought a 1/2 inch UNF die and turned down a few more threads I reassembled the top arms and screwed them in a couple of turns to give the car 3/4 degree negative camber on the rear which has improved the handling no end, although I do feel that it is still a little twitchy for my liking but so much better than before. Hopefully next year once the weather improves I will again take it to have the set up finally completed to enable me to push things a bit more.

Other than the handling improvement, I have mostly been taking the car out as often as possible to enjoy it while the weather has been dry. One day in September with the weather providing a lovely dry day, I took a drive to PFi Karting racetrack in Lincolnshire to see the young and upcoming European Karting Championship drivers competing in the UK round. It was a great to have a lovely clear and dry day where I could open up the car on the roads to PFi and also see how far Karting has moved on since I last drove one in competition. Up to November I have now covered almost 600 mile which isn't too bad seeing as I have been working alot and the weather hasn't been great.

Since I have had the Fury on the road I have noticed that I am getting a slight oil weep coming from the bell housing and gearbox. What I now realise is that when I assembled the gearbox to the bell housing all those years ago what I didn't do was fit a new gasket between the two and apparently it is very common for them to weep from here if the gasket is not fitted. So one of the projects it looks like I will be doing over the winter will be to remove the engine and gearbox to fit this gasket. Unfortunately this will be no small task I as I will more than likely have to remove the left side pod to access the exhaust and remove that unless I can remove the exhaust manifold from the engine. Something else I have been looking into is replacing the seats with fibreglass ones that will allow me to drop them lower in the car. The Cobra ones I currently have fitted place me too high in the car and the top of my head is slightly above the screen. I am looking at the ones from JK Composites which come recommended by many people on Locostbuilders. Something else I have been looking into is having a Tonneau cover made for those days when the weather isn't perfect but will still allow me to take the car out without fear of it filling with water should it rain, I'll keep you updated as to progress on these.

One last thing I have done is buy another Blacktop Engine from a friend at work who was breaking a Mondeo. It isn't quite as clean as the one currently fitted but does provide me with a spare should I damage the current one and also something else to tinker with once cleaned up.

Finally on the road

A couple of days after the car passed its IVA test in June I sent the paperwork to DVLA but after waiting for three weeks I still had nothing back. Eventually after calling them on an almost daily basis with answers varying from 'It's not been received' to 'It's in the pile and will be processed this week', I eventually was called with my registration number. After another week of waiting my documents came through, the V5 document and letter authorising me to order number plates. So almost five weeks after my IVA test and with the plates fitted I set off to go out and enjoy after all the years of work and frustration … only for the car to die within 500 yards as soon as I applied any real power. During the IVA test when taking the car around the yard to bed the brakes in, the engine had also died and would not restart until after a couple of minutes but I thought this was just down to me driving it around with my foot on the brakes and it hadn't happened again.

Initially I thought it may be a blocked fuel filter but having changed that the fault was still there. In an attempt to narrow it down I also removed the HP fuel filter and even changed the fuel pump which had started to become quite noisy so thought that maybe that was breaking down, all to no avail. After seeking advice on Locostbuilders, I wired in a lamp to indicate if the power was being cut off to the pump and this showed that the lamp went out at the same time as the engine dying indicating it could well be an electrical fault. Having wired the pump directly to a positive supply the engine ran fine and I had no issues and I managed to drive around my local road with it cutting out. Eventually after a bit more consultation on Locostbuilders and trying things out, it turned out to be the fact that I had used a standard switching relay in the fuel pump circuit where I should really have used a relay with diode protection. It seems that due to the fact that a fuel pump can use quite a large current when operating as you stop supply to the pump when switching off this large current is still flowing and can burn out the contacts on the relay, using a relay with diode protect can help to prevent arcing when the power is removed from the pump. I guess over all the times I had been running the engine beforehand had damaged the relay and now when needed had failed on me, at least I wasn’t too far from home when it did fail. With the relay replaced the engine has been running without fault and I have had no issues starting.

