Body, brake bias and power take-off studs

Preparing the body

Don't underestimate the time required to gel coat and rub down the body, doors, bonnet and boot. Don't get me wrong, it is not difficult, but it is time consuming. Applying the gel coat is like painting with gloopy Dulux. You let it dry, then rub down with wet or dry.

I seem to have applied loads of gel coat and spent hours and hours rubbing down and once done, it requires more rubbing down! Most times, no matter how much care I have taken, I seem to have gone too far and exposed the grey GRP below the gel coat, usually at the edges.

So don't be afraid to apply a thick coat of gel, especially along the door top and any edges. These seemed to require a lot of gel and rubbing down to get the right shape.

Now it is almost done, or at least I think it is, but no doubt more gel and rubbing down will be required!

Brake bias bar

The brake bias bar needed about 2mm of free play on the pedal. However, mine when I first fitted it, was solid up against the pedal box. Andy recommended that I take some metal off the threaded bar.

I needed help to remove and refit, as the fasteners are in the foot well and the compartment behind the wheel arch. Matthew, my son-in-law came to the rescue after doing his fatherly duties, including the school run.

Matthew undid the nuts whilst I held the screws from the foot well side. The brake bias bar was set with the clevis fixings at 60mm apart and equidistant from the ends. The master cylinder threaded bars were ground down by about 7mm each (after much trial and error - well hopefully not the latter) and refitted. The cylinders were attached to the brake bias bar by Matthew screwing the cylinders in to the clevis from the compartment.

Brake bias bar, with brake switch above it

This took a few attempts to get the length right, so it was a bit of an hokey cokey job .... in out, in out! Finally the length was ok, so the cylinders were fixed in place with the help of Matthew.

The brake pedal height was set 25mm below the accelerator height. This allows for heel and toeing, when changing down a gear.

Accelerator set about 25mm below the brake pedal

Power take-off studs

M10 bolts, nylocs and ordinary nuts were ordered from ebay. The battery cables were attached to two of the M10 bolts and a washer added to each. The studs were passed through the 10mm holes drilled from the engine bay into the compartment behind the nearside wheel arch.

Attached to the top stud was the negative (black) cable and to the bottom the live (red) cable. These cables will eventually be attached to the battery.

Cables connected to studs

The studs were fixed in place with normal nuts in the engine bay, to clamp the studs in place. The two cables with the rubber covers will be attached to the appropriate studs in the engine bay. These cables will then be secured to the studs with the nyloc nuts.

Power take-off studs in engine bay