Self-cancelling indicators

I had realised how reliant I was on the self-cancelling indicators on my day to day car. So without them I was leaving them on in the Cobra after turns. I even had a biker draw level at some traffic lights and say "Your indicator is still on mate". So I thought that it was about time that I did something about it.

It is an easy mod. that I should have done earlier. But I hadn't! Here's what I did:

I applied masking tape to the shroud and marked the straight ahead position of the steering wheel and that of the indicator self-cancelling stub (this little bit of plastic can be seen within the hole at the 10 o'clock on the column, when the indicator stalk is in the on position).

Straight ahead and self-cancelling stub position marked

The boss was removed from the wheel, then I carefully marked where I needed to drill holes for the pegs (about 12mm either side of the stub) and clear of the shroud hole. The pegs were cut from 4mm aluminium dowel that I had bought from Wickes.

Pegs in position in the boss

The boss was put on to the column when each peg was inserted in to the drilled hole. After both pegs and holes were done, I fixed the pegs with superglue (they are a friction fit) to ensure that they did not come adrift. Finally the steering wheel was re-attached to the boss and then secured to the column. A road test confirmed that the modification had worked and that the pegs did not foul against the shroud.

Steering wheel back in place.

   Another job done!

Careful application of the throttle!

Wow!

Fabulous sound track. Incredible acceleration. Incredulous looks from the bystanders and other drivers. Not a car for the shrinking violet!

And that is just the first run out.

Today I gave it full beans .... well 2k revs (max 6,500) and 60mph tops. Getting to know it slowly. Don't want the snake to bite. Chicken you might say. I agree, but at least I will live to drive it again. Andy said it was 'lively' and I see what he means .... you only need to move your toes a little and you are well over the speed limit. Sorry officer!

First drive

First day out

Success ..... finally!

Today the documents arrived from the DVLA. It has taken nearly a month! If I had sent the V627 originally and not had a personalised number allocated, it may have saved two weeks. Not exactly fast. Outcome:

• Application accepted
• Registration allocated
• Road tax and first registration fee paid
• Insurer notified of registration number

So it is ok to take it out for its maiden run, except it is heavy rain here this morning. Oh hum! I guess it will have to wait until it is fine.

Registration - progress!

Registration

I had sent the forms off to the DVLA and they arrived on the 25 February thinking that all were there. I had not supplied a V627 form, because it did not look relevant to my car (seemed to be relevant to cars that had donor parts and not a brand new car) and the website was unclear to me.

The DVLA chased this up. I sent the response the same day to the DVLA on the 11 March (caught the post that day).

I chased up my application with the DVLA this morning (16th March). No progress or sign that they had received my response, despite being sent 6 days ago!

Had a call from Karen (case owner) at the DVLA this afternoon to say that all was ok and that the application had been approved. She had seen the record of my chase up telephone call. My personalised registration will also need assigning, so paperwork should be with me next week sometime.

Nearly there!

I told you that there is a difference between getting the car ready for the road and finishing it!

Ignition barrel

The grey central part of the ignition barrel had been sticking. It stayed in when the key was removed, when it should have sprung out. So a new one was bought via eBay. I got the barrel and two keys for only £12.30. This was cheaper than a single key at many places, so consider that before you buy another key. Also this is one of the very few pre-used parts.

Fitting is covered elsewhere on this blog, so I won't repeat it.

Outstanding work

Two outstanding jobs that I am aware of at this stage are to make the indicators self-cancelling and to put on some better side vents. Otherwise done!

ECU map

Dave from Canems came today and adjusted the engine map and flashed a new version of the ECU software.

Dave revising the map

Whilst at it, Dave set the soft cut and hard cut rev limiters (6300 rpm and 6500 rpm respectively). The immobiliser was also set up. The fobs are used to unset the immobiliser, the tacho doing a sweep to confirm that it has been unset.

The engine now starts quicker and runs much better. Thanks Dave!

More finishing touches

Fly lead to ECU

The fly lead was supplied by Canems and consisted of two cables - a cable with 9 pin connectors at each end and a cable with a 9 pin at one end and a USB at the other. The female connector, on the double 9 pin cable, was fitted to the ECU (to the female socket nearest to the edge of the ECU). The other cable was connected, 9 pin to 9 pin, leaving the USB connection at the end. Hopefully you have got this!

Fly lead coiled up before taping to avoid electrical shorts

Once the cable was secured in place, the metal end of the USB connection and the joint between the double 9 pin connection was taped up to avoid any potential electrical short. The cable was then coiled up and tucked behind the passenger under dash tray. The USB end of the cable is accessible via the slot between the under dash trays above the transmission tunnel. The under dash tray was then re-fixed.

Immobiliser

The female connector from the immobiliser went to the ECU. It can only go into one connection on the ECU (the one farthest away from the ECU edge and nearest the LED).

After connecting the fly lead to the ECU (you need to screw in the connector, so room is needed if the ECU is not unfastened) and connecting the white and black wires, the engine was started to make sure that I had not messed anything up!

Next the application software was downloaded (using a link provided by Canems) to my laptop. This is a zipped file so it was unzipped and then viewed.

Screens shot of ECU set up screen

It is amazing how flexible the ECU is and what parameters can be set from fuelling to rev limiter, from shift light to data logging. No wonder that the engine builder and GD use it. I even hear that it is planned to add traction control and reverse lock-out to the functionality shortly.

Mapping

The engine was mapped on the dyno, but at that stage did not have the GD headers or cats fitted. Also prior to the IVA the map was changed slightly to reduce the emissions. So Dave from Canems is going to redo the mapping. This doesn't need to be done on a rolling road as I am not looking for maximum power (it already has plenty).

Advisables

GD had advised that the light connections under the wings needed further sealing, as they could be exposed to the weather. I think it was the ends of the heat shrink that had not fully sealed around the wires. As a result I re-sealed them with silicone to avoid any damp penetrating the electrical joints.

Also GD pointed out that the grease nipple on the steering column support UJ should face the front of the car for ease of maintenance, so it was turned around and guess what ..... no proper nipple!

Support UJ turned round

Andy thought that the fixing point for the boot gas strut on the body was not strong enough (GD do not recommend using gas struts due to the pressure exerted) and risked distorting, cracking or stressing this area, so this needed to be strengthened. At this point I also decided to add a second strut to equalise the pressure (the pressure from each strut was also reduced) on the boot lid as the single strut was pushing the off-side away from the boot seal. The fixing bracket was replaced by a wider one on both sides. 120mm x 50mm  angle aluminium was used for this. These were bent (hard to do!) and bonded under the rear wing.

Locating plate bonded under rear wing

The triangular brackets were fitted as before at each side to give strength (there is a third bolt on the triangular bracket behind the  ball fixing for the strut that you cannot see in the photo). The fixing to the boot lid was unchanged and the struts were attached after making sure the pressures were the same - I used bathroom scales to check the pressures (mine are set at 15 kg).

Setting the gas strut pressure (both to be same)

Two struts and pressure balanced