Once out on the open road, the Fury with its light weight and 2.0ltr Zetec engine really is quick off the mark and accelerates very easily but when lifting off the power the car starts to wander across the road which is quite disconcerting and takes real concentration to keep in a straight line. It was obvious that the chassis needs to be set up properly so I booked a day at TSR racing near me. They came recommend as the 're having real success in the 750 Motorclub Locost racing series and having spent the whole day there getting the chassis set for castor, camber, tracking and corner weighted things have improved but it does still wander when off the power. Unfortunately, we were unable to adjust the rear camber any further as the upper wishbones have no more threads so at the moment I am sourcing a die to cut more which is a ½ inch UNF thread. Once I have done these I will take it to be set up again.

With some dry weather finally around I took the opportunity to take the Fury into work one day and took a few pictures. The full gallery can be seen in the Picture Gallery page

Registration Paperwork

The first job once the IVA test had been passed was to complete the forms required to have the car registered which proved to be a bit of minefield requiring several forms all available from DVLA but these need to be ordered and sent through the post, not downloaded. Luckily I had heard this a few weeks before my IVA test so had ordered the forms direct from DVLA. The forms I ordered were the V55/5, V355/5, V55/4, V355/5 and V62. In addition to this I also needed the V627/1 which is the Build Up Vehicle Report which can be downloaded from the DVLA website

Now the choice between which form to fill in depends on what registration plate you are going for, if its a new plate for a vehicle using all new components then fill in the V55/4 and the guide to completing it is the V355/4. If you are going for an age related plate then you need to fill in the V55/5 and the guide is the V355/5 and you will also need to complete the V627/1 form too. Which ever forms you use, you will need to complete the V62 which is the Application for a vehicle Registration Certificate.

What I sent to DVLA
• Completed V55/5 for an age related plate
• A copy of my driving licence as requested on the form
• A cheque for registration and tax (£55 reg fee, £245 Tax)
• A copy of my insurance certificate so it can be taxed (as requested on the V55/5)
• Build up report form V627/1 which includes transmission, steering, and axle from donor
• V5C from donor vehicle
• Receipt for engine which was not from donor
• VIN plate from donor
• IVA certificate
• A covering letter detailing the items above

Once these are completed, the forms need to be sent to K and R (Kits and Rebuilds), DVLA, SA99 1ZZ and send it 'Recorded Signed For', as proof. My forms were sent off on the Monday after my IVA test and I checked to see that the forms were signed for the following day. Now where I went wrong was that I sent mine straight to the DVLA address as stated on the forms and not to the Kits and Rebuilds section that I now know would be dealing with it.
After 10 days I called DVLA but initially was told that they had nothing on the system yet but they couldn't investigate until 14 days had passed. After the 14 days I rang again and was told that it had been signed for but hadn't gone to the Kits and Rebuilds section until after 10 days. Another two weeks followed with me calling every so often to try and chase up what was happening. Finally at the four week point I managed to get hold of the clerk who was dealing with my registration paperwork but she needed the original receipt which showed the chassis as new from the manufacturer but also with the chassis number detailed on it. Trouble was the original receipt didn't have the chassis number on it. A quick call to Steve at Fury and he sent over a duplicate version with the chassis number attached and this was passed onto the clerk at DVLA.

Finally, four weeks after my IVA test the clerk called me to tell me my registration number and that the paperwork would be sent out on the Monday as she had missed the last post for that day. The paperwork I needed would be the V5 and a certificate that allows you to purchase registration plates and these didn't arrive until the Wednesday. With the paperwork in hand I could get the registration plates and out on the road...or so I thought!

Post IVA Improvements

Although I agree with the idea of the IVA test there are a few things I wanted to change on the car but due to the regulations they might not have passed the test, so after the test and I had my certificate I looked at making a few improvement, first step was to change the steering wheel. For the test I had fitted the original Sierra wheel but now was the time to remove that and fit the Suede one I had won many years ago at a kart race meeting and fit it using the steering boss I had made. As part of this I also had to make a small panel that would sit just behind the wheel to house a group of buttons. Initially these will be used for the horn as the wheel doesn't have a boss for the horn but later I am hoping to use some for the dash functions and also the main beam and indicators. The new wheel is much smaller than the Sierra wheel so makes it much easier to get in and out of the car and also gives the interior a more finished look.

The next item was to fit some Day running light. As part of the loom I had fitted a relay that switched off the Day running lights when the main lights were switched on as per regulations but I couldn't really find any round lamps that I liked. Then I stumbled across a site that had round Day Running Lamps, the correct size and with E4 markings required by road regulations but also a control unit that has the lamps on full power for day running but then dims the lights when switching on the side/main lights, these would help to supplement the 5 3/4 inch headlight units. Once fitted these make sure the car is very visible to other road users and helps the car to stand out as it is very low to the ground. I am very pleased with these lamps and they were not too expensive either compared to many day running lights I have seen. These are available from Auto Lighting.

Another element I have since added is the addition of a 3rd, high level brake light. The only place to put this is on the roll hoop and finding a way of mounting it was proving difficult to get something that didn't look too heath robinson. After trawling the internet for a week or so I can across some aluminium brackets specifically made to hold lights on a role bar but these are normally used for spot lamps on american pickups but made the ideal mount for the brake light with some smaller brackets made from aluminium angle.

Final checks before the IVA Test

So with the IVA test booked for the 16th June and the two weeks before this being a really busy period at work, I took the opportunity on the first weekend of the month to take the car to a deserted road and give it a quick run to try and bed the brakes in and just get a general feel for how the car was running. First of all I ran the engine with the salvaged thermostat housing fitted and that has worked perfectly with no more leaks, just the new seal and £5 for the housing much better than the £117 Fords wanted for the housing.
Next onto the testing, I trailored the car to a deserted road near me and ran the car up the road but it soon became apparent that the reason the road is deserted is that it is far too bumpy and the ride height I had for the Fury was too low for this road and a few times I ground out the base of the car. Having stiffened up the suspension a bit I did another run with by better half in the car but this made matters worse and I proceeded to bottom out over one bump which made use both look at each other. Once back at the place where we had the trailer I took a look under the car and found that I had managed to bottom out the sump and oil was dripping from the front...not a great start. Another problem was that the front right wheel was rubbing on the bodywork when I turned full left lock, another IVA fail so that would need sorting too. Not willing to risk things any further I put the car back on the trailer and took it home. Once there I removed the sump ready to take to work and hopefully repair the damage in time for the IVA test.

With just two days to go before the test I managed to get the sump repaired, luckily we had some expert welders at work who were hard face welding and so they put a strip of stainless steel over the area where I had ground it down and patched it up which should give the sump extra protection and also the hard face weld too. With the sump refitted and some new oil in, I raised the ride height of the car. Adding and extra inch winding to the suspension gave me another 45mm of ride height, hopefully enough to prevent reoccurrence of the grounding, I also took the suspension firmness setting up another click too. Raising the ride height has also stopped the wheel from rubbing on the bodywork, so I patched up that area with fibreglass and gave it a quick lick of paint to blend into the rest of the bonnet.

IVA Test

The original plan was to drive the car to the IVA test centre in Norwich, 68 miles away but as the test loomed the thought of possibly breaking down on the way and missing the test and therefore losing my £450 test fee was a real nagging doubt on my mind. That coupled with stories of possibly having to getting the car trailer home should the car fail its test (a distinct possibility as a first time pass is quite difficult) I decided to trailer the car there. Luckily for me a friend lent me his car with a tow bar for the day and I hired a trailer from someone local. On the morning of the test at 5am, I drove the car onto the trailer as quietly as I could and set off for Norwich to arrive in good time for the test at 8am. Once the gates were unlocked I pulled the car around to the IVA test area and unload the car off the trailer at which point my tester, Dennis arrived and introduced himself. The first order of the day was a cup of coffee and chat about all things cars so a very relaxed atmosphere.
Onto the test and the first step was to confirm the VIN plate and manufacturers plate matched the paperwork and complied with the regulations. With all that confirmed, Dennis had a look over the engine compartment while the bonnet was up and also confirmed the engine number was correct. Once happy with that I was asked to start the car and warm the engine for the emissions test which we ran through and passed no problem. Next up it was onto the ramp where the car was raised so Dennis could have a good look under the car and also check the wheels and tyres. I was asked to apply the brakes several times but other than than it was just a case of awaiting the next step. With the ramp now down the headlight alignment was checked and I had my first problem. They needed adjusting and I was allowed to remove the covers to align them but the offside headlight would not adjust enough to pass being too low. Dennis said he would allow me a bit more time to adjust them later once we had completed all the checks. The interior was the next area for checks with all sorts of gauges and measuring tools used to check seatbelt positioning and protrusions in the cockpit but Dennis seemed happy with all my efforts to comply with the regulations and nothing of concern.
Next up the car was driven onto the rollers for the brake test both front and rear. Standing at the side I watched Dennis put the car through its checks and from what I could see the overall balance and efficiency of the brakes looked good but once the numbers had been put into the computer the handbrake had failed on efficiency. Dennis said this was probably down to the shoes being new and needing to bed in properly so he would test them again after I had a chance to drive around the test centre a few times to try and bed them in a bit more.

The rolling road was up next and the speedo calibration checks which was only slightly out at 70mph so a small adjust was made to the wheel circumference on the Acewell dash and another attempt made with it now passing okay. Dennis then took the car out around the test centre to check the steering and drive etc and then onto the weigh bridge to check the axle weights. I had guessed at the car weighing about 640kg and wasn't far out with the front axle 330kg and the rear 320kg so 650kg in total. With these checks now done I was allowed to run the car around a few times to warm the brakes and bed in the hand brake some more and when tested again it passed although only just but once bedded in some more and a little bit of adjustment made this should improve more. It was then back to adjusting the off side headlight, removing the bowl unit and adding some foam padding to the bottom of the housing gave the necessary amount of lift to allow the headlight to adjust and with that Dennis informed me that the car had passed ..first time too.
I was over the moon and now wished I had driven to the test centre but also glad I would not have to return for a second attempt. I must say that Dennis was very good at allowing me to make the adjustments required to pass and talked me through each step and what was needed. The horror stories I had heard before were nothing like what I experienced at the Norwich test station and I'm really pleased with the result. The journey home was terrible for traffic due to an accident on the A47 at Kings Lynn and it taking me 4 1/2 hours to get home but it didn't stop me from smiling.

The next thing to do is try to work out the paperwork I need to complete to get the car registered and on the road, hopefully news of that to follow soon.

Windscreen

With the windscreen bonded in place and the seal delivered from Fury, I cut a length to go across the bottom and one to go around the sides and top. This seal comes as an 'I' shape but you need to cut off the base of the 'I' to make it a 'T' so it will push into the gap and not stick out too far. Next I ran a bead of mastic sealant in the gap around the edge and pushed the seal into this gap, holding it in place using masking tape until the mastic went off. Once this was dry and the masking tape removed I super glued the edges together and this has made the edges quite neat.
Next I fitted the windscreen wipers and tested the washer jets. Once the water had fed down the tube to the jets, the nearside jet worked but the offside didn't so I assumed it need to pump its way up to the offside jets, only then to find my legs getting wet! Upon investigating, I found that the plastic jet that the tube feeds onto had snapped off and the tube was pouring the water into the area behind the dashboard. The last time I removed the dashboard the windscreen wasn't in place and I wasn't looking forward to taking this apart again. After a few hours carefully dismantling the dash I could access the washer jet and removed the offending item. I guess I must have snapped this off when I was installing the dash top originally.

Having ordered a replacement washer jet and with the dash top off I took the opportunity to install a relay to operate the horn. Although this will currently work with the centre push of the Sierra steering wheel, once I replace this with the small wheel I will be using small buttons which are not really rated to handle the current that a horn can produce, therefore I thought I would install a relay to switch it.

Once the relay was installed and the replacement washer jet fitted I carefully refitted the dash top and refitted the dashboard, under dash protection and the heater hoses back into place. I was dreading trying to refit this all back but as it was it all went back with relative ease and with the washer jet functioned to ensure I wasn't getting wet feet I could finally finish off the last few items.

Headlight covers

The acrylic headlight covers can be fitted straight to the body but the headlight fixings show through, which without the edging surrounds look a bit unfinished so I spray painted the top edge the same colour as the bodywork to mask this off and give the headlight covers a finished look. Prior to fitting I tested the headlight alignment and also fitted the front indicator lamps.
While I had the spray paint out I also touched up a couple of spots on the bodywork which had some minor scratches on. I had previously rubbed these down to be as smooth as possible and once painted and polished you can't really see the scratches.

Other jobs

The last few bits were fitting the wiper arms and blades, all the rubber edging strips and nut covers on all the exposed bolt heads that the IVA test might think are too sharp.

While doing this I also went over the car looking at everything and seeing if I thought it may cause an issue at IVA. A few rubber boots were ordered for some exposed electrical connections and a couple of brackets made to hold items in place that were in danger of rubbing. I also bought a new battery as the Redtop one I had been using didn't hold charge very long so ended up buying a new Odyssey Extreme PC680. This is now fitted and I can run the car without having to charge the battery up before hand.

While I had been running the engine I had noticed a slight weep still coming from the thermostat housing. Apparently this is a common occurrence and can mean that the housing is split which would mean buying a whole new housing and they are quite expensive. In the end I have salvaged one from my local scrap yard and bought a new seal, hopefully I will get round to fitting over the next few days and see if the leak has gone.

The last job to do now is to take it somewhere to test prior to its IVA to bed the brakes in, check the speedo settings and ensure it runs through all the gears ok. All the IVA paperwork submitted last month has now been approved and I have managed to book my test for the 16th June.

Offside bonnet edge

After fitting the side pods, bonnet and catches I could see that the offside edge of the bonnet did not line up very well with the side pod edge and speaking to few others it appears that it is a common fault. My original idea was to fit a small pin at the front corner to guide the edge onto and hold it in place but Len, who has been a constant help throughout my build, told me of the method he used to pull his into line.

Basically, the edge of the bonnet is pulled into line with a strap so that it aligns with the side pod, then using a glue gun bond a couple of foam ribs in place and then cover these with glass fibre and resin, leave for a few days, release the strap and it holds the bonnet edge in place. In reality though what I should have done is do the fibre glassing with the bonnet up and then strap into place as what I found was that the fibre glass would not hold in place and has quite a few air pockets but has done what I needed it to do although it is not quite in line but only by about 4mm rather than the 20mm that it was.

If your wondering, the grease proof paper in the images is to protect the side pod from resin when I was covering the ribs

Thermostat

Now with the majority of work completed I thought I would finally fill the coolant system up and run the engine to check the radiator fans and make sure that the wiring, that is now sealed up behind the dashboard was all still working.
As I topped up the coolant system it was evident that there was a slight leak of fluid coming from the Thermostat housing but thought I would carry on and turn the engine over and bleed the system. Well once I started the engine it was obvious that it wasn't a small leak and that with the water pump running there was something wrong with the housing.
When I took the thermostat out I could see that where it had been installed previously the relief valve was not orientated into the cutout in the housing and the relief valve was bent and not operating correctly. Once the thermostat was replaced with a new seal I topped the system up and ran the engine again and all was well. Once bled the temperatures came up well and the fan ran bringing the temperatures down and the heater for the screen also gave out warm air.

Chassis setup

Before finally fixing the bonnet in place the last job was to carry out the alignment checks front and back for castor, camber and toe-in/out. The only way I could do this without proper gauges, was the string box method. With two equal length bars and holes drilled at each end string is run between each bar and placed front and rear, with enough room to push the car forward and back to re-align the wheels after adjustment.
With the bars placed up at the correct height so that the string runs through the centre line of the wheels, you then measure and align the string so that it is at equal distance on all four centre hubs. With this set, you can then measure the front and rear edge rims and calculate the difference between these two measurements and calculate the angle of toe-in/out. For the camber the angle is measured at the top and bottom edge of the rims and this should be about 3/4 of a degree negative on the front and about 0.5 degrees negative on the rear. For the castor, the front swing arms need to be pushed all the way forward to get the correct amount of steering centring for the IVA test.

Interior finish

To finally finish off the interior over the side pods and to the side of the seats a bought some rubber backed carpet from Woolies Trim near me in Market Deeping who specialise in vehicle trim for vehicles. Having cut a glued this into place I could then finishing shaping the two side panels that finish off the dashboard area. I also fitted a USB socket to both of the panels to allow for device charging.
With the carpet now in place I finished off the edges with aluminium strips and also ran some of this along the edges of the centre console so that there should be no issues at the IVA examination.

The last few bits to do on the interior now is to make a surround for the steering wheel column and stalks which is going to be interesting, fit something to the upright pillar for the windscreen and fit rubber trim around all the edges.

Windscreen

The windscreen for the Fury is from a Lotus Elan S3 which is available from Ricky Evans Motorsport who specialise in heated windscreens for rally and race cars but also normal screens too.
Having purchased some windscreen sealant and primer, taken delivery of the screen I gave them a call to see if they could offer some advice on fitting. Their advice was to use a windscreen seal called Gator Grip which runs around the edge of the screen and has an adhesive to grip the glass, the screen is then bonded into the frame. After eventually finding somewhere to buy this seal and get less than a 30 meter roll I fitted the seal around the edge of the screen and offered it up to the frame...well sort of, there was no way it was going to fit with the gator grip seal fitted.
Back to square one, after trying to remove the seal and clean off all the adhesive.

With the Gator Grip seal removed I primed the edge of the screen and also the frame, allowed this to dry and then ran a 10mm bead of windscreen sealant around the surround of the frame. Using a suction holder and aligning the screen to the marks I had made previously I placed the screen in position propping it at the bottom to prevent it from dropping and clamping the top to pull the glass fibre frame into place. I left this for 24 hours before removing the clamps and all seems to be good with it all holding firm and in position. Now all I need to do is try and fit another seal around the edge to cover gap between the screen and frame edge.

Lights

After fitting the second side pod and bonnet last month, I decided to fit the headlights and then roll the car outside into the sunshine for a few pictures. The headlights fit in a plastic bowl with a rubber gasket which I used as a template to mark out in each headlight scallop where to make the cut out. These are a quite a tight fit in the scallop and I had to file a little off the top edge of one unit to stop it from rubbing on the perspex light covers.

After fitting the headlights the next job was to tackle the rear lights. I had bought some very bright LED lamps with holders and was planning to just mount them to the rear panel but due to the various angles of the bodywork, mounting them flat and at the correct angle for IVA would have been a real issue. In the end the best method was to cut the backs off of the mounting units and then flat sand them into the correct angle for mounting on the rear panel. This means that the mounts are now pointing at the correct angle and also do not stand out too proud from the bodywork.
To mount each backing ring I used longer screws that would hold both the lamp and mounting ring to the bodywork and once in place and secure I wired them up for the Superseal connectors.

Bonnet Catches

The next job on the list was to fit the bonnet catches which I was hoping would help to pull the sides of the bonnet more in line with the side pods. The catches I fitted are Aerocatches which look great and do a good job of holding the bonnet securely in place. The packaging includes a template to make it easier to cut out and mount in the correct place. Having masked up the area where the catch was to be mounted I drew around the template and chain drilled around the inside to the basic shape. Once that was removed I filed out the hole until it was just the right size to accept the catch. It's then just a simple job to drill the mounting holes, fit the backing plate and also make a small cut out if using the catch to mount on its side which I have.
The finished job in the bonnet looks good and feels very sturdy. Using the template as the guide allows you to align the bolt correctly with the catch, this is then mounted into the side pod (which I had reinforced prior to fitting). As can be seen on the near side, the catch has done a good job of pulling in the bonnet side inline with the side pod.

Prop catcher version 2

The original prop catcher I made was rather bulky and I was never really happy with it so decided to make a different version that would fit better in the space available. This was a much simpler version made from a bar of steel bent around a 2 inch pipe with the legs meeting at the bottom and welded to an angled bar. This angled bar is then bolted to the cross beam between the chassis rails and holds the catcher firmly in place. Hopefully I will never have a need to use it but better to have it seeing as the prop is right by your legs.

Indicator flasher relay

Having fitted the lights including the indicators and side repeater I tested all the lamps and switches. When using the indicators these would flash fast which is a result of using LED indicators that do not put as much load on the relay and therefore flash too fast. When testing the hazard switch the lamps would just remain on and not flash at all. In the end this was solved by replacing the original flasher relay I had with a specific electronic relay designed for use with LED lamps and now all is working as it is supposed to.

Offside side pod

A busy month at work meant I didn't get as much time in the garage as I would have liked and the fitting of the offside side pod was always going to be a time consuming one. When I trial fitted the pod with the bonnet in place it was obvious that it did not line up as well as I had hoped. The bonnet edge protruded out by around 20mm but to get the pod out that far it would then be out of line with the rest of the bodywork. I decided to fit the pod as best I could so it would line up with the main body and then see about flexing the bonnet side in to align with the pod.
This pod unlike the near side one also needs to have a separate attachment panel made as this side does not have the aluminium floor panel like the near side due to the dropped steel floor pan.

Prior to fitting the pod I also fibre glassed in a panel to separate the pod so if I later decide to use the pod for storage, items will not go all the way down to the back of the pod, only back as far as I can reach

With the panel in place I fitted the rear mount and then the front panel that attaches it to the top chassis rail. Once these are in place it was just a matter of fabricating the separate panels to mount the pod to the lower chassis rails which helps the pod remain fixed and rigid. It all sounds so quick and simple but to get everything aligned in place and fixed securely did take me about two days.

With the side pod now fitted I could start to align the bonnet at the front and fix to mounting frame. This is just a couple of flat plates that bolt to two fibreglass panels in the front of the bonnet which I bonded in shortly after getting the bodywork.
With the bonnet in place you can now see how far out the edges protrude from the front corner of the pods. Hopefully once the bonnet catches are fitted and it is all aligned properly this gap will be sorted.

Dashboard ...again

Last month I thought I had finally finished the dashboard but as it turned out I had to remove the top again. I realised I needed to extend some parts of the loom either side to reach the sides of the cockpit for the side repeater indicators and for auxiliary power points which will be located on a panel to the sides of the dash.
While it was off I took a few pictures to show at the IVA if I needed to and also made sure I was happy with the positioning of the loom and its security as I don't want any parts to chafe. Before fitting the dash top back in place I connected up the battery and tested everything once again to ensure everything was working as it should. With this carried out I refitted the dash top and once again dived under the dashboard to secure the heater hoses. After doing this for a second time I did realise that I was getting too old to be turning myself upside down in to tight spaces trying to fasten things in place, hopefully it won't have to come off again!
With the dash board back in place I looked at securing the centre consol panel down but first cut a small strip of 3mm sheet Polythene and secured this to the handle of the handbrake. This helps to cover the slot in the centre panel for the handbrake travel.

Battery mounting and Side pods

My original plan was to mount the battery in the right hand side pod but then realised this would involve quite a bit of fabrication work to not only make a tray to hold the battery but also to somehow secure it into the side pod The other issue with this is that it would be placing an item that carries a fair amount of weight on the same side as the driver and placing the battery on the opposite side may help to balance things out. Having made a small panel and bracket I secured this to the passenger foot well panel on the engine side and then re-routed the wiring for the battery. All this was done prior to attempting to fit the nearside side pod

On previous trial fits of the side pod it was obvious this would require a lot of work to get this to fit to my satisfaction. Initially I offered the pod up over the exhaust hole and secured it into position using my two trolley jacks to help hold it in place. I could then see where I needed to remove some of the fibreglass paneling to get a good shut line between the pod and body panel and allow it to be secured in position properly. This was all done using gripper pins where it would be riveted and nuts and bolts in other positions so I could ensure it all fitted right before finally going ahead and securing it. As it was, all of this fettling, bracket fabrication and trial fitting took me two whole days to get the pod properly fitted but the end result is great, with a good shut line between the pod and body tub and firmly secured to the chassis.

Manufacturers Plate

For the past ten months I had been trying to get some information for Steve or Jay at Fury Sportscars on the Manufacturers plate which is required as part of the IVA test, what they used and what information was required. Finally I gave up and designed my own version using what information I could gather from the IVA manual and asking questions on the Locostbuilders forum.
For the Fury image I took some side on shots of the car and cutout the outline in photoshop and then filled this in with white and added the text required. This was then sent onto Clive at GaragistaUK who I had spoken to months ago when originally asking about the manufacturers plate, he then adapted the design so it would fit on the plate and cut this onto the carbon plate and filled in the text etc with white paint and a coat of lacquer to protect it. It looks great and gives the car a really nicely finished manufacturers plate rather than just a stamped piece of aluminium. Clive can create all sorts of panels, plates, dashboards etc out of carbon, aluminium or other materials and specialises in customising parts for cars and boats. If you have a special design why not give him a call and he will try and sort things for you.